Soft-copy presentation of medical images is becoming part of the medical routine as more and more health care facilities are converted to digital filmless hospital and radiological information management. To provide optimal image quality, display systems must be incorporated when assessing the overall system image quality. We developed a method to accomplish this. The proper working of the method is demonstrated with the analysis of four different monochrome monitors. We determined display functions and veiling glare with a high-performance photometer. Structure mottle of the CRT screens, point spread functions and images of stochastic structures were acquired by a scientific CCD camera. The images were analyzed with respect to signal transfer characteristics and noise power spectra. We determined the influence of the monitors on the detective quantum efficiency of a simulated digital x-ray imaging system. The method follows a physical approach; nevertheless, the results of the analysis are in good agreement with the subjective impression of human observers.