TFTs Vs CRTs

[RufusKing]

Im running off an ancient monitor as all my money just went into a new system, and all of a sudden my desktop is very cramped. I've been looking at TFT Monitors and most seem to have a max res of 1280 x 1024 which to me see really low, when I could be running at pretty much double that on a CRT. I dont mind forking out themoney for a TFT if its going to be worth it, but for a gaming machine, if its not worth it I would rather just re-organise my room to fit everything in.

Any advice?

Also I heard rumours that there are some TFT screens that are TVs, and I think I heard you can use them as monitors too. Anyone heard anything about these?

Cheers

[da_ging]

for gaming crt wins everytime those who say otherwise only say it cause they've spent £300+ on a tft and dont want to admit it aint as good

for gaming if u have the money for a decent 17" tft then u can afford a top of the range 19" crt or a fairly decent 21" crt

gaming = crt simple as that ,unless u goto lans or really really need to save desk space

remember dont fall into the trap of "but it looks so damn sweet" buy whats best for you even if it takes up your entire desk and weighs more than an elephant

[KraniX]

i use my machine for a lot of gaming, and i love my tft, i'd never buy another crt, people who say crt is better have usually only seen the dodgy carp in pc world or really need as eye test.

i had a 19" taxan crt for ages, i wanted to get a tft but i was scared about resolutions, dodgy pixels... the usual stuff. im so glad i made the change now though. everything is clearer and sharper on a tft, i always ran games at 1024x768 on my old monitor and didn't really wanna change so when i decided to buy a tft i got a 15" rather than a 17" as i was concerned about the native res being higher than 1024. does come down to personal preference in the end though im afraid, i can't imagine going back to mangy old crt with dull ugly colours but it's ur choice in the end.

btw rufus, what res do u use in windows and games usually?

[BlueBot]

OK fine the res of TFT's may not be great, but to be honest who really needs to run at silly resolutions, anything above 1280x1024 isn't really neededf, at least not for general computer use. For gaming TFT's are nearly as good as CRT's now (I never thought I'd say that!!!). However for playing DVD's, no where near as good. You just have to think about what you'll ues your mon for, if you play games and word process a lot then TFT's are good, if you're planning on watching DVD's with lots of friends sitting at silly angles to the screen, forget it...

I've currently got an Iiyama Pro 410 17" CRT but will be upgrading shortly to a Iiyama 431S (think the code is wrong...) 17" TFT.

ps da-ging ; but they DO look so sweet :-)

[Howard]

TFTs are no where near as good for gaming as CRTs yet. As was said above, those who say they are have spent stupid amounts like 3 or 4 hundred and don't want to admit that, although the image quality is lovely and sharp on TFTs, the response time, blurriness and ghosting issues are still there making gaming rather headache inducing. (Well it gives me a headache anyway )

Spend £150 and get the Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 413 I think it is. Excellent 17" CRT. If you want 19", get the VisionMaster Pro 454. Again I think that's what the model numbers are. I didn't check. Lol.

[BlackSheep]

TFTs are no where near as good for gaming as CRTs yet. As was said above, those who say they are have spent stupid amounts like 3 or 4 hundred and don't want to admit that, although the image quality is lovely and sharp on TFTs, the response time, blurriness and ghosting issues are still there making gaming rather headache inducing. (Well it gives me a headache anyway )

Spend £150 and get the Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 413 I think it is. Excellent 17" CRT. If you want 19", get the VisionMaster Pro 454. Again I think that's what the model numbers are. I didn't check. Lol.

I recently bought the VMPro 514 and the high contrast mode is amazing for games and DVDs - has made a big difference over the older tubes - it's comparable to the contrast on LCD's now.

[MiniMarc]

Like BlueBot, I also run a Iiyama VM Pro 410 crt but just before christmas a friend of mine asked me to order him a cheap 17" TFT and I found an Acer for £270 which I ordered. When it arrived I unpacked it and got to use it for a week whilst he scraped the money together, and I have to say, the image quality and colours on it were absolutely amazing and I think the VM Pro 410 is one of the best 17" CRTs going.

If I had the money, I'd definitely swap my CRT for a TFT.

