Viewsonic VX2025wm arrived! First impressions and pics

[DasFox]

Ehhhh are you sure you know what banding is fox?


Yes I do, my bad I wasn't paying attention, hehe, I thought he was taking a screenshot was all, which some people do.

Anyhow, I didn't pay attention, my apologies.

ALOHA

[Varmint]

The Viewsonic will stretch it to fit. There is no aspect control on that monitor.

Do any widescreens scale besides the Dells? Like the NEC or Acer AL2032?

[reddhaus]

Ok, I just picked up one of these babies.

It is looking pretty amazing so far.

Desktop looks good and BF2 looks very nice.

I think it may take some time for my eyes to adjust from CRT at home and work to the new LCD.

I will just have to keep tinkering with the settings and playing other games to see how nice of a monitor I have in my hands.

[jddesigned]

You never use the worrd cleartype? I using it and my type looks excellent.
Clear Type (http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypePowerToy.mspx)

Could be a issue with your graphic card settings or somthing of that nature what card you running and also are you using the DVI?

Ya I tried Cleartype, 3 different sets of vid drivers, 2 video cards, and 2 different 2025 's etc. It's just not the monitor for me I guess.......

Right now I'm on my 6800gt and using DVI yes. Running drivers on high quality right now. Just can't figure what could be wrong.

[DasFox]

What are these things suffering from banding problems?

ALOHA

[lcdguy]

what about the data cable ? could there be some sort of weird interferance ?

[DigitalEdge]

Ya I tried Cleartype, 3 different sets of vid drivers, 2 video cards, and 2 different 2025 's etc. It's just not the monitor for me I guess.......

Right now I'm on my 6800gt and using DVI yes. Running drivers on high quality right now. Just can't figure what could be wrong.

Is there anyway to show a pic of the issue?

[Bruce]

Just ordered one of these from Buy.com for $375 shipped... now the waiting begins.

[Hedgepig]

Having read through this entire thread (and still unable to decide whether I should get one), I feel I should comment on a few things.

Firstly the aspect ratio. Some people seem to not understand that the screen stretching is only dependent on the resolution. Pictures and images are stretched by software to fit the current resolution, so an 800x600 image or video at fullscreen will actually be 1400x1050 centred on the regular 1680x1050 background (the same aspect ratio, i.e. with black bars on the sides, unless of course the software is specifically set up to not preserve aspect ratio). It has absolutely nothing to do with the monitor.

Games, on the other hand, do have something to do with the monitor since the screen resolution is changed, so a game running at 800x600 is stretched by the monitor to fit the monitors 16:10 aspect ratio.
I am still unclear on whether this can actually be fixed with ATI cards, and it's something I'm very interested in, since the first thing I sacrifice for performance is resolution (I doubt I'll be playing many games at 1680x1050).
I couldn't find any options in the Catalyst Control Centre, but I assume that's because I'm using a 19" 4:3 CRT, and the option probably only appears when a widescreen monitor is attached.
I did however find this in the ATI help file:

* Scale image - maintain aspect ratio turns on Ratiometric Expansion and scales the frame buffer up to the panel size while maintaining the wide-panel aspect ratio.

Note: Scale Image - maintain aspect ratio is only available when using wide-aspect display panels.

* Scale image - full panel size turns on Ratiometric Expansion.

Use centered timings turns off Ratiometric Expansion. If you are using a smaller frame buffer image (800 x 600 resolution) than the native panel resolution, the image is shown centered on the panel with black bars around it.

Though it is under Notebook Panel Properties, so I'm not sure it applies.

I would really appreciate it if someone with this monitor and an ATI card, could confirm (photographically or otherwise) whether or not ATI cards can preserve a 4:3 aspect ratio with this monitor. It's one of the main reasons I haven't decided to get one yet.

Secondly, I feel I should comment on the 'supposed' backlight bleeding problem.
I noticed that people have said that the bleeding problem seems to go away when the monitor is viewed more from the left or right.
I also noticed that various people have said that the monitor appears slightly washed out at different viewing angles.
Therefore, is it not completely possible that the 'bleeding' you speak of is simply the monitor becoming slightly washed out as it's viewed from a steeper angle? (The sides of the screen are at a different angle to the centre when viewed straight on, unless the screen is concave.)
Also notice that in the photos posted of this issue on the second page, the 'bleeding' issue also appears in the centre of the monitor when viewed at the sides (because now the centre is at a steeper angle).
I would assume that the problem can be almost completely solved by simply sitting further away from the screen (though it's still an issue because I like to be close to my monitor :o ).

At the moment I'm tossing up on whether to get a VX2025WM or a VX922, I'm not sure that widescreen (especially if it stretches games) is worth the drop in latency (though from comments here it seem latency is not an issue, but I'd still like some difinitive proof [hurry up and review this Toms Hardware!]). Or whether the washed out viewing angles (or 'bleeding') is better than having dark edges, but less than perfect colour and uniformity of the 922 (especially considering I will be looking at black most of the time). Not to mention the 30% price difference.

Finally, I should mention this website: go here (http://www.lesnumeriques.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=41&mo1=74&p1=794&ma2=41&mo2=102&p2=1025&ph=1), which has a very large list of LCDs with various comparison images that may just help people decide. It is in french, but just run it through babelfish and you should be fine.

[ryuen]

I just bit the bullet today after doing way to much reading on this monitor and it's competitors, looks like for the price and intended use (gaming & general web browsing) this one should fit my needs & budget the best.

Got a not too shabby deal from a local store on it at €519, a tad more expensive then were I to order it online, but I like the extra security of a shop I have experience with should something be wrong with the display.

Anyway, I was told I could expect a call from them this week and I'll be able to assign my Hyundai Q17 to backup screen duty :)

The Hyundai has served me well since my old 19" Viewsonic CRT started to show signs of wear and I never had any real issue with it, but it's lack of configuration options (no noticable brightness adjustments when on DVI, no color temperature settings etc) has annoyed me from the moment I got it.
I'll be glad to have my 9300k setting back :)

[Lawdog]

I am still unclear on whether this can actually be fixed with ATI cards, and it's something I'm very interested in, since the first thing I sacrifice for performance is resolution (I doubt I'll be playing many games at 1680x1050).
I couldn't find any options in the Catalyst Control Centre, but I assume that's because I'm using a 19" 4:3 CRT, and the option probably only appears when a widescreen monitor is attached.


Hedge, you are correct in your assumption. I went from a 19" CRT to a VX2025WM. As soon as I switched over to the DVI input of the 2025, the "Centered Timings" option in Catalyst Control Center became available. I looked for it before the switch and it was not there.

Hope this answers your question.

[tankkid]

hey, this is now my second VX2025wm. I really like the monitor but ive been haveing a problem with it. I started using this monitor on my old pc for about a week and then i upgraded my pc i noticed that on the left side of the monitor i had about a 1 inch stripe blue going down the monitor. I got a new and it worked good. now about a week or two later this monitor started doing it. I first noticed it starting as a very light red and then got darker and bluer. It only occurs on a white or very light backround, not dark ones. Here are some pictures:
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j134/tankkid/DSCN1073.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j134/tankkid/DSCN1076.jpg

Any ideas?

[ldbs]

oh my i had the same problem with my LG monitor the

blue strip going down the middle!!

[tankkid]

oh my i had the same problem with my LG monitor the

blue strip going down the middle!!

did you figure out what it was? did you fix it?

[linsook]

registered to get to the bottom of the 2007 issue. heres a post from anadtech, i think people with the 2007fpw should do the test and report.

I'm waiting for two of these (2007wfp) to arrive, after having sent back the one 2005fpw i had (starting to regret that - i wanted two of them, but dell didn't have any left ), and I have a number of questions for 2007wfp owners.

Firstly, I've created a test image in PNG and TIFF forms (to ensure that PNG and it's own colour profiles aren't the problem, make sure they both display the same). The URLs:
TIF: http://www.spronkware.com/spronkey/sdc-testchart-gradientbandi.tif
PNG: http://www.spronkware.com/spronkey/sdc-testchart-gradientbandi.png

Secondly, could you please put your monitors into DESKTOP mode.

Thirdly, could you ensure that NO OTHER INPUTS are connected to your LCD at the time of testing.

(this is my attempt at a controlled experiment)

Could a few please post some photos of their 2007wfp's displaying this test image in the following configurations (all in desktop mode):

- VGA mode, Default colour settings, Default contrast/brightness
- VGA mode, Lowered colour settings (30, 30, 30), Default contrast/brightness
- VGA mode, Lowered colour settings, Lowered contrast/brightness (30, 30)
- VGA mode, Lowered colour settings, Lowered contrast/brightness (30, 30)

- DVI mode, Default colour settings, Default brightness
- DVI mode, Lowered colour settings (30, 30, 30), Default brightness
- DVI mode, Lowered colour settings (30, 30, 30), Lowered brightness (30)
- DVI mode, Default colour settings, Lowered brightness (30)

With the test images above, you should see smooth gradients with dither on both horizontal and vertical, followed by smooth gradients (which are mapped at one 1px line per colour, unlike some of the test gradients around). The lower saturation gradients should also be smooth with no banding.

The six diagonal gradient squares should be smooth, the top 3 use dithering, the bottom three use flat lines.

The RGB squares should also be smooth.

Hopefully the following tests above will provide some sort of insight into where the problem lies. I'm thinking the digital logic chips inside the monitor might be clipping certain signals because they are slightly too strong, or some other strange phenomenon.

Anyhow, photos of these test images in the 8 above modes would be appreciated, and hopefully should prove helpful.

i personally have the 2005fpw and have no banding problems

[Juic3]

Hey guys, this goes to anyone whos bought it from newegg....

How do they pack this one ? Is it reliable ? If I make an order of several items would it come in box with the rest of the stuff ?


:p

[LostStorm]

newegg nice store to buy from except for monitors, beware newegg has 8 dead pixel and viewsonic has 10 dead pixel policy. so anything up to 7 dead pixels and you are stuck with it.

[Lawdog]

You're misunderstanding this whole thing. That link is not a photo of my monitor. It's a gradient test pattern that should exhibit no signs of banding on a good monitor. On my 2007WFP, when I visit the link I see definite banding. When I look at it with my CRT, I don't. So I'm asking a Viewsonic owner to look at the same link and tell me what they see on their monitor.

Here's the link again if some Viewsonic owner will simply look at it and tell me how the pattern appears on their monitor:

http://xtknight.atothosting.com/lcdtest/purplegreen2.png

It looks perfectly fine to me on my 2025. Good luck with your Dell.

[Hedgepig]

Hedge, you are correct in your assumption. I went from a 19" CRT to a VX2025WM. As soon as I switched over to the DVI input of the 2025, the "Centered Timings" option in Catalyst Control Center became available. I looked for it before the switch and it was not there.

Hope this answers your question.

Thanks.
So you're saying that when 'centered timings' is enabled on ATI cards it will keep the 4:3 aspect ratio of lower resolutions? Have you tested it? How does it look?

[MrkXCeL]

OK, so going through your posts as a trouble shooting list here.

1. Yes, I'm running at native resolution and running in anything not native looks just plain bad to me.
2. I've, play with my vid car settings over and over.
3. Running in DVI since day 1.

We may never no what the problem is and I gotta return it tomorrow or I'll miss my Best Buy 14 day return period. If my 14 day return policy resets with an exchange I'll try another, hopefully I have a lemon. Kinda strange I'm the only one who finds text poor. I'm not talking desktop text here either. My Icons and forum text is perfect, it's just vector fonts that are the problem. I work with 3 different LCD's on my desk at work and have had 6 different ones at home, and I haven't seen text tis poor since I had a Hyundai L90D+. So no one else see's a slight bleeding effect?

Anyways I'll keep you all updated. Never know what will become of this.

