Weird problem with Samsung 950p monitor; LG or Niewsonic: which?

(...) I would like to add that the problem seems related to temperature. The hotter it gets, the worst the problem. Today, the temperature was less than 15° in Montreal and I used my monitor without any problem for hours at max resolution.

open it up and check all the solder, many times an intermitent fault is a dry join bewlow the flyback transformer. (if you don't know how too do this safely, ask). Blow out all the dust. (can't hurt)

Bye. Jasen

The common cause in your CRT monitor is that many of the electrolytic capacitors become temperature sensitive with age and use. The cost of servicing your monitor would most likely exceed the replacement value. This is not a repair you can easily do yourself, unless you are experienced in servicing monitors.

Much of what you are going on about the life span of LCD monitors is a lot of hype! Get yourself a good LCD monitor, and you will be very happy with it. I would never go back to the CRT type again. In a way I have no choice, because in about a year, there will be no more available, unless bought used.

The Viewsonic, and Sony in their higher end models are excellent. I have a number of Viewsonics, and I am very pleased with them.

--

JANA _____

Sometimes the screen is absolutely perfect for an hour or two, so I doubt it's a big problem but, for a lack of service at a decent price on CRT monitors, it seems I'll have to scrap it, unless you can give me an idea of the problem. If it's apparently not a major problem, maybe I could get somebody to take a look. If not, I'll have to go for a LCD, though I'm less than enchanted by the technology.

I'm considering 2 LCD monitors. The one that best fits my needs -- writing, browsing the net, looking at pictures, DVDs (well, maybe one day)

-- would be a LG L1952T, also sometimes refered to as L1952TX, apparently.

300 cd/m2, contrast 1400:1, DVI-I (standard DVI, I suppose?), 8ms. Picture quality seems OK. Price: $289 CAN.

The Viewsonic VX922, is less bright (270 cd/m2), the contrast is not quite as good (700:1, if I remember well), but it's a 2ms, a monitor for gamers. Accordingly, it's $50 more expensive: $339 CAN.

Salesman ALL tell me that I'd be much better off with the Viewsonic. They tell me that the Viewsonic quality is much better. The VX922 looks like a hot seller for Viewsonic, so maybe the price is set a bit lower than for other models.

A friend, who knows more about electronics than I, told me that, besides pixels dying, the main problem with LCDs is screen fade out. So, unless Viewsonic's pretention that their light source has a 40,000 hrs long life (other models have a 50,000 hour life expectancy, though) I suppose I'd theoretically be better off with the LG.

But I'm not a gamer and never will be. My feeling with LG support is not very good: they don't even have an 800 number for support!

What is your experience with both Viewsonic and LG? Which monitor would you go for?

So, how long will the 100+ spare CRT monitors I have on hand last for me? ;-)

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Hype? Most people tell me that after the warranty period ot's just about finished.

I wonder. First, from what I read yesterday on LG's site, it seems that you never get 16.7 million colors unless you pay a hefty price and are ready to cope with a slow response time. Instead, what you get is (2^6)^3 or 262,144 colors and dithering makes it look like 16.2 M colors through dithering. So a 6 bit panel sould be recognized because specs say 16.2 instead of 16.7 M colors.

Viewsonic never says if their LCD panels are 6 or 8 bit, bever speak about the number of colors. The VX922 is certainly a 6 bit because it's fast. What they do say is that unless you get seven burned pixels on a 17 or 19" monitor, they won't replace it. LG doesn't specify the number, but they do say that the replacement they'll send you could have dead pixels too, that producing perfect panels would be too expensive.

So what's the advantage of LCDs? Would you like to cope with 6 dead pixels on your screen for years? They take less place on your desktop and take about 2 or 3 dollars worth of electricity less a year. Big deal!

Why? Mine has a refresh rate of 85 Hz at 1280x1024. It's fairly comfortable to the eye. Do you think a LCD would be any better?

Yes. And it's hard to get outmoded technology fixed at a decent price. But that doesn't nean the replacement is any better. Think about CD vs vinyl records. All that can be said in favor of CD, is you couldn't get a good turntable for that kind of money. But $400 sould get you sound that you'll never hear from a CD. Maybe when 32 bit sound somes?

What are the models, so I can check the specs. Any one that could sell for around $350 CAN?

