David,
So, I thought I’d take the chance of getting smacked around by asking how the text appears on your monitors. Is this something that can be adjusted?
The 2070 is highly regarded by many Photoshop and Illustrator users, but answer your question; there isn’t a lot that can be done by the user with respect to poor text. That said there’s always the chance that reviewer was full of the stuff your current monitor emits 😉
there isn’t a lot that can be done by the user with respect to poor text
I’m sure most people here know this, but in case anyone doesn’t:
Go to Control Panel > Display. Click on the Appearance Tab. Click on the Effects Tab. Make sure the box that says "Use the following method for smoothing the edges of screen fonts" is checked (This is an XP thing. Other versions will have something else to the effect of "Smooth edges of screen fonts"). I prefer the ClearType method, but it’s up to your personal preferance.
Again, I’m sure most of you already know this, but there’s a chance it’ll help one or two others.
"There is no way to adjust it to make a black look like black. Don’t even offer any suggestions. I’ve tried everything."
Sorry, but I’m going to:
1. Have you tried calibrating your monitor with a third party hardware/software product such as Pantone ColorVision Spyder & OptiCal? This totally saved my Sony G400 from an early grave, returning a blank black screen from a washed out purple back to a dense matte black. I’d tried "everything" to do with the monitor’s settings to no avail prior to this.
2. The monitor might have internal focus/convergence adjustment screws in addition to any software controls available on screen. Fine-tuning this may help text rendition. I’ve found that my new monitors have always needed a bit of hardware fine-tuning over the factory setup, which seems to mostly be "near-enough is good enough"
Of course taking the cover off risks voiding the warranty and possible electrocution, but using the correct plastic adjusting wands (available from electronics stores) and being bloody careful will reduce that risk. If unsure, take it to a good video repair shop for the adjustments to be checked.
Fred.
(Not in any way associated with Pantone or ColorVision)
Donkey, I am aware of the smooth edges, though I’m sure your tip has helped another reader or two. In Windows 2000, that setting would be under the effects tab under display properties. There is also an option to select large icons. Under the Appearance tab, there are several options to increase the text size. This is also an option in the internet options under the General tab by punching the Fonts button.
But, I prefer reading small text so I don’t have to scroll (and to prove to myself I’m not getting old). If the text is fuzzy, I would be forced to increase the text size. I can be a bit annoyed if the text isn’t crisp.
Your comment did remind me of one detail in the article. The reviewer did admit that he was reviewing directly out of the box. He didn’t change any settings before reviewing it. Here is the review <
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,114190,00.asp> so you can read it for yourselves.
Ian,
That said there’s always the chance that reviewer was full of the stuff your current monitor emits
Or possibly full of stuff that some pipes from those difficult-to-find specialty stores emit.
I still have an open ear if anyone else would like to chime in to offer another personal review based on this particular monitor. I did put out the money for it, but you know how it is. It may take weeks before they even deliver. From what I’ve read so far in the Adobe forums, fuzzy text doesn’t seem to be enough cause to cancel the order. But I do want to know what to expect when I set it up.
Fred, it sound to me like I just might take off the case and see what lurks behind my screen, then. Thanxs for totally ignoring my request against offering advice. My wife cleaned this thing with Ajax or something. Who knows? She could have presoaked it for all I know. I’m sure that wouldn’t have effected the display…would it?
Warranty means nothing. It expired three months ago and the company doesn’t answer any email. I’m sure they have stalled until it expired so they wouldn’t be required to do anything. I’d much rather fix it myself, anyway.
David,
I’ve pulled the back off and worked on my 6 year old 19" Princeton EO90. I’ve done the same with other PC monitors and my 1993 Sharp TV and they’re still goin’ strong.
The green you describe on the KDS sounds like the Screen pot screw adjust on the transformer is set to high or has drifted.
Many don’t realize that even the be$t monitors are still subject to the hazards of shipping and how it can throw all those screw adjusts in the back of out of spec. Some screws can be very loose while others are set kind of tight. My Screen adjust is very loose and will make my black point turn bluegreen at the slightest turn. Same with my TV.
