Advice Needed re: New Monitor Please

Ok, so I've had an old CRT for ages. (I'm not one that adjusts to change well and it still works beautifully but...well, it's big and clunky and my computer tech said it uses more electricity than the LCD's. But mainly I wanted more screen "real estate" for SL.

I read through the thread here posted awhile back on monitors and got familiar with stats and what to look for. I ended up with a 19" LG Flatron W1952TQ. I knew from past experience in just changing from one CRT monitor to another years ago that there is an adjustment period, but a few questions:

1. Is there a difference between LCD and flat screen monitors? I looked that up online and what I read pretty much said all LCD's are flat screens, but this one tends to curve in a bit.

2. I know brightness, contrast, sharpness, color, etc. settings are very individual, but does anyone have any that seem to work well with SL. I've played around with this all morning and still seem to have more of a lighter, almost "washed out" look on SL compared to my CRT.

3. The documentation says the best screen resolution is 1400x900 but when I set that, it is teeeeeny. Could that have something to do with my graphics card. (An older one as well but again, works beautifully so I don't want to mess with it, especially with all the posts I've seen on difficulties with graphics cards and SL.) I tried all different settings and landed on 1152x864 which seems about the best.

4. My eyes seem to hurt and get tired on this monitor and didn't on the CRT. I noticed that when I worked at a job with LCD monitors as well. Can this be adjusted for with settings?

5. I "almost" got the 22" thinking "bigger was better" but then I mentioned my vid card to the sales guy and he said (a lot of stuff I didn't understand) but basically the 19" would be better for me. NOW I'm wondering if a 17" might suit me even better. (This curve at the side kind of bugs me. On my CRT, even though the screen was curved, I could make the viewing "flat" but some setting on it, but I can't find that setting on this one. The only thing that takes away the curves is setting it on something called 4:3 in wide...but then I have a smaller viewing area with a lot of black space around it.)

Any suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated. And am I just going through the "getting used to new monitor syndrome?"

Try setting your monitor back to max resolution (1400 x 900) and then running SL in a non-maximized window in the center of your screen. That will take some of the strain off your graphics card, and you will not have to look at the "curvy" edges of your screen.

Additionally, you will be able to have other windows visible while you are running SL.

1. As far as I know, "flatscreen" can be anything not curved. LCD and plasma. NCI made a flatscreen CRT series but they were expensive and weighed about 50lbs or more each. If your LCD moniter has a curve to it, something is odd. Since the LCD itself is basically a thin sheet of plastic I guess it is possible the manufacturer made it with a gentle curve for a reason but I really don't see why ... not for a 19" anyway.

2. I don't have an LG so I can't help much. Have you tried loading any software that came with it? I know many new moniters come with a few pre-set options lable things like, movies, productivity, text or other such things. Just dig through the on screen menus and see what you can come up with.

3. 1400 X 900 will be that models native resolution. The LCD is a grid and what ever display size your computer's video card is set to will be mapped to 1400 X 900 by the moniter. If you set your screen resolution to the moniters native resolution there is a one to one mapping for pixles. In any case ... I have not seen any noticable distortion when using other, lower setting other than the obvious that it is just a lower resolution. If you like 1152x864 then use it. No problem.

4. LCD's (especially the lower end lines) are not typically as crisp or as bright as CRT's can be. Once you get a comfortible setting from point #2 the eye strain should be reduced. Also, set your refresh rate to 72 or higher. A refresh rate of 60 is the worst possible setting because the flicker matches and indoor lighting at 60 Hz. Even if it is too fast for human perception it will still give you headaches.

5. What is your vid card anyway? If it could handle 1400 X 900 I would think it would not have a problem with the larger screen sizes. BTW, I run 1400X900 on a 24" widescreen at home. Perfect for my ageing eyes. The small the screen size the lower the resolution you need to set things at for them to be the same physical size.

6. (the any suggustions bit) Think about how many computers you have been through with your old CRT. If the 22" is a little over-kill for your current system, it may be perfect for your next and just withing working specs for the next.

I have a Samsung 22" on both our computers that are running at 1680 x 1050 and I love it.

Runs SL without a hitch. will hit 50-60 fps on a empty sim and even in laggy dance sims with 30+ people will still top 20fps

Ones a AMD 6000+ x2 with a Nvidia 9600GT and the other is a Intel Core2Duo E8400 with an older Nvidia 8800GT

I saw two monitors the other day that I thought would be great for SL.

