LCD vs CRT (some differences)

Angle of view
The viewing angle on LCD monitors is usually much smaller then angle on CRT monitors. Now it is getting wider and wider and current models offer over 160 degrees. For all practical purposes that are more than sufficient for any user but keep in mind that published specifications is not 100% true.

Colors
This is where the CRT monitors take a clear advantage and this is the main reason why photo editors and photographers still have old CRT monitor on their desk. For an average user the difference is hardly noticeable in side-by-side comparison but editing photos can be “mission impossible” on cheap LCD monitor.

Aesthetics
LCD monitors are slim and stylish so you will have more space on your desk.

Contrast
The CRT monitors always had better contrast and LCD monitors were lagging behind until now. Some of the best LCD monitors have come very close. A high contrast monitor is likely to produce black as black rather than dark grey.

Dead Pixels
Dead Pixels are pixels on the LCD panel that do not function. You cannot repair them and sometimes warranty does not cover dead pixels. Best cure is to open your eyes before you buy. They are usually spotted as a dark or light dot always on the same place.

Energy Requirements
When it comes to power consumption, LCD monitors are very good. Their consumption is up to 50% smaller then equivalent CRT monitor.

Refresh rates
CRT monitors are liable to low refresh rates, which are seen as screen flickering. This aspect was also responsible for lower productivity (imagine 10hrs per day in front of this monitor). Refresh rate is measured in Hz (Hertz) and the VESA standard states that the minimum refresh rate to avoid eyestrain is 72 Hz. Ideally a refresh rate of 85 Hz should be OK for most people using 17 inch monitors. Due to difference in technology, the LCD Monitors are clear winners as refresh rate is not an issue with them.

The main part of modern LCD monitor is its panel. There are many different panel technologies used in the production of LCD monitors and they range from budget TN panels to expensive IPS and PVA panels. The average consumer usually has no idea what panel technology is used in their LCD because the manufacturer in the monitor specifications rarely lists the panel type.
Price should be a factor, but you should still know the advantages and disadvantages of the different LCD panels and be able to identify them before you decide which LCD to purchase.

Types of LCD panels

TN
”Twisted Nematic” display is the most common consumer display type. They are cheap and they have very good response time (4ms and 2ms models). Bad side is their color reproduction and linearity. Also, they suffers from limited viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction, and most are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors (24-bit true color). They use 6 bits per color channel so it means they combine adjacent pixels to simulate the desired shade, which is very bad for photography or any kind of photo manipulation.

IPS
“In-Plane Switching” models were developed to improve the poor viewing angles and color reproduction of TN panels. They support true 8-bit color and all this improvements produced a loss of response time, which was initially about 50ms (which is huge for games and movies) and weak contrast ratio. IPS panels were also extremely expensive.
S-IPS (Super-IPS) has all the benefits of IPS technology with the addition of improved pixel refresh timing. However, color reproduction approaches that of CRT monitors but the contrast ratio remains relatively weak.

MVA
MVA (multi-domain vertical alignment) was developed as a compromise between TN and IPS panels. They have fast response time with wide viewing angles and high contrast but the brightness and color reproduction suffers compared to IPS panels.

PVA
“Patterned vertical alignment” and S-PVA (super patterned vertical alignment) are similar to MVA, but they have very high contrast ratios (up to 3000:1). S-PVA panels uses true 8-bit color electronics and do not use any color simulation methods which guaranties a very nice colors. They can offer good black depth, wide viewing angles and fast response times.

Conclusion
Which monitor should you buy? It is hard to tell but best option is to visit local store and see what they can offer. Forget on TN panels and choose S-IPS or S-PVA models. Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

In my case, I’m thinking between HP LP2475W and Dell 2410W. Please visit next link to see the list of IPS based LCD monitors (LINK)

Please post your comments and thoughts.

