Got my CML174B Hitachi

[yzfr1guy]

Well, first the good news. I promptly recived my monitor from monitorsdirect yesterday. I have to say that that company is really great with their in stock quotes, price, and shipping, but unfortunately that's about the only good thing I have to say in this post. 🙁


I have to say that this is my very first LCD so I don't have anything to compare it to so I can't give an accurate review. I bought an LCD because I was under the impression that an LCD was better for eyestrain and radiation then a crt. You see, I'm blind in one eye and my only good eye isn't doing so good. I have an 19inch Viewcronic crt that I have been using the past year and my eye gets so dang strained after awhile I could just scream(I actually do), even at 120mhz refresh. I get massive migranes and I was hoping this new purchase would do wonders for me and help alleviate my problem some. What really sold me was the fact that this new Hitachi had a very fast pixel responce time and that games would play great on it, as I'm a kid at heart and am a avid gamer. Well, I think this is one of the good things about this monitor, well and of course the fact that there is no dead pixels.

But, here comes the bad stuff, that this thing is Freaking Bright as heck! Ouch bright, and I even turned down the brightness(which came maxed)halfway and it still is bright. Also, I don't know if my monitors just messed up or what but theres 6 functions that I can't even use on the display. I can't adjust the contrast,vertical and horizontal positions, phase, clock, or color temperature? Is this because it's in DVI mode? What gives? I have uninstalled and reinstalled the driver but still the same gay problems exist. I have an ATI9700Pro card and have it running through the DVI interface, I figure the DVI is much better and I didn't even bother putting it through the anafrog cable. Does anyone else have this monitor and could let me know if they have any problems with theirs?

As for now, I give this monitor a thumbs down do to the lack of adjustments, this monitor really is eye painfullt bright. The overall graphics are great when reading text, and looking at still pictures is beautiful, but while gaming the graphics are piss poor. The pixel responce time must be the only great thing about this monitor, as I don't get any of the ghosting or bleeding, but that's about it.

 

[flamethrower205]

Ok, about the brightness (and btw, I know what u mean about the eyestrain, I get that too after long time playing, what sometimes helps is putting a little water on the eye every now and then) LCD monitors are much brighter than CRT's. That's one of the things that bothers me a lot. It they dun have high brightness, contrast is poor. So, the only way to deal w/ it is to lower brightness and gamma. Otherwise, if the thing's cauing u more eyestrain, return it. Also, for the controls, a lot of that stuff is disabled when using DVI since it doesn't need to be adjusted.

Kentucky: 15 million people, 5 last names....

 

[bobmitch]

If you are using the CML174 in conjunction with the Radeon 9700...why not try running it in analog mode. Sure DVI mode is "faster"...but how much faster. I only see a benefit of DVI giving me slightly clearer pictures out of the chute. However, once connected via analog...you should have enough adjustments to get the monitor back to where you like it. Perhaps DVI hookup is unnecessary. I have a Radeon 8500 hooked up to it via DVI and have no problems with the brightness...that's after using an old Hitachi 19" CRT that was a fraction as bright. To me...the brightness is welcome...so DVI works for me. Try analog...and adjust it every which way you like it. Then re-access. I think it might help in your case.

Bob

BTW...fps digital vs analog...not enough of a difference for you eyes to see.

 

[bobmitch]

One other thought...there is a way for you to adjust brightness via the Radeon drivers. Right click on your desktop and choose properties..then settings and advanced...from there...choose the ATI Color Tab...there is a brightness slider there. Set it to your comfort zone and you may be able to leave it in DVI mode...if you find other advantages.

Bob

 

[yzfr1guy]

Thanks for the reply and helpful suggestions Bob!

I've been busy and have'nt been back in here for a few days. I believe my first impressions were a bit bad do to being unfamilliar with lcds and their brightness standards. Ohh and yes, the controls that I mentioned that weren't working was in deed due to it being ran through my ATI card as DVI. I really am not looking to lose even a smiggin of my graphis to run it in anafrog mode so I've adjusted the brightness a bit with my cards set utilities. It does kinda stink though becasue when I've viewing basic text or surfing, expessailly with white backgrounds, the brightness is allmost blinding, but when I'm gaming the brightness is almost perfect, aahhhhh I guess it's just like everything in life, nothings perfect.
I am a happy guy though, as my eye is not near as strained from this monitor!! I can definately tell a difference. I've been studying and playing games for about 10 hours today and my eye isn't hardly hurting!! WWooohhooo, Thank you Mr.Hitachi