<FONT FACE="Verdana"><SPAN STYLE=’font-size:12.0px’>I am in need of a new monitor and I am debating on the Artisan and the Lacie.<BR> I have heard both good and bad on both. I would appreciate your input.<BR> <BR> Thanks,<BR> Kathy</SPAN></FONT>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><SPAN STYLE=’font-size:12.0px’>Except for the price issue, there’s just no comparison. I have the Artisan now and have had a Lacie in the past. The Artisan wins hands down.<BR> <BR> </SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><SPAN STYLE=’font-size:12.0px’><BR> Thanks! You confirmed my decision.</SPAN></FONT>
<FONT FACE="Verdana"><SPAN STYLE=’font-size:12.0px’>As I have learned, Artisan it is. <BR> <BR> Thanks,<BR> k<BR> <BR> </SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><SPAN STYLE=’font-size:12.0px’>The LaCie is not nearly in the same league as the Artisan. The only thing better is the Barco at triple the price.<BR> </SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana"><SPAN STYLE=’font-size:12.0px’><BR> </SPAN></FONT>
I agree with all so far. I have a LaCie IV and an Artisan. There’s purity issues with the IV that drives me crazy and I’ve gone through a few. Quality control isn’t there. The Artisan is vasty superior in capabilities, software and so forth. Had a Barco, don’t miss it.
I agree. I have an Artisan and am entirely happy with it. It disturbs me to hear they are being discontinued. I looked for references to that on the web, and could find none. Could you cite your source for that, klmhicks? I’d be interested in learning more about that decision.
I don’t know that this is true (the units being discontinued). There was such a rumor a few months back and it ended up being untrue. I haven’t heard anything official about this from Sony but if you’ve got anything official, let us know.
I think that rumour (note the spelling) originated in the UK. As you know your good friend CW tried hard to convince Sony’s various European operations that the Artisan was worth supporting and making a big marketing push on. However, just like Epson, Canon, and few other big name operations in the UK and the rest of Europe they were too friggin dumb to listen to sensible folk from your side of the pond. Worse they’re too stupid to listen to sensible folk on my side of the pond. If there was a brain between these AH’s they still couldn’t add 2+2 🙁
–> think that rumour (note the spelling) originated in the UK.
I heard a rumor about them changing the spelling of color <g>.
–>However, just like Epson, Canon, and few other big name operations in the UK and the rest of Europe they were too friggin dumb to listen to sensible folk from your side of the pond.
But there were right about the war!
I haven ‘t heard anything from Sony but I can check my sources. Even if the product where to go away, it should do a good 3 years of service and by then, there probably will be no more CRT’s to buy anyway.
That Sony has got to last at least 5. My Princeton is and it isn’t anywhere near the quality of the Sony.
I sure would like to know what you guru’s are seeing in your monitors that makes you want to get rid of them so quickly. I like the color on mine. The PDI file matches exactly to Peter Figen’s Epson 2200 print of the file he sent me several weeks ago.
Even the Fuji Frontier at Walgreens matches. What more do you want? Am I color blind? Or what?
Of course I haven’t run mine 8 hours a day 7 days a week since I bought it so it might not be as used as it would be if subjected to ya’lls production environment.
My understanding from a conversation during PhotoEast in NY last year (you were knocking back the wine at the time <g>) was that the Artisan would be around until something was available to replace it. That something is MEGA but otherwise not within my gift to discuss and is also some ways off, but I do know that it is coming. Yes you are right, when the Artisan goes there won’t any CRT available to replace it with. For the present the Artisan is the only way to go if CRT is your thing.
I agree. I have an Artisan and am entirely happy with it. It disturbs me to hear they are being discontinued. I looked for references to that on the web, and could find none. Could you cite your source for that, klmhicks? I’d be interested in learning more about that decision.
My Princeton is and it isn’t anywhere near the quality of the Sony.
Andrews definition of quality and yours are VERY obviously different. Your Princeton on day one wouldn’t even be on the same planet as a 3 year old Artisan.
If the PDI file matches what else can a monitor provide? I’m here to learn.
I know I’ll never come face to face with an Artisan, but there’s got to be something you’re seeing.
I mean I spend quite a bit of time rechecking the PDI print to my monitor, looking back and forth and back and forth. And I’m trying to see how my monitor is failing in it’s duties. What flaw am I suppose to detect that says this is a low quality monitor?
I’ve seen my brother’s Walmart Acer 15" display, my pismo LCD and other "it came with the computer" PC monitors and those are bluish hazy piece of crap displays. That I CAN see. Is this what you all are talking about?
I even recalibrate after a month with SuperCal, and each time, I want to revert back to my old profile because there isn’t that much change in the new one. I’m still using a profile dated 3-18-2004 and the PDI file still matches.
The Artisan is not listed on your link. That appears to be a page for refurbished and clearance items, which may or may not include Artisan show room models from time to time. The inclusion of the Artisan name in the heading is meaningless in that sense.
Have you looked at the unmatched huge contrast range of the Artisan? I have no idea if "the PDI" image would show that, whatever that is (it wouldn’t be a JPEG by any chance?).
I didn’t realize that there were many models under the name Artisan, my mistake.
