Looking for 20-24" 1080p LED-backlit display $200-250 - suggestions?

[pianoplayer88key]

Hi all...

I'm currently sharing my computer with my parents, but my mom is saying she wants to get her own fairly soon. (My dad has a laptop and he mostly uses that now.) The current display, a Viewsonic CRT (P220f IIRC - it's not in front of me right now as I'm composing this on my Android phone), belongs to my parents, so I expect my mom will continue to use it.
That means I will need to get my own display fairly soon. We do have an unused older Viewsonic CRT across the room, but I think it had some magnetic-related problems so I don't plan to use it.

I'd like to keep the price under $200 if possible, but may go up to something like $250 or so. I would like at least 1920x1080 resolution; 1920x1200 might be nice but I haven't seen that in my price range, and 2560x1600 is way out of reach. I'm looking into something in the 20 to 24 inch size range or so, and preferably no thicker than about 2 to 2.5 inches without the stand installed.

I've already asked on another forum about keeping RFI under control, and have gotten a couple replies with some advice. Now I'd like to know what else I should look for in a display. I'm seriously looking at getting an LED-backlit panel. Also I'll probably want one that has its own power supply built into the electrical cord.

My current computer has an analog VGA port and an HDMI port, and I don't know when I'll be upgrading that yet. Someone on that thread I referenced said I should be able to get a HDMI to DVI adapter cable, so hopefully I can use that. The current motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H with an integrated ATI X1250 video chipset, and the computer runs Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3 with 4GB physical RAM (3GB accessible for windows, IIRC 256MB allocated for video.)

I plan to use this display for general computer use, playing games, watching movies, graphics editing, etc. I don't expect to use it for TV (except maybe watching live internet streams), so a HDTV tuner isn't necessary.

What are some specs, like brightness, contrast ratio, dot pitch, etc, I should look for in a display? Also what would be some good brands of displays to look at? As I mentioned earlier, I'd like to keep it under $200, but would consider going up to about $250 or so. I'll probably go look at displays in-person at a few local places (one of them being Fry's), but will also seriously consider ordering online (most likely NewEgg, who I've had good experiences with).

[staggeredsix]

How aboot this? Not bad if yeh ask me.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...059-_-06152011

[ghelyar]

I'm not sure how cheap hardware is in the US compared to EU/UK (it's much cheaper because $200 = €200 = £200 when they set international prices, but I don't know if it's cheap enough) then my suggestions are to
1) drop the LED backlit requirement, or
2) increase your budget.

Most LCD displays are not LED backlit.


For RFI, just dropping the CRT should be enough. CRT is basically a particle cannon aimed at a phosphor screen, LCD is like lots of tiny shutters letting the light through, so the interference should be much less, even without LED backlit. For the interference to be a problem on an LCD, you would need to be using very sensitive equipment (an example given in that thread would be a radio telescope, which is obviously designed to amplify the signal and hence also amplifies the noise). It really shouldn't be a problem for an ordinary portable radio.


Get a display with HDMI and use the HDMI from your computer. If you want to use built in speakers (most PC displays don't have speakers, but some do and so do small TVs), it uses the same cable for both video and audio but even if you don't want to use the audio, you can get an inexpensive HDMI switch later and turn a 1 HDMI port display into a 4+ port, for connecting multiple devices to it, which is worth it alone.

For specs, ignore dynamic contrast ratio completely, ignore response time mostly, get one with good viewing angles, check whether it has a matte or glossy screen because that's your personal preference (I hate glossy screens). As for brand, just make sure you've heard of it. Dell make some surprisingly nice screens. Samsung etc obviously do too. staggeredsix's suggestion looks quite good and inexpensive.

[pianoplayer88key]

Hmm... I've seen some that are LED backlit within my budget. (BTW prices are in US$)
What do you think of these and these? (I had to create separate links for the DVI and HDMI ones, as NewEgg wouldn't let me specify either HDMI or DVI (or both) was OK - as soon as I checked the DVI and HDMI boxes, it assumed I wanted both. Also I've heard that it's possible to get DVI to HDMI (or vice versa) adapters.)
I would prefer to stay toward the middle of the prices shown, if possible. I can't really afford to splurge, although I'll consider one that's around $240-260 if it's much better overall than ones around $200, for example. Also I don't want to go too cheap - there are a few around $150 - might those be ok also?


