New Monitor - ? :O

[Dukat]

Hi all - I'm just in a bit of a predicament as to what to do, I've got a new monitor and while it looks pretty solid, does the games perfectly(so far), there are just a couple of niggling things about it that are making me unsure as to what to do... any advice much appreciated!

I just bought a new monitor as my old one died, I got an Iiyama "PLC1900WTV".

I've just got it today, and it seems like its somewhat fuzzy - I guess most LCD's are, but this one does seem slightly worse than I'm used to. Also, it has a sort of 'wobble' - not a full on monitor wobble like when you hold a magnet to it, infact mostly its pretty solid and isnt a problem at all, its just a slight thing, but it is noticable - its most noticable in areas where dark and light colours meet - particularly straight lines.

Its only noticable in windows so far as I've seen so far, ingame everything is pretty spectacular - just been playing crysis, the monitor combined with the 8800GTS make for some of the best graphics I've ever seen.

It could be because when my last monitor died I was using an old but decent CRT screen, going from that to this is quite a change, it could also just be me looking too closely for something wrong.

I'm just half wondering if I've made a mistake with this monitor, I'm not overly bothered in a way, its just you always want these sorts of things to work ok from the start.

I guess I'm just looking to see what you lot think - I'm half tempted to see about getting the thing replaced or something, I do like the thing ingame, it looks pretty damned good, its just the windows side of things that could become a real problem a little later on, at which point it'll be too late to do anything about it.

As I say lads, any advice much appreciated

EDIT: just noticed that I might have had the screen a bit close to where I was sitting, moved it back a bit and the fuzziness is a little better, but still that half-noticable jittery wobble on the lines

 

[inactionman]

Odd, I've always found that LCD's were much sharper than CRT's. Are you running it in it's native resolution?

 

[Dukat]

Odd, I've always found that LCD's were much sharper than CRT's. Are you running it in it's native resolution?

I've tried all available resolutions - the recommended resolution in the manual is 1440x900 - at this resolution the jittering gets far worse than on alot of the other resolutions, on this resolution I'd go as far as to say its almost unusable - I've settled with 1280x720 which seems to be the best so far, its not too bad really on this setting, its just a niggling thing that I really didnt want to have to put up with on a brand new monitor

 

[Jonty]

Hi Dukat

Although it's a pain, just send it back. There's no point putting up with something that you're not happy with, and if you have to run an LCD in anything other than it's native resolution then it suggests something is wrong with the display. Sorry it's not better news, but good luck sorting it out.

Kind regards

 

[Ch3tan]

The "wobble" where light and dark colours meet is unacceptable, it will ruin your viewing pleasure.

One thing on the resolution problem, what is your refresh rate set to?

 

[Dukat]

Cheers for the advice everyone

OK embarrassment time

I think I've solved the problem this morning!

I was just wondering if the wire I was connecting was corrupting the signal or something (long shot but what the hell) so I tried connecting the monitor with a standard cable, as originally I was using the HDMI-DVI cable! I didnt realise this was the wrong thing to do, but it seems like it must have been - I turned it back on and it was fine, bit small in 1440x900 but sharp as hell, no wobble at all

Its the first time I've had a HDMI-DVI compatible monitor, so I was interested to see what it was like, and seeing as when I connect to the graphics card with a normal PC monitor lead it has a "PCmonitor to HDMI" converter, I had assumed there would be no difference between the normal connector and the hdmi one.

It all seems a bit strange really - the GFX card only has HDMI outputs, so I had thought that using the right cable instead of a converter and a standard PC monitor connection could only improve the picture. I guess it has to do with how the monitor handles the two different inputs ?

Is it right that the HMDI-DVI input behaves like this? I've had no experience with these things before now, I'd assumed the HDMI input would be like an improvement on the standard

Its all greek to me! but it seems to work, so I guess its ok.

Cheers again for the advice lads! much apprecaited

 

[Jonty]

Hi Dukat

I'm a little confused by your explanation.

Your graphics card only has HDMI out? (it looks like a USB-style connection, but bigger). I really doubt it, as all graphics cards still have DVI outputs (a much bigger plug). As for the monitor, does it have a HDMI input, or a DVI input which supports HDCP (this is an encryption system which is supported by HDMI, but not always by DVI)?

Anyway, if your graphics card has a HDMI output, and your monitor has a HDMI input, use a HDMI cable and away you go. This will provide the best quality with minimal fuss. If you graphics card has a DVI output and your monitor has a DVI input, use a DVI cable and connect the two (the ports are sometimes coloured white). Like HDMI, this is a digital signal and will provide a good quality picture (but no audio, unlike HDMI). If all else fails, you can use a VGA cable if your graphics card and monitor have the appropriate ports (they are sometimes coloured blue). This is an analogue signal and more susceptible to interference.

I'm glad the problems are sorted, but if you're sure you were using DVI or HDMI before and the cables were securely connected, then I would still consider returning your monitor as it sounds defective.

Kind regards

Jonty

P.S. Don't worry, there are so many abbreviations and cables for monitors these days, it's easy to be overwhelmed.

Edit ~ HDMI and DVI cables. You may also have a HDMI-DVI converter, but you don't need to use this (unless your graphics card only has DVI-out, but you want to use a HDMI cable to connect to your monitor/TV).

 

[Dukat]

Hehe sorry yea I didnt explain very well.

The graphics card is an 8800GTS - it has two outputs like the larger plug in the pictures you've posted.

Previously, I had a standard PC monitor, but the graphics card comes with a connector that converts the larger plug into a standard PC monitor output, so I could still connect my standard monitor without any problems.

something like this:
http://www.1compras.com/images/products_images/unfurl/1cob942ras.jpg
(EDITED: wrong picture )

So until now I've been using that, now I got this new monitor, and it has several inputs in the back, it has standard TV aerial, standard PC, and an input for the smaller of the plugs in the pictures from your post. The monitor also comes with a cable which starts in the larger plug, and ends in the smaller one. Originally I connected using this, however this morning I tried connecting it up with the standard PC connections and going back to using the converter to connect to the GFX card as before, and it seems to be fine.

Admittedly I only managed to check windows for 5 mins before I left for work this morning, so it needs more investigation, but it does seem like it was fine.

The HDMI-DVI connection seemed to be more like a high res TV; I've connected my PC to a standard TV a while back and the effect of the low resolution on the TV - the fuzziness particularly - is comparable for what I was getting when I connected with the HD leads.

It just seems like the monitor handles the HDMI-DVI connection more like a HD television than a PC input - it handles games fine, but doesnt seem to like the small PC fonts... could this be whats happening?

I'll have a look into it a bit more, if needs be I'll get it replaced just incase it is a defect.

Cheers for the advice jonty sorry I'm not so good at explaining it heh.

 

[inactionman]

I believe that if you use a HDMI cable it is only going to work in HDMI resolutions, i.e. 1080p (1920x1080) or 720p (1280x720), neither of which are the native resolution of your monitor, so you won't get a great picture. If you set it to anything else your monitor will just upscale/downscale it as required.

What probably happens on your graphics card is that when the supplied HDMI-DVI converter is used, and you connect to you monitor over DVI, it allows all resolutions to be used, and not just the HD ones.

 

[Jonty]

Hi inactionman

I'm not sure in general, but for my setup I use HDMI and it can handle any resolution.

Kind regards

 

[inactionman]

I believe it may depend on the monitor. A HMDI cable/socket is electrically compatible with DVI, but the logic, particularly encryption related, can screw things up.