The first was a 22" HP touchscreen all-in-one computer. I love the idea of pointing at something with my finger instead of point-and-click with the mouse.

The second was a huuuge 28" Samsung display. I have a peripheral vision deficit, so this thing would fill my view from edge to edge and maybe a little besides.

If anyone's used either one, or something similar, for SL I'd be interested in your experience.

Oh...for the OP: I use a Dell 24" LCD, and love it. 1900x1200 native resolution.

I have the LG in a 22in model and it works great. I installed the drivers that came with it, and have it on the default settings at 1600 x 1050. It took me a while to get used to it from the 1024x768 I used on my 19" crt, but now it's fine.

I already run SL in a window with other programs in the background, so that isn't an issue.

When I set the monitor to 1400x900, everything looked awful - text, graphics, etc. So for my PC, that setting doesn't work at all.

In the store it didn't look curved - off course they were just running a continuing graphics slide show on it - so I was really surprised taht the edges are a bit curved. My CRT screen curved out, but this one curves inward a little at the sides and top and bottom. Very odd.



The only software that came with it was a CD with the user manual on it and some software that I loaded that enabled me to make some of the settings with one touch. Been trying to make various adjustments all day. So far I have it the best I can and seeing if I get used to it.




Where would I set my refresh rate at? Some other stats that might help with answers are its "digital fine contrast" is 10000:1 (I read the higher the better) and the response time is 2ms.



Yes, I don't understand why the 1400 x 900 looks just awful on my computer since it's the recommended size. My vid card is a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE. It's an older one, but was state of the art when I had to upgrade years ago to keep up with EQ's constant graphics demands. I keep the drivers up to date and it has worked beautifully. I'm wondering, though, if that has something to do with the 1400x900 looking awful - and I mean hardly legible.



I got the 19" LCD. Actually, I had my PC built for me at an independent computer store and whenever a part needed to be replaced, they just pulled that out and put in a new...whatever. So, it's hard to say how many "computers" I've been through, since it's basically the same case (I replaced that once) with updated components as I need them. (Just added more RAM for a total of 2.5 gig as an example.)

Thank you so much, Yosef, for your detailed answers Much appreciated.

I was about to say I didn't see any drivers on the CD that came with the system, but now I'm recalling that I went through a process of selecting drivers when I first connected it and got the "You're using the best drivers already" notice.

And does yours seem to have a "curve" to the screen?

Thanks Brenda!

When it comes to monitors, there's only really one rule of thumb; get a great big-ass one.

On the question of drivers; I don't think I've ever installed a driver for a monitor ever. My current LCD monitor plugs into my desktop and my two laptops (both of which have broken screens - long story) and has never needed a driver. It just plugs straight into the VGA output. You're not one of those Mac users are you?

The number of motherboards you have had is the number of computers you have had.

i am so due for a new monitor myself..mine is slowly dying as it inches it's way up from the bottom making my screen smaller on this system..i guess it could be worse and it died all at once on me hehehe
i'm looking into a 22" wide screen LCD next i think..

My first PC was built for me in the early mid-80's when personal computers were barely just introduced. It was an XP clone with DOS. I had that until windows was introduced, then purchased a (trying to think...that was a looong time ago) "maybe" an HP, not sure. When the motherboard went out on it, I took it to the local computer shop and that's when I found that "standard" motherboards wouldn't fit in the HP box. That was when I had them build a computer for me with a new motherboard, salvaging as many things as possible from the HP, and then adding the rest.

So that really counts as my "first" computer for this discussion. I "think" I have only had one other motherboard since that first one due to needing a faster processor for EQ and then later updated the graphics card.

(I'm the type that likes things as they are and don't like to change if possible...lol)

I have a 19" lcd that runs at 1440/900 =) I just turned it on and played around with different resolutions and cant make look curvie. Though i can make the text really really small.

Only thing i can think of is the wide screen or fullscreen switch is set wrong. Especially as you are switching from a full screen crt to a wide screen lcd.

Perhaps this will explain;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jSmSTpRUeLs

Where is that setting, please? Thank you for your suggestion

Errr, was that a dig?

When everything is working well and doing what I want it to do and I'm happy with it, I see no reason to buy a new component, just because it's new.

I would think on your monitor itself. Somewhere in that menu will be a format sub-menu.(at least mine does =)) Switching mine to 4/3 has some odd effects. Not what I would describe as curvy though.

Right Click. Chose "Properties" > Settings tab. You can change resolution from there.

