I like my 17-inch monitor, but it's getting a little too cramped. Like you, I run several programs at once--spreadsheet, word processor, e-mail, and Web browser--and they're all running out of elbow room. If you're a desktop or Web publisher, the problem is even worse.

But wide open spaces are finally within your grasp. Today's 19-inch CRT displays sell for the price of last year's 17-inch monitors and offer about 26 percent more screen area. In fact, you can get a big screen for as little as $448.

And why not? Chances are you're no longer a computer novice. You've gone beyond word processing and ventured into page layout, Web page creation, presentations, and maybe even digital photos or sound. You need to see this stuff, two pages at once if possible. And a 19-inch monitor's 1,280 pixel--by--1,024 pixel resolution and extra screen area will get you there affordably. There are deals aplenty. We found nearly 30 19-inch models with street prices of less than $700; some were priced at less than $500. But before you crack open your wallet, read on to discover what's important and what isn't when buying a 19-inch CRT. (For a CRT alternative, check out the following feature, "LCD Panels: Slim, Trim, and Affordable".)

BIGGER AND BETTER

Although CRT manufactures tell us off the record that LCD panels will dominate the 21st century, at the moment, CRTs offer far more goodies. They're not only bigger, they also offer rock-steady, flicker-free screens, even at high resolutions. Several have built-in or optional USB (Universal Serial Bus) hubs for easily connecting mice, cameras, modems, and other USB peripherals. A few sport short-neck tubes that take up less desktop space than some 17-inch monitors. Better yet, most 19-inch models feature advanced screen geometry and color controls, which let you keep your screen image tuned to your satisfaction.

Phosphors, shadow masks, and dot pitch. Your basic 19-inch monitor is basically a TV tube, also known as a cathode ray tube or CRT. When you stare into the face of that CRT, you're looking down the bore of a triple-beam electron gun. (Don't worry: The glass is shielded.)

In essence, a CRT is like a little movie theater, with an electron-gun projector at the back shining an image on the screen up front. The inside of the screen is painted with polka-dot patterns of phosphor compounds that glow when struck by an electron beam. Some glow red, some blue, and some green. Most screens cluster a red, green, and blue dot to form a triad, the basic, image building block of the screen.

So how do we end up seeing more colors than just red, green, and blue? By exciting each RGB dot of the triad to a different degree, the monitor creates a mix that produces a new color. There are three separate electron guns dedicated to tickling the red, green, or blue phosphor dots. To help keep the beams on target, a metal foil called a shadow mask, perforated with tiny holes, lies against the phosphoric screen. The beams can only pass through these holes.

A few monitors, such as Iiyama's VisionMaster 450 Pro and Sceptre's D95A, based on Sony Trinitron or Mitsubishi Diamond Scan tubes, arrange the phosphors in striped patterns and use an aperture grille, a metal mask with slits instead of holes. These monitors were known for generating brighter, sharper, more saturated color images. But shadow-mask technology has improved to the point where it's hard to recommend one approach over the other. If you like the look of aperture grille displays, you'll have to get used to the faint, on-screen horizontal shadows caused by the fine wires used to stabilize the grille.

The distance, measured in millimeters, between two phosphor dots of the same color is called the dot pitch. The smaller the dot pitch, the sharper the image will potentially be. Most of the 19-inch CRTs listed here offer a 0.26mm dot pitch, which is what you'll find in pricier 19-inch monitors. This is because CRT vendors use the same tubes made by a handful of manufacturers.

Tube size versus image size. In vendorspeak, 19 inches is the diagonal measurement of the picture tube. In reality, the portion that can display an image is even less. Unless you manually tweak the image to its maximum area and readjust the screen geometry you could be seeing only about 17.5 inches or less. If you're wondering how these monitors really perform, check the maximum viewable area column in our table for the details.

