RGB Screen?

I've been pretty familiar with different types of screen technologies but I've never really heard of an RGB screen. I understand what the letters RGB mean, but can someone explain how the technology differs from another monitor? Why would this look better than a standard Dell monitor? A plasma / LCD?

I can definitely see an incredible difference in color playing TF2 and WoW. The spell colors in WoW look much more vivid than any other computer I've ever seen it on.

 

The difference in technology between an RGB-LED screen, a WLED screen and a CCFL screen is all in the backlight.

The backlight produces the light that actually shows up on the screen. There are colour filters behind the LCD panel which then filter out the red, green and blue wavelengths. The LCD panel then lets through the appropriate amounts of each colour light to produce the colour you seen on screen.

The benefit of the RGB backlight is that the individual LED colours are almost identical to the filters on the back of the panel. This allows the panel to product brighter, more vibrant colours. All of the blacklight's light is used too - there's no "throwing away" of the other colours that are in the white light spectrum (e.g. yellow, purple).

(Source: Wikipedia)

 

RGB is spoiling me.

 

Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate the reply.

 

+ 1million

 

+ 5million!!!

 

Little off topic, but I don't want to make a different thread for this. Does anyone know the big differences between Raid 10 and Raid Z? Pros and cons of each? Anything pertinent? A buddy of mine and I are trying to make a huge network drive pc.

 

Is there any comparisions or the screenshots on the differences between these?
Since everyone is praising RGB in R2 model, I am feeling like I am missing some colors in my R1.

 

RAID 10 is another name for RAID 0+1. In other words, it's a striped and mirrored configuration (i.e. a striped pair of disks, mirrored by a matching striped pair). All of the disks must be the same capacity, and the resulting space after setup is 1/2 of the total space on the drives.

RAID-Z appears to be a modification to RAID-5. It uses disks in multiples of three, with two holding data and the third holding parity information. If one disk in a triplet fails, the data on the other two can be used to repair it. Again, all disks must be the same capacity, and the resulting space is 2/3 of the total space on the drives.

Either one will work for what you'll probably use it for. RAID-10 will be faster, as RAID-5/Z systems need to work with the parity information to write on the third drive. However, you get more capacity from your disks with RAID-5.

If you have the money, you could look at a "hybrid RAID" solution like the Drobo. These systems can use any combination of disks, not just ones with the same capacity, and still be able to recover if a disk is lost. You can also add in bigger disks at any time without having to rebuild the array.

 

Thanks a bunch NZGeek.

I heard someone mention in another post that they had a Dell RGB Monitor. I've looked all around the Dell page and I saw nothing that said "RGB technology". Can anyone shed any light on the subject? If I can get a screen with the same quality as my m17x's screen and bigger, I'd definitely buy it to use @ home.

 

I was looking for one too, but it looks like best thing they have atm is the 30" series, which I have already....and compared to the RGB on m17x, it's dull and dark as hell.

 

Only my 46" bravia looks better than my RGB all other laptop screens and HDTV's cry and hide in the corner when I turn on my laptop

 

My Dell U2711 comes close, but isnt as nice as my notebook screen.

My U2711 is a lot nicer than the 2008 WFP I was looking at, in terms of brightness and color - however I had to select the "rgb" preset of the monitor to get the colors looking vibrant and accurate. The default preset (i think it was standard or game) was just like every other monitor.

When I switched it it was like night and day, totally gorgeous!

Then I got my M17x RGB LED and was like... oh...

So yeah, you wont get a dell monitor as good as the notebook display yet but one will eventually come out with RGB led.

-Ash

 

When I calibrate my U2410 using hardware, it comes pretty close to the M17x screen (which is also calibrated). And the U2410 is really nice when I need to postprocess portraits as I can rotate it to portrait mode. When I do that to the M17x it is a bit difficult to type on it

 

17inches is plenty enough. My girlfriend seems to think so anyway (get it?)

 

Which 30'' do you have? I've been through every 30'' panel available in the market(ips, a2, a4, q3 and q5 as well as s-pva) and I feel very differently.

 

I have Dell 3007wfp. Resolution 2560x1600, that used to run w/ M1730 just fine, but I can't even use it w/ M17x atm since I need a adapter to use it at it's native resolution.

