MatthewTheCollegeStudent

“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a life time”
 
The search for a monitor for many people ends in 2 ways:
 
They purchase a monitor seen on a retailer site based purely on specs and advertisements, and are done.
or
They come to a technology forum and ask for advice.
 
The latter usually results in them asking if monitor A or B is best, or what specs they should look for, and then people reply with suggestion usually based on the same advertised specs seen at retailers and/or 1st or 2nd hand subjective opinion.
 
The problem with this is that the display industry has a hidden world of details that are very important for those who want to make an informed purchasing decision, but seldom few ever get to know these details, details that directly relate to the quality of the display and its true capabilities beyond the usual fluff marketing material. These hidden details are known to enthusiasts who know of the few competent, thorough reviewers out there that can provide those details. But being in the minority this results in advice from such individuals possibly being missed by those who need that advice.
 
This is a guide on what information to look for, and where to find it, beyond the basic and often misleading ‘specs’ advertised by the manufacturers, retailers, and many of the self-proclaimed ‘reviewers’ seen online, so that you may make an informed purchasing decision on your own, for the most part.
 
Let’s start off with an important notice:
Any suggestions given to you for any monitor should be accompanied by a thorough tested review source, if it isn’t then such suggestions will be based purely on subjective opinion, often based on specs alone, which, as stated, can and usually are very misleading and missing lots of important information.
 
Now let’s move onto the ‘guide’.
 
Do not rely on advertised specs, and do not compare advertised specs. If its not a reviewed monitor, you're taking a gamble.
As will become evident as you go through this guide and follow the links to reviewers, the advertised specs can be and usually are very misleading. You can use them to glean basic information like resolution, size, frequency, number of ports etc, but things like 'response time' should be taken with a massive grain of salt.
 
Price:
 
Display Size/Viewing Distance/Resolution
 
Quality:
 
Panel Types:
 
Uniformity:
 
Pixel response speed (Response time):
 
Input lag:
 
Colour gamut and coverage:
This is a section I will not be getting into.
The simple reason being that if it’s an important aspect to you, you should already know everything that needs to be known for your given hobby or profession.
 
For the vast majority of people you won't need to know what things like the Adobe-RGB coverage or DCI-P3 coverage mean and are used for.
It is however tested for by most competent reviewers and so you can look there if interested.
 
Colour Accuracy:
As with above this is most important for professionals and certain hobbyists, however this is still somewhat relevant for everyone in my opinion.
 
HDR and SDR:
 
 
Where to look:
 
Now that we have gone through some of the most important 'hidden' aspects of Monitors, where do you find this information ?
 
As mentioned, reviewers. However, you will need to find those who test objectively, display the results, and ideally also inform you of their testing methodology so you can compare displays across different reviewers.
 
Here are a few places you can check.
 
Why isn’t LTT included?
I like LTT as much as the next person, however, when it comes to display reviews they lack details, and are for the most part halfway between a ‘overviewer’ and a proper ‘reviewer’.
Some of their videos will include information like colour accuracy and gamuts, they may even attempt a basic ‘blur’ amount test, but they are not currently at the level of Rtings or Hardware Unboxed. If you see a monitor on a LTT video and you think it looks good, I would still suggest you check the above sources first before purchasing.
Update: 17/12/22
LTT labs is now capable of providing detailed reviews of displays, keep an eye out for future reviews.
 
TVs as a monitor?
This ‘guide’ isn’t for TVs however a quick word on them
 
 
Why should you trust the above information to be true?
 
Display manufacturers are tight lipped when it comes to specific information about their displays that are not included in their advertisement material. And for good reason, no one wants potential customers to know the faults of their products.
 
However, statements like "the response time spec is massively misleading" can be tested, and has been. Every reviewer who tests pixel response speed comes out with an average pixel response speed that is different from the advertised specs, some even go so far as to try and replicate the advertised spec, and that is where we find out how the manufacturers get away with advertising these figures. They are 'technically' not a lie, just hugely misleading.
 
This is the same for all the above information, reviewers that have shown their testing method can confirm all the tested information they have gathered and it can be replicated, within panel variance, and thus confirmed to be true.
 
With the above information in hand, and links to a few reviewers where further more detailed information can be found, you should have all you need to make an informed purchasing decision when looking for a monitor.
 
 
 
If anyone thinks I should add any information to this post, do feel free to speak up.
 
Thanks to @Glenwing for help with format and error checking.

It's kind of like a drone hovering over your property but very high up.

Well:
Spying
Stalking
Home invasion
Transporting illegal goods
Better organized crime
Actual 0 privacy
...

Bill Gates backs $1bn plan to cover earth in video surveillance satellites
 
Bill Gates backs a $1 billion plan to cover Earth in 'Big Brother' satellites capable of streaming 'live and unfiltered' HD footage of the planet
 
https://earthnow.com/
 
EarthNow's details of what could be seen with their planned satellites suggest the satellite feed would have very good resolution when looking at Earth's terrain very close-up.
 
Depending on what resolution these satellites would be able to picture the ground with, I think there are clearly serious implications for people being stalked or targeted for harm, or for when thieves plotting to rob a house when someone isn't home, or for people who want to sunbathe nude in privacy in their backyard, as well as a great many other scenarios.
 
