Monitor advice pls

debs626

Thanks for taking the time to look in.

I'm using a 15" tft at the moment - very basic model - I have bought a new digital camera and when viewing or correcting images I dont think I am viewing it with the best tool.

I would like a bigger monitor, about a 19", what should I look for ? bearing in mind I will only be using it for viewing pictures. I dont play any games ect.

Thanks in advance

CAT-THE-FIFTH

I would wait for a while!! The reason that almost all monitors do not have HDCP which means if you ever want to play high definition contact you will not be able to to. Since monitors are the last thing people usually upgrade and often the longest living component I would consider only getting a monitor with this feature!!

There is talk of a budget 20 inch Dell widescreen which will cost around 300 USD which would probably mean around 250 quid here which has HDCP(E207WFP).

Another thing to look for is the colour depth.Most cheaper panels display 16.2 million colours as opposed to the more expensive panels which have 16.7 million. This is because cheaper panels can only show 262,144 colours(6 bit) at any one time and quickly switch between colours(called dithering) to try to display more. They are usually of the TN type. More expensive panels usually are of the IPS type and can display the full gamut of colours since they are 8bit.

The 6 bit colour panels can display movement better but can have many issues like colour banding!

This is important if you are fiddling with your pictures!!

CAT-THE-FIFTH

If on the other hand colour gamout and lack of HDCP is not an important issue I would recommend the HannsG HW191D!

debs626

I googled and found some specifications - I liked the price tag and the widescreen feature :-) can u give more advice -

Main Features
Product Description Hanns.G HW191D - flat panel display - TFT - 19"

Device Type Flat panel display / TFT active matrix

Colour Black, silver

Built-in Devices Stereo speakers

Dimensions (WxDxH) 45.3 cm x 19.8 cm x 37.1 cm

Weight 4.7 kg

Diagonal Size 19" - widescreen

Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch 0.283 mm

Max Resolution 1440 x 900

Colour support Up to 16.2 million colors **** would I be better with the 16.7 or wouldnt it be very noticable?****

Response Time 5 ms

Image Brightness 300 cd/m2

Image Contrast Ratio 700:1

Digital Video Standard Digital Visual Interface (DVI)

Audio Output Speaker(s) - stereo - integrated

Interface DVI, VGA (HD-15)

Compliant Standards TCO '03, CE, UL, BSMI, cUL, EPA Energy Star, GS, CB, CCC, FCC

Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

Power Consumption Operational 55 Watt **** is this high or low ???****

Thanks in advance

dazed

CAT-THE-FIFTH wrote:

If on the other hand colour gamout and lack of HDCP is not an important issue I would recommend the HannsG HW191D!

I concour !! I have 1 of these and they are amazing.

CAT-THE-FIFTH

For colour work 16.7 is much better. It depends on how critical it is!!

I use one at work and it is a quite a nice monitor overall! Good contrast and brightness and the colour is also fairly decent!

However make sure that your graphics card can support 1440x900 though as the one on the work computer did not!

debs626

Yes, graphics card does support 1440x900

going to give this some serious consideration.

thanks guys

mattp_3

On a more "Money Saving" note - I recently bought a 21" CRT monitor off Ebay for £35 (2nd hand) and as long as you aren't really pushed for space a CRT is much better than a TFT as the images are better and they tend to last longer - i run it on 1600x1200 res and images look awesome!!!

Worth considering as a new 21" TFT is still over £250!

CAT-THE-FIFTH

They have it for around 137 quid with postage included at both Dabs and Microdirect!

The cheapest I have seen it is at Watford Computers(Savastore) which has it for 136quid!!