TFT monitors (vga/dvi/hd = confused!)
 

I've just upgraded my PC to a brand new, super one... so that's one very happy man here in the UK then! (see, we're not all miserable!)

believe it or not, i'm only now in my life just switching over to duo-monitor editing! trouble is, i've suddenly got confused with all the TFT options out there on the market.

I currently have one with a VGA connector, which I slot into the 7600GT graphics card with a DVI-VGA converter....no probs.

But am i 'supposed' to have TFTs with DVI connectors? does it matter?? can i stick with the VGA ones? I plan to be editing in HD properly so I need to get this right!

many thanks, and apologies if I'm being thick on this one!

(and i remember the days when 'VGA' was 256 colours...strange why it's still called that!)

ill babble on in a minute... on the fone now mate......

As far as I know, VGA will only handle low-to-mid range resolutions so you definitely want DVI in your monitor. Dell has great prices on high resolution DVi monitors that are of good quality. Be careful to look for not only the connector type (VGA vs DVI) but also the resolution of the monitor. Yor going to want as high as you can afford, in my opinion, and close to 1920x1200 if possible.

my other question to people out there is, what do you think about widescreen Vs square TFTs? Any preference for editing?

cheers

UK Good Prices
 

HI Richard,

As you are in the UK you should look at www.novatech.co.uk as they have some really nice widescreen monitors and great prices.

Keep an eye out for the viewsonic range, they have tremendous colour...

IMO people make a big a deal about DVI vs VGA connections when in actuality, if your monitor is SXGA and under (1280x1024 = ~1:1 720p - the most common resolution for 19" lcd monitors) you will NOT notice a clarity difference between DVI or VGA since the resolution is still considered 'low'.

Fine text will look indentical regardless of connection type for that resolution.

If have a monitor that is SXGA/WSXGA+(1400x1050/1650x1050)+ and higher (UXGA/WUXGA) then yes I would recommend using a DVI connection.

I believe SXGA resolution is enough to fit enough of the application on screen while being able to still preview 720P HD in native resolution, in short the resolution is good enough to edit and preview HD (@ least 720P HD).

Note that VGA & Single Link DVI both have the same maximum resolution, which is WUXGA 1920x1200 (this is 1:1 1080p).

If you go higher resolution then native 1080p, you will venture into totally different territory as you'll need a dual link DVI setup which will require 2 video cards running in tandem & a monitor that is native WQXGA (~2650x1600 if i recall correctly - i think is considered 2K resolution); both Dell & Apple 30" widescreens monitors are available @ this resolution for consumers but are IMO expensive - I do want one one day tho :)... hehe

In short, for your monitor (having only a VGA connector) it is likely to be SXGA resolution, thus even if it had a DVI connector it would make no difference.

I prefer widescreen as I get to fit more on the timeline, but I really like widescreen becuase all my work is in 1080HD, & I use the 2405WFP dell which is basically 1080p, so I can use my monitor to preview everything in native resolution.

Thanks Michael....really helpful replies

i'm actually shooting in widescreen, and i'd love a longer timeline, so widescreen is definitely more tempting right now :)