PCA Forums

Gang,
Can someone explain the diffrence in monitors to me? I know a bit about it, like the lower the DPI the sharper the picture, but I'm looking at monitors and I get a tad confused with things. I was looking at 19" VIewsonic CRTs - there's one with a .21 DPI that does a max of 1920xXXXX. The next one up (That's an extra 50-100$ or so) does a resolution of 2048xXXXX but it has a DPI of .24! THe only thing is, it says this .24 uses an "Aperture Grill", which I don't understand what it is and if that .24 is better then the cheaper .21. So what I'm really curious about is what exactly is 'aperture grill' and also what is 'stripe pitch'. Thanks in advance!

Aperature grills vs. Shadow Masks: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/crt/crtMask-c.html

Sony Trinitron tubes are aperature grills. The one negative is that there's one or two horizontal wires behind the screen and on an all-white backround (like an Explorer window background) you'll see the shadow of the wire(s).

Generally aperature grills look sharper and don't need as low a DPI as a shadow mask.

Realistically there's no reason you need a monitor with a resolution greater than 1600x. That's about as high as you want to go even on a 19 or 21"

Thanks FP. So a monitor with an Aperture grill is better then a non-AG monitor? A .24 DP monitor with an AG will look sharper then a .21 non-AG?
I know about the resolution - I don't plan on going beyond 1600x1200 - but I wanted to figure out the diffrence

Originally posted by FlyingPenguin
Aperature grills vs. Shadow Masks: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/crt/crtMask-c.html

Sony Trinitron tubes are aperature grills. The one negative is that there's one or two horizontal wires behind the screen and on an all-white backround (like an Explorer window background) you'll see the shadow of the wire(s).

Generally aperature grills look sharper and don't need as low a DPI as a shadow mask.

Realistically there's no reason you need a monitor with a resolution greater than 1600x. That's about as high as you want to go even on a 19 or 21"

It's a personal preference thing. I happen to prefer aperature grill CRTs but some people can't stand to see the wire when there's a large white area displayed on the screen. You should compare yourself at a store before making a choice.

After a while, you get use to the 2 wires across the screen. On the newer models, they are barely noticable.

I believe I have an AG monitor.. it's a 21" digital it says, forget what it really is. But it doex 19..x??? lol.. And that's at 75hz. I have the two lines you're talking about, but I NEVER see them..

hey ego, if you never see them how do you know they are there?


I have a Viewsonic A90f+ (19", non-AG) and I love it. Its big, screen quality is good. Resolution goes as high as i'd ever want it to (i only use 1024x768).

I've gotten close and seen them, but they're very thin lines.. lol..