LCD Monitor users..VS CRT'S

I'd like to hear from both users.

Which do you prefer and why?

I have tried using the search, it's been down all day. I'm purchasing a new comp. The monitor with it is a Sony 15' LCD. I'm not sure how the LCD'S stack up against CRT'S. Seems I have heard both good and bad about the LCD'S. I can opt out of the LCD if needed. I'm worried about both color and size. What do YOU think........

I'm already accustomed to a 17'. And the Max res. on the Sony LCD is 1024

I'm a novice, and newbie. But won't be........... long!!

THANKS in advance!!!

Rixx

Rick Schmitz said:

I'd like to hear from both users.

Which do you prefer and why?

I have tried using the search, it's been down all day. I'm
purchasing a new comp. The monitor with it is a Sony 15' LCD. I'm
not sure how the LCD'S stack up against CRT'S. Seems I have heard
both good and bad about the LCD'S. I can opt out of the LCD if
needed. I'm worried about both color and size. What do YOU
think........

I'm already accustomed to a 17'. And the Max res. on the Sony LCD
is 1024

Click to expand...

As of last week I have two lcd monitors - the two monitor setup is ideal for PS and because of space constraints in the current location, two crt's wouldn't work. The spin on monitors is that pros should use a crt and that lcds can't be calibrated well enough. I'm not a pro and I have a good match from camera to monitor to print. I use adobe gamma for calibration (something that is "impossible" for an lcd, but works just fine for me), and profiles for printer and paper. The lcd's are easier on my eyes, don't get as dirty as crt's, and I wouldn't change back to crt's if I had the space and was a pro.

The higher the contrast ratio the better and the 15 lcd in should be about the same size as the 17 crt. Links you might find helpful. There are many more to check out when the search engine is back up...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=6023028
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1855&p=7
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1855

--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc

Kent C said:

As of last week I have two lcd monitors - the two monitor setup is
ideal for PS and because of space constraints in the current
location, two crt's wouldn't work. The spin on monitors is that
pros should use a crt and that lcds can't be calibrated well
enough. I'm not a pro and I have a good match from camera to
monitor to print. I use adobe gamma for calibration (something that
is "impossible" for an lcd, but works just fine for me), and
profiles for printer and paper. The lcd's are easier on my eyes,
don't get as dirty as crt's, and I wouldn't change back to crt's if
I had the space and was a pro.

The higher the contrast ratio the better and the 15 lcd in should
be about the same size as the 17 crt. Links you might find helpful.
There are many more to check out when the search engine is back
up...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=6023028
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1855&p=7
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1855

--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc

Click to expand...

WOW!

Thanks Kent! I'll check out the links, right now! I have been trying the search engine all day, with no luck. Sounds like your happy with the LCD'S. Your right, the 15' looked close to the same size as my 17 crt, now that I think about it. i sure could use the space as well........

Thanks again!!

Rick

You can calibrate LCDs' just fine but they tend to go out of whack more often then CRTs' do!

Kent C said:

Rick Schmitz said:

I'd like to hear from both users.

Which do you prefer and why?

I have tried using the search, it's been down all day. I'm
purchasing a new comp. The monitor with it is a Sony 15' LCD. I'm
not sure how the LCD'S stack up against CRT'S. Seems I have heard
both good and bad about the LCD'S. I can opt out of the LCD if
needed. I'm worried about both color and size. What do YOU
think........

I'm already accustomed to a 17'. And the Max res. on the Sony LCD
is 1024

Click to expand...

As of last week I have two lcd monitors - the two monitor setup is
ideal for PS and because of space constraints in the current
location, two crt's wouldn't work. The spin on monitors is that
pros should use a crt and that lcds can't be calibrated well
enough. I'm not a pro and I have a good match from camera to
monitor to print. I use adobe gamma for calibration (something that
is "impossible" for an lcd, but works just fine for me), and
profiles for printer and paper. The lcd's are easier on my eyes,
don't get as dirty as crt's, and I wouldn't change back to crt's if
I had the space and was a pro.