Could it be that VECTOR fonts and the software that drives them (adobe?) have a problem rendering to a widescreen format? Maybe it doesn't really know what to do with the font once it sees what resolution your system is running at.

You may want to try a 4:3 ratio resolution, run an auto-image adjust on the viewsonic and make sure your desktop fonts look as normal as they can for a 4:3 image on a 16:10 monitor and then try your Vector fonts.

[MrkXCeL]

Guys, I'm really thinking to snag one of these Viewsonics. But how does this Viewsonic stack up against the NEC 20WGX2 and Dell 2007WFP?

THANKS
The NEC does spank it in a lot of things, but IT IS NOT PERFECT and I'm not talking about any glare issues. I need to do a write up since I had both together for two weeks. BTW The Viewsonic went back yesterday :D

[wheels2040]

This morning I turned my system on and the DVI input wasnt working. Shut the monitor down, shut the system down, unplugged everything. Still couldnt get it to work. Have to mess with it when I get home tonight.

[eXcelon7574]

Hello,
I am close to purchasing this monitor, but I had a question. I noticed that people have complained about the colors on the xbox 360 being washed out with vga cable. If I used the component cables and hooked it up to a vga transcoder then hooked it into the lcd do you think that would fix the problem?

[KompressorV12]

$389.95 shipped at ZZF!!

https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=232501

[Snowdog]

PVA MVA?

If this is an MVA panel, does it have the same problem with viewing angles like with the Gateway FPD2185W ? I saw the Gateway at futureshop, when I move my head just a bit to either side, the color changes a lot.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71226

Yes it does. It is one of the first things I check. I was at Bestbuy and it does have the small angle washout issue. Just like my departed 2405. I think all MVA/PVA panels do. Only S-IPS panels interest me now. That or getting a new CRT which I will do if I can find a good deal on a nice. Missed two Trinitrons for sale at work already. They go in minutes of being offerred.

[Ripped85]

Finally got mine!!.. NO dead pixels at all. It's beautiful!

What settings should I change other than resolution to make it better?

[Lawdog]

Thanks.
So you're saying that when 'centered timings' is enabled on ATI cards it will keep the 4:3 aspect ratio of lower resolutions? Have you tested it? How does it look?

Howdy. Yes, that's what it is supposed to do, per the description that pops up when in the Catalyst Control Center. However, I have not been able to make it work myself. I tried after your post and games still stretch. Strangely however, I am seeing 1680 x 1050 pop in some games that I did not know supported widescreen.

I am wondering if the drivers on the Viewsonic disk are somehow overriding the Catalyst drivers in some fashion. I might rollback the Viewsonic drivers or uninstall them altogether and try again. Will advise.

[Bruce]

To anyone that already has this monitor, can you tell me the dimensions of just the base (WxL)?

[wheels2040]

Well I messed with mine last night and couldnt get the DVI port to come back on, so I took it back to CompUSA and got another one. Brought it home, hooked it up, SAME THING. Took a shot in the dark and actually turned off the switch on the back of the power supply of my rig, turned it back on, and it worked. Kinda strange, but whatever works. The sucky part is this new one seems to have bore backlight bleeding that the first one. It was also the last one they had in stock. Oh well.

[tankkid]

To anyone that already has this monitor, can you tell me the dimensions of just the base (WxL)? about 11x8

[Ripped85]

Question...I was watching one of my anime episodes on this monitor and it seems to look like it has tiles all over. I watched the same one on my CRT and it's fine. Is there a setting adjustment to fix this?

[ryuen]

Well got mine today and this monitor definately gets a thumbs up, an incredible improvement over my old Hyundai Q17.
It's brighter, contrast, black levels, viewing angles and text are all better.

I did have to lower the gamma in my video driver a tad to .80 as factory default it was a little too 'light' for me though.

Overall great display, only marks down are for the lack of height adjustment but that's a small price to pay for the improvement in visual quality I got.

[draconius]

ordered today....won't be home from college till next weekend though...the wait might be tough...at least I have something to look forward to after finals week :D

And to all the people above in this thread who have posted reviews...thanks a ton! I may not have even looked at this monitor had you not all posted such good reviews and info!

[JinxCA]

Just wanted to say good job to the reviewer. I was on the fence as to whether or not I should go with a standard LCD or go for a widescreen, and after owning this monitor for a week, I'm very pleased.

This is the second VX2025wm right now. I bought the first at Fry's, and shortly after plugging it in through DVI, it stopped working. I tried connecting the monitor to three other computers via DVI, and it was the same thing. VGA worked fine and it still looked beautiful, but it's still broken either way, so I got this new one and after a week, so far, so good.

Regarding Catalyst and Image Scaling in the Catalyst Control Center, I have a X1600 running version 6.4, and despite selecting "Use Centered Timings" I too, have not gotten the monitor to display lower resolutions without scretching the image. The demo unit at Fry's was able to, but it was Intel integrated graphics connected through VGA.

[cmge]

by any chance does anyone have screenshots of the Viewsonic VX2025wm while running xtknight's gradlin-v0.2-fs.exe??

i wanna compare it to my 2007wfp and my friends samsung 204b... i wanna c if its really that bad in comparison to the 2007wfp

DELL 2007WFP native resolution 32bit colour
http://www.fileh.com/cmge/dell2007wfpgradient.jpg

SAMSUNG 204B native resolution 32bit colour
http://www.fileh.com/cmge/samsung204bgradient.jpg

[borez]

Just wanted to say good job to the reviewer. I was on the fence as to whether or not I should go with a standard LCD or go for a widescreen, and after owning this monitor for a week, I'm very pleased.

This is the second VX2025wm right now. I bought the first at Fry's, and shortly after plugging it in through DVI, it stopped working. I tried connecting the monitor to three other computers via DVI, and it was the same thing. VGA worked fine and it still looked beautiful, but it's still broken either way, so I got this new one and after a week, so far, so good.

Regarding Catalyst and Image Scaling in the Catalyst Control Center, I have a X1600 running version 6.4, and despite selecting "Use Centered Timings" I too, have not gotten the monitor to display lower resolutions without scretching the image. The demo unit at Fry's was able to, but it was Intel integrated graphics connected through VGA.

That's weird. Just to check, you are using DVI?
This function works on my IBM Thinkpad (X300 Mobility) on an 1024 x 768 LCD. Not sure if it will be different with the mobility drivers.

[sanitystream]

Hello,
I am close to purchasing this monitor, but I had a question. I noticed that people have complained about the colors on the xbox 360 being washed out with vga cable. If I used the component cables and hooked it up to a vga transcoder then hooked it into the lcd do you think that would fix the problem?


I've got a VD-Z3 on the way to me this week so I'm going to test that theory. I'm hoping it works (fingers crossed), because this is the big drawback to the Viewsonic (and a lot of other monitors too. It's not their fault, it's the stupid VGA cable).

[MrkXCeL]

Finally got mine!!.. NO dead pixels at all. It's beautiful!

What settings should I change other than resolution to make it better?
I'm going from memory on this, as I've returned mine since.

I had Brightness 70/contrast 77/Red 91 ?/Green 97 ?/Blue 100. I also changed my Gamma settings in each color under Display Properties. I don't remember those, but I believe they were all around .66 Gamma give or take a tick. Also used a LOW level of Digital Vibrance(NVIDIA) to give it some more color for EYE candy (pr0n).

Try those, IMHO looked excellent to me ... ENJOY ...

[JinxCA]

That's weird. Just to check, you are using DVI?
This function works on my IBM Thinkpad (X300 Mobility) on an 1024 x 768 LCD. Not sure if it will be different with the mobility drivers.

Correct, I am using DVI. Still, after selecting it and hitting okay etc, I go to change my resolution to a non-widescreen resolution and it still stretches.

It doesn't bother me personally, I enjoy the native resolution, and all the games I own can display in it, but I'm wondering if anyone else is having this problem with their ATi cards. :\

[MrkXCeL]

Side by Side - NEC 20WMGX2 vs. Viewsonic WM2025wm

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5474/lcdsnitelsmall1qe.jpg
FULL SIZE OF ABOVE (http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5917/lcdsnitel1xw.jpg)

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/313/lcdsdaylsmall6zr.jpg
FULL SIZE OF ABOVE (http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9703/lcdsdayl4el.jpg)

The two monitors were tweaked to LOOK as close as possible to eachother when this pic was taken(brightness/contrast/color values). Viewsonic brightness is maxed out, and the NEC sitting comfortably at about 53%. The NEC seems to have a purer WHITE when tweaked, but has a worse white level when at NATIVE color mode. The Viewsonic, to me has a better backlight, at a higher kelvin value. LMK if there's questions

[UnrealCpu]

The NEC monitor looks better then the Viewsonic :D

[Ripped85]

Did you guys change any settings when you got the viewsonic? All I did was change the res after installing the viewsonic CD.

[davidtos]

Side by Side - NEC 20WMGX2 vs. Viewsonic WM2025wm

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5474/lcdsnitelsmall1qe.jpg
FULL SIZE OF ABOVE (http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5917/lcdsnitel1xw.jpg)

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/313/lcdsdaylsmall6zr.jpg
FULL SIZE OF ABOVE (http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9703/lcdsdayl4el.jpg)

The two monitors were tweaked to LOOK as close as possible to eachother when this pic was taken(brightness/contrast/color values). Viewsonic brightness is maxed out, and the NEC sitting comfortably at about 53%. The NEC seems to have a purer WHITE when tweaked, but has a worse white level when at NATIVE color mode. The Viewsonic, to me has a better backlight, at a higher kelvin value. LMK if there's questions

Can you give us your exact settings for the Viewsonic... your tweaked picture looks great. thanks!

[Bruce]

The FedEx guy surprised me today... wasn't expecting this baby until tomorrow.

http://img25.imagevenue.com/loc69/th_63593_vx2025vm_02.jpg (http://img25.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc69&image=63593_vx2025vm_02.jpg) http://img44.imagevenue.com/loc41/th_63583_vx2025vm_01.jpg (http://img44.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc41&image=63583_vx2025vm_01.jpg)

No dead pixels... big improvement over my old 19" CRT. It's the best $375 I've probably ever spent.

[Ripped85]

Can you give us your exact settings for the Viewsonic... your tweaked picture looks great. thanks!

YES..that's what I need to know!! haha

[draconius]

The FedEx guy surprised me today... wasn't expecting this baby until tomorrow.

http://img25.imagevenue.com/loc69/th_63593_vx2025vm_02.jpg (http://img25.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc69&image=63593_vx2025vm_02.jpg) http://img44.imagevenue.com/loc41/th_63583_vx2025vm_01.jpg (http://img44.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc41&image=63583_vx2025vm_01.jpg)

No dead pixels... big improvement over my old 19" CRT. It's the best $375 I've probably ever spent.damn, that monitore really looks huge.
and btw, thats a pretty l33t keyboard (I have the same one on my worktable :D)

[Wushuboy]

MrkXCeL -- can you tell us what your settings were and where i could find that lovely kristin kreuk wallpaper ;)

Also.. if anyone uses photoshop can you let me know if using the adobe gamma wizard is a good way to calibrate this lcd?

[Ripped85]

bump the previous question regarding settings..

