Which Monitor should I use?

Not all monitors are created equal, and which one you choose will greatly depend on your budget, and the results that are possible to achieve. Most people will start with their existing monitor, though. We will not provide a ‘Buyer’s Guide’ here, but a quick checklist of specifications to look for.

CRT Screens

Firstly, the phosphors in Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors do wear out over time. This explains why we recommend you reprofile your monitor every other week, and also why there comes a time when a monitor may not be bright enough for accurate colour work. Some software (e.g. that found in the Spyder2PRO kit) will alert you if your screen is not bright enough and disable certain higher accuracy modes. Remember, a profile can not fix poor hardware, but it should help you get the best of whatever you have.

Ideally, you should look for a monitor with individual (RGB) gun control. This means that you can control the colour temperature of the monitor hardware far more accurately than those monitors that offer preset colour temperatures (e.g. an old Dell Trinitron monitor we had offered presets of 5000K and 9500K which is not ideal if you want 6500K). The advantage of having a monitor with such controls is that you are getting the monitor as close as possible to the target colour temperature, leaving the profile with little work to do (that it should then be able to do more accurately). The converse situation is that the monitor hardware is so way off the mark that the profile is maxed-out trying to bring the profile back to the target that it is less likely it can do it accurately. You should also watch out for monitors that only provide partial gun-control. One of our old Iiyama monitors only allowed control of the Red and Blue guns, and this created great problems getting the green to balance out in the colour temperature settings.

For CRT screens, consider a flat screen too, as this will ultimately assist you in colour management, as they make reflections and incident light easier to control. Remember that excess ambient light on your screen will certainly undo the efforts you went to to profile the monitor in the first place! Consider an extreme example of this, when the sun lights up you television screen - viewing becomes impossible as the reflected sunlight from the screen swamps the colours emitted by the phosphors.

Consider NEC / Mitsubishi / LaCie as starting points for colour controllable CRT screens (though look at specifications closely as they do vary by price as you might expect).

LCD / TFT / Flat Screens

For LCD screens, everyone seems to be a little less certain about what to look for. This is because there are no ‘guns’ to control and there tend to be fewer with controls for contrast and such. Our understanding suggests that LCD screens are one area where quality control is all important, and that this probably accounts for the vast range in prices from one LCD to another; a cheap LCD may cost as little as £300, where an Apple Cinema display can cost £2000!

We understand is that Apple put a lot of quality control into their monitors such that they are tested to ensure the colour accuracy on each side of each screen is the same; and they also calibrate the hardware before leaving the factory. This may also be true of other manufacturers who’s quality control failures get passed on down the line, eventually to be made into a cheaper monitor!

But some base specifications appear to be: minimum viewing angle of 120º Horizontally and vertically, and a contrast ratio of at least 250:1

Something to be aware of with LCD screens are the tolerance factors effecting ‘failed pixels’. Due to the manufacturing techniques of LCD screens, it is extremely difficult to produce a screen with every pixel being perfect. There is an ISO standard 13406-2 that can be used to specify how well the monitor is specified in this regard. Be aware that the presence of this ISO standard in a monitor’s specifications does not seem to guarantee you a screen with no failed pixels. Rather, the ‘Class’ of the monitor, as defined under that standard, defines the manufacturing tolerance (or acceptable limits for) the number of failed pixels, placement, and type. Unfortunately, manufacturers seem keen to put the ISO standard number in their specifications, but NOT the class that the monitor meets. Odd! As such, this is a major caveat for the buyer. Be warned!

Here is a very interesting link to the NEC Mitsubishi page on the subject of ISO13406-2

Please note that MWORDS has closed. We aim to retain these support pages in the hope that they may benefit our past customers, but regret that we can no longer offer further comment or support in relation to the information above.