Best 19" monitor

[compuser]

i have a g400 but have always had a question about the quality of 2 other monitors. can ANYONE who, if they own one of these, please post their reviews??!!

1. hitachi superscan 771 (ergo flat...same idea as a perfect flat/FD trinitron): (however this one is shadow mask... not trinitron) but would like to know if this monitor appears just as smooth as the trinitrons do, in terms of the granularity of pixels near the 4 corners as seen in the old shadow mask monitors?

2. mag innovision 810fd: how good is this one? i had a mag 800v and i must say, despite the zdnet test scores, i think it had better brightness/contrast than my g400. this is the reason i am also considering their FD trinitron series monitor.

again, can someone who owns one of these/seen them, describe their image quality??? thanks in advance!

 

[Lore]

rickn:

As with anything electronic, quality varies. Sony certainly is not going to give its grade A tubes to another manufacturer and keep the bad ones. Common sense dictates that. And like another person pointed out, the tube is not the only important part, it is also the electronics, the power supply/distribution etc.

Funny. It's exactly the power suppply/distribution and regulation of the Sony that made me go to KDS. The units have poorly manufactured power units, and the display of the screen wiggles in the left hand corner.

My friend who works at Central Computer never had any idea what I was talking about until I brought to his attention the wiggling and the power squigglies going up and down the screen... then he realized what I meant by the bad Sony monitors. He just bought a KDS AV-21TF 2 weeks ago.

 

[Zucchini]

What? I thought power squigglies on your screen ussually meant your video card could not hack the resolution. I've seen that stuff go away with a video card upgrade.

 

[Doomguy]

rickn: Sony does not inspect every tube for quality!!! Do you know how costly and time consuming it would be??? They just ship them off to the oem's without looking at the quality.

 

[Doomguy]

Also is korean monitors suck than I guess Samsung makes bad monitors. Yeah,right.

 

[Robor]

I have a Sony G400. It's a sweet monitor in every aspect. I paid $568 shipped to the door. Not cheap but I look at this thing a lot and I can tell you it's got bright colors and razor sharp text. The damper lines? You don't even notice them unless you're looking for them. Don't let them be a factor in your choice.

After my Dad saw mine he wanted me to get him a 19" monitor. I told him I'd order him the same one I have but he didn't want to pay almost $600 for a monitor. My second choice was the KDS AV-195TF because it's supposed to be similar to the G400. I ordered it for him. It arrives tomorrow (hopefully) and I'll be able to sit the two down side-by-side and compare them on the same system. I actually considered the KDS before getting the Sony. For my Dad's sake I hope my money was wasted...

Rob

 

[bluezebra1098]

Hey Robor!
Do a little comparison thing for us when it arrives.
Now here's a man who has both, let's see what he sees.
BTW; Are the video cards comparible? Let's make this test an even one!

What ever happened to ltk 007? The originator of this thread. Look what a monster you created! LOL

Oh I see where you say, the same system. OK!

 

[Olorin]

Cool, I was also considering the KDS. I'm sending my G400 back and havn't decided whether to exchange it or get something else. The input selctor switch on the front is pretty nifty, but probably isn't worth $150

 

[Zucchini]

Your returning your g400? How could you? Anyways, does the kds have the same max refresh rate? That i find very important in a monitor.

 

[Huma]

If you polled graphic designers on what monitors they would prefer to work with, Mitsubishi and Sony would come out on top, no question. Both make amazing monitors, and yes they do cost more. A lot more at times.

A Sony may not be $200 better than a competing monitor, but there are many times when it is worth $200 more than the competitor.

Viewsonic's last great 19" was the PT795. I can't believe they replaced it with the PF790 which is garbage compared to the PT795.
The Samsung 900NF is one of the best deals in a 19" right now. Very sharp, but could use better color saturation. I noticed this immediately.

The question was "What is the best flat screen 19" monitor? Money is no object." I wouldn't touch a kds, ctx, mag, or most brands with that being the case.

 

[compuser]

guys, can you please post a reply to my question (look in the middle of this page) if you have seen or used the hitachi superscan 771 or the mag 810fd? any help would be very helpful!!

 

[Lore]

Zuchini:

I am using a Matrox G400 Max as my video card.

If the power squiggles were an indication of a bad video card, why would those symptoms disappear in the KDS?

I never owned a Sony monitor (but have contemplated purchase many times) until I decided to try the G500 due to the rave reviews I read in Deja News. Boy, I was so disappointed. Talking to Sony didn't get me anywhere, either.

