monitor terminology, 2ms(GTG)

[drewjustforyou]

I am looking at lcd monitors (though I still need some convincing to get away from my CRT fetish, 120hz refresh rate ftw), I have always had my eyes on a 2ms 5000:1 contrast ratio, but I just saw a 50000:1 with 3ms(GTG) refresh rate... the 50000:1 sounds like it may be a type (from newegg?), and thats a ridiculously fast refresh rate, it doesnt shock me for a high end monitor, except im seeing 3 ms and ms refresh rates everywhere! even on cheap monitors, but they all have that (GTG) after it, what is GTG?

tl;dr, gtg=?

thanks!

 

[b0dge]

I actually looked into this yesterday for my friend.

GTG means Grey To Grey, which it the time it takes a pixel to change from grey to white and back to grey again. Standard response times are Black To Black, which takes longer.

Cheap panels with fast response times will be "overdriven", meaning the transistors are basically overvolted. This can result in "input lag" (Input lag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and inverse ghosting. But I've never noticed either...

 

[zedman3d]

2MS GTG is pretty easy to accomplish now adays especially on 22" LCD's and lower. Remember anything under 8ms is unnoticable.

 

[Apokalipse]

contrast ratio = difference between blackest black level, and lightest white level

watch out for when they mention dynamic contrast ratios though. If it's a dynamic contrast ratio, it means the backlight varies brightness depending on the overall brightness of the image.

That means, for an image that actually has both black and white bits, the difference isn't going to be anywhere near what the advertised contrast ratio is.


input lag = the difference in time between the signal telling the monitor what to display, and the monitor actually starting the change of the image.

response time = how long it takes for the image to change, once it starts changing.

Remember, LCD's work by shining a backlight through the liquid crystals, and, depending on the voltage applied to them, only allow a certain amount of the light to pass through. But it takes time for the liquid crystals to change state.