Basic CRT or half decent LCD?
 

Hi,

I'm considering swapping my 19" Dell M993s CRT monitor for a flat panel LCD display. If you do the research, the general opinion seems to be that for colour fidelity, CRT is still better than LCD - in most areas. As one of the monitor's main uses will be photo editing, colour accuracy is important.

The question is, is a fairly cheap and cheerful CRT, such as the one I have, any better than an entry level desk top publishing LCD? It would appear from reading around that most desk top publishing CRTs could reproduce about 85% of the AdobeRGB colour space and, unless you are prepared to pay somewhere in the region of £4K, an LCD is limited to being able to reproduce about 72% of the AdobeRGB colour space. This is all very well, but I have been unable to find out how much colour my rather more run of the mill CRT can display.

I would be looking to spend a max of £500 on a monitor and a colour calibration tool of some sort, so I'd probably be looking at a £400/£100 split respectively. The NEC LCD1990SXi appears to be the most highly regarded monitor for colour management in this price bracket. Details here: http://www.nec-display-solutions.co....6174,group=all
What I don't want to do is spent this kind of cash and find that although I've gained a lot of desk space and cut my electricity bill, I get the over-bright cartoon colours that seem so typical on the "gamers PC" flat panels I'm used to seeing.

So, am I better off waiting a couple of years until the technology is better and prices have fallen? The problem with this approach is that there is always something else better just around the corner, it is the nature of technology. Should I stick with my CRT? Is a cheap CRT still better than a £400-£500 LCD?

Your opinion would be appreciated.

BTW, I did find this in my research. Very, very interesting post.....
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/...01&#entry54301
Posted at the very end of 2005, so things have moved on a bit, but I wonder how much.

Duncan

CRT, CRT, CRT, CRT!

THE best CRT on the market is the Trinitron from Sony. Used examples can be less than £100!

I use a Sony Multiscan E250 (low end) that I purchased from PC World 'clearance' for £75!

Image will appear softer than LCD/TFT as they apply sharpening to your image. Good CRT's apply little or no sharpening so image sharpness and colour is faithful.



And...one more bonus on colder days you need no heating in your room :D

I have also been looking to replace my CRT but there is no way I could work with any LCD's that I have seen so far, I have only seen LCD's up to about £500 but they do not come near to a reasonable CRT IMO.

I was in the same position as you, and looking around, reckoned I would have to pay about £600 for a decent 21"+ TFT. I decided to buy a used 19" Iiyama Vision Master Pro CRT for £60. TFT prices are dropping and quality rising all the while. The next big thing seems to be OLED displays which offer huge contrast ratios, much more even illumination, and a broader gamut. But they have been 'about to appear' for some years now.

www.TrustedReviews.com seems a good place for reviews.

I'd stick with CRT. The colors are so much clearer and accurate.

When I was working close to a professional photography studio all their computers were still using CRT monitors where all the others (eg. reception) were using LCDs.

Thanks for the input guys. I'll stick with the CRT and save my £400. Probably still buy a calibrator widget though. Anybody got any advice on those? £100-150 max.

Duncan

I second that, I once went through my work to a well known portrait studio and guess what.... All using Catpure One RAW converter, Photoshop CS2 displayed on large CRT's

Hey I just thought...

Is there anything stopping you from using CRT and LCD? ;)

Quite a few graphics cards allow you to connect more than one monitor at a time to one PC.

I'm suggesting this because LCD monitors are "eye friendly" as they don't cycle the display like CRT monitors do. Many offices and other such work places move to LCD because very few people get headaches while using them like they do with CRT monitors. PAL systems run at 60Hz which also happens to be the same frequency of the human body - the two clash.

If you mostly use your computer for graphics and not much else then stay with just a CRT. If you use your computer for lots of other things as well then it's worth a thought...

Zeb,

I had already thought of this, and my graphics card does support two outputs. The trouble is, the thought of switching to LCD was driven by the need to recover some desk space. I'd need a skyhook to use two monitors, and I'd end up getting neck ache.

Duncan

ooo, probably not a good idea then :D