Switched back to a shabby 17" I had, lived with it for 2 months, and then purchased the KDS. Happy since. No jiggling, power squiggles, etc...

 

[Zucchini]

What you probably had was a defective monitor then.

 

[compuser]

hello???

 

[dirtboy]

Sony.

 

[snow patrol]

compuser: try these sites for monitor reviews (although I must admit I haven't checked to see if they have the ones you mentioned):

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1041.html?tag=st.co.1016.dir.1041
http://www.reviewclick.com

 

[Doomguy]

Lore didnt have a defective monitor because he had it replaced 3 times.

 

[Olorin]

Zucchinni, the max resolution / refresh rate listed for the KDS is 1600x1200 @ 85Hz; for the Sony it's 1800x1440 @ 70Hz.

 

[HotRod]

You Sony guys are freaks... no doubt they make good monitors, but how about adding something to the discussion other than posting "Sony"?

As for the debate about the KDS monitors and what type of "tubes" they are getting from Sony--the deal is that the tubes they get are perfectly fine, perfect quality tubes. The difference is that they are not getting the most recent design!!! So the quality is there, it is just that Sony will always remain a step ahead because they allow KDS to purchase components that are 6-18 months old.

Additionally, I cast my votes for 3 monitors that I have seen and like very well.

By far, one of the best I have seen is the HP P910. It is expensive. Reviewed here: http://www.winmag.com/reviews/hardware/2000/02/0217.htm

Next for medium budget is Samsung 900NF. This one I own. Reviewed here: http://www.winmag.com/reviews/hardware/2000/05/0522.htm and it's little brother won Best Buy from PC World. That is here: http://www.winmag.com/reviews/hardware/2000/05/0522.htm

Lasty, for the budget minded the KDS AV-195T. Reviewed here: http://www.winmag.com/library/1999/0901/rev005.htm

Later.

 

[bluezebra1098]

What Zucchini meant to say, Lore was that Sony must've goofed and gave you a monitor with one of those reject KDS tubes in it!

Hey lets see if we can get this thread to 100

 

[T2T III]

<< it is just that Sony will always remain a step ahead because they allow KDS to purchase components that are 6-18 months old. >>


How is Sony supplying old &quot;FD&quot; tubes to KDS? &quot;FD&quot; tubes for the totally flat series of monitors were not being made 18 months ago by SONY.

 

[KarlHungus]

Would you trust Zdnet/Cnet/etc. to do a good chipset review? I sure wouldn't. So why would you trust one of their monitor reviews?

Here's a site where thay actually has some testing methodology: http://www.cadalyst.com/. Just go to the labs reviews section.

 

[compuser]

couldn't agree with you more hotrod!! that's what i've been trying to talk about all this time but the sony obsessive compulsion disease (OCD) is getting to people real bad!

enough with the sony and kds for this thread! the title of this thread is &quot;best 19&quot; monitor&quot; not &quot;a monologue about sony and kds&quot;! it only make sense to include a fair judgement of ALL possible choices (as some of us have done) instead of just rambling on and on about the two contenders. hopefully someone will post about monitors that the OCD gang has never heard of before! what now? ...did i hear someone say hitachi or mag?!

 

[Lore]

bluezebra:

No - I didn't deal with Sony. I dealt with the place of purchase, and from two different batches (months of manufacture), too. (They were, however, all shipped from one distributor)

That can't possibly be an isolated incident.

I've also see the same jiggling problem (although to a lesser degree) with the Sony G200/E200 monitors that my office purchased about 4 months ago. We needed new monitors for our linux clients and they decided to go Sony. They were all running 1024x768 @ 75hz - and the problem was definitely there. Not my idea of quality.

KDS' tubes are just as sharp as the Sony's. I have no doubt in my mind that KDS strives to manufacture quality products, and their current product line (AND SUPPORT, I must add) demonstrates that commitment.

 

[Lore]

Whoa, I just read this from that Winmag review about the KDS AV-195T:

KDS packs a lot of options into the on-screen menu system, but getting to them and using them can be a bit tricky. The button normally used to degauss the display is also used to back out of a menu selection, and I was afraid I'd trip the degaussing coil by accident if I pushed it one too many times. But there are options here I've seen on no other monitor, such as a diagonal convergence control, which is useful if colors are out of alignment on one side of the display but not the other.

DAMN! That would be so useful if it existed on all monitors! The 21&quot; version, fyi, does not have that feature.