LCD or CRT?

[swinger222]

I've been doing some research and which is better for what purpose (e.g. gaming, simple task like word processing)

I know the CRTs are better for gaming, but why do people splash out on those LCDs that cost twice or thrice as much?

 

[thegimp03]

They save space on a person's desk. Prices on LCDs are coming way down, just have to wait for the hot deals. Overall, CRTs are better for gaming, but there have been some recent LCD releases that are making huge gains on the CRTs. Notables include Dell's 2005FPW, Hyundai something...Samsung 930B and a couple of others I can't recall at the moment.
LCDs, I've heard, are also less harsh on a person's eyes. So when sitting at the computer screen long enough your eyes will not have to strain as much.

 

[swinger222]

what about refresh rates and image quality?

 

[0roo0roo]

use the search. its been discussed to death several times.

 

[Washoe]

CRT's are not better for gaming anymore. Not with the Hyundai L90D, Dell's 2001, 2005, and 2405, as well as several others out now. No way will I go back to CRTs for gaming. Or any other reason for that matter. LCD > CRT all around

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
use the search. its been discussed to death several times.

aslo CRT's are still better for gaming, they best you can get right now is 8ms repsonce time, possibely 4 if you are willing to shell out some serious cash....when playing some fast paced CS:S and older CS i want my 125hz and 1600x1200, with no delay times

 

[Gurck]

Desk space, weight, and eye strain are all factors... as is the "cool" factor and the fact that LCDs are catching up beautifully. I'm gonna pick one up soonish and I've been a staunch CRT holdout till recently.

 

[KoolDrew]

LCD's are still too expensive for me.

 

[corkyg]

LCDs are superior in just about every way - but the space factor, weight factor, and in our area, the heat factor is huge. LCDs consume much less energy and produce much less heat, and in Tucson, AZ, that is a significant reason.

I switched from a pair of 19-in Hitachi CRTs two years ago to a pair of 19-in LCDs and everything about them is a plus - especially dropping the room temperature by about 4 degrees.

 

[Plutoburn]

Good LCD: either good for gaming or good for watching vid, can't do both well.

Good CRT: Does both well, but bulky, emit a lot of heat, and not as easy on the eyes as LCD.

 

[7earitup]

I disagree with you Plutoburn.

My Hyundai has no noticable ghosting in Call of Duty, CounterStrike:Source, Doom 3, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft or any game I have played so far. I also am a big movie watcher and the movies are beautiful on this screen. No discoloration, ghosting, blurring...nothing. An absolutely beautiful picture. More so than the 400lb (sarcasm) SamSung flat tube CRT I had before this LCD.

This LCD is perfect for both in my opinion, and I haven't even used an LCD in my life until I bought this.

 

[Muscles]

Originally posted by: Washoe
CRT's are not better for gaming anymore. Not with the Hyundai L90D, Dell's 2001, 2005, and 2405, as well as several others out now. No way will I go back to CRTs for gaming. Or any other reason for that matter. LCD > CRT all around

^^ I love it when people post and have no idea what they're talking about.

Bottom Line: CRT > LCD

If you're a gamer an LCD shouldn't even be considered imo. The only plus side to an LCD is it's size advantage and that it gives off less heat. I mean cmon. Perhaps people should invest in an air conditioner for their home if they are that concerned with heat. To me it only makes sense to want/use an LCD at the workplace. At home, if you're any kind of an enthusiast especially when it comes to gaming, a little extra heat and space is the last thing anyone cares about.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

old CRT's are good for gaming, but many new crt's are coming out that dont even much past SXGA reslutions...since LCD's are becomming more popular, many crt's are starting to slack off on quality.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

use an LCD and then try to go back to your CRT. yeah, thats why people like LCDs.

now for real info (well kinda)
LCDs can handle gaming now and still look good. Plus you get get wide screen, and really (imho) they make everything look better than a CRT (although I have not used any really good brand of CRT before, so may not want to take me too seriously)

 

[Boris the Spider]

Tell me about it. The temperature in my room raises from 100 to 110 with this stupid CRT in my room. I am a Tucson resident as well.

 

[exar333]

Muscles, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about and obviously have never gamed on a high-quality LCD!

please get your facts straight before spreading disinformation!

 

[ryanv12]

I had a good 17" CRT about 2 years ago and I switched to a Sharp 17" LCD with a 20ms response time (I wasn't doing any gaming in those days). I now have a 2005FPW and everytime I have to use even a good CRT I want to go crazy. For me, there's no going back to CRT, and the only time I noticed any ghosting was going from my CRT to my 20ms LCD, and since then nothing. It's totally not even a problem, and the 2005FPW just does even better.

 

[svi]

First: based on my experience with monitors and debates like this on other problems, the following points usually hold true:

- People who say that any LCD is far inferior to a good CRT for games do haven't used a good LCD recently.
- People who say that LCDs are superior to CRTs for image quality haven't used a good CRT recently or do not know how to configure CRTs.
- People who say that LCDs are easier on the eyes do not know how to configure CRTs.
- Anyone with severe issues with the picture displayed on either type of the monitor has not given their eyes time to adjust to both types before doing a comparison. (It's kind of like comparing speakers-- if you're used to one set, the others will sound "wrong" until you give your brain a chance to adjust.)


Now, in my opinion, good CRTs do reproduce color and blacks better than good LCDs. However, this difference is nowhere near as large as it used to be, and I doubt that most of you will care about this. Some of you might not even notice it. Let's see, what else is there.. ghosting is not an issue on good LCDs. The 60Hz refresh rate doesn't matter unless you can see and react to things more quickly than that. (Trust me, there are less of you people than you think.)

