sammorris, the VP201b 20.1 is 16ms(which i have)but i think they may have a newer model out thats 8ms ,iam not sure
I'm sure I've seen an 8ms variant around somewhere. I prefer resolutions 1600x1200 or above, anything else and I'm wanting a better picture. Trouble is, with an LCD you're too limited, and if you use a 1600x1200 LCD, to game at proper quality, you need to have a very poweful GPU indeed. I'll have one come summer, but it won't be long before that isn't enough any more either. It's all very well saying that the graphics card war has got out of hand, but in a way it's good, because the badness of computer game design is also out of control. In numerous games you see no better image quality for half the frame rate of older games, no wonder GPUs keep needing to get better, we're seeing 35fps with an X1900XT-X Crossfire array in Black & White 2 if you turn the settings up, and that's 1024x768! Ludicrous. Game design is going to have to settle for image quality as it is now and focus on physics while GPUs keep up. I'm not eveb confident the GeForce 8800 or Radeon X2800 due out this autumn will play B&W2 or AOE3 smoothly at top settings. Bring on PhysX!
sammorris, I honestly think that the video game designers deliberately make the games almost impossible to run properly to force the video card makers to come up with new, better and more expensive video cards. I think they are in cahoots with each other since the game makers know well in advance what's coming. Let's face it, you don't need an $800 video card to watch DVDs or do word processing and spreadsheets. My lowly FX5200 is magnificent with my Septre for watching DVDs. We have the top of the line Viewsonics at my work and they give me eyestrain and occasional headaches. This one, I spend hours on line with everyday and I never have any problems with my eyes! And that's at 1680x1040! Quality is a wonderful thing. Happy Computering, theonejrs
Yet I'm totally at ease with a ridiculously high resolution Viewsonic CRT. The CRTS aren't the best quality in the world (I know what they look like inside, and I've had one replaced) but to be honest there's no monitor I'd rather have than this with the funds I have. By the sounds of it I'd love one of those Sceptre monitors but I'd want a 4:3 aspect one, not widescreen.
smmmorris, That's one of the beauties of this monitor. No matter what you run it's always the right aspect ratio. How it does it, I haven't got a clue. Right now it's widescreen but the "content" is 4:3. When you run software, it's always the correct size. If I run word for instance, the working content looks no different than it does on a regular monitor. If you switch to screen view, it just shows a black border on each side. 4:3 videos look the same as they do an a 19" monitor. The only thing that stretches is the desktop graphic and even that looks good. Of course mine is an Alien Landscape, so who would notice. It does stretch the bios screen where you can't quite see some of the extreme left. It cuts off a few letters. No big! I keep meaning to try the Pinball in XP but I always forget to do it. Should be a trip! By the way, our office monitors are Viewsonic LEDs not CRTs. I should have explained that. I noticed that most of their LED monitors do not list a pixel pitch. On one that did it was .294. This one is .255 Maybe that's why the Viewsonics hurt my eyes and this one doesn't! At work, we have both 16ms and the newer 8ms models but I don't see any noticeable difference between the two. It's interesting that our design engineer is the only one who uses a CRT. I took mine into work and hooked it up to the "Autocad" machine. He tried it out and now he wants one One bonus I discovered by reading the manual is that if you connect the DVI to an HD TV signal box, the screen will display HDTV. That bodes well for my future intended use for my Intel as an Entertainment center. Youhave a good evening and, Happy Computering, theonejrs
talking of aspect ratio ,this is whats very cool about the Veiwsonic i have(per my sig.) "Adriana" widescreen 1024x768
and the long view(which i like a little better lol)576x768 i have with the "Pivot Software" with the VP201b, very cool opinion.
theonejrs I have the 5200 vid card in all my computers. If you are not playing games, thats all you need. And to be frank, It does a good job at a lot games. I have the ultra BFG 6800, But my lcd monitor only runs at 1024x768 top. Could this limitation strain my GPU?