The 21" Artisan is the only CRT on the Sony site and speaking with Sony at the time, I gathered that discontinuing all CRTs was not too far off in the distance, since all others have been or are being discontinued.
LCD seems to be the wave of the future.
klmhicks,
The Artisan is not listed on your link. That appears to be a page for refurbished and clearance items, which may or may not include Artisan show room models from time to time. The inclusion of the Artisan name in the heading is meaningless in that sense.
Ramon, I’m not sure what you’re asking. I have both the jpeg and and Peter Figen’s tiff of this file which he also included some of his beautiful work as well as a grayramp. Both look the same.
The jpeg is from the Colorsync Extras folder off OS 9 cd.
I’ve also done the Bruce Fraser test and passed with only slight neutality shifts between levels mostly occuring in the shadow regions. That’s the only flaw I’ve found in my monitor so far aside from the occasional abrupt snapping and dimming and returning to normal.
Frankly, I think I lucked out getting this display, because after studying a bit here and other places on the web, I’ve come to conclusion the electronics industry is a bit loose on what they consider to be quality. And will build with what seems a random mix of components from one device to another. It’s what probably explains the mixed reviews I’ve read on the Mitsubishi and Lacies. Some rave and some point out focus, color and geometry problems from the same model.
I’ve seen some really bad looking monitors at CompUSA that have funky hardware controls going for about the same price as the Lacie and the Mitsubishi’s. So you have to really see for yourself with your own standards of quality what a good monitor is.
My Princeton was my first monitor and I bought it from MacWarehouse through the mail sight unseen. I didn’t know at the time what a good monitor was. Bought a $1000 Sony from Best Buy to compare and immediately returned it for its blurred corners. The colors pretty much looked the same, though.
I’m a photorealist style painter turned digital photography research enthusiast and believe I have a pretty good eye for quality. I can go into a Circuit City and zero in from across the TV center which has the best quality picture and it’s usually the Sony and Panasonic with Philips not far behind. I can point out an HDTV broadcast from analog as well. So it can’t be my judgement is off.
That’s about average life of a CRT used daily and still able to reach a usable luminance level for calibration. That doesn’t mean you can’t use the display for another 3 years. It can’t be calibrated to the degree it should be (and you’re welcome to use it for a palette display or ignore the issues of calibration). And the 3 years isn’t written in stone. Your mileage may vary. But after 3 years of daily use, you find the software tells you it can’t get to it’s aimpoint, don’t be surprised.
Andrew, what about the New or upcoming Mitsubishi Wide Gamut RGB, CRT (5000$!!!) and LCD? had you a chance to see one of them? I asked about this on the win side, but there is definitively more interst in disply quality on this side…
–>Andrew, what about the New or upcoming Mitsubishi Wide Gamut RGB, CRT (5000$!!!)
Got a preproduction of the CRT right here, next to my Artisan (and a loaner Eizo CG21). Well the gamut is really wide! But as yet, I need to wait on tools to do an effective job of calibration and profiling from Mitsubishi. I didn’t know it was $5K.
I’m waiting on the new Barco LCD too but so far, nada. The Eizo is the best LCD by far I’ve seen. I don’t think I’d replace the Artisan with it but there is not a lick of banding and the vewing angle, while still an issue is better.
I expect that if you took the file I sent you and viewed it simultaneously on your Princeton and on a recent Artisan, you would see a fairly large difference. The Artisan would have a much higher level of overall contrast due to being able to hold a blacker black point and still separate the shadows as well as having a brighter white point. The older a monitor gets, the dimmer it gets overall and it’s ability to hold either a specific black or white point diminishes as does the range of black and white points.
Barco rates their monitor lifespan at 30,000 hours, which can easily be read from the monitor’s software control panel. Even though my Barco is four years old, it only has 5078 hours on it right now. Monitor life is really dependent on the total number of hours in operation, not necessarily how many years you have it. I don’t know how many hours my Artisan has.
Those of you who are interested in the wide-gamut Mits CRT should realize that the gamut comes at a price (besides the $5k) in that the absolute maximum white luminance you’re likely to get from it is 85cd/m2, with 75 cd/m2 being a much more reasonable long-term aimpoint. The LCD, which is a ways out, shows a lot more promise.
The white point and dimming issue is apparent on my monitor compared to the prints I get from the Fuji Frontier digital minilab. 15 to 17% grayscale reading in PS looks about 25% on my monitor, but the prints almost look white on Fuji Crystal Archive with colors looking the same. The prints appear more contrasty than the monitor shows.
I’ve been searching on the web for the Mitsubishi 930sb, but want to try it out locally because of the mixed reviews I’ve encountered and comments made here about the questionable general quality of the current crop of CRT’s. Plus my last experience with the Sony from Best Buy supports my hit or miss theory on consistencies with any monitor brand or model.
I cant’ find an online retailer or mail order company that I can trust to send it back if it’s messed up in any way without a big shipping hassle and expense. I’m looking for a no questions asked return policy like Walmart’s. That’s probably being unrealistic.
I called a local Dell store at the mall but they won’t custom order it without charging me a restocking fee if I decide not to buy.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about doing this? Or am I just going to have to order it and cross my fingers? Or maybe settle for an equivalent model found at my local Best Buy, Circuit City or CompUSA?
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