Happy Holidays!

[editor]

From the staff of Photoshop Elements Techniques and this forum, our best wishes for a very Happy and Safe holiday season!

We will be "closed" December 23-27, so while the forum discussions will continue, there will be little or no staff interactionn during that time.

Have a good one!

[michoumisalade]

Merry Christmas to all! I wish you a lot of fun with your relatives, friends and families!
http://www.michoumisalade.ca/noel_web.jpg

[Wendy]

Merry Christmas to everyone :)


Wendy

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1Rxz2xgwo90mT3fqw0fIhvuKHCUs0

[Mary]

May the joyous spirit of Christmas be with you all year!

[DocLotus]

Nice pictures everyone :lol:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HAPPY NEW YEAR and all that other neat stuff.

[Jodi Frye]

Hope ya all had a great one ! Guess what ? I don't feel like going back to work...so I wont ;)

[DocLotus]

Me neither, Jodi...

I'm retired and LOVING it :lol:

[Jodi Frye]

I'm runnin out of room in my webspace....can i hang my extra pixels in here ?


na, i wont do that to all of yas but I do have a question...what is a 'good' graphics card ? Runnin XP. Currently usin a low cost ATI Radeon 9000 series 64mb( desperate walmart purchase just over a year ago ). I'm not really sure i need a new card but lately I noticed some slight ghosting ....not sure it's called that...but on the right of all images and text there is like a repetetive light halo that gradually fades out. I just bought this Samsung 950b about a year ago and I'd hate to think my hard earned 185 bucks to NewEgg was a mistake. I've done quite a bit of different things to fix it...like re-installing drivers for both the card and monitor...degauss, moire removal...changed the monitor power cord...I'm running out of ideas. Is there something obvious I'm missing ?

I changed resoluion settings, refresh rates etc....no difference. Help !

[DocLotus]

Hi Jodi;

It's not your video card; LCD monitors are notorious for just what you are describing.

As you are running an ATI video card I will assume that you are running Windows

There are FOUR possible resolves to this common problem.

1: Analog or Digital monitor input...
The ATI 9000 has both Analog (VGA) and Digital (DVI) outputs. Which one you select is dependent on the type of monitor that you have. Some are Analog only, some are Digital only and others will accept both. It is often stated by many that on an LCD monitor Digital input can sometimes make a BIG difference in image quality. My Samsung 243t LCD accepts both but I am running Analog as that is all that my ATI 9600 All-In-Wonder has for the monitor output. Text image is simply stunning; 1 point fonts are very clear (providing I zoom to 500 percent in Word); 6 pt fonts are readable at 100 percent zoom. The choice to go Analog or Digital can vary from one model of monitor to another and from one video card to another so you will just have to try both and see which is better in your case.

2: Smooth Edges of Screen Fonts...
Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced tab, Performance Settings, put a check in the Smooth edges of screen fonts box, click apply. I have never found this one to be of much help but it may in you case so you will simply have to try it and see.

3: ClearType fonts...
Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, Display, select the Appearance tab then the Effects button. Put a check in the Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, select ClearType. ClearType was designed especially for LCD monitors. It may or may not help in you case.

4: Microsoft's wonderful new ClearType Tuning PowerToy tool...
This one is a MUST HAVE for anyone running an LCD monitor...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
This great little new PowerToy will let you tune the type quality on any LCD monitor; you can even change the overall lightness or darkness of all text. It is very nicely done indeed.

Hope that one (or all) of the above helps.

[DocLotus]

One more thing, Jodi, the Microsoft ClearType Tuning PowerToy tool also has controls to get rid of the ghosting you described that often looks like a faint blue halo on one side of all text. It show many text samples, you select the cleanest one and that then effects all text on you computer. It also shows a Before and After window so you can really fine tune your text and see the results right now.

[Jodi Frye]

Thanks Doc ;) here is the the thing...I'm running a crt...but i went ahead and tried everything you suggested anyways...even ran the XP power tool wizard for an LCD monitor ( at this point i'm willing to try anything and i simply no longer value material objects ) My type is cleaner but it didn't change the ghosting...just cleaner ghosting now.

I've been looking throo the net all day and it seems the problem has many solutions posted....changin the card was one..then changin the vga plug...which i cannot do since it's built in on the monitor end.....then there were the deep technical jargen which went over my headf...i tried to understand...anyways, thanks for your help so far. I may just learn to live with it for now.

[DocLotus]

OK, a CRT heh :?:

That's a horse of a different color.

There is an on-screen adjustment on most CRT monitors that lets you change the Convergence of the Red, Green, and Blue guns that are firing at the glass tube.

When the three colors are not in perfect alignment you will see ghosting like you described. If they are making a little dot (like a period) it will look like a perfect dot when all three guns are firing at the same location. When the Convergence is out of alignment each of the three guns will be fireing at a slightly different area of the screen and the results will look like a blurry dot.