Paragraph added May 16: Court witnesses, activists, government critics, and minorities could, hypothetically, be put in grave danger by technology that makes monitoring or tracking people in public spaces available for everyone. For example, imagine the threat and harm that would be created by a publicly-accessible satellite surveillance system in conjunction with intentions and websites like this: White Supremacists Built a Website to Doxx Interracial Couples — and It's Going to Be Hard to Take Down
 
I wonder if the company EarthNow plans different levels of zoom and fidelity for governments and the public. Though, it would be concerning if governments and law enforcement suddenly had the easy and unregulated ability to monitor everyone without their consent, their knowing, and a warrant. And I also wonder whether EarthNow would censor sensitive locations, like military and testing sites, not just according to the US government's interests, but to all countries' governments' demands.
 
It's possible real-time footage wouldn't be available to the general public, or that feed from residential areas wouldn't be available. But there are still many ways this could be exploited.
 
 
Here's a great comment made by Koeshi.

This just sounds horrible. For all the good it can do it will do so far more worse things. Once anyone with bad intentions gets access to this be it a single person, a group, a government or whatnot things can easily spiral out of hand.

From the Financial Post and Forbes:
 
https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/toyota-to-build-prototype-city-of-the-future-in-japan-2
 
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sebastianblanco/2020/01/06/ces-2020-toyota-woven-city-will-weave-together-ai-hydrogen-power-and-the-future/
 
 
So, Toyota will be building a sort of city of the future called the Woven City as a laboratory, testing and showcasing various bits of technology, from Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell technology, autonomous technologies, artificial intelligence, on a 175 acre site at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan.
 
Per what was announced, the city will have various technological features, such as autonomous cars, underground delivery network where self-driving robots will deliver goods to people's homes, smart homes equipped with various Toyota-designed robots to assist with daily life, and a digital operating system for the entire city equipped with an AI to manage to test and manage the communications coming from the various sensors. across the city.
 
The city of course will feature sustainable materials, with the buildings being made using a lot of wood and glass and put together by robots. Also, the city will be totally powered by renewable energy with the rooftops having photovoltaic solar panels to generate energy and the city will alsouse Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cells to produce energy as well. 
 
This prototype city is expected to house 2,000 people, all Toyota employees and researchers and their families, and being designed by the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. Construction will start in 2021.
 
Toyota has launched a website for the city here:
 
https://www.woven-city.global/

I actually have medium to high hopes for this. Only because I know Toyota is working with Air Products to make a mainstream hydrogen electric car (which I've driven and is actually very nice). So I know they can do some pretty cool things.
 
Then again, I can only imagine what kind of data mining telemetry and stalking tracking the government (and hackers) will do.

The AI running the city will take it as an act of aggression by either mankind or the earth, and swiftly eliminate the problem.

Source:
Infosecurity Magazine
Marine Safety Information Bulletin
BBC
 
Summary:
In mid-December a US maritime facility was successfully attacked by a ransomware called "Ryuk." The facility was crippled "for over 30 hours" while efforts to regain control of the port's systems and network took place.
The following is the Coast Guard's suggestions for improving security:
Here is an advisory and description of the Ryuk ransomware by the UK's National Cyber Security Center
 
My Thoughts:
I find it interesting how in 2019, and probably still in 2020, U.S. critical infrastructure (assuming this was either a government or commercial facility) is still easily susceptible to cyber attacks. Despite the adoption of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework by the U.S. government and the general popularization of cybersecurity awareness over the last few years, we still have boomers in significant positions opening emails and unleashing sophisticated ransomwares and more on critical networks.

Source:
Infosecurity Magazine
Marine Safety Information Bulletin
BBC
 
Summary:
In mid-December a US maritime facility was successfully attacked by a ransomware called "Ryuk." The facility was crippled "for over 30 hours" while efforts to regain control of the port's systems and network took place.
The following is the Coast Guard's suggestions for improving security:
Here is an advisory and description of the Ryuk ransomware by the UK's National Cyber Security Center
 
My Thoughts:
I find it interesting how in 2019, and probably still in 2020, U.S. critical infrastructure (assuming this was either a government or commercial facility) is still easily susceptible to cyber attacks. Despite the adoption of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework by the U.S. government and the general popularization of cybersecurity awareness over the last few years, we still have boomers in significant positions opening emails and unleashing sophisticated ransomwares and more on critical networks.

Source:
Infosecurity Magazine
Marine Safety Information Bulletin
BBC
 
Summary:
In mid-December a US maritime facility was successfully attacked by a ransomware called "Ryuk." The facility was crippled "for over 30 hours" while efforts to regain control of the port's systems and network took place.
The following is the Coast Guard's suggestions for improving security:
Here is an advisory and description of the Ryuk ransomware by the UK's National Cyber Security Center
 
My Thoughts:
I find it interesting how in 2019, and probably still in 2020, U.S. critical infrastructure (assuming this was either a government or commercial facility) is still easily susceptible to cyber attacks. Despite the adoption of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework by the U.S. government and the general popularization of cybersecurity awareness over the last few years, we still have boomers in significant positions opening emails and unleashing sophisticated ransomwares and more on critical networks.

Looks great!
Keep firing Slick until he gets the bugs worked out

Thanks so much for joining. My vision is a community based on positive member interaction and helping each other. I believe that if we all work together toward this goal, we will have success in the long run.
We don't have official forum rules or anything like that yet, but as long as everyone is respectful of each other, and patient with the growing pains that we are going to experience (vBulletin 5 is VERY beta right now) we can make this into an AWESOME community forum.
Linus