mister_friendly@the-newzgroups.com wrote:
> In COntrol Panel/Display, under Advanced, there is a setting for the
> monitor. It gives me 60hz 70hz 72hz 75hz and 80hz (or is that 85?)
> How do I know which setting to use? I DO NOT have the original manual
> for the monitor, which I bought second hand. It's a 17" CRT Monitor
> made by Spectrum (Spectrum 7Vlr).
>
> When I try to change it, there's a warning saying that setting it
> incorrectly can damage the monitor, so I dont want to take chances.
> It's presently set to 60hz, works fine at 600x800 resolution, but when
> I go to 1024x768, I get wide black bars on both sides of the screen,
> so the picture is only in the center. I assume this is the wrong
> setting. I never changed it, it must have defaulted to that setting.
> How can I find out what to use?
>
> By the way, my other computer which runs Windows 2000 does the same
> thing on this same monitor, and that computer is also set to 60hz.
>
> Thanks
>
(Translate this link using translate.google.com , from Italian to English)
http://www.frael.it/prodotti/listino/descrizioni.php?codiceprodotto=130089
Size: 17" (43.2cm)
viewable screen area: 16" (40.6cm)
Dot pitch 0.27mm
Maximum resolution 1280 x 1024 at 60Hz
1024 x 768 at 85Hz
Horizontal Frequency 30kHz - 70kHz
Vertical Frequency 50Hz - 120Hz
Width of video bandwidth: 100 MHz
MPRII (emissions)
Plug n Play
VESA DDC1/2B
9 factory presets and 16 user-editable memories monitor OSD control
Commands available: light / dark, contrast, size and displacement axes
horizontal and vertical centering, Cuboid, Keystone,
Rotation, Degauss, Zoom, 6500k/9300k, Colors user poszione OSD
Safety Certifications: Energy Star, UL, CSA, FDA, FCC -B, CE-Marks, TUV-GS
Supply 100VAC - 240VAC, 50Hz - 60Hz
Monitor Size: 410mm x 438mm x 450mm
Weight: 18kg
Average time between failures (MTBF) 50,000 hours
**************************************************
First of all, the monitor specs tell you the maximum refresh rate the
monitor can tolerate. At 1024x768 that is 85Hz. 85Hz will have less flicker
in the image, than if you selected 60Hz. Flicker depends to some extent
on light level, but also depends on the observer. There are some people,
who aren't even happy at 85Hz. They can still see flicker in the image.
So select a refresh that gives an acceptable flicker characteristic.
The higher the refresh, the more stress on the monitor.
Next, the monitor may have either a set of buttons, or an onscreen
display (OSD), with things like screen width, X and Y offset and so
on. To eliminate the black bars, you can try adjusting the image width
using the monitor controls. Adjust, until the image width touches the
edges of the viewable area of the monitor. You may also need to
adjust the X offset from the edge of the screen, to get things
nice and lined up. If you don't, some letters on text documents,
may be disappearing off the edge of the screen.
The monitor is then supposed to memorize those settings, and
associate them with your choice of 1024x768 @ 85Hz. If you
change one of those major settings, like switch to 1024x768 @ 75Hz,
you may have to again adjust screen width, height, X and Y offset,
for best picture. The monitor will have some limit, as to the
number of fixed or custom settings it can handle. With some luck,
you won't have to adjust it any more, if you keep using the
same settings. On my old monitor, sometimes two sets of settings
would be very close to one another, and the wrong set of custom
values would get called up. So the OSD system isn't perfect, and
you sometimes get surprises. The monitor measures the horizontal and
vertical sync rates, to figure out which set of settings to use.
Paul