Hmm, I can import that monitor for just under £300 if I wish, but, HDTV or not that screen won't be HDCP Compliant. You could argue that that's a big deal, but since less than 1% of all screens will be by the time High Def Video comes out, everybody will be looking at workarounds. Oh and those Viewsonics at your work will be LCDs not LEDs. That's a future technology that we've yet to see implemented, but it looks promising!
sammorris, I don't even know what those letters mean but according to the manual the Sceptre is 480i/480p/720i/720p/1080i/1080p. What that all means I haven't a clue. It's also HD mode ready. The real surprise is that all you need is the digital cable (came with the monitor) and hook it up. From what I have read some monitors are more HD ready than others. I was never very interested in HDTV to start with so I've never bothered to find out. I watch so little TV (maybe 2 hrs a week at the most) unless it's Nascar or open wheel racing. F/1 is my favorite. That should look great on this screen I don't watch the news, weather or much of anything. If I want to know what the weather is like, I look out the window! I have a 27" flatscreen JVC but the little I use it, it should wear out in about somewhere around 2040. I watch a lot of DVDs on the computer as I can't get the same picture quality on any TV except maybe Plasma. And their lifespan is far too short for the money you have to spend. They are getting better but they still are way short of the life of a regular CRT set theonejrs.
HD ready differs from HDCP. HDTVs, even ones that arent HD ready will accept HD signals from things such as Sky+ Boxes, but to play back HD /Bluray DVDs you'll need a copyright protection valid monitor, to try and prevent people using software or video capture cards to clone movies. (it'll never work but thats beside the point). 480i - Normal TV resolution, Interlaced (30fps alternate lines) 480p - Normal TV resolution, Progressive (60fps) 720i - High resolution 1280x720, Interlaced (30fps alternate lines) 720p - High resolution 1280x720, Progressive (60fps) 1080i - Very High resolution, 1920x1080, Interlaced 1080p - Very High resolution, 1920x1080, Progressive That monitor will accept HD signals on the standard cable as it's a video signal just like any other travelling along DVI.
sammorris, Thanks for the input! It just makes me admire what Sceptre gives you right out of the box. Some monitors that are HD mode ready require additional hardware to do HD. By the way. I bought Bicentenial Man yesterday an as is my habit, I copied it and put the original away. This is a Columbia/Sony DVD. I had to run it through DVD Fab Decryptor first and then make a copy from that. It took almost 2 hours for Decryptor to un-encrypt it! That is rediculous! It's my DVD. I paid for it and if I want, I will copy it for my own use. Screw Sony!!! Happy Computering, theonejrs
aabbccdd, Should, when it comes to $ony is a very different term. Anytime $ony gets involved with any sort of copy protection you can be sure that "should" won't apply. I can copy most DVDs with DVD Shrink in 12-15 Min from start to eject. This one had a different copy protection scheme for each file! Anydvd wouldn't work, it just ran till it hung! Then the task manager tells you "the program is not responding". This is a very large filed DVD with heavy copy protection so even if it had worked properly, it still would have taken more time than average. I also re-authored it to just copy the main title. $ony doesn't like you to do that! Also my success has been very spotty with DVD Clone. I have several other copy programs as well but I prefer RB and DVD Shrink. RB if I have 65 to 70 mins or so and Shrink if I want it in a hurry! The time boils down to how much it needs to de-crypt. Just about anything $ony has their hand in will almost certainly be trouble! Happy Computering, theonejrs
theonejrs ,thats a 1999 release?? it should be a breeze with clonedvd 2 and anydvd ,sometimes the transcoding will hang when using dvd shrink or dvd decrypter with anydvd . i would really be suprised if it didnt work with clonedvd 2,also if your using dvd decrypter with anydvd set up dvd decrpter this way To use DVD Decrypter in conjunction with AnyDVD as stated per Olli ->OF SLYSOFT AND CLONEDVD Proceed to the DVD Decrypter Opening Page - Tools - Settings I/O Tab - Click on "Elby CDIO-Elaborate Bytes" General Tab - un-check "Check For Structure Protection"
aabbccdd, Thanks for the input. I found out what the problem was. The DVD had a crack in it that I didn't notice. It's quite a tribute to Fab Decrypter that it managed to copy the whole movie. It didn't crack through the film but it stretched it enough to give most copy programs fits. I'll take it back tomorrow and have it replaced. I discovered it when I ran it through RB. Usually I run it through Fab Decrypter first and make ISO files, but since I already ran it through once I just ran RB on the files. Then I realized that the files I had already were not ISO files so I ran the original through again. When it started acting up I took a better look at the disk and discovered the crack. Once again, thanks for your help. Happy Computering, theonejrs
great , that was going to be my next idea a bad/scrathed/cracked dvd lol ,that plays merry hell on your drives huh lol. its happened to me a few times and i had to end up rebooting my system and get the drive back into DMA mode
Lol, you got off likely, a friend of mine ran a CD with a hairline crack in a 54x CD-ROM drive. The CD-ROM drive and the disc are now history.
