need a crt monitor for gaming

[Synon25]

I'm not sure when it will be here as they have not processed my order yet. Whenever they do I will let you know when it's going to be here, and then i'll let you what I think of the monitor.

 

[DragonFire]

Originally posted by: J S Jackson
Well the wifey and I took a road trip (2 hours away) yesterday so I could get a look at a couple of these monitors. The only ones, on my list, that I actually saw were the:

ViewSonic P95f+(aperature grille) - by far the best picture quality. Deep rich color, geometry seemed dead on the mark, good purity across the whole screen. But when I cranked it up to 1600 x 1200 text was quite visibly blurry. 1152x864 was still crisp and well focused. 1280x960 was still acceptable, though very slightly blurry. I, normally, do most of my work and web surfing at 1152x864, so that would be acceptable.

I got this monitor because it can do 85Hz at 1600x1200. For the most part its a great monitor.....BUT! I'm rather annoyed with being able to see the two lines at the bottom and top. In fact I can see the, right now because forums background is white.

The other thing is the text at 1600x1200. Its not that fuzzy but trying to get XP/Mozilla/webpages to look right with a readable size font became a pain in the @ss and I gave up. So I run my desktop at 1280x1024 and all my games at 1600x1200.

 

[J S Jackson]

Originally posted by: DragonFire
I got this monitor because it can do 85Hz at 1600x1200. For the most part its a great monitor.....BUT! I'm rather annoyed with being able to see the two lines at the bottom and top. In fact I can see the, right now because forums background is white.

The other thing is the text at 1600x1200. Its not that fuzzy but trying to get XP/Mozilla/webpages to look right with a readable size font became a pain in the @ss and I gave up. So I run my desktop at 1280x1024 and all my games at 1600x1200.

I hear ya. I've never been able to web surf comfortably at 1600x1200. There are just too many things that are too small for my liking. 1280x960 is about the highest I can handle for that, but I usually stick to 1152x864. I don't use 1280x1024 at all, as it's the wrong aspect ratio (5:4).

I've been using an aperature grill for 6-7 years now. So the damper wire shadows you describe don't bother me at all. I guess I just psychologically block them out automatically. My wife, like you, is annoyed by them. To me, they are preferable to the overall grainy look that shadow mask's give.

 

[J S Jackson]

Well I think I'm going to get a ViewSonic P95f+. It is by far the best monitor I've seen yet. The Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SB may or may not be better, but I can't seem to find a store that has one. I'm very apprehensive about buying a monitor I haven't seen.

I did get a look at a couple more top notch models. The best being a NEC FE991SB. I read somewhere that this monitor is actually a Mitsubishi 930SB, just with the NEC branding on it. I have no idea if that is correct or not?

Side by side, the P95f+ was clearly superior to the FE991SB in every way that I could see, though the NEC was quite good as well. When I arrived at the store, the NEC was not on display, so I asked a salesman if he could pull one out of the box and set it up.

It was blurry as hell, at first (normal for a crt), but after fully warming up (I gave it about 30 minutes), it cleared up pretty well. It never did reach the sharpness of the ViewSonic at any resolution I tried. The colors were far less vibrant as well, but I feel that this may be due to it's rather bright default settings. Black level was set, by default, to much higher than optimal for the ambient light in the store (it was rather dark with flourescent lights). Unlike the Samsung 997DF, I was able to get it to true black with a little tweaking; but that threw off the gamma, and made it look a bit on the green side. With proper gamma tweaking, it might look as good as the ViewSonic, but this is difficult to do by eye, without any calibration images to assist me. I'd like to see them both, calibrated by hardware to 2.2 gamma, but of course that's not possible in a store.

Both monitors had dead on geometry at default settings. I could not detect any blatent defects in either of them, but even at the highest resolutions, text and images were sharper and more focused on the P95f+.

Overall, the P95f+ is a beautiful monitor. The colors are just gorgeous (something ViewSonic is often praised for). Text is very sharp. I could not really point to anything I disliked about it. In many of the reviews I've read around the web, the P95f+ is often faulted for being a bit blurry at the highest resolutions. I did detect a definate increase in this fuzzyness at the highest resolutions, but relative to every other monitor I looked at, it was the best.

I hope the one I receive is as good as the two I looked at, and I'll be happy for a couple years.