So an LCD shouldn't interfere with an ordinary portable radio? Well just to give you an idea, one portable radio I use is capable of pulling in a 500-watt station on 1290 kHz from about 182 miles away using only its built-in ferrite loopstick antenna. (Disclaimer: that was recorded about 1/2 mile from the beach, and there's an all-saltwater path to the station. At home I'm about 195 miles away, and the station is much weaker, but can still be faintly heard out in the back yard.) Also I've heard a 50kW on 700, KALL North Salt Lake City, from 626 miles away in the middle of the day with the same radio at home, but that was aided by a 11 inch tuned loop antenna. (I'm not posting a link to any recording of KALL unless requested, as it was much weaker than the other clip, and suffered from slight splatter from a 77kW local on 690 (it's the former XETRA, now XEWW - in Baja so that's why it's allowed 77kW) that's 32 miles away.)


What about DVI? I've heard I can get an HDMI to DVI adapter.
Most of the time I use headphones. If I want to use speakers, I could probably buy some cheap ones ($10-20?), or I got some larger home stereo speakers that I could maybe hook up (they're the type with spring terminals though.)


I know about ignoring DCR. Most I see have a normal CR of 1000:1. Also all the LCDs I linked above have a response time of 5ms or better, and the majority have a brightness of 250 cd/m2. As for viewing angles, most of them are probably 170°, although there may be an IPS panel or 2 (178°?) in the search results linked above.
And yes, I would prefer a matte screen, too. (There will probably be some glossy ones in the search results - I couldn't find a way to specifically exclude those.)
Also what about Viewsonic, HP, or any other brands featured in the links? I've mostly had good experiences with Viewsonic CRTs - I wonder if that would translate to their LCDs?


Also there's a good chance I may buy from Fry's, as I have one in my area. Also I'm looking at maybe buying in a couple months or so, possibly. (It depends at least partially on whether/when my mom gets her own computer or not. Currently I'm sharing my computer with her, and my parents are sharing their monitor with me. My dad has his own laptop btw.) I'm just looking at models, prices, etc. now so I'll know what I want to buy when the time comes. I usually don't like impulse-buying electronics in this price range.

[ghelyar]

Originally Posted by pianoplayer88key

What about DVI? I've heard I can get an HDMI to DVI adapter.

HDMI and DVI are generally pin-compatible, with no audio. HDCP can be a problem too. In addition, there are several types of DVI cable such as DVI-A, DVI-I and DVI-D. Get HDMI.

Originally Posted by pianoplayer88key

Also what about Viewsonic, HP, or any other brands featured in the links? I've mostly had good experiences with Viewsonic CRTs - I wonder if that would translate to their LCDs?

Viewsonic is a cheap, crappy brand. HP I haven't tried, and I haven't heard anything good or bad about them. I used to like LG but I've had enough bad experiences with LG TVs and monitors that I don't buy LG at all any more. Samsung and Dell are good, as I said before.

[pianoplayer88key]

Originally Posted by ghelyar

HDMI and DVI are generally pin-compatible, with no audio. HDCP can be a problem too. In addition, there are several types of DVI cable such as DVI-A, DVI-I and DVI-D. Get HDMI.

Ah, ok, I'll look at HDMI then. BTW my current computer only has HDMI and the old 15-pin analog VGA out. (The video chipset is integrated on the motherboard.) If I was to get a video card / motherboard with DVI in the future, would there be any advantages to that over HDMI? Or is HDMI eventually supposed to replace DVI, for example?

Viewsonic is a cheap, crappy brand. HP I haven't tried, and I haven't heard anything good or bad about them. I used to like LG but I've had enough bad experiences with LG TVs and monitors that I don't buy LG at all any more. Samsung and Dell are good, as I said before.

Interesting... cause I've had good experiences with some of the older Viewsonic CRTs, for the most part. (There was one that we had problems related to magnetic fields or something, IIRC.) I guess their current LCDs aren't as good as their older CRTs were? (Our current CRT is a Viewsonic PF815.) Besides Samsung and Dell, are there any other good ones you know of, or would they be mostly priced way out of my budget?


