I mostly do photoshop and would like to know what is the best resolution on a crt monitor. Do I set it to the highest resolution the monitor can go? I'm confuse on what resolution to set.

Gerald McClaren

Gerald,

resolution is controlled by the computer connected to the monitor.

For graphics work, use the highest resolution that you feel comfortable with.

The highest the resolution, the more real estate you will have on the screen to do your work and still have all your palettes available to you.

I've be using on my desktop 1600 x 1200 for years and I'm so used to it that, even still I could go higher, I would not feel comfortable.

The trick is to set a resolution high enough that gives you plenty of room to work but still be able to easily read tabs, palettes or tool boxes.

One other point: you may want to check what your refresh rate is for the monitor that you have. You might have to revisit the refresh rate once you change the resolution. The higher the refresh rate, the less flicker you will notice. Ideally you want no flicker at all.

I mostly do photoshop and would like to know what is the best resolution on a crt monitor. Do I set it to the highest resolution the monitor can go? I'm confuse on what resolution to set.

Gerald McClaren

hi gerald,

frank covered most of the bases here. i'll just add that i wouldnt go less than 1024 x 768. but, monitor resolution is really a matter of preference. and that preference is mostly going to be influenced by the software you're using. for graphics work, you're not worried about the same things you'd worry about in a high resolution game that does a ton of refreshing and altering of the screen. so, going with a high resolution is fine, so long as you can read your user interface, and of course, your desktop.

resolution is just the number of dots on your screen. that's really all it is when talking about a monitor. different monitors can do different resolutions. some can go quite high, some not and some will do the more or less intermediate resolutions and some wont. so, before you worry too much about it, i'd check and see what your monitor can actually do. like frank said, the biggest advantage in graphics work is being able to see all your palettes on the same screen and having a bigger image frame to work in. so, it's entirely up to you and your eyesight. go big until you cant read the fine print :)

myself, i prefer crt's over the new stuff, lcd's, plasma's and so on. a crt image just looks right to me. and if you ever have to replace the one you have, get an NEC. they make an excellent crt monitor at a reasonable price.

Hi! Frank and Kraellin thanks for the info on the crt monitor resolution setting. I've been using 1024X768 for a long time and it was fine. I had tried the 1600X1200 resolution and found out that I have more space on my monitor to work with, which is cool. If I would like to do a video, should I change it back to 1024X768 or continue to use the higher resolution. Thanks guys.

P.S. Kraellin, which is a good NEC crt graphics monitor?

Gerald McClaren

why CRT?:question:

I would do it at max 1024 x 768.

Considering that videos once published are typically resized to 800 x 600 or even smaller, if you do a video at 1600 x 200, the viewers will have a hard time seeing what you clicked, or which tool you select or which effect you applied.

Give it a try: record a very short video at 1024 x 768 and view it as a normal user. Then record the same video while the resolution is at 1600 x 1200 and view it. You will see that the video done at the smaller resolution, is much easier to follow.

The other issue is file size: a video file done at 1600 x 1200 will be huge unless is compressed to an extreme, in which case it will lose tons of resolution. 1024 x 768 is much more manageable.

Hi! Frank and Kraellin thanks for the info on the crt monitor resolution setting. I've been using 1024X768 for a long time and it was fine. I had tried the 1600X1200 resolution and found out that I have more space on my monitor to work with, which is cool. If I would like to do a video, should I change it back to 1024X768 or continue to use the higher resolution. Thanks guys.

P.S. Kraellin, which is a good NEC crt graphics monitor?

Gerald McClaren

gerald,

quite honestly, i dont know what NEC is offering these days. mine is older than five or six years and has served me through three computers so far. i originally used it on a win98 machine, then a cheap retail machine and it's now on my new custom rig. so, you'd have to check out what NEC is currently offering, as mine is surely out of date by now.

and chillin, crt's just look better to my eye. i dont like the limited view of lcd's where if you turn the screen slightly you get a darkened or blurred image. i especially like the flat screen crt's. my dad has an lcd type and i've found my crt just a tiny bit easier to calibrate, also. other than that, it's just pure stubborness and a refusal to change :) oh, and i can also sometimes fix my crt's when they do finally break. i've no idea how to fix an lcd ;)

I'll do my video at 1024X768 and photoshop at 1600X1200. Thanks gentlemen.

Gerald McClaren

Kraellin, I wasn't so lucky...my CRTs didn't last long.:)

pre-press houses that do flexo work prefer crt monitors as they can display the min(1 to 5 % range) dots more accurately than an lcd monitor...