How to Choose HDCP-Capable Generation LCD Display

Windows Vista Ready LCD Monitors Round-Up

by Anton Shilov

[ 04/16/2006 | 03:39 PM ]

Displays for personal computers (PCs), as a rule, cost almost half of the computer itself. Because of this factor a monitor can outlive a couple of upgrades or even new system purchases. In order to cut future expenses, a special attention should be paid when choosing a display.  

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In less than a year from now Microsoft is set to release a brand new operating system (OS) known as Windows Vista, which is expected to bring numerous new features, but in order to utilize the full potential of the OS, end-users will have to get some new hardware.  

For years computer monitors have been evolving without any considerable changes, except for transitions from CRT to LCD and from D-Sub to DVI. With the Vista arrival, DVI-I will have to step aside in favor of a new interconnection standard that supports high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) technology for video playback. FiringSquad have posted an article that explains some bacics about the HDCP and displays that support it. 

“Although a big deal has been made about the lack of HDCP support in graphics cards recently, monitor manufacturers have also been slow to adopt HDCP. Arguably, every monitor designed after summer 2005 should have implemented HDCP. The lack of HDCP support on a 17” or 19” 1280x1024 display means that you’re losing about half of the pixels that the monitor is capable of. The bigger issue is with the high resolution monitors capable of displaying 1680x1050 and 1920x1200. Without HDCP, these high-resolution resolution widescreen displays are only showing a 1/3 or 1/4 of the pixels available,” writes the author. 

The author also compares monitors with HDCP support manufactured by Gateway, HP, NEC, Viewsonic and Samsung in terms of contrast ratio, pixel response time and features richness.  

“The Samsung 244T is essentially a ‘dream’ monitor. It’s a huge 24 inches, has 1920x1080 resolution, is super-fast when it comes to games, has great out-of-the-box image quality, and even has a portrait mode rotation. The only weakness of this monitor besides its luxury pricing is that the USB hub is cumbersome to use and the poor component and S-Video input. Nonetheless, this is our favorite monitor in the round-up. The Dell 3007WFP might be bigger, but the 3007WFP is not going to have the same 1000:1 contrast ratio or the same high-speed pixel refresh. This is definitely our favorite monitor of the group,” concludes the round-up. 

• FiringSquad: Windows Vista Ready LCD Monitor Round-Up.