Digital Colours.

[Jack Williams]

One of the most interesting things I have found with upgrading my laptop to the Lenovo T61 was the comparison of the screens. I connect to an externanal Dell monitor.
The Dell is "semi-wide" at 24" and can be put down to conventional photo/computer monitor shape. I have had it for a few years, and I bought it becouse I needed a decent monitor as both the "TV set" and computer were small laptops!
It was quite expensive at the time at about $1100, but is infinitely adjustable and quite "future proofed" with just about any cable connection imaginable (I just use HDMI and VGA).
You can do anything you like with the colour, contrast etc. you nme it, it has a huge menue. There is a disc came with it to study on your computer!
So with the Dell on normal photo shape I look normal on the Dell but fat on the lenovo! That is because the Lenovo has the same "semi-wide" screen.
There was a battle between Lenovo and Dell on picture quality. At first the lenovo was better.
I had the Dell set at "Movie" and everything in the centre except sharpness max.
So then, with them side by side I tuned the Dell. Can't adjust the computer one as far as I currently know!
The computer was brighter, so on the Dell I put that right up. Then I adjusted the colour, and now have it brighter than the computer , and much whiter (real "Percil white"!) and the colours much richer. So when I see things with wood panelling in them for instance, the wood looks richer and more glowing on the Dell. The computer now looks a pale immitation, and of course the TV and DVD player are transformed as well.

[Brandy]

Have a look here: http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lc ... -types.php an explanation of the various types of LCD panels.

I just bought a new computer system to go with the new digital camera I bought a Dell U2410 ultrasharp. It uses IPS LCD monitor. It's a really good monitor. When I bought around Xmas 2010 there were NO LED back lite IPS photo-grade monitors which surprised me.

-- Brandy

[Jack Williams]

Hi Brandy. Thanks for that info. This screen is a Dell 2408WFP monitor, 24". Yes, I can view it from as oblique an angle as one can a paper photograph!
The menu has: Brightness/contrast, Auto adjust, Input source, Preset modes, Display settings, PIP settings.
Yes, as in everything, you get what you pay for. The bloke from Dell delivering it insisted on bringing it right here into the livingroom! I am certainly very pleased with it.
The one on the lenovo has a good wide viewing angle too, but the Dell is somewhat better, and heaps better than this old Compaq's one.
Using the Compaq at present because I think I'm being bullied by Microsoft on the Lenovo! I prefer to use Firefox browser, as I am now, but on the Lenovo I kept getting prompts to use Internet Explorer as the default one. I kept resisting. So now a chunk is missing from the right-hand side of Firefox page, making it impossible to scroll or even exit! Pain in the butt. So use this machine. Haven't got photos working on the Lenovo yet either.
I wanted a faster machine so I could download videos, but I find most seem to be blocked. The only one I have running off-line so far is Loretta on the organ playing "Orange Blossom Special", the link to whom Uncle Al put up here in Off Topic. I never thought upgrading a computer would be such a hassle!
Scroll down below and see/hear her, The sound quality is supurb, plugged into the HiFi, and she blows away all the other versions of the same tune put up nearby.

[crfriend]

Have a look here: http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lc ... -types.php an explanation of the various types of LCD panels.

That's good info Brandy, and thanks for it!

I may well be alone in this lot in that I am resolutely tied to CRT technology because many of my oddball machines have decidedly arcane resolutions. 1184 x 884 anyone? Once an LCD (or any digital display for that matter) gets off its native mode things either look like cr@p or the thing refuses to display anything at all. Then there's the matter of pixels that aren't necessarily square....

Digital may be the wave of the future, but it stinks if one is trying to keep "elder systems" alive and operational.

[phathack]

I use a hardware system to color balance my monitors.
I purchased a cheap monitor for a quick project a while back and it wound up being a 6bit panel which will not color balance.

When it comes to monitors I'm willing to spend a little extra to get one I know uses a good quality panel.

[Jack Williams]

As always, you get what you pay for.