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Completely stuck, really need some user input on a 30"solution

F

Fabrian

n00b
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
21
Hello all, haven't been here in quite some time.

I currently own an LG246BN and have spent the past couple of weeks trying to settle into a 30" monitor for my Mac Pro. I'm thoroughly stuck at this point.

First things first... I seriously dislike the 16:9 aspect ratio this screwed up market has decided to adopt and I don't support it. In my opinion, 16:9 should stay on TV and movie only, and has absolutely no business living in the computer monitor world. Vertical space is just as important as horizontal space..

Anyway, I gave the Dell U3011 a try last week. Used it for two hours and packed it back up for a refund. Issues: Very strong sparkle/very heavy AG coating, the worst blotching I've seen to date, color temperature went from warm on the left side to cold on the right side and the physical panel itself was loose inside the bezel. Still waiting for that refund to post back.

I then sucked up my hatred for 16:9 and picked up a 27" cinema display. I really like the sharpness, color, color temperature, and clarity - the combination of resolution and glossy panel looks good. However, after realizing this panel has the same exact vertical height as my current 24" 16:10 LG, I really couldn't justify the $1000 for higher resolution and a bit more width.

So, what my goal has been since I started looking for a new monitor was more real estate than I have now - 30" ideally, 16:10 IPS panel under $1500. I really don't want to deal with overaggressive AG coating... my eyes seem to have a hard time with it these days. Also, being a photographer and a sharpness junkie, it's hard to pass up a glossy panel that's sharper and easier to see, like the 27" ACD. I was pretty much set on a refurb 30" cinema display, but the AG coating seems to be too aggressive as well.

I have no real desire for wide gamut panels for various reasons, and some of these reasons already rules out the hp ZR30W. It's useless (IMO) using a wide gamut panel with no OSD.


So... I'm stuck.. Ultimately, 30" 16:10 is perfect. Harsh AG coatings are not for me.

I was hoping to get some input here, possibly some poor soul is in the same boat.
 
Solution does not exist.

ACD or wait a while for the new Samsung PLS displays, but they are 27" 16:9 as well.

Basically suck it up princess, do you want good image quality or a few extra "?
 
Question:

Were you aware of the AG coating used on the U3011 before you purchased it? Did you read any discussion beforehand?
 
Yes, I did. I had read some mixed opinions in various forums. One of the things that made me decide to try it was many people stating that the AG coating was less severe than the 30" ACD and wasn't so bad. I've seen the 30" ACD before, so I thought it would be more like the L246 i'm using now. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.
 
If you are brave you could always remove the ag coating(I think its actually like a laminate or something like that placed over it). :p Other than that nothing exists. I only notice he sparkle on white backgrounds, it doesn't bother me that much considering I got my 3008 for $800 I'm happy with it.
 
NCX said:
Basically suck it up princess, do you want good image quality or a few extra "?
Click to expand...
Nine out of ten princesses prefer a few extra inches. And the Dell U3011 does have excellent image quality, as every review available has stated, hater! :p

If AG makes you rage and you were angry enough having to switch from 4:3 format (stupid progress), then I'd recommend three 16x9 monitors in portrait.

The total aspect ratio will be close to a big ol' 16:10.
 
Your pretty much screwed in the 30" panel arena. They all have harsh AG coatings and most of them are wide gamut as well.
 
NCX said:
Basically suck it up princess, do you want good image quality or a few extra "?
Click to expand...

ROFL :D

Maybe extreme lighting can make the "harsh AG" seem less harsh? I mean... lower than average lighting (romantic dinner style) would have what effect on it? Any? Make it less noticeable or more? I wonder... :confused:
 
TechBoy said:
why is it that 30" monitors have AG coating at all? Whats the deal?
Click to expand...

If they were all glossy I'd be pissed enough to punch old ladies in the face and toss puppies into a wood chipper. Glossy screens BLOW. I buy monitors, not mirrors that display stuff on them which can only be seen under specific (low light) conditions.
 
Dan_D said:
If they were all glossy I'd be pissed enough to punch old ladies in the face and toss puppies into a wood chipper. Glossy screens BLOW. Some of us don't like glare.
Click to expand...

True, only had one gloss screen and it blew to use it in day light and that was on my laptop so I cared. But I guess my question is what make AG more agressive per say, what does it do that makes so many hate it. Because I have never had a monitor with AG coating that was annoying to me.
 