 

[Blastman]

Here?s a rundown on the advantages of Shadow Mask vs Aperture Grille ? epinions I prefer SM because they generally have better text display quality.

Text Quality/Sharpness

Shadow Mask monitors win this comparison hands down. Due to the way that the monitors are engineered, Shadow Mask monitors are able to have much crisper text at the same dot pitch as Aperture Grill monitors. Since Aperture Grill monitors use tiny vertical wires, vertical lines can get blurry where the electron beam doesn't line up 100% correctly with the wires. This is why any CAD professional will refuse to use Aperture Grill monitors unless they are able to afford an insanely expensive Aperture Grill monitor.

I have a Viewsonic E70f 17? and the display quality is excellent. Color saturation is superb. I would prefer the G90f - SM over the P95f - AG. The P95f runs a little higher refresh rates at 16x12, so if you need to run that high the P95f may be a better choice.

 

[J S Jackson]

It's likely that my bias towards aperture grill tubes is based on the fact that I've been using one for 6-7 years, 8-12 hours a day. At this point, it's difficult for me to look at shadow masks. They look grainy, no matter the resolution. In addition, the colors look somewhat pale and anemic (to me) compared to an aperture grille.

Everyone's perception is different. I would imagine that a persons opinion of what looks "best" is largely based on what they are used to seeing. It becomes the reference standard of what that person expects to see. Since I've been using AG tubes for years, it looks "right" to me.

Valid arguments can be made for both, but surely top quality monitors of either type should be able to produce acceptable text AND graphics.

I'm a medical editor, my wife is a graphic artist. I work with graphic artists all day long, every day. They all use aperture grill crt's. (Though I know more than a few that have switched to LCD now.) This is probably because most higher quality CRTs use AG tubes. The article you posted confirms this when they say:

Although quality is dependent on the manufacturer, usually Aperture Grill monitors are put in more expensive higher end models, so they get fitted with better features and construction, along with better electron guns allowing the monitors to have higher refresh rates

Overall, that article confirms the conventional view regarding the differences between the two tubes.

Text, Sharpness - Shadow Mask wins.
Color, Geometry, Contrast/Brightness - Aperture Grill wins.

 

[mwmorph]

nah, personally viewsonic isnt that good. my viewsonic A70 monitor regularly craps out and turns everything a hue of deep yellow(id say a few times a day.) and it dosent support many refresh rates anymore, the screen changes refresh rates and then vertical bars come down acros the screen and the image gets jumbled at any rate but 60 and 85hz vertical refresh at 1024x768. considering ive only had this monitor for about 2-3 years its definitely a bad buy. my older 14inch from 1994 works better than this a70 from 2001/2. considering i dont even game or change resolutions and refresh rates very much, this is obviously just bad QA.

 

[Synon25]

just curious is the dp2070 sb better than the dp930 sb?

 

[sowleman]

Just curious why Viewsonic A90f+ was not mentioned in this thread. It's got a better dot pitch than the P95f+. Is there somehting about it that makes it inferior?

http://www.viewsonic.com/produ...tors/aseries/a90fplus/

 

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: sowleman
Just curious why Viewsonic A90f+ was not mentioned in this thread. It's got a better dot pitch than the P95f+. Is there somehting about it that makes it inferior?

http://www.viewsonic.com/produ...tors/aseries/a90fplus/

G90f is a better version of the A90f. THe G90f runs higher refresh rates at higher resolutions.

 

[sowleman]

Thanks Blastman,

Can the same be said of the A91f+?

Thanks agian for the reply.

 

[BenSkywalker]

just curious is the dp2070 sb better than the dp930 sb?

They aren't comparable- the 2070 is a 22" tube and the 930 is a 19".

 

[sowleman]

What does anyone think about the Viewsonic A91f? It seems very similar to the G90f and I can't get the G90f at any local stores.


http://www.viewsonic.com/produ...monitors/aseries/a91f/

 

[BentValve]

Originally posted by: sowleman
What does anyone think about the Viewsonic A91f? It seems very similar to the G90f and I can't get the G90f at any local stores.


http://www.viewsonic.com/produ...monitors/aseries/a91f/

Its an OK monitor but spend a few weeks on a good CRT and go back to the A90F and it will look like shit.

 

[sowleman]

So what's the difference in the A90f and the A91f?

