Need Recommendations for Monitors

[-R6-]

Well since am waiting for the conroe series to come out to build up my new pc..Why not use that time to hunt down for cooooooooooool monitors

About my Budget $350 - $550 I don't care if the products price is a bit out of range of my budget but i can be flexible...

What I am looking for in a Monitor:
What will I be using the Monitor for?
- Mostly movies and games.

What are the sizes I want?
- 20" - 23" Widescreen.(I prefer 20.1" Widescreen Monitors).

What Technology do I need?
- LCD TFT.

What Brands am I looking for?
- ViewSonic(I prefer ViewSonic over: LG & Sony since LG am using a montior from them right now so i need change, Sony is a bit pricy, and i have never had an experience with BenQ Monitors).
- LG.
- Sony.
- Other brands are okay to recommend.

What colors do I want?
- Silver + Black.

What Monitors have I liked?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824116381
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005070
Are they good?

Note: I don't like Monitors with long bases.

Questions about Monitors:
1- I have a WideScreen Laptop and whenever I try watching some movies or play games the screen is cut from the right and left side...and I don't want to have the same problem with a new widescreen monitor for my pc... is there a way to fix that?

2- I don't have much experience with monitors and i know that there are alot of technologies out there such as LCD TFT, Plasma and so on... but i would like to increase my knowlege in that area. Can you please explain to me about the differences and which are better?

3- What is the best product ViewSonic has made in LCD Desktop Displays?

4- What Monitor are you using right now? If you would post a link of it, it would be great. I would like to see what you use.

I hope i provided some specific info of what i want

[GHDpro]

I don't own it or have even seen it in real life myself, but many people seem to like the
Viewsonic VX2025WM

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...onitors/1.html
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...VIEWTMP=Linear

[durrem]

Hmm, I saw that Viewsonic at Fry's when I was looking into monitors a few months ago. It was ok, but I didn't like how high up the screen was and you couldn't adjust the height. I ended up getting an NEC 90GX2 19" non-widescreen monitor (not height adjustable either, but it was the right height for me). Anyway, it is gorgeous. Why don't you check out their 20.1 widescreen selection, the lcd2070wnx. I have always had good luck with NEC monitors. The one downside that I could find with this monitor (if it is the same as the 90GX2) is that the USB hub powers down if the monitor is shut off. Anyway, I recommend you go into a store to actually look at a monitor before you buy it, just to check it out.

[-R6-]

Questions about Monitors:
1- I have a WideScreen Laptop and whenever I try watching some movies or play games the screen is cut from the right and left side...and I don't want to have the same problem with a new widescreen monitor for my pc... is there a way to fix that?

2- I don't have much experience with monitors and i know that there are alot of technologies out there such as LCD TFT, Plasma and so on... but i would like to increase my knowlege in that area. Can you please explain to me about the differences and which are better?

Need Answers

Originally Posted by durrem

Hmm, I saw that Viewsonic at Fry's when I was looking into monitors a few months ago. It was ok, but I didn't like how high up the screen was and you couldn't adjust the height.

Well as i said i don't like long bases so height would be an issue here but i really do have to see it in person to judge.

But any other Monitor Recommendations?

[TheFluff]

Originally Posted by -R6-

Questions about Monitors:
1- I have a WideScreen Laptop and whenever I try watching some movies or play games the screen is cut from the right and left side...and I don't want to have the same problem with a new widescreen monitor for my pc... is there a way to fix that?

Read up on aspect ratios, please.
Very related and interesting link: http://www.rexer.com/cine/oar.htm
Do note that almost all games are made for 4:3. You WILL get either black bars or strecthing, no matter what monitor you choose. What you should get depends on what you plan to do with it. If you watch theatrical movies in 16:9 or 2.35:1 a LOT, getting a widescreen monitor makes sense. Otherwise it does not.
If you're on a tight budget, I highly recommend buying an used, high-quality CRT of a good brand. These can often be ridicolously cheap (even the really big ones) since everyone wants LCD these days, but they're frequently still very good and IMHO still beat most LCD/TFT's (cheap ones especially).

