Having second thoughts on new 19" Widescreen from Costco

[Scant7]

Hello and happy new year all.

Well I got a ViewSonic VX1935WM for Christmas from Costco and I like it a lot better than my previous 17" CRT. The only thing is, I have my TV connected to my videocard through S-Video and the max resolution on my TV is 1027x768. There wasn't a problem before because the resolution I used on my 17" CRT was the same, however on this LCD I use the native 1440x900. This means that when I want to watch movies I will have to switch back between this and 1027x768 so that nothing gets cut off.

The problem is that when I switch to any other resolution and then switch back to the native 1440x900 I get a corrupt screen. I can't make out anything it is literally 100 rectangles of colored corruptness. I can switch to any other resolution and it comes out just fine, it is just when I go from a non-native resolution to the native resolution that I have this problem. The only workaround that I found for this (tried different video card drivers, and yes the drivers for the LCD are installed) is that I have to reinstall my videocard drivers everytime, restart the computer, and when it boots up it automatically puts the monitor back at the native 1440x900. This is an extreme inconvenience, and must be related to this monitor only, because if all LCD's did that it would be rediculous.

Also, I am not impressed with the way movies look on this thing. Sure it's brighter than the TV, but not nearly as sharp or clear or crisp - whatever you want to call it, as the TV or my previous CRT monitor.

So I am thinking, I'm not to impressed with this LCD's video playback, plus the 1440x900 doesn't seem that much more detailed from 1027x768, and Costco has a great return/exchange policy so I am thinking of taking it back and getting a different monitor - a 20" LCD monitor. And it just so happens their 20.1" Sceptre X20WG monitor is now at $230 - 30MiR = $200. (Same price of the ViewSonic 1935WM)

What I was wondering is if the Sceptre X20WGwould be any better quality wise compared to the Viewsonic. It runs at 1680x1050 so I'm guessing games would look better since it's a higher native resolution. Plus it has 1000:1 contrast ration compared to the 700:1 on the viewsonic. And even if movies don't look that much better, say they look the same - at least I'm getting an extra 1" for the same price right? The Sceptre has many positive reviews on newegg and earned 5 stars so it must be pretty decent. (I read about ppl compaining about the stand/blue logo that doesn't bother me) Also I realize I just have a x800xl so good luck to me trying to play new games at 1680x1050...I'm upgrading that soon, along with my mobo and cpu.

So basically I am wondering if exchanging the monitor for the Sceptre would be a downgrade, upgrade, or the same, in which case I would at least be getting an extra inch.

If you read all the way down to here you are the man (or the woman)! Any input is always greatly appreciated. Cheers

PS: I might also consider the Dell E207FP from Costco but it's $290 and price is an issue.

 

[BossBorot]

If you read all the way down to here you are the man (or the woman)! Any input is always greatly appreciated. Cheers

I scanded most of it

Anyways the only way that changing monitors will be a downgrade is if the panel in the viewsonic is 8 bit. The sceptre monitor uses a 6 bit tn panel if it is the 5ms responce time version. Basically for gaming the sceptre should be far better due to the resolution bump. However for movie watching the viewsonic will be better, unless you are playing back high deff content, because of the panel used and the resolution. Basically standard deff content looks like crap when you play it back on a lcd because you either have to downgrade the resolution on your lcd which they dont do as well as a crt, or have your content streched to fit the screen. Also with a lcd vs a tv you are sitting far closer to your monitor then you would your tv so any differences that the streching or the low res content to your higher res monitor is even more noticeable. However if you dont like how movies look on your lcd then just always play them on your tv. There is also a far better way to play them back without changing res. Go into the advanced settings for your gfx card and look at video playback or monitor tabs. Somewhere in there you should have an option to automatically do full screen playback on the second monitor. This way you can load a video minimise it and in on your primary monitor and the video will play back completely full screen on your secondary moniror regardless of resolution.

 

[Scant7]

Ah, I forgot about the fullscreen setting for second monitor when watching video, very nice!

Also, I googled my monitor a bit to see if I could find it's bit quality... and I came across it's bigger brother, the VX2235WM which is a 6-bit TN panel. Since they are in the same series (the new VX series!) I am guessing that it's smaller counterpart would use the same model, in which case it would have the same quality as the Sceptre correct? (Not sure if all 6-bit TN panels are the same quality) If this is true, then I am definitely going to exchange it for the 1" bigger monitor for the same price... why not?

 

[BossBorot]

It appears that the VX1935WM has a TN panel baised off of the rather small viewing angle. I still think that the viewsonic prob will look better when you are not taking advantage of the res, mostly because of sceptres typically mediocure firmware, but this will mostly be noticeable when watching movies. It appears that you are just going to watch movies on your tv so that doesnt really matter and having higher res will be nice for games so I would persoanlly take the sceptre over that viewsonic. If you dont think that you will use the res advantage of the sceptre however stick with the viewsonic.