Curved computer monitors, anyone using one?

Peter Breuninger

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Jul 20, 2010
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We are checking out the Samsung 27" curved monitor this week at Best Buy. Primary uses: video editing, net surfing, and Netflix/DVDs.

It would be great to get feedback from someone who has one. Does the curve matter at this size point?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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If I were a gamer then I'd probably love it. Otherwise…….
 

audioarcher

Well-Known Member
May 6, 2012
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Seattle area
IMHO, curved screens are the dumbest consumer idea EVER!

I don't understand why a curved screen is desirable? Won't it distort the picture? I know the old convex tube screens did. The new curved screens appear to only curve in one plane. So I guess they don't act like a lens.

I don't really buy the fact that they are suppose to have a wider viewing angle. Sure one part of the screen will be better but another part should be worse as well.
 

GaryProtein

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Jul 25, 2012
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Joe Whip

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Feb 8, 2014
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Curved screens distort the image. Pure and simple. Samsung's curve is really gross. LG's not as bad but still insane. The whole idea is silly. Large movie screens are curved due to focus issues around the edges due to the projector throwing the image. Focus issues are not a problem with TVs. LG and Samsung came out with curved screens with their first OLEDS to differentiate them from flat panels and probably to help make them more rigid considering how thin they were trying to make them. Once LCDs where curved, out with the "uniqueness" factor. Making the OLED sets a tad thicker eliminates all issues with rigidity. This quest for thinness is dopey, especially if the TV will be wall mounted. Who cares how thin it is at that point? Sales of flat panel TVs have fallen through the floor. The curve is a gimmick to convince you to buy a new TV because, hey its curved. It adds NOTHING positive to image quality and detracts with a distorted image and the bowtie or dogeared image of the screen. IMHO they are to totally avoided. And as for a 27" screen, dumber than dumb. I don't think I can be any clearer.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
I don't understand why a curved screen is desirable? Won't it distort the picture? I know the old convex tube screens did. The new curved screens appear to only curve in one plane. So I guess they don't act like a lens.

I don't really buy the fact that they are suppose to have a wider viewing angle. Sure one part of the screen will be better but another part should be worse as well.
I think there is some confusion here with respect to a TV with curved screen and a computer monitor. With a TV it is indeed a bad idea since there is one single optimized spot everyone sits at. If you sit to the side of a curved screen which many would, then you really get a screwed up experience.

A computer monitor is different. You do sit in one spot more or less. A curved screen allows larger real estate to fit in a smaller one and gives you constant distance to all points on the monitor. Your eye doesn't have to refocus as you look left and right. Again we are talking about large monitors here. For a short while I used a 40 inch TV as a monitor. Even putting it pretty far back, it is still a poor experience. When I looked at the curved, widescreen monitors at CES, for the first time they made sense. There was something natural to them and I believe the factors I just mentioned are the reason. Here is what I said in my CES thread:

Back to Samsung, they have unfortunately bet the farm on Curved display. It is now part of their “design language” and the booth droid have been told it is Curved or nothing. They have absolutely gone insane on this.

I was sold though on one application of curved displays: computer monitors. It seemed so natural for ultra-wide computer monitors to be curved. This also allowed for breathtaking displays when 2 or 3 were combined together. Games would be in heaven. I especially liked the LG. While I did not see it, Dell also is the first to bring an ultra-high resolution curved 34 inch curved monitor to market. Retail is just $1,200 and I hear one can find coupons that bring it well under $1000. I need to get one! :D

Here are the gorgeous LG curved computer monitors:



You could look like you are making money from the stock market even if you are not! :D






This is gamer heaven or what?






Freesync is the technology that finally catches up with the fact that LCD displays are persistent and don't lose their image between updates. So there is no reason to run them like the old CRTs. This new interface makes high frame rate games look better (no tearing):

 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
And samsung:
And now we get to Samsung. It was shocking to walk in and see that only a small portion of their booth had TVs!


Their version of curved monitors which did not ship yet:







I am telling you as a non-believer in curved TVs that there are absolutely worth looking at.
 

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