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I'm getting ready to purchase a new 19" CRT monitor today and after looking at many online, noticed that there are two types; Shadow Mask and Aperture Grille.

This monitor will be used primarily for gaming.

Which one is better?

Also, I didn't see many with dp's under .25mm, is this normal? ...and is .25mm Ok?
I also noticed that the Aperture Grille units have higher dp's than the Shadow Mask monitors, is this normal?

PS=> my budget is $250-$300 US.

As always, thanks for the help.

Before I got an LCD, I looked at a few CRTs and the aperture grille really annoyed me, if its primarily for games then it won't bug you as much (the grille line is most prominent on a white page). Apparently, aperture grille monitors are brighter and have better contrast than the invar shadow masks.

Aperture Grille is the best for sure. Graphics professionals tend to use them over Shadow Mask which are generally used in much cheaper monitors. I currently have an aperture grille monitor and would not turn back... except for the fact im getting a TFT The 2 wires on the screen do not bother me at all but I guess some anally retentive people (All my friends say I am ) might find them annoying.

So is it mainly a difference in brightness and contrast only, or is the image crisper/sharper than Shadow Mask?

Personally I find the image crisper on an aperture grille but thats debatable... Offices tend to buy shadow mask monitors mainly because they are cheaper but also because they can be sharper.

Basically if you have money you will buy aperture grille over shadow mask.

Aperture grill has my preference too. The thing is that they can make really 100% flat screens with the aperture grill techonology, I'm not sure if they can do that with shadowmask monitors too.
Aperture grill has better image quality in my opinion. Though it also has those 2 support lines in the screen... well some people get really annoyed by that, but I have no problems with it. As long as you buy a decent monitor you probably won't even notice them. You only see them on white actually and even then it isn't even annoying... well to me it isn't.

I would go for an aperture grill for sure, it's just a better monitor. Brands you should check out are:
* Samsung, not too expensive but really high quality monitors (might check out the 959NF, an amazing monitor. I have the model before that one, the 900NF and it is just amazing how sharp and clean this monitor is)

* Sony, well they make really quality monitors. They kinda invented the trinitron tube (which is aperture grill) and they make stylish monitors of very good quality.

* Eizo. Eizo probably makes the best monitors, but they are a bit (too) expensive.

* Iiyama, lots of people have good experiences with Iiyama... personally I can't recommend them, because I had nothing but problems with my Iiyama monitor. I probably had a bad sample... but to me it is pretty clear, I'm not gonna buy an Iiyama ever.

My advice would be the Samsung Syncmaster 959NF, just because for the price you pay for it you get one of the best 19" aperture grill monitors of this moment. It's certainly not the cheapest, but in my opinion a monitor is something you use for a long time, and is the thing you look at most, so it is not something I would keep a tight budget on.

look into LG monitors. they combine both technologies. i bought 915FT plus - BEST SCREEN EVER.
(ok, maybe there is one issue which makes it less then perfect - geometry, no matter how hard i tried i could not make a truly perfect square, but you dont really notice after 5 min..... small price to pay
ok, i use it for web, movies, programming, games, etc... if i was into proffesional graphics, cad i would get a different monitor for sure)



yes, its normal. different measures.

hope that helps.

btw, i looked into same questions you asked and checked out samsungs and viewsonic apt. grill. and i think my LG screen beats them, colors in games are great. very lively and bright too.

No no no, bad geometry is not a small price to pay!!!! It is actually the worst thing that can happen. Infact bad geometry is exactly the thing why I'm not going back to Iiyama anymore.

The worst flaws a monitor can have are:
1) Bad geometry. This just EXTREMELY annnoying.
2) Colors not being not the same on every part of the screen. Some monitors have dark or light spots..... trust me this is really annoying.
3) Lack of sharpness.

Always before you buy a monitor, look around in shops. Can't stress this enough, you must have seen the monitor before you buy one, that way you really know what to expect.
Again, I know you got a fixed amount of cash to spend, but a monitor is something that is gonna last maybe 3 systems long. So buy a good quality monitor.
Not saying that LG wouldn't be a good one, but if it has problems with geometry, then just forget it and get something else.

No such thing as a 959NF there is a 955DF, but no 955NF, and it isn't an aperture grill monitor it's more like a shadow mask than anything so I think you should have recommended the 900NF it has a aperture grill it isn't terribly expensive, and from the user reviews at Newegg it looks good not the best, but good. Sony in my opinion makes the best CRT's as far as quality goes prices are a bit higher, but that's the price you pay.

my Sony 17" triniton (Aperture Grille) is the BEST monitor I have ever owned. Before this i had a 15" one and havnt had any problems with both of them.

oh and you forget about those little lines in no time.