(BTW: stop abusing the bold font so much, it makes people think you're shouting ;P)

[-R6-]

thanx for the info but i like LCD/TFT's and thanx for the link, but it only explained about the screen ratios and the wrong ways to use them but it didn't give an answer to how to correctly correct this. I can raise my budget though to buy a good Monitor for this matter

Does the Viewsonic VX2025WM have this problem?

(and i am sorry for using the bold font too much i just love it and i am sorry if u had the wrong idea i wont use it anymore unless its needed )

[durrem]

Originally Posted by -R6-

Well as i said i don't like long bases so height would be an issue here but i really do have to see it in person to judge.

But any other Monitor Recommendations?

Did you look at the one I linked in my above post?

[TheFluff]

Originally Posted by -R6-

but it didn't give an answer to how to correctly correct this. I can raise my budget though to buy a good Monitor for this matter

There is no way to "correct" it. The only correct way to display an image that has another aspect ratio than your physical screen does is to add black bars around it. It doesn't matter how much money you shell out, there are no monitors that can change proportions at will!

As I said in my above post, consider what you're going to use your screen for.

EDIT: a small picture to help explain a fundamental geometrical truth:

The red rectangle is your monitor. The blue one is a movie you want to watch. Try to fit the blue one inside the red one. It doesn't fit, right? If we squeeze the width of the blue rectangle, we can get it to fit inside the red one, but it's still about half as high. So we stretch it out vertically too, so it fits the red rectangle. But wait, now the image inside the blue rectangle looks very strange since it's suddenly about half as wide and twice as high as it was from the beginning (= people look absurdly tall and thin, for example). Ooops. So we scale both height and width down by equal amounts instead, so that it can fit inside the red rectangle. Now it doesn't look squeezed anymore, but the blue rectangle is now much smaller... It doesn't fill the red rectangle at all! WHY HALO THAR, BLACK BARS!

[CaiSter21]

Originally Posted by GHDpro

I don't own it or have even seen it in real life myself, but many people seem to like the
Viewsonic VX2025WM

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...onitors/1.html
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...VIEWTMP=Linear

i can vouch for that!
i just got mine a week ago because Tom's Hardware had rated it the best 20.1" widscreen lcd

and it was dirt cheap too!!

only $319!!!

and it works beautifully!

about the limited adjustability, it fits my desk just right!

[jfs]

Most if not all widescreen LCD's have some options for what to do, in case they get a signal not matching their native aspect ratio.
My widescreen TFT (Philips Brilliance 200W6CS, great display) has three modes for it:
- Don't stretch, meaning any other resolution than the native will be displayed as a small picture in the center of the screen with black bars on all sides.
- Stretch keeping aspect, meaning the image will be stretched, keeping the aspect ratio, eg. 4:3 resolutions will get black bars at the sides.
- Stretch ignoring aspect, meaning resolutions not matching the aspect ratio will be forced to the wrong one anyway, meaning things will look really funny and squished.

Consider if what you *really* want is squished, funny-looking pictures, or you aren't better off with some black bars in the sides. I prefer having black bars to a squished picture, it's not hard getting used to.
But then, many newer games do support widescreen resolutions and will properly adjust the image so things don't look wrong. If you don't know whether a resolution is widescreen, try dividing the width by the height, eg. 1024/768, 1280/1024, 1680/1050, 1280/720. Those yield 1.333..., 1.25, 1.6 and 1.777..., the two last being widescreen, and the way-too-common 1280x1024 resolution actually being almost "tallscreen".

In case you have a regular 4:3 or 5:4 (that's a 1280x1024 LCD) monitor right now, you might try something. Find some widescreen anime, tell your media player to just stretch, ignoring aspect ratio (in MPC that's View->Video Frame->Stretch to Window) and put it on full screen. Notice how everything looks really bad and everyone's way too tall and thin. Stretching 4:3 images to 16:9 or 16:10 (16:10 is the more common widescreen aspect ratio for computer monitors) gives exactly the opposite effect, everyone becomes way too low and fat. Just a nice way of showing why stretching is a bad thing.

