Elmar Pinkhardt
Auf-dem-Kreuz 24
89073 Ulm
Germany
Tel: (0731)21905
0170 474 3369
E-Mail: elmar.pinkhardt@student.uni-ulm.de
elmarpinkhardt@gmx.de
elmar.pinkhardt@arcormail.de
-----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
Von: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]Im Auftrag von Frank Paris
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 8. Marz 2001 15:55
An: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Betreff: RE: filmscanners: Puzzled about display resolution
Wht does it mean to optimize a screen to a refresh rate? What is acceptable
is whether you can't notice flicker and can sit in the front of the monitor
for hours without getting a headache. It's the bottom line that counts, not
specs. What is bothersome varies from person to person. For me, 75 Hz is
enough. But it's a combination of refresh rate and sharpness that prevents
fatigue. If I ran my monitor at 85 Hz with the same resolution, I would wear
out over the course of the day, because the monitor isn't as sharp AT MY
CHOSEN RESOLUTION at 85 Hz.
Well,what I wanted to say is, that the geometry settings are set with 85 Hz
(thats why most monitor tests are made using 85 Hz) by the manufacturer. Try
(just for fun) to adjust e.g. 1600X1200 with 100 Hz, you will have to
enlarge or minimize the square size. Then draw a square, is it really a
square what you see?
Hitachi and Cornerstone recommend 1856x1392 for their top end 21" monitors.
Those monitors are *designed* for those resolutions.
The one thing is what monitors are able display the other thing is what they
are physically able to display, that is dependent of the dot pitch. To be
able to view real 1600x1200 you need a 21' with something about 0.25
dotpitch.
The "high-end" Hitachy has a maximum dotpitch of 0.24. So you will get
something more than 1600x1200 physically but I think you won't get
1856X1392. (Somewhere I have the formula to caclculate it correctly, but I
can't find it at the moment). IMHO all the specs by the manufacturer like
2048*1536 (like Hitachy or Iiyama) just says that out of the highest
possible refresh rates it is POSSIBLE to run these resolutions, if it is
usefull is a very different question.
Running more than the physically possibe is like having a midrange flatbed
scanner that "is able" to scan with 2400 ppi, you will loose detail
sharpness.
That's usually true. But for example the highest possible resolutions of the
Hitachi and Cornerstone top end monitors is 2048x1536. In order to get a top
quality image at 1856x1392 these monitors have to be designed to display an
even higher resolution image. It *works* at those higher resolutions, but by
then lines begin to get fuzzy and viewer fatique is going to be the price.
But at 1856x1392, everything is razor sharp and contrast is high. And since
those monitors will run at 75 Hz at those resolutions without sacrificing
sharpness, you can work with them 12 hours a day without getting fatigued at
those resolutions.
Never say never. Don't be a Luddite. Here is a quote from an email I sent
out to someone privately yesterday that I mean to be public for this list
discussing these issues:
Of course you are right, I should never say never.
It is always best to run your monitor at the highest resolution you can
before the letters start getting blurry due to limited bandwidth of the
video card or monitor itself (not due to failure of your eyesight!). Then
set your fonts in the Control Panel/Display/Advanced/General to 125%. If
that's still too small, use the Other... selection in the dropdown to
customize the font size. The reason you want to do this is so that the
pixels are as small as possible. This makes more pixels available for
creating the fonts of the point size you need (as measured on the screen) to
read comfortably, and then the characters are better rounded and easier on
the eyes. It also makes bitmaps appear smoother since the pixel size will be
smaller. Finally, there is less scrolling around to examine full-sized
images. These are fundamental issues that for some reason are not widely
appreciated, but should be easily understood by members of the filmscanner
list since we're all up on resolution, etc. But remember my caveat: don't
push your monitor to the point where lines start looking fuzzy, because then
you're exceeding the capability of your hardware.
Well, no comment. With up to date monitors the bandwith should never be the
problem...
BUT the pixels can't get smaller than the dotpitch....
Frank Paris
marshalt@spiritone.com
