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Computer monitors that are good for watching videos?
I know it isn't a good habit. I like to watch movies, "T.V. shows" on my computer. It was never a problem with older style monitors.
However with newer style monitors ( like I have ) and T.V. screens you either have to be far away from the monitor or be sitting up straight for the images not to fade. Worse, you can't see anything with night scenes.
Anything I can do about it aside from buying a hug TV and sitting on a couch at the other end of the room?
Update: I got the monitor /user/ButteredToast recommended. It works noticeably better than my old monitor and the price was very reasonable
What models of monitor do you own now, for reference?
Color shift (colors changing at even slight angles) and contrast depend primarily on panel type. The worst in the category are generally TN panels, which are found primarily in extreme budget monitors these days, and are bad at both. VA has significantly better contrast but still has issues with color shift. IPS is middle of the road for contrast, but is among the most resistant to color shift. OLED is by far the best in both, but comes with the drawback of risk of burn-in (especially if what you're watching has persistent static elements, e.g. a channel logo or "breaking news" banner), and for now is still expensive in monitors (TVs are pretty reasonable).
As far as price to performance goes, personally I think a decent IPS panel will get you furthest since it'll be suitable for a wider range of content. If cheap contrast is the primary goal, VA panel monitors might be the best choice, but as mentioned still have some color shift and aren't as good at handling action (pixel persistence times can cause a "smear" effect).
Let me know if there is other information about the monitor you want and how to get it.
This is what I have:
Resolution: 640x480@60Hz
Resolution: 640x480@67Hz
Resolution: 640x480@72Hz
Resolution: 640x480@75Hz
Resolution: 800x600@56Hz
Resolution: 800x600@60Hz
Resolution: 800x600@72Hz
Resolution: 800x600@75Hz
Resolution: 832x624@75Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@60Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@70Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@75Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024@75Hz
Resolution: 1152x864@75Hz
Resolution: 1280x720@60Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024@60Hz
Resolution: 1920x1080@60Hz
Size: 521x293 mm
Year of Manufacture: 2014
Week of Manufacture: 11
Detailed Timings #0:
Resolution: 1920x1080
Horizontal: 1920 2008 2052 2200 (+88 +132 +280) +hsync
Vertical: 1080 1084 1089 1125 (+4 +9 +45) +vsync
Frequencies: 148.50 MHz, 67.50 kHz, 60.00 Hz
Year of Manufacture: 2014
Week of Manufacture: 11
Detailed Timings #1:
Resolution: 1280x720
Horizontal: 1280 1390 1430 1650 (+110 +150 +370) +hsync
Vertical: 720 725 730 750 (+5 +10 +30) +vsync
Frequencies: 74.25 MHz, 45.00 kHz, 60.00 Hz
Driver Info #0:
Max. Resolution: 1920x1080
Vert. Sync Range: 50-75 Hz
Hor. Sync Range: 30-81 kHz
Bandwidth: 148 MHz
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #7 (VGA compatible controller)
Mint21.2VictoriaCinnamon5.8>
Manufacturer and model (e.g. "Dell Ultrasharp U2723QE") would be most useful, as that will allow lookup of panel type. This should be somewhere on the monitor's back or port area.
I looked on back of the monitor. The word "model" wasn't used, but I found this:
Samsung
Version CS01
BN68-01570A-00
That's perfect, and as I suspected this is a TN panel monitor. Just about any modern non-TN monitor will be a big step up.
What's your budget?
LOL, so I have the worst. Oh well, it functions well for everything else and it is 10 years old.
I don't know. I just started thinking about this again. Per the other comment author I looked up a monitor with a 68 degree color washout angle and it was about $1300. I can swing that. Let me know what you think the best monitor ( it will be used as a computer monitor ) is. If the price is too high I will scream and you can suggest the next best one. :-)
The main downside of using an OLED TV (that 48" mentioned) as a computer monitor is that it can make text fuzzy looking as a side effect of the arrangement of the subpixels (red, green, and blue subunits that comprise each pixel) and if there's static elements visible the majority of the time it's used (e.g. taskbars and titlebars), there's risk that those elements will eventually "burn in" and be visible as ghostly overlays on top of other content. In all other regards, it would be a positively stratospheric upgrade.
A cost effective monitor that I can recommend, being an owner of it myself is the ASUS ProArt PA278CGV (sorry if the store isn't useful, not sure where you live). Its color shift is minimal (I use mine as at an angle with no issue), color and brightness are excellent, and as a nice bonus it supports up to a 144hz refresh rate (up from your 60hz), which will make motion look smoother. It can also double as a hub to plug your KB, mouse, etc into since it has four onboard USB ports and supports DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB-C inputs which means you should be able to hook just about anything up to it.
I ordered it from Amazon. $330.04 USD sales tax and shipping included. Pretty reasonable IMHO.
It works NOTICEABLY better than my old monitor.
I bent sideways as far as I could on both sides. I slouched. I did all of those things even with a scene set in the night time. No distortion to the picture whatsoever. I even got a picture sitting on the floor by my desk. I can now use all of those free floor exercise videos on YouTube.
I think getting this monitor was the most visible userland difference I have experienced with buying new computer equipment in many years.
I can't thank you enough.
Thank you!
Great to hear!
Flat panel display technology has come a long way in the past couple of decades. It's great that this level of performance is available relatively inexpensively.
