**Baddass' Ultimate TFT FAQ and Reviews! (20" and Above Models)**

here's my sexy thing. Samsung SyncMaster 172T it cost me ?80 back 2 years ago. and it still cost something like that now. *humps*
as you can see, I got a small desk so I had to mount it on my desk. all clean now though.

desk800.jpg
 
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Baddass and anyone else. I need help.

Have been looking with green eyes at all the lovely TFT's around and the people that own them, but could never really justify getting one.

Well, all that has changed as my current CRT (Samsung 957p) has developed a fault. SOOOOOO i'm in the market.

I use my pc for FPS gaming and photshop work, so I thought about a 19" TFT, but I cant find one i A) like the look of, or B) has no ghosting.

These are two really important factors for me.

But reading through, the Samsung 172X has been recommended a lot.

Would i notice a reduction in size if i went for a 17" model???
Would the 172X be good for gaming?
What alternative models do i look at?

I know a lot comes down to personal preferance, but a silver bezel and NO GHOSTING, and i'll but the damn thing (almost).

Please help a confused guy out here.
 
there are a couple of 19 inch TFTs available now which might be suitable for gaming if you are interested. The hyundai L90D+ (very new) and the Viewsonic VX912.......

moving to a 17inch TFT you prob wouldn't notice much size difference from your CRT anyway, as your CRT is prob only a little larger than 17inch viewable anyway, and prob the same resolution.

All the TFT's covered on the front page of this sticky are great, but the Samsung 172X is one of my favs at the moment. Alternatively you could consider the Hyundai Q17+ (same 12ms panel as Sammy anyway) or possibly one of the TFT's using the 16ms AU panel instead. Performance between the 16ms AU panel and the 12ms Samsung panel are very similar so dont be put off by the specs on paper. Tough choice, but there are a lot of nice one to choose from :)
 
Tried to start a new thread about this but maybe ot belongs here:

Shamlessly copied and pasted:

Just bought a Viewsonic VX715 and so far so good... I've been using it over VGA no problems... But today my DVI cable came through so i switched over.... now i seem to have flickering pixels randomly across the screen... the pixels are fine with the VGA cable which (i believe) puts the screen in the clear...

So, bad DVi cable?

Thanks
 
Hmm good point didnt check... was 60 before i changed the cable so was more than likely 60 after. Need to get hold of another cable really to see for sure.
 
LG 1720B

dcp027746406bi.jpg



Specs:
Brightness
250 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio
450:1
Digital On-Screen Control
Dimensions W x D x H (mm)
394 x 128 x 412
Display Colours
16.2 million
Native Resolution
1280 x 1024 @ 75Hz
Pixel Pitch (mm)
0.264 x 0.264
Power Consumption (w)
40 on, 3 standby, suspend, 3 off
Response Time (ms)
16
Screen Size
17"
USB
No
Video Signal Connectors
15 Pin D-Sub
Viewing Angle - Horizontal
160 degrees
Viewing Angle - Vertical
140 degrees
Weight (kg)
4.8
Price - £230-350, depending where you look

My Review

Having had this monitor 3 days now i have tested it in various ways. The only way test i havent performed is how it perfoms under the stress of gaming. This is due to the fact that my main rig is broken, so im currently using a 500. So far this monitor has handled everything i have thrown at it. It shows slight ghosting when watching movies, but nothing that is annoying. I dont see a lot of ghosting or tearing when browsing the web, even when using a 4mb on board GFX card.

Some people may frown on it due to its VGA connection, i can tell you now that it doesnt make a lot of difference. Although this monitor is over a year old, it does not show it.

The colours are very much brilliant with sharp images and bright colours, as shown in the pic below.
dcp027756402ob.jpg


No one can argue that it is not one of the most beautiful monitors on the market, and with its 16ms responce time, it performs very well also.

The blue light around the power button is fairly bright, however, it is not distracting and it does not blind you. The OSD is very simple and easy to use.

As most TFTs do, this has a button to automatically adjust the postion of the monitor, which is very useful and i did not have this feature on my old CRT. The monitor will automatically resize and repostion itself when something is loaded up in a different resolution. When i turn my PC on it takes the full screen when booting in 640x480, and then resizes when i go to my desktop at 1280x1024.

dcp027786404rl.jpg


The bezel around the monitor is around about 3cm, but it is black and although it is rather thick, it actually makes the monitor look nicer. Due to the design of the monitor it actually looks as if it is hovering in the air, as the stand cannot be seen.

