The death of a Monitor
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 by Jafo | Discussion: Personal Computing
'Twas Wednesday [yesterday] about midday.....there was a flicker onscreen...
'Damn', I thought....'not more animated Gifs'......
The flicker was the screen image edges...far left and right.....the extremes of the horizontal scan. In other words the image was narrowing 4 or 5 pixels each side...and recovering.
Just now and then.
My next thought was.....'probably time for a new monitor'
It was a CRT... Hyundai, aka DiamondView ....19" true flat screen.....ran like a dream at my preferred 1024x768.....set to 85hz so it was as static as any LCD but with a refresh rate that wasn't bettered by LCDs way back when it was new....5 years ago or there-abouts.
It was now late, Wednesday night....after midnight....and the screen was getting a wee bit 'narrower'...seemed fairly static at about an inch of black to each side....
'Yep, gonna need a new one soonish'
There I was, typing into #stardock in IRC ....when it suddenly looked like I'd have to be way more accurate with the text as the horiz scan was now down to about 50% ....things were seriously squished.
Then....within about 5-10 seconds it shrank further......then grew a bit.....then shrank to a dot....
Then the power led went out.
Bravely I continued typing blind.....literally, but since I couldn't see responses it was a tad pointless....
....so....early to bed, instead.
Now it's Thursday, am....I'm on Terry's machine.....and about to trundle off and find me a fast-response [for driving sims] LCD that doesn't break my back picking it up....
Meanwhile....my machine's still on...doing its thing, but blind as a bat.
I guess 5 years or so...on 24/7 ...for about 350 days a year is a fair life....
Reply #2 Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:47 PM
....for you, it's a miracle
Reply #3 Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:49 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:52 PM
Reply #5 Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:54 PM
Hey...I'll have you know my Lian Li case has lasted longer than that...and still going strong, too...
....yes, OK, so it has no moving parts.....
Reply #7 Thursday, June 14, 2007 2:35 AM
Ah....much better than a dead Diamondview ....
Native res is 1680x1050 and 2ms response....oodles of realestate to fill up with.......stuff...
Reply #9 Thursday, June 14, 2007 3:01 AM
I just started using it again with my new computer, and I LOVE ViewSonic. Even 5 years old, it's working just great and very sharp. even after I dropped it by mistake years ago.
Reply #10 Thursday, June 14, 2007 3:18 AM
WoW let me calculate mine
, bought in march 2003....(on 24/24 7/7 too).... We are in june 2007 
... So 4 years and 3 months HUM 
.... OMG only 9 month life remaining 
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Seriously Jafo sorry for your Monitor
Reply #11 Thursday, June 14, 2007 6:05 AM
Go Vista maybe!???
The monitor looks nice!!! - I must say!
SGT
Reply #12 Thursday, June 14, 2007 7:27 AM
@ vStyler & Nimbin It's My Secret
Reply #13 Thursday, June 14, 2007 7:40 AM
My Samsung 21" is about 6 years old and still looks good. No LCD can match it for image quality and at 1280x1024 and 85hz gaming is unsurpassed.
Sooner or later it will leave this world for the next with no obvious replacement. I just hope it goes on forever.
Reply #14 Thursday, June 14, 2007 7:56 AM
I thought like that, too...16ms response times, etc...but this thing is 2ms....world of difference...
Reply #15 Thursday, June 14, 2007 8:02 AM
I use one at work. The image quality for a photographer just isn't there. No matter which one I use my photos don't look natural
My skins look sharp though 
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Reply #1 Wednesday, June 13, 2007 8:35 PM
Jk of COURSE.. hope you get something nice, Monitor shopping can get expensive !