[-R6-]

aha... well i guess you made it soo clear it can't be corrected but my biggest problem will be facing that difficulty since I will mostly be using it for Movies so i need a widescreen to make it look better,but some movies aren't widescreen Some anime such as Naruto will have blackbars which i watch almost everytime, and games will also be blackbared!! what a Pain in the Butt! why don't they just make 1 decent universal ratio!! damn!!

conclusion: what i have conculded is going with a widescreen would be the right choice since it will be more popular in the future so then i won't need to buy another monitor

but do you guys know if some of these games are blackbarred?<---cool way to put it blackbarred, eh
WoW
Counter-Strike
The Sims 1 + 2

Might as well live with it

Originally Posted by durrem

Did you look at the one I linked in my above post?

yeah i did but i didn't like the color and it has a long base..i like something that will be more on the ground if you know what i mean.

And Thanx to TheFluff and jfs to make things clear for me <-- bold means special

CaiSter21 Man I really do like it and considering buying it ... !! its price is too good to be true and the performance is too..!!!

Is it REALLY REALLY CRYSTAL Clear CaiSter21 because i still haven't seen it in person ... and is the base long or just right? is it tooooo vertical?

Okay then with that said lets move on to the next problem:

2- I don't have much experience with monitors and i know that there are alot of technologies out there such as LCD TFT, Plasma and so on... but i would like to increase my knowlege in that area. Can you please explain to me about the differences and which are better?

How many different technologies are there and what are the best?

[Kurz]

Doesnt CS:S have Widescreen?

Anywho Plasma I think isnt really worth it for a PC monitor. Too much money.
There are SED Displays coming out which is basically a cathray tube for each pixel instead 1 Large Tube for all the pixels on screen.

Which means Awesome Contrast, Thin as LCD, No Ghosting.

[-R6-]

is it better than the LCD TFT? got any useful links and do you know when they might be out? or maybe even prices?

[Kurz]

Its definitely Better!
Though Its only coming out early next year or around Christmas.

[Cruzz]

Originally Posted by Kurz

Its definitely Better!
Though Its only coming out early next year or around Christmas.

SED displays have been "coming out real soon" for years. They're much like Duke Nukem Forever in that aspect. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them, as it is they will definitely be far more expensive than equal screen-size LCD and plasma offerings when(if) Canon and Toshiba manage to push them out to the market.

[-R6-]

your definitly right Cruzz they must be very very expensive and i can't wait to get a new LCD for my computer.

can you tell me which is better?
LG L203WTX
ViewSonic VX2025WM

Okay well i wanted to ask this question for my lack of knowledge of monitors

my laptop is a Sony VGN-S48GP and i want to know if the Viewsonic VX2025WM uses the same technology...because my laptop is sooo clear and thanx

[ryomakun]

I was thinking of buying a Viewsonic VX2025WM, i want to see some pictures of the people here that have this lcds, is it possible for you people to post pictures, i want to see if it will fit right on my desktop =x

[Sides]

Just want to point out PC monitor widescreen is 16:10, where as TV are 16:9.
If you watch a movie with a widescreen monitor,
it will be a bit deformed or you'll get some bars around it.

[SlugZilla]

I've been using a Dell 2005FPW for a year and I still love it. No problems on my LCD.

I recommend the Dell 2007WFP over the Viewsonic. Here are reasons why:
1. The 2007WFP uses an S-IPS panel which have better colors and viewing angles then any other LCD types. These are premium panels which have the best image quality.
2. The 6ms response time on the Dell is better than the Viewsonic. This also is proven in testing.
3. The VX2025 has light bleeding at the corners of the screen.
4. It comes with an adjustable stand, which can be displayed in portrait mode.
5. It also has TV and USB inputs, the Dell has more features for the price.
6. Most importantly as a widescreen it needs image scaling feature to counter interpolation, and the Viewsonic does not have image scaling features in the OSD. The Dell has an option for 1:1 scaling which means that in non-native resolutions such as 1280x1024 can be displayed on the screen without stretching the image.

For a 4:3 LCD I recommend the HP L2065. It just came out and its been getting great reviews for its image quality and it can be had for only $400.

[ryomakun]

slugzilla, where do you get your updated reviews? =) thanks for the info.