Since redecorating the room has finished, I have a new computer desk now, and its all arranged nicely I am looking for the new upgrades to turn my computer into a media centre. I am buying a Logitech Z-5500 speaker system, and a blue-ray/HD player for my computer which pretty much sorts everything apart from the important bit...the monitor.

Currently I am using a cheapish 19" TFT, but am looking for a decent sized widescreen TFT, with enough backlight and colour depth to use to the monitor for films, I will be watching the films from about 2 metres away. My current screen doesnt have the luminosity, even with contrast/brightness/gamma turned high.

So yea I am looking for a monitor that meets this criteria;
- Nicely sized (around 22-26") widescreen TFT. Resolution not really a problem on my GFX card (768MB 8800GTX overclocked)
- Good backlight so its a decent screen to watch from a distance. Viewing angle isnt of a problem due to the placing of the screen in the room.
- DVI-D with HDCP for high def playback
- Budget around £300, strictly not over £350
- Preferably a reasonable dead-pixel on arrival policy.

This is the one I have been looking at;
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products ... o.asp?WebProductID=608174

However I have no experience with monitors and want to make sure that I am getting the most for the money. Any help is much appreciated

With that kind of budget, all you're going to get is a TN panel. Despite the fact they're the fastest panel type, they're complete rubbish compared to even PVA, and especially IPS (nearly as fast as TN but far superior image quality). Likewise, IPS is rubbish compared to a nice CRT.

IPS panels are pretty pricey compared to the other panel types, but you get what you pay for. If you're just watching film, a PVA panel will probably do okay, just stay away from TN.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me ... 2049206&enterthread=y

I'm also looking for a new monitor. I probably buying this 24 inch monitor. It has a very good price/quality ratio.

So maybe it's something for you?

-edit: lol, it's the same as you posted above btw, I don't think a TN panel is bad.. it has only something to do with the viewing angle. (so if you just sitting right before your screen it's not a big deal I think..?) Correct me if im wrong.

Well, yeah, that's part of it. As a result of the TN panel's poor viewing angles, you end up with a color and brightness gradient across the entire screen regardless of where you sit. Moving around the slightest bit also causes the gradient to change.

Quote from Forbin :

Well, yeah, that's part of it. As a result of the TN panel's poor viewing angles, you end up with a color and brightness gradient across the entire screen regardless of where you sit. Moving around the slightest bit also causes the gradient to change.

Not really sure about this, thanks for the advice. Just my friend has an ASUS 19" TFT monitor and the viewing angles on it are excellent. I cant find the IPS panels your advising me on, on the websites I buy from. Are they new technology thats only started going into production?

nope ips is a well established technology and has been around for years

shots of all 3 types:
http://www.behardware.com/arti ... s-lcd-p-mva-vs-s-ips.html

only real disadvantage to ips is that the blacks are a bit dull

I've had a "lowly" TN panel for a few weeks now (22" Samsung 2232CW I think).

I am very happy with it. I know that the common consensus is that you have to be slightly retarded to like TN panel monitors but consider what you are using it for.

Mine is just my PC and it is mainly for games, with a bit of work brought home and internet surfing too. It doesn't matter in the slightest to me that you can't view it at an angle and I haven't really noticed colour differences because I don't really care about that. It is, in my opinion, a great monitor for LFS and general PC use. It's also fine for watching DVDs.

So, decide what the monitor is for and choose your model based on that, not what graphic designers want.

I just bought a samsung 245b. First thing: HUGE! It's almost a TV

The colours are good, I'm not an expert in this, but it's fine for me. The view angle is also quite good, dunno why everyone is bitching about this... (ok, you can see some difference if you move your head down or up, but it's not much).

Ofcourse you get some frames dropping if you go from a 19" to a 24". (first I had around 60fps, now 40fps). So that's not that bad...

So if you want a relative cheap, but good 24" monitor, this is a good option

Prepare to be disappointed by the TN panel when the wow factor of the large screen wears off.

The fact I can't get a refresh rate higher than 60Hz on my monitor still pisses me off. 85 would be acceptable, with 100 or 120 being ideal, IMO. It would be so much smoother.

Quote from zeromussov :

I just bought a samsung 245b. First thing: HUGE! It's almost a TV

Pah, I just bought a 32" S-IPS panel, now that's more like a TV in size.

(in fact it is a TV panel, proper 16:9 ratio too)

Forbin - higher refresh rates should come in due course. I can't think of a technical limitation. Of course the general public won't care as there's little in the way of flicker, so there isn't much to market such a device with.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Pah, I just bought a 32" S-IPS panel, now that's more like a TV in size.

(in fact it is a TV panel, proper 16:9 ratio too)

Forbin - higher refresh rates should come in due course. I can't think of a technical limitation. Of course the general public won't care as there's little in the way of flicker, so there isn't much to market such a device with.

How much did that cost?

Dell do some very nice 24" screens I would go for one myself if I could afford it.

