30" Club

[ForBuilding]

The HP LP3065. The smaller one is a Samsung 225bw...

Wow the difference in the image quality between those two monitors is amazing. Personally, I can't stand to have something ugly next to something that looks sooooo good. BTW, how do you like those speakers? I think those are one of the best 2.0 speakers.

 

[Ockie]

If this club wasn't exclusive for computer monitors on a computing forum, then imagine how many people would be able to place here.

Shit, I don't know many people who has a TV under 30" these days. I just had a gut feeling that the !!!!!!s with their TV's will come and claim that they have computer monitors.


I'd like to enter my projector system here since it is on a gaming htpc... so 105", eat that.

 

[Deusfaux]

its the fault of the OP, he doesnt specify enough that this is only for monitors like the apple, dell, hp, gateway, etc


but that shouldnt mean people keep coming in here and posting non- 30" size - they're just as dumb

 

[SuperKeijo]

Wow the difference in the image quality between those two monitors is amazing. Personally, I can't stand to have something ugly next to something that looks sooooo good. BTW, how do you like those speakers? I think those are one of the best 2.0 speakers.

Yeah I really do like them as well. Didn't cost me much anything so I can't complain

And yes, the difference in image quality between a 22" TN panel and 30" HP is pretty amazing. I didn't really have a problem with the image quality of the 225bw, but that was before I saw the HP in action LOL

 

[convergent]

its the fault of the OP, he doesnt specify enough that this is only for monitors like the apple, dell, hp, gateway, etc


but that shouldnt mean people keep coming in here and posting non- 30" size - they're just as dumb

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous threads I've ever seen. The thread title is "30 Inch Club". How much clearer can anyone be? It is like having a '69 Camaro Club and then have people showing up with '70 Camaros and '79 Firebirds and thinking they are at the right place??? If the guy wanted to start a club called "Over 30 Inch Club", then he would have said it. Its logical to do 30 inch since that's the largest LCD that is really designed primarily for computer use, thus the resolution. I'm sure that will change in time, but it isn't that way now. Lets get back to the 30 inch stuff and be done with the non-30" stuff.

 

[SuperKeijo]

Yep, I think the original poster, who is getting a 30" display started this thread because he would like to see how big they are and what they look like in a typical computing environment. NOT to have the thread spammed by morons shoving their 52" tvs here. If he wanted to see 52" tv:s he propably would have said post everything above 30" here.

 

[Happy Hopping]

Yeah I really do like them as well. Didn't cost me much anything so I can't complain

And yes, the difference in image quality between a 22" TN panel and 30" HP is pretty amazing. I didn't really have a problem with the image quality of the 225bw, but that was before I saw the HP in action LOL

Can you clarify your photo for us? There is no way the night harbour scene is the same photo, is it?

I mean, if they were the same photo, how can the color has such huge difference? What did I miss?

 

[Happy Hopping]

What's the problem with plugging your 30" into the wall or a quality power strip?

There is no such thing as a "quality" power strip. There is real surge protector like the APC Surge Station 8, and that's a true "quality" power bar.

But even w/ a APC Surge Station 8, high qualilty device such as expensive computer and LCD are susceptible to voltage fluctuation, and the fluctuation is damaging to your devices, such as LCD. In other words, the input power has to be clean--120.00Volt, 60.000Hz.

when you plug your LCD directly to the wall, there is clean power protection. That's why we use high end UPS (APC Smart UPS) to regulate the VR (Voltage regulation) to +/- 3%, and to make sure the power is at 60Hz, as such, no harmonic freq. such as 66Hz, 72 Hz damaging these expensive unit.

 

[SuperKeijo]

Can you clarify your photo for us? There is no way the night harbour scene is the same photo, is it?

I mean, if they were the same photo, how can the color has such huge difference? What did I miss?

I don't really know what you mean by clarifying the photo. I just had the same wallpaper picture on both monitors plugged into the same computer at the same time and took a photo of them side by side. The Samsung was calibrated best I can, but I aint no expert on that. HP was uncalibrated. But no matter what I did, tried macigcolor and all on the samsung it just never stood a chance against HP colors. Maybe the 92% color gamut isn't just a marketing gimmick after all

 

[convergent]

I don't really know what you mean by clarifying the photo. I just had the same wallpaper picture on both monitors plugged into the same computer at the same time and took a photo of them side by side. The Samsung was calibrated best I can, but I aint no expert on that. HP was uncalibrated. But no matter what I did, tried macigcolor and all on the samsung it just never stood a chance against HP colors. Maybe the 92% color gamut isn't just a marketing gimmick after all

You are doing something drastically wrong if you can't get them closer than that. I have the 30" HC sitting along side a Samsung 204T and the colors are dang close.

