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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> LCD "Contrast Ratio"
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 12/04/2006 08:38:59 AM · #1
Okay, so it looks like we MAY have to be purchasing a new monitor soon ("we" being karmat and I), and I'm confessing a little stupidity here. Well, maybe just ignorance.

How the heck does one determine what is a "good" LCD flat panel monitor? Our existing piece of junk (see this thread) is probably crapped out, but it caused us a world of difficulty anyway. Biggest problem we had was that it was too bright and had too much contrast. Not for our eyes - it was great to use, but we always thought our pics were brighter and whiter than they actually appeared to everyone else. Adjustment didn't work out well, as EVERYTHING became dull and hard to read if I adjusted the contrast down. Is that just a feature of a "cheap" Emachines monitor, or is it an LCD problem in general? Are higher "contrast ratios" BETTER for this or worse? What is a good contrast ratio to look for?

I can't afford, by any means, a REALLY good monitor, but I don't want to throw away money on another "bad" one, either. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!
 12/04/2006 10:14:46 AM · #2
cheap panels = poor colour
midrange panels = good colour
expensice panels = excellent colour

Contrast wise something 1/600 or above will do you well

remember its about viewing angles as well something with a narrow viewing angle will change the apearance of your picture depending on how you're looking at it on any given occasion..\

displays with a response time of 12ms or less is prolly running on a TN panel and will not display the full range of 16.7million colours but 18bit (262,000) colour thats 6bits per channel rather than 8, some manufacturers have managed to increase this to 16.2mil (Viewsonic being one of them)
 12/04/2006 10:21:55 AM · #3
I thought my first flat panel from Dell looked great, until I started looking at and voting on images here. It only had a 400:1 contrast ratio. When viewing the grayscale white to black calibration bar on the voting page, the 3 or 4 blocks on the white end were all blown out to white, and on the other side, about 3 blocks were completely black.

I recently upgraded to a Samsung with 1000:1 contrast ratio. Much better! I love it. However, this particular one has a pretty narrow viewing angle. I believe there other models are better.

- John
 12/04/2006 10:55:12 AM · #4
Monitors that use s-ips technology for the panel will give the best rsults with regard to viewing angle. LCD gamma *always* changes somewhat with viewing angle. It's one disadvantage of LCDs with respect to CRTs. With an s-ips panel, though, the effect is pretty minimal.
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