LCD Rant on LIVEdigitally

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.livedigitally.com/2005/01/lcds-love-hate-relationship.html' target='_blank'>http://www.livedigitally.com/2005/01/lcds-love-hate-relationship.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Now what defines faulty in a TFT? Simply put: a single dot on screen known as a 'dead' or 'hot' pixel. In the LCD assembly process, the automated assembly lines pack together millions of transistors in a 'thin film', a very delicate process indeed. The fact that certain pixels get 'dislodged' or stuck can not be helped due to the microscopic nature of transistors. Once a pixel is either dislodged or stuck, you can consider it a gone case, there is no way to fix it. Unfortunately, most manufacturers do not discard such LCDs. In fact, some think it is perfectly acceptable for an LCD to have up to seven, (yes seven) dead pixels on a display! This means up to seven visible, dead, pixels, on your screen, all the time. Now I don't know how many of you think this is outrageous but I certainly cannot work on a TFT where I have to live with even a single black, white, red, green or yellow dot. It gets even worse: some LCDs get assembled perfectly. But they still might develop dead pixels over time! I use a lot of laptops at work, and have recently had some quite bad experiences. Let's start from the top..."</i><br /><br />Wow, this guy has bad luck with dead pixels! I feel his pain though - there's nothing worse than finding a dead/stuck pixel on an LCD screen, because once you see it, you'll always know it's there. Sitting around me right now are five LCD screens, and thankfully none of them have bad pixels. That I can see at least. Ok, now I'm terrified... 8O

[Chris Gohlke]

My three laptops are all ok; However, I have one bright blue dot on my desktop LCD at home. Most people would be hard pressed to find it, but once I knew it was there, it just sticks out. It is most noticable on a dark background.

[bluemax]

Ok, so LCDs are cool. They are sleek and thin and have a real cool factor that is hard to beat. But, they have a lot of problems that leave me wanting an old fashioned CRT.

1) They never get really black. About the best they can do is a very dark gray.
2) They never get dark. There's always this hint of light leaking in around the edges.
3) Bad Pixels. Some manufacturers allow as many as 7 or 8 bad pixels but some allow as many as 7 or 8 percent! The issue is so common that some retailers won't take them back for bad pixels.
4) Slow response. Yeah, it's getting better but it still has a long way to go.
5) They are expensive. 19" LCD $500+ 19" CRT $200-

So, I've cleared some desk space, gave back the LCD and bought a CRT and I'm happy. No glaring strips of light at the edges of the display. Black where it's supposed to be black. Great contrast and bright clear image.

Bill B