New LCD - Advice needed

Hardware and technical stuff
1

I just purchased a new Sceptre 20" LCD widescreen monitor and I like it so far. I was playing on a ViewSonic 19: CRT that I really, really loved. I got the LCD because it was time to move on. Well, like I said before, I like the widescreen experience but I don’t love the monitor. The colors are a little dull compared to the CRT (I can adjust that) and the font was tough to read (I used ClearType so that problem is fixed). The image seems extra sharp; my CRT had a smooth picture that blended everything together very nicely. The LCD makes everything look… sparkly? The graphics don’t look jagged per se, just very pixelated.

Anyone know if the monitor can be adjusted to make it look any better? I tried desktop settings, but no luck. One note - I haven’t installed the monitor drivers yet. Could that make a difference?

I’m running at native resolution (16 x 10) and using DVI input (would VGA be better?).

Sorry if I sound dumb, its my first LCD.

2

Sounds like it’s just a crappy LCD. The sparkly thing could be due to having a 6-bit panel, which needs to dither in order to produce a ‘full’ range of color. People claim you can’t see it, but there are situations in which you definitely can.

3

DVI-D should be the best picture you could get. Not that I notice any
differences between the two computers+XBox 360 connected by DVI and VGA switcher to mine.

4

Don’t drill any holes in it this time.

5

Return it and get a less shitty one. I highly reccomend the Dell widescreen LCD displays.

6

DVI makes a pretty big difference. Before I switched to the Dell 2005 widescreen, I was using a Samsung with VGA input. The Samsung wasn’t bad, but images were definitely blurrier

7

I’m not trying to be an ass, but you said you are running it at native, and then you said 16:10. Are you sure you are using the RIGHT 16:10 setting? Putting it in WS isn’t enough. It should actually be the native rez. Otherwise it will look blurry.

Oh, and the crispness will require some adjustment. Once that is done, you won’t want to go back, most likely. I love it now, but it was very jarring at first.

8

DVI and run things in your monitor’s native resolution whenever possible. Maybe you’re used to having AA turned on in lower resolutions?

Sceptre’s higher end monitors are by no means “crappy.”

Maybe your video card is overheating from the higher resolution?

9

Sorry, I was at work when I posted so I had to think of the resolution from memory. The native resolution is 1680x1050 and that is what I’ve been running my games at. I installed the new driver and there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable difference. I suppose I’ll have to get used to the crispness… it’s very sharp.

10

OK, try adjusting the contrast and brightness a bunch. Seriously, tweak it until the text looks better. Sharpness can help too…but I almost always have to turn all these things DOWN rather than up.