TechBoy said:
True, only had one gloss screen and it blew to use it in day light and that was on my laptop so I cared. But I guess my question is what make AG more agressive per say, what does it do that makes so many hate it. Because I have never had a monitor with AG coating that was annoying to me.
Click to expand...

Some AG coatings leave the monitors picture slightly tinted in some areas. Dell's are infamous for having a red tint to them. I can attest to this being true to a degree, though I have to have pretty much an all white screen and adjust my viewing angle slightly to see it.
 
ahh thanks for explaining. So AG coating causes the tint? Because when I got my 2408 it looked very blue in some areas where as my Samsung looked more red.
 
Dan_D said:
If they were all glossy I'd be pissed enough to punch old ladies in the face and toss puppies into a wood chipper. Glossy screens BLOW. I buy monitors, not mirrors that display stuff on them which can only be seen under specific (low light) conditions.
Click to expand...
This. I HATE glossy screens!!!
 
I probably would have been better off if I never saw the image quality of the 27"ACD. Text, for one thing, is much more crisp and sharp as compared to any non-glossy panel I've seen. Looking at that and then moving back to something like my 1920x1200 L246, or even the Dell U3011 I tried is very noticeable.

As far as harsh or aggressive anti-glare coating, I can certainly see why some people (like me) are totally put off by it. Glossy panels have glare issues that is just as annoying. Here's my thoughts on that..

Matte: 27 and 30 inch seem to have pretty bad sparkle and/or blotchiness. There is no environment or position change that can fix this. Either you can deal with it or you can't. For me, with what I consider harsh AG coating, I can't deal with it anymore. Even with a tight dot pitch and high resolution, there is a general degradation of overall picture quality especially noticeable on text, icons etc.

Glossy: Reflection sucks, I don't think anyone is going to deny that. However, with indoor environments this is controllable, unlike the matte coatings, which certainly is not. BTW, don't you all remember when the only thing we had was glossy CRT's? Granted they were curved, but they were still glass. Text is noticeably crisper with a glossy panel. Same goes for everything else being crisper and sharper.

This thread gave me a few chuckles. I'm still stuck though, which, I supposed, is how I'm going to stay until I decide which is more important... a glossy, sharper display sacrificing ~3" of vertical space, or a dull, matte display with a much more realistically sized (16:10) canvas.
 
NCX said:
Solution does not exist.
Click to expand...
This. Your best bet would be the HP 30" (at least the HP zr24w has a way better AG coating than my U2711) or one of the PVA EIZO 30" displays (with prices above 2000€).

Waiting for PLS is possible but we will only see 27" and noone can say how good they will actually be in reality. I'm fairly certain that at least one of the three 27" displays Samsung announced will have a decent AG coating.
 
NCX is correct, what you are looking for does not exist. The only known 27"+ displays that don't have harsh AG coatings would be the 27" Apple LED Cinema Display, 27" Samsung SA850 (future), and 27" Hazro HZ27a (future).
 
They go heavier on AG for most larger screens due to the flare from windows and light sources...it's much harder to prevent glare on a larger screen just because of the size of the panel.

I picked up a U2711 and it definitely was a nice upgrade for what i got, but the AG coating took a while to get used to. I'll probably remove it once my warranty runs out (I spent a bunch of money on it, not too keen on voiding the warranty).
 
NeoMatriX724 said:
They go heavier on AG for most larger screens due to the flare from windows and light sources...it's much harder to prevent glare on a larger screen just because of the size of the panel.

I picked up a U2711 and it definitely was a nice upgrade for what i got, but the AG coating took a while to get used to. I'll probably remove it once my warranty runs out (I spent a bunch of money on it, not too keen on voiding the warranty).
Click to expand...

I don't really understand this though. I have never seen aggressive AG coatings on HDTVs which are much larger than 27". I have also never seen them on 27"+ TN monitors. With the sole exception of LG's IPS panels, I have never seen a single matte display with a harsh AG coating.
 
Well watching TV and using a monitor that's much closer to your eyes are a bit different.
 
I wonder if the NEC PA301w will be any less harsh? Anyone heard anything along those lines? It was supposed to be out by now.
 
TechBoy said:
why is it that 30" monitors have AG coating at all? Whats the deal?
Click to expand...
Because the only thing worse than harsh AG is no AG. Watch something like Dark Knight, and your glossy LCD better be in the bat cave.