There are basic instructions on the web on how to do this by searching Google Groups.
As for fuzzy text, it might be your contrast is set to high in combination with a rez that might not mate well with white point glare. Calibration in dimmed ambient lighting may cause you to find your OS’s sweet spot shadow role-off your graphics interface is built on. On my EO90, calibrating and reducing contrast really improved text sharpness.
I tried out a new KDS from Walmart several months ago and even after calibrating, their black point couldn’t hold a candle to my Princeton. I took it back.
What are monitor manufacturers thinking these days?
don’t touch anything inside for 1/2 to a full hour since you’ve pulled the plug! some of the capacitors (or some electric thing inside) can remain charged for quite a while!
The high voltage is what can get you. I never work on the guts of a monitor or TV without discharging the high voltage system.
Actually, discharging all the power supplies is a good idea, but without a service manual, you won’t know where to go. These caps can stay charged longer than 1/2 hour, especially the HV, if the bleed resistor is open or missing.
Another point: without a reference on the screen, messing with any adjustments is problematic, since many are interactive. Get a good set of colorbars to use in the setup, along with a pattern generator that generates lines, grids, dots etc. You should be able to download this as a freebie. With it, you know in a glance whether you should even open the case.
One problem is overlap of the adjacent colorbars. unless setup correctly you can wind up with messed up color effects.
Another is convergence. Without a dot pattern or grid, you will not know you have it right. "Good enough" doesn’t work here: they either are on or off adjustment.
Personally, even though I have done this for years, I don’t have the proper equipment to assure a correct alignment so I would take it to a tech who does, or borrow the stuff.
The high voltage is what can get you. I never work on the guts of a monitor or TV without discharging the high voltage system.
Actually, discharging all the power supplies is a good idea, but without a service manual, you won’t know where to go.
These caps can stay charged longer than 1/2 hour, especially the HV, if the bleed resistor is open or missing.
thanks larry. i knew i could count on someone here to give the details. mine were sketchy at best. 🙂
better safe than fried, i always say!
If you’re not too squeamish, you can remove the rear cover , locate the adjustment points on the flyback, and drill access holes in the cover. Then replace the cover, note that you can see the adjusting pots, and you’ll be safer when making the adjustments. Hobby places ( Radio Shack, for example ) have plastic and nylon insulated screwdrivers for TV work that minimize the risk . When not adjusting, cover the custom holes with tape.
[edit] My old multisync monitor had factory drilled holes at the appropriate spot. In those days, you weren’t expect to discard a display when it needed tweaking, I guess .<G>
🙂
Brent
I’d never heard a bad word about text display before I bought my 2070SB. However, when I upgraded my video card to the Matrox p650 and turned on its glyph support I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was like I had a whole new monitor. And I’d been happy with it before 🙂
—
– Doug Nelson
==============================
http://www.retouchpro.com — the #1 online community for retouchers and restorers
To add to Doug’s point…
Do not underestimate the importance of the graphics adapter for things like text clarity.
When I first got my now-"ancient" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 91TXM, I was using a problem-ridden Diamond video card, and I remember being disappointed by the text appearance — as though there were way too much edge enhancement applied.
Upgrading to a Matrox G400 was like breath of fresh air. In fact, that particular Mitsu/Matrox combo continues to serve me well today.
=-= Harron =-=
Good point. I wonder if the matrox would work better than the vVidia I have.
…..that’s nVidia!
Gotta be more attentive….
I had just replaced my video card, thinking that the problem could have been the card. I’m now using an All-in-one card that can handle two monitors. I plan on buying a cheaper monitor (or using this one if I can tweak the guts since I’m not too squeemish) for a dual display setup after I get my new monitor.
