[teflon]

Im looking to get a new monitor to accompany my MBP, and have had my eyes on a few models over the last half year or so. Feel free to skip all the nonsense below and get to the main question at the bottom.

The main qualifying criteria are that its got to be an IPS panel, for the viewing angles, since it will double up as a pseudo TV replacement, and not be glossy/glassy in any way.
The secondary concerns are that it will be 1920x1200, have plenty of inputs (2xDVI/HDMI and 1xVGA minimum), preferably be 24" instead of 26", and match up with the aluminium of the MBP.

Those few choices have narrowed my options down to about 3 displays, total.
Obviously, the new Apple display is excluded because its glassy, whilst both it and the old displays only have a single input. So theyre out of the equation.
Dell have just come out with the first eIPS display, aimed at making IPS dead cheap, but unfortunately its 22", 1680x1050 and only has 1xDVi and 1xVGA. So thats out.
LG have also just come out with some new IPS displays, but unfortunately the 24" W2420R costs over £1300... Um, no...

So we come to the 3 actual choices:
-HP's LP2475W, which is reasonably priced, has almost too many inputs, matte, 24". and
- Hazro's HZ24Wi, again, reasonably priced, a decent selection of inputs, 24" and wins on being aluminium. The only downer is being glossy, oh, and you cant get them any more. Or
-Hazro's HZ26Wi, well priced, same inputs, aluminium and matte. Except that its 26".

The latest little hang up, though, is that the HP and the 26" Hazro are both Wide Gamut display. Now, im right on the verge with the Hazro, because theres a B-Grade screen ( in black alu) for £350.

So my question is:
How well OS X handles Wide Gamut colour? since I plan to be watching a fair amount of video on it, this could be quite important. Anyone have any experience with this?

[bobbob]

teflon, on April 22nd 2009, 09:30 AM, said:

How well OS X handles Wide Gamut colour? since I plan to be watching a fair amount of video on it, this could be quite important. Anyone have any experience with this?

http://psychtoolbox....ka=Faq10BitDACs
Is the first thing I find. I think it's still niche, though. It's not like the content you get will be 10bit, as far as I can tell.

[teflon]

Thanks for the link, Ill give it a decent looking at later on.

The reason why Im concerned with wide gamut and not is that Ive seen Wide Gamut screens reportedly giving a rather washed out picture in apps which aren't colour aware, so whilst the content might not be 10 bit or anything like that, it might still suffer at 10-bit's hands.

[Janichsan]

teflon, on April 23rd 2009, 06:34 PM, said:

The reason why Im concerned with wide gamut and not is that Ive seen Wide Gamut screens reportedly giving a rather washed out picture in apps which aren't colour aware, so whilst the content might not be 10 bit or anything like that, it might still suffer at 10-bit's hands.

The opposite seems to be the case: apps without colour management oversaturate the colours on wide gamut monitors. But that's not limited to MacOS X but happens on Windows as well.

[Dark_Archon]

I've also heard that you need to calibrate wide gamut displays properly (with hardware) or they look like crap.

[teflon]

I may have mistaken over saturated for desaturated. Thinking about it, over saturated makes much more sense..

If only there were a calibration tool rental service. Im not going to spend over $100 on something Ill use once on my screen every year. If that. I might look into it though and see if I can spot something on the cheap.
Though the problem does actually extend to practically all monitors, as does the trend to being hugely massively blindingly bright.

[the Battle Cat]

I picked up a PANTONE Huey for about 50 bucks. It works great. Comes with hardware and software. A very unobtrusive USB dual color/light sensor unit adheres to your monitor to calibrate it or sits on a shelf looking behind you as it senses ambient light. After the initial calibration it makes adjustments to your monitor on the fly without you lifting a finger. A big bang for the buck.

[Dark_Archon]

I hate how the companies cripple those calibrators with software. If you want to be able to calibrate multiple monitors for the same system, you need to get the "pro" version that costs at least 2x as much. The physical calibrator unit is identical.

[Sneaky Snake]

Ignore this post if you already have an HD TV but getting a monitor with a native 16:9 1080p resolution would be great for your PS3 as well as a secondary screen for your MBP

[The Liberator]

Aren't most monitors are far higher res than any TV?

Liberator.

[Sneaky Snake]

The Liberator, on April 25th 2009, 09:16 PM, said:

Aren't most monitors are far higher res than any TV?

Liberator.

Yes, well more pixels per inch. a 1080p TV is the same res as a standard 23"-26" monitor. It just has the same amount of pixels in double the screen real estate

the problem is that most monitors aren't 16:9 ratio - they are either 16:10 (widescreen) or 4:3. The PS3 and 360 for some reason can't do any resolution natively beyond 16:9 - the image just looks messed unless you box it in a 16:9 window inside your screen. My PS3 uses the Samsung monitor in my sig and it looks good (even though my monitor is only a 1680x1050 it accepts 1080p input and scales it) but there is definitely a big difference between a native 16:9 monitor and a scaled version of 16:9 in atleast the quaility of the 360 and PS3 graphics.

The 360 says in its settings that it does 1680x1050 etc. when connected to a display other then the normal 720p or 1080i/p but it still uses 16:9 ratio and looks like crap compared to a true 1680x1050 on my computer. I tested it by looking at small text. The PS3 only gives you the standard display options of 720i/p and 1080i/p.