[cmge]

Side by Side - NEC 20WMGX2 vs. Viewsonic WM2025wm

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5474/lcdsnitelsmall1qe.jpg
FULL SIZE OF ABOVE (http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5917/lcdsnitel1xw.jpg)

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/313/lcdsdaylsmall6zr.jpg
FULL SIZE OF ABOVE (http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9703/lcdsdayl4el.jpg)

The two monitors were tweaked to LOOK as close as possible to eachother when this pic was taken(brightness/contrast/color values). Viewsonic brightness is maxed out, and the NEC sitting comfortably at about 53%. The NEC seems to have a purer WHITE when tweaked, but has a worse white level when at NATIVE color mode. The Viewsonic, to me has a better backlight, at a higher kelvin value. LMK if there's questions
nice wallpaper... :)
The FedEx guy surprised me today... wasn't expecting this baby until tomorrow.

http://img25.imagevenue.com/loc69/th_63593_vx2025vm_02.jpg (http://img25.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc69&image=63593_vx2025vm_02.jpg) http://img44.imagevenue.com/loc41/th_63583_vx2025vm_01.jpg (http://img44.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc41&image=63583_vx2025vm_01.jpg)

No dead pixels... big improvement over my old 19" CRT. It's the best $375 I've probably ever spent.

by any chance can u guys get some pic results by running xtknight's gradlin-v0.2-fs.exe?

im really interested on how it look like in comparison to my 2007wfp.. :(

[Hedgepig]

Regarding Catalyst and Image Scaling in the Catalyst Control Center, I have a X1600 running version 6.4, and despite selecting "Use Centered Timings" I too, have not gotten the monitor to display lower resolutions without scretching the image. The demo unit at Fry's was able to, but it was Intel integrated graphics connected through VGA.

Damn, that's exactly what I'm running. I was worried that might happen, maybe I'll go with a non-widescreen after all.

[Vaeldain]

I just bought this LCD and its going to be delivered tomorrow, but I do have some questions I hope someone can answer. I've heard cleartype is pretty much a must for text on LCDs. My old monitor is a 19in CRT and I was going to be using both at the same time. Is it possible to have one monitor with cleartype enabled and the other without?

Also, will I have any troubles with one monitor being DVI and the other VGA?

[deanx0r]

I am planning to hook up this monitor with a VD-Z3 VGA transcoder which doesn't seem to have 1680x1050 output resolution that matches this monitor's native resolution.

How would a non-native resolution such as 1280x720 look on this monitor? I presume it would be stretched, but would the PQ be?

[sanitystream]

I am planning to hook up this monitor with a VD-Z3 VGA transcoder which doesn't seem to have 1680x1050 output resolution that matches this monitor's native resolution.

How would a non-native resolution such as 1280x720 look on this monitor? I presume it would be stretched, but would the PQ be?


If you're thinking of using your Xbox 360, it should look pretty good. I hooked my XBox 360 up to the Viewsonic (via VGA) and it's fine except for the colors, which are washed out. Sharpness wise, it's not up to 1680x1050, but I found it very playable. Yes it does stretch the image to fit, but 1280x720 is wide resolution so you won't have any distortion to worry about it.

I too am getting a VD-Z3 ( to correct for the color wash out) and if there's any concern, it's that the component outputs on an Xbox 360 aren't as sharp as the VGA output, so we'll see how that goes. Anytime you convert signals like this you're going to lose a little bit of quality, but I'm willing to do it to get the proper color saturation.

[ryuen]

nice wallpaper... :)


by any chance can u guys get some pic results by running xtknight's gradlin-v0.2-fs.exe?

im really interested on how it look like in comparison to my 2007wfp.. :(


Gradlin screensot (http://users.pandora.be/Ryuen/gradlinss.jpg)

Gradlin pic (excuse the average quality of my digicam) (http://users.pandora.be/Ryuen/gradlinpic.jpg)

[alkoholik]

buy.com has it for $355 shipped (no tax or shipping)

you can use the $15 off coupon to bring it down to $339 shipped

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202310998&loc=101&sp=1

edit: I cant get the coupon link to work correctly. Just go to this thread and click on the $15 coupon

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1048788

[Bruce]

buy.com has it for $355 shipped (no tax or shipping)

you can use the $15 off coupon to bring it down to $339 shipped

I ordered it from them on Monday for $390 - $15 = $375 shipped. :mad:

[cosgrove]

by any chance does anyone have screenshots of the Viewsonic VX2025wm while running xtknight's gradlin-v0.2-fs.exe??

i wanna compare it to my 2007wfp and my friends samsung 204b... i wanna c if its really that bad in comparison to the 2007wfp

DELL 2007WFP native resolution 32bit colour
http://www.fileh.com/cmge/dell2007wfpgradient.jpg

SAMSUNG 204B native resolution 32bit colour
http://www.fileh.com/cmge/samsung204bgradient.jpg

When I'm 6" from the monitor, I can see banding in maybe 1/4" dark segments, but at arm's length away (how far away I normally sit) I cannot notice any.

[Vaeldain]

Does anyone know how to get DVI to work? AGP works but when I use DVI it just stays at no signal and wont detect.

[wheels2040]

Did it do that right out of the box, or did the DVI work for a while before it stopped?

[Coldtronius]

Does anyone know how to get DVI to work? AGP works but when I use DVI it just stays at no signal and wont detect.

I think you mean VGA. Did you power off the computer, plug the DVI into the #1 DVI port and power back on? Did you switch the inputs using the front button? Are you sure you loaded the drivers for the monitor before cranking up the resolution?

[Vaeldain]

Yeah, I looked back some and it appears to be some standby bug with dvi and nvidia drivers. And since I have no blank disks or a floppy drive looks like I'm stuck with agp for a while.

[Vaeldain]

How big is the quality difference between VGA and DVI? Will there be noticeable improvement to even bother running in DVI.

[Vaeldain]

If I plug in both the VGA and DVI connections, load it up in VGA and manually switch to digital in the LCD options? Then just unplug the vga connector? Or will this blow something up =(

[MrkXCeL]

Can you give us your exact settings for the Viewsonic... your tweaked picture looks great. thanks!

:eek: I've returned the Viewsonic since then ... here's the best from my memory

Bright:100 / Contrast:77 / R:87 / G:94 / B100 Nvidia D.Vibrance at Low / Gamma at .66
I should have noted those down, but I'm fairly certain thats what I had for RGB values, also, at gamma .66 the viewsonic looks beatiful. BTW I used Nvidia's Display Calibration Utility.

I'll upload my original of kristin a little later and post a link as I don't remember where I picked her up :D

[MrkXCeL]

if you have VGA plugged in at boot, DVI does not function until I get onto logon screen of Win2K. Screens were selected to be cloned in windows. When I boot with only DVI plugged in, all is fine. This is with a Nvidia card 1VGA 1DVI port.

There is a substantial advantage for going to DVI, especially when viewing at native res. Text quality is not very good under VGA, although overall image quality and color quality wasn't a huge difference. Non native res, things look fairly similar (blurred) so you can't tell there's signal loss. Bottom line, get DVI !!! Unless u game, and need 15 xtra V-Sync'd frames, but I think that'll only work in non-native res anyway.

[jekyll917]

Thanks for your picture, MrkXCeL!

MrkXCeL -- can you tell us what your settings were and where i could find that lovely kristin kreuk wallpaper ;)

Also.. if anyone uses photoshop can you let me know if using the adobe gamma wizard is a good way to calibrate this lcd?
http://www.skins.be/index.php
You'll find many..

[blank]

Does anyone know how to get DVI to work? AGP works but when I use DVI it just stays at no signal and wont detect.

try this, this is what i did: uninstall the nvidia drivers while using VGA, shutdown, switch to DVI, boot back up, install the nvidia drivers, reboot. it should work

[Vaxith]

purchased mine last night, should get here tuesday.

[Vaeldain]

try this, this is what i did: uninstall the nvidia drivers while using VGA, shutdown, switch to DVI, boot back up, install the nvidia drivers, reboot. it should work

How am I suppose to install the nvidia drivers after switching to DVI? :p I can't see anything

[Ripped85]

I never changed anything once i put in the digital cables to my vid card...was I supposed to? I just plugged it in and it worked and the computer recognizes it as digital. I just wish I need what the ideal settings are for this monitor with a 6800gt gfx card..anyone know?

[rek981]

:eek: I've returned the Viewsonic since then ... here's the best from my memory

Why did you return it MrkXcCeL? And what did you purchase?

Ross

[Vaeldain]

Has anyone else had this DVI problem and managed to fix it? Nothing I'm doing is working. I've tried the bootdisk, I've uninstalled drivers and rebooted tons of times. Tried switching to digital on the monitor manually. Nothing is working.

Is the difference between DVI and VGA even worth this trouble? Does anyone have comparison shots?

[MrkXCeL]

Why did you return it MrkXcCeL? And what did you purchase?

Ross
I got the NEC 20WMGX2 that's in my post few pages up. I got spoiled with the extra clarity and brightness on the NEC. What really got me, reading text was always a bit easier on the NEC when I had it and the Viewsonic next to eachother. Otherwise, the Viewsonic was an excellent screen, anyone who cares about image/color quality, go for the Viewsonic. It's more forgiving, no banding of colors at all. No dead PIX, had the usuall upper corener backlight bleads that most of them seem to have. BTW I think the case design is slick on the Viewsonic, and build quality seems more solid. It's a great screen and a great deal. I wish I could get best of both words, but oh well...

[MrkXCeL]

http://www.skins.be/index.php
You'll find many..
:eek: You are GawD !!! THANKS !!! all is good !!!

[wheels2040]

CompUSA has these bad boys on sale now for 349.00 After 50.00 Instant off and 50.00 Mail in. They must be clearing them out for some reason. This is the 3rd week in a row they have been on sale.

[falcon26]

I'm thinking about getting this LCD, the viewsonic that is. But my question is, how easy is it to see the desktop? I mean my vision is pretty crappy. I run my desktop at 1024x768 on my 19 inch crt. When I use the LCD at work its at 1280x1024 with large fonts and DPI on. Now with this LCD the resolution is like 1600x1200 so will things look like little dots? Also at that resolution will my system handle the that, I play BF2.

Thanks falcon26

[Vaxith]

just got mine, got one dead pixel right smack dab in the middle of my screen, its a bit annoying.

the monitor itself is really nice, I notice no ghosting while playing GRAW, and I switched to black and noticed 0 backlighting.

[B. W.]

MrkXCeL -- can you tell us what your settings were and where i could find that lovely kristin kreuk wallpaper ;)

Also.. if anyone uses photoshop can you let me know if using the adobe gamma wizard is a good way to calibrate this lcd?
http://www.redrob2.net/kristinkreuk/kristinkreuk13_1600x1200.jpg

Sorry, I had to spread the love.

Back on topic! :D

[Coldtronius]

http://www.redrob2.net/kristinkreuk/kristinkreuk13_1600x1200.jpg

Sorry, I had to spread the love.

Back on topic! :D

Its all good bro :cool:

[Spiff1333]

Could someone tell me how large the gap is between the bottom of the screen and the desk? I'm wondering if I could fit a Klipsch Promedia center speaker there. Thanks.

[jedicri]

Could someone tell me how large the gap is between the bottom of the screen and the desk? I'm wondering if I could fit a Klipsch Promedia center speaker there. Thanks.

4 inches.

[cmge]

Gradlin screensot (http://users.pandora.be/Ryuen/gradlinss.jpg)

Gradlin pic (excuse the average quality of my digicam) (http://users.pandora.be/Ryuen/gradlinpic.jpg)
that looks soo much better than my 2007fwp.. :( ... looks like ill be returning it to dell

btw have u tried the new revision to xtknights gradlin?

http://xtknight.atothosting.com/tools/gradlin-v0.3-mix-fs.exe

and if possible could u take pics of with the new gradlin test?

[armageddon415]

Is anyone having a problem where if you turn off the monitor while leaving the computer, the monitor gets a no signal error when you turn it back on?

[wheels2040]

I had that problem. I actually took the monitor back and got a new one. Plugged the new one in and it said no signal too. Actually had to unplug the computer from the wall. Hasnt done it since. Been about a week.

[duxup]

The VX2025wm is sooo tempting as it looks like a great monitor for that price. The only problem is that I have an Nvidia 7900 GX and I don’t think I’d like my games stretched so the lack of scaling / problem with the Nvidia software is disappointing.

