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Backlight
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In the Store
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A lot of programs can be found on the Internet that unite test patterns for TFT monitors. Mostly we are talking about small programs, free of charge and all work the same thing, so we won’t waste more words on them. Any of them, will do the job. The only problem is now to convince salesman to plug your USB or other drives into computers and especially if they need to start up some programs from them. So, if sellers are not thoughtful enough to provide for buyers necessary tools, you can manage by yourself in many different ways. On site http://tft.vanity.dk beside independent program that can be downloaded, there is also online version that will work in browsers with Flash plug-in. Most of important patterns can be started from menu. Menu will appear when you close mouse cursor to the bottom edge of page. This software also has system for measuring response time but we didn’t like inexistence of meter for missed frames, like it does PixPerAn. So, you never can be sure in measured results. With a little skill and appropriate tools, most patterns can be created on venue, especially if you later put them as desktop background in tile mode. Search for dead pixels and checking the backlight can be easily performed if you take off the background from desktop and set it to be black. A creative icon arranging probably will be necessary. Anyway, it is much easier to compare monitor with some other one, than to estimate it individually. In the store that won’t be the problem, almost every one of them is on switch and can reproduce the same image. If you want to see will the purchase of new monitor represent true improvement comparing to the one that you have at home, than you should concentrate on details present on most computers: wallpapers that go with Windows, colour of OS and similar stuff. Before monitor checking it is useful to reset it on default settings through OSD menu, in case if someone before you already set it in his manner.
When you have a chance, you should also pay attention on physical attributes of monitor, quality made and ergonomics. Most monitors don’t have enough height for ergonomic usage so you should prefer more those with higher bearer. It is extremely useful when monitor has swivel option – rotation around vertical axes. Pivot, screen rotation from landscape to portrait position, was a hit few years ago, but it looks that very few people use this option on day to day regular basis. Inquire about warranty terms, especially for validation period and how you should treat dead pixels. It is always a good option when monitor has separated button for fast access to different modes for contrast and lightness. With this possibility you can easily increase your multimedia enjoyment and reduce eye fatigue during long work with text. |
Backlight all together with diffuse layer, could be badly done or attached on the rest of the sandwich. Then will light breach, mainly around the screen edges. This is especially noticeable when on these places is displaying something dark. So, the simplest thing is to fill all screen with black colour, dark the room and wait until your eyes adapted.
Very few monitors will provide you in this occasion completely darkness in the room, which would be ideal. Breaching is happening on first place along the upper edge and then along the bottom. This is especially inconvenient in practical sense. When you watch the movie that has wider format than your screen does and you still want to see whole picture, the most common solution is adding black horizontal lines under and above. Right there where the backlight is most intensive. Unified of the backlight means that black colour, regardless on its quality, is equally distributed along whole screen. Still, often happens that nuances and shining are noticeable, especially if we change viewing angle during watching.
You cannot expect from cheaper TN monitors to be extremely successful in this discipline. Line should be drawn between those that show their faults only in extreme conditions while during normal work you won’t notice them or they are very good hidden. If on monitor is displayed some “normal” picture, mainly consisted of middle tones and backlight can still be differentiated, you should overlook this model. You should also have in mind that in this matter every sample of certain model isn’t identical, so definite conclusion cannot be said only by observing one sample.
Colours
Colour screen isn’t much of a use if it doesn’t display precise enough. Panel itself can have low quality and to breach light in certain places, that black isn’t black enough, white enough white and all between “displaced” on some side. Light source also can be bad, if light isn’t white and well diffused. Precise control of liquid crystals can also be such a problem that rather rare are panels that have 8-bit accuracy per channel (basic colour). It is limited at 6-bit and rest nuances of truecolor palette are simulating by dithering.
With so many traps on every step, it must be hard to produce monitor that properly displays colours? Well not exactly, if you are among majority of average users. Human eyesight is very flexible when it comes to colours and most monitors are not that bad so that you couldn’t accustom to them. Most of them exactly, aren’t bad at all, but that probably isn’t enough when you need to parry it with office printer or some other expensive device. Then for quality estimation aren’t enough only eyes and there is no time for accustoming or guessing, you than should call in help calibration instruments. For ordinary men, even the regular monitor will be sufficient, possibly adjusted with the help of, more or less, detailed settings in OSD (On Screen Display) menu.
If it’s handy, it’s best to start from pattern with surfaces coloured in grey colour with different but similar intensities on both sides of palette. Here usually goes an explanation which surfaces should differ and how much. This is the way to determine how big is nuance scope that monitor can displayed and with what accuracy. Gradients, nuance gradations, known as colour dock, also will show you how much is precise colour display, but it will above all revel concrete mistakes. Truecolor palette considers 256 nuances from black to red, green and blue colour. And ideal thing is that those gradations are that wide and with another from black to white will show mistakes in total. Many programs for testing of TFT monitors contain such a colour docks, but very often they don’t fill whole screen, which isn’t the best solution. With their help we seek for faults in sense of repeating same nuances (banding) or too quick changes. Anything that stands out from smooth, controlled gradation. We cannot expect smooth gradation if it’s spread all over the screen, even if we are talking about perfect monitor. Truecolor palette simply doesn’t have so many colours. Anyway it’s convenient to see gradation from black to white across whole screen only because you can more easily to notice ink appearance somewhere where it shouldn’t be. Dither algorithms often have problems with certain nuances, mainly darker one, so you also need to pay attention on noise or blinking. Screen full of white colour enables noticing of that how unified acts screen when light should pass through completely and does it do that even through whole surface.
Purists probably never would be satisfied with TN panel when it comes to colours on the screen, but they certainly have enough arguments for that. But for regular activities of an average user it will be sufficient if displayed colours satisfied minimum conditions. Anomalies on gradients can be tolerated if they are not too obvious and the fact is that we didn’t see for a long time such a monitor. Generally speaking, as long is problem small enough that it can be solved with adjusting through OSD menu, you shouldn’t pay much of intention on that fault. The goal is monitor capable to display colours the way you like it, and there is no disputing about tastes until the calibration instruments interfere.
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