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Author Topic: 32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!  (Read 3072 times)

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aevans0001

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32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!
« on: November 20, 2018, 07:15:31 pm »
Ok, so my plan is to purchase a 32" monitor for my arcade this week.  I would like it to be LCD, 32", have hdmi in, preferrably power up with the arcade.  What else should I look for?  I will be using it to run Mame primarily, but also some other emulators and other games.  I am not interested in 4k (due to price).

I was looking at these monitors.  Do I want IPS monitors?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/philips-e-line-323e7qdab-32-ips-led-fhd-monitor-glossy-black/5770305.p?skuId=5770305

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-d3218hn-32-ips-led-fhd-monitor-black-silver/6293721.p?skuId=6293721

I am not set on either of these, just using them as an example.  Thanks!

 

JDFan

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Re: 32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2018, 08:26:43 pm »

scottieb313

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Re: 32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2018, 12:26:12 pm »
Looking at a 32 inch monitor too, what made you choose these?  I see the Dell has a 8ms response time which I would think is not ideal?

schmerzkaufen

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Re: 32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2018, 02:48:49 pm »
$154 that's dirt cheap!

Quoted reponse time means nothing, the type (TN/VA/IPS) and quality of panel, and efficiency/balance of the pixel overdrive are way more important.
Lag of course is also important.
You will know about those only thanks to competent reviews on serious dedicated websites (in 99% cases product descriptions don't reveal anything useful about actual performance, quality and compatibility, and customer reviews are ridiculous garbage. amazon, newegg, bestbuy, whatever no exception)

Compatibility with off-60Hz video modes is crucial depending on what you'll feed that display.
that you will know only with experience and community feedback, because reviewers don't bother testing retro gaming hardware.
the VX3276-mhd (aka VX321-mh) is the only 32"monitor I know in advance to be very liberal about refresh rates, but they say being a thin-bezel design IPS it is plagued with frequent bleeding backlight defect.

Note: ppl who really hate backlight bleed and don't want to risk having to return a monitor, should go for VA panels instead of IPS.
They're slower panels, not ideal for the fastest moving games, but a safer purchase more immediately satisfying (which is why most LCD TVs sport VA panels)

AAAAAAAAAnyway....man, $154  ;D  for the price I'd say f* rationality and give it a try.

drun

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schmerzkaufen

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Re: 32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2018, 05:28:04 am »
Rtings reviewed it, their reviews are not very competent because plagued by garbage biased nonsense and ratings based on that (the irony) but at the very least the various tests results can be useful for advised readers to make an opinion.

http://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/dell/d3218hn

Response and lag are as good as the average Full-HD IPS in that category and as much as you can expect from a basic display these days (there are faster 60Hz IPS around but not significantly @32", or you have to go for smaller in 27" or 24")
Uniformity, colors, reflective coating, might disappoint those expecting a perfect picture. But monitors twice that price in the same category aren't necessarily better.
(really outstanding models are rare exceptions that happen almost only by accident, not because manufacturers really intended X o Y model to be a superior product, and price is also rarely an indication of quality)

Of course what you don't know about is the handling of arcades/retro off-60Hz modes.
The only way to be sure is to go for a monitor already known to be ok for arcades and such (like the ViewSonic I mentioned), or one that is FreeSync/G-Sync compatible (+ compatible GPU of course)

Also sometimes the aspect ratio controls can be awful and a problem, better check the manual to be sure you can at least force 4:3
« Last Edit: December 28, 2018, 05:30:03 am by schmerzkaufen »

hurricanefan

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Re: 32" LCD Monitor Purchase, Please help!
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2019, 11:37:17 am »
Ok, so my plan is to purchase a 32" monitor for my arcade this week.  I would like it to be LCD, 32", have hdmi in, preferrably power up with the arcade.  What else should I look for?  I will be using it to run Mame primarily, but also some other emulators and other games.  I am not interested in 4k (due to price).

I was looking at these monitors.  Do I want IPS monitors?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/philips-e-line-323e7qdab-32-ips-led-fhd-monitor-glossy-black/5770305.p?skuId=5770305

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-d3218hn-32-ips-led-fhd-monitor-black-silver/6293721.p?skuId=6293721

I am not set on either of these, just using them as an example.  Thanks!

Did you pull the trigger and buy one?  I'm curious if the DELL model you linked was a good arcade monitor.