Short-neck tubes. We're not talking clams here, but about a new breed of shallower tubes that focus the electron beams more tightly to strike the screen perpendicularly, especially at the edges. The electron guns don't have to be placed as far back, so the CRT takes up less space. If your desktop real estate is at a premium, check the depth specification in our buyers' guide table.

Resolution and refresh. Like most digital output devices, CRTs build images by displaying tight rows of tiny dots. The size of the picture you get on-screen depends on how many dots (aka picture elements or pixels) the monitor can toss on-screen. The number of pixels--such as 800 pixels by 600 pixels--is the screen's resolution. (Note: This is not the same as the dots-per-inch specification quoted for printer resolution.) As the resolution increases, you can get more detail and more of the page on-screen. Unfortunately, everything also gets smaller. On a 17-inch monitor, an 800 pixel--by--600 pixel image looks fairly normal; at 1,024 pixels by 768 pixels, it looks a little squished. On a 19-incher, 800 pixels by 600 pixels looks jumbo, 1,024 pixels by 768 pixels looks fairly normal, and 1,280 pixels by 1,024 pixels is small but workable, at least for graphics and page layout. Although all 19-inch displays we've seen boast a 1,600 pixel--by--1,200 pixel maximum resolution, it's not a workable resolution. Text and icons are too small, and image quality starts to slide.

Note, too, that as resolution goes up, the refresh rate goes down, resulting in a flickering display. Refresh rate is the number of times per second the electron guns paint the entire screen. As monitor resolution increases, more information is thrown on-screen. That takes more time and the refresh rate decreases. At 60 to 72 screens per second (or hertz, Hz) most people notice a flicker or slightly unsteady image. Even if you don't consciously notice it, your eye and brain will compensate, tiring you out. The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) recommends a minimum 75Hz refresh rate; TCO-95 guidelines recommend 80Hz. Personally, I work much better and longer on an 80Hz to 85Hz display. All of the low-cost, 19-inch displays covered here can perform at 85Hz at a resolution of 1,280 pixels by 1,024 pixels.

Vendor CRT specifications also commonly refer to the vertical and horizontal scanning frequencies, usually quoted as ranges. Measured in kilohertz (KHz), the former number indicates the number of scan lines or rows of dots that the monitor can draw per second (in short, the refresh rate). A higher horizontal scan rate indicates an ability to display higher resolutions, but the relationship between horizontal and vertical scan rates and resolution is heavy tech dreck, and it varies among monitor designs. We've included the specifications for technophile readers, but the maximum refresh rate columns in the buyers' guide table tell a clearer story about monitor performance.

Given so many possible resolution/refresh rate combinations, vendors fine-tune their displays to a dozen or more common settings. The monitor uses these factory-preset modes to automatically size and center screen images when video modes change (when you load a game, for instance). You can modify these settings, and almost all 19-inch CRTs will store at least a few user-defined settings.

It almost goes without saying that all these 19-inch monitors are autosynchronous (aka multiscan or multisync) devices, so they can work with a variety of video cards and at many different resolutions and refresh rates. That's because they can retune themselves to the different video signals generated by different video hardware.

CONTROLS

The bigger your CRT, the tougher a job it has keeping the image straight and the colors right. Display glitches that weren't too noticeable on a 15-inch or even 17-inch display can be downright irritating on a 19-inch CRT. That's why image controls are so important--and why so many of the 19-inch units listed here offer a slew of them. These advanced controls are designed to help you get the straightest-looking, best-proportioned screen display, with more accurate color.

While some controls aren't easy to figure out, they actually let you do something when your monitor doesn't look right. Some control the shape or geometry of the image, while others manage color and image quality.

