So I made the move from a Viewsonic A90, which was a sort of entry-level 19" monitor in it's day, to this Staples 19" LCD:

[www.staples.com]

I'm sure my problems are due to the CRT-LCD adjustment phase . . .

First, the text seems un-smooth to me-- not sure what to do about that; pushing the monitor as far away as possible helps a bit; tried playing with turning off smoothing but didn't see much of a difference.

The brightness is still killing me-- turned it down to like 20%. I've gone through the calibration and tried different "temperatures" . . . one problem I'm still having is that images which I could see well on the CRT now appear so dark I can barely make out the features; tried turning the contast down but it didn't make much difference.

Is there something basic I'm missing?

Thanks!

I'll say it.
Crap LCD.
I, nor my friends needed an adjustment phase.
I have owned, and worked with literally tens of thousands of CRT's, adjusted immediately to LCD's.
Still love the rich look of a CRT.
You running that thing at it's native resolution?

BGnR

---

"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

Could be (a) a badly designed monitor, or (b) a bad example of a well designed monitor.

Do you have it hooked up through the DVI input? I hear that can make a serious difference.
And what BGR said--doyou have it at the native resolution?

Yes, it's at native resolution.
Would have appreciated your "Crap LCD" opinion earlier when I was asking for opinions.
I solved part of the problem by just resetting the profile to the one loaded "automatically" rather than the one I calibrated. Can make out images again. Got the brightness at 20% and contrast at 75%. I suppose it will look normal to me by tomorrow.
Maybe I should just eat more carrots?
C'mon, don't you think even a cheap 19" LCD monitor should give a better viewing experience than a cheap 19" CRT?

>>>C'mon, don't you think even a cheap 19" LCD monitor should give a better viewing experience than a cheap 19" CRT?<<<

Not necessarily. CRTs have better refresh and deeper/richer tones. More clear (as you mentioned with the text). You may see a "ghosting" effect on LCDs if objects move too fast on the screen. CRTs won't do that. Blacks on LCD have come a long way, but most screens still can't do "real" black. CRTs are fantastic for all color ranges.

However! LCDs are very crisp in their colors (except black) and have great brightness and contrast (as you mentioned). Lighter, cheaper.

I think that you might not have gotten a good LCD? Just a thought. I don't get a product image or summary with your link that you posted, so I can't comment. All I can say is that I've been using LCDs now for a while and like them a lot.

Oops, forgot-- yeah, DVI.
The specs (brightness, refresh rate etc) are somewhat above average, no?
What would account for possible lesser quality?
Think I'm getting used to it though.
Typing on my 12" ibook G3 presently and quite happy with what I see.

I still think it's a good idea to eat more carrots.

j/k

One thing that did jump out at me when I made the switch to LCD after 13+ years in front of a CRT was the brightness of the LCD. That is probably due to the 13+ years of sitting in front of CRTs...my EYES!!!

I bought my first LCD screen in 2005 and haven't looked back. I started out with a 19" Samsung and went up to a ViewSonic 22" this winter. When I compare the ViewSonic to the Apple LCDs...well let's say there is no comparison. Apple's screens look fabulous. But for the money, it's hard not to pick the Viewsonic ($350).

How does the quality of the picture compare to your laptop screen? It should be similar.

---

I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making
him carry me, and yet assure myself and others
that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his
lot by all possible means — except by getting off
his back. - Leo Tolstoy, novelist and Philosopher
(1828-1910)

Quote
h'
Yes, it's at native resolution.
Would have appreciated your "Crap LCD" opinion earlier when I was asking for opinions.

Yep, but I am not your mama!

BGnR

---

"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

Quote
BigGuynRusty

Quote
h'
Yes, it's at native resolution.
Would have appreciated your "Crap LCD" opinion earlier when I was asking for opinions.

Yep, but I am not your mama!

BGnR

Of course not, you're my little snuggle-uggums.

Yeah, still not used to the brightness-- makes the rest of the world seem dark. Will it help my mood? Is it like light therapy?

Quote
MacArtist
I still think it's a good idea to eat more carrots.

j/k

One thing that did jump out at me when I made the switch to LCD after 13+ years in front of a CRT was the brightness of the LCD. That is probably due to the 13+ years of sitting in front of CRTs...my EYES!!!

I bought my first LCD screen in 2005 and haven't looked back. I started out with a 19" Samsung and went up to a ViewSonic 22" this winter. When I compare the ViewSonic to the Apple LCDs...well let's say there is no comparison. Apple's screens look fabulous. But for the money, it's hard not to pick the Viewsonic ($350).

How does the quality of the picture compare to your laptop screen? It should be similar.

many LCDs come waaaaay too bright. silly bright. hurt your eyes bright. i always calibrate with an eye-one puck and it confirms this.

also, your complaint of jagged text may be due to the fact that it is a lower resolution LCD which I pointed out in your last thread.

---

"Contrast" adjusts the peak white level in the picture. "Brightness" adjusts the background black level. Many are confused by this terminology which has been in use since the late '40s. A tool like SuperCal will help set both limits as well as the gray scale linearity.

The biggest change for me was getting the gamma set correctly. Once I had that right, the other things just fell into place. The initial brightness will level off after a few months -- I now have my LCDs set for 50% instead of 20%.

Lo res will cause text jaggies especially at the set's native resolution 'cause you're looking at basically tiny text. People complain about image quality when using non-native resolutions, but all 2 of my LCDs look better to me when set for a lower res and a bit larger text size size. I really like my LCDs and even like the color gamut better than on the previous CRTs I had.

---

What it is, man, a low-down and funky feelin'

Thanks for the tips!
I downloaded SuperCal and patiently went through all the steps, but ended up with a very red, dark screen; after experimenting I find the best calibration is the one aparently loaded by the monitor's firmware.
Text actually looks much worse with the res stepped down. I think I like it just fine now.