Originally posted by RiceHigh Got a true 8-bit LCD panel with 16.7M of colours and use DVI for direct digital transmission. If available, get a model which supports the sRGB mode (or even AdobeRGB if needed). Beware of 6-bit monitors/panels which rated at 16.2M colours which are produced by dithering and both resolution and colour accuracy will be decreased.
Everything should be very accurate, much accurate than any non-professionally calibrated CRT or LCD, for such an economical consumer setup I've mentioned above. :-) And, you will get a very sharp displayed image with per pixel sharpness/resolution without any loss, too (by using the DVI).
I highly recommend to get EIZO monitor as their consumer grade mons are the only monitors with true professional quality that I have seen and used, especially for colour and tone accuracy. Although their prices are still high, they do worth!
16.2 million colors? my 19" crt has 32 bit colors....billions. yes, the eye can see that many colors.
where the LCD falls short is the detail in the shadows. it just can't produce the amount of details in the dark areas.... they just render black. It is a limitation of the technology.
Yes, a LCD does have sharp images. but the reason they are sharper is because the LCD has more contrast then a crt. remember how photoshop sharpens images? it increases the contrast of the edges to make the image apear to be sharper. The LCD does the exact same thing. it renders more contrast, thus giving the perception that the image is sharper (just look at a typical LCD contrast ratio and you can see how much higher the contrast is over a crt)
as far as not needing to calibrate because you are using digial input connection, that doesn't change the fact that without calibration, a monitor colors will not render true, LCD or CRT, professional or non professional.
unless a monitor is individually calibrated at the factory (I can think of any that would spend the extra cost to do this to every monitor sold) calibration is a MUST if you want control over printing etc.
the other good thing about calibration is, when I put up a photo to the internet, when people with a calibrated monitor view it, they see EXACTLY the colors I want them to see.
food for thought
cheers
randy