LCD Monitor Advice?

My trusty, old 20" Apple AV CRT monitor has recently developed the "flickers" after 3 years of faithful service. So I'm in the market for a new monitor, and I've looked around for a replacement (Google, eBay, etc.).
I'd like to get an LCD, but the problem seems to be that some are not Mac compatible. So I need some advice about the best way to go. Is there somewhere a list of Mac compatible LCD monitors?
I'm currently running a B&W G3/400 Rev. B with an ATI Radeon 7000 card.

So at least with CRTs, a monitor is not just a monitor.
Those adapters swap around the signals from Mac two-row to VGA three-row, but they also provide a code that the Mac reads at startup. Give it the wrong code, it assumes the wrong monitor, and sets the frequency too high or too low, resulting in no picture.
I expect all the Macs you tried, all the monitors you tried, and all the adapters you tried all work perfectly well. But unless you get an adapter that promises the right monitor is attached, you get no picture.
There is only one way to wire up Red, Green, Blue, H-Sync, and V-Sync that works. All the adapters have that part wired the same. It's the pins that provide the monitor code that are different, and are so very frustrating.
But you are beyond all that now! Your Mac has a standard VGA connector -- use whatever monitor you please, except one. A fellow posted here a few weeks ago that he had been given a spiffy pivoting monitor, and sure enough, the manufacturer did not supply software to re-draw the screen sideways on a Mac.

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External display HD LCD monitor vs HD LCD TV ??

Hello All
I'm needing to up-grade me second display and, have been shopping around.
In my shopping I'm getting mixed thoughts, I finding HD monitors and HD TV's so, I'm hoping somebody can point me in the right direction, I'm finding HD monitors in the area of $200. but, all the HD TV's $300. + , is there any real advantage of one over the other ?
I know just going with a standard LCD monitor would not be a good option, it's the HD monitors
that added to my future purchase confusion.
Thanks for any advice and or recommendations

They will probably both do as monitors. The Acer is a Computer Multisync Monitor, claiming to have a full resolution of 1920x1080. It is probably a progressive scan device, with some image processing on board, since they claim "Max. Refresh Rate 60Hz" on the Acer web site, so if you'll preview interlaced video on it, it may have the artifacts associated with standard poor or nonexistent de-interlacers. But it maybe o.k., specially if you are going to output most of your work for the internet, true Multisync Monitor maybe a good thing.
The Samsung is almost a TV set. It appears to be a 1680x1050 monitor. The bells and whistles appear to be associated with the HDTV tuner. As an ATSC tuner, it will have to tune the standard US ATSC channels and decode the standard 18 ATSC formats, including 640x480i30, 704x480i30/p24/p30/p60, 1280x720p24/p30/p60 to 1920x1080i30 and 1920x1080p24/ p30. But all this is converted into the monitor native 1680x1050xwhatever scan rate. From the HDMI inputs it will probably depend on drivers running on the graphics card on the MAC. Make sure that they have MAC drivers for this one, often they have just Windows drivers for these monitors.
I have a 26" Samsung, without the tuner and speakers, as my second monitor, to preview TV destined footage. It's resolution is 1920x1080, and it does an excellent job to show any artifacts that would show on TV.
I would recommend seeing the inputs before ordering the monitor on the WEB, because the most important characteristics are usually unavailable reading the specs. Also check about MAC driver availability.
Best of luck.

FrameMaker and LCD Monitors

Hello,
Just wanted to get your thoughts/opinion(s) as writers in using FrameMaker on LCD monitors. Specifically, I've used word processing and desktop publishing programs on CRT monitors for years. I've never had any problems whatsoever. Recently, my employer provided me with a 20 inch widescreen LCD monitor. I'm now having a difficult time with it because of the higher resolution (e.g., headaches and the like). As you all know, a lower resolution only distorts or stretches desk on LCD monitors (which is why I guess I've avoided these monitors for so long). Please note, I have bad eyesight and wanted to see if others may have ideas to address this issue. I've given the monitor two weeks and things haven't improved. I'm just concerned/frustrated because I know the world is going in the direction of LCD monitors.
For a solution, I've thought about a square like LCD monitor; maybe at 17 inches to address the problem. But I'm wondering if I'll still be at the mercy of the native resolution. Just to let you know, I've tried all the display scenarios to address the problem (i.e., appearance, settings, dpi) without success. Just miss the 800/600 resolution I had in the past due to my bad eyesight.
Any ideas or thoughts are most appreciated. Thank you very much for your time.
Paul

