LCD Monitors

I have avoided purchasing an LCD monitor for the last couple because CRTs are still reputed to be better for image editing. THat appears to be changing now. Who here has switched to an LCD display? Which monitor are you using?

James

Well, I picked up a Samsung 2ms monitor today (it is coming in the mail). It has a 2000:1 contrast ratio and 1280x1024 resolution - a bit lower than I am used to with a CRT. My wife is getting the monitor because her CRT finally died.

Are the extended policies worth it on these things? The guy was pushing a 200 dollar 3 year policy for a 300 dollar monitor. I did not get it as the AMEX covers the monitor's company policy to two years. The fellow stated that the monitor policy by Samsung would not cover burn in or dead pixels that occur.

I figured I could get the policy on the backside if it is really worthwhile - but I figure most of these policies are in sold as a means of making money.

-James

I've been using LCD panels for a little over a year now. Between home and my day job, I've used a variety of panels.

The key to using an LCD is having it calibrated. Where an uncalibrated CRT can be somewhere in the ballpark, most LCDs are not. Calibration is a necessity.

Once calibrated, I've been very pleased with them. They have a higher contrast ratio than you can get out of prints, and generally show more detail in the shadows, so you do have to keep that in mind.

Cheap units are generally more difficult to calibrate, lose their calibration more quickly, vary their color more with changes in brightness, and have more variation across the screen. That doesn't mean that you need to break the bank, I've actually been pretty pleased on the cheap end with Viewsonic VP920b units. I think they're only about $240 (maybe less), but aren't bad at all, once calibrated. They do have a very narrow vertical viewing angle.

The biggest thing to watch out for are that you want a model with 8-bit color (some use 6-bit with dithering), and if you have a DVI output on your video card, get a model with a DVI input. It's much sharper than RGB. So much so that you'll wonder how you ever got along with a CRT.

James,
I purchased an Envision 19" LCD monitor about a year ago to hook up to my Mac PowerBook while in the office and I'm very pleased overall with it's color accuracy and lack of eye strain.

As pointed out, calibration is the key. I calibrate the monitor every month with Gretag/Macbeth Eye One software/hardware and what I see is what I get on my Epson 1800. Can't ask for more than that.

As for the warrantees, yes they are a way of making more money for the retailer. Consider the fact that with technology upgrades, you'll probably get another monitor in two years or less. That's just the reality of this digital age.

My advice, spend the warrantee $$$ on a good calibration tool and keep your profiles up to date.

Jim

Thanks all for the responses. The Samsung that we purchased seems very nice - and makes my CRT look big and bulky in comparison. I have a few minor gripes about the Samsung.

The first is that while there are many ways to control color tones, that there is not a setting to change white balance. In order to do that, you must change the RGB controls. This is not in and of itself bad, it is just more difficult.

According to my monitor spyder, the display is nearly perfect - but it seems much cooler than my own monitor (which is dead-on accurate). I am going to start attaching the printer tonight and see what happens when I knock out some photos on my wife' computer.

James

This may seem like a silly question. Did you try to calibrate both monitors to the same standard white balance?

There is no pre-set information on the LCD monitor. It is entirely done via R-G-B controls. It is a bit cooler than I am getting with my CRT.

Cheers
James

That's how they're done - with seperate RGB controls. It's the "right way". The response of each individual screen is different, and the response of each channel can vary. When a monitor (LCD or CRT) gives you a choice of kelvin temperatures, it's just a "best guess" as to what will really be that temp. They're never actually that temperature, nor are they ever exactly white (or neutral).

With a hardware calibrator, you'll be able to adjust each color channel individually, and get white that is truly white. Then, it will generate color curves to keep the rest of the colors where they should be as well.

Note that just because white is white doesn't mean that grey will be grey, on cheap displays I've seen white be white, but grey be very purple or green. The response of each color channel is not necessarily linear, nor do all of the channels necessarily match each other in their response curves!