Anti-glare coating vs. Glossy finish

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maximus1284

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
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Which is better and why? I know that is really subjective, but I'm curious what some people have to say. I'm also interested in seeing some photos too

thanks
 
Like you said...it's objective. I have both an Acer Ferrari F-20 with a glossy panel and a Dell 2007WFP with anti-glare. I have to say that I'm biased in favor of the glossy panel because the colors seem richer, more saturated and it feels more like using a good crt. However...it is hooked to my secondary "gaming" pc that you see listed in my sig and it's in a room with blackout blinds on the windows..those who work in brightly lit areas may be annoyed with reflections. Honestly...I only really see the reflections on a blank/black screen or when it is off. The Dell is on my work/internet/console gaming machine that I'm using right now (and also hooked up to an Xbox 360) and I must say that even though I'm used to it...Dell uses the anti-glare coating of the worst kind. It does the job very well...maybe TOO well because it gives the screen a sort of fuzzy "screendoor" look that I found more annoying than reflections on the glossy panel. I've gotten used to it now but it's very easy to notice if you sit close to the monitor like I do. If you work in a brightly lit room and can't control the sunlight through windows then this anti-glare would probably be best. It works so well that when I shine a penlight at the screen it diffuses most of the light and produces very little glare....but it's also doing the same for light coming from the lcd which softens colors and makes text not look quite as sharp. Once again..it's all a matter of preference.
 
I have a Dell 2007WFP 20.1" Widescreen LCD with an Anti-glare Hard coating 3H.
In the beginning I hated it, the white colours were so grainy and fuzzy. Then I got used to it and the monitor is now awesome....
 
I on the other hand absolutely despise the glossy screens for any purpose other than gaming or watching movies/videos in total darkness. When I had the 20" NEC it looks great, but the glossy screen was really annoying. With any ambient light in my room at all, I could see my reflection in any dark or solid area of color in the screen (like the black areas of this forum). Also, I have found that s-ips monitors are far more "sparkly" to look at with anti-glare coatings. Whereas s-pva looks smoother to me with anti-glare coatings. My brother's 2001fp and cousin's 2005fpw and 2007wfp both look pretty "sparkly" compared to my samsung 193p and dell 2407wfp.
 
My preference after seeing the 20WMGX2 is glossy. Solid colors are so much clearer and vibrant. The anti glare coating makes solid colors grainy or gives them a shimmer effect. Glare wouldn't be a problem for me with my room lighting, and even if it was I could always close the blinds or turn off the lights (which I do anyway when gaming or watching videos). On the other hand, the matte finsh will look grainy no matter what I do.
 
Glossy all the way. :D

Go to Best Buy or Circuit City and look at the laptops. Almost all of them have glossy screens.
 
Another vote for Glossy!

My wife's Dell 1705 laptop has the glossy screen. It looks so smooth and the colors look very rich. It's beautiful even for other applications like web-surfing, word processing, etc.
 
I have a 20.1" non-glossy widescreen as a main monitor, and I have my 15" glossy screen on my laptop. I really like the glossy screen because pictures and videos look so sharp on it. it sucks if you are out side or in really bright lighting (I do a little bit of work in a photo studio and its no the best in there).

Anyways when I ordered my macbook I went glossy, i think its great for showing pictures or videos and I like the way it looks.
 
Glossy because it seems like looking through a monitor instead of at one. First time I looked at older pics I had on a new S-IPS glossy it was spooky how clear some were and I never saw them ike that before. If I had to use a laptop outside I would like non-glossy.
 
yeah...my sister has a glossy screen, and yeah its a little reflective, but so was my old CRT :p my current TV is a bit reflective too, but it never seriously bothers me

my current laptop anti-glare UXGA LCD just looks so bland, bleh. I'll probably go with a glossy screen monitor, and might just take the plunge for the NEC :p
 
Glossy. Have a Acer 2051W with glossy and it's just so much more vibrant than any other screen with anti-refelctive coating, it's not even funny.

That being said, i ordered a 20.1" non widescreen without glossy :(
 
Definitely Glossy. My first Glossy monitor was a Sony xbrite. It has very vibrant colors and I am very happy with it. It is a little reflective but not anymore then the average CRT. The reflectiveness never bothered me. The next monitor that I get will be glossy as well. I just wish there were more variety of glossy monitors out there.
 
Non-glossy all the way. All the bright colors in the world don't make a damn bit of good if your monitor reflects just about everything. I own both screens and I would know.
 
maximus1284 said:
glossy screen, and yeah its a little reflective, but so was my old CRT
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Glossy on a flat screen is less objectionable than glossy on a curved screen. The curved screen is like a wide angle lens and it captures glare from a wide area.
 