The solution is fairly simple; look at some text near the center of the screen and adjust the on-screen Convergence (one of your monitor controls) until the text is the clearest that you can get it.

That will usually get rid of the halo around the text.

Good luck.

[Jodi Frye]

Hello Doc, I do appreciate all the time and effort you are giving me ...but that didn't work...mostly because my monitor does not have the convergence settings ..grrrrr
Samsung SyncMaster 950b ...i'm headed to go find the warranty paperwork...but that does seem pointless since there is no way I'm going to ship this beast and be without a monitor for god knows how long. Hmmm <thinking>...I'm so irritated over this. Hasn't been a good day.

Thanks again for all your help ! I owe you one....just remind me when the time comes... ;)

[DocLotus]

Like an elephant :lol:

[DocLotus]

I don't know if this will help but on pg 39 of the Samsung 950B manual is a sharpness adjustment but you may already of done that.

[Jodi Frye]

Doc, yup but it only refers to the 'highlight' mode for use with presentations...you can highlight a geometrical area of the screen and adjust whatever is in it. Sharpening only made the halo sharper ;)

well, I may seem like I'm giving up....but not really.....it will get taken care of sooner or later...one way or another. I'm bummed tho...cause this monitor has awesome color. I didn't even bother lookin for the warantee...this beast weighs about 50 cows so no way i'm spending to ship it...could just spend the green on a new monitor...if it went that far....hopefully I'll get it right...i do have faith.

Thanks again !

[DocLotus]

One last thought, do you have access to another monitor (possibly from friend) that you can hook up to see if it is the monitor or something else?

[Jodi Frye]

Doc i did think of that...my daughters little 15 incher...but isn't my xb box going to start complaining about ' new hardware found' blah blah blah...i guess this would matter right ? just ignore and see if the picture is OK ? My 6 year old was on her computer most of the day ( sheeeeesh ) so i kind of laid the idea aside...i'll keep you posted...so are you saying that if her monitor shows it too then it's a video card and if it doesn't then i got a lemon monitor ...right ? Ok, i'll check it out...thanks agin!

[DocLotus]

One step at time. Either one is going to set you back some cash.

As far as video cards are concerned, the ATI cards are excellent. I am on my 4th one and all were wonderful.

[Jodi Frye]

no such luck ...the 15 inch monitor displayed well...no halos ...i don't think i prayed enough before i plugged it in. So I'm going to keep lookin for some freebie tools that could help. Found a lsite earlier today that had a free tool ' Nokia Monitor test' latest version that included some tools that would have/could have helped.....but the link was dead...grrrrr Anyways, I will be lookin for more info/ tools t'il i give up for the night. Thanks again Doc.

[DocLotus]

Beginning to sound like the Samsung may have suffered from impact damage in shipping causing the guns to shift slightly causing the convergence problem.

One question... have you always had this problem or did it just start one day? If it has always been there then it was shipping damage.

Too bad it does not have convergence adjustment, it could easily be corrected.

[Anonymous]

Doc, no it wasn't like this when i first got it..funny thing is that it just happened. I noticed it yesterday morning when i was in elements puttin some black text on white background...I'm certain i would have noticed it earlier but it may have been something that progressed slowly and it finally got bad enough for me to take notice. i don't know..hard to say. Was just telling hub that there was no way I was going to buy another monitor at that price...if they are only going to last a year. I probably got what i paid for...a years worth of pleasuer...but i am totally bummed. I really thought i was buying a great monitor at a great price. i read all the reviews and users had recommended it... $ 185 for me isn't peanuts ! I'm upset. Was just in elements trying to do something and i had to shut it down cause it was pissin me off so much..my eyes were buggin ! Oh well, Thanks again. Off to find sanity

[Jodi Frye]

oops, I wasn't logged in....I was a guest ;)

Thanks again

[DocLotus]

See ya :roll:

[Jodi Frye]

Hey Doc guess what ? After still no relief I went over to the samsung site and located my monitor....it has a 3 year warranty ! I also located my paperwork and i bought it in Feb '04 so i am definietly covered. So, come Monday they will be getting a call. Nearest service dealer to me is 99 miles away...I think gas might be cheaper than shipping...I may make a day out of it for the kids...ya know ? Anyways, I'm also going to make the free tech support call and maybe it is something i can do on this side to fix it. Tho if it needs repair my daughter will not be happy that I will have to steal her monitor til i get this one back...baby steps, baby steps...we'll see what happens. Just thought I'd share the news.

[DocLotus]

Thats's great news.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU :lol:

[Jodi Frye]

Oh Ya ! I forgot 'bout that :? :mrgreen: ...geeze, and a Happy New Year to you too !

[Wendy]

Happy New Year :)



Wendy

[chadwick]

Happy New Year :)