That's what I get for not coming around here more... you guys have a conversation about dual monitors without me!
I have two ViewSonic VP171b (black versions of Cliff's monitor) and I can vouch for the fact that these things are very bright, and out of the box, black is really more a grey.
But, after tweaking the brightness and contrast to appropriate levels, black is very black. Is it CRT black? Probably not, because of the technologies involved. If you have the room completely dark, and you put up the starfield screen saver, things aren't completely black as compared to pitch black darkness, but CRT's aren't necessarily perfect in all regards either.
I can also display the entire greyscale range that is displayed on dpreview's web site:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos20d/
(go to the bottom of the page)
After running ColorVision's Optical calibration software, the color rendition is excellent, even though I thought it was very good before doing so.
In comparison to the ViewSonic P95f+ that I had running side by side until I got my second LCD, the CRT was "fuzzy" (and it was a very good quality, pro-grade monitor). It took no more than about a day to order up a second LCD to replace it and sell it off!
I'm currently running them via a dual-head Matrox G450 card through analog outputs. It would be interesting to see if the monitors got any better when run via their DVI inputs, but Matrox has a very good reputation when it comes to the quality of their analog outputs, so I don't expect much of an improvement.
The refresh rate is indeed 16ms, and I notice no ghosting whatsoever when watching movies or TV shows, but not being into 3D gaming, I don't have any perspective on that.
Any assumptions anyone has about the quality of LCD monitors should not be generically applied to monitors in this league. They are pricey units, and much better than the average Samsung 172's and lesser models that are out there.
I believe that I'm a pretty good judge of them, as I've spent lots of money on monitors in the past in order to get decent quality. I'm a big believer in spending money on the things that matter most, and your primary component is the monitor you look at. If you do a moderate to high amount of work on a computer each day, the money spent is well worth it, IMHO.
The only two things I can think of that would improve them are:
- get a third one for a total of 3 1280x1024 desktops
- get the 21" versions that do 1600x1200
Bring on full dual-monitor Aquarium Screen Savers!!