Even so I have not found a monitor that seems to provide the same quality at such a tempting price. I may just roll the dice and pray that it is a driver issue that Nvidia will resolve in a later release…

[ZeroH]

it's $280 right now with a rebate.

http://slickdeals.net/#p7442

[cmge]

it's $280 right now with a rebate.

http://slickdeals.net/#p7442
OMFG.... i need to find amerifriends... :( .. thats one hell of a deal

[abeflow]

newegg has it for $339 shipped

[draconius]

damn it and i payed $400 on newegg for it less than a week ago!!

[Coldtronius]

The VX2025wm is sooo tempting as it looks like a great monitor for that price. The only problem is that I have an Nvidia 7900 GX and I don’t think I’d like my games stretched so the lack of scaling / problem with the Nvidia software is disappointing.

Even so I have not found a monitor that seems to provide the same quality at such a tempting price. I may just roll the dice and pray that it is a driver issue that Nvidia will resolve in a later release…

Its not Nvidias fault if the games don't support native widescreen out of the box. Its really not that big of a deal, at least no for me. All my games are either native widescreen or hacked and I play them just fine, including BF1942 at 1680x1050. Looks great to me.

[WarlordOne]

newegg has it for $339 shipped

Newegg has it for 352 shipped. Buy has it for 339 shipped (after -$15 coupon).

I just bought one from buy.com because rebates suck and you still have to pay for shipping.

[Spiff1333]

$312.29 after $100 mail in rebate

http://www.+++++++/JRProductPage.process?Product_Code=VIW+VX2025WM&JRSource=PriceGrabber.datafeed.VIW+VX2025WM#productTabRebate s

[ClearH2O]

Well I bit on the buy.com deal today. I would have gone with J&R, but I don't want to wait for a rebate. I hope this monitor is as good as everyone says.

[FS Effects]

I just brought this Viewsonic and so far it's great. I believe a warranty card never came with the package, is there suppose to be a warranty card? also, how do i check and know if there are any defects such as deadpixel, backleak, ghosting etc

[duxup]

Its not Nvidias fault if the games don't support native widescreen out of the box. Its really not that big of a deal, at least no for me. All my games are either native widescreen or hacked and I play them just fine, including BF1942 at 1680x1050. Looks great to me.

I look at it this way. It would be nice if games natively supported windscreen but personally I don’t consider that a requirement as most of their customers are playing on 4:3 monitors. It would have been nice had Viewsonic sold this monitor with the ability scale on its own, that’s a bit of a disappointment.

At the same time Nvidia has the scaling option in its software and it clearly doesn’t work with this monitor and certain cards. Without knowing the technical details, off hand it looks like something wrong with that driver/software.

It’s good to hear you’ve been able to enjoy most of your games that either natively support the wide screen format or been able to adjust them. It seems every ~20" wide screen I look at seems to have at least one major drawback. Yet even with the scaling issue I’m tempted go this route because for the price this monitor seems outstanding.

[WarlordOne]

5star monitor:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.lesnumeriques.com/article-203.html&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

20" winner:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/03/30/20_inch_widescreen_monitors/1.html

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/180574.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tm=33&id=180574)

[OTTOgd]

Thanks to your reviews I now own the VX2025wm from the Viewsonic p95f+ and it's great! I am still tinkering with the brightness/contrast ratio and any suggestions would be appreciated. Unfortunately I can't play Starcraft any more without stretching (ATI 9800 Pro) but I'm looking forward to installing ES: Oblivion.

For those in the Canadian GTA, Canada Computers is selling this thing for $450 CAD (cash discounted).

Btw, Dell Canada is having it Day o' Deals (Tempted but read about those banding issues):
2007wfp - $429 CAD (387.72 USD)
2405fpw - $799 CAD (722.10 USD)

great forum.

[MrWizard6600]

Thanks to your reviews I now own the VX2025wm from the Viewsonic p95f+ and it's great! I am still tinkering with the brightness/contrast ratio and any suggestions would be appreciated. Unfortunately I can't play Starcraft any more without stretching (ATI 9800 Pro) but I'm looking forward to installing ES: Oblivion.

For those in the Canadian GTA, Canada Computers is selling this thing for $450 CAD (cash discounted).

Btw, Dell Canada is having it Day o' Deals (Tempted but read about those banding issues):
2007wfp - $429 CAD (387.72 USD)
2405fpw - $799 CAD (722.10 USD)

great forum.

better then them is atic (www.atic.ca) they have a 7900gtx for $4 (usd) cheaper then Newegg. which totally doesnt make sense to me, but they do.

yea and again same deal, 2500 Viewsonic for something like $450. nice if you ask me. im going for it when i get my new comp.

[kiop]

better then them is atic (www.atic.ca) they have a 7900gtx for $4 (usd) cheaper then Newegg. which totally doesnt make sense to me, but they do.

yea and again same deal, 2500 Viewsonic for something like $450. nice if you ask me. im going for it when i get my new comp.

NCIX (http://www.ncix.com) has the VX2025wm on for $459CDN with $9.99 shipping... I ordered one last night. :)

[ve_blackjack]

i just made my order in newegg.com, how they ship the monitors?

i should be worry about it?

[KingPing]

I just brought this Viewsonic and so far it's great. I believe a warranty card never came with the package, is there suppose to be a warranty card? also, how do i check and know if there are any defects such as deadpixel, backleak, ghosting etc
good one for dead pixels.....Deadpixelbuddy (http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=782)

if you use google you can find a few different sites to check for "ghosting"

far as the "warranty card" just go to Viewsonic website and register your monitor there....and keep your receipt:)

[Coyote Finn]

Got mine delivered yesterday, from Buy.com... seems to be working perfectly with WinXP 64 on an AMD 3800+ 64 with a Jaton 7800GT.

I noticed, however, that the thing was very warm, especially the upper left side, after about 4 hrs of use. My old LG non-WS LCD gets warm too, of course, but this was very warm.

Is that normal?

[Ripped85]

How exactly do you change the gamma on this monitor??

[Spiff1333]

So there is no way to overide stretch on this monitor with a nVidia card? That is one of the main things holding me back from pulling the trigger.

[Coldtronius]

So there is no way to overide stretch on this monitor with a nVidia card? That is one of the main things holding me back from pulling the trigger.

At this point, no.

[Coldtronius]

i just made my order in newegg.com, how they ship the monitors?

i should be worry about it?

They ship it in its orginal box. Its pretty well packed, but if FedEx or UPS decided to drop it or run over it, well.....

Take it out and keep all packaging and information in case its damaged when it arrives, so you can claim damage via carrier. I've never had a damaged product in the 5 years iv'e been ordering from Newegg though.

[Bruce]

So there is no way to overide stretch on this monitor with a nVidia card? That is one of the main things holding me back from pulling the trigger.There is. 4:3 resolutions will appear with black bars on the sides.

http://thaportal.com/upload/files/nvidia_scaling.png

[igl00jx]

^^^^
It seems that with the 7800/7900 series cards, fixed aspect ratio scaling causes the screen to black out and have an "out of range message." Tried this with my crt, and I've been getting what some of the guys on here are getting as well.

[Bruce]

OK... wasn't aware of that. I know it works fine with my 6600gt.

[Spiff1333]

So it works with a 6600 but not a 7800 series.....weird. Hopefully nVidia can fix that quickly.

I have a 6800GT so if anyone has this card and this monitor could you please let us know if the fixed aspect ratio control works. Thanks.

[LordBritish]

Yea, I can't get anything other than "Monitor Scaling" working with my 7900 GTX.

With my old 6800 Ulttra I could get all 4 modes working with the SAME montitor !!!

It's wierd !!

[jedicri]

How exactly do you change the gamma on this monitor??

HAving an Nvidia card, I simply go to the Nvidia Display panel (right-click on my desktop), click "Color Correction" and the options are there such as Gamma, Digital Vibrance, Brightness and Contrast for me to adjust accordingly.


So it works with a 6600 but not a 7800 series.....weird. Hopefully nVidia can fix that quickly.

I have a 6800GT so if anyone has this card and this monitor could you please let us know if the fixed aspect ratio control works. Thanks.

Fixed Apect Ratio works as well as all the other options with my 6800 GT.

[eXcelon7574]

^^^^
It seems that with the 7800/7900 series cards, fixed aspect ratio scaling causes the screen to black out and have an "out of range message." Tried this with my crt, and I've been getting what some of the guys on here are getting as well.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I have a BFG 7800GTX and fixed aspect ratio works fine on my system with the VX2025wm. I am using driver version 84.25 and am forcing 75Hz refresh rate if that makes any difference.

[LordBritish]

Just wanted to let you guys know that I have a BFG 7800GTX and fixed aspect ratio works fine on my system with the VX2025wm. I am using driver version 84.25 and am forcing 75Hz refresh rate if that makes any difference.

Try the same thing but at default refresh rate and let us know what happens.

[ve_blackjack]

I bought a evga 7900 gt co card, it should arrive soon, i bought the viewsonic vx2025wm too

I will have problems with the monitor and this card? its my first widescreen lcd so please help me choosing the mode i have to use, what do each mode exactly and which of them is the best.

what drivers i need to get the monitor work well?

thanks

[KingPing]

Just wanted to let you guys know that I have a BFG 7800GTX and fixed aspect ratio works fine on my system with the VX2025wm. I am using driver version 84.25 and am forcing 75Hz refresh rate if that makes any difference.

84.25?

[KingPing]

84.25?


n/m found them:)

[FS Effects]

good one for dead pixels.....Deadpixelbuddy (http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=782)

if you use google you can find a few different sites to check for "ghosting"

far as the "warranty card" just go to Viewsonic website and register your monitor there....and keep your receipt:)



how do i check for dead pixels with that programs? and what about leakage how do i check that?

[dagon11985]

Thanks for the review. I'll be buying this monitor at office max tomorrow. They have a $50 dollar mail in rebate for this monitor.

[KingPing]

how do i check for dead pixels with that programs? and what about leakage how do i check that?

go through the different colors on DPB and look for "stuck" or "dead" pixels....they should all be what ever color your viewing on your screen....to check for "bleeding" just go with the "all black" screen:)

[KingPing]

Just wanted to let you guys know that I have a BFG 7800GTX and fixed aspect ratio works fine on my system with the VX2025wm. I am using driver version 84.25 and am forcing 75Hz refresh rate if that makes any difference.

running the 84.25 drivers now.....I cant get Fixed Aspect to work....nor can I force 75HZ refresh rate...."out of range":(

[eXcelon7574]

I went ahead and changed the refresh rate back to 60Hz and it still scales properly. Not sure why it works for some and not for others.

[draconius]

I'll be sure and post in here how this monitor goes with Ubuntu 5.10 (Linux), and any configuration tips I have.

~24 hours and 1 final left before I can check this baby out:D

[u8myrice]

Got my monitor today. It's so sexy...though its a little fuzzy. Can't complain for such a great price.

[u8myrice]

Wow. One dead pixel in the middle. That's gunna be annoying as fuck. T__T

[dagon11985]

I picked my monitor up today. Had to go on a wild goosechase to get it. This monitor owns man. Glad I bought it.

[ve_blackjack]

I went ahead and changed the refresh rate back to 60Hz and it still scales properly. Not sure why it works for some and not for others.

what mode are you using in your monitor.

i will get my monitor soon, and i am afraid i wont work with my 7900 gt card

[LordBritish]

running the 84.25 drivers now.....I cant get Fixed Aspect to work....nor can I force 75HZ refresh rate...."out of range":(

Same here, 75Hz @ 1650x1080 does NOT work for me. That's with an evga 7900 GTX.

When I tried to do that using the refresh rate overide screen, i got the "Out of Range" error. I had to reboot into safe mode and remove the display driver.

[u8myrice]

Why do you guys run 'em at 75hz. 60hz is good enough, no?

[Sikish]

Same here 75 does not work for me. I'm running on 7900GT but I don't think it matters.
BTW 60 works great. I have V-Sync off and see no tearing.