Also about the RFI issue... I've heard LED backlit screens are supposedly "quieter" than CCFL-backlit (or whatever is typically used in non-LED backlit LCDs). Should I not have to worry about interference to a radio a few inches away from the display? I often listen to weaker stations, and if necessary will give the radio a boost with an inductively-coupled tuned loop antenna. (Some mediumwave stations I listen to may have strengths somewhere below 50 microvolts/meter. My current CRT nearly blocks some local stations that are more like 50 millivolts/meter or stronger.)

[ghelyar]

Originally Posted by pianoplayer88key

Ah, ok, I'll look at HDMI then. BTW my current computer only has HDMI and the old 15-pin analog VGA out. (The video chipset is integrated on the motherboard.) If I was to get a video card / motherboard with DVI in the future, would there be any advantages to that over HDMI? Or is HDMI eventually supposed to replace DVI, for example?

Motherboards with integrated graphics generally have VGA out for legacy compatibility e.g. most KVMs are VGA, as are CRT displays while using either DVI or HDMI for modern displays. It is likely that more and more will have HDMI in place of DVI, but if you have space for a dedicated graphics card, a very cheap ($20) dedicated card is generally better than the integrated graphics and with Core i Intels, you need to have both integrated graphics on your motherboard (just to let you plug a cable in) and CPU, which has the actual graphics on it at the cost of fewer CPU cores. In my experience this is just going to make integrated graphics worse and worse in desktops. The only place I would use it at all is in something like a 1U server, which just doesn't usually have enough space for a dedicated graphics card.

Originally Posted by pianoplayer88key

Interesting... cause I've had good experiences with some of the older Viewsonic CRTs, for the most part. (There was one that we had problems related to magnetic fields or something, IIRC.) I guess their current LCDs aren't as good as their older CRTs were? (Our current CRT is a Viewsonic PF815.) Besides Samsung and Dell, are there any other good ones you know of, or would they be mostly priced way out of my budget?

It's possible that viewsonic was just better for CRTs. I never used them back then but my CRTs were from manufacturers such as NEC, which you just never see any more outside of specialised equipment. As far as their LCDs go, they are big and cheap but low quality. Good brands for big LCD TVs generally make good brands for LCD monitors.

Originally Posted by pianoplayer88key

Also about the RFI issue... I've heard LED backlit screens are supposedly "quieter" than CCFL-backlit (or whatever is typically used in non-LED backlit LCDs). Should I not have to worry about interference to a radio a few inches away from the display? I often listen to weaker stations, and if necessary will give the radio a boost with an inductively-coupled tuned loop antenna. (Some mediumwave stations I listen to may have strengths somewhere below 50 microvolts/meter. My current CRT nearly blocks some local stations that are more like 50 millivolts/meter or stronger.)

LED is quieter but costs more. What I originally said was that you should either drop that requirement or increase your budget. The reason for that is that $200 USD converts to about £125 GBP, and you can't get much for that price here in the UK. I could only find roughly 20", mostly 1600x900 or 1680x1050, DVI only, CCFL displays for that price. You want at least 22" and 1920x1080 with HDMI.

Electronics companies tend to set a price in the US, say $200 USD. Then, when they set the price in the EU they just change the $ to a €, they don't do the conversion, so a $200 product becomes €200 EUR, which is roughly $285. Then, they do the same thing in the UK, where £200 is roughly $325 (far more than your budget). This means you can get more for your money, but I wasn't sure if it was enough since LED backlit displays are just more expensive in the first place.

Going on all this, IF that noise is really that important to you (and you can't move your antenna or anything) AND you can't find any in your budget, it just means you would need to increase the budget.

For most people, RFI is not an issue at all and a CCFL LCD is still going to give a tiny fraction of the RFI that a CRT gave anyway.

The only issue with interference on a broadcast signal I have ever had was that I had a very low UHF DVB-T signal in the first place, with a very carefully positioned antenna and a decent booster on it, and whenever my girlfriend used a hair-drier in the next room (or any spinning device, it happened with kitchen blenders too), I would lose the TV signal completely.