I've been seriously considering buying an LCD screen to use on my spare PC and for QGL Lans (and for that matter any other Lans I may go to). Anyway, I'd almost decided to go with the funky Hercules one (as opposed to the cheapest nastiest model I could find - Samsung) but then I read a big writeup at Tom's Hardware bagging the LCDs. That's put me right off the idea.

So, what I'm wondering is this: Does anyone here have and use an LCD on a regular basis for gaming and/or work? Doesn't matter what model, I'm just interested in your real-world experiences with them, whether they suffer bad motion blur, colour problems, contrast or brightness problems etc.

from what I've seen of them (and that isn't all that much) they look like s***e for gaming.

get yourself a flatscreen monitor, much better for gaming IMO

flatscreen rule they make the games look a bit real if u know what i mean

I had to do a demo of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the action was projected onto a big screen behind me but I was using a LCD screen to see what I was doing, and I'm telling you it was a freakin nightmare! I could hardly see anything because the screen was so dark so I had to spend most of the demo looking over my shoulder to see where the hell i was ;)

I've been at other events where they have been used, sometimes it will look ok if it is held indoors and it is the right kind of game, but most times the lighting will give you headaches (and they are next to useless for outdoors). All in all I'd save your money and spend it on something better.

No way, they are crap for gaming, I would much rather a 19inch norm for prolly same price.

hbahah , LCD's

i am talking about for work because they are good like s*** and they don't hurt your eyes :)

anyways..some LCds are absolutely fine with games..

my sister uses one and i occasionally use it. they are nice...u save sooo much space..and they are SOOOOO easy on the eyes

thing is..there is a such a big price diff between ur big name LCD makers like NEC compared to ur other smaller cheaper alternative..
and a big difference in quality..

ohh..and for general web browsing.

they ABSOLUTELY OWN a CRT in text..

mm for games, i would say no.

i've only seen a cheaper branded LCD 17" monitor and in games its really blurry. so im not too sure bout the more expensive ones, also quite dark and ya need powerstrip for gamma.

i reckon a 19" flat screen would be a lot better IMO.

I used one to play Unreal Tourny at school once. Nice, but still not perfect. The blurring still got to me, when they fix that up, itll be lovely.

what's the refresh rate on lcd's like anyway? i spose it would be fixed?

its a lot better than they used to be, but in very fast paced acion games, you can notice a little.

the refresh rate on a LCd is lower..but u cant compare it to a CRT>..so many people make the mistake of comparing a LCD refresh with a CRT...just because its 60hz doesnt mean its bad...beucase lCDs refresh differently..CRTs do full screen refreshes..whilst LCDs refresh per pixel methinks...thats why they are soo EASY ON THE EYES>..they are like AWESOME ..i stare at mine for AGES..and not get headaches and stuff...ohh..did i say they look awesome?

*cry*.. i want one :P
will those new OLEDs fix up the blurry problems or whatever?

Yeah, they are definatly easier on the eyes for browsing and such, if your going for games I would definately suggest a sony flat screen. If you have the dosh to pay for an LCD then you can afford a 19incher. :)

yeah sif i have the sorta mulah required for a lcd.. with my budget bein $300.. so maybe in many, many years time.

I wish I had a 19inch sony screen. Mine is only 15 :( It is still pretty damn good but. I am close to it though so it seems bigger. 21 is just ridiculous, at a guys house lanning, he has one, mine is on ground near his... Kind of makes you feel insignificant though :)

lcd displays dont even have a refresh rate i think.
they are pov for games like cs and q3 etc which rely on constant movement etc... although they are very good to stare at all day.. crisp picture on text etc etc..

id get one but not for games
21" is fine for now :)

I've only ever used an LCD screen once and I was quite surprised about how good it was for gaming - I don't think it was as good as a normal monitor, but definitely ok for general play. In terms of a lan monitor... well, nothing else can really compete :)

Also, apparently the Herc uses a Samsung screen... :( dunno why the Herc performs so much better than the Samsung tho.

If you play a lot of fast moving games like HL, Q3 MOHAA, AVP2 etc, a CRT would be the way to go, at least for another few years. If you mainly web borwse, read and play RTS and the like, go the LCD.
Also, a 15" LCD is roughly equivalent to a 17" CRT, because there is less of the screen covered up by the plastic bezel.

And yes, the Hercules does look damn sexy ( and apparently performs bloody well)

lcd displays dont even have a refresh rate i think.
they are pov for games like cs and q3 etc which rely on constant movement etc... although they are very good to stare at all day.. crisp picture on text etc etc..

You're right, they don't actually have a refresh rate - the "pixels" (if I can even call them that) are updated only when needed. By that I mean if x pixel changes colour or intensity, the monitor will automatically adjust the voltage, etc. to match the requested output.

But yeah, LCDs bite the big one when it comes to games, I guess the main problem is the time delay between the changing of states of any given pixel (which has its very own transistor(s)). They can't really do much about the blurryness problem with current technology (and probably not even with future technology) so I wouldn't even give them a second look unless you are into writing lots of code or something of that nature.

The technology is there to make the pixels change nice and fast - hence reducing the blury effect. But you gotta pay for it :/ Hence the reason there are $700 15" LCD monitors and $1700 15" LCD monitors.

depends, i've used LCD screens that u could play any game on perfectly and it looked better than my flatscreen samsung 753df.

on the other hand i've seen some other lcd's that were pure ass.

u get what u pay for

Firstly sorry for the big delay in replying to this thread, I've spent Easter in hospital. But I'm ok now :)

Secondly, thanks everyone for the replies. Nice to see a thread asking for opinions that doesn't degenerate into name calling or penis measuring.

It looks like most people have the same opinion - that LCDs are still not great for gaming. That's a pity, I have a decent monitor that I use at home (and currently haul to lans) but I was hoping to reduce that amount of stuff I had to carry and an LCD would have been perfect.

Now for further questions, Trog and SquarkyD - what monitors were you using that seemed OK for gaming? I'm looking for a monitor that will be used at QGL for gaming (so only a day or two every month or so) and it might get used occasionally at home on a second PC. So it doesn't need to be "brilliant" for gaming it just needs to be acceptable. (By monitor I mean LCD monitor of course ;)

Thanks again

I _think_ it was just an Acer 14" (think)

Scrybe: they're on crack, no LCD's are good for gaming.

Im using one at work now (prolly just a cheapo philips). but its bad enough when you just scroll an IE window up and down, I shudder to think of playing a full motion game on it.

There's a 17" dell sitting next to it and it looks fine.

Trog - interesting. I had a cheap 14" Acer on my list (cheapest on the entire list actually).

Dan - LOL! Fair enough. I might end up buying a 15" flatscreen to drag around to QGL (instead of a 21" monitor that I take currently). Should save about $600 too...

the one i was using that i liked was made by a mob called CRT i think, was about 1.5" thick and 15" viewable, price i woudlnt have a clue but alot i suspect.

try to see as many of the screens in action as you can and make a decision based on that.

Yeah I was planning to do that if I decide I'm serious about buying one. I've already seen some of the cheapies and they are arse. But I wanted to get feedback from people who have them and have used them longer term. A minute of Quake3 on a demo monitor at Hardly Normal doesn't really compare to several hours of gaming :)

I'll check out CRT and see if I can find any info. Thanks SquarkyD.

I just bought myself a Sony 19" G420 from the computer gallery at strathpine. Same day service on one of those babies is impressive i rekon. Have still to set it up but I can't wait to see the difference between it and my 17" Diamoneview (the 1795 trinitron version). Should be a nice big difference!!