LCD Monitor/VGA Box Recommendations

[BulletMagnet]

Wondered if anyone could help me on this...it's nothing urgent, but I'm considering "upgrading" (at some point, probably not particularly soon) from my current Commodore 1084 to an LCD monitor with a rotate-able monitor via a VGA box, for easier "tate-ability" and no need for non-standard cables. I'm less than knowledgable (to say the least) on these matters, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend any good (and as inexpensive as possible) models for me to keep an eye out for...no real bells and whistles necessary, really, except that the monitor has the be able to tilt left (I've seen a few that only tilt right, most tate games don't support that direction). Any suggestions/warnings anyone has would be appreciated.

[D]

Sorry I can't be of any more help, but DELL pc monitors tate to the left, but their max resolution is 1280 * 1024, but you can put them on 1280 * 960 which is double the 640 * 480. Indeed be very carefull on what to get. Always bring your DC with power chord and the VGA box + vga to test the image quality, for lcd tv's however the image quality varies immense between different models. And lastly I do think that on a lcd everything will always look blocky, except for maybe the highest XBOX360 resolution. It's all a matter of image quality vs space. If you want good quality and you have space I suggest having two monitors/tv's. If you don't have alot of space, you'll have to go for less quality.
I guess alot of us are still deciding, me too. But I'm thinking more in terms of a tv with VGA support, maybe even those HD Ready sets, but I still have to see the image quality for myself and bring my VGA cable! And I should bring my Saturn too, to check if lo-res is displayed properly. And for those that get a tv set make sure there is a service menu and that you know the code for that service menu.

[BulletMagnet]

DELL pc monitors tate to the left

Actually, the couple of aforementioned right-tilt-only monitors I mentioned in my first post were both Dells...maybe they were just the wrong models...

but their max resolution is 1280 * 1024, but you can put them on 1280 * 960 which is double the 640 * 480. Indeed be very carefull on what to get.

Image quality isn't a huge deal for me, as long as I can see clearly what's going on I'm not particularly picky about exact resolutions and whatnot (it's preferable, certainly, but as long as it doesn't make a game unplayable I can probably live with it...if not, I can always play that game on the Commodore).

But I'm thinking more in terms of a tv with VGA support

I'm going to try to stick with a monitor if possible, so as to avoid any potential "issues" when putting it in tate, just to be safe.

Thanks for the contribution.

[BulletMagnet]

Bit of an "update," if you will...I've checked around several stores in my area to see if they carry VGA boxes, but noplace seems to have them (the closest I found was one with an S-Video connection, but nothing with VGA). As it stands, it looks like I'll probably have to look around online...

Another thing I found of semi-interest was a monitor stand, sold by itself, which apparently had a whole bunch of different ranges of movement on it (not sure if counter-clockwise tilt was one of them). This was the first time I'd seen one: apparently you can de-attach the screen of an LCD monitor from the stand it comes with and plotz it onto the more vertasile one...anyone have any idea how much work is involved/how many monitors are compatible with this?

[Michaelm]

This was the first time I'd seen one: apparently you can de-attach the screen of an LCD monitor from the stand it comes with and plotz it onto the more vertasile one...anyone have any idea how much work is involved/how many monitors are compatible with this?

Allmost all I believe. I think it's what they call the VESA standard.
75x75 I believe it is.
And then you can have 100x100 but usualy there's a couple plate that allows you to use both measures.
I have such a versatile arm and it's great. I can tilt either way.
But if you want to be safe just ask if the monitor you have in mind supports those arms when you buy it.

[Leroy]

First of all, if you're going to do LCD in portrait (or "tate") mode you HAVE to get one that has a PVA or a IPS panel. Most of the monitors out there now use have a TN panel which are fast but have poor colors and poor viewing angles. The viewing angle is what killed it for me, I bought a Samsung 204B and putting it in portrait mode made half the screen black. Since I upgraded monitors for this function primarily I took it back. After some research I choose the Samsung 204T. I don't know what's in your area but I finally found one at a Sam's Club (you can check their site to see if any in your area have it in stock). They're a year old and these things come in six month cycles, so most places I went to were out of them. The 204T has an S-PVA panel, which has a 178 degree viewing angle, unless you try HARD, any way you look at this monitor it's going to be pretty clean. Also, it's 4:3. Under 20" LCDs are 5:4, hooking up a DC or PS2 via VGA would probably result in a *slightly* distorted image (or letterboxing). Finally, it rotates with no extra equipment needed. I primarily use MAME on it, but I intend to hunt down a VGA adapter for the PS2 at some point.. but keep in mind that the VGA connection will probably NOT run in the monitors native resolution of 1600x1200, so you'll get some slight bilinear filtering running a lower resolution on it (I've been trying to find a software that will scale resolutions up without filtering like MAME does, but am empty handed).

[Leroy]

Here's why viewing angle on an LCD is important for tate mode. I TRIED to get the pictures as similar as I could.. but since one monitor is back at Best Buy I had to settle for what I already had there. Notice in the first picture on the left side the pink bullets are almost all white and on the right side they're pink as they should be. Now, the camera didn't pick up the angle quite so well.. but looking at that straight on with your eyes the left side would be colored properly and the right side would be mostly blackened, it's VERY noticeable. Now, on the bottom picture you'll see the pink bullets are all the same color of pink from left to right. The pictures do neither justice (at how bad the 204B looks or how good the 204T looks) but it's the best example I could give. The 204T also has better colors and is about 100 times sharper too. But that should hold true of almost any TN vs. PVA panel you look at if you're not interested in a Samsung. Regardless of what you get, make sure it has a 170 or above verticle viewing angle.. if you're looking at monitors at the store duck down and look up at them, the ones that turn black stay away from (which will be most of them). From my research almost all current 5:4 (19" and below) and 4:3 (20" and up) LCDs are TN panels.. the PVA and IPS panels seem to be dedicated to the 16:10 widescreen LCDs (but not all of them).

[BulletMagnet]

Thanks for the input. The sold-alone stands I mentioned in my last post can be adjusted in pretty much any direction, so if I went with one of those that likely wouldn't be a problem...in fact, every monitor I've found which even has the counter-clockwise tilt feature (both of the ones you show seem to be clockwise) are able to tilt everywhere anyways, seeing as the aforementioned feature seems to be so rare that it's only found on specialized models to begin with. Wonder who decided that clockwise tilt was more "standard" than the other direction...figures that most of my games only support the other direction, heh heh.