None of them.

I can see my reflection too easily with glossy, and not just on black/dark parts of the screen, but from bright areas as well. :(
 
Glossy.

Opticlear especially; it does wonders for good screens, & can turn crappy screens into decent ones.

Pure magic ;)
 
I prefer non-glossy... Dunno why. Glossy screens seem fake.

I'll have to recheck before I buy though.
 
Last Saturday I went to the local CC store to see some monitors. There were may kinds side by side. I mainly was interested in the new Samsung xx6 series. They had the highest contrast of all and even color wise were the ones exhibiting superiority over most of the other monitors. And then, on the other side of the isle there was this little HP w19b. This is a 19" wide monitor by Hewlett Packard. Kinda unassuming, it was connected to an X2 computer with Vista on it. Glossy. I couldn't believe my eyes about the stunning colors and crispness of the screen, letters and gorgeous graphics. Couldn't have enough of Vista's demo photos (the flowers and landscapes). Just such an enormous difference with the washed out, blend colors of the antiglare-coated panels. When seeing the antiglare panels I was in awe with some of them, such as the new Samsungs as well with the Samsung 215 and 204B (a TN panel) However,
the HP w19b is also a TN panel. Hewlett Packard does not make a glossy 22" or 24" monitor. Well, too bad. True, glossy is not for everyone. I used to be annoyed with the CRTs' reflectiveness, but that was unavoidable because, after all, it was glass, and as one of you've said, it was outwardly curved (convex) which spread the reflected light. But this time I didn't bother me, even though the store was very brightly lit.
 
I use glossy and matte screens; Nec 20WMGX2 & my Acer aspire 5002 laptop are glossy, and the Cinema displays I use at school/work & an old LG 17" are matte.

I started off with matte screens and really liked them. They were great and I had no problems with glare. I thought the images were sharp too.

My first experience with a glossy screen was terrible - I did not like the screens on the acer laptop at all and I actually sold it, vowing never to buy a glossy screen again. I thought my preference was permanent - Matte all the way. Well that preference lasted only until I picked up a nec with the opticlear coating! The colours are fantastic and everything is so crisp! When it is off, I use it as a mirror but for some reason, I don't notice any glare so long as the screen is on!

so it seems that not all glossy is made equal! Opticlear wins hands down.
 
I have an NEC 20wmgx2 and a westinghouse 19inch widescreen and running both on the same box.

The westinghouse has anti-glare and it is noticeably more blurry and washed out than the NEC. The NEC is like looking directly into the monitor with no glass at all. Rarely does glare ever bother me.... opticlear rules
 
Anyone have a round up of glossy LCD model number?

And has anyone seen the new HP all in one PC with the 19 or 20" built in glossy wodescreen. It is AMAZING.

I would love to find a 22" glossy out there somewhere... but so far I have come up blank.
 
it amazes me how ignorant people could get.

/other people

I had the 20" NEC screen and it looked so awesome and vibrant but if it didnt have the glossy screen it would be perfect!!!

/me again

not to flame anyone but cmon. we all know its the glossy screen that makes the colors pop out at you!!! if it had an antiglare it would still be a pretty good monitor though but the colors would seem fuzzy.....like on my damn 1800fp.....
 
Any decent graphics designer knows that glossy screens *skew* the true color of items, what your seeing on a screen with glossy is simply the same as taking an image in photoshop and upping the contrast, skewing and ruining the orginal colors. because of that and the fact I need my colors on screen to be as close as I see in print, no glossy screens for me (on LCD's)

Sorry people, but home users = glossy is "nice" but not better, it seems better because of what it does

Pro users (graphics designers, movie editors, etc) you'll notice all use either matte lcds or crt(the shinyness on crts is natural on them, does not affect *true life* contrast at all) :) just stating the facts. theres a reason the MacBook Pro comes in matte by default ;).
 
I'd say anti-glare. I'm yet to see a glossy one that doesn't screw up the colors, and it's not just a calibration issue.

Then again, I probably qualify as a "Pro" user, according to Chilly's post...
 
Chilly said:
Any decent graphics designer knows that glossy screens *skew* the true color of items, what your seeing on a screen with glossy is simply the same as taking an image in photoshop and upping the contrast, skewing and ruining the orginal colors. because of that and the fact I need my colors on screen to be as close as I see in print, no glossy screens for me (on LCD's)

Sorry people, but home users = glossy is "nice" but not better, it seems better because of what it does

Pro users (graphics designers, movie editors, etc) you'll notice all use either matte lcds or crt(the shinyness on crts is natural on them, does not affect *true life* contrast at all) :) just stating the facts. theres a reason the MacBook Pro comes in matte by default ;).
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Doesn't aggressive anti-glare coating (such as used by Dell) also have the opposite effect of 'diffusing' the colors?
 
