Viewsonic VX2025wm arrived! First impressions and pics

[Coldtronius]

Allright all, I know some of you have been excited to know about the new 20" VX2025wm from Viewsonic. I know I have, especially after my fuck fest with Dell's monitors the last month.

I picked up this badboy from Newegg for $439 which is pretty dang good deal for a new ViewSonic monitor. Here is a link to its main page.

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/xseries/vx2025wm/

I swung home during lunch after FedeX dropped it off to my landlord and I went right away to rip open the box. I"ll let the pictures do the talking
After a month of Dell Hell, lets give Viewsonics new girl a try....
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/4076/box9wl.jpg

Good looking design..me likey!
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/9721/setup0sw.jpg

Awesome cable managment idea!
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/1717/cabling7jb.jpg

All other LCD makers, take note
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/5571/cablecleean8cw.jpg

Some initial gaming impressions *Note, Digital camera washed out screen a bit, its MUCH more darker and truer color then the pic shows*

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/8387/hl2d7wm.jpg

Good, clean and VERY sharp image
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/7281/hld27ed.jpg

Far Cry never looked so good. Beautiful greens, *again, camera washed out colors due to sceen and sunlight screwing it up*
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/2154/farcry0zs.jpg

Backlighting: Tough to tell but blacks really good from what I can see. I need to verify backlight bleeding when its dark out, the makes it impossibe to tell with the sun out. Further updates to come

Sharpness: Razor sharp. Period. My desktop looks so nice and crisp its unreal, even the Dell didn't do it this good.

Ghosting/Blurring: Initial testing shows very light ghosting in very fast movement, mostly in HL2 Deatmatch. The screen may also be still cold from Fedex so further testing is need. So far, so good.

Colors: Something viewsonic has always done well and the VX2025wm is no exception. A few little tweaks with the easy to use Viewsonic menu and easy button interface made colors so real and true. Can't wait to do some photoshop and Priemiere with it!

ScreenDoor: Heard intital impressions here and at widescreen forums about screendoor effect. Quick initial testing through MY EYES shows little to none. I need to more playing with BF2 and fast paced gaming to verify this. So far, nothing to be concered and CRAP loads better then Dells 20005FWP

First inital frowning: No highth adjustment. I knew this from the start when buying it but the monitor sits pretty low in stock form. No rotation ability either. Dissapointing coming from Dells or other Viewsonic monitors. Will probably have to get some kinda stand for it to sit up higher. Portrait and picky LCD people, BE WARNED!!

LCD input lag: Im only putting this in to put to ease the 2405FPW whiners. From my early tests, I can sense no input lag. I will continue testing to verify this.

AntiGlare coating: Does its job well but does make image somewhat fuzzy, nothing worth bitching about though.

Viewing Angles: Again, hard to tell with daylight sun but so far, real good side to side and good up and down. Crap loads better then the red hued Dell 2005fpw

Initial quality tests: Pixel buddy confirms, No dead pixels. Wooo hooo!!!!! Thank God!

I will continue testing and give updates as I use the monitor after work tonight. Stay tuned, I think Viewsonic may have a winner!

[bennetvu]

Congrats! Nice monitor.

[steveng]

nice review. but what exactly is screen door effect?

[Coldtronius]

nice review. but what exactly is screen door effect?

http://www.hifi-writer.com/he/video/screendoor.htm

[Selsaral]

Very cool, and an impressive price.

[sanitystream]

Coldtronius -

Hey thanks for the great first impressions and I'm glad to hear the screendoor effect doesn't appear to be a problem. Maybe I *do* have a viable alternative to Dell after all.

Question -- can you please (pretty please) try non-native resolutions below 1680x1050? Does the monitor internally scale them up? I've had my eye on this monitor for awhile but that's the burning question for me.

How are the internal color adjustments? If I hook an Xbox 360 up via VGA cable, I'll have to max out the color levels to compensate for the VGA cable's "wash out" effect, so I suppose that's important too.

Thanks!

[rek981]

Just to let everyone know, according to flatpanels.dk, the VX2025wm has a S-IPS display.

ViewSonic VX2025wm (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms (g2g) S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

NEC LCD20WGX2 (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 6 ms (g2g) S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

This is the same LG S-IPC panel that is in the new NEC LCD20WGX2. In the US it is known as the 20WMGX2. To me, this makes this Viewsonic to be a very desirable panel. For one, behardware.com reviewed the NEC LCD20WGX2, and found it to be very good for gaming (http://www.behardware.com/articles/610-1/nec-20wgx-an-ips-equivalent-to-a-2-ms-tn.html), as fast as a TN panel. Also, since it is an IPS panel, you know it will have great color reproduction, so this would be an ideal choice for photoediting and other graphic work (unlike a TN panel). Only problem I see with the Viewsonic is that it does not seem to have HDCP support, unlike the US NEX 20WMGX2 (see http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/windows_vista-ready_hdcp_lcd_roundup/). On the other hands, the NEX retails for like $800, so the viewsonic is nearly 1/2 the price for the same panel.

