Strange Problem w/ New Monitor

[Phrygian]

After selling off a whole system, including the 17" NEC monitor I was currently using, I went monitor shopping last week. Unfortunately, because I wanted to find something quick (this is a stupid way to make a big mistake), I didn't think to check the forums first. Anyway, on a $300 budget, locally I found two 17" flat-screen monitors that fit the bill. The NEC FE700+ and the KDS AV-7TF, both $250. I really liked the NEC, but when I went back to the store that carried it, they were all gone (this seems to happen to me a lot lately). Disappointed, I went back to the other store and bought the KDS monitor.

After unboxing it, the first disappointing thing I found was the attached 1/4" video cable. The second thing I found was while messing around in Windows, the screen area almost seemed to expand and contract, only slightly, as windows opened, closed, minimized, etc. I know this seems strange. In fact, at first I thought maybe I was just imagining it (actually, I think I was just trying to imagine I didn't pay $250 for a piece of crap).

Anyway, I'm taking it back. I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this. In my years of desktop support, I know I haven't. Any ideas on the NEC? Could it be as bad? I need a 17" under $300, I don't want to mail-order it, and the new Sony's wouldn't fit right on my desk. Of course, a 19" won't either. Any ideas?

 

[Compellor]

Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about, as I bought one myself (got mine for $199.00). The KDS AV-7TF is a poorly designed monitor, and I advise anyone of thinking of buying one not to do it. The problem you noticed was just a case of bad screen regulation. Other problems I personally experienced were serious geometry problems and color temperatures way off spec. I had to go through three of these monitors and finally gave up on it. Many people swear by the quality of KDS monitors, but I'll never buy another one.

 

[Dragnov]

Hmm, did you install the monitor profile and d/l the newest video card drivers? You may also want to try and set your refresh rate to the highest one you can choose other than optimal. My friends monitor used to shrink/move/whatever the slightest each time he restarted or shutdown. It was a bad monitor...

Dude, for $300 you can get a NICE 17" monitor. Check out the for sale/for trade forum and they have lots of deals there. If you gonna buy retial, I reccomend the Viewsonic 17" Perfectly Flat monitor (sorry, forgot the model number). They have great quality monitors and customer service. Two ppl I know had problems w/ their monitors, so they just brought it in and got another one right away. (of course, thats because its local for us)

 

[MrCoyote]

For about $50 more, you can get a 19" Viewsonic monitor that has a flat Trinitron screen.

 

[Phrygian]

KDS doesn't seem to have any kind of INF file for download. I have a Creative GeForce2 MX, BTW. I have tried just about every refresh rate setting for 800x600 and 1024x768, and still get the same problem. I even tried 16bit vs. 32bit. Regardless, if 1024x768@85Hz doesn't work, I don't want it.

 

[MaxBand]

Hello! I have a VS-190 monitor and a MSI Geoforce 2MX videocard. I had a problem with the screen blacking until I changed my refresh rate to 85MHz.
I've been happy with it though...
Your driver can be found on the official KDS website - http://www.kdsusa.com/driver.html
Look under Avitron for the AV-7TF driver.
Hope this can help.

 

[ace31216]

My 19 inch KDS montior sux! The only reason i got it was because it cost only $170 after rebate at buy.com last summer. I recommend NEC or viewsonic, even though they cost more. They are well designed and good quaility. Sony are nice with their very bright colors but they have these 2 subtle lines across the screen that i can't stand. It's on all sony monitors because of the design of the trinitron tubes they use. Still nice though but pricy.

 

[Phrygian]

After taking the KDS monitor back, I picked up a 17" Philips 107T at my local Staples store. It was a fairly nice monitor, except that even though the specs (and the inf file) showed it was able to do 1024x786 @ 85Hz, it would not. Every time I would select it, the screen would go black with an out-of-scan-range message .

So, I took it back. I didn't want to wait two weeks to get my money back so I thought I'd try out another monitor from their store. They had a 19" Philips 109B that had much nicer specs than the 107T, and it looked as though it would fit on my desk. So, I decided to fork-over the extra cash for the 109B.

Well, I am fairly happy with the new monitor, and it does fit nicely on my desk. However, at higher resolutions (>1024) there are these strange wavey lines that aper on the screen. They are so faint that they are almost non-existant, however they show badly aginst my solid background. At work, I've seen some of our older 17" Trinitron monitors do this, but usually at over 1280x1024.

My question is: could this be the monitor, or my video card? I'd really like to be able to do 1280x960.

This is getting really old. :frown:

 

[Compellor]

Those "wavy lines" you are seeing are moire patterns, and, unless your monitor has a control to decrease or get rid of them, you're stuck with them. Moving the monitor to a different part of the room/house may help get rid of them.

 

[Phrygian]

All right!! That was it exactly! At 1280x960, when I get one side of the screen to clear up, the other side messes up. I was able to adjust it enough to make 1152x864 acceptable. Thank you!