Touchscreen monitors

[Monty Burns]

Hey guys

I currently run two of these which are EXCELLENT in all but one area: the contrast ration is crap. Its really hard playing games that are based in the dark as you can't make out the scenery.

Anyway, I've decided to buy another touchscreen and move to a 3 screen setup so, can anyone recommend a different monitor please?

It needs to be:

• At least 1920*1080
• Ideally another "gloss" type screen
• dual input would be ideal, i.e. capacitive AND resistive ... but minimum is capacitive
• better than the crappy Iiyamas contrast!
• At least 22" (or bigger)
• no more than £250/300
• connect via HDMI or DVI (but I would assume this is a given)

edit:

I've found these two possible replacements -

Acer - low stand though so will not fit nicely with my "high rise" Iiyamas" but guess I could prop it up?

or

Dell - looks ugly (at least in pictures) and won't fit great, although better than the Acer!


I'm beginning to think the Iiyama is the only way to go as no other monitors will fit flush and will look horrible. Such a shame about that contrast ratio!!!

 

[EndlessWaves]

That monitor says it has an optical sensor so the panel should just be bog standard with no touchscreen coating affecting it, if you go for a screen with a capacitive coating then contrast is likely to be lower than your current one as actual contrast doesn't vary much from about 1000:1 (the ludicrous figures quoted these days are derived from the dynamic brightness function and don't actually affect the contrast).

I wonder if your monitor is set up wrong, as this wasn't Iiyama's first touch monitor I can't see them removing the backlight adjustment to save money which is the usual cause of poor contrast on a decent panel (apparent brightness is instead dimmed by restricting the range which ruins contrast). You can check that by turning the brightness up and seeing if contrast improves or whether the black areas get more grey as well.

Assuming you're not viewing the monitor at an angle (which will destroy contrast on most screens) then it's worth trying to reset the monitor to factory settings using the on screen display and see if that improved things, you can turn the brightness down after that but contrast is generally best left at it's default, even if it claims it can go higher.

Also, make sure your graphics card control panel is set to 0-255 rather than 16-235 and if it's nVidia has dynamic range unticked.

 

[Monty Burns]

Hey

thanks for the advice! Sadly, 2 of the monitors are currently in storage and the third i'm ordering will be for short term use at work until I get the other 2 out in a few weeks.

I'll check the display settings tonight (went straight home from work to the pub last night) when I get home but, in all honesty I don't think I know who makes my GFX card! When you say

Also, make sure your graphics card control panel is set to 0-255 rather than 16-235

would you happen to know which exact setting that might be on ATI? (Don't try too hard if you don't know, I might even have an Nvidia gfx card!)

In the meantime, i'll order another Iiyama then. I was on the edge of doing it anyway as three screen setups should really have the same screens and if your tweaks will lead me to better contrast, then job done!


Thank you for your help!!!

 

[EndlessWaves]

would you happen to know which exact setting that might be on ATI? (Don't try too hard if you don't know, I might even have an Nvidia gfx card!)

Looking at the catalyst control centre I can't actually find a separate setting, it looks to have been combined into the pixel format setting (under your monitor properties, for me it's called 'my digital flat panels'), you probably want 'full RGB' rather than 'limited RGB' but trying both won't do any harm.

In the meantime, i'll order another Iiyama then. I was on the edge of doing it anyway as three screen setups should really have the same screens and if your tweaks will lead me to better contrast, then job done! :thumbsup

They're just problems that may be there with your setup that are worth checking before you conclude that it's the screen at fault. The reviews online for that screen don't mention any contrast problems though so it may well be how you're using it (tilted away from you) or an inappropriate setting somewhere.