Differences between the NEC 20WMGX2 and Viewsonic:
- NEC has a feature called Advanced DV which supposedly boosts the contrast ration from 700:1 to 1600:1 by altering brightness based on what is being displayed on the screen
-NEC has s-video, component, and rca inputs
-NEC has a glossy type screen (do not know if this is an advantage or disadvantage, depends on your preference I guess)
-NEC has HDCP

Here is another link to a good NEC review: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_20wgx2.htm

Overall, sounds to me like the XV2025wm could turn out to be a fantastic monitor. I wish it had HDCP.

Ross

[Coldtronius]

Coldtronius -

Hey thanks for the great first impressions and I'm glad to hear the screendoor effect doesn't appear to be a problem. Maybe I *do* have a viable alternative to Dell after all.

Question -- can you please (pretty please) try non-native resolutions below 1680x1050? Does the monitor internally scale them up? I've had my eye on this monitor for awhile but that's the burning question for me.

How are the internal color adjustments? If I hook an Xbox 360 up via VGA cable, I'll have to max out the color levels to compensate for the VGA cable's "wash out" effect, so I suppose that's important too.

Thanks!


Initiall, when I first started up the screen automatically scalled 1076x768 to fill the entire screen and it didn't look that bad to be honest. I'll do more testing


MAJOR UPDATE:

Unlike Dells' monitors, even connected via DVI, the 2025vm allows full contrast, brightness and color adjustment as well as tempature settings. Viewsonics monitor have always had easy to use interface and the 2025wm is no different. Simply pressing the buttons on the bottom allows full use and adjustment of the monitor. The buttoms are nice and sturdy with good feedback, they don't feel cheap.

The VX2025wm also DOES NOT have HDCP complance. No big deal for me since I don't care about HD or Blue ray playing on my PC but your demands may vary.

[steveng]

Just to let everyone know, according to flatpanels.dk, the VX2025wm has a S-IPS display.

ViewSonic VX2025wm (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms (g2g) S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

NEC LCD20WGX2 (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 6 ms (g2g) S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

This is the same LG S-IPC panel that is in the new NEC LCD20WGX2. In the US it is known as the 20WMGX2. To me, this makes this Viewsonic to be a very desirable panel. For one, behardware.com reviewed the NEC LCD20WGX2, and found it to be very good for gaming (http://www.behardware.com/articles/610-1/nec-20wgx-an-ips-equivalent-to-a-2-ms-tn.html), as fast as a TN panel. Also, since it is an IPS panel, you know it will have great color reproduction, so this would be an ideal choice for photoediting and other graphic work (unlike a TN panel). Only problem I see with the Viewsonic is that it does not seem to have HDCP support, unlike the US NEX 20WMGX2 (see http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/windows_vista-ready_hdcp_lcd_roundup/). On the other hands, the NEX retails for like $800, so the viewsonic is nearly 1/2 the price for the same panel.

Differences between the NEC 20WMGX2 and Viewsonic:
- NEC has a feature called Advanced DV which supposedly boosts the contrast ration from 700:1 to 1600:1 by altering brightness based on what is being displayed on the screen
-NEC has s-video, component, and rca inputs
-NEC has a glossy type screen (do not know if this is an advantage or disadvantage, depends on your preference I guess)
-NEC has HDCP

Here is another link to a good NEC review: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_20wgx2.htm

Overall, sounds to me like the XV2025wm could turn out to be a fantastic monitor. I wish it had HDCP.

Ross
does Vx922 and vx924 use the same panel as vx2025? I compared NEC 90GX2 and Vx924 side by side yesterday. the color on 90gx2 was more viberant and vivid. I think vx2025 uses MVA panel and same as vx922.

[Coldtronius]

Just to let everyone know, according to flatpanels.dk, the VX2025wm has a S-IPS display.

ViewSonic VX2025wm (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 8 ms (g2g) S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

NEC LCD20WGX2 (widescreen) har et 20 tommer 6 ms (g2g) S-IPS (LG.Philips LM201W01) panel.