Almost all 19-inch CRTs offer on-screen display (OSD) menus for accessing their digital controls, but this type of feature was once a luxury. Push a button and you can cycle through various on-screen menus that control screen size, position, brightness, contrast, presets, geometry, color, and more. Unfortunately, this all-digital approach can also be a finger-fumbling nightmare. Some vendors, notably Mag Innovision and Hyundai, offer simpler, old-fashioned controls. For example, Mag's monitor features a combination push-button and knob. Push the button and up pops the on-screen menu. Twist the knob to cycle through the menu options, push the knob to make a choice, then twist to cycle through more options or adjust a setting. Whatever the interface, advanced controls are a must. Here's what to look for.

Geometry Controls

The image area of a perfectly adjusted CRT would look rectangular, with 90-degree corners and straight sides. You'd be lucky to find such perfection, since defects are common. Here are the screen geometry problems and the controls to adjust them.

Corner (aka corner pincushion). A CRT's toughest job is keeping the corners of the image area square, not rounded. A few 19-inch CRTs have independent corner adjustments. This is a deluxe feature, but it's nice to have.

Pincushion. The sides of the image appear to bulge, making it look like a pincushion. Alternatively, they might appear to bend in, looking like a hourglass. Twiddling the pincushion control will pull in or push out the sides as required.

Pincushion balance (aka bow, pin balance, unbalanced pincushion correction, or balance). If the image bows out on the left but bends in on the right or vice versa, a standard pincushion control will only make things worse. The pincushion balance control will correct both sides simultaneously.

Side-pincushion S curve (aka S curve, side-pin S curve). Sometimes the pincushion controls leave the bottom half of the image bowing in or out a little. The S-curve controls let you hold the top half of the screen steady and straighten the bottom half. A related control, the side-pincushion center (aka side-pin center), essentially establishes where the top and bottom halves of the image actually meet on-screen.

Vertical linearity symmetry. Say that one fast. This is a critical control if you work with graphics. Linearity means that an object displays with identical dimensions anywhere on the screen. If the top and bottom halves of an image--say a circle--aren't symmetrical, this control lets you fix it.

Vertical linearity center. Used with the above control, the center control lets you make sure that the top and bottom halves of the screen meet precisely halfway down the screen.

Trapezoid (aka trapezium, keystone balance, keystone). This control, found on almost every 19-inch display covered here, compensates when the image appears trapezoidal (the left and right sides lean in). Some keystone controls also correct this problem.

Parallelogram. If the image's sides are the same length but the corners aren't square, the screen appears to lean to one side. Parallelogram controls (sometimes part of a keystone control) let you square the image.

Tilt (aka rotation). No, not the pinball wizard's nightmare. The Earth's magnetic field (and other local sources) can cause the entire image area to tilt or rotate so that, while still rectangular, it doesn't look level. Moving a CRT across the room can result in a tilted image, simply because you're changing the CRT's position relative to the Earth's magnetic field. Fortunately, most 19-inch displays have a control that allows you to tilt it back.

Overscan. ADI's Microscan 6P, some expensive CRTs from NEC, and others have an automatic overscan feature that helps an image fill the screen and eliminate most of the black border that may result from the timing quirks of your video card.

Color Controls

High-end publishing and film production tasks require tight color control and rely on expensive calibrating displays. But you, too, may want to keep your monitor's color display at least reasonably accurate so that purple doesn't look lavender and red's not orange. Most displays let you make one or more of the following adjustments.

Color purity. The power and accuracy of the CRT's red, green, and blue electron guns degrade over time, causing color values to shift. A color purity control adjusts the relative power of the beams and thus color accuracy. This is not the same as full RGB color controls, which let you adjust the strength of each RGB electron gun.

Color temperature (aka white point). These controls let you set the intensity of white on a monitor. This in turn affects the appearance of all colors, the way painting a watercolor on tinted paper would.

The temperature, measured in degrees Kelvin (K), defines the quality of white light based on the glow of specific material heated to a certain temperature. Most monitors' default color temperature is 9300K, the blue-white (very hot) light of fluorescent office lighting. Desktop publishers tend to standardize on 6500K, standard room lighting. In addition to these preset values, you can usually store custom color temperature settings.

