Reply #8: Ghosting, etc ...

[RoyGBiv]

This is the issue that started me getting irritated at spec sheets, advertisements, and salespeople. I'm a gamer too, and I will not live with something that makes the gaming an irritating experience. (I spent more on my mouse than I did on my printer because I wanted high performance.) A combination of factors go into making an LCD or plasma screen that doesn't ghost to where you'd notice it at all. That is, it's not just response time, although that can be a factor, especially for gamers when those response times go over 8ms. From what I've read, 16ms can be acceptable if a variety of other factors, including what you mention with the physical screen, are met, but exactly what those factors are is hard (for me) to determine. Very few of the large screens do 8ms that aren't just outrageously expensive, and on the other hand, even some 8ms monitors will ghost badly because of the way the screen is made. And it all just gets so frustrating.

Eventually I'm sure LCDs will appear that are targeted toward gamers, and what goes into making a good one for those gamers will become clear from reviews and testimonials. At the moment, it just seems to be a crap shoot.

What can also be irritating is that with any monitor of any type, knowing how it will perform really boils down to seeing it in action. Try sometime to get a salesperson to let you fire up Quake 4 or something on a store system for a demo of a monitor. Specialty stores might allow it, I suppose, but the salespeople in stores I've visited tend to blow me off when they realize I'm not just going to trust the script of their sales pitch.

And this, of course, gets me back to what I've decided to purchase. I understand the technology in this monitor I'm eying. I've seen one of that specific model in action. I'm taking a risk because of the refurb, but it's a risk I'm willing to take at this point.

If y'all are interested, I'll let you know how the experience goes. I ordered it last night, and FedEx gives an ETA of Friday. The first hurdle passed well. The site took my order and got it to FedEx in less than 24 hours, and judging from the weight of the package FedEx says it is delivering to me, it is at least something close to what I ordered...or possibly a slab of granite. :-) Just getting your merchandise shipped can be a huge issue with some of these online stores, so I'm confident so far.