Is my monitor dead?

[david_simonds]

<p>Friends, I have been using a Dell UltraSharp 19" monitor for my PS work. It is four or five years old and does not get a great deal of use - perhaps 5-40 hours per month depending on the level of my ambition. Last evening I was printing some images and created a new canvas in CS2 to print multiples of the same image. The canvas was 24" wide, the same as my printer and I had three black and white images across. And as I dragged over the three 7" images and put them on the canvas I noticed a distinct color shift between the one on the far left and the one on the far right which had a reddish tint to it. So I moved that "tinted" one on the right directly under the on the left. Presto. The two images now looked the same. So it appears that thre is some sort of color shifting going on within the geography of my monitor, from left to right. This might explain why some color prints I get are dead on, and others have a poor monitor match. Time for a new monitor? I will try to calibrate it tonight to see if the same thing happens. If a new monitor is in my future what are favorite choices these days? My work is generally with scanned medium and large format images printed fairly large - 24" wide on an Epson 7800. Much obliged.<br>

David</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Not dead, just picking up interference from something nearby -- a magnetized beam in your building, anything? Degauss the screen and separate it from anything stray magnetic fields. Call Dell if you need help, though they'll sell you an LCD to replace it. Any TV shop can help explain degaussing, and the monitor may have an auto or manual degaussing system, BUT you must clear out interference nearby, and do NOT put a big heavy speaker magnet up to it just to play!</p>

<p>Let us know how it goes. I LOVE the ol' 19" flat CRTs -- they work and are cheap since people are tossing 'em for LCDs (little do they know the challenge they are in for!).</p>

<p>.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>they work and are cheap since people are tossing 'em for LCDs (little do they know the challenge they are in for!).</p>

<p>No challenge if you take a equivalent quality / $ LCD. The problem is people buying a 21 inch and pay 250$ for it..then they compare that piece of s*** vs there superb CRT. When you buy a 24 inch for 600$ up you get what you pay for..a superb LCD monitor that is perfect for demanding professional.</p>

 

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Patrick, we're talking about different things, but I'll print your post and tape it to the LCDs in the trash after a mere few years to remind people of the "quality" decisions they made after they can't stand the Windows [start]/system bar burned in after only a few months, then the desktop icon array appears burned in behind every document they type, and why are all the pictures displayed distorted (because so few people know how to set their LCDs for native resolution AND readable text sizes!), and so on. </p>

<p>Yes, YOU are thinking of <em>photographers with money</em> , but I am thinking of the <em>average computer user</em> who just wants more desk space and a bigger screen and does not know the value to me of the screen they put out on the sidewalk. </p>

<p>For me, nothing beats their quality / $ -- because to me, they're free. Three I'm looking at now on my desktop are dated 2001, 2000, and 1998, the best one is the 1998 one. I look forward to seeing anyone's LCD eleven years on and comparing. I'll probably still have my 1998 model, then twenty-two years old, going just fine. We'll see.</p>

<p>.</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Back to you, David. Very little of your opening post was about your screen. Do you have generic screen test capability? Download and use the free Nokia (why Nokia? I have no idea!) test here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Other-VIDEO-Tools/Nokia-Monitor-Test.shtml">http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Other-VIDEO-Tools/Nokia-Monitor-Test.shtml</a></p>

<p>... and let us know if it helps you see and adjust away what's wrong.</p>

<p>How's that degaussing going? The reason I mention a beam in the building is because I had a customer with a rainbow on their screen and it went away when we moved 6 feet from their wall -- the building beam was magnetized, probably during arc welding during construction. Solution? We degaussed the building -- NOT! =8^o We moved their desk.</p>

<p>.</p>

[david_simonds]

<p>Peter, thanks for yours. Never heard of "degaussing" but I will check out that Nokia app. Now you mentioned the influence of "stray magnetic fields" as the possible culprit. I live in rural Maine in the middle of the woods. Can not even get cell service at the house. So I can not implicate an outside source. BUT, I have in the same room as my monitor two very large hybrid speakers with two very large ribbon componants(<a href="http://www.newformresearch.com/r645v3.htm">http://www.newformresearch.com/r645v3.htm</a>). I never thought of them as magnetic, but perhaps they are throwing something off. I will take the monitor from the studio and try it in another area to see if the shift is replicated. Very much appreciate your kind assisatnce.<br>

