RE: [Sheflug] Re: Crt monitor repairs

[Alex Hudson <home [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2004-08-19 at 15:58 +0100, Chris Johnson wrote:
> TFT prices are getting more realistic again now as well with 17" models
> lower than £200 with vat.

Mine's a 19" getting on for a year old, and I think it was less than
£400.

I definitely recommend getting a 1280x1024 rather than the lower res
ones, though.

> Is there a major noticable difference between analogue and DVI TFT screens
> or is it marketting hype?

It's a couple of things, really. Yes, there is a difference - the
picture is noticeably sharper, and my screen sets up the analogue screen
pretty well to begin with. If you have a slightly rubbish video card or
a long length of VGA cable, I would expect the benefits to be even
better. Definitely better definition. If you think about it, the
analogue/digital conversions are better. The chain is:

	Video Ram [D] -> VGA output [A] -> CRT monitor [A]

... for a CRT ([D]=digital, [A]=analogue), and for a TFT:

	VRAM [D] -> VGA out [A] -> VGA in [A] -> TFT monitor [D]

So, an analogue TFT would usually be worse than a CRT in terms of
quality, because the analogue TFT has an extra A/D conversion. The
digital TFT should be crisper because it has no conversion at all: the
signal never becomes analogue at any point (Talking now purely in terms
of signal quality and information loss).

The other aspect is that it means you rarely have to fiddle with the
controls: for example, if you're running a game which is running a
strange resolution, with analogue you often have to re-set the screen to
get the picture right (a bit like the resize controls on an analogue).
With DVI, there's no such thing - the screen just knows, and adjusts
itself. So, there are other little niceties too. 

I agree CRTs have better colour definition, and blacker blacks (tho' I
haven't seen any of the new black TFTs). But, TFTs have better geometry,
perfect focus and are easier on the eyes generally. You can also leave
them on standby without too many worries - no clunky degauss noises, no
fizzle-crackle while the screen warms up, etc.

Cheers,

Alex.

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