CRT Dying, need advice

Okay, got my Dell P1130 today and got it set up tonight. I'm typing this at 1600x1200 at 100Hhz. Does this beast rock? Oh, yes, it rocks! It came new as advertised, working as advertised. I have also run it all the way up to the max 2048x1536 @ 75Hhz (after editing the .inf file as instructed above) without incident. Too tiny for daily use, maybe, but usable for games if I ever get the card that can pump it out.

Now my tired, bespectacled eyes will probably drop back to 1280x1024 for desktop use, but boy is my old Nascar 2002 fun at 1600x1200!
 
Hmm...

I ordered one from the same seller. Just got it today, but I'm not quite as happy with mine as you are. Have you noticed any issues with the quality of text on the far left and right of the screen? It's noticeably less clear for me there than it is on the center, to the point where it's distracting. I have to squint to see folder names clearly in Windows when I have a window maximized, sometimes. I'm amazed you can run it at 1600x1200 at 100Hz as well, because the text starts looking bad across the entire screen at more than about 1400x1050 at 100 for me.

I'm not sure if I should bother exchanging it or not (if I can) since the last P1130 I tried had both of the same issues. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but my old CRT doesn't seem to have the same problems.
 
Tosan said:
Hmm...

I ordered one from the same seller. Just got it today, but I'm not quite as happy with mine as you are. Have you noticed any issues with the quality of text on the far left and right of the screen? It's noticeably less clear for me there than it is on the center, to the point where it's distracting. I have to squint to see folder names clearly in Windows when I have a window maximized, sometimes. I'm amazed you can run it at 1600x1200 at 100Hz as well, because the text starts looking bad across the entire screen at more than about 1400x1050 at 100 for me.

I'm not sure if I should bother exchanging it or not (if I can) since the last P1130 I tried had both of the same issues. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but my old CRT doesn't seem to have the same problems.
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Well, I may not be the best judge of fine details, since I have astigmatism and wear glasses, so I'm used to ignoring a certain amount of visual quality issues that can be anything from tired eyes to crud on my lenses. Your observations do raise a point, though, that I was planning on posting a question about anyway.

Can anyone chime in with info on calibration tools for adjusting a CRT to its optimum image quality? For example, I have a DVD I purchased that has test patterns and sample images you can use to fine-tune your TV's contrast, brightness, and color balance, but I doubt it's technical or comprehensive enough for a modern computer display. I would need one that is good at helping a calibration noob to use it properly.

I like what I'm seeing with this monitor so far, I just don't want to miss out on the best it can do.
 
Have you tried any 1080P content on the monitor? How does it look?
 
450 said:
Have you tried any 1080P content on the monitor? How does it look?
Click to expand...

As in video playback? I don't have any HD video content to try. Is there a sample clip I can grab somewhere? What player should I use?

Game-wise, 1600X1200 is above 1080p and looks great so far.
 
Commander Suzdal said:
Well, I may not be the best judge of fine details, since I have astigmatism and wear glasses, so I'm used to ignoring a certain amount of visual quality issues that can be anything from tired eyes to crud on my lenses.
Click to expand...

I have the same problems, but fortunately (or unfortunately) they don't get in the way of my ability to see detail close up. Probably why I've been through an ungodly number of CRTs in the past five months or so trying to find one that's even relatively defect-free. :p

I think I'm probably not going to keep mine. After trying to use it for desktop work for the past few hours, I've decided that this just isn't going to work unless there's some way to fix the problems, which I doubt. It's a shame though, because games look decent enough.

As for calibrating your CRT, you can try looking up the Nokia Monitor Test utility. It provides a few test patterns that make adjusting things like convergence easier.
 
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