Hi,

My Hitachi CM771 19" monitor at work recently died. I figured it was going when the pincushion control went bonkers, and sure enough a week later it wouldn't turn on. We've had about 30% mortality on 19" Hitachis and they're getting out of the CRT business, so it's time to look for something else. Mine was purchased refurbished with a 1 year warranty about 18 months ago. :-(

I need 1600x1200x75+ Hz with sharp clear text. Higher resolutions would be nice if they can be had at 72+ Hz with clear text. The Hitachis are wonderful for 16x12x75, when they work. :-/

A colleague has a 21" Sony G520 that seems pretty good but I haven't examined it in detail. I can't figure out the difference between it and the G520P. The -P is slightly cheaper at [link|http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?catalog=19&DEPA=1&submit=property&mfrcode=0&propertycodevalue=3797|newegg] now.

I used to like Sony monitors a lot, but I've seen some really crappy big Sony tubes (e.g. one that came with a Gateway machine that has non-uniform colors in one corner, etc.) so I'm not wedded to them. I've seen some reviews of the G520 that say it's wonderful but talk about using it at 1280x1024. :-/ I've also seen complaints about the image shaking...

Is the [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=33848|Viewsonic P225F] still well regarded? Cadalyst [link|http://www.cadalyst.com/reviews/hardware/0702monitors/view.htm|likes] it.

My budget is $600-ish, so Eizo or top-of-the-line Sony's are out. Any recommendations you want to pass along along with favorite places to purchase them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Scott.

[link|http://www.samsung.com/Products/Monitor/FlatCDT/Monitor_FlatCDT_1100DF_sp.htm|1100DF]. It will do 2048x1536x75 Hz but for some reason they list the recommended setting as 1280x1024x85 Hz.

I'll look into it. Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.

That's the first 17"-18" LCD that I recall seeing with a claimed 1600x1200 resolution. It seems it must be interpolated though because multiplying the dot pitch of 0.27 mm by 1600 pixels gives 17" and the diagonal size is only 17.4"... Interpolation is going to give fuzzy text at 1600x1200.

The contrast ratio is OK at 400:1 (higher is better and 500:1 is available on some), but the response time of 25 ms is a little slow (faster is better and 16 ms is avaiable on some). And the brightness of 220 cd/m^2 is a little low (higher is better and I've seen some claiming 280 cd/m^2).

LCDs are certainly something I should look into more though since I won't be getting another monitor for at least 3 years. Maybe I can argue that the electricity savings will justify the price of a [link|http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=20&manufactory=1922&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1|Eizo L985EX]. ;-)

Thanks!

Cheers,
Scott.

If manufacturing defects are distributed randomly per unit area (as they often are), then the smaller the area the greater the chance of having a defect-free screen. Thus 1600x1200 is easier to produce at high yields than 1600x1200 on a 17" or 19" screen.

Even if a 15" screen can do 1600x1200, it would give itsy bitsy text. ;-)

The A31P is certainly a very nice box.

I can't see how it's even possible to "overinterpolate". Characters would look horrible.

It's just a matter of having the electronics have a higher bandwidth than the physical pixel grid on the screen. It was quite common for early 15" monitors to quote maximum resolutions above 1024x768 with 0.28 to 0.32 mm dot pitches - they could physically display the stuff, but as you say it would look very bad because there would be more than one pixel of information displayed on each physical phosphor pixel - a no-no for sharp images.

Cheers,
Scott.

[link|http://www.princetongraphics.com/product_sen751.htm|This] page at Princeton Graphics says:

1280 x 1024 Native Resolution:
Displays a crisp, clear 1280 x 1024 native resolution and is capable of 640 x 480 to 1600 x 1200 resolutions.*

Maximum/Native Resolution:
UXGA 1600 x 1200 Maximum Resolution*
XGA 1280 x 1024 Recommended Resolution

Compatibility:
Digital: Digital Visual Interface (DVI), up to 1280 x 1024
Analog: Scales up to 1600 x 1200*
VESA\ufffd 1280 x 1024 @ 85/75/60Hz
VESA\ufffd 1024 x 768 @ 85/75/70/60Hz
VESA\ufffd 800 x 600 @ 85/75/72/60/56Hz
VESA\ufffd 640 x 480 @ 85/75/72/60Hz
Super VGA, VGA, Macintosh\ufffd 832 x 624@ 75Hz,
Power Mac\ufffd and more

* Analog Input Mode Only.

They are doing some interpolation tricks, somehow, to get 1600x1200 when driven by analog signals. But physically, the SENergy 751 is a 1280x1024 LCD. The .PDF Specification Sheet says the active screen is 13.61\ufffd x 10.89\ufffd (345.6mm x 276.48mm). At 0.27 mm per pixel, there are 1280 pixels across and 1024 pixels up, so it adds up.

Cheers,
Scott.