Is my monitor on the way out?
Discussion
I wonder if anyone can help. I have a CRT monitor - about 5 years old and it's on for a good 12 hours of every day so it's been very heavily used. In the last few days I've been noticing a brownish tinge to the colours in each corner of the screen once it has warmed up. The screen looks fine when it first starts up in the morning but after 10 mins or so these brownish tinges start to appear. I was wondering if there was any driver problem that could do this? I've also noticed that when I move the mouse after it goes into power saving mode (black screen) there's quite a "thud" from it - a bit like a microwave starting up. I'm sure this was never as pronounced before...
A friend came to my office last week and remarked on the fact that my monitor was "crap" and I should get a new one, as the picture was "bad for my eyes".
Well sure enough within a week it had broken and to see it you would have to warm it up for a good 10 minutes before it would show a picture.
Anyway to cut a long (read boring) story short I bought a Samsung 17" TFT screen yesterday and I am amazed at the picture quality.
Best buy I have made in a very long time. Get you self of to PC world and see what takes you fancy.
Sam
Well sure enough within a week it had broken and to see it you would have to warm it up for a good 10 minutes before it would show a picture.
Anyway to cut a long (read boring) story short I bought a Samsung 17" TFT screen yesterday and I am amazed at the picture quality.
Best buy I have made in a very long time. Get you self of to PC world and see what takes you fancy.
Sam
People oftne think this means the CRT is on its way out but this isnt usually the case. It's is often caused by magnetisation of the metallic elements in the surface of the screen - from interference created by an electromagnetic device (but can also occur if you've recently shocked or moved it suddenly). Try degaussing (demagnetising) to get rid of the discolouration.
Remove any magnetic or electromagnetic devices away from the the monitor. Chief culprits are unshielded speakers (shielded PC speakers are generally OK).
Some monitors automatically degauss the screen each time they are turned on. You can tell if yours does this by listening when you turned it on. If the monitor buzzes for a few seconds and then there is an audible click, then its degaussing.
If it does it automatically, then after removing any nearby magnetic devices, you may find this sorts it out. After turning the monitor on and off quite a few times through normal use, the spot should disappear. This can take a week or two though.
Some monitors have a manual degaussing button. Try pressing this button occasionally to remove the color problem. Do not degauss the monitor loads of times in rapid succession , as this can damage the degaussing circuit.
>> Edited by jam1et on Thursday 29th January 11:15
Remove any magnetic or electromagnetic devices away from the the monitor. Chief culprits are unshielded speakers (shielded PC speakers are generally OK).
Some monitors automatically degauss the screen each time they are turned on. You can tell if yours does this by listening when you turned it on. If the monitor buzzes for a few seconds and then there is an audible click, then its degaussing.
If it does it automatically, then after removing any nearby magnetic devices, you may find this sorts it out. After turning the monitor on and off quite a few times through normal use, the spot should disappear. This can take a week or two though.
Some monitors have a manual degaussing button. Try pressing this button occasionally to remove the color problem. Do not degauss the monitor loads of times in rapid succession , as this can damage the degaussing circuit.
>> Edited by jam1et on Thursday 29th January 11:15
I've been setting up some new PC's, and have a nice 17" Dell ultrasharp TFT screen sitting next to my CRT monitor .. working between the two the CRT is washed out and blurry, and the TFT crisp and colourful, and the white really is white.. I will never go back to CRT.
Do yourself a favour and get one anyway, whether the monitor is broken or not
sounds like it is, might be the power supply
>> Edited by john_p on Thursday 29th January 12:28
Do yourself a favour and get one anyway, whether the monitor is broken or not
sounds like it is, might be the power supply >> Edited by john_p on Thursday 29th January 12:28
TFT's are great for space saving and they look awesome too. Thesedays they also have good brightness and depth of colour. But there are a few things to consider though before you switch from a CRT.