You can say that again. I was impressed.
I had my current monitor for 10 years and was told that the color shift was just an issue with the new tech I couldn't do anything about. I started this thread on a whim expecting to get a "no you're stuck" answer.
Always nice when new tech eliminates a problem. Refreshing.
Very reasonably priced!
Will it avoid the fuzzy text and burn in problems? Safe to use a computer monitor?
Will I be able to slouch in my chair and still get a clear picture? :-)
Linux friendly? I've been keeping up with my BIOS updates, any worries I should look out for in that regard?
No fuzzy text or burn in, it's IPS. Slouch friendliness depends on the angle but it takes a pretty extreme angle before I see significant color shift on mine. Shouldn't be any problems with Linux, just make sure you have a DisplayPort, HDMI, or USB-C output to plug into it.
I do have HDMI.
I'm excited. I think I might go to a brick and mortar store to see one in action. See if I can lay on the floor and still see a picture - I will be able to use exercise videos again! At the least I can watch reruns of the Walking Dead with lousy posture.
Thank you!
Glad to have helped!
One quick note, I realized I linked an older variant of the model I intended to link. The link in that post has been edited.
Same model?
Given the low price I will likely try to get such a monitor within a few weeks. I will let you know how it turns out.
It’s very similar (same chassis, similar model number) but has a number of improved specs (better color, brightness, refresh rate, input selection).
Awesome. Hurray for improved technology!
I'd also like to second the recommendation for this monitor, I've been using it for a while and it's really fantastic -- and I also watch movies and TV on it! No complaints. One thing you should think about is seeing if you can connect to it with DisplayPort, or at least HDMI 2.1, because older versions of HDMI won't support the monitor's resolution and refresh rate and you'll be capped at 1080p 120fps.
Thank you!
If not, would I lose the benefits of the superior color shift? That is the problem I want to solve.
I don't think I have it, my computer is 14 years old. Also a quick Duck Duck Go stated there is some holdup with open source HDMI 2.1 drivers for Linux.
I was expecting a "Sorry, no, you are out of luck" answer. Thank you. I know next to nothing about hardware. What is an "IPS panel"? I would like to know so I know what to ask for. :-)
Would my video card have anything to do with this problem?
Basically, there are several different types of panels that serve as the image producing component of monitors, of which the types listed in my earlier post are the most commonly available. A monitor's panel is the single biggest determiner of its image quality and capabilities.
Your video card's impact is negligible except in the case of some high end home theater-type features.
@ButteredToast is leading you down the right path. From your description in the OP and based on the specs you posted earlier, it seems your monitor is a TN panel.
This is effectly an issue between your display panel technology and your environment. A lot of a screen's performance with brightness is dependent on the surrounding light level and how your eyes interpret that contrast.
The advantages of a TN panel is that it is cheap to make and can have a high refresh rate. The disadvantage is bad colour accuracy and really, really narrow viewing angles. As in that's why your colours change so much as soon as you go a little bit off centre from the screen and it looks so much worse.
Back in 2014, your only option for a high refresh rate was a TN panel. These days, it's very easy to find high refresh rates of all panel types.
To keep it simple, shop for a monitor that uses an IPS display panel. IPS is known for colour accuracy and very good viewing angles, and it is also not a very costly panel type at all these days. You will usually find the panel type in the Specifications sections of any monitor product page, it is one of the most common factors consumers use to choose a monitor.
The downside to IPS panels is what's called "backlight bleed" where the light layer behind the screen can bleed into dark scenes and make it a bit hard to discern what is on screen. If this is important to you, then you should consider a VA panel type. The viewing angles will not be as good as an IPS but you will have better dark images. You can also mitigate this by simply turning down the lights in your room (or turning them off entirely).
Of course, if you want the best image quality and money is no object, then OLED or MicroLED is the way to go.
Finally, about your GPU question: the GPU is irrelevant—even the computer is not relevant.
Thank you!
Actually I am the OP - BeanBurrito. ButteredToast was helping me too.
Not a bad breakfast combo. :-)
Thanks for the info.
I had my computer system custom built back in 2014. I told the guy to give the best parts within reason. Good to know that TN panel monitors were a good choice back then.
Small additional note on the GPU side: it has no impact on the image quality you’re getting on the existing monitor, and physically can’t affect the viewing angle, but a decade old card might have limited or missing compatibility with newer features on current monitors, and that could limit the panel to below what it’s capable of.
HDR and refresh rate are the two major ones, with the former being the most likely to be missing. Monitor tech has moved a lot in the last few years, so any high quality modern IPS or OLED will be a big upgrade regardless - and viewing angle is likely to be a non-issue - but you won’t necessarily get the full brightness and contrast if you’re limited to SDR by the interface on your GPU.
I really would recommend taking a look at 2023-24 generation QD-OLEDs in person, by the way. They aren’t cheap, so whether they’re worth it is extremely subjective, but they are one of the biggest jumps in colour reproduction we’ve seen in a long time. For the kind of person who keeps their tech for 10+ years, the investment could be a good one.
rtings tests this! You could use their table tool to filter out monitors with a high angle before their colors wash out from below: https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tools/table/142373
If I understood you correctly, LG 48 C1 OLED would be the best, with steepest angle necessary to produce a color washout at 68 degrees?