And yes, I thought the monitor was the best thing ever until I experienced the RGB on my M17x x).

 

The 2711 should outperform the 17" RGB on all accounts.

1) It has a matte finish. This could be a pro or con, depending on your interests. A matte finish will drastically cut down on glare. A glossy finish will enhance the appearance of contrast.

2) The 2711 is a 10-bit panel, compared to the 8-bit panel in the M17x. Again, depending on your use, it may or may not matter. A 10-bit panel is capable of over 1 billion color vs. 16.8 million for an 8-bit panel. 16.8 might seem like enough. But your eyes are capable of seeing a lot more. Another benefit of 10-bit over 8-bit is that 8-bit is capable of only 256 gradations between black and white, whereas 10-bit can do 1024 gradations. That means smoother transitions through the grayscale... The big note that goes along with all of this is that A: you need 10-bit source material (i.e. OS support, application support, and content [DSLR's are now capturing RAW at the 14/16-bit level]) and B: I believe DVI only supports 8-bit color while HDMI and Displayport support 10-bit (I know Displayport does). Some of the latest threads at Adobe talk about 10-bit support in PS. So if PS is just now getting it, it'll be a while before anything like games do (and when they do, expect to buy a card with 4 or 8GB of frame buffer!).

3) The 2711 uses an IPS panel, whereas the M17x uses TN. You can read about the differences anywhere. But it mainly boils down to cost. Viewing angles are far better on IPS. But how often do you look at your monitor 170 degrees off-angle?

4) And probably the lowest hanging fruit is that the 2711 has a native res of 2560x1440. Quite a bit more than the M17x. But the 2711's res is also 16x9 and not the proper PC aspect ratio of 16x10. Only the 30" Dells, HPs, LGs, etc use 16x10.

The most talked about difference is the RGB LED backlighting. It drives me loony to hear people talking about their new "LED TV". Unless they bought the 11" $2500 Sony OLED tv or the newer 15" LG version, there's nothing LED about it (other than the backlighting). The backlighting just provides the light source that the LCD filter array needs to produce colors. With the RGB version, you will see a brighter source, for any given hue. But a white LED source or even the CCFL source in the 2711 is fine (provided that they can all hit the D65 white point).

As far as brightness, even my 5 year old CCFL-backlit Macbook Pro is too bright, when the lights are off or even dimmed...

When you get your monitor, if you want it dialed in properly, search out a person (more likely a company) with a Photospectrometer. That device will be able to shoot the white point on your panel. Your goal will be to hit X-0.313 and Y-0.329 at a brightness of 30 FootLamberts (with a 100% white color patch). You'll also shoot 18% gray with the same X,Y goal but at 0.78 FootLamberts. After that, make sure you're in the proper color space for your application. I think most games, etc are in sRGB. Lastly, find a gamma setting that looks the best to you. You can throw up a pluge pattern and adjust gamma so that only the last gray strip is visible (little box of 3 gray strips at the bottom right)... {This is the most accurate way to dial in a monitor or projector}

The other method (more common) is to get a 'spyder' probe. There's nothing wrong with this method. It's not as accurate. And it operates on a slightly different principle. Instead of setting accurate reference points and allowing your monitor's native color gamut to handle individual hues (colors), it maps (a term they call 'characterizing') your panel's hue response and adds an intermediary layer called a Look Up Table (LUT, for short). It basically tells the monitor to display a color, analyzes whatever the monitor outputs, and then adjusts the signal going to the monitor to get the hue where it should be. So this gets you in the ballpark for accuracy. But it also squashes your gamut. If you want to know what I mean by gamut, search Google Images for 'CIE color chart'.

So here's what it really boils down to: Are you doing color-critical work like fine art printing or motion picture color grading? Or do you just want a nice looking display that'll play the hell out of games and make movies look pretty damn nice? If you need the former, you're probably ready to drop the $20k on a Cinetal Cinemage or the $42k on the new Dolby LCD or the $100k on a Christie 2K projector (I'll set any of them up for you!). If it's the latter, you have one of the best displays you can get. The HP Dreamcolor is one of the few that really beats (and it beats the RGB LED hands down). But it's a much more expensive machine and geared for a different audience.

Good luck!