Originally posted by: Ekta
Hello there:
First of all I'd like to say that this has been a VERY knowledgeable post for someone like me that had no idea about LCDs but wants one. Thanks for putting all of this together, glad I found it!
I still had couple of questions if anyone could assist with me please...
1. I noticed that you have two different sections for recommended lcds for (hardcore) gaming
and (moderate) gaming/movies. Would I be able to enjoy my movies if I chose one of the
(hardcore) gaming recommended model?
With very few exceptions every LCD on the top list are OK for just about everything (except 971P/2407WFP-HC for gaming, and maybe some office work models, still arguable). The gaming models are good for movies since they have a fast response time and I try to pick gaming models that have decent colors, although it doesn't always end up being that way. The Multimedia models are most likely what you should be looking at if you spend a lot of time watching movies and playing games. The hardcore gaming section is just what it sounds like: if you play games four hours a day and have gotten accustomed to individual milliseconds or are competing in CAL...or, if for some reason you are hooking these LCDs up to a realtime device or do audio editing and need to see precise waveforms as clearly and hastily as possible. For most people the simple fact is that retinal persistence is more of a factor than a few milliseconds on the LCD. A 0 millisecond LCD has been proven to look blurry. Such sacrifices (color depth, uniformity, viewing angles) are simply not worth it for a few milliseconds in most cases.
2. Secondly, my computer is in use almost all day either it be for gaming, movies or work
related. This might be very general question, but what is the expected life of an lcd? How
long before I start seeing dead pixels etc...?
The backlight may dim after 40,000 hours of use, or so, on most monitors. At 24 hours each day, that's 4.5 years of use straight. Samsung states more optimistic estimates like 50,000 hrs backlight half-life on its 22" TN panel. I wouldn't take that as gospel but it's probably not so far off. It will very likely be usable or in quite good shape after 4 years of intense use. Apparently slight color fading may happen with CCFLs (the backlights used in 99% of LCDs). LED backlight models are very expensive and I don't think they last any longer but I'm not sure.
LCDs are as robust as anything else circuitry-wise. Generally the worst that happens is a few failed transistors (= dead or stuck pixels). IPS LCDs may have issues with burn-in over time but TNs especially seem to hold up very well. I'm not certain about VAs but they seem great too.
If the backlight fades over time you can always turn up the brightness to counteract this. Backlights are controlled by flickering so turning up the brightness will simply make it flicker less and give you more of what it has left in it.
Two dead pixels appeared on my Samsung 17" about a year and a half into its use while my ViewSonic 19" has been free for two years of a single dead pixel. My mom uses the 17" at the moment so I am not sure how that has progressed but I am guessing that my old 17" didn't use the new laser glass cutting tech, which decreases the likelihood of dead pixels. AUO panels like that in the ViewSonic 19" have been known for great lifetime when it comes to pixels. I believe new LCDs today age significantly better than any CRT produced today. But, CRTs produced years ago were done with much better quality control. CRTs will fade in brightness over time due to the phosphors being burnt, and will start to look blurry due to misconvergence. LCDs may develop dead pixels (although I tend to believe that this isn't all that common today as long as your LCD didn't arrive with any to begin with). Since LCDs 17" to 22" contain 4 to 8 CCFLs (cold cathode backlights), sometimes one will go out and it will leave you with a darker corner (or section) of the screen. To my knowledge this isn't very common either within usual lifetime specifications. They will probably simply fade, not die out. Using a lower bandwidth (resolution*refresh rate) on a CRT will make things appear clearer, although this is not the case with LCDs, at least over DVI.
I was leaning towards a samsung model, but this lottery thing scared me away when I went to the local store (Futureshop). Their display and the first box that we checked were C models. It seems any model from samsung I chose had this lottery thing, not sure I want a samsung anymore...
The LG L226WTQ is a great alternative if you are afraid of C panels, although I believe C panels in themselves are decent as the L226WTQ probably used a CMO panel at one point according to FCC docs/schematics on some L226* models.
Finally, I hope to see some Christmas sales show up. Also hoping that the Canadian retailers will slash some prices due to surging Cdn. $. I've noticed price difference as high as Cdn. $200 on some models.
Thanks for your time
Ekta
Maybe the L227WT is something you may want to look out for, which is a wide gamut (presumably) version of the 22" that is out now. These days I am more optimistic about the benefits of wide gamut. Even in TN displays they will provide a more natural image. That's assuming the LCD is equivalently good in all other aspects.