[The Liberator]

Hmmm, I see. Do you know how common native 16:9 monitors are? I am Just casually interested, so do not worry about going to any lengths.

Thanks, Liberator.

[teflon]

16:9 can bite my shiny metal ass.
Its good for TVs, cos thats the resolution everything is filmed at, but its cutting off part of my screen, introducing yet another aspect ratio etc. etc. Even then its messed up. Ever wondered why HD Ready TVs (read as 720p) are actually 1366x768? thus requiring ALL CONTENT to be scaled up or down. Its all down to 1024x768. Know what resolution handles 1024x768 and 720p without scaling? 1280x820... yup, 16:10.
Thats why Ill never own a 720p TV, if my content is going to be scaled, it might as well be to a standard resolution

[/ rant]

anyway, as to appropriateness for a PS3, all you need to watch for is 1:1 pixel mapping, which would letterbox the 16:9 content. Youre in the unfortunate in having a non-TV type resolution, so that all HD content has to be scaled no matter what. As I said above though, 720p is scaled no matter what you do, which is unfortunate for consoles since they are 99% 720p. But you have hit the nail on the head, since this is partly intended for PS3 playing.

[Sneaky Snake]

teflon, on April 26th 2009, 06:19 AM, said:

16:9 can bite my shiny metal ass.
Its good for TVs, cos thats the resolution everything is filmed at, but its cutting off part of my screen, introducing yet another aspect ratio etc. etc. Even then its messed up. Ever wondered why HD Ready TVs (read as 720p) are actually 1366x768? thus requiring ALL CONTENT to be scaled up or down. Its all down to 1024x768. Know what resolution handles 1024x768 and 720p without scaling? 1280x820... yup, 16:10.
Thats why Ill never own a 720p TV, if my content is going to be scaled, it might as well be to a standard resolution

[/ rant]

anyway, as to appropriateness for a PS3, all you need to watch for is 1:1 pixel mapping, which would letterbox the 16:9 content. Youre in the unfortunate in having a non-TV type resolution, so that all HD content has to be scaled no matter what. As I said above though, 720p is scaled no matter what you do, which is unfortunate for consoles since they are 99% 720p. But you have hit the nail on the head, since this is partly intended for PS3 playing.

I haven't tried the PS3 on a 1920x1200 monitor. let me know how it works and what monitor you get as I want to get a larger 24" 1920x1200 or 1080p screen for my PS3

[AussieMacGamer]

Isn't the only advantage of a 16:9 monitor that you don't get black bars at the top and bottom when watching 16:9 stuff? Why lose all that screen real estate?

[teflon]

yup. So its good for TVs when most of your content is broadcast in 16:9, but poor if you want to watch a lot of films, where its going to be letterboxed to almost the same extent as a 16:10 monitor.

[bobbob]

AussieMacGamer, on April 27th 2009, 11:18 PM, said:

Why lose all that screen real estate?

Is this Full Screen all over again?

Edit: I guess you're saying 16:10s have more vertical resolution, so why lose it to get a perfect 16:9 crop. Still dredges up some memories.

[teflon]

yes, thats what were saying.
Switching to 16:9 is an especially bad idea when some apps are still stuck in 4:3. And its not even like the vast majority of films use 16:9 resolutions anyway.

Anyway, this is slightly moot for the next couple of months now. Hazro got back to me from a query I made as to when theyre coming out with new screens, and "before July 2009" was the answer. Of course, theyre a pretty delay ridden company, so it could be any time after that when they release too, but Im going to stick it out and see what they come out with. The real clincher for me, though, will be a matte screen or not. If not, then Ill go for the HP I mentioned in the first post.

[teflon]

Well Ive finally got round to buying a screen. I waited till just before July to give Hazro a chance, but from what Ive seen they've gone further downhill in the customer relations department over the course of this year.

So I bought the HP. £371 plus 15% VAT to £426, but then I had a 10% discount code which took it back down to £385, and there's quidco which passes on the money a website gets from referring you for another 8% discount, which takes it right down to £355, which is an absolute bargain saving £70.
Much cheaper than a competing Dell, whilst having an IPS panel instead of PVA and still having tons of inputs.

For my previous colour concern, I followed tBC's advice and grabbed a Huey Pro a while ago off ebay. It was very weird at first to see the change of colours, but now it actually looks a lot more natural than the overblown yellows of before, though it does feel a lot murkier when I turn the backlight down.

Obviously, once it turns up Ill take a few pics of what is turning into quite an extensive set up.

[teflon]

ITS HERE!
turned up yesterday in a huge box, and it is absolutely huuuge!
If you've never had anything bigger than a 19" screen, and are generally trapped with a laptop screen, stepping up to 24" is absolutely massive. There really isnt a single picture that you can take that properly expresses the size of a big screen (unless, of course, its being displayed on an even bigger screen )
Tons of inputs, very nearly no colour shifting as you move around the screen, the OSD is great (right down to being able to move it about, so that mine is in the corner instead of slap bang in the centre), its bright, colourful and just looks amazing.

Ive only got a couple of minor gripes with it, but first, pictures!





Still a bit of a mess around my newly arranged desk, and I really need to tidy the entire room in the next day or so.

had to split the post, because Ive got too many pics in this post.