8 ms·

Monitors are a depressing set of products. Every consumer has a slightly different set of priorities, and for me, the continuous cycle of compromises to arrive

Monitors are a depressing set of products. Every consumer has a slightly different set of priorities, and for me, the continuous cycle of compromises to arrive at a monitor that checks just over 50% of my requirements feels punitive. The lack of satisfaction is compounded further by the tour de force of reasonably priced and high-end display technologies packed into a sexy af piece of art hanging in my living room. Stepping from the living room into the office feels like a trek into the past. I'm hopeful that QD-OLED will make that a less jarring transition. Mini-LEDs may help modernize the market, but I don't see them making a significant dent in my disappointment.

user_7832 5y ago
If you have the time and technical expertise of basic electronics (mainly soldering) and maybe 3d printing/basic CAD design, you can make your own monitor and that too at a decent price. Step 1: Go to panelook.com (or directly https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=resolution https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=resolution if you have a resolution in mind) Step 2: Find the model number of your desired monitor and put it into your desired search engine (Google works) Step 3: Buy the monitor WITH THE DRIVER* from AliExpress/Alibaba/TaoBao/eBay/wherever you get Google search results from Step 4: Wait (???) Step 5: Design a 3d model and print it, or use acrylic and cut it by hand, or whatever you want. Profit! * - the display connects to the display driver. The driver is the one with an HDMI/DP/USB-C port.
- zamadatix 5y ago
  The problem is precisely the selection of appropriately sized "TV quality and price" panels to make a monitor with not the lack of physical construction of such panels into monitors.
  - user_7832 5y ago
    I'm not sure I understand you. Are you saying that the problem is selecting the right model out of all the available choices, or are you saying that there aren't models available at TV quality/prices? Regarding the former, the website does have quite a few filters (though the navigation isn't the best but it works). For the latter, yes quality can be quite a hit-and-miss when purchasing but prices are very reasonable. There may be a ~10-15% markup compared to a large-scale razor-thin margin monitor being sold at nearly a loss on Amazon, but most products are quite reasonably priced. Re: the quality, if you're talking about advanced features you may be able to contact the distributors/manufacturers on the website selling them and ask them to make a custom order with more features (eg an extra port) for a slight price, though this varies.
    - zamadatix 5y ago
      The latter. As you say, finding panels that exist is easy even for a layman so it follows out of over 100 million monitors shipped per year at least one manufacturer would be using said all around vastly superior panel and you wouldn't have to DIY it. I've used this method for repurposing laptop screens but I've never found it a significant cost saver (even ignoring time/labor) vs standard prebuilt monitors nor is anyone making such a panel exclusively for DYI-ers.
      - user_7832 5y ago
        It's certainly true that for high-end displays I'd just go to Dell/LG/Samsung etc instead of AliExpress. Heck, anything that's premium enough to cover beyond sRGB is likely to be rare on Ali. But (imo) the biggest benefits of low price and easy accessibility to the low-mid end of products is the benefit. Not saying that you can't get those 8k panels LG uses - but - sending 4k USD to someone over AliExpress feels quite risky even to me. You could probably get good stuff if you put in the effort but if you're earnings decent money from your CS job (I suppose most here are, I'm still a student) then it'll probably be easier to buy OEM/brand name.
- madsushi 5y ago
  Thanks for sharing panelook; just spent 30 minutes browsing around. I love niche sites like this!
  - user_7832 5y ago
    Thanks, I'm happy when I can share bits of trivia like this ^^
- userbinator 5y ago