[FS Effects]

go through the different colors on DPB and look for "stuck" or "dead" pixels....they should all be what ever color your viewing on your screen....to check for "bleeding" just go with the "all black" screen:)


cool. so dead pixels are basicly little blacks dots that are permament on the screen? i couldn't find 1 dead pixel, i guess i'm lucky. :D other than dead pixel, and backlight leaking what are other concerns that i should look for? what about ghosting?

[u8myrice]

cool. so dead pixels are basicly little blacks dots that are permament on the screen? i couldn't find 1 dead pixel, i guess i'm lucky. :D other than dead pixel, and backlight leaking what are other concerns that i should look for? what about ghosting?

Lucky bastard. =[ I got one dead pixel dead in the middle. God I hate it. I can't even file for RMA. GR!

PS. Is there anyway to MAKE dead pixels? <__<

[MrkXCeL]

you wont get 75Hz in 1680x1050. I've gotten 75hz DVI at 1024x768 using custom modes, but the monitor displayed OUT-of-SYNC every minute, no way to get rid of it. I think u can get 75hz on VGA at 1024x768 no problem. Didn't try ... didn't care

[espn2829]

wow that is one nice monitor

I have a 19' crt, will I be able to adjust to this monitor easily?

I do a lot of text reading so is this widescreen monitor good for that? Is widescreen good for reading? I have heard that it takes time to get used to it.

should I buy the Viewsonic 20' widescreen or the Acer 19'? The Acer is $220 or so, the Viewsonic is like $350 or so.

[WarlordOne]

wow that is one nice monitor

I have a 19' crt, will I be able to adjust to this monitor easily?

I do a lot of text reading so is this widescreen monitor good for that? Is widescreen good for reading? I have heard that it takes time to get used to it.

should I buy the Viewsonic 20' widescreen or the Acer 19'? The Acer is $220 or so, the Viewsonic is like $350 or so.

I'm in the same boat as you having a 17" Viewsonic CRT and wanting to upgrade to a widescreen for the last 6months. I was watching the Rosewill 19" which went as low as $225 after rebate. Then I got $200 as a present but when I went to check on the Rosewill pricing I noticed that the Acer dropped to $215 -but I knew nothing about this monitor.

Well after reading about the Acer and reading many comments about screen size and resolutions I decided a larger 20" LCD would meet my needs a bit longer than a 19".

So in the end I've purchased the Viewsonic 20.1" from buy.com for $339 or $139 out of pocket. Here are a couple reviews that make me feel pretty good about my buy:

5 star monitor:

http://translate.google.com/transla...Flanguage_tools

20" winner:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/20...monitors/1.html

I know I posted these links already ;)

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/180574.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tm=33&id=180574)

[psychoace]

wow that is one nice monitor

I have a 19' crt, will I be able to adjust to this monitor easily?

I do a lot of text reading so is this widescreen monitor good for that? Is widescreen good for reading? I have heard that it takes time to get used to it.

should I buy the Viewsonic 20' widescreen or the Acer 19'? The Acer is $220 or so, the Viewsonic is like $350 or so.


Only thing different about text is that there will be more text per line then before and sometimes if your not conentrating you can lose your spot in the middle. Otherwise text is excellent to read. I havn't had a problem at 1650x1080. If your used to text at 1600x1200 then you will be fine with this display. Although I must note a 20in widescreen is like a 17in montior that is wide. There isn't much added verticly if at all.

[zoo54924]

anyone had problems with this monitor on a MAC G5?

[elvn]

Compusa's offer on this monitor was order-to-home and RMA by mail only, so when officemax cut their $450-minus-rebate price to $399 minus a $50 rebate on an in-stock local purchase, I ended up taking one home. Officemax is only a mile from my house and I can return it to the store. I happened to get the last one in the store at the time too :)


I am still tweaking this monitor, and last night I went so far as to reset it to default settings and start over instead of using the software tools to adjust it. I think it helped the eyestrain issue, but the monitor will always have a frosted/glazed look on solid fields.


Here are my impressions so far:
========================

This monitor is being sold at a good price (about half the price of the comparable NEC I think), but I did notice an obvious frosted look on bright solid color fields. I think I prefer the glare-type screens to the anti-glare of this monitor, but for the price I decided to try it out.


Reading
-------------
I had trouble with eyestrain when I first started using it. I tweaked the brightness and contrast once I realized I was getting the effect of staring into a lightbulb, and that helped - alot. If you have ever looked at one of those optical illusions where you see a black icon on white background, then look at the ceiling and see the afterimage, you might understand how the brightness could affect you. I also realized that I was often trying to see and read the whole monitor instead of focusing more in a direct beam, if you know what I mean.

I'm still unsure on text. Truetype fonts help on fonts large enough to benefit, but I think the frost-layer on the screen still annoys my eyes while reading for extended periods even when the frost layer isn't as obvious.

I play World of Warcraft at the native resolution 1680 x 1050, which I mention here because it is a game that has alot of text scrolling by in small chat windows. The 14pt font is alittle hard to read for some reason. I will test WoW out again today since I adjusted my brightness and contrast to much better settings last night. I did get to play WoW on a 1920x1200 WUXGA screen for a few weeks so I know how the text can look, at least compared to that higher resolution.

Gaming
-------------

Gaming looks really good on this monitor, much better than still photos. The frost/glaze of the screen isn't obvious at all in 3D gaming environments. The 1680 x 1050 puts less stress on the video card than the 1920 x 1200 rez system I mentioned, while still being a very high resolution.
This would be great except that as I mentioned above, I play a game that has a ton of fine text to read all the time.


Photos/Graphics work
------------------------------------

There is a frost look to this screen, like a thin layer of frost crystals on a windshield. It is subdued on detailed and dark areas of pictures, but anything with a solid field of color makes it very obvious.
Forget ever seeing a flat, solid skyline or background in an underwater photo without seeing the almost 'sparkly' layer of crystallization. Anything with a large plain of relatively even color (including white documents and web browsing to a degree) brings the frosty layer of this screen out of hiding. The frost crystal screen layer is always there though, its just that some fields rendered beneath it make it look more horrible.

You can get some high resolution photos at the native rez to test out here:
http://wp.deviantart.com/wallpaper/widescreen/?view=1&order=5&limit=24&res=21

It is very annoying on the sky, flat stretches of water, and shows on people's skin, the macro shots of flowers,, etc.

========================================================

Conclusion
=========
I think the frosted/crystallized screen layer might be a deal-breaker for me. One of the high points of LCDs for me was that they had less eyestrain and had a crisp image. This frost crystal layer bothers my eyes. Its also really annoying on photos. Its a shame this would have been a good monitor.

[WarlordOne]

You seem more than stuck on talking about the a/g coating. It makes your review sound biased. If there was an option for "did you find this review helpful?" I'd definately have to say no.

Mabe you should list the pros and cons instead...

[elvn]

It is biased, on over all viewing quality.

I don't mean to step on anyone's toes who owns this monitor. I'm just relating my experience so people might have an idea before they buy the monitor.

I said the coating makes a frost layer that 'spekles/sparkles' relatively solid fields so much so that things like the sky or a person's skin don't look solid/flat. This is especially annoying while web browsing and viewing photos, and photo editing. I also hinted that it might be affecting small fonts in desktop/browsing, and small fonts in games like WoW, and might even be affecting eye-focus/eyestrain sometimes.

The coating is integrated. You can't remove it so the review would have to biased against the monitor overall if it is biased against the coating.

[WarlordOne]

It shouldn't hurt anyone's feelings that you don't like the monitor. I just don't think that what you wrote can be called an objective review. It's just a long statement biased towarads your preference for glossy screens. You could have just said:

I like glossy screens, they are superior because of X_Y_Z....This monitor has an anti-glare finish and is therfore crap, weak, a waste of money, not really as good as all the other reviews say, etc.

It's not a fault of the monitor, just your personal preference. I'd imagine all your reviews of matte a/g monitors will sound about the same.

[aarong50]

Anyone know if a Geforce 6200 will run this at 1600 by 1050?

[espn2829]

I'm in the same boat as you having a 17" Viewsonic CRT and wanting to upgrade to a widescreen for the last 6months. I was watching the Rosewill 19" which went as low as $225 after rebate. Then I got $200 as a present but when I went to check on the Rosewill pricing I noticed that the Acer dropped to $215 -but I knew nothing about this monitor.

Well after reading about the Acer and reading many comments about screen size and resolutions I decided a larger 20" LCD would meet my needs a bit longer than a 19".

So in the end I've purchased the Viewsonic 20.1" from buy.com for $339 or $139 out of pocket. Here are a couple reviews that make me feel pretty good about my buy:

5 star monitor:

http://translate.google.com/transla...Flanguage_tools

20" winner:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/20...monitors/1.html

I know I posted these links already ;)

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/180574.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tm=33&id=180574)

Thanks. Since I'll be going from a 19' crt, I think going to a 20' lcd makes more sense than a 19' lcd. But since this monitor is basically 17' vertically, I'm having second thoughts. I still want this monitor and love it but maybe a regular 20' lcd would be better?

Those links are not working, btw.

The links are not working.

[WarlordOne]

The links are not working.

I apologize for that. Try this:

20" winner (http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/31/bit-techs-20-inch-widescreen-lcd-shootout/)

5 star monitor (http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.lesnumeriques.com/article-203.html&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools)

It's true that the 20" ers are only about as tall as a 17" but for people like me who like watching widescreen movies or playing games the aspect ratio is great, 4:3 monitors still serve thier purpose. Let me know if those links still aren't working. Good luck and choose wisely. ;)

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/180574.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tm=33&id=180574)

[draconius]

First thoughts on the monitor:

Damn, this thing is huge! and it looks great! no dead pixels!


I will be re-vamping my computer stuff since I just got a new desk, but when I get done, I ll post pics of the monitor and whatnot

[espn2829]

Guys, for text reading which would be a better option?

This Viewsonix VX2025 or an inexpensive 19' LCD?

[RSeXXX]

First thoughts on the monitor:

Damn, this thing is huge! and it looks great! no dead pixels!


I will be re-vamping my computer stuff since I just got a new desk, but when I get done, I ll post pics of the monitor and whatnot

Give it a copy of days or a week, and you'll notice it not being "big" anymore... :(

[draconius]

Guys, for text reading which would be a better option?

This Viewsonix VX2025 or an inexpensive 19' LCD?Reading the forums for a bit now, as well as doing some work in my terminal (running linux), I have to say that my eyes have no problems reading...

Give it a copy of days or a week, and you'll notice it not being "big" anymore... :(I'll just have to stick my 19" samsung next to it so I can have even more screen real estate!

[espn2829]

Reading the forums for a bit now, as well as doing some work in my terminal (running linux), I have to say that my eyes have no problems reading...

I'll just have to stick my 19" samsung next to it so I can have even more screen real estate!

In your opinion, what is more easier to read text on, your 19' LCD or your new Viewsonic VX2025? How is it sizewise?

[draconius]

I have no problems with text on either, to be honest.

Everything is very sharp and clear on the viewsonic -- In fact, I made my fonts a single point smaller, because they were a bit large at my normal size (I used to have it: Tahoma @ 9pt, I changed it to Tahoma @ 8pt <edit> and I am using cleartype as well </edit>)

I will be able to compare the two in a couple days when I get my 19" hooked back up -- I'll post here when I do.

[jm22]

Anyone know if a Geforce 6200 will run this at 1600 by 1050?

YES! :)
I have a basic GeForce 6200TC which controls both the ViewSonic VX2025 and my (one year old) IIYAMA Prolite LCD display.
The VS is on tne DVI port and the IIYAMA on the VGA port.
This gives a nice config for waching TV (IIYAMA) while surfing on the VS.
I do not play with it so I can't tell about playing with this board.

