Which one to get?

B

belmicah

Gawd
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Oct 10, 2005
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Hey guys, like most people here, I am shopping for a 20" gamer's LCD. I like the Sceptre (seems to have nice specs), but I don't know which one.

Here is the x20WC-Gamer:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11178255&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

and here is the x20WC-Naga:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11183005&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&N=4001499&Mo=13&No=12&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=1680&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&Sp=C&topnav=

My question is, would the one with higher contrast and lower colors produced be better, or the one with lower contrast with 16.7 million colors? Doesn't that mean true 8-bit?
 
The one with 16.2 million colors and a "160 degree" viewing angle is definately a TN panel. It really has around 500,000 true colors and uses dithering. On some LCD's dithering is awful, on others, not so bad. Don't plan on doing any color critical work on an LCD like this one.

The other one is some form of VA panel. It has true 16.7 million colors (8-bit), but has color shifting like all VA panels.

I think they both suck equally, and I think Sceptre makes cheap displays. If you're not very picky about your monitor's image quality, pick your poison, you'll probably be satisfied with either one. I'm a perfectionist, though, so its nothing less than S-IPS for me.
 
okay Scyles, then let me ask you, what LCD would you suggest for under ~$325 for a gamer who wants to watch HDTV/DVD's?
 
You can get one of these on ebay for about $320. It's a great 20" monitor!!!
 
i was looking for the same thing and here are the top 2 choices so far:

Dell E207WFP

Viewsonic VX2025WM

since the Dell just came out, i don't know much about it (has great specs tho)
 
belmicah said:
okay Scyles, then let me ask you, what LCD would you suggest for under ~$325 for a gamer who wants to watch HDTV/DVD's?
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Hard to say, honestly. The Dell 2007WFP is one of the least-costly, quality S-IPS panels, but it costs about $350 with coupons and DVD playback on it is not that impressive. It seems that all LCD's fail in at least one area.

S-IPS - good for everything except movie playback (noisy picture)
TN - good for gaming, bad for most other things because of the imperfect colors
P-MVA/S-PVA - good for movies and games that are not dark, bad color shifting

Again, I must say that very few are as picky as I am, and so they don't notice most of the faults with LCD technology.

You mostly get what you pay for when it comes to LCD's. Buying from Costco is a good idea. I hear they have a great, no-hassle return policy (probably for the first 30 days), and so does Dell.

As a gamer myself, I must recommend against any S-PVA (and maybe P-MVA) panels. There is a noticeable amount of tone shifting on these monitors, and the center of the screen is darker than the outer edges, making it difficult to see directly in front of you in dark games. There is a thread stickied on this forum that identifies the type of panel in many of the popular models, if you need a reference.

Lastly, you might want to check out one of the new 22" panels, if you don't mind making a couple trips back to the store for exchanges. The backlights on these panels are usually terrible, but the sheer size and price (~$300) of these TN panels is enough to convince me to live with the shortcomings.

frederixx: That Dell E207WFP is Dell's TN budget option. Considering the cost, its much better to go for the 2007WFP.
 
Scyles said:
frederixx: That Dell E207WFP is Dell's TN budget option. Considering the cost, its much better to go for the 2007WFP.
Click to expand...

i find the 2007WFP still too expensive for a 16ms monitor... i know it does better than most of the 16's, but i still think that for -100$, i'd take the VX2025 from Viewsonic (or E207WFP if it gets good reviews).

since Bestbuy has it for 350can, this week, i might go with the VX2025.
 
frederixx said:
i find the 2007WFP still too expensive for a 16ms monitor... i know it does better than most of the 16's, but i still think that for -100$, i'd take the VX2025 from Viewsonic (or E207WFP if it gets good reviews).

since Bestbuy has it for 350can, this week, i might go with the VX2025.
Click to expand...

Review comparing response times between VX2025 and 2007WFP:

http://www.behardware.com/articles/619-16/updated-survey-13-lcd-20-5-6-8-16-ms.html

The Dell clearly beats it. Never trust manufacturer's specs, always check reviews. Dell, for some reason, was just being more honest than other manufacturers with its 16ms spec.
 
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