Sharp LL-T171A - 17" 20ms Display !!

[Alan3]

Just saw this <A HREF="http://www.sharpsystems.com/products/lcd_monitors/15-17_inch/ll-t171a/" target="_new">Sharp LL-T171A</A> at Fry's. No DVI but only $500 and with a 20ms panel in it. Anyone tried this? It is a beautiful looking panel. And might be a nice replacement for the now impossible to find Hercules. After looking at the LCD specs it is the exact same panel that was in the Hercules PV, just sans DVI.

They also make a <A HREF="http://www.sharpsystems.com/products/lcd_monitors/18-20_inch/ll-t191A/" target="_new">19 inch version</A> of the panel that is 16ms for $700. I'm really not into the 16ms panels though after everything i've read from Tom's.
--
Edit: I'm gonna go grab one tomorrow. I like that I can just go to fry's and have them pull it out so I can see if any pixels are blown. And there is no restocking fee if I have to return it, so, no risk at all really.

I'll post my impressions tomorrow evening.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Alan3 on 02/25/04 11:06 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[nire]

The Hitachi CML175SXW2B has the HyDis panel and DVI. It's available at NewEgg and MonitorsDirect. For some reason, it hasn't got much attention.

 

[Alan3]

Thats a real nice deal at $435.00. I'd probably be interested if it was selling at a store that would let me make sure that it has no malfunctioning pixels before I take it home (the newegg page even says "Replacement or Refund for 8 or more DEAD PIXELS ONLY!". Bleh! All that says to me is hitachi bought a lot of the "bad" screens for a low price so they could undercut other makers, and newegg knows it) I'm also not nuts about the styling on that Hitachi unit, but then again, it is a lot cheaper pricewise. Do you have one or have you used it?

That sharp was a slick as can be design wise.. My only reservation is the analog only setup. However, some analog only panels have gotten the thumbs up from Tom's.

I wonder if the 16ms 19in panels are the same as the 16ms17in panels. I'd totally rather have that 19in sharp panel. But the whole bad press on the 16ms panels has me on guard. All the manufactuers like to tout that 16ms big and clear as if its better. But readers of Tom's know the dirty little secret.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Alan3 on 02/26/04 01:36 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jhnlngn]

Newegg's policy is 8 dead pixels for every LCD they sell.

 

[Alan3]

yipes... thats even worse than what the allotment is by many of the manufacturers. Pretty good reason for me not to buy from them. I do a lot of graphics work, dead pixels would drive me nuts.

 

[Guy]

nice i didnt know there were 19 inch "16ms" panels out. However that sharp is not a hydis panel if you download the data sheet it lists it as 16.2 mil colors

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by guy on 02/26/04 04:50 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[SorcererXIII]

Alan,

I know that most people only care about first person shooters, but can you post how it performs for 2d apps? I recently returned a "25 ms" dell because anything darker than 50% grey would smear whenver I scrolled or dragged a window in Photoshop (the smear was about 4 pixels long which I figure puts the "worst case" refresh at about 65 ms). It was intolerable! Even worse for 2d games, which I play a lot of. Then I went to CompUSA and looked at about 9 different monitors that all had the same problem. I've been hoping hydis will be my savior.

Tom

PS I thought that Hydis were capable of 16.7 million?

 

[Demi9OD]

I am sitting in front of a Sharp LL-T17D4-B and a NEC 1760v. The Sharp is connected via DVI, NEC in vga. The sharp is definately not using a Hydis panel, the blurring is slightly worse than the NEC. The NEC (AU panel) also scales MUCH better at lower resolutions. I will be returning them both though, even the best LCDs are not up to par yet for gaming. I'll stick with my 22" samsung 1200nf running 125hz at 1024*768 for games (fps junkie).

 

[Alan3]

Well just got it home. And I am super ultra pleased with this thing so far.

You mentioned the "LL-T17D4-B with DVI".... i can't speak for that model as I have the "LL-T171A-B analog only". It has identical specs to the HyDis panels in every respect.

Playing Quake, Unreal Tournament 2004, and a few MMORPGs I have no blurring/trailing that i can make out. I have to assume this is a HyDis panel. The picture is so much clearer and brighter than my previous 19" Sony Graphics Monitor that there is just no comparison. Totally 100% suitable for gaming in my opinion and I am a stickler for such things.

Things are a bit darker in games when you first start them up but setting their gamma fixes that fast (same as it was on my CRT only a bit more noticeable).

I tried dragging dark things around in photoshop and used it to test the black range and white rage which are both top notch. Everything is crispy clear so i'm definately not yearning for any DVI.

There is no way in hell i'm sending this puppy back. I'm a very happy customer =)

Also... i made sure they popped the box so i got one with no blown pixels. Really important to do if you plan on getting one.

Also, i'm using a GeForce 4 just for reference.

 

[Demi9OD]

The "D" denotes DVI and the "B" denotes black. I'd be suprised if our two models used a different screen, but stranger things have happened.

 

[Alan3]

ah yeah youre right. I somehow overlooked that. Intersting.

Other spects about it are the same, like the 430:1 contrast ratio. I'll be curious to see who really makes this panel. It could be the same company.

After I've tweaked it a bit more using the nVidia tools and set up some profiles for my windowed games everything is looking just super tight.

Played a bunch more UT, and still no sign of any ghosting or trails during fast turns. Great detail over my old CRT. Nice bright clean colors and full whites and blacks. Good shadow detail after making adjustments to both the monitor's OSD and nVidia's settings.

I never thought I'd see the day that I okay'd a flat panel for gaming, being a FPS addict. But I guess that day has come.

 

[Alan3]

I didn't even know you could get a DVI version of this panel. I didn't find it on their website so I figured one didn't exist. How/when did you get yours?

 

[SorcererXIII]

I think it *could* be a different panel. Notice:

LL-T171A LL-T17D4-B

One says "171" and the other is "17". On sharp's website there is a whole line of 17A3, 17A4, 17D3, etc. and only one that starts with "171" (yours). However, they all have the same stats. But that other monitor someone posted here (can't look at the post just now) actually said "Hydis" in its stats.

Still I don't think I'm ready to believe anything until Tom's Hardware reviews it. Let's hope that promised monthly comparison comes out soon.

 

[Alan3]

Just following up. Been using this montior for a full week now. And its awesome. I've been playing mostly the UT2004 Demo as well as Anarchy Online. I use it for photoshop pretty heavily. The thing is just awesome and has completely replaced any need for my old CRT! No blurring, smearing, streaking, trails, ghosting, etc. An awesome buy.

 

[midiman]

I agree, I have Sharp LL-T17D4-B DVI version, I have been using it for ut2004 and other games. It is very nice. Read my post "Hercules ProphetView 920 Pro = Sharp LL-T17A4 !?!? " for details

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/ce/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=17372#17372