Another 2405 user gets blurred text

[PeteD]

Took ownership of my 2405 the other day. I had ordered it the day before they reduced the price of the 2407 ;o( . Anyway, I'm not a gamer, or into watching DVD's so I'm not too bothered about protected content. What I am bothered about the fact that the text is slighly blurred.

Messing around with the monitor's phase setting improves it (better than when the monitor auto adjusts) but it is not perfect. I mean its not that bad, but my eyes get tired after a few hours. I'm a coder, so crisp text is a must for me. I run this monitor out of the analogue port of my IBM T42 laptop, and I think this has something to do with it. When I run dual monitor mode it is worse. Also, when I plug the monitor into the analogue port of my work Dell 610D laptop the picture is fine. This is really annoying as I bought the 2405 for use at home with my T42, as its own screen is too small. Maybe the T42 doesnt a powerful enough grahics card for such a big monitor?

Any suggestions as to what I should do? Can I get some kind of DVI PCMCIA card, or an analogue signal booster?

 

[framerateuk]

Are you running at the native resolution? (1920X1200) if not then what would explain the fuzzy text. You really need to be able to output at that res to get a crisp image.

If you have no problems at the same resolution on another machine, then it indicates a problem with the machine, and not with the monitor.

 

[ayabe]

I'm sure someone will disagree with me but the remedy for this on any LCD monitor that I have used is to enable ClearType fonts.

 

[PeteD]

that has improved a bit! Still not perfect, but a bit better! Thanks!

 

[DBL]

My first thought would be that analogue and a 24" 1920x1200 LCD are not a great combination. Does your laptop natively support that resolution? In my experience, analogue LCD quality really starts diminishing as you move to 20" (1600x1200) and beyond.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Are you running DVI. My 2405 over DVI was super sharp. That is a high res to pump through VGA you will almost certainly see a negative effect over VGA.

Here is my 2007 (blur) compared with my 2405 (sharp) both over DVI:
http://i.pbase.com/o4/04/606404/1/59944402.textComp.jpg

 

[imported_Crusader]

I'd get yourself a smaller LCD if you want to run analog. 2005FPW or 2007FPW would have been about right for running analog.

Also, the 2405 is a 6bit panel with dithering. The 2005/2007 are true 8bit panels.
A lot of people cant tell, but if you swap out you get that as a bonus alongside clear analog output.
Let it be known though, there is no match for DVI. You will always have degraded image quality running through the VGA.

 

[PeteD]

Originally posted by: Crusader
I'd get yourself a smaller LCD if you want to run analog. 2005FPW or 2007FPW would have been about right for running analog.

Also, the 2405 is a 6bit panel with dithering. The 2005/2007 are true 8bit panels.
A lot of people cant tell, but if you swap out you get that as a bonus alongside clear analog output.
Let it be known though, there is no match for DVI. You will always have degraded image quality running through the VGA.

Its a bit late for that, as I've bought it and I'm using it. My laptop does support 1920 by 1200. Is there any way to get DVI output from my laptop? i.e. from the USB2 or PCMCIA ports?

 

[zephyrprime]

Yeah, just get a pcmicia video card.

 

[PeteD]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Yeah, just get a pcmicia video card.

at over 240 USD (with shipping http://sewelldirect.com/vtbookpcmciacard.asp), will this really improve my picture quality??????????

 

[nitromullet]

Before doing that, you sould make sure that you have the latest video drivers installed on your laptop.

Its a bit late for that, as I've bought it and I'm using it. My laptop does support 1920 by 1200. Is there any way to get DVI output from my laptop? i.e. from the USB2 or PCMCIA ports?

It isn't too late for returning/exchanging it with Dell. Dell actually has excellent customer service (note: I didn't say they have excellent customer service reps, but they will eventually get you what you want). IIRC, they have a very decent satisfaction guarantee on their LCD's, and I would think that blurry text would be a good enough reason to say you aren't satisfied.

 

[Peter]

This wouldn't be the first laptop whose VGA output quality is pretty much useless for higher resolutions.

 

[Siwy]

I run two 2405?s side by side on a single card ATI X850XT, one is using VGA the other DVI. First time I hooked it up the text on DVI was clear but text on VGA was a little bit blurry. After trying different adjustments I almost gave up but then decided to switch the monitors around and found that both monitors had clear text, no difference whatsoever. The only issue was that VGA had lower contrast/brightness in default settings but I adjusted DVI since it was too bright anyway.

So it seems that one of my monitors? VGA input is not up to par. Your monitor might have the same problem.