The higher the contrast ratio the better and the 15 lcd in should
be about the same size as the 17 crt. Links you might find helpful.
There are many more to check out when the search engine is back
up...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=6023028
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1855&p=7
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1855

--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc

Click to expand...

--

'The only real currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with each other when we're being uncool.' -- Cameron Crowe

I've had the ViewSonic VX2000 for 10 months now. It is 20 inches of pure beauty. Would never go back to a CRT. This is so easy on my eyes and my electric bill.
Marty

Pete Perry said:

You can calibrate LCDs' just fine but they tend to go out of whack
more often then CRTs' do!

Click to expand...

Pete,

I understand, but some here have stated that they are "impossible to calibrate" and that "adobe gamma isn't designed to calibrate lcds" etc. I usually recheck my calibration about once a month, but I would do that if I had a crt as well. I've had just 2 different profiles since I got it last year.
--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc

I would never go back to a CRT. It's much easier to edit images on an LCD. The first thing you will notice when you switch is how much more detail you can see in the images, because of the higher contrast. Not to mention how much eaiser it is on your eyes.

Leave your LCD on for about an hour before you try to calibrate it. The color dramaticaly changes as it worms up, but it is so gradual you don't notice it. Also the contrast and saturation change with the viewing angle, so be aware of that also.

Most software like Adobe gama makes a linear calibration, but it should be more like an S curve for an LCD. Find some software that lets you adjust the gamma at various levels throught out the range to produce a curved calibration, like SuperCal...

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12756

If you do alot of editing or pro work don't get a cheap LCD. LCDs are hard to calibrate and cheap LCDs are worse. I have a two LCD setup, the cheap one holds the toobars and menus and the good one holds the image. The color between the two are night and day. One thing to look for is if the manufacturer supplies color profiles. The profiles supplied by the manufacturer usualy are not that good, but it shows thay are at least paying attention to it.

See Tom's Hardware for some good tests and well done profiles you can download.

http://www.tomshardware.com/newsletter/vol3/25/lcd.html

The monitor I have is an NEC 1760v, I highly recomend it.

Tom Bonge said:

I would never go back to a CRT. It's much easier to edit images on
an LCD. The first thing you will notice when you switch is how much
more detail you can see in the images, because of the higher
contrast.

Click to expand...

I thought LCDs were plagued with lower contrast than CRTs? That is the case with my CRT main LCD secondary set-up. LCD screens are getting better at contrast, but I do not believe the best of them yet match the middle of the road CRT.

I suspect LCDs will be vastly improved by the time I need to replace my Mitsibushi 2070BK 20 inch CRT! The most beautiful monitor I have ever seen!

--
CDL

Be aware that some LCD's are limited to 16 bit color on higher resolutions (Such as my Scaleo 7010)

A CRT does have a much higher contrast ratio than an LCD but that does not mean they have higher contrast.

The contrast ratio is the difference betwen the darkest black and the whitest white. A CRT can produce a much darker black, so it has a higher ratio. So high that it is not even listed in the specs, it might be somthing like 20000:1, where an LCD might be 500:1. But all that black range is not visible in a well lit room, thats why pros have hoods over their CRT monitors.

There are only 256 gray levels so 500:1 is enough.

LCDs excell at pure white and light colors. So with an LCD you will have higher contrast in the light range and lower contrast in the dark range. Thats why you need an S curve calibration profile for an LCD.

You won't be able to see all the extra dark end contrast on a CRT unless you view it in dark condisions. And there is nothing you can do to get more contrast in lighter colors on a CRT, they just can't produce bright white.

In a normaly lit room an LCD has more visible contrast, you will see much more detain in your images on a LCD.