Paul...
Here are some ramblingthoughts on your issue. They expand on the good advice you've already received, and thus do not dispute what others have said.
Make certain your drivers for the graphics card are the latest and greatest. This is the first step you should take. You probably have already done that. If not, go do it. But check the next paragraph first.
If your graphics card has a DVI output, by all means use it. If it doesn't, opt for a different graphics card, preferably one with two DVI outputs, known as a dual-head graphics card. I address this again below.
Life is too short to drink cheap wine. It's also too short to spend a professional career working with inadequate computing resources, especially when you consider the cost of the capital outlay versus the salaries and the wasted time fooling around trying to make things right. If your employer has artificial limits on spending, go make a business case for better gear.
You already seem to understand the concept of the monitor's native resolution. High resolution monitors are best for image processing, when programs like Photoshop are used to edit photographic images. For text-based work, they're the wrong way to go, as you've discovered. Part of the problem is that many web pages and all operating systems seem to be stuck with a one-size-fits-all set of icons, menus, page sizes and the like. With Windows, you get two choices of text size, but those choices don't apply to all text instances and only in the operating system, not in the applications that run on top of the application. So driving a high resolution monitor at its native resolution results in tiny text, icons and the like. I get some email messages that I cannot read because the very popular marketing company that creates them uses what must be 4 point typefaces.
I have dual 20.5" Samgung monitors with 1600x1200 native resolution on two of my workstations. They're beautiful monitors, but I would trade even-up for the same monitor with 1280x960 native resolution. One thing that's nice about LCDs, by the way, is this. If you get ones that pivot clock- or counter-clockwise, and many do, you can easily run them in portrait mode by rotating them and changing the settings for the driver. My FrameMaker workstation has one monitor set to landscape orientation and the other to portrait mode. Try setting a 17" CRT on its sidegood luck!
LCD monitors will ONLY look their best when the image is displayed at their native resolution, or perhaps in some cases, at a submultiple of the native resolution. For example, a 1600x1200 monitor might look OK when the graphics card is set to 800x600. In my case, that makes the icons and windows appear too large, though. Something in-between is best for me. I doubt, however, that you have a 840x525 choice, but if you do, try it.
Sheila asks about your video cable. An LCD monitor *should* be driven by a graphics card with a DVI (digital) output. Otherwise, the signal must be converted to analog (VGA) and back to digital for display purposes. Since the image is inherently digital to begin with, converting to analog video and then back to digital has its obvious drawbacks. I'm not sure if a modern graphics card can properly identify the connected monitor though a VGA cableit's been so long since I used a CRT and a VGA card that I've forgotten.
A CRT monitor also has a "native resolution" based on the pitch of the phosphor triads and the shadow mask in the tube. Because that was an analog interfaced world, and CRTs are relatively "soft" compared to LCDs, the effects of non-native scan rates and resolution settings were not as troublesome or as obvious as they are for LCD screens. Once you get the settings right on your LCD display, though, you will NEVER consider going back to a CRT display.
It's probably too late to lobby for this, but if I were you, I would strive to get a "dual-head" graphics card, one with two DVI outputs, and put two identical monitors side-by-side. Once you've experienced a dual-monitor setup, you will never be happy with just one screen.
Setting the graphics card resolution for a 16:10 aspect ratio in any other than the native resolution of the monitor will result in "aliasing" artifacts, which may be what you mean by "distortion." The simplistic way to describe the aliasing effect is that some elements of a character inevitably fall in the "cracks" between pixels. When the image resolution setting matches the native resolution, the video data from the card "lines up" perfectly with the pixels, giving the most accurate representation. The other type of distortion that you may be referring to is due to a mismatch of the aspect ration associated with an image resolution setting versus the aspect ratio of the screen. In such situations, a "truly" round circle would appear elliptical on the screen. This is what Winifred is describing. You cannot expect acceptable results with any graphics card setting whose resolution aspect ratio is , relative to the display, mismatched. You must use a setting that corresponds to the 16:10 ratio.
Another way to understand the artifacts associated with aliasing is to imagine viewing a checkerboard through a piece of wire fencing with a square pattern laid on top of it. When the size of the squares in the fencing material are the same as the checkboard squares, you can make things line up and see all of the checkerboard. If the screen wire is a different size, then there's no way to place the wire over the checkerboard without covering some of the squares with wirethat is, unless the pattern in the fence is twice the size of the square, ot four times, and so on.