5469497550_ffd6f8c590_z.jpg

My reflection is too sexy for glossy displays, makes it hard to concentrate on anything else being constantly reminded of how handsome I am. *makes Blue Steel face*
 
Imo Glossy>Matte for MS Word, internet use and most games. It's 50/50 for movies due to the relflections. Most games arent dark so users benifit from a "clearer" or "true," image over Matte.
 
Dan_D said:
Well watching TV and using a monitor that's much closer to your eyes are a bit different.
Click to expand...

That may be true, but I use 2x24" matte monitors at my office. They don't have a harsh AG coating, and neither pick up any glare from the above fluorescent lights. If a 2x24" setup works great and has no glare, I would think a single 27" monitor minus LG's mediocre AG coating would also have no glare. As it stands, my 2x24" setup works great, and both displays rape the U3011 in terms of readability of text.
 
Ashok0 said:
That may be true, but I use 2x24" matte monitors at my office. They don't have a harsh AG coating, and neither pick up any glare from the above fluorescent lights. If a 2x24" setup works great and has no glare, I would think a single 27" monitor minus LG's mediocre AG coating would also have no glare. As it stands, my 2x24" setup works great, and both displays rape the U3011 in terms of readability of text.
Click to expand...

And actually I sometimes wish my DLP TV had a matte coating on it. I have to wait to really watch it until it's dark out. During the day the glare makes watching TV unbearable. Fortunately when I move next, it will hopefully be into a house with a proper home theater room devoid of windows. Then I'll probably upgrade to an 80" unit.
 
NCX said:
Imo Glossy>Matte for MS Word, internet use and most games. It's 50/50 for movies due to the relflections. Most games arent dark so users benifit from a "clearer" or "true," image over Matte.
Click to expand...
I agree with you on that one. Especially Word, TeX, internet and programming are just awesome with the Apple Cinema Display. The U2711 is however quite as good as the ACD for gaming and movies I would say.
 
Ducman69 said:
Because the only thing worse than harsh AG is no AG. Watch something like Dark Knight, and your glossy LCD better be in the bat cave.
Click to expand...


So true. I think 10 years from now we will look back at these "mirrors" and laugh.
My 13" MacBookPro was awesome but I sold it because that screen was a nightmare.
 
Sell all your belongings NOW and buy an Eizo SX3031W ($3k?). It's S-PVA panel with different (lighter) AG coating.
 
I prefer glossy to AG. That picture you posted of the apple display and laptop shows overhead track lighting, which to a glossy screen is like having a bank of fluorescent lights overhead and overhead-behind which is a terrible setup for a glossy screen. I design my computer room/area around my screen, not the other way around. I have my desk facing the room. That way the back of my monitor is facing the lighting. I have no overhead lighting at or behind my desk. Similarly, my glossy 46" samsung led edgelit tv's back faces the window in my living room. You don't have to be in a super dark room to greatly minimize the downsides of a glossy screen if you design your room (desk position, location, room lighting) around your screen .. much like some people design their home theatre rooms around their display and surround speakers, or a photographer designs his studio to get the best image results.
..
...AG is like wax crystals, and it is trying to compensate for oversaturating your screen with light. The very high end displays like Eizo, NEC, and LaCie, although not glossy , all come with hoods or canopies because flooding your screen with light ruins the color space/image accuracy. (Some high end studio cameras also use hoods). So concerns with the color space of your big ips monitor rating over a certain percentage may be irrelevant if you are hitting your screen with light, especially a lot of light. Similarly, color space testing on all screens is done in dark rooms I believe, for the same reason - light hitting the screen pollutes the color space.
...Over agressive AG , like others have said, can distort text. It can also pollute white backgrounds, and can also show a shimmer or greasy look. It can give a wax layer paleness to the image to the eye when compared to the richness of a glossy screen too. I compare it to having a pale frost on your screen.. then you spray it with water and it becomes clear and lush, and yes glossy. I prefer that.
..
... Both types of screens have tradeoffs. Anyone can H-A-T-E not stand OMFG I want to smash it to pieces the tradeoffs on either type lol. I can not bear over aggressive AG crystals on my screens. More moderate/matte AG I can live with but its not preferred. You should have a choice with different model suffixes in my opinion but unfortunately thats usually not the case with most mfg's.
 
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