Monitor or Vista question, not sure

[Ascension]

Okay I'm sure one of you guys can help me out here. My big cool monitor crapped out last night so I got a new one, HP 2310. I now see some sort of gradient in my monitor, dark at the top and light at the bottom. I'm pretty sure that it was there before but much less pronounced, almost imperceptible. It's really messing with me and therefore making everything look odd, really bad for art. I'm wondering if there is a way to get rid of that. I'm not sure if it is a Vista thing with all of the fancy schmancy things going on or if it's a monitor thing. I'm guessing Vista fanciness.

Thanks, for any info you may have,

~A~

[Diamond]

It may be a really simple fix - if you are not looking directly head-on at a flatscreen monitor, the top will appear darker due to the angle at which it's viewed. Try adjusting the way your monitor sits or the way you sit in front of it.

If you've already considered this and it's not the problem, never mind and carry on.

[OldGuy]

That was going to be my suggestion as well. Stand back a couple of feet and it should be less obvious if that is the case. If not, I would suspect the monitor.

[ravells]

If you've followed Diamond's suggestion and can still see the gradient then perhaps try this:

Presumably your monitor will also double as a flat screen TV? If it does I'd try to isolate the problem by using it as a telly (or plugging another computer into it) and see if the gradient is still there. If it is then the likelihood is that there is a problem with the monitor and not the signal going into it. If the gradient disappears when you use the monitor as a telly or with another puter, then the next thing I'd check is the signal. What input cable are you using for your monitor? With new monitors / High Def TVs you should be using the DVI input rather than the old VGA input (they usually have both). It gives a much cleaner signal. I'm no expert though and that is all I can think of.

[Ascension]

No idea how to use it as a television but I have the DVI cable in and my old pc is right here so I'll fire that up tonight and see. I think the problem is with the screen, when my move my head up or down it gets brighter or darker, how odd. All this technology is just dudes overthinking things, keep it simple, geez.

[waldronate]

LCDs have a limited viewing angle. As you approach the "maximum viewing angle", the display will darken. Continue to go further and it will keep darkening, eventually leading to color reversal. Most commercial panels are intended for dual use in TVs and in monitors. These panels tend to be optimized with a greater viewing angle going down than up so that putting the panel on a shelf across the room will give the best viewing experience. Unfortunately, most monitors are used from slightly above and at relatively close range, leading to some potentially unpleasant artifacts, especially if you're sensitive to color or intensity variance.

Another possibility is that the cold-cathode fluorescent lights used as backlights in many screens aren't perfect. The backlight gets reflected around from partly-silvered mirrors until the illumination field is "uniform enough". If the backlight gets bumped out of place slightly then the optics won't be quite aligned and you can get gradients in intensity. Another common defect is corners being darker due to non-uniform illumination from the backlight. LED monitors tend not to have this problem (or not as badly), but they are more expensive than CCFL backlit monitors.

Finally, some monitors have specs that allow visible variance between individual units. We have about 75 Samsung low-end 24" monitors at work that are marginal at best and show fairly wide variance in terms of overall illumination and viewing angle. They look fine individually, but when we put the same signal into all of them you can really see the differences.

[Ascension]

That's some good info W, never knew that sort of stuff. I sit in my easy chair so I view from slightly below, my eyes are just below center screen by about an inch. I've tried various tilts and the only tilt which removes the gradient is so skewed that text looks like the intro of Star Wars. I guess I'll just take this one back and look around for something else. Thanks, guys.

[Jaxilon]

I got a kick out of standing back a ways.....LOL.....heck, if you get clean out of the room it'll be perfect, ROFL.

Ok, kidding aside, I tend to slide down in my chair a little more each hour and eventually I'm thinking, 'What's going on here, why do my colors look crappy?"...then I realize I'm practically under the desk, hehehe...I guess being tall or just tired causes issues for some of us. Anyway, I just have to sit up straight again and everything looks right once more.

It does sound like it's your monitor but the advice to try it on another PC would settle that quick enough. I have an LG widescreen and I'm happy with it. So far, no problems, other than when I lay down in my chair of course, hehe.