For the time being we will be looking at 12 categories that monitors can be judged by and helping you along by telling you the advantages and disadvantages of each type of monitor in these categories.
The brightness of the screen is a big factor when viewing in high lit area's such as a room with lots of windows or places where the sun catches the screen. LCD monitors can offer around twice the brightness that the CRT monitor can give you. LCD screens will appear better in high lit area's by still shining the colours through giving you a much more defined picture.
The opposite to brightness, the contrast controls the image viewed in low light area's. A good contrast will keep black tones a dark black and not a grey colour. Good contrast is needed when watching films and playing games. In this category the CRT monitors generally perform the best although its one of the categories that the LCD monitors have made tremendous strides forward in recent times.
This again has to go to the CRT monitors when we are talking about colour purity and quality. Some of the very best LCD monitors display very vibrant colours and it could be hard to tell the difference. However when watching films and playing games the difference can be noticeable especially when you put the two monitors side by side. Again this will depend on how much you spend on your LCD monitor the more you pay the better its likely to be. The CRT monitor on the other hand offer great colour in all of the price ranges.
This is an obvious winner for the LCD screens. It has to be said that this is the LCD's main selling point. They are so much smaller and lighter than CRT screens that they are proving very popular in offices or anywhere where space is at a premium. Take a look inside your local travel agent for example and you will probably find that all of the screens in there are LCD based. Because of the technology used by CRT screens they cannot get any smaller. The larger the screen goes the deeper the back has to be in order for the CRT to work properly.
The viewing angle of a monitor is the angle you can sit at and still see what is on the screen. With a CRT monitor you can sit anywhere you can see the screen and the image will not distort, LCD monitors have a distortion when you go past the viewing angle. The colours will go funny and you will no longer be able to see what is on the screen. Viewing angle limits on LCD models do alter from model to model but again more cost tends to get you a wider viewing angle.
This is not an issue for workstations as you will be sitting directly in front of your monitor in any case. However it comes down to watching films or TV again when the viewing angle becomes a limitation on where you can position yourselves in regard to the monitor.
This one is simple its the phosphor that causes the screen burn in conventional CRT monitors. Because of the way LCD monitors work there is no chance of screen burn so you can leave the same image on your screen without the worry of a permanent imprint of an image of your screen.
If your a little unsure of what screen burn is or your not sure how badly it can effect your monitor then a good example is old cash machines that you know don't get used that much. If they have been there for a long time displaying the the same "please insert your card" screen, you will notice that even after you go past this screen you will still be able to see the message in the background like a ghosting effect. Once this happens its irreversible.
Screen flicker is caused when your eyes can notice the refreshing of the monitor screen. CRT monitors at the high end of the scale combat this problem by offering high refresh rates that the eye can't detect and so you see no flicker. LCD displays combat this issue by not needing a refresh rate because of the technology involved. LCD never get screen flicker.
Screen flicker is more than just an annoyance, if you spend any length of time a computer then screen flicker can cause you rather painful headaches and eye strains. Once again this brings the LCD screen as the perfect choice for a workstation or office.
With interference here I am talking about magnetic interference like you get from unshielded speakers and the like. CRTs use magnets to control the electron flow inside the tube. Because LCD's do not use this technology they are not affected by magnetic interference. An extra advantage to this is that LCD screens can be fitted with speakers that have no extra shielding bring down the cost of integrated speakers.
This category is an easy winner for the LCD screen. LCD screens were originally put in notebook computers and laptops because they were very could at preserving battery life. LCD monitors consume around 20-50W of power while your typical CRT monitor will have anything up to 150W or even beyond depending on its size.
CRT have the problem of Screen burn in because of the technology it uses. The LCD screen has a problem with dead pixels. The Liquid Crystal display is made up of thousands upon thousands of tiny transistors. If one of these transistors gets stuck then you are left with a dead or stuck pixel.
A dead pixel gets stuck in one particular form. It could be a light dot, a dark dot or a coloured dot. This unfortunately is not repairable. Big steps have been taken to lower the amount of dead pixels that occur in LCD monitors. Despite this there is still what's known as a tolerance level of dead pixels before a manufacturer will take an LCD monitor back as a faulty item.
The response time of a monitor is the time it takes for the pixel to update the colours you see on screen. This is important when objects on the screen are moving with any speed such as in games or watching movies, especially action movies. Her the best LCD screens are acceptable with a response time of less than 20 milliseconds. However the CRT monitor's response time is negligible and so the winner in this category.
A very important factor when making a purchase for the majority of us. LCD screens have come down in price by a lot in recent times due to there increasing popularity, however CRT screens have also been on the way down to keep them at a cheaper level. roughly speaking you can still get a 19" CRT for the price of a 15" LCD/TFT monitor. If price is a big issue for you then the CRT is still the way to go for the time being.
Out of the 12 categories we have given each of the monitor types 6 each. A draw perhaps, but on a closer look its very clear that each are winning in certain categories. What we are saying here is that things that revolve around office work, brightness, no flicker, size etc then the LCD screen comes out on top. For watching movies and playing game the CRT monitor is best i.e. response time, colour and contrast. And possibly the most important factor is price and the the CRT still has that vital edge for the time being.
Source: http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/Articles/Monitors/CRT_LCD.shtml
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