I'm looking at three 17 inch CRT screens at the moment, all of which where sold as "flat screen" and they are in fact pretty flat. Older CRT were bowed out. When I switched from the older bowed out CRTs to the then modern and now obsolete flat screen CRTs, the flat screen CRTs looked to me like they curved in. This was a visual illusion. Now they look flat. When I turn on my other, fourth CRT, which is an old bowed out one, it looks really really really bowed out now. Hard to look at it. It makes me feel like I'm looking at my grandmama's first TV set.

I believe the model of LCD monitor you mention is the same one that I bought for my children, one each. This monitor is an extremely high contrast monitor and very bright. I don't recall exactly what adjustments I made but it ended up looking very nice. I'd buy one for myself, based on what I saw, but I don't have any more more money to spend on myself.

You said your suggested resolution was 1400 by 900, but the W1952TQ's native resolution is 1440, not 1400, so if that wasn't just a typing mistake in the post maybe you should try 1440 instead of 1400.

There's a PDF manual for the W1952TQ which might be of use if you don't have the manual. That's findable at http://us.lgservice.com/index_b2c.jsp . There are onscreen commands for brightness, contrast, and gamma, and there's setting to select sRGB, 6500K, or 9300K.

The recommended refresh rate at the recommended resolution of 1440 x 900 is 60 hz, exactly what another poster said was the worst refresh rate. I don't think that refresh rates on LCDs work quite the same as refresh rates on CRTs.

There's seems to be both a driver for the monitor and some software called forteManager. forteManager is for adjusting the output appearance. Have you installed the driver and installed and run forteManager? It looks like the driver and forteManager are at http://www.lge.com/products/sidemenu/list/normal%20lcd%20monitor_PRD|OVIEW_overview|list.jhtml.

If I had one of them here at hand I'd be glad to go through all the settings with you but one is across town and the other monitor is attending college out of state, lucky monitor. It must be nice to be 19 and in college, even if it's 19 inches diagonal instead of 19 years old.

Oh right...I saw that 4:3 thing in the subsettings on my monitor. It made the screen into a small screen in the middle of the monitor surrounded by lots of black space. But you're right, then it wasn't curvy...lol.

I spoke at length to my Partner tonight who is a "professional geek." We worked through all kinds of settings, etc. to no avail. He thinks I may have gotten a defective screen, so I'm going to exchange it and see what happens.

I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions

Hi, Sharcel Thank you for your post...I greatly appreciate it!



That's interesting...I wonder if this is an optical illusion because you are describing exactly what I'm seeing - after using a 15" CRT (non-flat screen) for years where the screen bows out, this LCD looks like it's bowing in. How long did it take for it to look flat?



This monitor is definitely hugely brighter than my CRT, even with my turning the brightness way down. And that was a typo; I tried the 1440 x 900.



I read the pdf manual that came with the monitor, but it mainly just gave the different setting controls and what they meant. I didn't fool with the sRGB (didn't want to really mess it up...lol) and not sure what the 6500K or 9300K is, so will definitely go to the website and read up on that. Thank you



When I checked that out after the previous poster mentioned that, I found the monitor was already set at 72 hz. I upped it to 75 just to see if it made any difference.



When I plugged in the monitor, it automatically went through a search for the correct driver and said I already had the best one loaded. From what I could tell, the forteManager basically let me use some auto buttons for settings instead of going through the settings menu. But if it does more...I definitely want to find that out. Looks like I've got some reading to do in the morning. Thank you so much for taking the time to research all this for me!



That was a kind offer *smiles* I'll read over the websites you referenced carefully, reload the driver and see what else this forteManager may do!

No, not a dig at all. It was an explanation that you have bought a new computer, without realising it. If you have replaced the motherboard, you have bought a new computer.

I was drawing a parallel with Trigger's broom, that has had 14 new heads and 9 new handles in it's time but he still thinks it's the same broom. Everything else is just peripherals. Necessary peripherals, perhaps, but peripherals all the same. The motherboard is the computer.

Ah ok...thanks for clearing that up I never thought of it that way: new motherboard = new computer. I've just thought I've had the same computer with replaced components over the years...lol.

(Still don't understand why I'm seeing a slightly curved picture on a flat screen but will read the info the previous poster provided.)

Czari, you may want to ask Santa for a new vid card, but you probably already know this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150247

This is a $70 card, GeForce 8600 with 512 MB memory. $10 rebate (and I detest rebates because they are so unreliable) which brings it to 60 bucks. I swear you will think you have a brand new machine with the difference in performance. Turn all the graphic options up in SL and still run faster.

Just a thought.