Hi. I was wondering if anyone can tell me why it is that whenever you get a computer and the monitor comes with it, the monitor's display looks perfect just the way it comes, meaning the monitor's default settings are how it looks best, but then when you already have a computer and you get a new monitor for it, the monitor's display will look all messed up and need to be fixed with all those various controls that monitors have for adjusting pictures. I don't understand why that is, and I don't know why it is that television CRTs never need to be adjusted in this way and therefore don't even have controls for all that different stuff like monitors do. Oh, I was referring to CRTs this whole time, by the way, particularly the regular old round-screen ones.

If anyone can shed some light on this, please do.

Computer monitors work to far higher frequencies that do TVs and with a far higher resolution.

For instance the refresh rate on a VDU is usually around 85 hz. On a TV is is 25/30 hz depending on where you live - and the picture is interlaced which CPU monitors are not.

All this means is slight variation between different video cards will show up where the lower parameters on a TV have more tolerance to slight variations.

Stuart

So that means.... -- I don't know if I understand completely. ...¿So why is it that monitors look best with their default settings when a monitor comes with a computer but new monitors you get for a computer you already have don't look right at first and need to be adjusted? I think you might have already answered that question, but I'm not sure. If you did, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by how you said it.

Also, I was wondering if it would just be better for playing old eight and sixteen-bit video games on the computer to just have a television CRT and use one of those things to connect it to a computer, since the higher resolutions that computer monitors use I think wouldn't be necessary considering these games were actually meant to be played on television CRTs anyway. I mean, I'm talking about playing the old Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System and Genesis games here. I don't think that would improve the quality to have them on a television CRT, but if it wouldn't reduce the quality of the picture at all, I think that would be the easier thing to do would be to just get a new television CRT every five years or so when you need to replace your computer's display unit due to its brightness fading or whatever, 'cause then you wouldn't have to go through that whole process of fixing the new monitor's screen every time.

Please tell me what you all think.

You don't sit as close to TV as you do a monitor. New high res tv would be ok but an old style TV you would see the pixels. The resolution of your eyes is high enough for you to 'resolve' the pixels from 2'.

Presumably DELL or whoever set the monitors up correctly before they ship them.

Tweaking your monitor once every five years doesn't sound like a huge deal.

My monitor is about 7yrs old and still going strong. Im resisting the move to flat screen.

I think you are getting a little confused between TV CRTs and Computer CRT. Although they both have CRTs there is a world of difference between them. Radar screens have CRTs, but you wouldn't want to plug your computer into one.

TVs are a lot simpler, they have one refresh rate, one resolution and as Dr Kennedy says, you sit a lot closer to computer screens.

Playing old games on a TV would be acceptable with a resolution of 320 x 320. But modern games and applications require resolution of 1000s of pixels. Far more than a TV can handle.

The first computer monitor I had was in fact a TV with the guts ripped out - A Tandy TS-80. Looked fine at the resolution that computer produced, but absolutely useless for modern applications.

Stuart

Well, I say flat screen is crap, to be quite honest, because you *can't* get the picture right on those because the sides of those screens naturally aren't straight. I don't know why it is, but there's a whole lot of crap technology out there nowadays for television and monitors. There's all this stuff out there that boasts these super clear displays, but it's at the expense of all kinds of screen obstruction and/or distortion. You got that one type of monitor that has that black line going through it, which is just stupid no matter how clear the picture is, and then there's the flat-screen CRTs that don't have straight left and right sides, and then there's also those wide-screen things that has most everyone convinced they're somehow seeing more of the picture by viewing it on one of those. I still don't understand how it is that everyone falls for that. I mean, I would have thought that everyone would realize that that's nothing more than an optical illusion. You're not really gonna see more of the picture by stretching it horizontally. I mean, whatever was recorded on camera is what's recorded, for example, and no matter how much you stretch it out, you're still gonna see whatever was recorded. It's not like you're gonna be able to see something to the side that was originally off camera when it was recorded just because you're now looking at it on a screen that's stretched out. To me, a regular *even* square is still and will always be best.

Anyway, tweaking a monitor ever five years or so is a huge deal to me because it's a very tedious and extremely irritating process, and I can't help but wonder why I have to do this in the first place considering I've never had to do anything like this on a television CRT. That's why I was saying I think it would make more sense just to get one of those for that computer, since all I ever do with that computer is play old games on it that were actually meant to be played on a television CRT anyway, so I don't think it would matter. I was just asking if there's anything any of you know of that would make it not such a good idea. I don't think there's any reason not to do that, but I was just wondering.