  They're usually called scaler boards, not drivers. Ones with LVDS outputs are common, but a lot of the new panels use VbyOne which seems to be rarer and more expensive to find a scaler for.
- NavinF 5y ago
  This. 3 years ago I built a 1mm thick 4K monitor by just mounting a bare panel to a thin laptop stand and hiding the eDP to DP board underneath. It was better than anything on the market and cost literally 3/4 as much as a normal fat and ugly monitor. I’ll just add “Message several sellers and ask for a datasheet and 1pc price+shipping from each one” to Step 3.
  - o_____________o 5y ago
    Let's see some pics
    - NavinF 5y ago
      It doesn’t look as interesting as you’d expect. In fact it looks just like any other panel lol. These days I only use it to set up new machines in the data center: https://i.imgur.com/H7kww6U_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=grand https://i.imgur.com/H7kww6U_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=gr... My current daily driver is the XB273K (27” 4K 120hz)
      - foota 5y ago
        Lol uh, what's the don't touch label for?
        NavinF 5y ago
        It’s for factory workers that assemble laptops. Despite the label, it’s perfectly ok to touch it. There’s a flex PCB behind the label that drives the backlight and converts the eDP signal to pixels. It’s normally protected by the laptop bezel so it’s somewhat fragile. If you bend it, you’ll break traces on the PCB or pop components off.
        13of40 5y ago
        Maybe I'm remembering old tech, but doesn't that also have thousands of volts in it?
- epicureanideal 5y ago
  Sounds like it could be a good business. Custom monitors, no Alexa or spyware. Choose the specs you care about.
  - thelittleone 5y ago
    Quite a sign of the times when "no spyware" is now a valuable and rare differentiator.
- gryn 5y ago
  here's a video a youtuber showing how to do it, in case someone want a visual example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqdHVeBkp4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqdHVeBkp4
- ayushnix 5y ago
  I've been going crazy and frustrated with the lack of HiDPI monitors on the market which can do integer scaling (27 inch 5K, 32 inch 8K) and here's a website that lists panels for such monitors. I have no idea how to go about making a custom monitor but if it's feasible to solve my problem, I'm willing to learn. So let's say I want to buy the LM270QQ1-SDA2, should I order that panel from an e-commerce website? Or should I find a monitor with that specific panel? Why is 3d printing needed here? Any article or detailed guide you can point me to?
  - NavinF 5y ago
    I’d recommend buying the panel, eDP cable, and driver board from the same seller. I posted my experience doing the same above. Of course you could take a chance with random components and it’ll probably work as long as the connectors match, but why bother when Chinese vendors are willing to do the legwork for you? You don’t need a 3D printer if you have another way to hold the panel (I glued it to a thin laptop stand)
    - ayushnix 5y ago
      Got it, so I should get the panel, the driver, and an eDP cable (to connect the driver and the panel?) from a single seller. I assume that the use of 3D printer was mentioned to build an enclosure for the panel, like for using a VESA mount?
      - user_7832 5y ago
        Yes exactly. You need something to attach the panel to (unless you've got magic to float it in mid air lol). You can repurpose an old canvas/acrylic board, or go fancy with a custom 3d printed case. Thing is, you could glue the panel to something as people have done. I find that detestable because you can't remove the panel non-distructably. A proper enclosure can hold the panel instead of sticking to it.
jnwatson 5y ago
The solution is simple: use the “sexy af” piece of art in your office. I’ve used one for 4 years. The only compromise is I have to power it on/off by remote.
- n00bface 5y ago
  I've considered it, but can't play FPS effectively on anything over 34" due to biology and $ per sqft of real-estate. The seating position to keep the game in focus would be half way across the room. OLEDs under 40" aren't TVs and almost all OLED monitors target revenue generating use-cases and are priced to match.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