I only have one problem with this monitor, and that is the fact that i am forever wiping finger marks off the chrome stand.:rolleyes:

Toms hardware described this monitor as the best all rounder, as it is good in all areas but not exceptional in any either.

The LG1720B came out on top among the entry-level monitors. This may seem paradoxical, since not so long ago it was the top of the LG line. But since the unit is now on sale for $420, it would be hard to justify saving a few dollars by buying a monitor like the NEC LCD72VM. If outlay is an important criterion in your choice, the LG should satisfy you regardless of the use you'll put it to. It may not excel in any one area, but it's good in all.
Click to expand...

I hope this review will be useful to someone, and i hope you enjoy reading it as much as ive enjoyed writing it. Any other questions just ask me or mail me on [email protected]

sorry about the rather blurry pics, but the camera is 5 years old;)
 
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wondering what people recomend for a cs fps player where responce is very important but so is brightness, at the moment i use a mitsu 750sb with a feature called superbright where u can ajust the brighness by a touch to verybright and it doesnt effect the picture, my housemate has a lg tft with a brightness button where u can customise some brightness settings for movies picture games etc. im looking at the hydi17+ or a sammy 172X do these moniors have a sim function, are there any cs players outthere with these tfts and can say what they think of the responce and brightness?

cheers
 
the samsung 172X is meant to be a very good monitor, although ive never used it personally. My monitor, LG 1720B has many different user functions, but only one you can set personally. It has 6 presets which are pretty good, including a fairly bright setting, and a one you set yourself. So in total you have 7 settings. It has a VGA connection and a 16ms responce, but you may be better off with the 12ms responce of the 172X for fast paced games.
 
LG1730P

Apologies for quality of pics btw, im not a natural photographer.

Shows the finish of the monitor off well

cougho-tft2.JPG


For a better view of the image

cougho-tft1.JPG

(although makes it seem blurred, which is isnt)

I must say i love this monitor. The looks are a bit plain for some but are spot on for me, the plastics are of good quality and feel like they should be around for some time. The base is very heavy and keeps the monitor perfectly steady, which is always nice.

Badass has of course given you all the specs and the beginning so ill merely tell you my impressions.

When i started the monitor up i noticed everything was super bright and looking washed out, despite my fiddling with the contrast and brightness i couldnt get the colours to look deep at all, i was not impressed. Then with a few presses of the f'engine button the monitor did the job itself. Making everything look superb. (i have since found the colour menu, and my face was very red :o )

Then browsing windows and the internet everything looked spot on, no ghosting when scrolling up and down web pages, but with a 12ms panel i never really expected anything.

I have also played a few FPS games on it and i must say i have not seen one hint of ghosting. (and to my surprise the 9800 handles 1280x1024 rather well, HL2 at max detail 4AA, 8AF got 30fps, and with some reduction 60-80fps were achieved :D )

After my hunt for ghosting was over i decided to follow up the criticisms of some reviews (namely about colour and image quality), having thought they seemed spot on when the TFT was in isolation i got my old 17" CRT (admittedly quite cheap) and put them side by side, WOW! the TFT blitzed the CRT, making the CRT look very "green", no complaints here about image quality. But then i havent tried any other of the leading TFT's to make a very accurate comparison.

My only criticisms of this TFT so far must be the viewing angles and the blacker than black-black it produces in some sections of games (notably HL2 on water hazard, one of the warehouses was overly dark). The angles seem a bit narrow, slouching in my chair causes the monitor to appear very dark and the opposite is true when only slightly off centre. But its a good excuse for my to sit up all the time. And the blackness can be easily overcome by turning gamma up a bit.

*I believe the only difference between this and the B model is the introduction of a USB hub, which is tucked neatly behind the column.*

Conclusion:

Pros:
Complete lack of ghosting
Vastly superior image quality compared to a CRT
Excellent quality of construction
Cheap for inclusion of DVI and USB (i got it for around £240)

Cons:
Maybe not as good an image as other leading TFT's
Viewing angles a bit small.

Score: 9/10
 
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