A number of gamers have complained that conventional LCD monitors just don’t cut it for their favorite pastime. I think that this could change with the release of these LCDs. Viewsonic announces 4-ms LCD monitors. If these are as good as they sound, CRTs will loose even more ground.

Beginning in the second quarter, Viewsonic Corp. said it will ship a pair of LCD monitors with 4-millisecond response designed for high-performance gaming.

According to the Viewsonic web site, the company will ship two monitors: the 19-inch VX924, as well as the 17-inch VX724. Prices on the panels were not announced, although Viewsonic’s vice president of Asia-Pacific sales and marketing, Allan Chang, told DigiTimes that the larger panel will cost approximately $549. Both monitors will ship in May and June, respectively.

Viewsonic is quoting 4-ms gray-to-gray response times for the two new monitors, along with a 5-ms (typical) response time for other gradations. The company already ships a pair of LCD monitors with 8-ms response times, the VP171b and VP171s, and plans to ship a third model, the VP191b, in the near future. Rival BenQ announced a 17-inch panel featuring a 5-ms response time, the FP71V+, in mid-February.

For now, only the specifications for the VX924 can be found on the Viewsonic web site. The VX924 is a 19-inch, 1280×1024 panel with a 800:1 contrast ratio and 250 cd/m2 brightness. The panel is rated to display both 480p and 720p digital video, and includes a digital DVI-D connector and a pair of analog 15-pin connections as well.