A couple of things to keep in mind. If you are running XP, it can not handle multiple monitor profiles out of the box. You need to download and run WinColor from Microsoft... this is something they've pushed down from Vista for XP users. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/colorcontrol.mspx
This will allow you to individually set the profiles for each display, as well as your printers, scanners, etc.... all from one place. It will not, by default, run at startup. So you'd need to go into it and reset your default profiles. I just learned that you can automate this.

You will want to remove any other color profile apps that are your Startup Folder... examples - Adobe Gamma, ColorvisionStartup, etc. Then make a shortcut to WinColor and add the /L parameter and put that shortcut in Startup.

"C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe" /L

Then when you reboot, the correct profiles will load.

Finally, when you profile the monitors, you need to go from dual monitor mode to single monitor mode, or you may be profiling the wrong one. I profile them each invidually in single monitor mode, alternating the primary display.... then go back to dual mode and use WinColor to select the profiles. Make sure you name the profiles so you can know which monitor they go with.

In a picture on the web of your two displays beside each other, the background images should look identical to the eye.

 

[Happy Hopping]

In a picture on the web of your two displays beside each other, the background images should look identical to the eye.

So it's not due to the 92% color gamut? Because if it is so, the above photo must be the greatest advertising for hP.

I just want to know who's right. Best way to get to the bottom is to have someone take a large photo of 305T vs. HP side by side, of the same bitmap of course

 

[convergent]

So it's not due to the 92% color gamut? Because if it is so, the above photo must be the greatest advertising for hP.

I just want to know who's right. Best way to get to the bottom is to have someone take a large photo of 305T vs. HP side by side, of the same bitmap of course

The increased gamut will give you some deeper and richer colors, but not totally different color tint. In a photo of the two displays on the web, you shouldn't be able to see hardly any difference at all. The two displays in that picture are completely different colors... not even close. The color temperature in the one on the right is much, much warmer than the one on the left.

 

[-(Xyphox)-]

I dont have any pictures of my 30" yet, Camera is broke... But i do have some of my setup before i got my 30" Some still think i am crazy for going from this to a just 30" but eh, i love the 30"

 

[SuperKeijo]

You are doing something drastically wrong if you can't get them closer than that. I have the 30" HC sitting along side a Samsung 204T and the colors are dang close.

A couple of things to keep in mind. If you are running XP, it can not handle multiple monitor profiles out of the box. You need to download and run WinColor from Microsoft... this is something they've pushed down from Vista for XP users. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/colorcontrol.mspx
This will allow you to individually set the profiles for each display, as well as your printers, scanners, etc.... all from one place. It will not, by default, run at startup. So you'd need to go into it and reset your default profiles. I just learned that you can automate this.

You will want to remove any other color profile apps that are your Startup Folder... examples - Adobe Gamma, ColorvisionStartup, etc. Then make a shortcut to WinColor and add the /L parameter and put that shortcut in Startup.

"C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe" /L

Then when you reboot, the correct profiles will load.

Finally, when you profile the monitors, you need to go from dual monitor mode to single monitor mode, or you may be profiling the wrong one. I profile them each invidually in single monitor mode, alternating the primary display.... then go back to dual mode and use WinColor to select the profiles. Make sure you name the profiles so you can know which monitor they go with.

In a picture on the web of your two displays beside each other, the background images should look identical to the eye.

Well first of all, it doesn't have a TN panel now does it? PVA panels have a somewhat better contrast ratio than TN ones! And the color temperature is warmer on the HP, but I had the blue set all the way to 0 on the samsung and both red and green wear about 50. Maybe I should have had the red to 100? But I don't have the samsung anymore and I don't remember exactly how I had it calibrated so I can't do any more comparison between them. But I could not get the samsung colors as rich as the hp:s. Not even close, no matter what I did and that's the fact!

 

[young wing]

30" monitor...~$1,500...5.1 surround sound ~$250...watching pRon with it....priceless...LOL!!!

QFT!! I have dual 22s....2x MS nEt pr0N.

 

[convergent]

Well first of all, it doesn't have a TN panel now does it? PVA panels have a somewhat better contrast ratio than TN ones! And the color temperature is warmer on the HP, but I had the blue set all the way to 0 on the samsung and both red and green wear about 50. Maybe I should have had the red to 100? But I don't have the samsung anymore and I don't remember exactly how I had it calibrated so I can't do any more comparison between them. But I could not get the samsung colors as rich as the hp:s. Not even close, no matter what I did and that's the fact!

