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I'm in the market for a 24" 1080Pcapable monitor but I'm no more the wiser what I should be looking at. I will use it for gaming often and I want a nice crisp display. Currently I have a 21" Dell LCD. I really don't want to spend more than £350. Is that realistic and what would you recommend?
Cheers,
Baz
That looks amazing and certainly fits the bill.Thanks.
You could also consider the more standard 1920*1200 resolution for 24" monitors or you can get a 22" or 23" 1920*1080 as well which has (in theory) a sharper image than the 24" due to smaller pixels.
22" Viewsonic 1920*1080 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=905173
22" Dell 1920*1080 - http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna...hs1&sku=189447 or http://www.dixons.co.uk/product.php?sku=156750
23" Dell 1920*1080 - http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna...hs1&sku=184923 or http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=908945
I have a BenQ FP241W and the picture quality is amazing!
Granted, it is one of the more expensive 24 inch monitors, and it's not 1080p but 1920x1200.
playing 1080p video on a 1200p monitor will leave black strips across the top and bottom, won't it?
if he's wanting it to view 1080p media then surely the 1080p monitors would be better?
what Webby is talking about is probably a better idea tbh. sharper image ftw :P:D
Well he said gaming, so probably no black bars.Quote:
Originally Posted by matty-hodgson
If his graphics card isn't up to 1920x1200, then he can always drop to 1440x900 or something :)
most games play natively in 19:10 don't they?Quote:
Originally Posted by Webby
1680*1050 and 1920*1200 etc
cos was gonna buy the dell mentioned at top but was put off by 16:9 resolution, and didn't want stretched image of bars
Yeah that is the only concern the question is how many games support 16:9 resolutions? You would hope all those that are released on XBox360 and PS3 would support 16:9 and I cant see that it would be a real issue for many other newer games as they probably already support 4:3, 5:4 and 8:5 (16:10) so its not as if the aspect ratio is all that important to gameplay.
I guess we need somebody to test a load of games on 16:9 monitors and see what we get!
If you have 1920*1080 screen and a game wont play in 16:9 then you can force the graphics drivers to display black bars around the image rather than stretch to fit the screen (better if the monitor supports this through pixel mapping though) and play at 1680*1050 or 1728*1080 if it will let you!
It depends on the game but anything recent will support both (All source games do for example).
By default, most TFT monitors will up-scale a lower resolution image. You can turn it off on most recent ones (1-1 pixel mapping) which is great for HD films where you don't really want it stretching / the aspect changing.
However, irrelevant of display type you can alter this in the drivers and force it directly from the card (nVidia users = NV control panel -> advanced -> under display -> change panel scaling)
So in short - what will happen with games if it doesn't have the correct resolution? you can chose to stretch it or have bars. Just go with what you prefer :)
Keep in mind that you can alter most games resolution via a config file somewhere though, even if it's not in the menus :)
Following on from Agent those with ATI cards can find the "set black bars around a smaller resolution" option in CCC.
Advanced mode -> Digital Panel -> Attributes -> Enable GPU Scaling
You will then have 3 options
1. Maintain aspect ratio - this would give you black bars at the sides if playing 16:10 content on a 16:9 monitor
2. Scale Image to Full Panel Size - This will stretch the image to fit the max resolution, no black bars but image distortion
3. Use Centred Timings - This would fit the image in the centre of the screen in 1:1 pixel mapping so if you were using a 1920*1080 screen and were playing a game at 1680*1050 you would have the image in the middle and black bars around all edges.
I would pick either option 1 or 3 depending on how the image looked when scaled.
Right that's done it. I came here with a clear view of what I wanted and you've thrown so much into the equation I've changed my mind already :lol:
Although gaming is important I also do a lot of video editing so I'm now leaning towards a 1920 x 1200 resolution. I can live with black bars top and bottom for those games that don't support 16:10. My HD4870 X2 graphics card will cope admirably.
Ok so the cost goes up significantly but I want to do this right and not regret spending a bit more to get the display that really suits my purpose. I looked at this 2408WFP but there are some poor reviews of it on t'interweb. I can just about justify the extra cost so I'm now looking for something in that arena.
Cheers.
Baz
I think i'm a bit late to the party, but anyhow:
If your not fussed about perfect colour representation, you could aim for a 'cheap' 24" display. Myself and a few others on here highly rate a DGM 24" Monitor, it flucutates a lot in price and is sold under many different names but is a bargain for the screen estate! I think I got mine for under £200. Linky: http://www.digimate.co.uk/productDetail02.asp
A friend has this Hyundai monitor which I saw at the weekend and was very impressed: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MO-056-HY It also has HDCP on HDMI as you'd expect but also on the DVI interface as well.
You'd be far from disappointed with the monitor format linked to but personally I missed the estate you get with a 16:10 screen and if your watching say hi def content and turn the lights off you don't even notice that there are bars.
Make sure you get an S-PVA panel to :)
If your connecting a 360 to a monitor you can set the aspect ratio easily under the system blade and display option and select between: 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, 16:10 and the correct resolutions will be selectable. The ps3 on the other hand I think only supports at this time 16:9 resolutions but I could be wrong...Quote:
Originally Posted by Webby
Thanks digit that does look good but it doesn't have HDCP does it? Also the contrast ratio is a little low but as a budget monitor it looks hard to beat and I've seen it for sale under £200. I think I want a pva panel as well.
All modern PC games support 16:10 the problem would have been games which didn't support 16:9 when you had a 16:9 monitor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Baz
If you intend to only connect from your PC then a 16:10 panel is the way to go (imo).
If you want a VA (you get MVA and PVA just so you know ;)) screen then it is going to cost you. The DGM that Digit linked is unfortunately not guaranteed to be VA you will enter the Panel Lottery if you buy from certain places! If you do fanc yo ne then ChilledPC have them and they are VA panels guaranteed http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/prod...roducts_id=952. If you want to spend a bit more then you are going to be looking at the Hyundai Digit linked and then the sky is the limit.
The problem people have with the 2408WFP is that it has a lot of input lag average of ~60ms (according to TFTCentral) while some monitors have less than 10ms averages, the lowest do however seem to be TN or IPS screens which are either not what you are after (TN) or expensive (on the whole) IPS.
From TFTCentral a possible candidate for you could be the HP LP2475W cost ~£430 or if you can find one the Dell 2407WFP you may also consider the Hazro HZ24Wi which is an H-IPS panel (and is an improved model of that reviewed on TFTCentral) will cost ~£430 as well.
Finally Digit with regard to gaming I was referring to games on the PC which were also available on the consoles these I would expect to run in 16:9 with no problems.
After reading lost of reviews I went for the HP LP2475W. Bought it direct from HP and got 10% with a Quidco voucher plus 8% cash back so all in all I'm very happy.
Many thanks guys for your help. Much appreciated.