LCD monitor profiling: getting started

I have a cheap LCD monitor (Gem brand) I bought a year or so ago. It works okay for me but i've never calibrated and profiled it. I'd like to finally invest in a calibrator. I'm a click away from ordering the X-Rite EODIS2 Eye-One Display 2 as my quick research (thanks to this forum) says that's a fine choice.
Once I receive it I will take a serious look at my ambient light conditions and try to become comfortable living with less natural light in my workspace. I will also consider constructing a monitor hood.
Meanwhile I'll keep reading Real World Color Management.
Does it sound like i'm on the right track? Any advice / caveats at this stage welcome. Otherwise I'm sure you'll be hearing from me. :) Many thanks.

The saga continues...
I've been watching Chris Murphy's lynda.com 'Color Management Essential Training' videos, which are very good but i'm still not sure I'm doing this properly. Here's the story:
He outlines a test to determine whether your LCD display's backlight is controlled via the Brightness or Contrast on-screen control: fill a new Photoshop file with black, and adjust each control independently to determine which shows a visible change in the solid black. After resetting my monitor to defaults, and trying this, it was obvious that the Contrast control was linked to the backlight.
Murphy then demonstrates profiling, using the same Eye-One Match software. He skips the 'Set the Contrast' portion in the software, as that relies on adjusting the Contrast control to adjust backlight. I did do it, because my monitor backlight does appear to be controlled by Contrast.
Next is the 'Set the White Point' portion, which involves adjusting RGB values separately. Chris says it's not a good idea for non-high-end LCDs -- that it's better for white point adjustment to occur in the video card LUT. So he skips that portion, and -- although my monitor does allow such independent adjustment -- i skip it as well.
Then it's 'Set the Luminance', where we use the Brightness control. In Chris' case he's adjusting the backlight. In my case, uh, I dunno what I'm adjusting exactly. Anyway, I can't get the current marker all the way down to the target value. With Brightness at 0, it's slightly above my target 90. (I wonder if this means my monitor is burning out, or it's an indicator I should have done the RBG adjustment stage?) But Chris encourages staying slightly above the target so there's a little room to come down later. I settle at 92.6.
Then calibration, correction curve, RGB->XYZ, and a display profile is born!
I learned from Chris that Eye-One Match includes a Monitor Validator feature. I do it and find my DE2000 is 2.56! Seems quite high. (Chris' was 0.78.) Does it mean my monitor just sucks, or is it an acceptable value, or is there something I need to adjust?
In other news, blinds are more closed (except for one window -- this room has lots of 'em), room is darker, I shall start wearing black. :)
Thanks for any perspective on any of this.

Satellite L - LCD monitor flashing black after desktop loads

My LCD monitor has started flashing black at startup. It doesn't do it if I log off and log back in, only on startup. I can log in, the desktop loads and everything looks normal then after about 7 seconds everything goes black, then the taskbar quickly appears then disappears and then the desktop becomes visible again momentarily but goes black again. It repeats this very fast two or three times then starts normally.
Everything seems to be working fine otherwise. I disabled my antivirus so it wouldn't startup but that didn't help. I've done some registry cleaning lately so I restored everything back to well before this started and that didn't help either. I've done a lot of installing and uninstalling of software lately but can't pinpoint anything that might have caused it. This computer is about 2 years old. I have Vista 32 bit, service pack 2.
Anyone ever seen this before or have any ideas what the culprit might be? Really appreciate any advice.

