Setting up a monitor

charlieheard

I've had a 19in CRT monitor for over a year, and have been running it at 1600x1200 resolution (maximum resolution from the specs) for a couple of weeks. I've noticed that some straight lines aren't, and that some details are compressed at the edge of the screen. I prefer the high resolution, and don't want to have to go back down.

How do I use the adjustment features to get a realistic display? I know how to adjust the size and position of the screen, how to rotate it, skew it, sidepin, keystone, etc. However, adjusting one of these so that picture is square means that some lines aren't straight. Adjusting the lines means that the picture isn't square.

What I'm looking for is a guide to show me which features to adjust (and in what order) to get a perfect picture. Googling for it just gave me loads of info on setting up brightness, gamma, etc (usually for Macs :rolleyes: ) and I can do all that already :mad:

ABH_3

You could try:
http://displaymate.com/
or
http://www.computerstuff.net/xfiles/crtalign.zip (freeware)

As to which buttons to press and in which order. That's down to trial and error unfortunately I got so sick of it, it was one of the reasons I moved to TFT

charlieheard

ABH wrote:

You could try:
http://displaymate.com/
or
http://www.computerstuff.net/xfiles/crtalign.zip (freeware)

As to which buttons to press and in which order. That's down to trial and error unfortunately I got so sick of it, it was one of the reasons I moved to TFT

Many thanks for this: I had a look at them both. How did you find them, as a matter of interest?

The free one isn't very helpful as it tells you what should be happening with the screen display, but not enough about how to change it.

Displaymate looks more useful, but I'm loathe to shell out $70 unless I'm more certain that it will do what I want (and unless I really have to!)

Maybe I'm just being mean, but a shouldn't good monitor have proper instructions how to get the best out of it?

ABH_3

charlieheard wrote:

Many thanks for this: I had a look at them both. How did you find them, as a matter of interest?

The free one isn't very helpful as it tells you what should be happening with the screen display, but not enough about how to change it.

Displaymate looks more useful, but I'm loathe to shell out $70 unless I'm more certain that it will do what I want (and unless I really have to!)

The Freeware version was around some years ago and I found it via a recommendation on the sci.electronics newsgroup iirc. The other product came from memory after reading an old Computer Shopper article in which it was featured. There are other products available. Though I cannot recall their names. However, I do recall seeing them mentioned here.

You could search google for "crt diagnostic calibration freeware" and see what you turn up.

Maybe I'm just being mean, but a shouldn't good monitor have proper instructions how to get the best out of it?

Some of them do. ISTR receiving a "driver disk" once which didn't have a driver, but instead a program to "diagnose" the monitor. Thus it featured a "test card" and a few recommended values to enter in regards to the "Brightness, Contrast, Trapezium, Parallel, Balance, Rotation" etc. Of course over the years I managed to lose it. Which is a shame, as there have been times where it would have been quite useful

Good luck in your search for the perfect program

Edit: Just seen this on the avforums and thought it maybe of use:
http://www.videoessentials.com/

HTH

charlieheard

Thanks for all this. I'll have a look at your suggestions, but I guess I'll have to start having a google around...