My friend brought his monitor over last week and I used that to compare the two monitors. There is a dramatic difference in displays. His (Sony traditional…can’t remember the model) has brilliant colors, crisp text, Perfect! I’m satisfied with the card I bought. I did want a Matrox because I have read so much about them in the Adobe forums, but I wanted tv on my computer (sweeeet) and dual monitors. Plus my wife was with me so I had to take what I could get. I make the money, but she gets to spend it. I’m basically handing my hard-earned money over to my wife so I don’t have to hear her nag. I should just pay a couple of thugs to break my eardrums. I don’t think she comes in the Adobe forums. If she does, I just handed her my last paycheck for nothing.
ok, so I opened Photoshop with both monitors hooked up and tried setting a picture on his to match mine in Photoshop. To accomplish this, I had to reduce transparancy to 73%, change the levels’ middle input level from 1.00 to 1.68 and lower brightness down to -22.
This monitor does offer a weird quick change in the settings called Video Level, One is used for text and the other for graphics, but it’s like trying to use a fax/printer/copier. You have a bundle of both but basic crap in both of them that really don’t amount to any quality in either.
Thanx for your help.
I have to get ready for work, but I’ll try to catch up with any new posts when i get home today.
I’ll try to get out to Radio Shack on my lunch break.
David,
I’ve had my Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070 – 22 inch monitor for two or three weeks now and the text is every bit as clear and sharp, if not better than it has been on My Dell brand 19 inch Sony Trinitron that I’ve been using as my main monitor for the last 4 or 5 years.
I too had read that review but felt that images were what was more important to me. I did wonder how images could be ‘fantastic’ and text could be bad. It turns out that everything is superb. The screen is totally flat while my old monitor curves back slightly on the edges. The focus is perfect across the entire screen, even in the corners. Text is in focus over the entire screen. There is no barrel distortion. I’m as pleased as punch and like you, I almost didn’t buy this monitor because of that line in that review.
I’m using a Matrox G-550 video card. That card does not have color management control for the second monitor, but I have read here recently that Matrox has a card that does. Run a search in this forum and I’m sure you will find it. It seems like 7 was in the number of the card that has multiple monitor color management.
Also, just prior to purchasing the Diamond Pro monitor I bought a Gretag MacBeth Eye One Display and used it to calibrate my old monitor. It did a MUCH better job of getting colors close to accurate than Adobe Gamma did. I ran Adobe Gamma just prior to using the Eye One and according to Adobe Gamma, my monitor display shoud have been perfect, but I knew that what I was seeing on screen didn’t match a friend’s monitor which had been professionally calibrated and we knew that his color was accurate based on the results we obtained from prints.
The old monitor is beginning to fail on the magenta/green axis – Some dark areas appear to be purplish when they should be black. After using the Eye One on the old monitor the color accuracy was so much better that I thought of cancelling my Mitsubishi order. I’m glad I didn’t.
The most surprising thing is that after being calibrated with the Eye One, the old monitor, which is much closer to accurate now, seems to be holding its color settings, even though it is not being color managed by the video card!
My previous secondary monitor, a KDS, is still fairly new, but should be relegated to a junk pile. It has a fuzzy area directly in the center of the screen where text is enlarged, blurry and out of focus in the area that is exactly where one needs it to be good.
IMO you should wait it out and give it a try. I think you’ll be delighted.
Paz
Hello Harron.
How I wish I had been allowed a chance to speak. I am not guilty and I did not lie about anything.
I am so sorry for the way everything turned out and I gave it my best effort to try to not have the old forum end. I doubt that I would have wanted to continue to participate after I saw how the Kangaroo Court operated, but I realize how spectacularly the accusations against me were presented. Curious that proof never was, isn’t it?
Paz
I’ve been using the 2070 for about a month now. I haven’t had any issues with text clarity.
David,
Plus my wife was with me so I had to take what I could get. I make the money, but she gets to spend it. I’m basically handing my hard-earned money over to my wife so I don’t have to hear her nag. I should just pay a couple of thugs to break my eardrums. I don’t think she comes in the Adobe forums. If she does, I just handed her my last paycheck for nothing.
