Which widescreen monitor for movies/games should I buy?

[jeremyofmany]

Greetings,

What I currently have:
I have been using a 17" Dell LCD for 8 years now.

What I would like:
I would like to get a wide screen monitor. 23-24 inches, I guess.

What I do:
I watch 720p/1080p TV episodes and movies, and play games.

Response Time vs. Ghosting

On my 8 year old 17", I do not notice anything like this when gaming. If it is there, I am so used to it that I fail to notice it.
I see new monitors have 2, 5 & 8ms response times.
I read that the methods used to measure the response time differ from manufacturer to manufacturer.
One manufacturer's 2ms could be another's 5ms. That being said, how significant/insignificant is the response time, truly?
To me, the difference between 2ms and 5ms or even 2ms and 8ms is so insignificant that I cannot imagine it making any visible difference during gaming.

Refresh Rate

My current monitor has a maximum refresh rate of 75 Hz. I can easily see the difference between 60 Hz and 75 Hz.
Even at 75Hz, I can see a trail when I move my mouse cursor really fast.
However, I have no complaints when it comes to gaming or watching TV/movies.

Contrast Ratio

I have read up about the static vs. dynamic contrast ratio.
I see typically monitors have a 1000:1 static and a 10,000, 50,000 or even 500,000 dynamic contrast ratio.
My PC is in my basement. The only time I go on my PC at night when my kids are sleeping and the lights are turned off so my monitor is the only source of light. There is nothing to reflect and glare off my monitor.
My 720p movies look amazing and blacks look black as far as I am concerned.
I would have to look at new monitors at FutureShop to see a difference.

Aspect Ratio

16:9 or 16:10? I understood the latter is less common and more expensive.
For watching 720p/1080p TV episodes and movie, and gaming on a widescreen monitor, is one better than the other? Under which scenarios are these 2 applicable?

LCD/LED/OLED/3D

I have done some light reading and it seems that I should stick with LCD at this point in time.

• The most important thing to me is color accuracy and image quality.
• My price range is $200 - $275.

I have checked some threads on here and have seen a myriad of monitors being recommended.

This one seems interesting:
Deal: Samsung F2380 23″ (cPVA) $159.95 | IPS Monitor

A co-worker of mine recommended Samsung as well.

Any suggestions?


Thank you kindly,
Jeremy

[SKYMTL]

I am going to recommend the new ASUS ProArt series. We'll be posting a review next week but it's one of the best monitors available for the price and sports an IPS panel.

[ADay2Long]

Originally Posted by jeremyofmany

• My price range is $200 - $275.

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

I am going to recommend the new ASUS ProArt series.

Yeah well there goes your budget.

I've seen some videos on it and it does look mighty impressive, thinking of getting one myself. A 24inch with 1920x1200 is rare + IPS!

[_dangtx_]

sammy 24's non led are in your budget range.


benq's leds too.

[SKYMTL]

I'm saying scew the budget. ;)

[krajee]

I would suggest a u2311, but according to some people, those are hit or miss and you may have to replace it one or twice before you get one you're satisfied with.

[jeremyofmany]

I finally Googled my monitor to see the specs. They are are as follows:

Dell E171FPb Flat Panel 17"

Screen type - Active matrix - TFT LCD

Screen dimensions
Diagonal 17 inches (432.0 mm)
Horizontal 13.3 inches (337.9 mm)
Vertical 10.6 inches (270.3 mm)

Pixel pitch - 0.264 mm
Viewing angle - +/- 60° (vertical) typical, +/- 70° (horizontal) typical
Luminance output - 250 CD/m2 typical
Contrast ratio - 350 to 1 typical
LCD surface coating - Hardness 3H, antiglare treatment
Backlight - 4 CCFL type
Response time - 25ms

Source: Documentation

This monitor was released in 2002.

So basically, anything I buy today will blow this monitor out of the water, especially considering how dated the E171FPB is.

Movies and games look great and I do not notice any lag, but it may just be that I am used to it as I do not know any different. Perhaps if I were to play a game on a newer one like this one, I may be visually blown away and finally see the difference that 9 years of technology change makes.

I guess at this point I would be looking for the highest static contrast ratio for the most accurate color reproduction while remaining within a budget of $200 - $275.

Any additional recommendations?


Cheers,
Jeremy

[_dangtx_]

well,dont forget that 'cheap' lcd's will have bleeding. hell even leds are not perfect,but a decent one will be a bit better.

[jeremyofmany]

At this point, I have decided the best monitor to suit my needs is the new ASUS ML239H 23IN IPS Panel.

My reasons are as follows:

Higher color accuracy over TN and VA (P-MVA, S-PVA, A-MVA) panels.
Some would prefer another monitor for gaming purposes, however, this monitor has a low response time (5ms) for an IPS panel. My current monitor has a 25ms (black-white-black) or 8ms GTG. Even though I could have a faster response time with a TN or VA panel, this monitor is still an improvement over my current one in this regard. Color accuracy is more important to me than response time, personally.

My current monitor uses a VGA connection compared to HDMI-to-DVI with the new ASUS. I found an informative post regarding VGA vs. DVI here:
DVI vs. VGA - NVIDIA Forums

My current monitor has a contrast ratio of 350:1 (approx.) compared to 1000:1 (approx.) with the new ASUS.
This is where any modern monitor will show an improvement over my current one.

My current monitor uses 4 CCFL backlighting compared to LED backlighting with the new ASUS.
This short post was helpful to me:
Edge lit vs back lit LED driven LCDs': What's the big deal other than being thinner? - AVS Forum

My current monitor's pixel pitch is 0.264mm compared to 0.2652mm with the new ASUS. I highly doubt I will be able to see the difference here.

[jeremyofmany]

I have not purchased anything yet.
I have decided to hold off until next year to buy a Dell Ultrasharp U2410.
Although I do not do photo design, visual quality is very important to me.
The monitor is probably the most epic upgrade for me, personally.
I've watched videos on YouTube comparing an IPS monitor with a TN and VA monitor. The difference is night-and-day.
So I think I will save up and get an IPS monitor that is truly worth it.