Re: filmscanners: pc monitors

[Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>]

Experience with hardware is, of course, a great help in providing sage 
advice.  My only caveat is that the high tech industry gets traded more 
often than chips in a poker game, and information a few years old can be 
based upon a past incarnation of a company.

In the recent example, NEC was once one of the top monitor 
manufacturers, although, as in most monitors of that day, their 
reliability was not what current ones provide.  However, there were 
major shake ups at NEC.  They over-expanded their reach, and had 
financial problems.  There buy-out of Packard Bell, probably the most 
notoriously unreliable product line in the "brand name" industry, 
dragged NEC to a new low, and I believe they even transferred their
monitor production to the Packard Bell end of the company, and so went 
the quality.  While Sony has kept their head well above water in most of 
their production changes, they have moved a lot of their manufacturing 
out of Japan and into the developing world.  Almost all their 
US/Canadian TVs are made in Mexico now.  Again, these shifts can affect 
the end result.  Sometimes, the expertise goes with the transfer, and 
things remain where they were. Sony has been better at this than others.

When Rollei moved their factories to Singapore in the 1970's all heck 
came down, and the company rapidly sent itself into bankruptcy from well 
deserved sagging sales.  Since then, the company has been owned by, and 
had factories move to England, back to Germany, and now I understand 
they are owned by Samsung, so I imagine the stuff is going to be made in 
Korea or ???

So, as much as one should always be grateful to people who can provide 
personal experience with a brand line, keep in mind that things can 
change rapidly in this industry, and the name on the box may hold little 
resemblance to the product inside.

Art


Eli Bowen wrote:

>       I have lots of experience with Nokia monitors, specifically the
> 445xi Plus. I do not recommend these monitors at all. A former employee here
> ordered a large number of them based on their impressive specs. They are not
> sharp, the screens seem excessively curved and they are difficult to look at
> for long periods of time. I would recommend almost anything rather than a
> Nokia. 
>       After about 7 years experience at home and in several businesses
> using various monitors and seeing 1) how easy they are to look at for long
> periods of time 2) how sharp and accurate they are 3) how long they maintain
> their brightness, contrast and color accuracy, I strongly recommend SONY
> monitors for any purchase in the low to medium price ranges.