Which is why I think you weren't using the right profile for the monitor. I had that happen one time and it threw things way out of whack. When my system boots, my Samy and the Dell are quite a bit different in temperature, although no where near to the extent yours are... after WinColor runs to set the profiles, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. Of course if you bring up photos and study them you see the richer color, but it is not a major tint shift.

 

[SuperKeijo]

Which is why I think you weren't using the right profile for the monitor.

The whaat? I only calibrated using samsung's own osd. I didnt touch anything in windows.

 

[convergent]

The whaat? I only calibrated using samsung's own osd. I didnt touch anything in windows.

What is an OSD? So you didn't use a colorimeter like a Spyder2 to calibrate? Windows XP doesn't natively handle two monitors profiled very well, if at all. You have to download their Control Panel Color applet (WinColor) in order to be able to direct a separate profile to each monitor. That would explain the mismatch you are seeing.

 

[Happy Hopping]

The two displays in that picture are completely different colors... not even close. The color temperature in the one on the right is much, much warmer than the one on the left.

So that's what it is. I thought there is no way the difference is so huge. Thanks a lot.

As to his comment above, he said he uses Sammy's OSD (On Screen Display) to calibrate. I thought you have to buy certain software to calibrate, I don't see how can the OSD on Sammy can calibrate it for you.

 

[TheRapture]

Yeah, I hear that!

edit: except the guy above me is a tool. 1920x1200 is not crap resolution

Amen, 1920x1200 is a PREMIUM res for watching TV and high quality video, not to mention gaming.


Yes, I would LOVE a 30" LCD with 2560 x whatever res, but I just don't need it, nor do I want to run SLI video cards to be able to run a game in the native res.

 

[Stubwub]

I recently heard that most of the 30" widescreen LCDs do not have built in scalers in them. So if you try feeding them something like, say, a HDCP 1080 signal the screen cant display it and tries to display it at half its native resolution (1280x800). So unless you're using a PC that can scale the image with the video card you cant use them for HD movies.

Which brings up another problem. Being that Nvidia and ATI cards do not support HDCP over a dual link signal so using the monitors for commercial BLU-RAY or HD-DVD movies just wont work.

Any truth or input on this? I would like to know because I'm interested in getting a 30".

 

[Sinister Crayon]

I recently heard that most of the 30" widescreen LCDs do not have built in scalers in them. So if you try feeding them something like, say, a HDCP 1080 signal the screen cant display it and tries to display it at half its native resolution (1280x800). So unless you're using a PC that can scale the image with the video card you cant use them for HD movies.

Which brings up another problem. Being that Nvidia and ATI cards do not support HDCP over a dual link signal so using the monitors for commercial BLU-RAY or HD-DVD movies just wont work.

Any truth or input on this? I would like to know because I'm interested in getting a 30".

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be able to enable HDCP over dual link from a dual link video card with hdcp capabilities.

 

[SuperKeijo]

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be able to enable HDCP over dual link from a dual link video card with hdcp capabilities.

There isn't a single videocard out there yet that can do HDCP over dual link dvi.

 

[devman]

nvm

 

[virtualrain]

I recently heard that most of the 30" widescreen LCDs do not have built in scalers in them. So if you try feeding them something like, say, a HDCP 1080 signal the screen cant display it and tries to display it at half its native resolution (1280x800). So unless you're using a PC that can scale the image with the video card you cant use them for HD movies.

Which brings up another problem. Being that Nvidia and ATI cards do not support HDCP over a dual link signal so using the monitors for commercial BLU-RAY or HD-DVD movies just wont work.

Any truth or input on this? I would like to know because I'm interested in getting a 30".

A couple of comments... (I have a Dell 3007WFP-HC)

The 30" screens do NOT have scalers in them. Scaling worked fine via the nVidia control panel in XP but they don't yet have that fucntionality working in Vista. Once they do, the lack of a scaler in the monitor will be irrelevant.

However, if your usage includes a lot of console gaming or watching movies, you are obviously better off with a monitor with multiple inputs and a native res of 1920x...

The 30" displays are really geared towards desktop use.

As for HDCP, the Dell at least supports it, but the key fact is that there aren't any video cards yet that support it. ATI's new R600 is rumored to possibly support it. Having said that, HDCP is totallyunnecessary today as all the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD software manufacturers are not flipping the content protection bit on anyways. That may change anytime though.

Again, if your focus is mixed usage with consoles, video, and desktop, go with a single-link display with 1920x?. Otherwise step-up and get a 30" desktop monitor for the ultimate in computing!

