So Fry’s had 5 pieces in each store on Black Friday and you had to get up at 2am, stand in the cold and rain to be in line and take the chance on maybe getting one for $99. What a deal…
For a second I thought it was the old bathroom at Satyricon.
Yeah personally I like doing a price search on NewEgg, which sort of doesn’t work this time because all the 21.5" monitors are actually 1920x1080 not 1680x1050. Notice how 1080p wouldn’t quite work with 1050 lines.
This monitor has a 16:10 ratio. All HD formats (720p, 1080i/p) are 16:9. Even if this monitor had the extra 30 lines to get to 1080, it would still be lacking on the width (1920 pixels needed for 1080p). 1920x1080 is technically 1080p, so 1920x1200 monitors can also do 1080p, they just have the added pro/con (you choose) of being 16:10.
I currently have a 1680x1020 monitor (which is 16:10) and would not want to lose those extra lines for it to be 16:9, even if that means no letterboxing needed when watching any media in a 16:9 format. I’m not sure if I would prefer a 16:9 or 16:10 1080p monitor though.
1280x720 is HD. So your 15" monitor capable of doing 1280x1024 is HD. The current wide screen HD standards for TV are 1280x720 and 1920x1080.
The “i” or “p” you see at the end of 720p and 1080i for example stand for interlaced and progressive scan.
21.6”
From left to right straight across or from bottom left to top right/vice versa?
Places measure screen size differently.
All screens are measured diagonally.
Well, my new monitor was called “HD” because it also had a tv tuner in it. It doesn’t really have anything to do with its resolution. Just about all monitors will usually go to higher resolution than “HD” televisions though. (Which have 1080 or 720 rows of pixels right?)
Usually stores or websites will call them HD if they have inputs that you usually only see on TVs (the cable tuners). Then again Bestbuy may just be calling them HD b/c people will think it actually means something 
What do you mean by “HD”? This is not a TV, this is a computer monitor, and its resolution is 1680x1050. That means it exceeds the standard for 720 (1280x720) but does not quite match 1280 (1920x1080).
The monitor that you linked to may be just as “HD” as this one, only with HD thrown in the title as a marketing ploy to get poor saps to think that their monitor is high definition and no one else’s is.
You don’t use “HD” to describe a computer monitor; first of all, they’re not measured in scanlines, and second of all, I don’t think there are any monitors still on the market today that aren’t at least 720.
it was $99 at frys
If you want HDTV you are probably looking for something with an HDMI plug that also has speakers but if you hook this up to a computer running Media Center or SageTV you will get a great picture. It will scale the picture to fit the screen and will look good. You still need a decent video card and a nice set of speakers but a BluRay disk or ATSC TV would look great.
I will tell you for a TV at this size anything over 1280x720 will not be noticable.
I gotta be honest, Vision is an AWESOME brand. My old 17" LCD has been going strong for 3 years now, whith no signs of wear on anything (power button still has no “clicking” issues like my Dell does after the same ammount of time).
I wouldn’t recommend that monitor. I have it. Picked it up about a year ago from the egg. It is a decent monitor but if you are concerned about contrast ratio and blacks this isn’t a good pick. If you watch movies or play games you will have to crank up the brightness in the program you are using to see any dark scenes.
And…
Non-HD Monitor Example:
Blah Blah Blah… Yea, so does it display web pages and chat windows fine?
I’m not all hung up on resolution, as it has pleanty of dots to form “Letterz 'n Sh:t” on the screen. I have a TV in the living room, a stunning 27" high-voltage cathode-raygun-tubular device, to watch my moving pictures on.
For $120, I’m seriously considering it to replace my 19", so I can move it to another computer. And probly pick up another one for the wifey.
This really isn’t a great deal. You can get a better known brand (Acer) 22" monitor for around the same price from Newegg or another website. And you will get it faster and have the ability to send it back if needed…
It’s a shame that it’s gone. I had some fun times in that place.
1000:1 Contrast ratio, isn’t that pretty low compared to most lcds out today?
Best Buy may be calling it “HD” for all the silly people out there who haven’t a clue. PC monitors were technically “HD” as far as resoultion goes waaay before it was a cool buzz word.