This is the same LG S-IPC panel that is in the new NEC LCD20WGX2. In the US it is known as the 20WMGX2. To me, this makes this Viewsonic to be a very desirable panel. For one, behardware.com reviewed the NEC LCD20WGX2, and found it to be very good for gaming (http://www.behardware.com/articles/610-1/nec-20wgx-an-ips-equivalent-to-a-2-ms-tn.html), as fast as a TN panel. Also, since it is an IPS panel, you know it will have great color reproduction, so this would be an ideal choice for photoediting and other graphic work (unlike a TN panel). Only problem I see with the Viewsonic is that it does not seem to have HDCP support, unlike the US NEX 20WMGX2 (see http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/windows_vista-ready_hdcp_lcd_roundup/). On the other hands, the NEX retails for like $800, so the viewsonic is nearly 1/2 the price for the same panel.

Differences between the NEC 20WMGX2 and Viewsonic:
- NEC has a feature called Advanced DV which supposedly boosts the contrast ration from 700:1 to 1600:1 by altering brightness based on what is being displayed on the screen
-NEC has s-video, component, and rca inputs
-NEC has a glossy type screen (do not know if this is an advantage or disadvantage, depends on your preference I guess)
-NEC has HDCP

Here is another link to a good NEC review: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_20wgx2.htm

Overall, sounds to me like the XV2025wm could turn out to be a fantastic monitor. I wish it had HDCP.

Ross


Really? Hmmm that monitor sounds tasty but I dunno about forking over $800 for that, I could get a 24" for that size. Wonder when its coming out in the US

[rek981]

NEC 20WMGX20 available now.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=20wmgx2&btnG=Search

Ross

[Treyshadow]

Wish it had a raisable stand.

I like my monitor higher than the VX series can go. I guess I could get an arm.

[rek981]

does Vx922 and vx924 use the same panel as vx2025? I compared NEC 90GX2 and Vx924 side by side yesterday. the color on 90gx2 was more viberant and vivid. I think vx2025 uses MVA panel and same as vx922.

VX922 and VX924 use 6-bit TN panels. TN panels are fast, but only have 16.2 million colors (as opposed to the 16.7 of 8-bit panels) and poor viewing angles. Therefore, TN panels are not ideal for photo editing or other color crucial applications. On the other hand, IPS is ideal for such applications.

Ross

[Coldtronius]

NEC 20WMGX20 available now.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=20wmgx2&btnG=Search

Ross

Meh, no reliable dealers like Newegg or ZipZoom. Plus, twice as much...grrr thats painful.

[steveng]

Meh, no reliable dealers like Newegg or ZipZoom. Plus, twice as much...grrr thats painful.
fry's has it for 749 after rebate

[Coldtronius]

fry's has it for 749 after rebate

Saw that, but its not the black version.

Damnit....what to do, my credit cards melting already.

[steveng]

VX922 and VX924 use 6-bit TN panels. TN panels are fast, but only have 16.2 million colors (as opposed to the 16.7 of 8-bit panels) and poor viewing angles. Therefore, TN panels are not ideal for photo editing or other color crucial applications. On the other hand, IPS is ideal for such applications.

Ross
i just suspected that vx2025 use s-ips panel

[shockwave85]

Coldtronius, for your own sake, never use the term "badboy" to describe anything.

[Coldtronius]

Again, here is further investigation into the monitor


Angle viewing. Not terrible bad, I dunno how many people view their monitor this extreme though

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/8530/angle16de.jpg

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/7089/angle23iy.jpg

I still fail to see any real problem with "screen door effect" even close up

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/6872/closeup1bf.jpg

WARNING ALERT!!
Sadly, Im afraid I ran into Viewsonics continuially problem with corner backlight bleeding. It was the main reason I returned the VP930b. Now it looks like this also suffers the same fate...

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8505/bleeding8el.jpg

[Nephandus]

I can notice a little SDE on your pics, but perhaps it's just the way they came out. That backlight bleed doesn't look too awfully terrible, but not real great either. I don't think it would bother me that much,

[-=Antimatter=-]

Let's hope that newer revisions of this panel don't have the same bleeding, because I don't think I could stand that. Are you going to RMA?

On another note, it's nice to see an affordable solution to compete with Dell and force them to lower prices. All this competition in the WS area means that us consumers win :D

EDIT: oh, and any inputs besides DVI/VGA?

[Coldtronius]

Let's hope that newer revisions of this panel don't have the same bleeding, because I don't think I could stand that. Are you going to RMA?

On another note, it's nice to see an affordable solution to compete with Dell and force them to lower prices. All this competition in the WS area means that us consumers win :D

I dunno, im starting to really consider that NEC 20mgmx2 though its twice the cost.

No, there are no other inputs besides DVI/VGA.