Also I played a few games on it and things like NFS:Underground looked superb.

My dad has a 15" TFT that he bought about 2 years ago and it's horrible imo, the contrast is crap, the images are too blocky and trying to watch any moving images on it is a waste of time, but things have definitely improved since then.

$0.02

[Richie]

I have been running a TFT for gaming etc for about 6 months. There is NO bluriness or ghosting, colours are vibrant and sharp and even watching movies is perfect on it. I guess it depends on the monitor you get as most things do.

I use an NEC 1760 NXBK

[Aaron]

TFTs have the following weak areas IMO:

1. Relatively poor colour production, meaning they're not very good for design work
2. Particular poor when differentiating between dark colours, meaning they're not very good for watching certain DVDs on. A decent TFT will not feature any ghosting or blurriness though.
3. Limited "refresh" rate, meaning they aren't quite so good for really intensive games like Quake 3 (though they're fine for anything else, including CS and the like)

Unless you're doing one of the above three for several hours a day then TFTs win, IMO, due to their crisp image quality for general windows use, easiness on the eyes and portability/space saving.

[Richie]

[*]Limited "refresh" rate, meaning they aren't quite so good for really intensive games like Quake 3 (though they're fine for anything else, including CS and the like)[/list].

I have played UT2K3 with no probs at all and noticed no diff between CRT and TFT. UT2K3 was running 1280*1024 @ highest quality settings for all.

[RufusKing]

btw rufus, what res do u use in windows and games usually?

1600x1400 when I steal my dads monitor (because its max) and 1024 on the monitor I have on it at the moment, but I cant really say if im happy playing at that res on it becuase its a pretty dire monitor.... about 7 years old with a fading tube.....

Cheers guys for the advice, I think I will stick with a good CRT, any suggestions, bigger is better for me, anyone got any suggestions on any 19" and 21" models?

Rufus

[5lab]

get a DIMONTRON NF or sony's equivilent, not a shadow mask. this basically means the screen will be 100% flat rather than a bit curvey, and the quality will be higher. make sure the screen will run your chosen res @ 85hz or above for crispness, and get something with a good warentee

[BoB_DoG]

I have been running a TFT for gaming etc for about 6 months. There is NO bluriness or ghosting, colours are vibrant and sharp and even watching movies is perfect on it. I guess it depends on the monitor you get as most things do.

I use an NEC 1760 NXBK

I have the same monitor, and I agree with Richie above, It is more expensive than a CRT, and it may not QUITE be as good, but for me its more than good enough. As for not being as good for design (as Aaron says), I have had no problems with it, and actually prefer it to a CRT, as the pixels are more clearly defined in native resolution, and the colour reproduction is not a problem. I say this as a product design student who uses Illustrator and Photoshop daily.

The only problems that I have seen are the increased perception of jpeg type compression in pictures, or divx, but if anything, this is because the displays are too bright and accurate for the quality of the picture.

The main advantage for me with a TFT is the hugely reduced deskspace; oh, and the fact that I can put two big fat speakers next to it, and not have it go purple

[Apex]

If your in the market for a nice tft then have a look at the ag rangag neovo AG's site had the plesure of using this for a weekend lan that i went to and while it did have some cons to it overall i am very happy with the tft, they have come a long way since i last looked and used one and to tell you the truth i was never impressed with it but this one has done

still like my crt but for lans the tft wins hands down.

Apex

[KraniX]

i have a fairly cheap tft, so i ain't saying it's great to justify the cost, anyway ive got loads of dosh (not, lol) so id just buy a big crt if i wanted to.

i have NEVER EVER had any ghosting or bluring, anyone who lives in the essex area is welcome to pop round for a cup of tea and they can have a look themselves. ghosting etc. was a problem ages back with old tfts, its virtually unheard of now.

i'll be honest and say some divx movies can look a bit dodgy/pixely - but i put that down to the quality of the encoding, i don't play many dvd movies on my pc but the ones i have looked good.

[BEANFro Elite]

if you want a good tft monitor then make sure you have a fat wad of cash and look for any tft that has a response of 18ms or below, anything above will just be abismally carp...