LMAO!
You made my day.
Harron, I absolutely agree about the interaction between the monitor and the video card. And, FWIW, I have an older Mitsu 2020u running through a Matrox 550. Still chugging happily along after five years, plus.
Nick,
I’ve been told I should have a colonoscopy every five years. In that light, it would appear that our "aging" Mitsu monitors are comparatively maintenance-free.
=-= Harron =-=
LOL! (Damn, now I’ve spewed spittle onto my poor ol’ Mitsu.)
It is a nice link.
A lot of fun too. 🙂
Thanx for the help, all. Here’s to hoping the new monitor outlasts my next colonoscopy.
Great link, Tim. Thanx for all the helpful tips. So, I’ll screw around with my monitor a bit and see if we can’t get better colors.As for the new monitor, I feel more relieved that I bought the one I did. Thanx!
I wonder why no color bars are present. Otherwise, it’s what I was recommending one has to properly assess a monitor.
Also, I took the test, and couldn’t exit it! I hade to use Task Manager to quit!
Lawrence,
That’s odd that you couldn’t exit it. It’s just a flash movie.
I’m on a Mac using IE 5.17 with Shockwave Flash plugin created in 2002. I don’t have any trouble.
I thought what was particularly nice about the evaluator was their white/black flash screen test to check if your power supply is going out.
It shows they know quite a bit about what can go wrong with monitors and how to check it that regular color test charts can’t. Even Techtool Pro doesn’t have that or even mentions such and I paid good money for it.
It shows they know quite a bit about what can go wrong with monitors and how to check it that regular color test charts can’t.
Agreed. I tried to download the applet to run it independantly but it’s a series of small SWF’s. Easier to just use their website… until it disappears that is.
For some reason, going home didn’t work the first time. It did the second.
Yep, the power supply test is quite a neat addition. They have obviously seen it over and over.
The classic test for a power supply is to put it on a variable transformer and run the line voltage from 105 to 125VAC while the supply is under full load. This is the next best thing.
JS Bach did a good power supply test. When he checked out a new organ, he would pull all the stops, lean on every key he could, and see if the air supply would sag.
Smart cookie, that Bach guy!
You can go out for about $150 and buy a battery operated video test generator that generates all the patterns. I had one but it belonged to the company I was contracting. Had to give it back. 🙁
Larry,
Powerstat is one line of variable transformers that would fit the bill on this. I’ve used them in the past on printers as well, since their power supplies are usually far less robust than PC’s or monitors , and it’s better to weed them out , if possible, than have intermittent and mysterious problems later.
🙂
Brent
I have run the supply test on every piece of computer hardware I own, and have yet to make anything fail, between 105 to 125 VAC. When I test a printer, it is printing and I examine the the output for any variations.
Most hardware seems robust concerning power supplies, except the computer itself! Manufacturers seem to skimp here.
Also, the varic test is just the beginning, particularly for computers. Overvoltage protection, current limiting, current capability (two power supplies identically rated for power can behave very differently due to the differences in rated current for the individual supply voltages) are all important considerations.
I am rambling. Next, I’ll be mumbling….:D
I got my monitor and it rocks! The text is great!
