My First LCD: A Few Questions

I've been a CRT user forever, but recently, my CRT met its ends when it fried up. I got a nifty NEC 1940CX now. However, since this is my first day using an LCD, I have a few questions.

1) I calibrated my monitor but the gamma still seems far too bright...are LCDs always this abnormally bright, or should I just keep tinkering? I used a Gretag Macbeth calibrator, by the way.

2) If I look carefully (this is most notably seen on my wallpaper), I can see a ton of faint static - like lines of it forming \s. Do all LCDs have this? Is something wrong?

3) I used a 1024x768, but this LCD is a 1280x1024. I changed Guild Wars' resolution and interface size respectively, though the game seems to lag more and framerates are down in the teens - regardless of resolution.

4) I'm used to a CRT with an 85 hertz refresh rate. I notice this thing goes from 60 to 75 hertz, but 75 looks WORSE than 60. Again, is something wrong or are LCDs supposed to be this different from CRTs?

5) Is there a way to change things so that when I open a window such as the properties of something, its location is different? With a 1024x768 resolution, it appeared somewhat in the leftmost corner of the center - I know, it's hard to word this, but you know what I mean. With this higher resolution, windows still appear in a position as if it was a 1024x768, in other words, they're all the way in the left corner, and I can't seem to get it so the computer memorizes where they are meant to go. Can I change the position of them?

6) When browsing the internet, if I scroll up/down the page, the text flashes green. The flatscreens in my school do this, too. Is there a way to fix it? It's quite irritating.

Any information would be appreciated - CRTs, like AGP video cards, are dying breeds and since I've worked with them for so long, it's hard for me to switch.

EDIT: 6th question added.

A couple of answers:

This is a property of the LCD itself, including light and spatial uniformity. Higher quality LCD's tend have much more accurate luminance and higher brightness/contrast ratio.

Only if you go through an analog connector. Higher quality LCD's use DVI (digital video interface) connectors for much cleaner video feeds, thereby elimitating most signal noise.

You should use the LCD's native resolution whenever possible. Otherwise, the pixels have to be scaled -- this causes jaggedness and some distortion in the video image itself.

I run GW at 1920x1200 with no frame lag whatsoever, but my video card and CPU is on the higher end too.

Modern LCD's are designed to run at only 60hz because LCD pixels have constant luminance (as opposed to CRT strobing). This means that LCD pixels don't fade after being refreshed. Running them beyond 60hz only decreases their lifespan without any meaningful performance gain because LCD pixels have a finite number of color switches before wearing out (this number is HUGE, but still finite).

That's weird... none of my PC's have that issue. I suspect that it has something to do with your desktop profile.

That flash is related to the LCD's pixel response time. Higher end LCD's with sub-16 ms response times usually don't have pixel fade issues.

These are among the reasons that I still will use nothing but a CRT for my display.

LCDs are always brighter then a corresponding CRT monitor. And the gamma is much harder to adjust to get the quality that you desire. They either tend to look washed out, or so dark it is hard to see much detail. In addition, the refresh rates tend to be a lot slower, and the detail just not as great.

To me, there is little reason to get an LCD unless you are limited in desk space. I use 2 21" CRTs (one is an IBM, the other is a Sony). The quality of even the older IBM (6 years old) is better then any comperable LCD I have even seen, even those that cost twice what my CRT did.

Thanks for answering those questions. Oddly enough, the black text here on GWGuru doesn't flash green. It seems primarily if the black text is against a white/light grey background.

DVI, you say? Odd...thought I had DVI. Is there anywhere I can check what my monitor connector is?

DVI - top
VGA - bottom

I had to move to LCD because, frankly, my old high-quality CRT was killing my eyes. I've been playing FPS since Doom2, and I've played with some of the best top-ranked quake clans. However, eye strain started becoming a problem after only 2 hours of non-stop FPS gaming. Once I moved to an LCD, my frag rate remained the same, but now I could go 8+ hours without any eye strain.

LCD's are great, but only if you invest in a good quality model. Good LCD's are much easier on your eyes than most CRT's.

Mr D J's pic answers your question well

Hmm...maybe I'll have to get a new one (or waste hours tinkering with the gamma). For me, my CRT was easy on the eyes, and this is murder!

What do you have now? What are its operating specs? (response time, contrast ratio, etc...)

I have to agree, a good LCD is so much easier on your eyes. As far as the gamma issue - I would say that's a NO. Try going to the manufacturer's website and seeing if there is a color profile that you can download for your specific model. A good LCD should have black look like black, not grey because of brightness. This is often hard to achieve, and don't expect to have black look like a total lack of light, like a CRT can appear.

Green text- I don't see this on any of my monitors, CRT or LCD. You should also check to see that the cable you're using, if it *is* DVI on one end, plugs into a DVI connector on the monitor. Sometimes the cable is actually analog on the monitor end, and this does no good at all. My LCD (Viewsonic VX924) is noticably less "wobly" than my CRT, which is an IBM P260 (Sony Trinitron tube).
85hz looks bad to me after using my LCD, I would definitely look at different models of LCD monitors if I was you.

Viewsonic has some pretty nice LCDs for gaming, very quick response times, in the VX series. Some people like Samsung, but a majority of their panels use only a 6 bit display. Sony has some very nice LCDs but expect to pay for the brand name. They use their XBrite technology on their monitors, which helps a lot with color accuracy and contrast. I would have gotten a Sony had I waited a few more days. Not that I don't love the monitor I have. =)

If gaming is not such a high priority, look into the Apple Cinema displays. If you're staring at a monitor a lot, this would be the LCD to get. See if your local store has demo units - where I used to work, some people would pay for the huge Apple screens, then decide against it a few days later. We had to sell at least 5 of those that way, as used, because of returns, which is great for the customer. Ask to have the monitor plugged in at the store before you buy - the big long monitor displays in the stores use crappy quality splitters that in no way reflect the actual image quality you will get. Also, you can avoid purchasing a unit because of dead pixels this way.

I did a second calibration (the first tends to get the profile in the right direction, whilst the second one finishes it), and things are better now - no green text...odd. I'll look for a gamma driver, though. The screen is still somewhat bright for my standards.

EDIT: Okay, now I've found a problem. I have calibrated this LCD to the point where the color display is almost identical to that of my CRT's. Yet in Guild Wars, things are too dark. By raising the gamma slider, I can fix that, but the skill icons become TOO bright. Some parts of the game also seem to be more vibrant in color than usual (too vibrant). Does anyone know what I can do? Since everything outside of GW looks the same, and since GW only has a gamma slider, I see little room for change.

Sorry, but...bump.

I don't get how GW is so dark whilst the map is dark AND the colors are too lush, whilst in turn, the desktop colors are fine. Does Guild Wars assume its own color profile? I think not, as it was always fine when I used a CRT. Any help?

i know for a fact that my GW will lowers the screen brightness whenever i turn it on. in the split second before GW loads, my LCD screen darkens slightly. i'm not sure if it's the same for you though. i never find my screen to be too dark.

I never found it to be too dark until now. I just don't get how that some things (like the login screen) are real dark, whilst the world map is extremely lush in color, whilst my characters are deathly pale, whilst my ranger's armor looks like the gamma is maxxed out.

UPDATE: It seems that if I run GW in a window, the color profile is the same as that as my desktop (which is a good thing). However, I prefer fullscreen, in which everything gets darker and messes up. Anybody know what that is about? Although, if necessary, I can live with windowed mode, however, whenever I run this in windowed, there are small lag spikes every 5 seconds or so. Does anybody know how to remove those?

CRT do have some advantages over LCD. That's why they're still on sell!