monitor contrast ratios and resolution

[drdenby]

I am getting confused looking into monitors.

Looking back at the topics of a couple years ago, it seems that the D contrast isn't important. But, it has to mean something right?

Surely a 300million to 1 is better than a "mere" 80million right? What does the numbers actually mean?

Is the static really the only thing to be looking at? How important is a 100 or 200 to one difference once its above say 1000?

How high should resolution on a monitor be? In fact what do those resolution numbers mean?

One last thing, has everything gone "wide screen" now ?

I don't really "game", but I would like to watch movies and such and play my few games with the best affordable quality. What should I look for in a monitor if I have this graphics card
geforce gt610,1gb,64bit and 8gb of system RAM?

I would appreciate advice, thanks

 

[jnewegger23]

First, decide on what size monitor you want. Most monitors run a standard refresh rate of 60hz. More colors typically means more color accuracy. Response time is another thing to look for; the lower the better - less chance of "ghosting". I am really simplifying a lot of concepts here but I think it gets the point across. Also decide on what kind of budget you have. You can spend $90 or $9000.
Most resolutions are of the 1920x1080p variety for HD. 4k ultra hd is out now and will probably be an industry standard in the coming years but that should take a while as they are still very expensive. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 1280x720p in terms of screen resolution. What all this means is how many pixels are across your screen horizontally and vertically. Obviously the more pixels, the greater the definition.
Hope this clears up most of it and helps point you in the right direction.

 

[drdenby]

Thanks for explaining resolution.

What of all the contrast ratios and what they mean?

and also now that I am looking, what of pixel pitches?

What advice on a monitor I should be looking for given my system and basic requirements?

 

[jnewegger23]

Dynamic contrast ratio is a measure of the maximum possible color range between white and black shades. It requires a special feature within a monitor that adjusts the brightness of the display to maximize the picture quality.
So an example would be if you watch a movie with lots of shadows and dark, a processor within the unit increases the brightness to improve contrast. Monitors with this feature can theoretically provide a much higher contrast ratio than standard models.

Think of pixel pitch as color density. The more colors you can fit with in the same area the better but this number is manipulated incorrectly for marketing purposes by different companies. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_pitch

I would set a budget, find the highest resolution (ie 1920x1080) with the lowest response time (ex 1ms is better than 5ms gtg and so on), with the highest contrast ratio, the most colors, the best reviews at a size the largest size you can afford within that budget. Obviously if you find more than one within your budget and everything above is exactly the same then focus more on the reviews and other specs but I wouldn't focus too much on things like dot pitch over a solid review. If all is equal and there is no review then utilize what you've learned here to discern between your choices. Hope this helps! If you tell me a specific $ amount or range to look in I will see what I can recommend!

 

[drdenby]

Thanks for the answer again.

I notice that you say "Monitors with this feature can theoretically provide a much higher contrast ratio than standard models."

Is there a reason you say theoretically?

Also, how important is the other contrast ratio? the static one? what does this one control if the dynamic controls the other things you mentioned?

 

[Malignant PC]

He said theoretically because dynamic contrast ratio can be used as a marketing ploy to make you go WOW, that is a high number, when in reality, a high Static (native) contrast ratio is much more important.

The Static contrast ratio is the most important because it is the difference between the amount of black and white that can be displayed at one time. To explain this, imagine looking at a picture of a big city at night. The city is very black in most areas but is also illuminated by street lights. With a high Static contrast, you will be able to still have those bright street lights AND the darkness of the night in one picture. It is literally the range of white to black that can be displayed on a monitor.

Dynamic contrast ratio works to enhance Static, so having a low Static contrast ratio with a high Dynamic contrast ratio really will not look half as good as a monitor with a great Static ratio.

 

[drdenby]

Thank you for this help and for the link. It is a shame that there is no standard for which to compare. If I am understanding right, the manufactures can basically cherry pick any ratios to list.

 

[Malignant PC]

Dynamic contrast ratio is really just a marketing ploy to get people to buy a certain monitor without knowing what the technology does. There is no way to measure dynamic contrast ratio unless benchmarked and all companies can generate as high of a number as they like.

The static contrast ratio is measurable and is comparable between different brands. A good contrast ratio for an LCD or IPS monitor would be around 1000:1.