Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!bfmny0!tneff
From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Tip to users of interlaced monitors
Message-ID: <23011931@bfmny0.BFM.COM>
Date: 4 Mar 91 10:28:22 GMT
References: <26034414@bfmny0.BFM.COM> <1991Mar3.222520.20870@d.cs.okstate.edu>
Reply-To: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Lines: 35

In article <1991Mar3.222520.20870@d.cs.okstate.edu> ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) writes:
>From article <26034414@bfmny0.BFM.COM>, by tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff):
>> How's this for irony: I have 1024x768x{16,256} available non-interlaced
>> any time I want it, given this combo of Tseng4000 video card and NEC 4D
>> monitor; but I stay with interlaced even so!  Why?  Because otherwise,
>> the monitor constantly >KLICK<s loudly every time I switch to a window
>> in text mode, or launch a DosApp.  I guess there's a relay involved in
>> the scan rate switch.  I just can't stand it!  I'd rather put up with a
>> teeny bit of flicker now and then.  It actually seems to help legibility
>> a bit on small fonts.  Non-interlaced isn't quiiiite as focused.
>> Probably a quirk of the hardware.
>
>I am considering interlace/noninterlace monitor at this time, the
>noninterlaced is about $300 more.  Are you saying that noninterlaced
>is not that a big deal over interlaced? 

It's best to characterize your actual application needs before buying
hardware.  (Heretical thought, I know.)  If you have to work extensively
with high resolution monochromatic or high-contrast graphics, then
noninterlaced is probably worth it.  Black/white dot/line jitter can be
annoying in interlaced mode.  This would include PageMaker or other
desktop publishing environments.

On the other hand, if you're going to spend most of the day in text mode
and/or looking at full color graphics, I doubt you'll even be able to
tell the difference between interlaced and non-interlaced operation.
Every text mode I've ever heard of operates non-interlaced anyway.
Where contrast is low in graphics, or same-color regions are larger than
a couple of pixels wide, interlace jitter is minimal.

Having said all this, I recommend at least a sixteen-inch monitor for
graphics displays in the megapixel range, and the leading brands, like
NEC, offer non-interlaced anyway, so it ought to be a moot issue.
Street price on the NEC 4D is $950-999.  These days I would spend $150
or $1000 on a monitor, but nothing in between.