moriador: Yeah, my friend's monitor was one of the older ones, and when i was looking at 3d art on it, not only was everything too bright, but there was like a dull gray to the pictures, like the gamma was set too high. This was on default settings. The background of this forum was a very light gray too.

But there definitely was a problem on my end. When i did that werewolf render, at least 95% told me it was washed out, but i wasn't noticing it because my monitor is much darker than most LCD's. The other 5% told me they turned their brightness down a lot because it gave them headaches or hurt the eyes. After all the help here though, and using comparisons on other people's LCD's with my CRT, i think i've gotten pretty close to what i should be seeing, which involved me increasing my brightness from my video card settings by 25-30%. This was particularly problematic in the brightness of colors. Like in picture A i posted. On my monitor it was a dark orange hue on his face that looked really nice. But everyone was telling me it looked tan or light orange. Which still looked nice on the LCD, but wasn't what i intended.

JohnDoe641: What's up fellow competitive gamer =) I also used to tournament, but in fighting games. Got some tournament wins on games like tekken tag 1 and marvel vs capcom 2 =P But back in those days everything was on CRT and arcade, so input lag wasn't a big issue like on HDTV's. I still play occasionally and know exactly what you mean though. Input lag can really mess up your game where timing is important. I'll have to check out that LCD monitor. But i'm probably gonna ride this CRT out till it dies, since it's still in great condition and i pretty much got it close to what LCD's are seeing (at least i hope i did =P) The viewing angle and input lag are probably the biggest factors on what type of LCD i'll get (i also play some pc games). You know of any other cheaper LCD's or monitors with great viewing angles and no noticeable input lag?

DustRider: Yeah its cool. I pretty much got enough info to set my monitor at the proper brightness settings. I guess i should just loosen up a bit and accept that not everyone is gonna see what i intend. But for me, the problem was worse since my monitor was too dark. I wasn't seeing faulty things in my renders, like a bad background that wasn't showing or a washed up character. 

randym77: That's one thing that bugs me too. Too much contrast and it ends up looking too dark or saturated. Too little and it's dull and washed out. I think checking your render after you postwork it at darker and lighter brightness, then taking a middle ground is the safest bet. If you're doing it as a hobby though, nothing serious, then i think it doesn't matter as much. But it can be annoying for those who sell prints or do it professionally, and need the perfect settings.