 

[Happy Hopping]

what do you mean by a scaler?

 

[devman]

scaling works fine in vista under nVidia drivers. I play BF2 at 1280x1024 on my widescreen with 1:1 mapping, force aspect ratio works as well.

 

[virtualrain]

I notice all the scaling options (including 1:1) was enabled in my latest 101.70 nVidia Vista drivers... Will have to try it out soon.

Happy Hopping... Scaling is the process of adjusting the resolution of the source to the resolution of the display. Scaling can either occur at the source, at the display, or somewhere in between. If you have a 30" screen with a native res of 2560x1600 and want to watch HD at 1920x1080 on it, to preserve the quality of the source, you don't want to scale it and want it displayed 1:1 on the screen with black borders. You could scale it up to the resolution of the screen but then it would look fuzzy due to the pixel interpolation required to fill all the pixels on the screen.

 

[vagabond142]

I'm about 10 days away from joining the 30 inch club!

Getting a Dell 3007WFP-HC, hopping around from the excitement of getting a 30 inch monitor. How did you guys survive the waiting !

 

[SuperKeijo]

I'm about 10 days away from joining the 30 inch club!

Getting a Dell 3007WFP-HC, hopping around from the excitement of getting a 30 inch monitor. How did you guys survive the waiting !

LOL. Good question. I only had to wait like 2 days, so I made it pretty easily.

 

[zzz]

Amen, 1920x1200 is a PREMIUM res for watching TV and high quality video, not to mention gaming.

Yes, I would LOVE a 30" LCD with 2560 x whatever res, but I just don't need it, nor do I want to run SLI video cards to be able to run a game in the native res.

Are we talking about needs or premium? Make up your mind

No, you don't need SLI to run games at 2560x1600. Where did you come up with that idea? Here's some benchmarks from extremetech.com from way back in November, using a 8800GTX at 2560x1600:

Prey: 64 fps
HL2: 155 fps
CoD2: 38 fps
Fear: 82 fps

 

[vagabond142]

ZZZ: Heh, that was the exact review that made my mind up about getting the 3007 vs a 2407. My next upgrade is going to be a C2D E6600 with a CoolIt Eliminator on it, so I can overclock to 3 ghz without a problem, running a single GTX (for now ) with the 3007 as the display.

SuperKeijo: Well, it's free shipping... GST here in Canada is biting my butt enough on this purchase, plus I won't have my new system until after April 22 (waiting for the price drops ) at the earliest, so I keep telling myself that I don't really need the 3007 NOW, but it's on the way... and I CAN'T WAIIIIITTTTT (tears out hair)

 

[zzz]

vagabond, have you bought the video card yet? If not, I recommend getting the GTS version. When I bought it (1.5 months ago), the GTX was $180 more than the GTS. The GTS "superclocked" was $20 more than the regular GTS. I got the superclocked one and overclocked it more, to 621/972, which should give it ~24% more performance than the regular GTS's 500/800 speeds. Well, a stock GTS performs 66% as good as a stock GTX, so by overclocking to 621/972, you should get performance halfway between a GTS and GTX (66*1.24). So getting halfway between a GTS and GTX for an extra $20 is a lot better than getting a GTX for $180 more.

 

[vagabond142]

I'm gonna go GTS 640 SLi. Right now I'm running an X1900XT so I should be able to play MOST games at decent levels, but the upcoming system I'm building will be dedicated to high resolution gaming and DXX gaming

 

[TheRapture]

vagabond, have you bought the video card yet? If not, I recommend getting the GTS version. When I bought it (1.5 months ago), the GTX was $180 more than the GTS. The GTS "superclocked" was $20 more than the regular GTS. I got the superclocked one and overclocked it more, to 621/972, which should give it ~24% more performance than the regular GTS's 500/800 speeds. Well, a stock GTS performs 66% as good as a stock GTX, so by overclocking to 621/972, you should get performance halfway between a GTS and GTX (66*1.24). So getting halfway between a GTS and GTX for an extra $20 is a lot better than getting a GTX for $180 more.

And at native res of 2560xwhatever the 30" is, that GTS is getting owned by the GTX. If I had a 30" I would NOT be getting a GTS, at least not a single one, and SLI is not really a good way to go, it's double the cash for 1/4 the speed increase not to mention some games don't work all that well with SLI and also with SLI you can't run dual displays.

A GTX would be the better all around choice for a 30" display.

 

[Weenis]

And at native res of 2560xwhatever the 30" is, that GTS is getting owned by the GTX. If I had a 30" I would NOT be getting a GTS, at least not a single one, and SLI is not really a good way to go, it's double the cash for 1/4 the speed increase not to mention some games don't work all that well with SLI and also with SLI you can't run dual displays.