Quote from spacedskunk :

How much did that cost?

Retails at about a grand 1 2. I got it off ebay second hand for £410.

Only just turned up today, here's a piccy:
http://bmp.thefloatingwidget.n ... tos/New%20monitor%202.jpg

Only 1360x768 resolution, so not great for usage as your main monitor but then I've got my 22" CRTs for that. I'm not a fan of widescreen monitors for desktop usage, I've just bought this for films. And frankly it's way too big for desktop usage anyway.

Due to being an S-IPS panel, the viewing angle is almost CRT like, only darkens a bit when you're looking practically side on.

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608090 £138.85 pretty cheap for a hannsG

Found a nice one that is 1p less than your budget. http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608053 lol £299.99 it is very nice though.

Thanks mate, I choose the LG L227WT 22" widescreen which you can see on the 'post your LFS screen' thread.

Thanks for all your help, I couldnt afford one of them expensive panels. This one however is miles better than my last one for colours, backlight and viewing angle. Its one uber screen!

Quote from Luke.S :

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608090 £138.85 pretty cheap for a hannsG

Found a nice one that is 1p less than your budget. http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608053 lol £299.99 it is very nice though.

Pretty cheap FOR a HannsG? HannsG are a budget brand aimed at low price consumers. That £300 monitor looks crap too, 5ms response and really crap reviews on the site.

Do you have any idea what your talking about or are you just posting the expensive stuff saying its good? If you don't know what your on about, don't post because its very annoying.

5ms?

Response time really doesn't mean much under 8ms - alot of people are fine with 16ms screens and i'm fine with a 25ms screen...

Quote from Jakg :

5ms?

Response time really doesn't mean much under 8ms - alot of people are fine with 16ms screens and i'm fine with a 25ms screen...

I'm just speaking from personal experience. I tried a 5ms response at a mates house, played on it for a while, came back home and sat in front of my 2ms. It was loads different for me, at least. It was wierd and I couldn't really tell how it was different but I could feel a difference. I'm just not to keen on HannsG anyway, not the best of quality.

Quote from Forbin :

With that kind of budget, all you're going to get is a TN panel. Despite the fact they're the fastest panel type, they're complete rubbish compared to even PVA, and especially IPS (nearly as fast as TN but far superior image quality). Likewise, IPS is rubbish compared to a nice CRT.

FINALY, someone with some brains!

I will hold onto my Philips 107T untill it dies because I refuse to switch over to flatpanels, sure its not as big and it's not widescreen, but it gets a much better picture than any current flatscreen. And you know what the best part is, I grabbed it out of a trash bin! someone threw it out because they got a flatscreen of inferior quality.

I would realy like to find a 27" CRT like I had before, but they are realy hard to come by these days. My old one went in the trash because someone broke the connecters in the back.

Quote from DragonCommando :

FINALY, someone with some brains!

I will hold onto my Philips 107T untill it dies because I refuse to switch over to flatpanels, sure its not as big and it's not widescreen, but it gets a much better picture than any current flatscreen. And you know what the best part is, I grabbed it out of a trash bin! someone threw it out because they got a flatscreen of inferior quality.

I would realy like to find a 27" CRT like I had before, but they are realy hard to come by these days. My old one went in the trash because someone broke the connecters in the back.

Both Shotglass and I are former Sony FW900 owners (24" widescreen CRT, equivalent in size to a 22" widescreen LCD). When it died, I ended up switching to an NEC 20WMGX2 (also has a variant called 20WGX2), a 20" widescreen LCD that cost $550, an unheard of price for that size. I just wasn't willing to spring for a 24" of equivalent quality at double the price. The end result is that NEC no longer makes it, since people who didn't know what it was passed it up due to the price, and the people who did tended to buy it instead of the more expensive models.

It's not as smooth as the FW900 was but it's bearable. And if I'm honest, the FW900 was also pretty badly washed out from being old.

Quote from Forbin :

Both Shotglass and I are former Sony FW900 owners

actually i still do own it and ive found someone at work who seems to know a bit about crt repairs

btw the supposedly great HP LP2475w which a lot of people seem to like is useless... all 5 models that ive seen at work have a very noticeavle shadow on the bottom and on the right the first one i got had a colour ramp from green to red across which is quite common apparently the colour presets are useless and no amount of tweaking can get rid of the oversaturatedness of it

Quote from Shotglass :

btw the supposedly great HP LP2475w which a lot of people seem to like is useless... all 5 models that ive seen at work have a very noticeavle shadow on the bottom and on the right the first one i got had a colour ramp from green to red across which is quite common apparently the colour presets are useless and no amount of tweaking can get rid of the oversaturatedness of it

That's a shame, my latest revision LP2465 is great. The 2475 is an IPS panel isn't it?

yes it is.... im actually envious of the 2465s people got earlier much nicer despite the supposedly worse pva panel
either way imho the 2475 isnt worth the 500€ they expect you to pay for it