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"TFT. Good???"

I bought a 19" TFT the other day to replace an old cheap 19" CRT and I'm not really impressed.

It's an [URL]http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=86812[/URL]

The text quality is poor and even with windows smoothing it makes it blured and unreadable in places.

In games you can actually see the pixels in some cases and again, the text looks very poor (especially WoW).

Is this just this monitor or do TFT's in general look grainy?

I like the fact it has no reflections and it is true 19" as well as the obvious size of the thing, however other than that I don't really like it.

I think I'll be swapping it for a new flat screen CRT.

Damarus wrote:
> My return with ebuyer has been accepted (it has 2 dead pixels anyway)
> so I will be refunded £250.

Cool, usually it's 3 dead ones before getting a return.


> Cookie:
>
> I can't get any pics as my digi cam is crap. In some instances text
> looks really faded and is somewhat hard to read. In WoW you can see
> every pixel in the text and it looks really jaggy.

That's a combination of your connection to the monitor and your GFX settings (card) causing the text problems in WOW. I get the same problem in DC_Final if my AA, AF etc are up too high or too low.

I may just be tempted to use my old monitor for a while and use the money to upgrade the rest of my pc. Then get a much better one when needed.

My return with ebuyer has been accepted (it has 2 dead pixels anyway) so I will be refunded £250.



Cookie:

I can't get any pics as my digi cam is crap. In some instances text looks really faded and is somewhat hard to read. In WoW you can see every pixel in the text and it looks really jaggy.

Damarus wrote:

> EDIT: Although I miss my higher resolutions in games so I'm probably
> still going to change it to a CRT.

With games moving across to HD in the next year, CRT's will soon be of no use at all for games. I'm surprised you getting so much hassle from a Sammy TFT, but then your biggest problem is running a TFT on RGB/VGA which really doesn't help.

I suggest to anyone going TFT, go DVI, the difference is quite substantial.

Can you take a picture with a digicam? I'd be interested to see how bad it looks.

It seems ok at the minute. I'm guessing I just probably need to get used to using a TFT and after that it should fine.

EDIT: Although I miss my higher resolutions in games so I'm probably still going to change it to a CRT.

That's strange I've had a TFT for a few months now and it's been perfect, different brand but same comapany you bought from.
The only thing I can think of is what everyone else has advised. Try every resolution with every supported refresh rate you have, make sure you've installed the monitor driver of course, make sure you're monitor cable (not power) is in properly and that you have a good viewing angle from where you sit.

Damarus wrote:
> It has been running at 1280 x 1024 all the time and I've tried
> adjusting the refresh rate.
>
> I'm using cleartype tuning power toy but I still can't seem to get
> the text any clearer.

What's your GFX card set too?

You could try sourcing a different monitor cable. I bought an extended monitor cable once (5m or so) - when I plugged it into my 21" screen running at 1600x1200, the drop in picture quality was scarcely believable. There's also a chance that either end of the cable is not securely fastened, but I'm sure you've tried this :0(

It's actually much easier to read without clear type on but the text is very pixelated.

It has been running at 1280 x 1024 all the time and I've tried adjusting the refresh rate.

I'm using cleartype tuning power toy but I still can't seem to get the text any clearer.