[gamz247]

Hi. I just purchased this monitor, and I had a question about the appearance of my desktop. Currently I can see changes in color as different boxes across the screen. It's not highly noticable, but there really isn't a smooth transition of color. Is this something that has to do with the monitor being digital, or is it something else entirely?

[-=Antimatter=-]

Hi. I just purchased this monitor, and I had a question about the appearance of my desktop. Currently I can see changes in color as different boxes across the screen. It's not highly noticable, but there really isn't a smooth transition of color. Is this something that has to do with the monitor being digital, or is it something else entirely?

Post pics if possible.

[FS Effects]

good one for dead pixels.....Deadpixelbuddy (http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=782)

if you use google you can find a few different sites to check for "ghosting"

far as the "warranty card" just go to Viewsonic website and register your monitor there....and keep your receipt:)
i couldn't find the register page on viewsonics page. could you link me to it?

[Mangavin]

So there is no way to overide stretch on this monitor with a nVidia card? That is one of the main things holding me back from pulling the trigger.

Is there a solution with powerstrip...? I hope so because this monitor and a 7900gt are comming soon and I would play to old games.

[Power and Glory]

Don't know if this is old news, but I now see it on Newegg for $349. Got mine 3 weeks ago when it was $409. Heh guess I should have waited.

[elvn]

Even after writing that review highlighting the anti-glare frost layer issue, I'm still testing out the screen. I have very good eyesight so perhaps I'm just one of those people who can see things like that better than others..

I'm wondering if perhaps I can train my eyes to not focus on the anti-glare layer. I will keep the monitor a few more days (still within the return period) and see how my experience is.

I really want to be able to keep it. :confused:

[live2sk8]

Anyone know if a Geforce 6200 will run this at 1600 by 1050?
Yeah, without any problem. I have a Geforce 6150 IGP that will even run some games at that resolution.

[buzzfunk]

I dunno.

I have this lcd since like a month and a half and loving it. I have good eye sight as well and the antiglare screen isnt even an issue for me. Never bothered me to begin with.

Sorry to hear your not happy.

[gamz247]

Post pics if possible.
Nah, I tried taking pics. Didn't come out clearly. Just looks like the display is made up of thousands of quarter-inch squares. I don't have any banding, screen door or dead pixel issues, so maybe that's just how it's supposed to be.

[noobtech]

Can you remove it from the stand to mount on a wall or buy an aftermarket swivel?

[nisse]

I just bought the vx2025, but my old AGP card to not support the native 1680x1050 resolution. Any hints on a good AGP card that support 1680x1050 DVI? I do not do much gaming, but use Photoshop.
Thanks

[Juic3]

I just bought the vx2025, but my old AGP card to not support the native 1680x1050 resolution. Any hints on a good AGP card that support 1680x1050 DVI? I do not do much gaming, but use Photoshop.
Thanks


I tested one of these on a geforce4mx and worked at native res, depends how much do you want to spend ?

[KingPing]

Can you remove it from the stand to mount on a wall or buy an aftermarket swivel?


I believe you can......someone in the thread already did and posted a screen shot if I'm not mistaken:)

found it......
For those who are worried about the adjustments for the stand the VX2025wm works with Ergotron LCD arms

Neo-Flex LCD Arm (http://www.ergotron.com/3_products/flat_panel/neoFlex/default.asp)
http://www.digedge.net/misc/b.jpg
http://www.digedge.net/misc/c.jpg

[noobtech]

thanks!! Those cost a grip!! Since I ordered two monitors... it's almost 150. It won't be so bad not to adjust it ;-)

[Coldtronius]

Im gonna buy one of those. Wonder who sells em.

[noobtech]

http://www.ergotron.com/ProfessionalProducts/MultimonitorMounts/tabid/159/Default.aspx

This is pretty much all we would need... "http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=Neo-Flex%99+LCD+Stand&category0="

[djca]

Hi I just got this monitor the other day. It looks great, and apparently there are no dead pixels. This is my first LCD monitor, and it would have been my first time to try out the DVI output of my video card.

My video card is a
Connect3D ATI Radeon X700 PRO 128MB on PCI Express.
My motherboard is an EPOX 9NPA with Athlon64 3000 processor.

1.) When the monitor is connected via VGA, it works fine. The resolution is set at 1680x1050.
2.) When the monitor is connected via DVI, it reports "No Signal".
3.) Even the POST screen on bootup is not displayed at bootup when the display is connected via DVI only. (Is this even normal? Are there cases when this happens but the DVI output displays when the OS starts to load?)
4.) When I connected the display's VGA input to the video card's DVI output through a DVI-D-Sub connector, it works fine. ---- (Does this mean that my video card's DVI output is OK, even if it was just used to output an analog signal?)

Now, I don't know which one between the display's DVI input or my video card's DVI output is faulty. But I've been reading a few posts complaining about the DVI input of this monitor.

I bought this display from Buy.com, and I might have to return it if it turns out that the DVI input is faulty.

Any help would be appreciated.

[noobtech]

I had the same problem with my dell 2405... I think you need to plug it in the dvi before booting with the power off or something? I forget, but I eventually got it working. LoL... there also might be a selector to choose between vga and dvi?

[ve_blackjack]

how looks high definition content in this monitor?

what about xbox360 content, how look using vga?

[noobtech]

how looks high definition content in this monitor?

what about xbox360 content, how look using vga?

Start from page one.. you will find everything you will need & more ;-)

[djca]

I had the same problem with my dell 2405... I think you need to plug it in the dvi before booting with the power off or something? I forget, but I eventually got it working. LoL... there also might be a selector to choose between vga and dvi?

Hi, I've read about that technique and tried it several times to no avail.

Another observation: When I have both VGA and DVI connected, upon bootup the display is analog... when windows starts, i get a blank screen. So I presume Windows switches to DVI and I get the usual No Signal.

[wheels2040]

Hi, I've read about that technique and tried it several times to no avail.

Another observation: When I have both VGA and DVI connected, upon bootup the display is analog... when windows starts, i get a blank screen. So I presume Windows switches to DVI and I get the usual No Signal.

Had the same problem. Had to actually unplug my computer from the outlet or turn off the switch on the power supply so the motherboard has no power. Seems to reset something.

[noobtech]

Yeah, if you do that... be sure to push the power button to discharge any of the power ;-)

[gib4500]

i ordered one of these montitors and it should be here Monday. I was wondering how everyone has there's setup. Should you plug both the dvi and vga into the moniter so you can switch between them for like when you play games and stuff and may want to change the resolution? Or does the dvi connection do all you need. I have heard if you needed to adjust resolution of the moniter to play a certain game you need to use vga? Is this true?

I'm coming from a 19 inch crt so i'm kind of excited about my new moniter. Thanks for any help.

[noobtech]

i ordered one of these montitors and it should be here Monday. I was wondering how everyone has there's setup. Should you plug both the dvi and vga into the moniter so you can switch between them for like when you play games and stuff and may want to change the resolution? Or does the dvi connection do all you need. I have heard if you needed to adjust resolution of the moniter to play a certain game you need to use vga? Is this true?

I'm coming from a 19 inch crt so i'm kind of excited about my new moniter. Thanks for any help.

Only plug in the DVI... I also get both of mine Monday!! I can't wait. I've been using an old 13" VGA monitor. haha

[Grap3S0da]

argh this monitor looks perfect for me as I don't really care about height adjustment and have no need for the USB ports on my Dell 2005FPW...

I doubt I can still return my dell since I've had it for a few weeks now..is it worth it to sell my dell (can probably get $300-ish for it) and buy this..or should I wait for something else? Monitors usually last longer than PCs so I want to make sure I have something that lasts me a while. Blah I regret not spending a little more in the first place. :(

[Eagle156]

Just curious, what's wrong with the dell?

[Juic3]

From what I can tell the problem with dell is quality control.

[TheRealGigabyte]

Ordered mine from the egg on friday. should be here either monday or tuesday (dam weekends!) and im eagerly awaiting this baby.

Been useing a 17inch samsungy 171v for a long time now and considering the massive increase in specifications im sure ill be happy with this baby, provided shes dead pixel free like my sammy.

[elvn]

After buying another VX2025wm monitor for a relative whose computer I upgraded, I noticed that it (the anti-glare screen) looked alot better in their room. The room had alot of ambient light from a nearby but offset overhead cieling fan and a table lamp on the far side of the room. Oddly it seems to me that in some cases more lighting makes the anti-glare layer less obvious.
Additionally the monitor was out of the box, so wasn't tweaked and had a 'fresh start' on settings, and the desk, chair, and viewing perspective were alittle different.

I came home and put a small soft lamp on the 'phone table' that I use for my mouse alongside my desk.. (it matches my desk btw, and the lamp for that matter). I also reverted to windows XP's default theme to get back to the default fonts. I had been using tweak XP's panther theme. Next I ran the cleartype font configuration tool again. I also set the icons back to full size, since I had shrunken them. I also experimented more with the monitors distance from my eyes.

I basically went back to the drawing board. The default fonts help and the room lighting helps alot. I also found a great addon for my favorite game, WorldOfWarcraft (WoW). It is basically a cleartype font addon for WoW, which helps greatly.

ClearFont WoW addon(link) (http://www.clearfont.co.uk/screenshots.htm)

I still can see the frost alittle over any text but the edges are cleaner now on very small fonts. I'm going to keep the monitor another day and see if I can jimmy it up enough to make it acceptable to me for long periods of usage. I may have to buy another lamp for my room. Perhaps between the tweaks and training my eyes, and repositioning the monitor distance it will end up being a keeper after all.

[kidstechno]

What would be the best way for hooking up a 360 to this monitor? I saw someone else say maybe the VD-Z3 Encoder that's about $50, anyone else have an opinion?

[elvn]

I just checked officemax and according to the web page and the local store the price went back up to $450, and they are out of stock at the store. Sale ended :(

CompUsa's website lists it for $399.99 and has a $50 mail in rebate available, but it is listed as a mail item only. This means there is no in-store pickup available. You have to order it to your house and the order system would only allow you turn return it via RMA and mailing the unit back. This is a big downside to getting the monitor from CompUsa in my opinion.

CircuitCity lists the monitor for $400 w/free shipping. Its not avail. in store their either.


Just passing the info along. I prefer to buy montors locallly. I hate RMA-shipping them back.

[blank]

do you guys use cleartype?

[wheels2040]

I use cleartype. It helped a little bit by using the cleartype tuner on Microsofts website.

[elvn]

You can also download the cleartype tuner as a powertoy from microsoft, so that it will appear as an icon in your control panel. That way you can run it whenever you would like.

ms cleartype tuner powertoy (http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypePowerToy.mspx)

[gib4500]

I just got this monitor today. I really like it. I have a question. What exaclty does the cd do that comes with it. Is it really necessary to install the cd drivers. I have heard it conflicts with radeon drivers. I was just wondering if i should put in the cd or not. thanks.

[noobtech]

you don't need it unless you're using an old OS that doesn't have the drivers in it already.

[noobtech]

Just tested the vx2025xm and dell 2007 and the 2007 blows. Everyone get a vx2025 now. The banding tests looks so smooth on the vx2025.

[Dan3290]

what online retailer has the best monitor warrenty? I'm about to buy the vx2025wm but i can't stand neweggs 8 pixel warrenty. How is Buy.com's warrenty since they have the best price?

[Leighgion]

Got my VX2025wm from Buy.com today. I'd be pleased as punch, but I managed to draw the egg with one stuck pixel almost smack in the middle. Arg! Tried out the massage technique, but no go. Going to try the epilepsy movie therapy, but in the meantime I'm trying to prep for the worst.

The pixel doesn't show up in black or bright white, but does in a lot of tones in between. Anywhere else and I'd be able to live with it, but I'm a computer DVD-watcher and it's hyper distracting when Gandalf's got a bright speck on his nose.

I looked over Buy.com's return policies and it seems like they'll take it back if I eat shipping since one pixel doesn't fall under the definition of "defective" but it's a bit confusing. Has anybody actually had to return one of these to Buy.com?