Moiré. Moiré is an optical effect created when two patterns interfere with each other. On a CRT it happens when the pattern of dots projected by the electron guns interferes with the pattern of phosphor dots on the tube. While not often noticeable when working with text, moiré can still tire your eyes. Horizontal and vertical moiré controls fine-tune the horizontal and vertical image sizes to bring the patterns into alignment.

Convergence. Convergence is the ability of the three electron beams to come together at a single RGB phosphor triad. When they start missing a little, you start seeing red, green, or blue halos around objects on-screen. This control can tweak the beams back into alignment.

CONNECTIONS

Most 19-inch CRTs are designed to connect to the standard D-Sub 15 plug on the back of most Super VGA video cards. A simple adapter will also link these monitors to a Mac. A few displays also sport BNC-5 plugs, which have separate connectors for red, blue, green/synchronization, vertical, and horizontal signal lines. BNC-5 is typically found on professional video equipment.

USB. Several CRTs have built-in or optional USB ports, which is handy since PCs and the iMac have only two USB ports, and you can't daisy-chain USB peripherals off of one another. (Note: Video signals to your monitor do not travel via USB.) For example, ADI's Microscan 6P has four USB ports; Windows 95 (OSR2) and 98 include the necessary software to take advantage of USB. If the vendor includes a USB hub, expect to pay $50 or more.

Mac compatibility. Almost all of the 19-inch displays listed here work fine with the Macintosh. All you need is a simple video cable adapter (often provided free by the manufacturer) that correctly matches the Mac's video output signals to the monitor's input lines. Most displays include at least a couple of Mac-compatible presets for common resolutions and refresh rates.

However, some vendors offer less Mac support than others. The Sceptre Dragon Eye series will only work on a Mac when connected to a PCI VGA-compatible display adapter, an unusual setup to say the least. CyberVision's C92 will work with a Mac, but the company admits that it hasn't fine-tuned any resolution/refresh presets for the Mac, since it's not a market that CyberVision pursues.

Plug and Play. Almost every model listed here is Windows Plug-and-Play compliant, which radically simplifies setup. Naturally, you'll need Windows 95 or 98 and a Plug and Play--compliant BIOS and video card in your PC. Just unplug your old CRT and plug in your new 19-incher. Windows will find the monitor and install any drivers it requires. In some cases, Windows will ask for a drivers disk.

Windows will automatically gather the information it needs to set optimal refresh rates for the resolution you pick. You don't have to tell Windows that your new monitor's resolution can go up to 1,600 pixels by 1,200 pixels--it already knows! Since Plug and Play establishes communication among your CRT, video card, OS, and drivers, you can change the monitor's Colors and Screen area settings in Windows' Display control panel, and the new settings take effect on the spot.

PROTECTIONS

Although the low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by the powerful transformers and coils in your monitor are suspected of causing health problems, the evidence is still inconclusive. Nevertheless, almost every manufacturer in this buyers' guide shields the CRT according to the strict MPR-II standards and usually the more stringent TCO-92 guidelines established by the Swedish government.

You'll see from our table that some vendors even adhere to the TCO-95 requirements, which cover energy consumption, screen flicker, and luminance and mandate that manufacturing and packaging must not utilize or generate harmful substances such as CFCs, HCFCs, or heavy metals.

POWER SAVINGS

The green revolution swept the monitor industry several years ago, so now almost every display in this roundup conforms to American power conservation standards, and a few conform to the European NUTEK (Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development) specifications. For an Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star seal of approval, a monitor must power down to fewer than 30 watts after a specified period of time. Two industry standards define how monitors downshift: VESA DPMS (display power management signaling) in the United States and NUTEK in Europe. Some monitors support both standards.

