Advice on which LCD 1080p hdmi monitor to pick

[flyingmerpa]

I'm looking for an LCD (LED back lit) 1080p/HDMI monitor that will be used for gaming (Radeon 6870). My budget is approx. $170 or less. I have picked out a few choices (see below).
-Screen size isn't that big of a deal.
-Maximum response times I think around 5ms shouldn't be too big of a deal.
-I'm unsure of the contrast ratio and how important that is in my choice. All my research seems to state its all marketing bullshit.
-Most of these have decent reviews, and I'm worried about those bad reviews stating that the black onscreen appears like a dull gray.

Thanks for any help! Any other recommendations are welcome.

*SAMSUNG B350 Series S22B350H Transparent Red 21.5" 2ms GTG HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 DCR Mega 8 (1000:1) ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001549 )

*ASUS VS Series VS228H-P Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 50000000:1 (ASCR)
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236176 )

*ASUS VS229H-P Black 21.5" 5ms (GTG) HDMI IPS-Panel LED-Backlit Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50000000:1
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236205 )

*Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 ACM 12,000,000:1 (1000:1)
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=24-009-255&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=1#scrollFullInfo )

*Acer S230HLAbii Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (1000:1)
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=24-009-315&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=4&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=1#scrollFullInfo )

 

[flyingmerpa]

Over 20 unique views and no comments, common mofos help me out! 😛

 

[ssddx]

have you even bothered to read the hundreds of other posts regarding "what budget monitor should i purchase?"

do you realize how many monitors there are and how impossible it is to know exactly how each one compares with one another?

with that said: at your price point i'm not suprised to see so many tn panels. they are also most likely coated leds which have a blue-hue until you adjust it out. tn panels tend to color shift when viewed at slightly off angles unless they have a coating and even then they are far from perfect. the ips panel you have is probably e-ips which would have similar color accuracy to tn but doesnt have the horrible viewing angle issues.

does contrast matter? why sure it does. dynamic contrast however is all marketing bs. maximum and minimum brightness levels matter as well.

response times listed are usually off by quite a large margin depending on who runs the test. this is pretty much a nonissue most of the time as pretty much any monitor is fine.

--

what would i pick? hands down an e-ips over any tn panel. the color shift effect of tn panels is something i abhor (its even worse on laptops). the only reason i would say to go with a tn panel is if you want 120hz input or 3d. if the answer is no to either then my suggestion would be to get a e-ips panel.

keep in mind though that e-ips panels i've seen normally run a bit more money then your budget which makes me wonder why it is so cheap.

 

[flyingmerpa]

Thanks for the reply. I did search the forums and got a basic understanding, but many of those searches resulted in 1-2 year old posts (outdated in my opinion). I would rather find what is available at the current moment on sale that best fits my query and get more expert advice aimed directly at those models I was looking at specifically. In your own experience can you tell the difference between the different ratios? Is there a noticeable difference between those marked as 50 million to 10 million (not dynamic I assume).

 

[MauveCloud]

The highest static contrast ratio you can get with an LCD monitor is about 3000:1. Anything significantly higher than that is dynamic contrast, even if not explicitly stated as being dynamic (and often when professional reviews measure dynamic contrast, it turns out to be much lower than advertised). Only emissive technologies (e.g. CRT, plasma, OLED) can produce static contrast in the millions to one or higher. Thus I don't think you'd really see a difference between a monitor that claims 50M:1 contrast ratio and a monitor that claims 10M:1 contrast ratio.

 

[flyingmerpa]

That is encouraging to know since I was starting to think it may be one of the variables that makes me decide on the monitor. Does the ratio have anything to do with the blacks appearing as gray?

 

[MauveCloud]

Yes, but brightness/backlight level, connection type, and ambient light can also affect how gray the black looks (setting the brightness to maximum will make black look gray on almost any lcd monitor, but you rarely need the white to be more than 120 cd/m2). Also, don't rely too much on manufacturer specifications even when they give the static contrast - if you can find a review site that lists the monitor and actually measures the static contrast (especially if it lists the contrast ratios at different brightness/backlight settings), that would be better.