    Playing FPS is office use? Are you a game developer? :-)
  - jnwatson 5y ago
    LG sells several 48" OLED TVs. To get the equivalent of 30" distance to a 27" monitor (about 48 degrees FOV), you need to be about 4.5 feet away from a 48" screen. I just mounted mine to the wall, and the back of the desk is about a foot off the wall.
    - bpye 5y ago
      LG is also introducing a 42” OLED this year - which I am very tempted by [0]. [0] - https://tftcentral.co.uk/news/lg-c2-oled-tv-line-up-for-2022-including-the-42-sized-oled42c2 https://tftcentral.co.uk/news/lg-c2-oled-tv-line-up-for-2022...
    - poink 5y ago
      I have the Gigabyte FO48U, which uses the same panel as the 48" LG C1, and... it's a beautiful TV. That's what I wound up using it for, because I couldn't stand it as a monitor and went back to my old 27". Image retention is still a real factor for computer use, and maximizing a mostly-white window results in this incredibly jarring transition from a screen that's almost uncomfortably bright to one that's too dim.
after_care 5y ago
I really enjoy the 49" ultra-wide curved form factor Samsung has pioneered and is on the second generation of.
AtlasBarfed 5y ago
I'd be curious as to the differing priorities you are thinking about. For me, I want real estate. At this point I'm looking forward to 8k in a 50-55" TV, good DPI, and 60Hz. Not a twitch gamer, I'm a developer. I use TVs. Gamers want response time/Hz, decent appearance. They are the prime target of "Monitors" Then there's the professional editors and the like. They used to be high-end monitors, but I think high-end 8k TVs will serve them as well. What else is there?
- NavinF 5y ago
  Sure you’re not a gamer, but have you tried using a 120hz/240hz monitor for a week? I think you’ll find that it’s almost as massive an upgrade as going from 1080p to 4K. Going back to 60hz is painful. You’ll see the cursor moving in a rotating square pattern when you’re moving your mouse in a circle. The lag is palpable. > What else is there? Well HDR is nice to have.
  - SECProto 5y ago
    I've been using a 144Hz screen for two years, I am a gamer, and I'll be honest: I don't notice much difference between consistent 60Hz and 144Hz. And I'm fairly sensitive to frame rate - when I'm watching a movie at someone else's house, I can tell in seconds they have the garbage "smoothing" or whatever features enabled. Things that do stand out to me are input lag (again, usually only from TV-as-monitor with bad settings), bad colour space, and occasionally bad grey-to-grey time. I would take a 60Hz monitor over a 144Hz one if it meant avoiding any one of these issues. In a heartbeat.
- layer8 5y ago
  Not the GP, but my current dream monitor would be a 3:2 or 16:10 OLED in the 24"-27" range with roughly 200 PPI and 120 Hz, preferably slightly curved, with hardware calibration for at least sRGB gamut. There’s nothing close to that in the market.
  - jiggawatts 5y ago
    sRGB is a very modest goal. I just got an RGB OLED laptop with a gamut significantly wider than Display P3. It's just glorious. UHD content like 4K movies just pop in a way that you have to see in person. It's especially noticeable on military uniforms, where the various shades of dark green are much more distinct than on a typical monitor.
skhr0680 5y ago
What are your priorities? A lot of pro photographers I know use iMacs because they are a cheap way to get an adequate computer attached to a monitor with high resolution and OK (for the price) color space
- zippergz 5y ago
  This is currently challenging because the 5K iMac is still on Intel which I’d be hesitant to buy into at this point. Hopefully resolved soon but we don’t know exactly when or what form it will take (e.g. will the 5K iMac be an “iMac Pro” and have a higher price than the Intel version?).
- n00bface 5y ago
  System agnostic (not an all-in-one), <35", HDR, OLED or OLED-backlight, >144hz, 1440p+ or higher, G-sync, 16:9, >=99% DCI-P3, doesn't look like a F-117 fucked a ferris wheel at an EDM festival, <$2k. Prioritized in that order.
jimmaswell 5y ago
What are your requirements? I had no issue finding one that met all of mine at a reasonable price a few years ago. 144Hz, low latency, decent size, 2k resolution.

