CRT to TFT - First time switch

I’m looking to change my 17" Iiyama CRT to a 19" TFT. My price range is any where between £250 and £330 though I will stretch to nearly 400 if need be. I’ve been looking over the past few days and have narrowed it down to the following displays (which btw has been a nightmare as anyone who’s seriously studied the TFT market will know):

Viewsonicpdf - VP930b
Eizo - S1910

I know Eizo aren’t credited for producing responsive displays since their thing is with colour reproduction (I believe), but I haven’t read anything so far that casts doubt in my mind over whether or not it is a capable gaming monitor. The reviews I’ve read so far say it does well in games.

I do play UT2004 and some other games but I’m not a heavy gamer. I spend much more time on the desktop working in PS and Lightwave and I do some Web stuff as well. The problem with this display is that I can't find anywhere that sells it in the UK. Though it is quite a new monitor so that may be why.

Its available on Amazon Germany and as far as the currency conversion is concerned its roughly £380 which I would stretch to. Though being rip off britain the actuall price is probably over £400. My question is what would you go for? Are there any others I should look at? I was too confused to list any others that were of interest. I know Dell are liked around here but I’ve read conflicting stories about them. Ive read about backlight bleed with some of the popular models in some reviews while others don't metion it at all, could this be cleared up by any chance?

As for the Viewsonic I’ve read some good things about it but again I’ve also read that it suffers slightly from backlight bleed. Will such a thing be an issue if I don’t play DVDs on it (which I wont be).

I’ve come on here to ask because I’m quite confused now after spending the last 2 or 3 days looking at the overwhelming choice of TFTs out there, I’ve finally cracked and am quite lost:angst: . Any guidance/suggestions would be helpful.

PS. The Viewsonic is a MVA display and the Eizo is a S-PVA display what’s the difference? Oh and is it worth looking at any 17" displayes? And oh2 im not looking for a widescreen monitor (though it would be nice), my Gcard simply wont handle the resolutions and im not planning on upgrading the inside of my pc any time soon.

Sorry for the long post. Its a crucial decision to make though:).

I personally recommend a Dell 2001FP, colour is pretty accurate (although it won't match Eizo).And it is just £250 refurb (look at the hexus bargain section)

You could spend the extra budget on gfx if you want. I find that 6600GT can play most stuff fine if you turn down the details. 20" i definitely better for doing PS / Lightwave stuff.

I played FS2004 at 3200x1200 yesterday and it doesn't lag at all (6600GT), you can always turn down the detail to keep yourself at 1600x1200. And 1024x768 and 1280x1024 doesn't look bad on the screen for FPS :)

I can open 4 full webpages across my dual 20" and its so damn crystal clear.

Regarding to blacklight bleed my screens don't have that problem. Only problem is the 2001FP can get screen burn fairly easily, if you "train" your monitor frequently then it will be fine. (My older one actually got screen burn and I'm trying to fix it, hope it works). I think the blacklight bleed is mostly related to the 2005FPW.

I've got a VP191, which is basically the same panel as in the VP930, but with a slightly lower contrast ratio.

It's a fantastic screen for whatever I seem to through at it and whilst there is a little bleeding in the corners, the black level still seems deeper than those of the film (for example) anyway, so is rarely noticeable.

Have heard good things about the eizo's being great for colour reproduction and such like but they are a little pricey.

Here's a review of many 19" panels including the viewsonic and the eizo, doesn't have a Dell unfortunately though. Looking at the colour calibration test they did on that the eizo is best, but only just and once properly calibrated, most monitors seem quite decent.

Oh and here's somewhere in the UK that appears to have the eizo's, if you don't want to import, though it is alot more expensive :undecided.

Thanks for ur input guys and those links. lol I had found that review via the forums on that website I linked to in my first post. Ive gone for the Eizo (1910-AS version) however via a website i found on eizos UK site. I know its more expensive but theres somthing about it that just says buy to me. Theres somthing about it i really like. Image quality is the main thing im looking at really and everywhere ive read the eizo comes out pretty much on top, unless you buy a lacie and they were way out of my budget and basically dont do games at all to my knowledge.

EDIT 1/march/06: Well I finally received this on Monday and quite frankly, I don't know what I was worrying about; No dead pixels found, Superb/Vibrant colours, and no ghosting or motion blur is detectable in UT2004, none detected period (and i ain got slow eyes either). I tested a few HD trailers and they look stunning to be quite honest, no blurring in them either. It displays very high quality imagery right out of the box but once you fiddle around with the settings via the software included images/icons/motion almost look like their going to pop out of the screen it seems. The weapons in UT2004 (in particular the Flak cannon and rocket launcher) really look like their popping out.

Fonts look great but their so much better with cleartype turned on, cleartype makes reading a pleasure on a TFT I have to say. I can honestly say that I highly recommend this TFT. I can't say if its worth over £100 more than the average price of other 19" TFTs since its the first TFT I've owned, but you certainly won't be throwing that extra money away if any one in the near future reading this is looking at getting a new TFT, I personally am landed with it. One last thing, black really is black on this TFT, I was amazed how deep large areas of black look. This TFT has enhanced my computing experience/usage no end:).