You need to be sat directly in fornt of a TFT otherwise the brightness and colours drop off dramatically - not good if youre trying to get a few people around a screen to watch something. Also TFT's cannot be scaled outside of their native resolutions without major loss in picture quality which makes them less flexible. TFT LCDs are also still not fast enough for fast frame rates compared to CRTs. I've noticed lots of ghosting on fast moving images on various top range TFT's. So if you're a game freak stick with CRT.
If you go for TFT make sure its digital not analogue, otherwise the conversions will decrease picture quality.
And dont forget that a CRT is only as good as the video card that drives it so a better graphics card can make all the difference!
>> Edited by jam1et on Thursday 29th January 13:59
You need to be sat directly in fornt of a TFT otherwise the brightness and colours drop off dramatically - not good if youre trying to get a few people around a screen to watch something. Also TFT's cannot be scaled outside of their native resolutions without major loss in picture quality which makes them less flexible. TFT LCDs are also still not fast enough for fast frame rates compared to CRTs. I've noticed lots of ghosting on fast moving images on various top range TFT's. So if you're a game freak stick with CRT.
If you go for TFT make sure its digital not analogue, otherwise the conversions will decrease picture quality.
And dont forget that a CRT is only as good as the video card that drives it so a better graphics card can make all the difference!
>> Edited by jam1et on Thursday 29th January 13:59
Avocet, I suggest you go to somewhere like Comet and see some TFTs in the flesh. Jam1et is right about the viewing angle (mine's acceptable up to about 35 degrees off centre) but TFTs use much less power, hence by getting one you will be saving the planet...
Native resolution of a 17" TFT is 1280 x 1024; IIRC you have to go to 20" before it gets higher, and that's still big money.
Native resolution of a 17" TFT is 1280 x 1024; IIRC you have to go to 20" before it gets higher, and that's still big money.
simpo two said:
Don't struggle and suffer. Bin it and get a nice TFT - 17" are <£300 and you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I got a Sony last year and my uncle just got a nice one from Argos Direct.
with you up until the TFT bit, you need to spend more than the minimum amount if you're using it fairly frequently. In comparison I brought some TFTs before xmas for family members PCs, both cheapy jobs.
One, a ralisys, is very poor, it's blurry at 1024*768 and at 800*600, it does a max of 75Hz (ok that isn't too bad) but it just isn't useable for long periods of time without squinting.
Another is Benq, it was the same price but it marginally better, but I still wouldn't use it for any serious length of time.
Then I compare them to my laptop screen which is brilliant and clear, aswell as capable of high res. I've been through some testing of brands recently to decide which to sell, the difference is noticeable for only £5 more. The higher end ones again provide increased picture clarity (no real need to buy specifically for DVI though). So basically switch to a decent TFT rather than a cheapy one, in the end it's not worth spending all that money on a high end base unit when you're viewing a 15" goldfish bowl.
If you get a TFT display, make sure you get one that takes digital input and that your graphics card has a digital output too. On my mac I have a 17" Apple TFT display, which is fed a digital signal. It's amazing. I also have a 15" TFT on the analogue connector, and it's utter pants by comparison, not much better than a CRT.
TFT's dont work in the same way as CRT monitors and refresh rates do not apply in the same way.
CRT's fire an electron gun at the screen but only in one place at a time and so the beam has to move from line to line to build up the picture. The frequency at which it does this the refresh rate. Each pixel starts to dim until it is refreshed again and your retina has to remember the brightness as it dims - this is the flickering you can see at low refresh rates.
TFT's have the pixels actauly built into the screen and they allow or deny light to pass thru creating the image. There is still a scanning process but the light intensity is controlled by the monitor not your retina so there is no flicker.
What your getting confused with is 'reaction times' on TFT's. Cause all pixels change at the same time it takes time to change the light intensity. On high-end TFT-screens this reaction time is between about 20 and 40 milliseconds. On the cheaper models it can be 50 milliseconds or more. If the reaction time is greater then 40 milliseconds the display in fast action scenes will be slowed and causes ghosting/blurring. The CRT-screens have no problem at all with this.
TFT's cannot display dark colours very well either as all it does is deny any light to pass through the image. Contrast ratios are crap on TFT's (around 300:1 compared to 500:1 on CRT). Not good for night time sequences in games or dark scenes in DVD's.
