It's time for me to buy a new monitor for my G4. Presently I'm using a 19" CRT monitor, but as nice as it is to look at, it causes buzzing when I play my Strat (I'm talking about hard disk recording here). I tried turning it off to record, & back on again when I'm done, but that's a hassle. So now I'm looking at various 15" flat panel monitors. Anyone have any suggestions on make or model, & where a cheap place to get one might be?
Costco has a 17" that is pretty decent for real cheap.
You want better, get a Sony. They used to make all the Mac stuff anyway.
I have a Dell at work and it is nice. With less space, you can buy a duel head video card and run 2 monitors. That's the ticket. I don't have that setup, but once you use it, you will never want to go back.
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Photoweborama
Yes, I have a friend that uses two monitors; one for the mix window, & one for the edit window. It looks really cool & must be a lot easier to get around on. I'm starting w/one, though.
I would suggest you stay away from Sony, since their return policy is very difficult to accomodate.
Most people don't know this, but LCDs are ridiculously hard to manufacture and as such, one can experience what is refered to as dead pixels. Dead pixels are essentially little dots on the screen that will be permanently of one color (red, pink, blue, black, take your pick) and will not go away regardless of what you attempt to display on that screen.
Unfortunately, dead pixels can also occur the moment you take out the LCD from the box and every manufacturer has a dead pixel limit for what they consider to be a defective product. For example, Sony is 7. So if you have 6 random dead pixels on your screen, call Sony up and say "I've got a defective LCD." the first thing Sony will ask will be the number of dead pixels. You answer "6" and they'll say "It's not defective until it reaches 7."
Quite frustrating, given the price you are paying for a product that is defective (I don't consider anything not defective unless there are zero dead pixels) right out of the box.
I personally despise LCDs as I find the image quality (or lack thereof) to be rather lacking. CRTs are much better, but I do understand that you don't have much of a choice in the studio.
I just want to warn you about other factors to consider when purchasing one of these devices. You must also consider the fact that every LCD has a native resolution and cannot go higher than that resolution, so let's say you run your monitor at 1280x1024, but you bought an LCD whose native resolution is of 1024x768, tough luck. That's the max you can run it at.
Make sure the response type is fast so that when you move your mouse, it doesn't create a "comet effect." Try watching a tennis match on an LCD and you'll know exactly what I mean.
As crazy as this sounds, there's not a single monitor company whose every model is good in regards to LCDs, and as such, you can only consider them individually and not by brand. For instance, let's say Sony makes 6 different models. Well, it might be only making 2 great models, 1 good model and 3 crappy models. Same with Compaq, Dell, etc... Basically, there's not a "safe" brand, as people like to assume. So if you hear a friend say "Go with Viewsonic ; they're great!" That's about as flawed an opinion as it can get, since Viewsonic manufactures close to a dozen different models and some are amazing while some are mediocre and some are just plain awful.
Oh, and forget about the friend who tells you that he loves his "Whatever brand name" LCD. The reason? They only have one and nothing else to compare it with, so obviously they love it, because in their miind, it's the greatest in the world. How many times did I have the same deal going where people thought their monitors (whether they be CRT or LCD) were so amazing... I'd simply challenge them to bringing it in to compare with the others we had on display only to see them realize that I was right. People's pereceptions are flawed, because they don't have a wall of monitors at home to compare their monitor with.
Of course, I'm not simplifying your task, but I just want to warn you about the traditional pitfalls associated with buying an LCD.
Best tip I can give you is go to huge chains and make sure the wall of LCDs is displaying a static image with plenty of colors. Next, display a text editor with some text and keep downgrading the size of the text until you start seeing fuzziness and keep doing so until one monitor stands out as being able to handle the smallest text possible. Of course, compare price. When you finally decide on one, have the salesman bring a new one from the back, take it out of its box in the store and test it on the spot to make *sure* it doesn't have any dead pixels.
If it's a winner, take that same one back home and enjoy your new purchase for years to come!
Good luck!
Good info.. I have a Dell LCD at work and an IBM laptop at home. I do my photos and such at home, but graphic wise a regular monitor is better. I use a flat screen Sony Trinitron 17" hooked to the laptop for day to day use, and pull it off the docking station when I record anything real.
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Photoweborama
I was going to drain the bank account and go with dual flats until someone on r.a.p talked me out of it. According to these guys, flats are not noise-free and have some other drawbacks I can't remember. Theyre better than CRTs, but probably not better enough in the final analysis to make them worth the money unless you have a lot to throw around. I have better things on which to spend my dough.
The main problem with them is that they are relatively small per $$$, and what you above all want is a large viewing area in which to operate all your windows. Get working in something like Cubase and an acre of screenspace is not too much. Because of my eyesight, I usually have to run things in 800x600, which is just plain hopeless for recording with a small monitor.
