Wide LCD vs 4:3 CRT

[badcaps]

Keeping in mind the typical pros and cons, which of the two would you use and why?

Typical usage is gaming, some movies, document and image work in that order. Some of the games are sensitive to delay and input lag.

Wide LCD: 2253BW - 22" TN, looks OK head-on aside from shadow discoloration; sharper
4:3 CRT: Dell P1110 - 21" Trinitron, looks great all 'round; fuzzier but more accurate color, gamma, etc.

 

[lawless2142]

Oh dear this will not end well...

Seriously, those 2 displays cannot be your only choices. Also your options are misleading.

 

[badcaps]

Those are the two displays I currently own and can choose from until/unless I decide or am convinced to buy something new. If the poll isn't to your satisfaction you could explain why and I could perhaps change it?

 

[dustNbone]

LOL yeah talk about a loaded question. If you're that torn, use them both. The P1110 is a great CRT if it's in good working order, but most of them are starting to show their age. There is no "better" between the two since you're using your display for two very different jobs. Static monochomish work (text) and colourful fast motion (gaming, movies) are unlikely to be done well by the same display period, regardless of the underlying technology. Get a bigger desk and use them each for what they're good at.

Dustin

 

[shurcooL]

Why do you care what we would use in your situation?

Just use whatever you want to use. You are in that situation, not us.

I would just keep both, if the desk space allows, and use whichever one is better for the task. Actually, that's exactly what I'm doing now.

 

[badcaps]

Thanks for the responses and the votes: I've done what shurcooL has. It's nice having a nearly 5ft wide desk.

 

[RadXge]

Get a >= 24" IPS or PVA LCD and call it a day!
You do not need to spend $2,500 to get a good LCD.
For example. NEC makes great LCDs for below $1,500...

 

[nomu]

Don't see how a 22" wide LCD has any advantages over a P1110 anyway. Can't that thing do 2048x1536 or some crazy high resolution like that?

 

[vick1000]

This looks like one of those news opinion polls designed to get a certain outcome. I abstain.

 

[mathesar]

My bro runs a 22" Samsung TN LCD in the other room and he always comments how crappy it looks vs. my FW900 CRT.

The advantages I see when using his LCD is a sharper / brighter image but everything else is worse (Colors / Black levels / Motion blur / Awful viewing angles cause gamma shift on slight movement from dead center) Also the black levels really hinder movie playback quality especially if you like watching them in a darker room (this includes gaming at night as well).

IMO If gaming is a priority and you like watching movies I'd stick with CRT. (assuming its working properly!)

 

[novemberrain]

Why not have, or at least try both? Good trinitron is a very good monitor. The best tn is not that great of a display but does it's job, even if you sometimes cant even tell gray and white apart, Crysis still looks pretty damn awesome on a 24" lcd, but I couldn't play CS for half a second without smashing it into pieces. So it pretty much depends what you do...

 

[PGHammer]

Keeping in mind the typical pros and cons, which of the two would you use and why?

Typical usage is gaming, some movies, document and image work in that order. Some of the games are sensitive to delay and input lag.

Wide LCD: 2253BW - 22" TN, looks OK head-on aside from shadow discoloration; sharper
4:3 CRT: Dell P1110 - 21" Trinitron, looks great all 'round; fuzzier but more accurate color, gamma, etc.

One reason I prefer LCD is the aspect ratio (especially in modern RTS titles). RTS titles actually pretty much *demand* 16:9; the fact that some of my older titles (C&C: Generals and Zero Hour in particular) don't support 16:9 I find rather irksome. (I'm mollified, however, by the fact that GalCiv2 and Sins of a Solar Empire both explicitly support 1920x1080, and look downright goegeous doing so.).

Racing titles (Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box for PC in particular) is another surprising area where LCD shines (again due to the widescreen AR).

The last area is the biggest surprise of all: general Internet and text application usage (Web browsers and productivity applications). I hate side-to-side scrolling even more than up and down scrolling, and the widescreen AR obviates the side-to-side scroll (I can put Outlook/Evolution/KMail in three-window side-by-side-by-side and not scroll; each application has three viewing panes).

I came to LCD from CRT (and WS from 4:3); the chances of my going back to 4:3 are zero.

 

[PGHammer]

My bro runs a 22" Samsung TN LCD in the other room and he always comments how crappy it looks vs. my FW900 CRT.

The advantages I see when using his LCD is a sharper / brighter image but everything else is worse (Colors / Black levels / Motion blur / Awful viewing angles cause gamma shift on slight movement from dead center) Also the black levels really hinder movie playback quality especially if you like watching them in a darker room (this includes gaming at night as well).

IMO If gaming is a priority and you like watching movies I'd stick with CRT. (assuming its working properly!)

Comparing high-end CRT (which the FW900 is) to low-end LCD is a crapshoot at best; if what you watch is typically formatted to 4:3, then no widescreen display is going to look its best (that is equally true of widescreen CRTs showing 4:3 content or plasmas showing the same), as the black bars on the sides are a major distraction. (I have a WS plasma as my bedroom TV, and I buy my DVDs in the widescreen format for precisely that reason.)

Are your movies formatted in full-screen (as opposed to widescreen) format? If your movies are primarily in 4:3 format, then of course a widescreen display (any widescreen display) is not going to look right. Same applies to shooters (as most plain and simply don't support 16:9). While newer RTS titles often have a widescreen option, older ones usually don't.

With larger displays you also have input lag rearing its head. (That is why I refused to go any larger than 23" as input lag starts becoming noticeable at 24", and only gets worse the taller you go, apparently, even among higher-end IPS panels.My Acer has no input lag whatever.)

 

[badcaps]

Great posts, PGHammer. I concluded essentially the same thing, but will hook up my CRT for dual display in cooler months for response-sensitive stuff.

Thanks!

 

[donnrfl]

i plan to hold on to my diamond pro 2070sb until it dies or until a lcd or something else comes out that is better.
A smaller form factor and wide screen would be nice.. But zero input lag, extreme viewing angles, bright rich colors, deep contrast, and 1600x1200 @100hz make it tough to complain