monitor

Vendors want to sell you stuff! There, it's finally been said. Don't believe me? Well, you wouldn't be the first, but thankfully, I have evidence.

Within the last year I've seen a new spec, called dynamic contrast ratio (DCR), tossed around for computer displays. If you didn't know before, contrast ratio is simply the difference between the darkest blacks and the brightest whites a given display can produce.

Typically, computer displays have a contrast ratio of about 1000:1. However with DCR, you'll see numbers like 4000:1, 10,000:1, and higher. Basically, it's just a way for Company A to proclaim, "Don't buy Company B's monitor because it has a much lower DCR than our monitor." Since more and more vendors have been pushing this, I want to delve further into how they're getting these numbers. I also covered this topic in less detail (but with a sexy voice thrown in) in episode 2 of the Inside CNET Labs podcast.

Before a monitor is released to the public it goes through a bunch of testing in the vendor's own lab. These tests produce the specs that the vendor will then publish with the release. Specs like maximum brightness, pixel pitch, pixel response time, contrast ratio, and dynamic contrast ratio are all determined in the vendor's own lab.

When testing normal contrast ratio, vendors use a device that measures light to determine how much light is emanating from a display while it's showing both a completely black and a completely white screen. They then take each number, do a bit of math, and come up with the contrast ratio. … Read more

Looking for a second monitor? Or an LCD for the den or bedroom? Best Buy has a Hannspree 19-inch widescreen on sale for $139.99 -- and no rebates! You can also avoid shipping charges by picking it up in-store, though you will have to pay sales tax.

Normally I wouldn't get too amped about a 19-inch monitor, but this one has two big perks: built-in speakers and an HDMI interface (VGA, too). That means you could connect, say, a Blu-ray player or Xbox 360, or even an HD cable box. And because the monitor has a maximum resolution … Read more

This was our second try at recording this episode. The first one was lacking in...well everything except major suckage. It had enough of that for two or three episodes. This version, hopefully, has a bit less suck. Dong is all excited about bamboo. Eric bores us with monitor testing, and we talk about why Dong loves doing technical support for his friends.

Check out Dong's blog on the (Re) Drive.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--To cut greenhouse gas emissions, the United States has to invest equally as much in energy efficiency as in renewable energy technologies, and set a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

That was the message from California Energy Commissioner Arthur Rosenfeld, at a meeting Monday with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) about energy efficiency.

In a keynote speech, Rosenfeld--widely recognized for his contribution to California's aggressive energy-efficiency policies--cited a McKinsey report showing that the potential for greenhouse gas abatement in the U.S. between now and 2030 is evenly divided between investments in energy efficiency and renewable … Read more

Hey, remember that 22-inch LCD monitor for $199 from a couple weeks ago? Phhhbbblllttttt. Office Depot has an Acer 22-incher on sale for $179.99, though you do have to wait on a $60 mail-in rebate.

The Acer AL2216WBD offers fairly standard specs, including 1680x1050 native resolution, 5ms response time, and 700:1 contrast ratio. It sports both VGA and DVI connectors, and the latter is HDCP-compliant, meaning you'll have no trouble viewing Blu-ray movies if your PC or notebook has a Blu-ray drive.

CNET's reviewer and 26 users all rated the monitor 3.5 stars out of 5, … Read more

NebuAd has made few friends, thanks to a business built on monitoring broadband customers' Web surfing to deliver advertisements. It certainly found none on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based start-up was forced on the defensive during a hearing in which politicians charged that deep packet inspection of Internet traffic was far too privacy-invasive. Only if customers gave affirmative consent by opting in, they said, might the practice be acceptable.

Texas Rep. Gene Green called NebuAd's opt-out procedures "contemptible." To Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, the practice "goes against everything the country's been … Read more

Monitoring customers' Web browsing to serve up targeted advertisements is coming under increased political scrutiny on privacy grounds, making the future of the controversial technique among Internet service providers less than certain.

A hearing convened by a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday is the latest potential obstacle to widespread adoption of the practice, which relies on intercepting customers' Internet packets and building anonymized profiles that can be used for topic-based advertisements.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., suggested that the procedure amounts to "wiretapping" and promised a followup hearing in the near future to explore the subject further. &… Read more

As desktop PCs fall further out of favor in the U.S., peripheral manufacturers are having no problem picking up the slack elsewhere.

China is poised to pass the United States in just three years to become the second-largest market for flat-panel monitors, according to a report released Tuesday by DisplaySearch. DisplaySearch is a market research company that tracks the display business.

The EMEA region (which refers to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) will continue to provide LCD monitor makers the most lucrative market, with just over 30 percent of all shipments heading there by 2011. Greater China will … Read more

Still squinting at that 17-inch LCD? Get your space on (no idea what that means) with the ViewSonic OptiQuest Q2201wb, a 22-inch LCD that's on sale for $199.98. (Click the PC Connection link on the right when you get to the product page.) Shipping is included, and you don't have to deal with any pesky rebates.

This is a fairly basic widescreen monitor, offering 1680x1050 native resolution and a zippy 5ms response time. It has only a VGA interface, so if your desktop has only DVI outputs, you'll need a VGA-to-DVI adapter (which you can pick … Read more