[elvn]

CompUsa also has the monitor for delivery only (no store pickup available), with free shipping at $399.99 with a $50 mail in after. From what I read it can only be returned via RMA mail-back, but that would be the case with Buy.com also. Buy.com wouldn't have you waiting on a mail in rebate though, and might have a better return policy. I'd have to read up on both companies return policy to be sure what they are.

Buy.com Viewsonic Monitor (link) (http://www.buy.com/prod/ViewSonic_VX2025WM_20_1_Widescreen_TFT_LCD_1680x1050_800_1_8 ms/q/loc/101/202310998.html)

CompUSA viewsonic monitor (link) (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=337678&pfp=cat3)

[WarlordOne]

I looked over Buy.com's return policies and it seems like they'll take it back if I eat shipping since one pixel doesn't fall under the definition of "defective" but it's a bit confusing. Has anybody actually had to return one of these to Buy.com?

If you're looking at one stuck pixel it'll be hard to find any company that'll take it back. You're better off complaining about excessive light leakage from a particular corner or such. Then say you've read ton's of reviews and know it's not normal. Certainly sounds defective to me.

On a side note mine just arrived from buy.com today and I've checked it with deadpixel buddy and fortunately I am good to go. Time to buy a vid card so I can get to gaming...

[elvn]

I mentioned that I would update my ongoing impressions of this monitor (especially after I wrote up a negative review), so here is an update:

The more I use this monitor the more I realize it is in fact a good monitor. The anti-glare screen layer is far less noticible when there is adequate room lighting cast on it to somewhat balance the light coming out of the screen.

Another thing I just learned was having a far greater negative impact than I had realized is that I had been using custom themes whose fonts were not sypathetic to the anti-glare screen's texture at the monitor's native resolution. The windows XP default fonts work great after enabling cleartype and using the cleartype config tool. I will have to experiment with other fonts to find which ones work best, but for now I am just happy to have clear text. Difficult text was a major reason I was considering returning the monitor. I can live with having some fonts that don't get along with the screen when they are at their smallest. Its a small concession.
Furthermore the broken/frosted field effect on flat plains in high detail photos is much subdued when the room lighting is adequate.

:D

[Leighgion]

If you're looking at one stuck pixel it'll be hard to find any company that'll take it back.

Right, I wasn't thinking to cite the one pixel as the reason for return. I meant just basic "decided I don't want it" return. Buy.com has a base 30-day return policy with the caveat that if it's a non-defective return, the customer is responsible for return shipping. I can live with that, but it's not clear to me if any special policies apply to the monitors or not. There's no note about it on the VX2025wm's specific page, but there's an implication on their return policy page that at least some Viewsonic products can't be returned to them and you need to deal directly with Viewsonic. It's vague. Just wondered if anyone had concrete experience with this exact situation or not.

It's amazing how attention-grabbing one measly stuck pixel can be when it's in the wrong spot... I'd rather not have the monitor than be driven insane by that pixel mocking me.

[Dan3290]

is it worth it to buy the 12 or 24 month extended warrenty from buy.com on the monitor?

[gib4500]

I am really liking my new viewsonic monitor. HD clips really look great on it. I have another question, which color adjust number should you use for it. The default is set for the middle number. Should i increase this number or leave it at it's factory defaults? thanks alot.

[Varmint]

This is back in stock at J&R, at $270 after rebate.

[Mh0user]

damn 270!

[Juic3]

$30 for shipping ? That comes to be the same as the buy.com deal with 10% off.

[Ripped85]

When watching anime (cartoons), would a gfx card make a difference on this monitor? Dark scenes aren't doing well for me..it's driving me nuts.

I have a 6800GT and the files I watch are Avi, but looked way better on my CRT.

[Coldtronius]

When watching anime (cartoons), would a gfx card make a difference on this monitor? Dark scenes aren't doing well for me..it's driving me nuts.

I have a 6800GT and the files I watch are Avi, but looked way better on my CRT.

LCD's will never have "true" blacks due to the nature of the backlighting and crystals of LCD. They have gotten better over the years, however LCD's are unable to create dark blacks due to the lighting from the backlight bleeding through the crystals making it a more "gray" then black image.

You can edit and tweak the LCD and the graphic cards driver settings to make the blacks better, but they won't make it perfect. ATI cards have been known to have more accurate color reproduction, but thats a whole nother topic itself.

There are currently no LCD's that create perfect blacks, though some come close. CRT's are still the only current technology that reproduces blacks accurately. SED technology will allow for true blacks in LCD size, but it will not come full swing until 2007-2008

[elvn]

Things seem to run darker and richer when matched per pixel. DVD resolution is 720 x 480, which unless run in a window would be scaled/stretched across the 1680 x 1050 pixels of the monitor to fill the screen. Compare the native dvd size in a window to full screen stretched and see if you can see a big difference. CRT TV's also have had 'inherint anti-aliasing' by nature of the technology, which helps with smoothness of edges vs stretching images across an LCD's crisp resolution.

You can upconvert the signal using an addon called FFDshow that may help maintain the pixel density when playback is scaled larger.


The non-HD channels (analog) on my LCD HD tv look very inferior for the same reason. When they are scaled down to a window while I have the channel menu up, they look great. I found a mod for my tv on an audio-video forum , which incorporates a high-end photographic filter for cameras which filters darker parts of the spectrum darker. This allows the screen's contrast and brightness controlls to be adjusted much better, making the blacks much blacker and colors richer, without crushing or blaring the whites. The tv is much improved now on all video content.

Unfortunately there isn't a big projector housing and lens you can slap a filter in front of on desktop LCD monitors. I would think the only way you could filter one easily would be to build a filter screen overlay in front of the LCD screen, on a stand or snap-on. In this regard the integrated glare-type screen of the NEC 20WMGX2 20.1" LCD might be more to your liking, other than the steep price. :eek:
The glare type coating tends to make the blacks richer. The NEC also has different contrast modes for viewing the integrated television tuner and DVDs, etc. which have extreme contrast supposedly. I have no personal exp with the NEC by the way, I'm just going by what I've read about it. I have used a 1920 x 1200 glare -type screen on a laptop though so I would think the effect is similar.

[burningrave101]

This is back in stock at J&R, at $270 after rebate.

I just ordered it through Amazon a few minutes ago so i could use my $25 reward certificate. It will work out to be around $277 shipped after $100 rebate. I've got a Dell 2005fpw now but i thought i would give this LCD a try. I like my new 2005fpw for the most part cause the backlight bleed is alright and no dead pixels and colors are good enough for me but the stupid thing keeps giving me a DVI: Cannot Display this Mode on warm boots. It usually boots on past the screen in a few seconds but its annoying cause sometimes it freezes on it. I dont know if its the DVI port and my 2005fpw or if its this X1900 XTX. Its one of the two for sure.

[Spiff1333]

The one issue holding me back from jumping on this monitor is its ability to properly display 4:3 aspect ratio content. I still play alot of games that don't support widescreen even with tweaks. I'm sitting on the fence..opinions?

[Coldtronius]

The one issue holding me back from jumping on this monitor is its ability to properly display 4:3 aspect ratio content. I still play alot of games that don't support widescreen even with tweaks. I'm sitting on the fence..opinions?

Its pretty much, take it or leave it.

[burningrave101]

Can anyone tell me how this LCD compares to the 2005fpw? Anyone had both and care to elaborate on your opinions of them?

[KingPing]

Can anyone tell me how this LCD compares to the 2005fpw? Anyone had both and care to elaborate on your opinions of them?

This monitor totally owns the 2005fpw....IMO

[burningrave101]

This monitor totally owns the 2005fpw....IMO

I think the one thing i'm concerned about is whether or not i will like the looks of the LCD compared to the 2005fpw and the fact that i can't rotate the screen horizontally or adjust the height.

[Dan3290]

$30 for shipping ? That comes to be the same as the buy.com deal with 10% off.
where can i get this 10% off coupon?

[nixr]

I ordered this monitor from NewEgg for $349.00. I just tracked it and it's coming tomorrow! I'll be sure to post after I get it set up. Has anyone figured out what is causing the image scaling problem with nvidia 7xxx cards yet?

[WarlordOne]

where can i get this 10% off coupon?

I found my coupon doing a google search; looks like right now they're doing a -$15 coupon. Maybe when that expires there'll be a % off coupon...

[noobtech]

I need to return one, but I can't see anything about a restocking fee on Buy.com? Anyone know?

[burningrave101]

I need to return one, but I can't see anything about a restocking fee on Buy.com? Anyone know?

I dont think they have a restocking fee.

[Leighgion]

I need to return one, but I can't see anything about a restocking fee on Buy.com? Anyone know?

I'm in the same position. Still conflicted here with one, very irritatingly placed stuck pixel. No restock fee I can find, but it seems the customer is probably responsible for return shipping.

[Mh0user]

i think imma wait til it comes down somemore...

[Reagent]

Pulled the trigger on it today, got it from the egg shipped for 349......just worried about the pixels.

[tjpark1111]

can everyone in this thread try the "keep/fix aspect ratio" under their display properties, or video controls, whatever? I think that will be the only solution to playing 4:3 games with black bars on the sides, and I want to know if any, NVIDIA or ATI card can successfully do it. I read the entire thread a while ago and I thought I saw some pics of a 4:3 game running using that "fix aspect ratio" feature, maybe I remembered wrong. I specifically want to know if a recent ATI card can do it, since I plan to pair this monitor with an X1800XT.

[Lawdog]

Mine worked. ATI Catalyst drivers.

[elvn]

You can turn this monitor into portrait mode if you buy one of those expensive armatures to replace the stand that comes with it. Your video card properties applet allows you to turn the display mode to portrait mode.

[I(illa Bee]

This monitor totally owns the 2005fpw....IMO

I have a VX924, and comparing it to a few of my buds 20" and 10" dell ultra sharps, I think the 924 own them all, so I see no reason the VX2005 wouldnt

[noobtech]

I have a VX924, and comparing it to a few of my buds 20" and 10" dell ultra sharps, I think the 924 own them all, so I see no reason the VX2005 wouldnt

This pwnds the heck out of a 2007 as well... since they suck with banding :)

[TheRealGigabyte]

Got my baby from the egg yesterday. In the words of my generation, This monitor is freaking sweet!

Pixels: alive and kicking, all of them.
Banding: None observeable. I could break out a magnifying glass and probably see some or even see individual pixels but thats just crazy.
Backlight: Looks preaty even from what i can tell.
Color reproduction: Side by side compared to my old lcd its night and day diffrent.
Response time: feels faster than my old monitor. Could kill more noobs than usualy in bf2.

[noobtech]

As much as I love this monitor... The FW900 just looked so much nicer in DOD Source. *sigh* LoL

[MrkXCeL]

As much as I love this monitor... The FW900 just looked so much nicer in DOD Source. *sigh* LoL

deng it . don't tell me these things. Shoot I need to get my FW900 fixed!!! I need that winDAS software hookup thing ... Do you still have your FW900 ?

[noobtech]

deng it . don't tell me these things. Shoot I need to get my FW900 fixed!!! I need that winDAS software hookup thing ... Do you still have your FW900 ?

I sold it like a dumb butt... LoL

[tjpark1111]

Mine worked. ATI Catalyst drivers.
thanks for the help, I guess I'll be purchasing this baby. just another question: is there any way you can get rid of the small black bars on top and the bottom while you're watching a DVD? In the first place, I thought widescreen was primarily because of movies(and it did come from the widescreen theater didn't it), and still having black bars makes NO sense to me. I've heard about how 16:10 is the perfect compromise between 16:9 and 4:3 but I don't really care since I don't write novels on my computer. I've heard another possibility was that some wanted to have a control panel present, which is ESTUPIDO. So anyhoo, is there any way? perhaps using powerstrip? thanks for the help.