Dennis Lathem said:

I thought LCDs were plagued with lower contrast than CRTs? That is
the case with my CRT main LCD secondary set-up. LCD screens are
getting better at contrast, but I do not believe the best of them
yet match the middle of the road CRT.

I suspect LCDs will be vastly improved by the time I need to
replace my Mitsibushi 2070BK 20 inch CRT! The most beautiful
monitor I have ever seen!

--
CDL

Click to expand...

Tom Bonge said:

A CRT does have a much higher contrast ratio than an LCD but that
does not mean they have higher contrast.

The contrast ratio is the difference betwen the darkest black and
the whitest white. A CRT can produce a much darker black, so it has
a higher ratio. So high that it is not even listed in the specs, it
might be somthing like 20000:1, where an LCD might be 500:1. But
all that black range is not visible in a well lit room, thats why
pros have hoods over their CRT monitors.

Click to expand...

Well I have a room specifically set up for digital editing and I do not have any other sources of light on in the room during Photoshop Editing. I do not therefore need a hood.

When I look over at the LCD sitting next to my Mitsibushi it really looks bad. I know it is not a expensive high end LCD, but I could never edit on it. It does, however, make an excellent place for my tools and other PhotoShop goodies.

--
CDL

Like many other posters in this thread, I've moved from CRT monitors to TFT panels and would never go back to CRT. You save so much space and TFT panels are much easier on the eye. I replaced a IBM pro 17" monitor with an 18.1" iiyama panel and a smaller CRT with a 15" iiyama panel.

Photoshop is calibrated with the profile that comes with the TFT panel and I get an excellent match between what I see on the screen and the prints on my Espon printers.

BTW, being pedantic, modern flat panels are TFT, not LCD

Rick Schmitz said:

I'd like to hear from both users.

Which do you prefer and why?

Click to expand...

--
Bruce

Bruce Paterson said:

BTW, being pedantic, modern flat panels are TFT, not LCD

Click to expand...

TFT is a type of LCD.

Jerry Kindall said:

Bruce Paterson said:

BTW, being pedantic, modern flat panels are TFT, not LCD

Click to expand...

TFT is a type of LCD.

Click to expand...

True! I suppose my point is that Thin Film Transistor technology is far superior in terms of resolution, viewing angle and brilliance to the earlier Liquid Crystal Displays. In my sector of the computer industry, we've not used the term LCD for years.

Thanks for correcting me.

--
Bruce

Now that you mention it, when I got my first LCD I thought it looked horrable next to the CRT. I had the same setup as you. One LCD and one CRT. The white balance on the LCD was way off, the whites were too bright and the blacks too dark. It was like that for a year before I figured out how to build the correct profile for it. Adjusting the mid point gamma for each color (like adobe gamma does) just isn't good enough for an LCD.

Dennis Lathem said:

Well I have a room specifically set up for digital editing and I do
not have any other sources of light on in the room during Photoshop
Editing. I do not therefore need a hood.

When I look over at the LCD sitting next to my Mitsibushi it really
looks bad. I know it is not a expensive high end LCD, but I could
never edit on it. It does, however, make an excellent place for my
tools and other PhotoShop goodies.

--
CDL

Click to expand...

... cost. At my last computer purchase, about a year ago, I "upgraded" from a 17-inch LCD monitor to a 21-inch CRT monitor. Total cost of the computer was reduced a little more than $300. However, cost wasn't my reason for the choice. I have the room, and still prefer the look of CRT for photoediting. But that's just me.

Bruce Paterson said:

Jerry Kindall said:

Bruce Paterson said:

BTW, being pedantic, modern flat panels are TFT, not LCD

Click to expand...

TFT is a type of LCD.

Click to expand...

True! I suppose my point is that Thin Film Transistor technology
is far superior in terms of resolution, viewing angle and
brilliance to the earlier Liquid Crystal Displays. In my sector of
the computer industry, we've not used the term LCD for years.

Thanks for correcting me.

Click to expand...

Just being pedantic.