I'm looking to get a 19" widescreen LCD. I want one that's good for gaming and has a DVI port. Does anyone have any suggestions?

If you are willing to go to 20" the Dell 2005fpw or 2007fpw are great monitors. One sale they run around 400.

There have been amazing deals up here recently on 20.1" WS LCDs.

Best Buy has the Viewsonic (VX2025WM) for $369 (CDN)
MVA Panel / 8ms gtg / 800:1 / VGA / DVI
&
Future Shop has the LG (l204wt) for $369 (CDN)
TN 8bit 16.7M Panel / 5ms gtg / 800:1 real / 2000:1 dynamic contrast rating / VGA / DVI

I actually grabbed the LG Panel a couple of weeks ago (the viewsonic wasn't on sale at the time), and it really is a nice screen. HD Video looks great, and the extra screen real estate (vs my 17" CRT) is extremely welcome!

Unforunately I haven't tried any games yet, as my video card stopped working in 3D for some reason... (think it's fried :mad: )

I need something in the $200-275 range if possible.

Any thoughts on this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7907777&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat88600050004&id=1149206843492

or

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824116373

That 19" LG looks like it's actually the smaller version of my monitor. Other than the resolution the specs look almost identical, so as long as it's also using the newer 8bit 16.7M colour TN panels, then I would definitely recommend it!

These new LG's also seem to have thinner bezels than a lot of other screens, so IMHO they tend to look a bit sexier than some other brands.

EDIT: It looks like the 19" LG still uses the older 6bit 16.2M colour panel. The reduced colour palette shouldn't be much of an issue with gaming, but if you watch a lot of movies or do any graphic design/photo editing, then the dithering might become an issue.

http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/l194wt.jhtml


I also took a peak at the viewsonic, and it looks like it's also only 16.2M colours, so if colour fidelity is important to you then you might want to find some different options. However, based on the specs of these two options I think I'd take the LG due to the higher contrast ratio and faster response time. My model really does have some nice deep blacks, which should be great for gaming.

Yep I only game and use the net with my PC. I don't do any video editing or watch movies (that's what my HDTV is for). :)

I picked up the LG today. It was on sale, so I couldn't pass it up. It looks great so far, and I don't think I can fit anything bigger on my desk right now. The only downside is they didn't include a DVI cable, so I'm running in analog for now.

www.anandtech.com

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com

Get to know these places very well before making any purchases.

Preacher what are your settings for your monitor? I want to see if it looks better.

I need something in the $200-275 range if possible.

Any thoughts on this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7907777&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat88600050004&id=1149206843492



I like the lg I'm heading to BB to check it out this afternoon.

Anyone know how to stop a monitor from stretching non-widescreen material?

Check your video card settings. Depends on the brand/driver.

Preacher what are your settings for your monitor? I want to see if it looks better.

I'll check for you. I actually put together a special User profile because I wasn't happy with any of the "F-Engine" presets.

Preacher were you able to stop it from stretching 4:3 material? I've been playing Battle for Middle Earth 2, and it always stretches it. I'd rather have bars on the sides. I can do it fine on my laptop but can't find any settings on the monitor.

The lg is awesome and with the instant rebate it was CHEAPER than the 17 inch version. I bought one.

Preacher were you able to stop it from stretching 4:3 material? I've been playing Battle for Middle Earth 2, and it always stretches it. I'd rather have bars on the sides. I can do it fine on my laptop but can't find any settings on the monitor.

Stryker - Bummer there's no widescreen support built-in for that game. I'm guessing you looked around for a registry edit?

Stryker - Bummer there's no widescreen support built-in for that game. I'm guessing you looked around for a registry edit?

Yep. The only thing available is a hack for the .ini which stretches it anyway.

[QUOTE=StreetPreacher]That 19" LG looks like it's actually the smaller version of my monitor. Other than the resolution the specs look almost identical, so as long as it's also using the newer 8bit 16.7M colour TN panels, then I would definitely recommend it!
--------------------------------

Hi Preacher, Are you using the larger LG L204WT monitor ?

The reason I ask is I'm trying out the L194WT monitor.

I know the 194WT uses a 6 bit panel.