user_7832 5y ago

If you have the time and technical expertise of basic electronics (mainly soldering) and maybe 3d printing/basic CAD design, you can make your own monitor and that too at a decent price. Step 1: Go to panelook.com (or directly https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=resolution https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=resolution if you have a resolution in mind) Step 2: Find the model number of your desired monitor and put it into your desired search engine (Google works) Step 3: Buy the monitor WITH THE DRIVER* from AliExpress/Alibaba/TaoBao/eBay/wherever you get Google search results from Step 4: Wait (???) Step 5: Design a 3d model and print it, or use acrylic and cut it by hand, or whatever you want. Profit! * - the display connects to the display driver. The driver is the one with an HDMI/DP/USB-C port.

zamadatix 5y ago
The problem is precisely the selection of appropriately sized "TV quality and price" panels to make a monitor with not the lack of physical construction of such panels into monitors.
- user_7832 5y ago
  I'm not sure I understand you. Are you saying that the problem is selecting the right model out of all the available choices, or are you saying that there aren't models available at TV quality/prices? Regarding the former, the website does have quite a few filters (though the navigation isn't the best but it works). For the latter, yes quality can be quite a hit-and-miss when purchasing but prices are very reasonable. There may be a ~10-15% markup compared to a large-scale razor-thin margin monitor being sold at nearly a loss on Amazon, but most products are quite reasonably priced. Re: the quality, if you're talking about advanced features you may be able to contact the distributors/manufacturers on the website selling them and ask them to make a custom order with more features (eg an extra port) for a slight price, though this varies.
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    The latter. As you say, finding panels that exist is easy even for a layman so it follows out of over 100 million monitors shipped per year at least one manufacturer would be using said all around vastly superior panel and you wouldn't have to DIY it. I've used this method for repurposing laptop screens but I've never found it a significant cost saver (even ignoring time/labor) vs standard prebuilt monitors nor is anyone making such a panel exclusively for DYI-ers.
    - user_7832 5y ago
      It's certainly true that for high-end displays I'd just go to Dell/LG/Samsung etc instead of AliExpress. Heck, anything that's premium enough to cover beyond sRGB is likely to be rare on Ali. But (imo) the biggest benefits of low price and easy accessibility to the low-mid end of products is the benefit. Not saying that you can't get those 8k panels LG uses - but - sending 4k USD to someone over AliExpress feels quite risky even to me. You could probably get good stuff if you put in the effort but if you're earnings decent money from your CS job (I suppose most here are, I'm still a student) then it'll probably be easier to buy OEM/brand name.
madsushi 5y ago
Thanks for sharing panelook; just spent 30 minutes browsing around. I love niche sites like this!
- user_7832 5y ago
  Thanks, I'm happy when I can share bits of trivia like this ^^
userbinator 5y ago
They're usually called scaler boards, not drivers. Ones with LVDS outputs are common, but a lot of the new panels use VbyOne which seems to be rarer and more expensive to find a scaler for.
NavinF 5y ago
This. 3 years ago I built a 1mm thick 4K monitor by just mounting a bare panel to a thin laptop stand and hiding the eDP to DP board underneath. It was better than anything on the market and cost literally 3/4 as much as a normal fat and ugly monitor. I’ll just add “Message several sellers and ask for a datasheet and 1pc price+shipping from each one” to Step 3.
- o_____________o 5y ago
  Let's see some pics
  - NavinF 5y ago
    It doesn’t look as interesting as you’d expect. In fact it looks just like any other panel lol. These days I only use it to set up new machines in the data center: https://i.imgur.com/H7kww6U_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=grand https://i.imgur.com/H7kww6U_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=gr... My current daily driver is the XB273K (27” 4K 120hz)
    - foota 5y ago
      Lol uh, what's the don't touch label for?
      - NavinF 5y ago
        It’s for factory workers that assemble laptops. Despite the label, it’s perfectly ok to touch it. There’s a flex PCB behind the label that drives the backlight and converts the eDP signal to pixels. It’s normally protected by the laptop bezel so it’s somewhat fragile. If you bend it, you’ll break traces on the PCB or pop components off.
        13of40 5y ago
        Maybe I'm remembering old tech, but doesn't that also have thousands of volts in it?
epicureanideal 5y ago
Sounds like it could be a good business. Custom monitors, no Alexa or spyware. Choose the specs you care about.
- thelittleone 5y ago
  Quite a sign of the times when "no spyware" is now a valuable and rare differentiator.
gryn 5y ago
here's a video a youtuber showing how to do it, in case someone want a visual example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqdHVeBkp4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqdHVeBkp4
ayushnix 5y ago
I've been going crazy and frustrated with the lack of HiDPI monitors on the market which can do integer scaling (27 inch 5K, 32 inch 8K) and here's a website that lists panels for such monitors. I have no idea how to go about making a custom monitor but if it's feasible to solve my problem, I'm willing to learn. So let's say I want to buy the LM270QQ1-SDA2, should I order that panel from an e-commerce website? Or should I find a monitor with that specific panel? Why is 3d printing needed here? Any article or detailed guide you can point me to?
- NavinF 5y ago
  I’d recommend buying the panel, eDP cable, and driver board from the same seller. I posted my experience doing the same above. Of course you could take a chance with random components and it’ll probably work as long as the connectors match, but why bother when Chinese vendors are willing to do the legwork for you? You don’t need a 3D printer if you have another way to hold the panel (I glued it to a thin laptop stand)
  - ayushnix 5y ago
    Got it, so I should get the panel, the driver, and an eDP cable (to connect the driver and the panel?) from a single seller. I assume that the use of 3D printer was mentioned to build an enclosure for the panel, like for using a VESA mount?
    - user_7832 5y ago
      Yes exactly. You need something to attach the panel to (unless you've got magic to float it in mid air lol). You can repurpose an old canvas/acrylic board, or go fancy with a custom 3d printed case. Thing is, you could glue the panel to something as people have done. I find that detestable because you can't remove the panel non-distructably. A proper enclosure can hold the panel instead of sticking to it.

jnwatson 5y ago

The solution is simple: use the “sexy af” piece of art in your office. I’ve used one for 4 years. The only compromise is I have to power it on/off by remote.

