Color and Lighting Issues with new monitor

[John Little]

I have no doubt that I am getting old, becasue I had to update my LCD Monitor this last week and figured while I was at it, I would get a 22" LCD Panel.

What I was not prepared for was the color and brightness/contract issues with a monitor of this size.

I ran my Spyder calibration test, but the monitor still appears to be much brighter than expected. But I will believe the Sypder before I believe my own eye's.

I would like someone elses opinion though.

I have posted some new pictures that I took over the weekend, and was wondering if I could get some folks to let me know....are they to bright, too dark, just right ??

Thanks for the help,

John L

[Michael Martin]

I just bought a 22" LCD Wide Screen today, and all I can say is WOW! What a difference it makes from my old 19" screens! Now I can look at everyone's picture and REALLY enjoy them!

BTW - Mine is a "Chimei" monitor, got it at MicroCenter for $239!
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[John Little]

Hi Michael,

That is about the same price I paid for my Acer through Tiger Direct.

The real estate that you gain in screen size is really great, and the fact that I was lucky enough to have gotten a video card when I built this computer that can drive the monitor to it's highest resolution really made it all worthwhile.

And this color and brightness issue may simply be my need to get used to the monitor itself. The Spyder say's it is color balanced, so who am I to argue.

I am thinking of unplugging the DVI connection, and putting my 19" LCD on the card through the DVI to VGA cord, and running both of them, and seeing what the real differrence would be like.

[Airport-Data]

If your 19" monitor sits there doing nothing, then you might consider use both monitors at the same time.

You just need a second video card, may be a cheaper one, and hook it up to 19" LCD. Windows XP will recognize it and span your desktop onto it. If you have a motherboard which come with a video connection, then you don't even need a second card.

Be aware most likely your current video card has used AGP or PCI-e slot already, so you might need to buy a card which can fit into rest of the slot (could be a PCI).

Ken

[John Little]

Hi Ken,

You were reading my mind...... I have a PCI-e 512mg Invidia Graphics card with (1) XVGA Output, and (1) DVI-I Output, which included a cable that would convert the DVI-I to a second XVGA output.

So I hooked it up last night, and I now have them sitting side by side.

There is a lot of difference between the two monitors, but that is the difference between a 4 year old LCD, and the new generation of LCD's on the market.

I did have to go in on a root software level, and adjust the 22" slightly from what the Spyder indicated, and then I dropped the Spyder on the 19" and adjusted it's output to match.

The 19" is not as bright under factory settings, but the Spyder is invaluable in bringing up everything the way it should be.

One more 19" monitor to the left would give me a real FlightSim experiance (yup, a flyer wanted to be) as well as a picture taker.

I still like the real estate the 22" gives me for pictures, and for my CAD work.


John

[Airport-Data]

Congratulations. You have a pretty high-end computer!

A third monitor is also my dream.

[Michael Martin]

On 04/26 I bought my wife a new computer (3.3 Ghz, 160 GB, 1.5 GB DDR2) and she was impressed. When I brought home my 22" widescreen y'day, she says "Oh, another present for me?" I had to tell her it wouldn't fit on her desk so I had to give her one of my 19" flat panels! But, that's ok, because if I have a couple more weeks of good sales, I'll have enough to get a 2nd 22" to go in the place of my other 19" monitor!
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[John Little]

I have been building my own white boxes since 1986 , but this has always allowed me to put in whatever I wanted.

The system I run now is the Intel E6600, 8 gb memory, the Invidia graphics card, 3 Seagate Cheetah drives, and Windows XP 64. But doing CAD work most of the day utilizes the horsepower.

My first so called "home" computer was a Heathkit H-11 (4 week to build, test, and actually get it to load the software from Digital)........seems like ancient history now.

[Michael Martin]

I had an 8088 w/ 64k of RAM and a 400 kb HD. Talk about ancient!
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[John Little]

Ah......so you were one of the folks that had an extra $ 14,000.00 laying around the house.....

And you probably did not pay much less than that based on even having a HD (which was not offered on the original packaged machines, and who did you have to bribe to get a nearly $ 10,000 dollar drive??

After seeing IBM's price tags, Heathkit and I became good friends, but that also got me my first technology gig as a consultant for Digital.

[Michael Martin]

Wasn't quite that much! But it was a bit expensive!

Just bought the wife a 3.33 GHz machine w/ 160 GB HD, DVD play/writer & 512 MB RAM w/ Windows Vista for $215!!! Getting dirt cheap these days!
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[Guy Pambrun]

When I cracked my 22" Samsung out of the box and cranked it up for the first time I was amazed at how bright it was. I did some reading and found it is a common practice for the mfg's to ship it at 100% brightness. Mine was and I toned it down to the point where it no longer blinds me. You might want to check the contrast as well. That's usually set quite high as well. Just my 2 cents worth.