2G Flat Panels Screens!

FYI

I'm sure many of you have noticed that the cost of LCD monitors has been falling by a large margin in the past while.

I've had a conversation with one or two people on the idea of getting a 2nd or replacement large screen for the PC at what is now becoming a reasonable price.

But take note: the LCD screens currently available are analogue.
The next generation will be digital.
So what we are seeing now is something akin to the onset of DVD players once.

Now, if you were wanting to get that LCD to last you a long time, it might be worth holding on a while, from a point of view of quality. I believe the new digital type will have clarity of image to finally rival that of CRTs.

But if you're not going to be using it for imaging, then you're on to a winner with the older ones.

However, you will also need a new digital grahics card, if you have an older PC (newer PCs may have a card with one analogue & one digital output socket) . But this can simply be installed in one of the slots at the back of the machine. The machine should default to the new one. No need to remove the original.

It's news to me...

I don't see waht all the fuss is about LCDs not being as good as CRT ... I have two monitors in front of me as I type this, a 19" CRT and a 19" LCD .... the LCD give a far better image as far as I can see and it' not even an expensive one! At work I have an Apple Cinema Display and it is better than any CRT or LCD I've ever seen. I can't imagine a better display!

Yea ... early LCDs sucked and some LCDs have a real problem with brightness but a good LCD runs rungs around a CRT! And they are soooo much easier on the eyes since they're not blinking at you 75 times a second!

I don't see waht all the fuss is about LCDs not being as good as CRT ... I have two monitors in front of me as I type this, a 19" CRT and a 19" LCD .... the LCD give a far better image as far as I can see and it' not even an expensive one! At work I have an Apple Cinema Display and it is better than any CRT or LCD I've ever seen. I can't imagine a better display!

Yea ... early LCDs sucked and some LCDs have a real problem with brightness but a good LCD runs rungs around a CRT! And they are soooo much easier on the eyes since they're not blinking at you 75 times a second!

I would tend to agree. As long as you watch the settings. My LCD screen at home - identical to the one I have in my office - was showing washed out images of the same shots that looked very clear on the one in the office. Once I re-set it to factory defaults it was fine again. I now do most of my aligning, stacking and post processing on a cheapo laptop and the results are as good as the images on a 21" Dell CRT.
Still - you get what you pay for - avoid the very cheap LCDs, go for a high end. It is easier on the eyes, and the space savings are the main benefit. A big CRT takes up a LOT of space. An equivalent LCD screen frees up most of that space and in a small backyard observatory (I wish I had one) I would imagine that space (pardon the pun) is a big commodity.

Yea ... definitely a big space saving .... my 19" CRT takes up LOADS of room, my 19" LCD almost none and what's more the 19" LCD has LOADS more viewable area than the CRT becase a CRT is measured by the size of it's tube not the size of the visible screen (I always thought that was cheating a bit TBH).

The big thing for me is that LCDs don't give me headaches like CRTs do. I'm pretty sure it's because LCDs don't flicker.

Voyager, As a matter of interest what manufacturer / models are you using ? I've tried a few and it's always worth getting someone else's 2c.
I like Dell's as a rule, but am open to suggestion.

The big thing for me is that LCDs don't give me headaches like CRTs do. I'm pretty sure it's because LCDs don't flicker.

Headaches depend on the monitor specs quite a lot. At work I use 2 21" Sun monitors and there is no flicker at all on them. Though a previous dell 17" I had at home had a slight 'wobble' which was enough to trigger migraines.

Now I've a 21" Sun at home also and it works fine.

The only LCD's I use are fairly small, 15" on my laptop and SunRays. I find that these are frustratingly small and that can give me headaches too! I like 2 large monitors, high resolution, and multiple windows. Running XP with one window, on one 15" LCD at 1024x768 is just too small.

The next screen I get will be an LCD, perferably a 24" widescreen, though the prices on those need to come down a good bit first.

Cheers,
~Al