David</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>Peter, i was just saying that you get what you pay for, and if you dont have money to buy a 24inch 600$, well its not fair to compare a lower end LCD monitor vs a CRT one..nothing to do wiht photographer with money, but with i dont think you can complain about the cheap choice you make.</p>

<p>back to the poriginal question.</p>

<p>Make sure you dont have speaker close to your monitor, or that you are not too close to the wall and get the electrical interference.. What append if you move your monitor away from eveything or change is location?</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Patrick, I am writing about $600 LCDs being not worth that (at least to me) because of serious compromises AND free CRTs being waay more valuable (at least to me) than the people tossing them know. However, value is in the eye of the beholder, so I'll have free and happy for dozens of years, while thay have $600 replacement after $600 replacement -- and happy -- for dosens of years I guess, too.</p>

<p>Neat speakers, David. Try headphones in the computer monitor room. Also, once magnetized, the screen my not "clear up" when moved, requiring degaussing BUT is it a flat panel LCD after all, or a deep, old-fashioned CRT? If it's an LCD, Patrick eats his words (LCD quality in deed!), and it can't be degaussed because it's display is not subject to magnetic field interference (but it's electronics can be). If it's a CRT, I win! </p>

<p>I'm sorry for not checking dell.com more thoroughly:<br>

<a href="http://www.google.com/search?UltraSharp+19+site%3Adell.com">http://www.google.com/search?UltraSharp+19+site%3Adell.com</a></p>

<p>.</p>

[colin_mattson1]

<p>Patrick wouldn't be eating his words at all, Peter—it would, in fact, reinforce them, as Dell's 19" LCDs are among the crappiest, cheapest ones they sell. No different than it was when CRTs were all the rage; a crappy monitor's a crappy monitor, regardless of whether it has a cathode ray tube or a sandwich of liquid crystal.</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Aww, man, I was lookin' forward to a toasty postie sandwich ... anyway, Dell sold a gazillion of UltraSharp 19" LCDs in a variety of models starting at ~$189 which is not expensive compared to $600, but compared to <em>free</em> ... well, anyway here's a properly edited link:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=UltraSharp+%2B19+%2Bsite%3Adell.com">http://www.google.com/search?q=UltraSharp+%2B19+%2Bsite%3Adell.com</a></p>

<p>David, get the EXACT model number can call Dell and tell us what they say.</p>

<p>Also, tell us the screen native resolution, tell us your set resolution (SHOULD be identical), and tell us your image magnification during inspection, should be an even fraction such as 100% 1:1, 50% 2:1, 25% 4:1, not some in-between magnification like 33% 3:1. </p>

<p>Also tell us what you paid for it so we can prepare lunch! ;-)</p>

<p>Also, see Ctien's screen calibration struggles:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.phototechmag.com/reviews/Ctein_ColorMunki_final.pdf">http://www.phototechmag.com/reviews/Ctein_ColorMunki_final.pdf</a></p>

<p>Keep us appraised, and ignore my degaussing sidetrack ("nevermind"). =8^o</p>

<p>.</p>

[philfx]

<p>If you have another computer close by, see if you can lug the thing to it and rule out the video card. Also wiring can do weird things. First thing is move it to some other space and rule out the mag field mentioned.</p>

[philfx]

<p>For CRT's NEC, Sun or Sony or artisan, Nanao, Barco, Samsung, ..what was that purplish dark blue one? I forget. I still have a few 24" Sony. They are super screens<br>

mainstream Dell screens never like these. they had text sharpening/ghosting issues and it was like picking a screen from a box of chocolates. They did start to address the problems, ...as soon as LCD's starting taking over. </p>

[john_reynolds10]

<p>I noticed the same thing on my monitor until I discovered that one of my eyes sees with a slight red tint and the other with a slight blue. Try looking at your monitor upside down to test if this is your 'problem'.</p>

[john_reynolds10]

<p>I noticed the same thing on my monitor until I discovered that one of my eyes sees with a slight red tint and the other with a slight blue. Try looking at your monitor upside down to test if this is your 'problem'.</p>

[philfx]

<p>John_<br>

wow thats a tough one. I wonder if they have color corrective filter contacts? Maybe too inconvenient...Glasses at least.</p>