A GTX would be the better all around choice for a 30" display.

It's really irrelevant if you don't think SLI GTS's would be good for it because, you have to have two cards, regardless if they are in SLI or not, because you need dual link DVI for the 2560x1600 res. Unless of course you would not want to use the monitor at its native and highest resolution. It's really not a question of how many of which card to get, it is a question of 'which pair of cards do I want to get" Seeing as he just forked over quite a lot for that 30" display.. He could always use two evga 8800GTS.. then save up some and upgrade them to the 8900s when they come out, with the step up program. Since they should come out in 90 days or less. Worst case he can step up to the highest available card, and not waste a lot of money

 

[vagabond142]

Weenis = smart (on the upconverting)

Not so smart on the knowledge of dual-link Dual link is per DVI-D port, so with 2 GTS's I technically have 4 dual-link DVI ports. It's all on a chip on the pcb that, when used with the proper cabling = dual link

Besides, I'm getting GTS SLi because (SHOCK! ) I **don't** have bottomless pockets. 2x GTS = $850 or so Canadian vs 1x GTX = $750+ canadian. I also don't need to push things to their absolute limit (I mean, I don't need 16x AA 16X AF when I'll be happy with 2 or 4x AA and 8 or 16x AF). The main idea is to be able to drive games at 2560x1600 at an acceptable rate (30 FPS or above) for the next little while. If a budget highend 8900 GTS comes out, yeah, I'll probably upgrade with the 90 day trade proggy. But it all depends on finances and timing.

 

[TheRapture]

Weenis = smart

Not so smart on the knowledge of dual-link Dual link is per DVI-D port, so with 2 GTS's I technically have 4 dual-link DVI ports. It's all on a chip on the pcb that, when used with the proper cabling = dual link
.

Weenis = talked shit about something he knows not alot about it seems.

Thanks vagabond, I don't think I could have said it....that nicely.


Weenis...each port of the GTS/GTX is dual link capable, you just have to have the actual dual link cable. There are more pins in it than a single link DVI cable.

 

[Joe Fission]

It's really irrelevant if you don't think SLI GTS's would be good for it because, you have to have two cards, regardless if they are in SLI or not, because you need dual link DVI for the 2560x1600 res. Unless of course you would not want to use the monitor at its native and highest resolution. It's really not a question of how many of which card to get, it is a question of 'which pair of cards do I want to get" Seeing as he just forked over quite a lot for that 30" display.. He could always use two evga 8800GTS.. then save up some and upgrade them to the 8900s when they come out, with the step up program. Since they should come out in 90 days or less. Worst case he can step up to the highest available card, and not waste a lot of money

Srsly, you need to do some brushing up on your knowledge.

I have a Dell 3007WFP-HC 30" LCD running at 2560x1600 and it's hooked into my SINGLE 8800GTS... not only that, it's using ONE of the TWO dual link DVI ports available on the card. I have played Oblivion at 2560x1600 at near full details and the card isn't even breaking a sweat.

In other words, you DO NOT need SLI to run a 30" LCD in 2560x1600 resolution...period.

 

[Joe Fission]

The 30" screens do NOT have scalers in them. Scaling worked fine via the nVidia control panel in XP but they don't yet have that fucntionality working in Vista. Once they do, the lack of a scaler in the monitor will be irrelevant.

Just a question, but which XP NVidia drivers had working scaler options? Or was there ever one? I recently installed an older game and needed it to scale properly. When I went into the NVidia control panel and selected the proper scaling option, the control panel wouldn't save the option. After Googling around the web a bit about it, it appears it's a bug in the drivers. I found a set of beta drivers that had the issue half fixed, but not completely... and I'm sorta leery of using beta drivers. I say it was "half fixed" only because you could set the scaling option and it would save, but would only save for the immediate program that you would need scaling on. The option would switch itself back to default after that program completed executing.

I just got this 3007WFP-HC and I'm still in my 30 days satisfaction guarantee period. Because it doesn't scale, and because the NVidia scaler is still broken (until they release the next version of their drivers), I'm really tempted to send this back and get a 24" merely for the reason that I do watch a LOT of DVDs on my computer, and because I do play a few older games as well.

Don't get me wrong... I absolutely LOVE this monitor aside from the scaling issue (the buzzing problem and dead pixels aside of course). It's got the most vivid colors of any monitor I've used so far (which isn't that many). And so far, I'm hooked on the massive desktop space. I'm finding it hard to decide whether to stay a member of the 30" club.