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My display history & road to a display(s) upgrade (PICS)

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:44 am
by Dposcorp
To christen the Visual Haven, as well as having been inspired by a couple of older display threads,

viewtopic.php?t=55216

viewtopic.php?t=46027&start=0

I bring you the tale of Dposcorp and his display history.

This all started when I came to the realization that my CRT and projector no longer supported all the inputs I wanted to use.

To give you some history, I had purchased a 24" Sony CRT years ago after saving up and all that. I knew that a display was something that I was going to keep for a long time even though I upgraded other things all the time.
This when the Dell 2001 was still the LCD to get, but expensive as hell.
My Sony CRT was bigger, wide-screen, had dual VGA inputs, more rez options, etc..

Exhibit A
http://members.arstechnica.com/x/dposcorp/Front.jpg

After a few years, the Dell 2005 came out, and was a great deal, wide-screen, more inputs, etc...
My brother got one and it was nice.
I kept using my Sony, but figured I'd try some LCDs when I spotted a good deal. I picked up a used pair early this year and tried them out, but they just seemed like they were not a big improvement over my Sony.
(They weren't bigger, lacked HDCP, were rez limited, etc..)

Exhibit B
http://members.arstechnica.com/x/dposcorp/2005d.JPG

At this time, I also had a older projector that I watched sporting events on, as well as a few other things, but It was a hassle to use at times, I was worried about the lamp, and the prices were coming down so much I knew that if the bulb burned out it would be worthless.

I decided to take a chance on using a HDTV as a monitor.

First, I sold off my 2005 LCDs and my projector early in the year.
Then, this past July at the TRBBQ, with tears in my eyes, I sold my Sony CRT to Starfalcon.
I even had him pose with it to take one final picture of it. (sniffle)

Exhibit C
http://members.arstechnica.com/x/dposco ... Falcon.jpg

Now my search begun. Keep in mind that during my computer usage, I would often watch TV using either a internal or external tuner attached to one of the above displays.

After checking numerous larger LCD Monitors, I was disappointed with what I was getting for the money.
I even looked at this HannsĀ·G HG-281DPB Black 28" LCD.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824254026

For $600+ I wanted something bigger and better. I decided to take a chance when I saw a 32" Westinghouse 720P display on sale.
It was a refurb, but with my credit card I was able to purchase a 5 yr warranty.
I got a Westinghouse LTV-32w6 HD delivered to my house with a 5yr on sight warranty for around $475.
http://www.westinghousedigital.com/deta ... itemnum=52

I was pretty sure this was not going to be my main display for long, but it did give me a chance to see how it would workout for me having a big monitor. It was also nice that this TV has built in speakers, Picture next to Picture, and multiple inputs. It actually worked out well for me.
Although the 1366 x 768 rez was sucky, the 8 ms response time and QAM tuner made up for it a lot. The side benefit was I could crank up all the other display options in my games. The long and short of it was, I was happy. For less then $500, I had a big (32") screen to use on my PC, to game on, multiple inputs, and could watch TV in the corner of the screen as well as full screen HDTV. Text and general computer usage was great and easy to see. At this time I had taken a little break from photo and video editing, so was not missing the screen real estate.

Then I kept refreshing this thread, over, and over, and over....
viewtopic.php?t=52544&start=60

Since I had sold my other stuff, I had enough extra money to keep looking at the thread. 37", 1080P, HDCP, etc...
I kept thinking that I could always put the 32" in the bedroom or elsewhere when a different TV dies.
(Actually, I just was making excuses to myself to get it)

Finally, when it hit $559, I bit and pulled the trigger.
Total was $621.95 with S&H, plus I bought the 5 year warranty and it put me just over $700.

Well, to come to a abrupt end, it rocks.
1080P on a 37" display seems close to perfect, for me anyway, provided you have the room to sit a little farther away then normal from your desk.
(Again, thanks to PerfectCr and his thread and great pics)

Text is sharp and clear, display is bright, response time at 12ms seems great, as I do not see any ghosting. I don't have HDMI on the 37", but it does have HDCP so I can live without it.

To celebrate, I ended up getting The Orange Box and life has been good.
(I was also playing the UT3 demo and watching the World Series in HD, as you can see)
Below are some pics, but I do not think my photo skills do the displays justice.

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/dposcorp/LCDSa.jpg

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/dposcorp/LCDSb.jpg

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/dposcorp/LCDSc.jpg

Anyway, thanks for listening. PerfectCr's thread was much better, but I just wanted to share my thought process while going thru this display upgrade.

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:44 pm
by Nitrodist
Do you have a completely white room?

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:47 pm
by Dposcorp
Nitrodist wrote:
Do you have a completely white room?


Yeah.
When we finished the basement I just went with basic white until I decided what was going where.

I ended up just leaving it like that.

Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:42 pm
by Looking for Knowledge
Good stuff Dposcorp!