If you have a mitsubishi monitor of one of these types:
NEC FE750+
NEC FE770
NEC FE771SB
NEC FE791SB
NEC FE950+
NEC FE990
NEC FE991SB
NEC FE1250+
NEC FE2111SB
NEC FP912SB
NEC FP955
NEC FP1355
NEC FP1375X
NEC FP2141SB
NEC LCD51V
NEC LCD51VM
NEC LCD1501
NEC LCD1535VI
NEC LCD1550X
NEC LCD1555V
NEC LCD1560V
NEC LCD1560V+
NEC LCD1560NX
NEC LCD1560VM
NEC LCD1560M
NEC LCD71V
NEC LCD71VM
NEC LCD1760VM
NEC LCD1760NX
NEC LCD1760V
NEC LCD1701
NEC LCD1850E
NEC LCD1880SX
NEC LCD1860NX
NEC LCD1960NX
NEC LCD1960NXi
NEC LCD1980SX
NEC LCD1980SX+
NEC LCD2080UX
NEC LCD2080UX+
NEC LCD2180UX
NEC LCD2060NX
NEC LCD3000
NEC LCD4000
NEC LCD4000e
Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 74SB
Mitsubishi Diamond Point SB70
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 730
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 740SB
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 750SB
Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 92
Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 93SB
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 930SB
Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 220
Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 230SB
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2060u
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB
Mitsubishi DiamondPoint NX76LCD
Mitsubishi DiamondPoint NX86LCD
Mitsubishi DiamondPoint NX96LCD
Mitsubishi DiamondPoint SX98LCD
Mitsubishi RDF225WG
you can go to www.necmitsubishi.com <
http://www.necmitsubishi.com/support/main.cfm?thePage=http:/ /www.necmitsubishi.com/naviset/body.htm&title=NaViSet%20 Download> and download a file just like the link that Tim Lookingbill posted up earlier.
They also offer a file download that allows the user to set their monitors onscreen instead of using the small clumsy buttons on the monitor case.
The files install into your advanced display properties so you can change your settings on-screen if you need to.
Thanks for the follow up feedback David.
And congrats to your wife for allowing it! <grin>
Great news, David.
I’m glad you didn’t cancel your order!
Paz
Me too, Patrice. Just goes to show you can’t always place your entire bet on one opinionated article.
And congrats to your wife for allowing it! <grin>
LOL! She can be a real sweetie sometimes. I have to change that to ALL THE TIME because she just read this and smacked me.
I’ve been following this and I have to say that I love happy endings.Congrats.
Poifect!
Do I know you, David, or am I more famous than I ever wanted to be?<g>
I’m sorry about calling you by your first name. Is that what you’re talking about? That was rude of me. I should have been more sensitive to your signing to paz, now. The modifiers can change my message.
No, it isn’t rude at all. My name is Patrice. I just wondered how you knew. Sorry, I don’t remember knowing you and it’s been a long time since I have participated much in this forum. <smile>
BTW, thanks for posting the link to the download file for the Mitsu monitors. I haven’t done that yet and I’m sure it would be easier to calibrate with the Eye One via keyboard than pressing the buttons on the monitor itself.
I tried the monitor evaluation that Tim posted a link to, and it indicates that this monitor is perfectly adjusted, at least, via the mechanics of how it is working. Being sure that one’s color management is accurate is a different thing…thanks, Tim, for the link.
Your welcome P. Boone. Glad it helps.
I’ve been over at Norman Koren’s site reading up on the differences of Foveon digicam CCD sensors over traditional Bayer filtering. Found a better RGB grayramp to calibrate too instead of the inkjet mall 2.2 gamma gray file.
I swear that site has so much buried info on digital imaging it seems it would take a life time to go through.
Fascinating stuff.
That site helps me too Tim. I wasn’t trying to say anything bad about the link you gave us. I was just letting people know about the mitsubishi download in case they didn’t know about it. It’s more convenient when I can’t get online.
I have a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2060u (22") with the SpectraView, Spectravision, or whatever it is called, calibrator.
I too read that review about the fonts being blurry. I think the reviewer was smoking something that made his vision blurry. This is the sharpest monitor that I have ever used.
I split my time equally between Photoshop CMYK printing work, InDesign Layout, and webdesign. I can say that this monitor is very easy to read text even down to 6 point font size.
Kirk
I think the reviewer was smoking something that made his vision blurry.
LOL!
This is the sharpest monitor that I have ever used.
My monitor resolution is 1600 by 1200 and I can still read the print with my eyesight.
Well, I won’t take up any more space. You people were very much help with my questions. I have loads of work to finish or I won’t get paid and since I have my monitor I don’t have any excuse.
Thank you all.