OK, I connected a CRT monitor from another computer and it basically did it too. As the laptop screen was flashing off and on, the CRT screen went black and then came back on when the laptop went back to normal.
I think my graphics card is Intel Display Driver 7.15.10.1502. Does that sound right? I checked for an update through the Device Manager and it said no update is available. The same version is the only one listed at the Toshiba Downloads page. It's included with my Toshiba Application Installer so I'm tempted to uninstall/reinstall, but I'm afraid if it doesn't automatically install at at startup I won't have a monitor. Any advice on this or anything else is appreciated.

LCD monitor with Premiere Elem. 8

I'm investigating for the best replacement of my Premiere 6.5 / Matrox RT.X100 video editing system and actually testing Premiere Elements 8.
For previewing, I can only connect my external Samsung 2333 LCD monitor through my Sony DHR-1000NP cassette recorder, which seems crazy to me. Is it possible, and what are the settings, to connect the monitor directly to my PC using the DVI cable (graphics card is Nvidia GTS50)? And is it possible to have preview on both the desktop preview window AND on the external monitor? Or do I need again additional hardware? Thanks for advice.

Welcome to the discussions!
You should be able to see it in the full 1920 x 1080 resolution. You can use either mirrored or extended desktop, but not both at the same time. It is an "either/or" proposition.
Does this new display have a DVI port? I would use that if possible. I understand that HDMI is digital, but you will not get a better picture by using it over standard DVI. HDMI is DVI plus audio.

Connecting 2 LCD monitors to my Macbook?

Hello Everyone.
Ok, before I go poking around and stuff something up, can someone please answer my following questions. I am wanting to connect two LCD 22inch monitors to my Macbook Pro.
1. How do I do this?
2. Instead of buying Apple screens, are there any other good LCD monitors that will do just a good a job?
Please help.
Thanks....I love my MAC

1. http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/products/home.php
check graphic expansion modules
2. for serious work I would strongly recommend eizo monitors. current apple displays simply cant compete with them. They are very outdated and therefore overpriced. they have poor adjusting possibilities..in both picture and stands.
tutmir

I just bought a recertified Mac Mini, and I wonder if anyone here knows if it's possible to hook up my Mac flat screen LCD monitor to it using what adapters? I currently have a DVI to ADC adapter connected to my G4 Powermac.

I just bought a recertified Mac Mini core duo - it's not the newer model-, and I wonder if anyone here knows if it's possible to hook up my Mac flat screen LCD monitor to it and using what adapters? I currently have a DVI to ADC adapter connected to my G4 Powermac.
The company I bought it from is not Apple, and I may regret that. It was in my price range, though.
This is the first time I've used this community, and I've been a Mac owner since 2000. Thanks in advance!

when you say "Mac flat screen LCD", do you mean this:
http://www.ares-woo.com/christmas2005/images/pc_cine.jpg
if it is, you might wanna try this:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

LCD Monitor with B&W G3 Tower

Hello, I am looking to replace my 17" Apple Studio Display CRT on my G3 B&W Tower with an LCD monitor. My questions are: 1) Will my computer (VGA port) accept any current LCD screens on the market, or do I have to stay with Apple's LCD monitors? 2) There are several Apple Studio LCD Displays offered on eBay. They mention DVI and ADC connections. How do I know which models will work with my B&W G3? Forgot to mention that I have upgraded the processor with a Sonnet G4 500Mhz. Thanks.

Hi,
your B&W (like mine) should be equipped with a standard VGA output on your video card, which should accept any monitor with a VGA connection.
I tried a couple of LCD (a Samsung and a Hewlett Packard) which worked flawlessly and did not give me any problems.
I am not sure whether you can connect any of the current generation Apple flat screens due to the different interface, but you surely can take advantage of any VGA equipped LCD.
cheers

Two 24" LCD Monitors with FCP / Motion

I have a Mac Pro (early 2009) with the new ATI Radeon 4890 dual DVI video card and one Apple 24" LCD monitor. I'm using this setup for primarily FCP/Motion work. Question:
- Can the ATI Radeon 4890 handle two 24" LCD monitors, or do I need to purchase a second video card?
- Can FCP / Motion handle two video cards?
Thanks!
lance

Can the ATI Radeon 4890 handle two 24" LCD monitors
ABSOLUTELY. There are two monitor connections on the card. One DVI, the other the Apple connector.
Can FCP / Motion handle two video cards?
Yup. Most FCP workstations I have been on, and personally own, are two monitor setups. That is a fairly typical setup.
Shane

External 1920 x 900 LCD Monitor on MBP

I am wondering if I connect an LCD monitor that has a 1920x900 native resolution, if I can get that resolution when it is connected to my MBP?