There are some advantages and disadvantages of each that no one can dispute, though. LCDs are much smaller and lighter than LCDs. CRTs can switch to many different resolutions without loss of image quality, whereas LCDs are stuck with either "native" or "ugly". LCDs consume less power and put out less heat than CRTs. Large CRTs are much cheaper than large LCDs. (If you want to dispute that, keep in mind that fairly high-end 21" CRTs can easily be located for $200 shipped in new or near-new condition.) Widescreen LCDs are way easier to find (and more practical in general) than widescreen CRTs. Many CRTs can make a really great noise when they degauss.

Beyond that, the issue is very blurry (hur hur hur), and the best advice anyone can give you with something as subjective as a monitor is to try before you buy. You'll be staring at the thing for countless hours, you might as well demo a few before you purchase one, right? That way you don't have to rely on the opinions of others (who might look for different things in monitors, might do different things with their monitors than you do, or might just be fanboys).

 

[Muscles]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333
Muscles, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about and obviously have never gamed on a high-quality LCD!

please get your facts straight before spreading disinformation!

What facts do you offer sir? Absolutely none. My guess is you're just another guy jumping on the LCD bandwagon for no other reason then "because other people are doing it!"

As a side business, I happen to be a system builder therefore I probably have quite a bit more experience than the average consumer when it comes to have tested computer hardware including crt and lcd monitors. I also consider myself to be a hardcore PC gamer who thrives for the best possible performance.

I've bought over 10 LCD monitors for clients in the last 2 months not counting a few CRT's. I own a 2001FP I use on one of my linux machines for web browsing and other general use (I have occasionally used it for gaming as well). Based on that I'd say I'm qualified to post my opinion on the subject.

If you really care about having the best performance than my suggestion is to get a high end CRT monitor which won't set you back as much as a high end LCD.

I also will say I totally agree with everything svi said in his post.

 

[mumbs]

I never had an LCD myself, but for the money, i'd definetely go with crt. I bought a new dell 21 inch crt for around $200 last year. It was refurbished, but still perfect shape. It is quite large and heavy, but the screen quality is perfect!!!

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Muscles

Originally posted by: Washoe
CRT's are not better for gaming anymore. Not with the Hyundai L90D, Dell's 2001, 2005, and 2405, as well as several others out now. No way will I go back to CRTs for gaming. Or any other reason for that matter. LCD > CRT all around

^^ I love it when people post and have no idea what they're talking about.

Bottom Line: CRT > LCD

If you're a gamer an LCD shouldn't even be considered imo. The only plus side to an LCD is it's size advantage and that it gives off less heat. I mean cmon. Perhaps people should invest in an air conditioner for their home if they are that concerned with heat. To me it only makes sense to want/use an LCD at the workplace. At home, if you're any kind of an enthusiast especially when it comes to gaming, a little extra heat and space is the last thing anyone cares about.

I feel sorry for people you build systems for Muscles....I own (and have owned) high quality CRT and LCD monitors...for you to say that an LCD should not even be considered for gaming is downright rediculous...utter crap...if I was an image editor, sure I would want a CRT...but in todays apps, LCD is brighter, smaller, and often much sharper...open your eyes...

 

[imported_pak9rabid]

I just migrated from my old 21" CRT to a 19" LCD and I'm happy as hell with it. I love actually having desk space and the fact I can take hte monitor with me to LAN parties and not have it be a big pain in the ass.

As far as screen quality goes, the CRT had better response time/contrast ratio (obviously), but I can still play games and watch movies and it still looks very good. I moved from a 21" Dell montitor (with the Mitsubishi diamondtron tube) to a 19" NEC LCD (16 ms response time, 450:1 contrast).

Bottom line, as long as you have a good contrast ratio, response time, and are using the DVI input, a LCD will be bad ass.

 

[Muscles]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Originally posted by: Muscles

Originally posted by: Washoe
CRT's are not better for gaming anymore. Not with the Hyundai L90D, Dell's 2001, 2005, and 2405, as well as several others out now. No way will I go back to CRTs for gaming. Or any other reason for that matter. LCD > CRT all around

^^ I love it when people post and have no idea what they're talking about.

Bottom Line: CRT > LCD

If you're a gamer an LCD shouldn't even be considered imo. The only plus side to an LCD is it's size advantage and that it gives off less heat. I mean cmon. Perhaps people should invest in an air conditioner for their home if they are that concerned with heat. To me it only makes sense to want/use an LCD at the workplace. At home, if you're any kind of an enthusiast especially when it comes to gaming, a little extra heat and space is the last thing anyone cares about.

I feel sorry for people you build systems for Muscles....I own (and have owned) high quality CRT and LCD monitors...for you to say that an LCD should not even be considered for gaming is downright rediculous...utter crap...if I was an image editor, sure I would want a CRT...but in todays apps, LCD is brighter, smaller, and often much sharper...open your eyes...

Don't feel sorry for them. They are all quite happy. I give them my suggestions but in the end they get what they want, not necessarily what I want. I say an LCD shouldn't be considered because I'm looking at it from my perspective which is a hardcore gamer's point of view. I feel I've made it very clear that if you want the "best" performance then a high-end CRT is the route you should take. Obviously you don't share the same opinion and that's fine but don't try and insult me saying I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Maluno]

Can we make this the last discussion thread on this topic? Maybe make it the official debate thread or something.

 

[svi]

You wish.

Actually, so do I. Thing is, these threads will keep appearing until the end of the earth, or until the technologies involved have been completely phased out, whichever comes first.

You could always save whatever you have to say in these discussions in a text file. I keep meaning to do that. Maybe I should start now.. nah.