Under the Desktop: Monitoring the Display

David Morgenstern

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Flea market forays offer many lessons, more than just the arcane aesthetic rules for “shabby chic.” Each booth and stall offers a glimpse of the changing tastes and buying habits of generations. In amidst the cracked Pez dispensers and rusted lawn furniture, there are also plenty of computer products to paw through (a decided advantage over the cold world of eBay auctions). These silicon cast-offs are both recent and ancient ephemera. During last weekend’s flea market excursion, however, I noticed something missing from the scene. It was like the moment in the 1954 sci-fi classic “Them!” when an entomologist observes the absence of small insects in the desert. Nowhere in the hundreds of booths could I spy a computer monitor. Spooky!

Seeing Is Believing?
Some readers may question why this is a mystery at all. CRT displays are heavy, hard to pack, easy to drop, and most importantly, fragile. So no wonder this combination must contribute to the short supply of used monitors. And the resale proposition for a used display is always questionable, since the buyer and seller put its entire value on the line using any kind of transportation, either when hauling it across the office or via standard shipping carriers, no matter how well the unit is packed.

Certainly, difficulties when evaluating a display also make users leery of purchasing a used model. The lack of power at many resale venues makes it difficult to nearly impossible to check out a monitor. And the outdoor setting of a flea market causes glare on the display’s screen and washes out the color, even if the display’s Brightness setting is jacked up.

Still on Display
Yet, there’s more to this mysterious lack of used monitors. It involves perception psychology — something content creators need to consider when looking to snag a bargain in these tight economic times or when working on their current desktop displays.

The truth is that users really can’t evaluate the quality of a used monitor, other than making the most gross assessment. No matter the venue, even at an indoor event, such as computer swap meet or an on-site auction (all the rage nowadays in the San Francisco Bay Area in another sign of the unfortunate times), it’s near impossible to judge color quality.

To confirm my suspicions, I conferred with Joel Ingulsrud, display product line manager at SGI, which offers both high performance LCD and CRT-based monitors for its workstations.

For the record and in case you’re wondering, my employment history includes a yearlong stint with miro displays inc., a now-defunct monitor vendor that offered models aimed at creative professionals under the Radius brand. Ingulsrud was a colleague. This company’s intellectual property and brands were later purchased by KDS USA, the U.S. branch of a Korean display manufacturer that focuses on the enterprise and consumer markets.

Aging Is Inevitable
With that said, please keep in mind that for quality color work, most high-performance CRT displays only hold their maximum color range for about three years. The problem: Over time, a CRT ‘s electrical components and phosphor coatings degrade, reducing the color range (the color gamut, in color-management parlance) available for display.

This “drift,” as it’s referred to in the industry, usually progresses so slowly that it’s unnoticeable, and if the display is calibrated with a hardware sensor (a Good Thing, as Martha Stewart would say) then the remaining colors displayed will be accurate. But this normal part of a monitor’s aging process will have an effect all the same. Of course, the images and documents still contain the wider color gamut, it’s just that they can’t be displayed on the screen; an array of pixels that should contain eight similar colors may only show seven, six, five, and so on.

According to Ingulsrud, content creators become “comfortable with their display,” usually safely placed in a familiar working environment, so that this slow color loss progresses imperceptibly. He said users are often surprised by its first sign: when their calibration software reports that the display is too far gone and can no longer correct the colors on the screen.

According to Ingulsrud, the purchase of a new monitor, or even an all-in-one system such as an iMac, can provide a color wakeup call. “Stand a new monitor next to your five-year-old display, and you’ll be shocked at the difference,” he said.

This day-to-day perception, or lack of same, parallels our experience with our self-image. We catch glimpses of ourselves many times a day and ignore the small changes: a line here, a spot there, a gray hair. Only when see ourselves in a new setting (try putting a brighter set of light bulbs above the bathroom mirror), or when we open the photo album, do we fully perceive the effect of years. A very unwelcome satori. Ouch!

Live Long and Phosphor
Ironically, the display is usually the peripheral people use the longest, even in content creation shops. Often, the display stays put when users upgrade their CPU. This is especially true for older, high-performance (and expensive) models with integrated calibration. Only when a display actually stops working — for example, if one of the electron guns fails — will it be replaced. (Even though we’ve used CRT displays for years, some readers may have ditched class for “Cathode Ray Tube Day.” Here’s a visual aid to refresh your memory about how it all works).

So what should readers do?

1. Stop the denial. “Looks good” is a belief that only consumers can afford.
2. Evaluate your current CRT display. If the model is more than a few years old, odds are high that it needs replacing. As Ingulsrud suggested above, the quick-and-dirty test is to simply place a new display alongside your current flavor. But running a hardware-based calibration package takes the subjectivity out of the evaluation and ensures your everyday colors are correct. (More on hardware calibration packages in another column. Better yet, for in-depth color information read everything by Bruce Fraser.)
3. Make displays a standard item in your budget. Fortunately, displays can perform well for years. Still, be sure to save for that long-term purchase.

To gain the widest color range for image accuracy and the greatest possible control over their creative work, content creators must evaluate their displays with clear eyes and an equally clear head. As the medieval sage Bahya Ibn Paquda reminds us: “Watching for other people’s blemishes prevents me from investigating my own — which task is more urgent?” By setting aside attachment to depleted peripherals, content pros can ensure the highest quality images, on and off the display.