[visionlist] LCD for vision research, recent developments

[Danko Nikolic]

It seems that Samsung has just stopped producing the LCD monitor that we 
have tested in detail and found to be suitable for research in vision 
(http://www.frontiersin.org/human_neuroscience/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00085/abstract). 
I got several messages from US-based researchers who could not purchase 
the model any longer.

The good news is that the model seems to be still available in Europe. I 
found the monitor still offered at German, French, UK, and Italian ebay.

A Korean postdoc at our department who used to work for Samsung told me 
that Samsung's strategy is always to begin marketing products in the US 
but also to remove them first from the US market. This means that the 
monitor may not remain available in Europe for long time.

Hence, my suggestion: If you think that you will need this monitor in 
the future, it may be a good idea to get one now--before the gamers buy 
them all and empty the stocks of European warehouses.

People also ask me often whether I know of a replacement model that has 
the same or better characteristics. I don' have such information. Again, 
according to the same source, the strategy of Samsung seems to be to 
lead the market by introducing new high tech solutions but not to 
compete with cheap competition once other companies catch up. So, 
Samsung may well be working on some new (and better) 3D technology. 
Whether this will be based on high refresh rates and suitable for the 
needs of vision researchers, it remains to be seen and tested.

Another frequent question is related to the fact that meanwhile a number 
of other companies offer high refresh rate monitors to support 3D 
goggles. Unfortunately, we don't know the details of technical 
characteristics of these monitors. No tests have been made to the best 
of my knowledge. So, we cannot recommend any of them for vision 
research. The best we can do is get hold of the remaining Samsung models.

Greetings,

Danko Nikolic