Resolution
Resolution is expressed in megapixels and it represent the number of pixels contained on a camera sensor. One pixel is a one dot on image. More pixels you have, a bigger images could be printed, but….
You probably think that more megapixels mean better photos. Well this is not true. Sometimes producers will lie about this number (they interpolate pixels and generates images bigger then they should be.). Of course higher resolutions can sometimes help you to crop images more aggressively and correct your composition. Also you can print bigger images but resolution is not so important. Sometimes resolution is expressed as number of pixels on the horizontal axis and the number on the vertical axis. (For example 5Mpix, 2170×1760, etc.)

If you are looking for a new camera than probably 6Mpix will satisfied your needs. Standard prints are usually 300 pixels per inch (300dpi) and for 6Mpix image (for example 3000×2000 pixels) you will get 10”x6.6” image. Choose a camera you can understand and afford, and remember that 10Mpix is not important if the camera produces low image quality.

Batteries
A modern digital camera usually comes in two varieties. Some of them use AA-size batteries and the other uses their own (sometimes proprietary) lithium-ion batteries. With lithium-ion batteries you will probably get a charger but what if you are in the middle of nowhere and you don’t have power outlet to recharge them. So the AA batteries could be a better option if you are a traveler – you can easily replace them. Dead batteries are the most annoying thing and good advice is to buy rechargeable AA batteries with fast charger. Sanyo produces the best batteries and the chargers. Ansmann is very good option to. If you’re out of high-performance batteries, you also have the option of using standard alkaline batteries, which are available anywhere in the world. Don’t buy cheap batteries because they can damage your camera if they leaks inside. Avoid no name batteries and use Varta, Duracell, Energizer or similar hi quality batteries. Remember that before you use rechargeable batteries, you need to charge them. More about batteries HERE. If you want to read something about batteries technology, please visit Wikipedia. (believe me, it’s interesting )

Zoom
Zoom is a term used with projectors and cameras related to the ability to change the view anywhere between near and far. Definitions for near and far vary from one device to another and some informations about this technology and basic physics principles could be found on Wikipedia . Zoom lens actually means “variable focal length” and you can never have too much zoom. The majority of digital cameras have 3-, or 4x optical zoom, but you will never regret choosing a model with more telephoto power. Now almost all digital cameras have zoom lens.
We can split digital cameras in two main groups. One group is for cameras with standard zoom option (2x, 3x, 4x optical zoom) and the other group is ultra-zoom cameras (10x, 12x, 15x). Fortunately the extended zoom camera category is growing rapidly, and there is a great selection of models with 8-, 10-, or even 18x optical zoom. For the ultimate in zoom control and quality, look for an extended-zoom camera with image stabilization, which will ensure that shots taken at full telephoto will be tack-sharp, even without a tripod. I suggest that you check image samples before you buy ultra zoom camera. Sometimes 18x zoom is not as good as it seems on the paper (visible image distortions, refractions, purple firing and similar problems characteristic for ultra zoom lenses.)

More about camera technology will be posted later. Now I’m working on memory cards, photo editing software, few tutorials about posting images online, etc.

Please coma back later if you like my blog, and please post a note at least. Also, if you have some ideas and you want to share with other please let me know. See Contact page

Color Palette Generator

This is useful for coming up with a website color palette that matches a key image that a client can work with. It creates color combinations with an impact.

I selected randomly one image from my collection on Featurepics and here you can see the results. Excellent tool.

You can find this tool on Color palette generator

Instant Color Schemes

Let Yahoo pick your color scheme! Enter a word or phrase and this tool will grab 5 related images from Yahoo Images, and get the 6 most prominent colors from each.

You can find this tool on this LINK.

Pic2color

Pic2color is a patent-pending color re-scheming technology based on how the eye perceives color. This technology is set to revolutionize the creation of color schemes for graphics. Creating color schemes is a complicated process as readability and contrast between text and background have to be maintained within a coherent color scheme. Changing a single color can disrupt the scheme. To test this tool, please visit Pic2Color.