Chilly said:
I need my colors on screen to be as close as I see in print, no glossy screens for me (on LCD's)
Click to expand...

What are you using to print? Are you sending it out to press? If so, the color accuracy is almost worthless because the pressmen can't replicate it consistently anyway.
 
As mentioned this is highly subjective and environmental as well (light sources in rooom). But trying to leave that out:

The closer you get to the matte screens the more it will annoy as the sandy texture like appearance of the the AG coat will be more visible. Sit further away and you won't notice at all.

Glossy OTOH will look great close up. But the further away you get from it, the more annoying and obvious the reflections will be.

So computer screen you sit close to: Glossy may be better.
So Screen you watch movies on from farther away: Matte may be better.

Personally I wouldn't want a glossy screen bigger than 20". The bigger it gets the more chance for reflections and the more likely to watch movies from farther back. I don't have a real issue with either kind in the available sizes. But in the 30" screen I techlust after, there is no way in heck that I would get one if it were glossy. Since I know I will have to get matte for that, I have decided to just get used to matte and stop worrying about it. When I have nothing to compare with matte looks great.
 
Snowdog said:
As mentioned this is highly subjective and environmental as well (light sources in rooom). But trying to leave that out:

The closer you get to the matte screens the more it will annoy as the sandy texture like appearance of the the AG coat will be more visible. Sit further away and you won't notice at all.

Glossy OTOH will look great close up. But the further away you get from it, the more annoying and obvious the reflections will be.

So computer screen you sit close to: Glossy may be better.
So Screen you watch movies on from farther away: Matte may be better.

Personally I wouldn't want a glossy screen bigger than 20". The bigger it gets the more chance for reflections and the more likely to watch movies from farther back. I don't have a real issue with either kind in the available sizes. But in the 30" screen I techlust after, there is no way in heck that I would get one if it were glossy. Since I know I will have to get matte for that, I have decided to just get used to matte and stop worrying about it. When I have nothing to compare with matte looks great.
Click to expand...
I see what you're saying...however I have a 42" plasma which would be considered a 'glossy' panel and the PQ is great. Like others have stated..unless you are in a brightly lit environment you proabably won't notice that it's 'glossy' until the power is off or on a blank, black screen.
 
If you prefer "candy color like" saturation with a loss of visual ergonomics: glossy

If you less surface reflectance (better visual ergonomics), but can live with less saturated colors and somewhat compromised contrast: matt (anti-glare)

For professional color work: matt (anti-glare)

For using in the dark (nb! perhaps not the best way to avoid eyesore) and maximum visual impact: glossy
 
Not much response to this question in another thread. Clearly a lot of people like Opticlear. But there are different versions of anti-glare. For instance Sony's XBrite is not glossy. Any other suggestions, since Sony isn't making monitors that are available here?
 
rsatx said:
Not much response to this question in another thread. Clearly a lot of people like Opticlear. But there are different versions of anti-glare. For instance Sony's XBrite is not glossy. Any other suggestions, since Sony isn't making monitors that are available here?
Click to expand...

Actually I don't like the using the word "glossy" when describing this particular kind of coating...I prefer "clear" which means that it is close to what we were used to with the old crt monitors. If I look closely at the "Crystalbrite" coating on my Acer F-20 I can see that it isn't completely smooth but rather slightly "wavy" which is probably their way of minimizing the reflectiveness. In any case...I believe the clear coat lets the colors come through undiffused which makes themn appear bolder and more saturated. Whether or not this is good for graphics professionals...I don't know and really don't care. If you use your home monitor like I do then you'll most likely prefer clear over anti-glare.
 
Glossy is fine for me. Anti-glare is a tad muted.

Actually, I don't mind either. It's a screen.
 
Matte for me, especially on a screen with such rich colors like the Samsung 971P. The experience feels a lot more immersive because there are no reflections to distract me.
 
whenever I meet a client to show them photos I have taken in the past I always bring my macbook with the glossy screen, and I always get the "the colors look so sharp and vibrant" comments.

On the other hand, I do all my PP'ing on a non-glossy screen
 
Been doing more research since my post in the SP1908FP topic. I'm kind of wondering how the matte finish got to be so popular in the first place. Anti glare is fine, but it never seemed to bother CRT users much before. I'm currently using a 19" flat aperture grille which causes me no "glare" problems. Same with all the TV monitors in our home. Don't think I'd care much for a matte finish on my 36" Sony, so why would I want it on my PC's display? :confused:
 
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