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question about LCD monitors - text clarity

PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:58 am
by dodecahedron
OK so i bought an LCD screen, which should go to a computer for my son (2+ years old. i'm gonna keep working on the Sony 19" Trinitron CRT).

i'm not used to LCD monitors. i hooked it up to my computer and worked on it a bit, and the charaters aren't clear as i'm used to on my CRT. they're a bit 'fuzzy around the edges'.
i turned on Clear Type, it helps some, especaially the text of the icons on the desktop and in the FireFox browser. but some (like in Word, or some PDF documents) it's still fuzzy.

is this normal ?

note:
the CRT is 19", which means 18" viewable, resolution 1600x1200.
the LCD is 19", resolution 1280x1024.
maybe it's because of the combo of larger screen + lower resolution that i see these artifacts? but i don't remember this when i worked on the CRT at lower resolutions too.

is this something inherent to LCD ?
or is my screen defective ?

the monitor is a BenQ model:
http://www.benq.com/products/LCD/?product=781

TIA

PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:18 am
by redk9258
Try setting your desktop resolution to match the native resolution of the LCD.
Right click on desktop --> Properties --> Settings tab.
Set to 1280 x 1024.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:01 pm
by LoneWolf
As RedK basically said, LCD monitors are designed primarily to be run at their native resolution, unlike CRTs which are meant to support multiple resolutions. Many LCD's don't scale well (unless your LCD has 1:1 pixel mapping like my Dell, which is primarily meant for running games that don't support widescreen resolutions).

Run your LCD at its native res of 1280x1024. If text looks too small, go to large fonts. If that doesn't do it for you, turn ClearType on, which will make it more readable, but loses a little sharpness in the process.

I like ClearType for some laptop displays (i.e., 15.4" LCD with a native res of 1600x1200), but at 1920x1200 on my Dell, I have a custom font size to make it larger (115dpi) and I have all font-smoothing turned off, since text looks far sharper this way.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:49 am
by dodecahedron
thanks redk, LoneWolf.
the monitor is at the native (also max) resolution of 1280x1024.

the text looks, if anything, too big.
i'm used to 1600x1200 on a 19" CRT (= viewable 18"), and now 1280x1024 on a 19" LCD (= viewable 19").
i'm thinking maybe that's why.

i wish i could find a 1600x1200 LCD but from what i see (at least here in Israel) they'd all be 20" or 21" and thus prohibitively expensive.
i'm really pissed off that none of the 19" ones are 1600x1200. :evil:

you say you got a 15.4" LCD with a native resolution of 1600x1200 ? WOW!

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:02 am
by MediumRare
I picked up a Samsung 204Ts (now discontinued) for 500 Euros about 6 months ago and I love it. It's 1200x1600 and has a good panel. There's still a jump between 19" and 20" LCDs, but the prices are dropping all round, even for MVA or IPS panels.

With my aging eyes, the bigger text would have been an advantage (I have a 19" 1280x1024 at work), but everything is so crisp that I have no problems reading things.

One point you might check: if the monitor is hooked up to an analog video output, make sure that the synchronization is OK- that sometimes causes fuzziness.

G

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:01 pm
by socheat
dodecahedron wrote:i wish i could find a 1600x1200 LCD but from what i see (at least here in Israel) they'd all be 20" or 21" and thus prohibitively expensive.
i'm really pissed off that none of the 19" ones are 1600x1200. :evil:


Nope, it's not just Israel. I don't understand it either:
15" - 1024x768
17" - 1280x1024
19" - 1280x1024?!

AND, to top it off, a lot of the 20" and 21" monitors are going wide now, so you only get 1680x1050 :evil: :evil:

dodecahedron wrote:you say you got a 15.4" LCD with a native resolution of 1600x1200 ? WOW!


Most likely a laptop. :)

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:33 pm
by LoneWolf
dodecahedron wrote:you say you got a 15.4" LCD with a native resolution of 1600x1200 ? WOW!
As Socheat said (and my previous post), yes, this is on a laptop. Laptops tend to have higher max-resolutions on their LCD panels.

Here in the States at least, 20" LCD prices are coming down. I usually tell people to hunt for a Dell coupon so they can get a 2007FP -the discount (depending on what's available, you may find a 10 or 20% off coupon, or a $50 coupon just do an Ebay search for "dell coupon").

I did find that a 20" widescreen didn't quite do it for me, coming from a 19" CRT. I went to a 24" widescreen; the extra cost was covered by Christmas money. I would have gone with a standard-aspect 20" screen at the time, but I couldn't find one with HDCP support (seems like most vendors are adding that to widescreens only).