Which LCD?

[R6laser]

I have researched this for weeks already and have come up with so many conflicting ideas that I don't know which to choose. I want a 24" lcd monitor, which I plan to play pc games, plus hook up a PS3 for Blue ray movies and also the games. From my research I'm down to these 3 monitors.

Dell 2408FWP
Samsung 2493HM
BenQ G2400W

Read everything about types of panels and I know that the Dell has a PVA panel while the other two are TN panels. But from a lot of reviews I also know that the Dell has a high input lag, while the other two are fast and might be better for fps games. I will be running this on a GeForce GTS 92 512MB video card at 1900 x 1200 resolution. So if you had to chose one that gives the best performance on pc games, console gaming and also watching Blue Ray movies, which one would be the best choice?

[computron9000]

Do you have a problem with the BenQ FP241W? I've got two of them.

[R6laser]

No, I don't have a problem with the BenQ FP241W but isn't that model discontinued and hard to find. It doesn't come up in newegg or tigerdirect. From which site did you order it?

[computron9000]

I got mine from ncixus.com. I bought their 0-dead-pixel guarantee for something like $25.

http://www.ncixus.com/products/19235/FP241W/BENQ/

Looks like they still have stock.

If the Dell NON-TN 24" are cheaper with the same inputs, I see no reason not to save money, though.

[R6laser]

It sounds like I'll be ordering the Benq FP241W. Quick question on this monitor computron9000. I will be having a PS3 connected through my HDMI for gaming and Blue Ray movies. How does the movies look, does it have 1:1 scaling? Meaning does it stretch the image when viewing a movie on the PS3 through HDMI or are there black bars on the top and bottom of the screen for the correct 16x9 resolution instead of the 16x10 that the monitor has.

[Flying Fox]

It sounds like I'll be ordering the Benq FP241W. Quick question on this monitor computron9000. I will be having a PS3 connected through my HDMI for gaming and Blue Ray movies. How does the movies look, does it have 1:1 scaling? Meaning does it stretch the image when viewing a movie on the PS3 through HDMI or are there black bars on the top and bottom of the screen for the correct 16x9 resolution instead of the 16x10 that the monitor has.

That's not 1:1 scaling, it is "aspect scaling". 1:1 is about not scaling and you get a tiny image with a lot of black borders around it.

And yes, the monitor has it, unless it is the really early model (will be even harder to get). They fixed it with a firmware change some time ago. A guy at work bought his from NCIX Canada a few months ago and that unit has aspect scaling.

[computron9000]

NCIX says right on their web site that all units they have include the firmware update.

Also, I would recommend buying their 0-pixel guarantee. 1 of the two monitors I received had a number of dead pixels clustered in a group. Sadly, right in the middle (left to right) in the upper 1/3 of the screen. They let you cross-ship (order a new one and send the other one back, they pay shipping) within 30-days until you are satisfied.

From what I've read, the 2408 is a superior monitor to the FP241W, but there is a wait time and it is more expensive.

I am very satisfied with my FP241Ws, though. And I'm historically extremely picky about my monitors. I only recently decided a non-TN panel could replace my aging 21" CRTs (1600x1200 @ 100hz).

I really like the stand the monitor comes with. If you end up getting one, you'll see what I mean.

[R6laser]

Thanks for the response Flying Fox and computron9000, I'm starting to understand this whole deal with lcd's better and better each day.

[computron9000]

No problem. I'm using a 7950GT to run Eve online and Valve games. It pushes 1900x1200 with high(ish) settings at good frame rates. The only thing I noticed in games that bothered me a couple times was a situation where there were vertical lines (say a pillar in front of a building in TF2). If you moved your view quickly horizontally, the vertical sides of the pillar would look more like a stair case during the rapid movement. This is referred to as "tearing". I believe I turned on V-sync and the effect was gone.

If you've been using LCDs to game, it probably won't be an issue for you either way. But if you're moving from CRT like I did, it is a bit unnerving at first, since you are so used to the fluid motion of a CRT. Since V-sync fixed it for me, I was satisfied.

I don't really have any complaints once I got that resolved.

If you get it, I advise the following settings:

Brightness: 30
Contrast: 56

That works very well in daylight and at night, and represents color accurately (significantly more so than the defaults). It is a *VERY* bright monitor, so anything over 30 brightness would be total overkill. It's not a linear scale so there is a "jump" in brightness at 31.

Like I said though, if you've got $600 to spend on a monitor, I really recommend getting their 0-pixel guarantee, and when you get the monitor, download any freeware pixel tester (they basically blank out the screen in red, black, white, blue, etc.) and see if you get dead pixels on particular colors.

[MrJP]

I picked up a FP241W a few weeks ago and I'd also recommend it. Colours aren't quite as realistic as the smaller S-IPS screen it's replaced, but black depth is much better which is a more important issue as far as I'm concerned. I might look into getting a cheap monitor callibrator to see if the colours can be improved further for the (very) amateur photo editing I dabble with from time to time. I've noticed no problems with ghosting or input lag while gaming, though I haven't actually measured the lag. It's also quite a bit less expensive than the Dell 2408WFP (in the UK at least). The worst thing I can say about it is that the lowest height that you can set the stand to is still quite high (about 4"-5" off the desk), so I couldn't fit my webcam in the reduced gap between the top of the screen and the shelf above my desk.

Coming fom a 19" 1280x1024, I was initially not as impressed as I thought I would be with the physical size, but after a bit of use the increase in desktop real estate is very noticeable and welcome. Half Life 2 Episode 2 is far more immersive and cinematic on a large-ish widescreen as well (Crysis will have to wait for the rest of the sytem to be upgraded to cope).

[MrJP]

Forgot to mention I've got no dead pixels on my screen, and I can't comment on scaling with 360 or PS3 since I don't have either!

I'd also back up what computron said about the brightness - at default settings it will comfortably light a medium-sized room. I've gone even further to save my retinas: my brightness is set at 20 with contrast at 50. The room my PC is in faces NE with a smallish window, so I'm never having to compete with much in the way of daylight.

[Flying Fox]

My IPS 2005FPW is at 0 brightness. /shrug

How is the input lag on that old BenQ? Field reports have been complaining about the bad input lag on the 2408WFP.

[computron9000]

I haven't noticed the input lag.

As for 20 brightness, I don't go that low for 2 reasons. During the day I fight a lot of daylight. And I was having trouble passing monitor tests where you view images with very subtle color within a large dark space. If it's lower than 27ish, I had trouble seeing the detail in the darkness (just looked black).