[nixr]

Got mine today and it's much nicer than I expected. The picture (after some tweaking) is really amazing coming from a 19" CRT. Mine has no dead pixels thank god. I also had no problem getting the scaling option to work properly in the nvidia control panel running a 7800GS. I'll post pictures and a more detailed review tomorrow. :cool:

[animasaki]

Please do, I look forward to it. The more info and pics I can get, the better. I'm between this and getting another 19" CRT, and I want to know if it's worth the extra $120. It's hard to justify! :p

[WarlordOne]

thanks for the help, I guess I'll be purchasing this baby. just another question: is there any way you can get rid of the small black bars on top and the bottom while you're watching a DVD? In the first place, I thought widescreen was primarily because of movies(and it did come from the widescreen theater didn't it), and still having black bars makes NO sense to me. I've heard about how 16:10 is the perfect compromise between 16:9 and 4:3 but I don't really care since I don't write novels on my computer. I've heard another possibility was that some wanted to have a control panel present, which is ESTUPIDO. So anyhoo, is there any way? perhaps using powerstrip? thanks for the help.

I use media player classic and there is a option under view "snap frame edge to outside" or something like that. It'll enlarge the picture enough to just remove the black bars.

16:10 is perfect for watching 24 or other widescreen tv shows...

[elvn]

There are CLEV smartstretch modes in PowerDVD also. I think most better dvd playing software would have something like this.

[LawGiver]

so with this aspect ration fix thingy we can play games that only support 4:3 resolutions, say 1078x768 or 1280x1024 (are these not 5:4?) on this monitor without black bars on side?

[canadianpsycho]

Can some folks help me out here? My monitor arrived yesterday, but the backlight bleeding is kinda annoying. I'm trying to figure out if I can get a better panel or not if I get a replacement...

Here's some pics, dark room with black background:

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8771/img0074large2ge.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0075large8wl.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0075large8wl.jpg

[JSClark]

Good to find this.. I have 2 of those monitors wish listed after I build my X2 box.

[kidstechno]

Has anyone tried hooking this monitor up with a Xbox 360 and the X360 VGA cord, for some reason it doesn't seem like it scales at all and the text/games just don't look that different at all from my 27in non-HD TV, jagged shadows and edges all over the place. I've tried the 1280x1024 modes, 1280x720, and they all look the same pretty much. No idea what's going on, maybe some other people out there with the same problem?

[KingPing]

Can some folks help me out here? My monitor arrived yesterday, but the backlight bleeding is kinda annoying. I'm trying to figure out if I can get a better panel or not if I get a replacement...

Here's some pics, dark room with black background:

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8771/img0074large2ge.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0075large8wl.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0075large8wl.jpg

mine looks exactly the same.......I think it may be common to this monitor :confused:

[nixr]

As promised here a few pics of my new VX2025wm. I ordered it from the Egg on Monday and it arrived yesterday. Very fast free shipping from NewEgg. It shipped with no dead pixels and set up very easily with no problems at all. The supplied driver is non-WHQL certified for those that care but it works fine and I have had zero problems with it.

Pros :

-Great color reproduction using sRGB and Adobe Gamma. You'll definitely need to tweak the settings straight out of the box though.

-The image quality is beautiful. It's bright with good color balance and very pleasing. Looking at Hi-Res photos makes me weep they're so good on this monitor.

-No ghosting in games or movies that I can see

-Games look FANTASTIC on this monitor. I never knew what I was missing using CRTs all these years. This thing is definitely a good gaming monitor. I don't miss my 19" NEC CRT at all.

-Fonts look pretty good although they don't compare to a CRT. I used the Clear Type Tuning app that is available on the web and it helped a little. All in all I'd say that fonts look good though.

Cons :

-No height adjustment on the stand. It's not a big deal to me but might be for some.

-Speakers are not worth mentioning. If you have decent speakers already this is a non-issue.

-No native image scaling. In other words any games or movies that you run full screen will stretch to fit the entire screen area and become distorted. That said, both NVIDIA and ATI have driver options to acheive image scaling so you're pretty much covered anyway. Some have had problems with NVIDIA's image scaling on GeForce 7xxx cards but I have a 7800GS and was able to scale without any problems.

All in all I have to say I am very very very pleased with this monitor. I was skeptical that a LCD could satisfy all of my gaming and movie watching needs but I am happy to say I was dead wrong. This thing gets it done with ease and even managed to exceed my CRT in a lot of respects. I would reccomend this to anyone in a heartbeat. At $349.00 shipped from NewEgg you'd be crazy not to jump on this.

If you have any specific questions you can email them to me at lostatbirth@gmail.com

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/830/lcd15qh.jpg
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6933/lcd24ff.jpg
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2550/lcd34ra.jpg
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6113/lcd46eq.jpg

[Varmint]

if you want better text/fonts, what's your options, the NEC?

[samduhman]

I've had the VX2025 for a week now. I have one more week before I have the option to return.

Two questions.

- I definately have the "X" factor backlight bleed and its pretty bad compared to the shot a couple of posts up. Is there a setting to reduce this or should I return it for another?

- Can anyone thats been using their vx2025 for a few weeks gaming give their recommended display settings. I find myself continously fiddling with each game I play. I just cant seem to get a setting that works for pretty much everything. Im using a Nvidia 7900GT.

Other than those two things I extremely pleased for the price so far. Im also concerned about playing older games that do not support widescreen, but I still have my 19" crt for worse case senario so its no big deal. Also with the price of the vx922 dropping I may have both aspec ratios available ;)

[noobtech]

I've had the VX2025 for a week now. I have one more week before I have the option to return.

Two questions.

- I definately have the "X" factor backlight bleed and its pretty bad compared to the shot a couple of posts up. Is there a setting to reduce this or should I return it for another?

- Can anyone thats been using their vx2025 for a few weeks gaming give their recommended display settings. I find myself continously fiddling with each game I play. I just cant seem to get a setting that works for pretty much everything. Im using a Nvidia 7900GT.

Other than those two things I extremely pleased for the price so far. Im also concerned about playing older games that do not support widescreen, but I still have my 19" crt for worse case senario so its no big deal. Also with the price of the vx922 dropping I may have both aspec ratios available ;)

Seems like it would just be better for your to return it.

[TurboJAzn]

I've had the VX2025 for a week now. I have one more week before I have the option to return.

Two questions.

- I definately have the "X" factor backlight bleed and its pretty bad compared to the shot a couple of posts up. Is there a setting to reduce this or should I return it for another?

- Can anyone thats been using their vx2025 for a few weeks gaming give their recommended display settings. I find myself continously fiddling with each game I play. I just cant seem to get a setting that works for pretty much everything. Im using a Nvidia 7900GT.

Other than those two things I extremely pleased for the price so far. Im also concerned about playing older games that do not support widescreen, but I still have my 19" crt for worse case senario so its no big deal. Also with the price of the vx922 dropping I may have both aspec ratios available ;)

This "X" backlight bleed may not actually be backlight bleed, but a "wash effect" of the LCD being viewed from the center. Notice that moving your head to the side causes the effect to disappear on that side, and become very pronounced on the opposite side. Mine actually looks minimal when I take a picture in the dark, but looks bad if I take a picture with the lights on. The effect is still there even if you turn the brightness and contrast all the way down.

I just keep the color settings at sRGB, and don't touch anything in the nVidia control panel. Works for me.

[Coldtronius]

I've had the VX2025 for a week now. I have one more week before I have the option to return.

Two questions.

- I definately have the "X" factor backlight bleed and its pretty bad compared to the shot a couple of posts up. Is there a setting to reduce this or should I return it for another?

- Can anyone thats been using their vx2025 for a few weeks gaming give their recommended display settings. I find myself continously fiddling with each game I play. I just cant seem to get a setting that works for pretty much everything. Im using a Nvidia 7900GT.

Other than those two things I extremely pleased for the price so far. Im also concerned about playing older games that do not support widescreen, but I still have my 19" crt for worse case senario so its no big deal. Also with the price of the vx922 dropping I may have both aspec ratios available ;)


It due to the panels viewing angle that causes the X's in the corner. I found this on mine as well and if you shift your head left or right, it mostly disappears. Its not a panel flaw or backlight bleeding, its just traits of the LCD itself. Theres nothing you can do about sans returning the unit for a different model if it bothers you that much.

[noobtech]

Oh you guys are right... even for me. It's not the backlight bleeding... it's like a reflection on the screen. Pretty neat if you ask me! :)

[d][g][tal]

I've been eyeing on this monitor for so long now but still haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet due to its scaling issue. I'm running on a 7900gt and I believe native scaling is an essential feature any WS LCD must have. It does not make much sense to buy a brand new monitor but end up locking ourselves to WS content only while FS is still very popular. I've been reading up on this thread and many people said this monitor cannot scale properly, while a few recently claimed it can be done through video card driver. Could anyone please clear this issue once and for all if this monitor actually scale or display 4:3 content properly without stretching, whether it's native scaling or done via nvidia/ati driver (particularly nvidia 7xxx series). I'd really appreciate if someone can take pics of 4:3 content being displayed on this monitor. I just hope it can be done, otherwise I guess I'd have to go for Samsung 215TW which is more expensive :(

[LawGiver]

[g][tal']I've been eyeing on this monitor for so long now but still haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet due to its scaling issue. I'm running on a 7900gt and I believe native scaling is an essential feature any WS LCD must have. It does not make much sense to buy a brand new monitor but end up locking ourselves to WS content only while FS is still very popular. I've been reading up on this thread and many people said this monitor cannot scale properly, while a few recently claimed it can be done through video card driver. Could anyone please clear this issue once and for all if this monitor actually scale or display 4:3 content properly without stretching, whether it's native scaling or done via nvidia/ati driver (particularly nvidia 7xxx series). I'd really appreciate if someone can take pics of 4:3 content being displayed on this monitor. I just hope it can be done, otherwise I guess I'd have to go for Samsung 215TW which is more expensive :(

yeah, thats what I need to know too. If scaling is so so, I think Ill keep the vx922 that will be becoming tomorrow.

[elvn]

Scales fine for me using the driver control panel but I'm running a nvidia 6600GT currently. I can't comment on the 7800 and 7900 series.

[LawGiver]

maybe there should be a seperate thread just talking about scaling on this lcd, cause this thread is too huge.

[LordBritish]

[g][tal']I've been eyeing on this monitor for so long now but still haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet due to its scaling issue. I'm running on a 7900gt and I believe native scaling is an essential feature any WS LCD must have. It does not make much sense to buy a brand new monitor but end up locking ourselves to WS content only while FS is still very popular. I've been reading up on this thread and many people said this monitor cannot scale properly, while a few recently claimed it can be done through video card driver. Could anyone please clear this issue once and for all if this monitor actually scale or display 4:3 content properly without stretching, whether it's native scaling or done via nvidia/ati driver (particularly nvidia 7xxx series). I'd really appreciate if someone can take pics of 4:3 content being displayed on this monitor. I just hope it can be done, otherwise I guess I'd have to go for Samsung 215TW which is more expensive :(

The monitor was able to do 4:3 scaling (centered or fixed ratio) with an old 6800 Ultra AGP.
It was NOT able to do it with my new eVGA 7900 GTX - it would say "Out of Range".
Many other people are reporting the same issue.
Mine will ONLY do "monitor scaling" which means 4:3 resolutions will be stretched.

The monitor itself has no capabilty to force 4:3 scaling (centered or fixed aspect ratio), that has to be done through the display drivers.

[LawGiver]

how about newer x1800 x1900 and 7900 cards? anyone have these with this lcd?

[Lucky J]

I've had this monitor for about a week and have noticed that it has the x pattern backlight bleed. However, what is odd is that I don't notice the pattern while my computer is booting up, only after it gets into windows does it show up. Anyone else notice this, and any idea why this happens?