Question About Dell 2405FPW Monitor
 

I have a question about the Dell 2405FPW 24 Inch LCD monitor.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=22&l=en&s=dfh

Is it HD?
Does it support HD?

I just got an ATI Radeon X700 PRO 256MB (AGP 8x/4x) graphics card a couple of days ago. So now I want to get a new monitor that will last for years, and has great picture quality.

I'm wondering if this monitor is HD. I have a Sony HDR-HC1 HDV camcorder and I don't have a HD monitor/TV in my house. I spend all my time on my computer, so I want my first HD display to be for my computer.

The max resolution for this monitor is 1920x1200. 1080i HDV video is 1920x1080. So does this mean that this LCD monitor is HD? I know my grpahics card will display this monitor's native resolution perfectly. I'm just so confused with this monitor. It doesn't show anywhere if it's HD or not. So can anybody here who has this monitor tell me if it is?

Also, another question.

Should I connect this LCD monitor through the DVI port on my graphics card, or the VGA port?

I suppose the DVI is better quality? On the bottom of my graphics card box, where it lists the resolutions, theres a note at the bottom that says,

"NOTE: resolutions are limited by the performance of the attached monitor. DVI-I monitors will be limited to 1600x1200."

Should I ignore this warning and connect it into my DVI port becuase the monitors input is DVI-D, and not DVI-I?

i have the 2405FPW and love it. i guess its HD i've plugged my z1 in via the RGB and it looks amazing, and playing the HD footage through the dvi and computer is pretty much the same result. great monitor.

I don't have a HD monitor, but I have a HDV camcorder. So I think it's time to get one. I'll definitely be looking at the Dell 2405FPW as my first choice.

Also, I see that the native resolution of this monitor is 1920x1200, which is 16:10. Widescreen video is 16:9. I read somewhere that if I connect my Sony HDR-HC1 via the component input on the monitor, there will still be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, even though the monitor is widescreen. I don't think there will be a problem when I view my HDV video files on the computer because I can just change the resolution. Should I steer clear of this monitor, or go ahead and get it?

This is - without a doubt - the best value/price ratio for any editing monitor! It will display (pixel for pixel) the HD image from your camera. Yes the monitor is 1920x1200 and 1080i is 1920x1080 so there are still slight 'black bars' on a 16:9 image. The colour rendition (once setup correctly) is fantastic for an LCD, especially a 'consumer one'. You can do no wrong going with this monitor. Best of luck.

Any visible bars would only be about 1 cm top and bottom and completely negligable in my opinion. A lot of broadcast monitors are adjusted to show the entire overscan area of the picture and have thin black bands surrounding the entire image on purpose.

I think I'm going to wait a couple of months to see if anything better comes out. I'm going to have to wait anyway to save some money.

Take a look at the Sony 234 or the new Sony Luma series. The 234 is about $1800 US and the Luma of comparable size is closer to 5 kilobucks US as I recall.

Why would you find minimal black bars objectionable as long as you're seeing the full image in full resolution and the screen is filled edge-to-edge in one of either the vertical or horizontal directions? You get the same phenomenon when viewing DVDs on a wide screen monitor - a movie shot in theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio is going to have bars on the top and bottom when you view it on a 16:9 screen unless you magnify it and lop off part of the image on the sides, something I'm loath to do. There's nothing magical about the screen's bezel that it requires the image to touch it (as long as the image edges are clean and sharp).

OK, I guess I can live with the black bars. But I'm still going to have to wait a couple of months to save up for it. By the time I get enough money, there will probably be something better. So we'll have to wait and see what happens.

I don't know about "better", but it's a pretty safe bet that LCD monitors will get cheaper if you wait... :-)