TFT/LCD Contrast: 700:1, good enough for games & Anime (Doom3)?

[retroborg]

I’m thinking about buying this TFT/LCD EIZO S1911SH:
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/s1911_01/spec.asp

Brightness / Contrast 300 cd/m2 / 700:1
On/Off Response Time: 6 ms (typical)
Midtone Response Time: 2 ms (typical)

It will be used for games (Doom3) and for watching Anime. (DVD/DivX/Xvid)

The specs & quality look good, but I’m rather skeptical about the low contrast: 700:1. It seems a bit low, as I’ve seen other monitors with higher contrast, 1000:1 – 2000:1. (LG)

Will Doom3 look too dark on this monitor?

Or should I go for this EIZO S1931 instead:
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/s1931_21/spec.asp

It has a higher contrast 1000:1, but lower brightness 280 cd/m2 and worse response times: On/Off Response Time: 16 ms, Midtone Response Time: 8 ms

Any opinions will be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[Dorza]

Personally speaking I would go for the higher contrast ratio, but that screen has much higher response times. I've got an S1910 and I can honestly say its the best external bit of hardware that I have ever purchased. I love using it; colours are very rich and vibrant and blacks are very black. The Flack cannon on UT really pops .

It might be worth looking at my model and comparing the specs. You'll probably find its between the two you posted. I purchased mine from colour confidence, but last time i checked they didnt have them listed anymore. Still I found these guys are still selling them for about £10 less than what i paid this time last year.

You pay more for Eizo yes, but your paying for quality too. I have no dead pixels and games like UT play perfectly well on it and mines got a 12ms response time iirc. I have also played prey (runs on the doom 3 engine) and I didn't have any problems with it.

Others will probably suggest you go for something cheaper and get something bigger, which is fair enough I would see their point, but if you spent the extra on an Eizo, you wouldn't be disappointed with it and think you've paid over the odds. I didn't anyway.

P.S - My screen has a 250 cd/m2 brightness and trust me when I say its bright enough when turned to the max. Even hat half brightness, its bright enough for me personally.


EDIT: If your going to be doing a lot of gaming and if your budget will stretch, you will probably want to consider a widescreen instead of a 4:3 screen.

[retroborg]

After reading the info provided here:

Great info about LCD, panels and technologies behind them:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1745344

Panels of a LCD:
http://tftcentral.co.uk/

However, since I want a TFT for both playing games & watching Anime (DVD,DivX,Xvid,etc...), none of these two monitors are perfect for my needs!

The EIZO S1931 has a PVA panel, with better color, better viewing angles, better for movies but a little worse for games.
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/s1931_21/spec.asp

And the EIZO S1911SH has a TN panel. It means, fast responses, not so good blacks, and lower viewing angles. if you move your head in front of the monitor, color and lightness will vary. this is not good for movies, but 2ms is good for games.
http://www.eizo.com/products/lcd/s1911_01/spec.asp

I should mention that the cost at my local vendor is:
EIZO S1911: 379Euro
EIZO S1931: 499Euro
They have an excellent return policy too.

Hhmm... Now I'm in a delima as both Anime & Games are very important in my book and wouldn't want degraded performance in either of the two fields!

Any suggestions?

[Ricco]

This is way too slow, you are going to get ghosting (EIZO S1931).

You can get some PVA pannels with (reported) 4ms response times, and I guess for your neds PVA(MVA) is the way for you - but they do come at a price.

Im a great fan of Viewsonic, and i currently have a VX2025wm.

I have had a couple of TN film pannel based TFT's, and the colours did seem washed out in comparison, but it has to be said ONLY after I had used/owned a MVA type.

I went from VX924 > Samsung 205BW >VX2025wm in Nov due to how I could see the colours change.
before the 924 I had the old TN based 912, still pretty fast, but the upgrade to me when I got the 924 was huge all round.
In the end the great deal on the 20" upgrade(BW205 for £200) for me was wasted, as I had to take a loss selling it S/H to be able to then to a 20" PVA.

Although you need to be very careful of claimed specifications, as some just don't stand upto the claims when tested properly.

I would recomend (additionaly to whats already been pointed out)

1) PVA pannel
2) Widescreen
3) min 19", recomend 22" if your budget can stretch.
4) 800:1 / 12ms MIN

There is no point in staying 5:4 for gaming anymore.

[sick]

hi
im also interested in that EIZO S1911SH-BK, but i dont know where to buy it here in england (im foreigner)! ...( no_Ob??? )
there r links WHERE TO BUY on eizo homepage, but non of that webs is selling this LCD
also good old google cant help me, so, can u???
plz, where can i buy that lcd???
thx

[kalniel]

Originally Posted by Ricco

I went from VX924 > Samsung 205BW >VX2025wm in Nov due to how I could see the colours change.
before the 924 I had the old TN based 912, still pretty fast, but the upgrade to me when I got the 924 was huge all round.
In the end the great deal on the 20" upgrade(BW205 for £200) for me was wasted, as I had to take a loss selling it S/H to be able to then to a 20" PVA.

Although you need to be very careful of claimed specifications, as some just don't stand upto the claims when tested properly.

I would be grateful for as much opinion as you could give about the 205BW - I've been teetering on the edge of purchasing this for some time. I love the colours and crispness of my CRT but could do with getting some more desk estate.

[Ricco]

Originally Posted by kalniel

I would be grateful for as much opinion as you could give about the 205BW - I've been teetering on the edge of purchasing this for some time. I love the colours and crispness of my CRT but could do with getting some more desk estate.

Well I'm no expert m8, but I will give my opinion on what I have experienced.

CRT > TFT is always going to be a shock, they not as bad as they used to be, but your still going to notice the difference.

As for the Samsung BW205 ,its a fairly good TFT, nice stand and has DVI, with a fair price point.
Regardless of the arguments for Good VGA is good enough, I still find i can notice the clarity difference between DVI and VGA and always go for a Monitor with DVI.
I think you could do far worse with TN pannel TFT's, BUT ! - i suspect your going to be a little dissapointed with image/colour when u finaly switch, its just something you will soon learn to live with.

I went from iiyama 454 19" > AOC LM 18" TFT(not a great panel by todays standards) a few years ago and at the start i was disapointed, but you will get used to it. In an ideal world and if space was not an issue or style, then i would have probably stayed with CRT though till i could afford a good PVA based panel.

Hope that helps you a little and is not too long winded.