If hosting company has a good reputation in last few years, it doesn’t mean it is proof for this problems. Large corporations purchased many of these companies. Services and support were cut or scaled back in order to maximize profit. Make sure you choose a hosting company offers the business related hosting services you need , and those you will need in the future.

Finding a good hosting plan is not an easy task. You need to spent some time to compare hosting plans but then you will see benefits and problems you can expect from hosting companies. You need to think about available space, bandwidth, support, customer testimonial, domain price, contract, etc. Biggest problem is domain and be sure that you get all info about your domain. Last few months, there was a big problem with RegisterFiles and stolen domains. You can find on Google about this problem. More than 10 000 domains was stolen and unavailable for renew.

Here are some basic things you need to know about quality web hosting. Especially if you have a big website with hundreds visitors per day.

• Stay away from free hosting. Ye, free hosting is not good idea. You will never know when it is available and when it is down, banners all over your site, porno pictures and much more problems. Payed web hosting is a much better solution. It could be solved starting from 1.95$/mo.
• Make sure that hosting company is in bussines for a while. Usually 5 years or more in the hosting business is a good sign. The longer they have been hosting the better the chances are that they are going to provide a reliable service. Most hosting startups have a chance of failing and if they go out of business your website may be lost.
• Make sure they have the tools you need. Look for hosting that has a control panel. Most do but there are some that don’t include it with their hosting. A control panel is an area where you control your hosting. It allows you to setup email accounts, manage databases, view website traffic statistics and more. The two best control panels are Cpanel and Plesk. If you want to make sure you are getting a good host ask them what control panel they use. If they say Cpanel or Plesk then they are most likely a higher quality hosting company and you will be much happier with them over a company that uses something else.
• Linux hostin. When possible choose Unix or Linux hosting over Windows. Although Windows hosting will work we prefer Linux/Unix. In most cases it is easier to install PHP scripts on Linux/Unix hosting and many times you have more control over the server settings. You do not need to know how to use a Linux/Unix operating system when using Linux/Unix hosting.
• Dedicated hosting and servers. Dedicated hosting is a great way to go but only if you know how to administer the server. If you are unfamiliar with running your own server stay away from dedicated hosting. The same goes for setting up your own server.
• Not recommended. The following hosting companies are not recommended at this time because they severely limit your hosting settings for an script or software that is installed. If you are using or plan to use one of these hosts please contact us for more information first. In that list is: yahoo, godaddy, crystalhost, freeservers, brinkster, netfirms, 1and1, networksolutions, globat.com. The reason is that they severely limit your hosting setup. They limit the size of photos/files that can be uploaded thru any script to 2mb and also limit other settings that will effect any types of scripts such as PhotoStore and PhotoHost that you run on your hosting space. If you do not need to upload photos large than 2mb you may be fine with these hosting companies although please be warned that in the past there have been problems and you may have to switch hosts if you run into complications. Many other hosting companies allow you a lot more control over your hosting setup.
• Hosting forums. Search through hosting review & offers section. After found the hosting, found some customer review posted at the forums as well. Personal referral is useful as well.
• Available features. Make sure they offer web based site management and control panel. Make sure they offer Java, statistical reporting, real audio, real video, mail list management, and a search engine. If you use Microsoft’s Front Page, make sure they offer Front Page extensions. Also, you will need subdomains, email addresses, databases, etc. Be sure that size of database is not limited. (few hosting companies has database limitations on bizarre 5 or 10MB so you cant host forums and similar applications. )
• Search for deals/offers. Search for hosting coupons, or hosting offers from forums or search engine.

Now I would like to recommend some hosting companies who will give you all you need from quality web hosting.

• BlueHost
• LunarPages
• ixWebHosting
• Hostrocket

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=PlWfZeyvk9Y[/youtube]

Source: YouTube, author: FlashAcesDesign