# How do you tell if a monitor is HD?



## jayzinho (Oct 26, 2007)

Hi, I'm pretty much a novice, and need help buying a monitor for a friends birthday. But I'm not sure if this monitor I'm after is HD compliant, can anyone help me?

The monitor in question is the Samsung SM2232BW 22". I think it's pretty good. The description is :

# 3000:1 Dynamic Contrast
# Fast 2ms Response Time
# HDCP Equipped

The thing is I don't know what any of that means!! Can anyone tell me what dynamic contrast is, and response time and HDCP??

Thanks,

Jay


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## Houndog777 (May 17, 2007)

HDCP means High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, which you don't want.
If you are in the UK, look at these....
http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=Samsung+hd+monitors&um=1&ie=UTF-8

Or just google for HD Monitor..........or High Definition ready monitor.

Dynamic Contrast means the brightness adjusts itself to look its best.
Response time is how fast the monitor can display a moving object....so the lower the number, the better (2ms=2 milliseconds)


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## jayzinho (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks Houndog, thats helped me out. 

I am in the UK, so thats pretty cool.

Cheers.

Jay


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## jayzinho (Oct 26, 2007)

In the end, I've decided not to go for a HD screen after all!! 

But I still like that Samsung one above (SM2232BW 22" TFT), and was comparing it with another one (SM226BW 22" LCD), the this other one is a little more expensive. Can anyone tell me why? I'm sorry, I am not very tech savvy and I'm unsure what all the specifications mean!! Also, I was wondering what the difference between TFT and LCD is, and which is better?

Thanks,

Jay


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## Houndog777 (May 17, 2007)

LCD is Liquid Crystal Display which uses less power but produces a better quality image than the old CRT.
TFT (thin film transistor) was the next step and is an improvement on LCD cos it gives you an even clearer image and the ability to see things better at an angle.

Remember, High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content, so you don't really want that; i would guess.
Good luck!


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## jayzinho (Oct 26, 2007)

OK, thanks for your help!


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