you are saying those 17"ers listed are not the equivalent of the 19" big brother.?
Correct, the 17" VP730B uses a TN panel while the VP930B uses an S-PVA despite the similar labeling. I'm 99% certain of this based off specs (and
www.flatpanels.dk) and the fact that 17" S-PVAs (with decent response time) are non-existent for all practical purposes.
Well I'm not sure. But the $250 LCD won't have great viewing angles or colors. It's hard to say, because all of this is subjective. I don't know of the progress they've made in regards to the TN's colors. I have a TN myself and I like it just fine for colors with the only minor (note:
MINOR) complaint being the 12ms. (20ms. avg) response time (usually is hardly an issue though), but response times are lower these days.
Is there a 17" that would give as great an image as the vp930b? 17" LCD with at least SXGA for video editing and photo editing?
Unfortunately not, probably not as good as the VP930B.
You can easily distinguish a TN panel: when you move to the side, the colors will get all yellowish at the end or otherwise distort. With PVAs, it's just like turning the brightness down when you look at other angles.
And maybe they've got the color problems solved on the TNs. I love the colors on my 1-year-old Samsung 710T TN. They may not have perfect smooth gradients of grayscale, but only 10-bit LED-driven LCDs ($$$$$) do for the most part. The colors are exceptionally
vibrant, compared to any other of the 4 shadow mask CRTs in this house. Contrast is actually the best on TNs, so I guess you should give them a try.
I'd give the Samsung 740B a try if I were you. If you're going to get a TN, you might as well get one where TNs exceed most, response time, because for the most part colors will be the same quality no matter what TN you go with. There are simply no options of S-PVA/Overdrive for 17". I think there are still however cheaper S-PVA LCDs with horrid response times, but you probably wouldn't want those, though they would deliver great 8-bit colors, contrast, viewing angle, and black level. I'm not quite sure just how bad the response time is on those things. My dad has an S-PVA without overdrive and surprisingly enough, just moving the mouse around, it hardly ghosts at all (better than my TN by a hair), so it's really really hard to say. Reviewers seem to differ. It's a huge puzzle.
So right now I'd be aiming with an S-PVA or S-IPS panel with your focus off of low response time. I kind of took you through my train of thought there :Q, but in the end actually I think that's what you sure be aiming for, because they would meet your needs the best. Unfortunately though, S-IPS panels go for a huge premium, at least $400 a slow 25ms. one (as far as I know), so you're mostly stuck with S-PVAs without overdrive, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.