Cheapy LCD Monitor Woes

Last year on Black Friday, I found a 15" flat panel LCD Monitor that doubled as an HDTV, and only cost $150.  Not knowing too much about LCD Monitors, I simply thought, "Oh shit, now I can avoid buying a new TV as well as a monitor, and it's HD too!"

Bad mistake, it seems...I've since found out that it has a killer response time (30ms, which I hear is horrible).  I've tried all my consoles on it with Component cables, and they look like crap.  It sort of runs objects together in a muddy looking, runny mess.  I'm not saying it's not a clear picture necessarily--the details are there, it just appears that you're viewing them through a frosted glass window or something.  Ok, so not so good for gaming.  At least I got a new computer monitor, I thought.

So I bought a male to male monitor cable off eBay for a couple bucks.  It came in today, and wtf?  When I tried it, the monitor displayed the SAME muddiness it did in games, which is simply unacceptable for Windows (text is incredibly hard to read).  Not to mention, the picture is skewed off the side so half the screen is inacessible (adjusting it didn't help, as it could only adjust about 10 pixels worth).  And the entire screen is inexplicably tinted deep blue at all times.

Is this the result of cheap monitor cable, or is this monitor just a piece of crap?  I don't want to spend money on a GOOD monitor cable to end up with an image that's still muddy and horrible.  Also, if anyone knows how I could get better visuals console-wise on this thing, please do post suggestions.  Is it the response time that makes everything look so awful, or what?  I can't figure it out.

the response time would only affect when the lcd is changing the pixels, i.e., when the image changes.

the shifting and blue-tint problems sound like a problem with the cable.

1) is it plugged in all the way on both ends?  screwed in tight?
2) any bent pins not actually connecting to the holes in the socket?  fix that with a needle-nose pilers
3) cracked or frayed cord, cord coming off of plugs on end?

1. Plugged in tight AFAIK, I believe it's screwed in pretty tightly.
2. Yes, there was a bent pin on one side that I *think* I bent back into place pretty well...should I try "adjusting" it until it works? O_o
3. Nope.  Looks pretty new (cheapy, but yeah, relatively new).

Should I demand a new one?  I was afraid that the cheapiness was affecting the picture.  My cable was $7.  My friend, who bought the same monitor, got raped at Radioshack for like $60 for his monitor cable.  I was like LOL IDIOT when I found the cheap cable on eBay, but now I'M feeling quite the idiot :(

Ok, fucked with it a little and it's no longer blue.  Problems remaining: the screen is still half cut off, and I view everything as through a drunken haze.  Goddamn.  If nobody can resolve this, I guess I've gotta get rid of this monitor :(

Damn it.  I feel pretty retarded.  I was running too high of a res, this thing only supports 1024x768.  When I switched back down to that, the halfscreen-cutoff shit stopped.

However, it's still FUZZY AS FUCK.  Are LCD Monitors supposed to be like this? :(

Those that's connected using the old VGA cable can be fuzzy at times, since it's converting the analog signal to a digital signal. Does your LCD has a DVI/Digital port, try using that instead of the analog, but consdering ur paying $150 for that i doubt it has it. You get what you paid for. Btw 1024x768 is not even HD unless ur playing 480 HD encodes hahahahahahahaha.

Hmm, it says everything up to 1080i is supported.  *shrug* whatever, I don't care.  All I care about right now is getting this thing up and working as a computer monitor.

It doesn't have a DVI port, am I essentially fucked?

1080i is 1920x1080 @ 30hz, even 720 i/p is 1280x720 @30/60 hz, do the math boy. Yes you are essentially fucked. @30ms you will notice ghosting. The best thing you could do is just use it as a secondary monitor on your PC (you still have that old monitor of yours right? Or since it's your cable that might do the harm, try to beg/borrow/steal your friends monitor cable.

I'm betting it's the cable right now.  I've been to my friend's house to check out his system, and his display actually appears fine on the desktop.  When I tried playing a 3D game, there was a little muddiness and blurring around edges (no crisp aliased edges), but nothing unbearable.  I guess I will just bite the bullet and buy the fucking cable...what a shame.

I will sell you a cable for $30

Look if you have an adjustment for "pixel clock" and/or "pixel phase" in the menus somewhere. That can alleviate a lot of the fuzziness when my LCD goes fucked.