LCD Monitors and response time

Grant B · 10-19-2006, 10:00 AM

Have a few questions on monitors:
Is response time the most important factor on LCDs?
What is a good/exe. time:8ms?
What about contrast Ratio?
I see values like 450:1 & 500:1

Would the difference between those be noticable?
Or if anyone has a good link with that kind of info, please let me know

Thanks!

Kimmo Jaskari · 10-19-2006, 02:22 PM

Depends on what you want to do.

Fast LCD's tend to sacrifice other things, like color fidelity and viewing angle.

For games, speedy response is important, but otherwise it's pretty unimportant IMHO.

When you start looking at things other than response time, there are tons of terms and stuff to wade through. For instance, there are at least four different types of LCD's, TN, MVA, S-PVA and S-IPS, all with different characteristic features... don't have any really good links with info, though, sorry, I'm not 100% up to speed myself on what is good and what's not.

Paul_Sjordal · 10-19-2006, 09:19 PM

Keep in mind that many manufacturers do squirrely things to get those response time numbers.

What you want to look for is "black-white" response time or "black to white" response time. Some unscrupulous manufacturers measure the amount of time it takes to shift from one shade of gray to another, which in turn lets them exaggerate the response time performance of their products.

Kimmo is right. Response time really only matters for gaming, and it matters somewhat for watching movies.

Max Leung · 10-20-2006, 12:35 PM

Superb LCD monitor reviews can be read here:

www.behardware.com

They measure response time as well as evaluate color quality and movie playback. An LCD monitor with very low response times can still have major problems with video because of the sparkling/shimmering effect that is an artifact of LCD overdrive.

Karl_Luph · 10-20-2006, 05:23 PM

Maybe this site can also help you Grant, it's called Tom's Hardware and they bench test LCD monitors(and other computer gear) every so often. It's helped a newbie like me understand more about computers and deciding what is a good buy for the money.

**HTF Ads**

Grant B · 10-20-2006, 09:05 PM

Thanks everyone!
Since I perfer pinball & (Rod not air) hockey to games, that's what I wanted to know. Generally that's the only figure I ever see in advertisements so I thought it might also pertain to video playback.
Kimmo I would have never guessed there were 4 kinds.
On the whole I love big old CRTs but I have a small LCD for computer in the living room.
I have noticed many monitors tend to lose one of the RG B colors and I can get it back by twisting the cable. Is there any good solutions to stop this annoying quality?

Kimmo Jaskari · 10-23-2006, 09:57 AM

If twisting the cable affects the image quality, you almost certainly have either a bad cable or a bad connector on the cable. A cable replacement should do the trick (or possibly the connector on either the cable or on the monitor is iffy.)

Grant B · 10-24-2006, 06:04 PM

Thanks!



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