I won't open it up unless I have to. I know nothing about electronics. A friend of mine repairs TVs, but I don't think he knows much about the peculiarities of monitors.

I'd be interested to know how to remove the high voltage, though. If the only choice I have is throw the monitor to the garbage, I'll take a look.

Very true! Surface noise, Distortion, Rumble, Wow and flutter etc. etc. (But in fact you can hear them all from CD by simply digitally recording the vinyl record)

Seems this load of old bollocks will never disappear!

MrT.

I expect he knows enough to avoid the dangerous bits.

After uplugging the mains there's dangeros voltages stored in two main places inside the picture tube, and in the reservoir capacitors, these charges need to be avoided or dissipated.

If the fault is aging capacitors (and not a dodggy joint), it's a more involved task... Don't ask you friend to fix it for you. (he probably gets that line from too may others already) but he be able to give you some pointers, (and can probably tell your skill level better than I).

Bye. Jasen

True enough, but phonographs have "personality" and some people can't get enough of that. I agree that if one does a competent job of digitizing an LP to a CD the results do sound remarkably like the original LP. I've had some pretty good results copying vinyl to the computer, cleaning up with DcArt or CoolEdit, and putting on CD. It's a tedious process though, especially doing manual pop - and - click removal. Thankfully more and more of the old music has been re-issued on CD anyway.

Mark Z.

How do you "dissipate" them? I would have thought it would ne better not to unplug the monitor, so that it remains groundes, just turn the monitor off.

From what I see now, it seems I'll buy a new LCD and keep the CRT in a corner hoping that Gawd will send me the messiah. After a year or two with no messiah in sight, I'll throw it away.

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:08:37 +1000, "Mr.T" put finger to keyboard and composed:

Or you could take a "perfect" digital recording and add the nostalgic artifacts with appropriate software.

I suppose one could also simulate a CRT monitor on an LCD by using software to add a black border, out-of-focus corner regions, vertical and horizontal linearity variances, pincushion, and colour convergence problems. One could also simulate EHT regulation issues by shrinking or expanding the image when the brightness varies. An occasional simulated HV crackle from the built-in speakers would add to the nostalgia.

- Franc Zabkar

--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

with a resistor having legs. Mine is a pair of 11kW tubular dynamic braking resistors (15mm OD x 200mm), with a nice set of fluke multimeter leads attached and all inside some nice heatshrink.

leaving the plug attached is a VERY BAD IDEA. That means the chassis is live up to the switch. In many modern monitors, its not even a mains switch, so the CHASSIS STAYS LIVE. You have been warned.

I'll be quite happy to forego all those problems as soon as a flat panel display provides better contrast, color saturation and gamut as a good CRT, at a similar price. (nostalgia is vastly overrated anyway, even if it ain't what it used to be :-)

MrT.

I've seen that... if you know someone who's running linux, get then to run xscreensaver and demonstate the "analogtv", "pong" and/or "apple2" screensaver modules. analogtv is the best but the other two follow a similar theme.

Bye. Jasen

I'm reading all this on a fairly new Viewsonic VA912b 19" 1280x1024 LCD monitor. It has one dead pixel and a faint blemish about 1" long near one corner. But the brightness, contrast, colour accuracy and sharpness of this thing (fed from the video card's DVI output) blows away every CRT monitor I've ever seen... no going back for me. :)

Bob

Just download the Nokia monitor test program from

and run the EHT regulation test. :)

Bob

On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:02:20 +1000, "Mr.T" put finger to keyboard and composed:

I'm resisting purchasing an LCD or plasma TV for the same reasons (and others). The thing I like best about my LCD monitor is its sharpness and the perfect geometry. My eyes used to water when I had a CRT. Not so with an LCD. BTW, I don't play games on my PC.

- Franc Zabkar

--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

I recently bought one of those DSE 1440x900 LCD monitors. its very nice.

Nor do I play games on my PC. its a tool. I've also had my entire lifetime quota of games (my folks owned many, many arcade machines when I was a boy, then I worked for 3 years servicing them before getting a degree)

I have no intention of buying a fancy TV though - all TV is shit, regardless of the picture size.

Cheers Terry

I use LCD -- make a lot of difference. It is much easier on eyes than CRT. But... color reproduction is not as good on LCD as on CRT, so I will not recommend it for people who do "graphical design".

As for Samsung 950... I would check caps in PS and around FBT as a first measure.

Rudolf