Also, it seems like I just can't get the display of the new NEC AccuSync 700 round-screen CRT I got to be totally right on the left and right sides either. It seems like the left and right sides still are a little wavy and not totally straight, and everything I've tried to fix it doesn't work. Also, it's like there's things I need to do to one side but not the other, but I can't do just one side at a time. For example, the lower-left corner looks like it needs to be pulled in a little, but then if I do that, the lower-right corner will be in too much. I don't know why the screen on the left and right still looks wavy either, and like I said, I've tried everything *extensively* and it doesn't seem to be able to get totally right.

¿Is there any kind of a DOS program or something I could use to get it set right or help get it set right? I know I could find and download the software drivers for this monitor, but that never seems to help. I mean, when I download a monitor's drivers, it actually never seems to change anything about the display at all.

Anyway, I know this ended up being really long, and I didn't mean to do that, so I guess I'll shush now, but if anyone can help me with any of this, please do. This is driving me crazy.

Right, where shall I start.

There is no such thing as a perfectly flat CRT. It is physically impossible. However CRT that are designated as flat are considerably flatter than they used to be. The first TV CRTS where almost round like a radar screen.

Its all to do with the distance the electrons have to travel when they leave the electron gun in the neck of the tube. Those heading for the edge of the screen have further to travel than those heading for the centre of the tube, consequently they will arrive there a little later.

Modern technology has worked out how to vary the speed so that the electrons leave the electron gun at varying speeds so that those heading for the edge of the screen leave a little faster than those heading for the centre of the screen and have less distance to travel.

However, to get it perfect requires some pretty good timing, down to millionths of a second. The only true flat screens are LCD which use a totally different technology.

Wide screens have absolutely nothing at all with seeing more of the picture. Wide screens are used because they fill more of the field of view. The human eye has a wider field of view horizontally than it does vertically, consequently a wide screen fills more of the vision. Wide screens are a relatively new innovation because they exacerbate the problem described above with electrons having further to travel.

The movie industry recognised the advantage of a wide screen a long time ago when it invented cinamascope. Applying the same principal electronically took a little more time.

All the software that you get for monitors do is tell the video card what resolutions and refresh rates the monitor will support. With modern plug and play monitors, even they are redundant as most monitors will report their capabilities to the video card automatically.

I suspect the reason you are having problems getting your monitor configured correctly is that you are using DOS Video drivers which were never designed to drive a high res monitor. If all you use is DOS based games then perhaps you would be better of with a TV.

Stuart

Okay, thank you very much for the input. That's definitely something to think about since for that one computer I do just want to use it to play older video games on.

¿Does anyone agree or disagree with this? I wanna hear as many opinions on this as people are willing to give, not that I don't believe what Stuart said, but I'd still like to know what other people think about this too.

You are evidently more critical about the adjustments on your monitor. Never the less, I can't comprehend taking an hour to tweak these settings. This process doesn't seem to take more than 5 minutes at the most, although I haven't timed it. It is my experience that as the CRT monitors have gotten cheaper, the quality has gone down. I am currently on a Hitachi 21" monitor that is 8 or 9 years old. The brightness is less than before and I now notice the sides can no longer be completely filled, but I still use this monitor for my CAD work. In the mean time my sons have bought cheaper 19" CTX monitors that didn't make it 5 years. Maybe you are too fussy. If you play DOS based games the quality of the graphics in those games must be crappy. Why worry about fine adjustments on the monitor.
As far as using a TV as a display goes, I would say that a computer monitor would still be superior. I have never been a gamer but if memory serves me correctly the older games ran best with a defined resolution and color depth. As long as your monitor and video card are capable of producing those specs you should have no problem. VESA specs have been it existance for as long as I have been using computers and the refresh rates have been close to what is currently recommended as the minimum. There may be a case to be made that super high refresh rates could be counter productive. I would think the technology of modern graphic cards would actually enhance the old games by smoothing out the blockyness.

Buy 'Home Cinema Choice' or 'What something or other' magazine, and you'll see that there is more picture to see on a widescreen TV. Although what Stuart said is also correct about the field of vision. Most broadcasts today are sent out on the widescreen format, and to fit it on a 4:3 telly, they use what the industry calls 'Pan & Scan'. Which means that some of both sides of the picture are chopped off. Just a thought!