DPMS shifts your display into increasingly lower power modes (when your system is idle) at time intervals you select. In active mode, a 19-inch CRT is pulling 120 watts to 150 watts. In standby mode, the CRT consumes no more than 80 percent of normal power. Often it consumes less. In suspend mode, it pulls about 15 watts. Finally, it drops to an off state, sipping a mere two watts to four watts. If you press a key or move your mouse, the display will come back to life. If you bought your video card within the last two years, chances are that it supports DPMS. NUTEK gets similar results but controls the power downshifting differently.

LOOK SMART, BUY SMART

If you're buying a new PC or Mac, why not spend $200 or $300 more for a 19-inch CRT? It can definitely ease your eyes and wrists, especially if you work with graphics or massive spreadsheets or enjoy games and video. If you just want to upgrade your two-year-old 15-inch or 17-inch display, remember that you're not only getting a larger screen. You're also getting a friendlier machine with higher refresh rates and stricter ergonomic and environmental compliance. That's not a bad deal.

But don't forget the emergence of LCD displays. They cost two to three times more than CRTs, but given your space, power, and ergonomics requirements, they may be well worth the price.

© 1998 Bob Weibel. All rights reserved.

Bob Weibel is a writer in Ashland, Ore., a former senior technical editor for Publish, and the coauthor of Desktop Publishing Secrets and The Quark XPress Book, Windows Edition (both from Peachpit Press). He also writes Computer Currents' Publishing Advisor column. You can write to Bob via bweibel@aol.com or care of Computer Currents.

Mini Review: Two CRTs

DecaView G400, $510 (street)
Iiyama VisionMaster 450, $660 (street)

I took a look at two CRTs: one near the top and one near the bottom of our less-than-$700 price range. Both are worthy purchases, but there are some noticeable differences. The Iiyama VisionMaster 450 costs about $150 more than the DecaView, and the extra dough buys you a brighter screen, better contrast, and a somewhat smoother-looking image. That's worth it if you work with graphics a lot. However, the DecaView G400's controls are easier to use.

Seamless Installation

Both units support Plug and Play, and though neither came with Windows 95 or 98 installation guides, they're hardly necessary. After connecting and powering up each monitor and turning on my PC, Windows 98 found the new device and prompted me for drivers, which both vendors supply. With a few clicks, I was up and running.

The VisionMaster 450's digital controls consist of Menu, +, and - buttons. The Menu button pops up a rather small monochrome on-screen menu with cryptic icons. You cycle through menus and options with the + and - buttons, select a submenu or option with another press of the Menu button, and adjust a control with the + or - button. Even after considerable practice, I often got lost in a maze of menus or forgot whether the press of a button would select or cycle past a choice.

The DecaView's eight front-panel buttons are far more intuitive. There's a separate button for the three main menus, Picture, Color, and Status. With a single press, you enter the G400's color temperature/RGB color controls. Compare that to seven button presses with the VisionMaster. Four other buttons on the DecaView let you vertically and horizontally resize or reposition the screen. The on-screen menu is also bigger, in color, animated, and has better level readouts. Altogether, the DecaView G400 is much easier to use.

Both monitors required some manual adjustment of their factory presets to get an edge-to-edge centered screen. The Decaview's presets were much closer to the mark; the 1,024 pixel–by–768 pixel resolution setting was almost dead-on. In contrast, the VisionMaster's default setting resulted in pincushioned image areas that extended past the top and bottom of the screen. Just keep in mind that you'd probably see different results with different video cards. Although vendors go out their way to accommodate the signals from different manufacturers, some manual adjustment is almost always necessary. Both models provided enough controls to help me set up full-sized screens with good geometry.

The DecaView's screen brightness dims a bit at 1,280 pixels by 1,024 pixels, so color contrast suffers; the VisionMaster has the edge in that area. Both units sport color temperature settings that you can customize to tune the monitor's color balance. The DecaView is better here, letting you control red, green, and blue levels. The VisionMaster only allows for adjustments in red and blue. If you're a picky graphics or DTP user, you'll find the VisionMaster, with its superior contrast and brightness, a slightly better choice.

--B. W.

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