Are you absolutely sure the L204WT uses and 8 bit 16.7 mil color panel ? :)

Thanks

TDK

Are you absolutely sure the L204WT uses and 8 bit 16.7 mil color panel ? :)

From my research it looks to be using a new 8-bit TN panel:

LG.Philips LM201WE3 panel . 20"WS TN Film 16.7 (8-Bit) 1680 x 1050 5ms 800:1 2000:1 300 / 450 160 / 160

It's also listed as a 16.7M colour panel on the global LG website:

http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/l204wt.jhtml


I also found a couple of other forums that had some extensive discussions on this model, everyone seems to agree that it's definitely 8bit.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315131&page=13&pp=15

http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?t=287475&page=1&pp=15

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1076405&page=2&pp=20

[QUOTE=StreetPreacher]From my research it looks to be using a new 8-bit TN panel:

Preacher, many thanks for those links. The one thing about my L194wt which bothers me is when I play dvds full screen the image is a bit grainy.

How does this look on your L204wt ?

I'm going to pick up a L204wt today to place right beside my 194wt to compare them.

I'm hoping the 8 bit screen will improve the movie viewing.

I still have till Sunday to decide whether to keep the 194wt or return it to Best buy.

TDK

[QUOTE=StreetPreacher]The one thing about my L194wt which bothers me is when I play dvds full screen the image is a bit grainy.

Well check out this forum. This guy actually took his apart and did some extensive testing.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?p=4600104

I had another link to where someone had done a side by side with the Viewsonic (which is an 8bit MVA panel), and his opinion was that the LG was also 8bit, and other than viewing angle I think he like the LG better.

I don't watch my DVD's, however I do watch quite a bit of HDTV (1080i/720p) content, and it looks really nice.

[QUOTE=tkinkley]

I don't watch my DVD's, however I do watch quite a bit of HDTV (1080i/720p) content, and it looks really nice.
-------------------------------------------------------

Preacher, what are you using to watch hdtv on your L204WT. ?

Well I went to Circuit City today to pick up a L204WT to compare with my L194WT and I hit a brick wall. <G>

First thing I asked em is what their return policy on monitors was.
Well the policy has changed. They now charge a 15% restocking fee for any monitor returned that has been opened.

So scratch those bozoz off my future purchases list.

I think I will just keep my L194WT.

Interestingly when I view 720P 0r 1080 content with Media Player it looks just great. I'm coming to the conclusion that the reason that regular dvd looks a bit grainy is that there is simply not enough info in the 720 X 480 picture from a DVD to adequately fill the MUCH higher res screen on these monitors without some graniness. :)

TDK

Alternately, I was wondering if anybody has hooked up a 360 to one of these monitors LG monitors and what the experience was like with one of them? Especially for movie watching

Do the user with the noticeable difference in watch DVD's and then watch HD video files. I think you are correct that the the problem lies in the issue of the DVD being encoded in 720x480. Perhaps trying switching down to that resolution though for DVD watching and you might obtain better results.

Preacher were you able to stop it from stretching 4:3 material?

I haven't found any options on the monitor to control how it handles 4:3 signals, however my new nvidia video card drivers have some 'LCD Flat Panel Configuration' options, which include the option to have the video card scale the images however you like. For instance I have mine setup to scale all 4:3 resolutions to fill the screen as much as possible while maintaining aspect ratio. This way resolutions such as 1024x768 will use the entire vertical space with letterbox bars on the left and right sides.

I haven't found any options on the monitor to control how it handles 4:3 signals, however my new nvidia video card drivers have some 'LCD Flat Panel Configuration' options, which include the option to have the video card scale the images however you like. For instance I have mine setup to scale all 4:3 resolutions to fill the screen as much as possible while maintaining aspect ratio. This way resolutions such as 1024x768 will use the entire vertical space with letterbox bars on the left and right sides.

I tried that last night but my video card (BFG 6800GT) just gave me a garbled mess when I switched any of the settings to anything other than let the monitor handle it.

PS> Check your PMs.

I have had a L194WT for a while now. So far i have but one complaint. Probably fixable though.

When I watch something in black and white (rarely), or do any B&W photo editing (semi-often), it seems to have a yellowish tint to it.

I have calibrated my monitor using a Spyder2Express.

Any suggestions?

So I helped my mom finally get a new PC, she was using a P3 800 still. I found her a nice deal from Dell (Vostro 200 w/ 19" wide LCD). I went over to her house today to set it up, she took one look at the LCD and hated it. I walked out with a brand new 19" wide LCD. :) Not bad eh?