The dual-monitor thing is a big plus. I specifically got a Radeon card to have this capability, but I haven't gotten around to the second monitor yet. I think I may upgrade my office monitor to one with better video quality and run the one I'm using here back in the studio. As you want to run your studio monitors in the lowest color settings anyway, you don't need a really visually fantastic monitor for music. Used 17" CRT monitors are a dime a dozen.
The single-coil noise thing can be a hassle, but it doesn't absolutely have to be. Even when I'm right up close to the screen, turning the instrument to a 90° angle with the screen seems to kill almost all of it and simply moving away a bit gets rid of it. You have kids, make them run the board for you while you rock out in the next room.
Anyway, if you absolutely can't live without one of these things, you're probably not going to beat a sale price at Fry's, which is right down the street from you.
04DEC05: Gone -- So long!
Yow, Mr. Mangler! I feel like I'm going into a den of wolves, but armed to the teeth! Lots of good info there. Maybe I'll print it out & take it with me shopping.
Bongolation-
I will definitely check out Fry's.
Has anyone ever thought to just get an extra long cable for a keyboard & use it from across the room to start & stop instead of a mouse?
Today, Fry's has a 17" Sharp for $329 after rebate (good through tomorrow, 15 July), which is pretty cheap. You don't want anything smaller, I can assure you.Originally Posted by 71818
I don't know how a wireless keyboard/mouse would work in terms of adding noise or secondary complications, nor if extended connections would either.
My take is that I can always just snip the ends off of the audio track if my walking back and forth time is excessive.
04DEC05: Gone -- So long!
True 'dat. With single coils you will still have a little buzz, but...
This is what I do and it works everytime...The single-coil noise thing can be a hassle, but it doesn't absolutely have to be. Even when I'm right up close to the screen, turning the instrument to a 90° angle with the screen seems to kill almost all of it and simply moving away a bit gets rid of it.
FWIW, I use two flat screens. It really makes a difference.
I know when I undock the laptop I don't get any noise. It's really nice. I switched to the LCD at work only because of some really bad headache problems.
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Photoweborama
Same here, but with the standalone LCD monitors I still get noise. (which doesn't bother me, I kinda like noise and preamp hiss and stuff like that)
That's very possibly due to other factors beside the monitor, especially in an office. There is some improvement in switching monitors, though, I'm sure.
If I had unlimited money for my studio, I would certainly go with dual TFTs, if for nothing else because they're lighter and more space-saving, but under the circumstances I can think of a whole lot of more productive things to do with $800-$1000.
04DEC05: Gone -- So long!
Hey, I know, I'll just buy them for you...
Yea, right... I may have to move the family in with you if I don't land a new job... By the way, what was your address again? I'll move a few things in this weekend....
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Photoweborama
After experiencing our collective incapacity for shifting large objects on Memorial Day, I can't say you're going to have much luck at moving anywhere. Better find that job, or else learn the Third World male prerogative of sitting beneath a shade tree carefully supervising the womenfolk doing the heavy lifting.
There was a "what's a geezer?" thread the other day elsewhere and I explained it in terms of that episode. "Here's the calculus: Two geezers with a mean age of forty-eight lifting one amp weighing ninety-five pounds into an SUV bed twenty inches high one time are afterward incapacitated for four man-days."
04DEC05: Gone -- So long!
HEY... I only hurt for two days... oh yea.... four man-days... well.. well... it was heavy!!
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Photoweborama
And they’re going to fix that with the surgery.... Just wait. I'll be able to lift 40 pound in about 7 months!!!
The Best Guitar Photos On The Net!
Photoweborama
photoweborama, you're making it *so* easy for me to make a dirty joke!
I've decided to hold off a bit. I just read that LCD prices are going to drop sharply in August, particularly the 17" models.
Two for you, two for me = four.HEY... I only hurt for two days... oh yea.... four man-days... well.. well... it was heavy!!
I unloaded by myself, though.
Funny, but I was temporarily convinced that it was just a slightly larger practice amp. Yeah, ninety-five pounds, four hundred watts and a $1700 MSRP.
Boy, I really need new glasses, y'think?
04DEC05: Gone -- So long!
That's the great thing about buying computer gear. Procrastination pays such fantastic benefits!
04DEC05: Gone -- So long!
I bought a 17" CRT from Circuit City for &79.99 and it had a $50 rebate. I'll live iwth the buzz, or get a wireless mouse for another 50 bucks and start the machine from across the room.
Of course you could get two CRT's, reverse the polarity on one and phase cancel the buzz.
Really? I had not Idea.. I tought maybe 100.... wow....
Hum...I wonder if that works for kids also....
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Photoweborama
I would hope so, of course figuring out just how kids are 'wired' can be a trick. :ahemHum...
the 19" HP1925 is great to look at...but kinda pricey...
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