 

[ohnnyj]

After reading through all these posts I cannot believe no one has mentioned Sony CRTs. I absolutely love my G520 I got a few years back and it has the same quality as it had the first day I bought it (unless I am just used to it). I don't have much experience with Viewsonics so they may be great monitors. I have an NEC at work, and it seems a bit faded and not really crystal clear. But my Sony has been faithful to me and has great image quality IMHO. Not sure if you can still purchase it retail, though.

 

[J S Jackson]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
nah, personally viewsonic isnt that good. my viewsonic A70 monitor regularly craps out and turns everything a hue of deep yellow(id say a few times a day.) and it dosent support many refresh rates anymore, the screen changes refresh rates and then vertical bars come down acros the screen and the image gets jumbled at any rate but 60 and 85hz vertical refresh at 1024x768. considering ive only had this monitor for about 2-3 years its definitely a bad buy. my older 14inch from 1994 works better than this a70 from 2001/2. considering i dont even game or change resolutions and refresh rates very much, this is obviously just bad QA.

Sucky. Seems from looking at the ViewSonic website that the A series only get a one year warranty. All the others get three?

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: ohnnyj
After reading through all these posts I cannot believe no one has mentioned Sony CRTs. I absolutely love my G520 ... Not sure if you can still purchase it retail, though.

You can, but it's a refurb. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[imported_Reck]

The a90f does do text better at higher resolutions than the g90f. when it comes to graphics the g90f destroys it though. i'd personally steer away from the a series, too many quality problems.

 

[J S Jackson]

Well I got my P95f+ yesterday, and it looks fantastic. Played some games, looked great, well focused and nice color all around. So I'm happily surfing the web and I come across a page with a white background and black text... and I see a very strange thing. To the right of the text, after it ends, the white area is slightly gray. And fades out as you look farther to the right. It looks like a smudge almost, as if you had written something in ink, then took your thumb on the last word, and smeared the ink to the right. It's very, very light, however it is there. A better explanation is here. Oddly, the text is not blurred at all. It's quite sharp and focused, the "smudge" only begins after the last word on a line ends.

The weirdest part is that this only occurs with text. My wife and I both examined it extensively with various graphics and test patterns. Can anyone explain why it would ONLY happen with text?

Regardless, it's "strike 1" for ViewSonic. I'll be taking it back tomorrow for another.

 

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: sowleman
So what's the difference in the A90f and the A91f?

Color of the monitor AFAIKT. A90f= A91f. THe + (A90f+) is the superbright function. G90f still runs at higher refresh rates.

Originally posted by: J S Jackson

Text, Sharpness - Shadow Mask wins.
Color, Geometry, Contrast/Brightness - Aperture Grill wins.

It used to be that AG had a advantage in those areas but these days Shadow Mask has basically caught up in the color/contrast/brightness areas. The only notable advantage of AG these days is overall better geometry. I returned one Viewsonic because the geometry was unacceptable. I imagine you already checked out some SM monitors. I like the SM monitors foir their better dot-pitch becase I think results in a sharper all around picture quality -- YMMV.

 

[mwmorph]

Viewsonic A series=AVOID AT ALL COSTS
nutered warranty, and crap reliability.
even though they have a sharp image, they got no glare protection, bad screen geometry, bad contrast and brightness and mine is dying on me as i speak.

 

[Synon25]

Well guys I just got my dp930 sb. And all I can say is that I love it. It's absolutely one of the best monitors that i've ever had. The only complaint that I have is that you can see the little damper wires on a white background just like everyone has said. Other than that it's running without a hitch, I got a 3 year warranty. It came in some of the best packaging i've ever seen, and it runs great at high resolutions. I would definately reccomend this monitor to anyone who is considering buying a 19 inch crt.

 

[imported_Noob]

http://www.viewsonic.com/produ...s/e2series/e90fplussb/

http://www.viewsonic.com/produ...s/proseries/p95fplusb/

 

[J S Jackson]

Originally posted by: Synon25
Well guys I just got my dp930 sb. And all I can say is that I love it. It's absolutely one of the best monitors that i've ever had. The only complaint that I have is that you can see the little damper wires on a white background just like everyone has said. Other than that it's running without a hitch, I got a 3 year warranty. It came in some of the best packaging i've ever seen, and it runs great at high resolutions. I would definately reccomend this monitor to anyone who is considering buying a 19 inch crt.

Good to hear you found one you like!