Help: About to buy Acer 17" LCD monitor for console gaming

[Sega Ages]

After a week or so of research in the area of LCD monitors, I think I know what I want for my Playstation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox, Gamecube and older consoles.

Sadly XRGB-2 converters only sound like they convert 60hz NTSC signals, and I need something that vga-converts both 60hz NTSC and 50hz PAL. So instead of using a vga-converter I will be using native S-Video.

I've selected this display from Acer's professional series, which has a 20ms HyDis panel that apparently has slightly less ghosting than most of the latest 12ms panels...

Acer AL1731 monitor

http://tinyurl.com/56fp5

The res on this monitor is 1280 x 1024. I plan to use native VGA for the few consoles that support it (Dreamcast, Gamecube?) and S-Video for the rest. I hope it autoscales decently to full screen...

I don't think it has native 90 degree tilt for vertical shooters but these things are light enough to pick up and rotate as-is (more so than a CRT is anyway).

I will probably buy it in a few days, so if anyone has any experienced comments/suggestions let me know please.

[Pij]

Its worth finding out if the panel can accept a 15.625Khz frequency, im guessing they can (but i dont really know) as then instead of using S-video you could use a Scart to vga converter (link)

[Crossed fingers]

Joytech have got a universal TFT Monitor for about ?149.99, saw it inGames TM issue 22. They say it supports Pal 50,60 and NTSC and composite, S video and RGB input. However its only a seven inch screen!

[Tom Salter]

I hope it autoscales decently to full screen...

They never do. VGA inputs from consoles (usually 640x480 at most for Dreamcast...) looks terrible on a TFT - each screen pixel has to be interpolated across many physical pixels, making it look awful. 2D games look incredibly bad on them. Obviously consoles that run in the native TFT resolution look good - but these are limited to Xbox and a handful of GC/PS2 games.

[gunrock]

I actually have one of these for my gaming needs. I bought it about 9 months ago and I'm pretty much pleased with it.

Make no mistake, though, it will not look as good as a CRT (TV or monitor) with an RGB signal.

Now, the good news! I use it for gaming and PC have not experienced any ghosting (even at NTSC/PAL-60) and colour representation is good. Here's how I have it hooked up:

Xbox, Gamecube, PS1 (all PAL) - through a Quintro Scart selector into a JS Technology RGB->SVideo convertor and into the SVIDEO on the monitor.
Dreamcast (JAP) - using VGA box to analog VGA port on monitor.
N64 (PAL) - to composite in (I know) on monitor.
PC - Radeon 9600 into DVI port

Colour reproduction
SVideo
About as good as can be expected, some softness and a little fringing on fully saturated colours, though calibrating the monitor using a THX disc can help. Did look a bit washed out until a did this. Get a good quality cable, too, it does make a difference.
8/10

Analog VGA
The Dreamcast VGA adapter produces vibrant colours and no fringing or noise problems.
9/10

DVI
Wicked.
10/10

Composite
As to be expected. Crap. The colours fringe and bleed all over the joint. Not good. A good cable makes little difference.
3/10

Scaling
SVideo/Composite
The scaling works quite well, doesn't soften up the image too much, playing KOTOR or Beyond G&E on GC thing look quite good.
7/10

VGA (Dreamcast)
Not too bad. 2D games show up this the most and Mr Driller looks suprisingly good.
8/10

Anyway, this is all my opinion. I paid about 375 quid for it back in January.

Hope this helps,

Gunrock

[NeilMcRae]

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147246

[NeilMcRae]

also you may want to consider this to do the scaling as it will be far better than the inbuilt one:

http://www.av-sales.com/html/brite-view.html

i used to have one that I used with the CRT VGA and it was fantastic.

Neil.

[Sega Ages]

Thanks for the info so far, especially gunrock that was far more details than I expected to get. so far I like the sound of this LCD

[gunrock]

also you may want to consider this to do the scaling as it will be far better than the inbuilt one:

http://www.av-sales.com/html/brite-view.html

i used to have one that I used with the CRT VGA and it was fantastic.

Neil.

But Neil, do you have to worry about audio delay, as these scalers add a varying degree of delay in the video signal (obvious really, can't do something without it taking some time)? In other words, was it perceptible and did you have to use an amp with a few millisecond delay, or something like a behringer delay unit?

I considered getting one, but the cost and reported issues (I think these have been addressed in the newer firmwares), plus the fact that'd I have to buy a RGB->Component convertor meant that I gave it a miss (need an extra plug socket too - with five consoles, monitor, 5 way scart switch, PC with printer etc, surround sound amp and cordless headphones - I was running short of mains plug sockets!

Gunrock