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- Xref: sparky comp.unix.sysv386:12406 comp.os.linux:6658 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:20268
- Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.os.linux,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
- Path: sparky!uunet!highlite!yarvin
- From: yarvin@highlite.uucp (Curtis Yarvin)
- Subject: Re: What the 17" monitor reviews never tell you
- Message-ID: <1992Jul24.040047.3903@highlite.uucp>
- Organization: Gotham Communications Research
- References: <1992Jul22.041743.9806@sinkhole.unf.edu>
- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 04:00:47 GMT
- Lines: 48
-
- In article <1992Jul22.041743.9806@sinkhole.unf.edu> shite@sinkhole.unf.edu (Stephen Hite) writes:
- >
- > I just wanted to let anyone who is deciding to purchase a 17" monitor
- >for X386 work to be be cautious when making their decision. I just
- >bought one of the highest rated monitors in the $1100 price range
- >(the Nanao 550i) and the one I got has a tremendous problem with this
- >"rainbow effect" at 1024x768. There's a term for it that starts with the
- >letter 'm' that I can't remember but the "look" is akin to a magnetic field
- >pattern.
-
- Misconvergence. This is an annoying and common problem in cheap monitors;
- the convergence may be correctly-adjusted in the factory, but the slightest
- bump will throw it off. I have the odd feeling that the quality of a
- monitor's convergence depends very closely on the quality of its packing...
-
- I bought a Sony 1604, a 17" monitor which normally gets very good reviews,
- four months ago. When it came the box looked like it'd been to Rwanda as
- the main prop in a gorilla caber-toss. The display was a few degrees out of
- true, the convergence was appalling, the focus was blurry as bats, and the
- thing made whining noises and gnashed its teeth, like a drunk ferret.
-
- One good thing about buying Sony, though, was that I didn't have to ship
- it off to get fixed; there was a service center nearby. It took three
- weeks (after they predicted two days), but they got most of the problems
- fixed. There's still a little misconvergence in parts of the screen, and
- the focus is right at the edges but off in the middle (does anyone know
- if there's an internal knob which will fix this?), but for the most part
- it's ok.
-
- I work in green-on-blue so the misconvergence is little problem, and
- the focus isn't bad enough to discourage 10-point text at 1152x900, but
- I doubt I'll buy a Sony monitor again.
-
- One warning: the Sony CDP-1604s, which costs about $1000, is _not_ the
- same as the GDM-1604 that makes color Suns such a joy. The latter
- has much more complex and finely-tuned electronic, and dynamic
- convergence adjustment to hold back the rainbow blues. It also costs
- about twice as much - but you get what you pay for.
-
- > Perhaps Thomas Roell can comment on this? Is my case unusual or is it
- >all just a crap shoot? I would strongly recommend that if you're in
- >a big city to buy your 17" monitor locally even if it costs an extra
- >$100 because at least you can try before you buy.
-
- Definitely. The same, of course, goes for 14" monitors; though, there, the
- picture quality is so poor that a little misconvergence hardly hurts.
-
- c
-