If you're an avid gamer, stick with CRT!
>> Edited by jam1et on Friday 30th January 15:34
CRT's fire an electron gun at the screen but only in one place at a time and so the beam has to move from line to line to build up the picture. The frequency at which it does this the refresh rate. Each pixel starts to dim until it is refreshed again and your retina has to remember the brightness as it dims - this is the flickering you can see at low refresh rates.
TFT's have the pixels actauly built into the screen and they allow or deny light to pass thru creating the image. There is still a scanning process but the light intensity is controlled by the monitor not your retina so there is no flicker.
What your getting confused with is 'reaction times' on TFT's. Cause all pixels change at the same time it takes time to change the light intensity. On high-end TFT-screens this reaction time is between about 20 and 40 milliseconds. On the cheaper models it can be 50 milliseconds or more. If the reaction time is greater then 40 milliseconds the display in fast action scenes will be slowed and causes ghosting/blurring. The CRT-screens have no problem at all with this.
TFT's cannot display dark colours very well either as all it does is deny any light to pass through the image. Contrast ratios are crap on TFT's (around 300:1 compared to 500:1 on CRT). Not good for night time sequences in games or dark scenes in DVD's.
If you're an avid gamer, stick with CRT!
>> Edited by jam1et on Friday 30th January 15:34
Thanks everyone, there's a lot to think about there! I did try switching it on and off and whoever suggested that was absolutely right. It degaussed, worked fine and then about 2 hours later was brown again!
I guess I'll have to troll of to my local TFT screen shop - I'm not an avid gamer - in fact I'm crap at games and I don't have any of them at all but I do a fair bit of CAD draughting so I need quite a big screen. I currently have a 19" monitor so I don't know if I'll be able to afford an equivalent TFT. Does anyone know if the viewable areas are measured the same way?
I guess I'll have to troll of to my local TFT screen shop - I'm not an avid gamer - in fact I'm crap at games and I don't have any of them at all but I do a fair bit of CAD draughting so I need quite a big screen. I currently have a 19" monitor so I don't know if I'll be able to afford an equivalent TFT. Does anyone know if the viewable areas are measured the same way?
They are both measured as diagonal viewable area but TFT's are much more accurate in their description. Eg. a 17" TFT will be almost exactly that, whereas a 17" CRT will be more like 16".
Going back to your original problem, are u sure that you've removed any electromagnectic devices away from the monitor? Also, it can take upto 2 weeks for the discolouration to dissapear completely.
If you need a large screen (19" and over) you'll be talking mega bucks for a decent TFT in that size.
>> Edited by jam1et on Friday 30th January 18:13
Going back to your original problem, are u sure that you've removed any electromagnectic devices away from the monitor? Also, it can take upto 2 weeks for the discolouration to dissapear completely.
If you need a large screen (19" and over) you'll be talking mega bucks for a decent TFT in that size.
>> Edited by jam1et on Friday 30th January 18:13
jam1et said:
If you need a large screen (19" and over) you'll be talking mega bucks for a decent TFT in that size.
Oh I dunno - you can get a Samsung 19" TFT for £412 + VAT at www.digi-uk.com.... but you're assuming Avocet wants one that big... 17" now c£250 + VAT.
The man doesn't want a hideous old-fashioned half-ton box taking up half his desk!!
Well I'm not really 'assuming' as he does a lot of CAD, plus he has a 19" screen already. The prices have come down quite a bit, but after VAT/delivery etc your still talking over £500 and that one isnt exactly top of the range either. To me thats still a fair bit o'wedge.
>> Edited by jam1et on Saturday 31st January 22:35
>> Edited by jam1et on Saturday 31st January 22:35
jam1et said:
Well I'm not really 'assuming' as he does a lot of CAD, plus he has a 19" screen already. The prices have come down quite a bit, but after VAT/delivery etc your still talking over £500 and that one isnt exactly top of the range either. To me thats still a fair bit o'wedge. ]
True. You can value or you can have cool, but not both!
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