n00bface 5y ago
I've considered it, but can't play FPS effectively on anything over 34" due to biology and $ per sqft of real-estate. The seating position to keep the game in focus would be half way across the room. OLEDs under 40" aren't TVs and almost all OLED monitors target revenue generating use-cases and are priced to match.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  Playing FPS is office use? Are you a game developer? :-)
- jnwatson 5y ago
  LG sells several 48" OLED TVs. To get the equivalent of 30" distance to a 27" monitor (about 48 degrees FOV), you need to be about 4.5 feet away from a 48" screen. I just mounted mine to the wall, and the back of the desk is about a foot off the wall.
  - bpye 5y ago
    LG is also introducing a 42” OLED this year - which I am very tempted by [0]. [0] - https://tftcentral.co.uk/news/lg-c2-oled-tv-line-up-for-2022-including-the-42-sized-oled42c2 https://tftcentral.co.uk/news/lg-c2-oled-tv-line-up-for-2022...
  - poink 5y ago
    I have the Gigabyte FO48U, which uses the same panel as the 48" LG C1, and... it's a beautiful TV. That's what I wound up using it for, because I couldn't stand it as a monitor and went back to my old 27". Image retention is still a real factor for computer use, and maximizing a mostly-white window results in this incredibly jarring transition from a screen that's almost uncomfortably bright to one that's too dim.

after_care 5y ago

I really enjoy the 49" ultra-wide curved form factor Samsung has pioneered and is on the second generation of.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

I'd be curious as to the differing priorities you are thinking about. For me, I want real estate. At this point I'm looking forward to 8k in a 50-55" TV, good DPI, and 60Hz. Not a twitch gamer, I'm a developer. I use TVs. Gamers want response time/Hz, decent appearance. They are the prime target of "Monitors" Then there's the professional editors and the like. They used to be high-end monitors, but I think high-end 8k TVs will serve them as well. What else is there?

NavinF 5y ago
Sure you’re not a gamer, but have you tried using a 120hz/240hz monitor for a week? I think you’ll find that it’s almost as massive an upgrade as going from 1080p to 4K. Going back to 60hz is painful. You’ll see the cursor moving in a rotating square pattern when you’re moving your mouse in a circle. The lag is palpable. > What else is there? Well HDR is nice to have.
- SECProto 5y ago
  I've been using a 144Hz screen for two years, I am a gamer, and I'll be honest: I don't notice much difference between consistent 60Hz and 144Hz. And I'm fairly sensitive to frame rate - when I'm watching a movie at someone else's house, I can tell in seconds they have the garbage "smoothing" or whatever features enabled. Things that do stand out to me are input lag (again, usually only from TV-as-monitor with bad settings), bad colour space, and occasionally bad grey-to-grey time. I would take a 60Hz monitor over a 144Hz one if it meant avoiding any one of these issues. In a heartbeat.
layer8 5y ago
Not the GP, but my current dream monitor would be a 3:2 or 16:10 OLED in the 24"-27" range with roughly 200 PPI and 120 Hz, preferably slightly curved, with hardware calibration for at least sRGB gamut. There’s nothing close to that in the market.
- jiggawatts 5y ago
  sRGB is a very modest goal. I just got an RGB OLED laptop with a gamut significantly wider than Display P3. It's just glorious. UHD content like 4K movies just pop in a way that you have to see in person. It's especially noticeable on military uniforms, where the various shades of dark green are much more distinct than on a typical monitor.

skhr0680 5y ago

What are your priorities? A lot of pro photographers I know use iMacs because they are a cheap way to get an adequate computer attached to a monitor with high resolution and OK (for the price) color space

zippergz 5y ago
This is currently challenging because the 5K iMac is still on Intel which I’d be hesitant to buy into at this point. Hopefully resolved soon but we don’t know exactly when or what form it will take (e.g. will the 5K iMac be an “iMac Pro” and have a higher price than the Intel version?).
n00bface 5y ago
System agnostic (not an all-in-one), <35", HDR, OLED or OLED-backlight, >144hz, 1440p+ or higher, G-sync, 16:9, >=99% DCI-P3, doesn't look like a F-117 fucked a ferris wheel at an EDM festival, <$2k. Prioritized in that order.

jimmaswell 5y ago

What are your requirements? I had no issue finding one that met all of mine at a reasonable price a few years ago. 144Hz, low latency, decent size, 2k resolution.