Yes. The MacBook's video card can drive an external monitor up to 2560x1600.

Hyundai LCD monitor won't work with OS9

New Hyundai LCD monitor -dual input. Works fine with Windows XP, & with OS 10 but when I boot into OS9 the screen goes black, & the screen's menu button won't work. Have started os9 in safe mode but cannot find how to change the display/resolution/refresh settings. Where do I look to change these settings? And what settings should I try?

Have posted more on this in thread in "older hardware".
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6115403#6115403. I hope this is the right link, thought I shouldn't duplicate postings.
Would very much welcome any more suggestions you might have
It's ATY rage 128 pro, VRAM 16MB
1024x768@60HZ, 32 bit colour

32" LCD Monitor - Best Resolution???

Hello all -
I just bought an Olevia LT32HVE LCD monitor to use with my G5. I'm wanting to find the best resolution setting so that it won't be horizontally whacky, yet still a good amount of real estate on the screen. At the recommendation of a friend who has a 42" monitor, I downloaded Display ConfigX so that I could change the default settings. After registering and installing, I changed the resolution from 1280x1024 to 1280x720 as my friend suggested. The resolution now LOOKs OK, but it's a bit large for my taste. I'd like to get a bit more real estate on the screen by making the overall image more condensed. The LCD manual says that it's highest resolution is 1366x768, but when I tried that, the monitor blanks out (to blue) and says the rate is not supported. Probably has something to do with the refresh rate as well? I then have to hook up a second monitor just to get the large one to come back (viewing-wise).
Any suggestions on some resolutions that this LCD monitor will be able to use? Or am I missing a key factor?
Thanks -
G5 Dual 2.0Gig Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I was able to get the monitor to work at 1360x768 @ 60hz, but it looked a little rough around edges. Looks better at 1280x720 in terms of clarity and sharpness. But it's still the exact same size (at least, viewing-wise) as 1280x720.
Is there any way to get more real estate happening? Even though it's not horizontally crazy now, it's overall still very large.
Thanks -

DVI.I to VGA LCD monitor

Hi Everyone
Is there anything to gain by using the DVI connection on my MSI FX5900XT graphics card
to the VGA port on a DELL 19" LCD Monitor ?
I was just wondering as the card came with an adaptor DVI/VGA so I can use either output on the card.
At the moment I am connected VGA to VGA
cheers
riggie

Apple didn't ship a 2.4GHz MacBook until February of 2008. If that's the model you have, or an earlier model, it has a mini-DVI port which would take the mini-DVI to VGA adapter. To confirm, run System Profiler, click on the Hardware heading at the very top of the left-side list, and tell us what the Model Identifier reports.
Regards.

External LCD Monitor Connection - Unacceptable Quality

Hello,
I have recently purchased a Mac, hoping that I would be able to connect to my external LCD monitor (19" Samsung SyncMaster 920NW - only VGA connection).
I have easily hooked up my monitor to my Mac. However, what I see is of unacceptable quality. When compared to Macbook display, the display on the external monitor is darker and the text looks horrible. I have played with few settings but nothing good.
I have read other threads where people complain about similar things. But, I thought Samsung's monitors would be of higher quality. Mine is a relatively cheap LCD but not this cheap
I am just willing to confirm that I am not missing anything. I simply can't believe that the display quality could be this bad. In the worst case, I will have to buy a new LCD.
Many thanks in advance.

Hello stedman1,
Thank you for your quick reply.
Unfortunately, it is not running in the Mirror mode. The display with the mirror mode was even worse! But after reading the posts in the forum, I have learned how to change it to the extended display. It is better than the mirror mode, but still not good enough.
Maybe I am making a mistake comparing the external monitor with the MacBook's monitor?? There is a huge gap between the two. It is a lot darker, and the text quality is way worse.
Someone with a similar monitor having solved this issues?
Thanks,
Guven.

LCD Monitor Advice?

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