Grrrr, getting so fucking sick of monitor swapping....

[jcll2002]

Grrrr, getting so fucking sick of monitor swapping....
I LOVE IT! i cant believe you hate that! Whats not to like about it? ;)

Yeah, its a real pain in the ass. REAL pain

[pookguy88]

Dell 2005FPW ftw

[MrWizard6600]

dude you have by far the cleanist gamers desk i have ever seen,

whats the refreash rate at 1600X1200 (or the widescrean version of that) and whats its dot pitch?

[Jerg]

Whats so bad about backlight bleeding ? Like, you dont usually stay and watch your monitor when its only dark.. I never owned a LCD yet so I dont know how bad it is, but when does it affect you ? I mean, I doubt you can notice this when you play a game, can you ?

[Nephandus]

sorry if this has already been answered, but is there any confirmation this is using the same or similar panel to the NEC

[silentsammy]

I can't see the Dot pitch or the colors mentioned anywhere in the listed specs for this monitor. Can you tell us what the manual says?

[jcll2002]

Whats so bad about backlight bleeding ? Like, you dont usually stay and watch your monitor when its only dark.. I never owned a LCD yet so I dont know how bad it is, but when does it affect you ? I mean, I doubt you can notice this when you play a game, can you ?
youll know what we're talking about when youtry to play a game like fear with bleeding

[Coldtronius]

I guess i'll just live with it. I am so sick of swapping monitors the past month it makes me sick thinking about it. Plus, I gotta new Accord coming soon so i'd rather put the money into that then the NEC, even if it is nicer.

[sanitystream]

So Coldtronius, at this point would you recommend the Viewsonic over a Dell?

[Coldtronius]

So Coldtronius, at this point would you recommend the Viewsonic over a Dell?


For almost the same price compared to the Dell 2005fpw, i'd rather go with the Viewsonic by far. However, the 2007fpw model may change that but im not gonna be the guinea pig for Dell.

[jcll2002]

when is that thing sopposed to be released anyway?

[Coldtronius]

when is that thing sopposed to be released anyway?

Who knows. People here are jumping up and down like rabbits on crack making false release dates Either way, Viewsonic got it right the first time. The NEC does look very nice but after spending that much on a monitor before on a 2405, i'd rather not do it again.

[jcll2002]

thinking about jumping on that...

I still cant decide between these monitors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11097928&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11104098&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009031

Any help? Also, is newegg easy to deal with in terms of returns?

[WickedWeasel]

How is it with Doom 3?

Do the speakers sound ok?
Is there a volume knob for the speakers?
Can you turn off the speakers?

[Coldtronius]

How is it with Doom 3?

Do the speakers sound ok?
Is there a volume knob for the speakers?
Can you turn off the speakers?


No longer have Doom 3, will have to download demo and see

Don't use internal speakers.

[Vertigo528]

How is it with Doom 3?

Do the speakers sound ok?
Is there a volume knob for the speakers?
Can you turn off the speakers?


They are just standard quality integrated speakers; don't expect much. The volume is controlled through the OSD. You don't even have to hook the speakers up if you don't want to.

[L1ght]

Okay, Ill be in the market for a new lcd in a couple of weaks, and your review of this moniter was a good read.

I dont want to spend too much more than $400 on one, and this seems like a good choice.

You reconmend it? Will I see a big difference coming from a 19" CRT?

[Coldtronius]

MAJOR UPDATE:

After having this montior for a few days I discovered my intial finding of "backlight bleeding" incorrect.

Apprantly, due to the desighn of the panel, the corners have a slight "washed" out look when viewed from the center therebye giving the impression of backlight bleeding as indicated in the photo below

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8505/bleeding8el.jpg

However, I found out when I centered my head to the left or the right of the monitor the "backlight" bleeding all but dissapeared.

Left side
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5622/leftanle9bh.jpg

Right side
http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/615/rightangle3jf.jpg

In short, I have very few gripes about this montior. It arrived in perfect shape and has been doing excellent in almost all my games. Sure, the NEC would be nice but for half the price, I think I found my new monitor to last me until SED comes out full swing

[Nephandus]

that's interesting...so how bout dark games like fear? Is this washed out "bleeding" affecting dark areas of the game, like bleeding would.. Do colors also appear washed out, or does this only appear on a black screen like you've shown?

[Coldtronius]

that's interesting...so how bout dark games like fear? Is this washed out "bleeding" affecting dark areas of the game, like bleeding would.. Do colors also appear washed out, or does this only appear on a black screen like you've shown?

Downloading Fear demo now at 750KBs, and post some screens up later.

[jcll2002]

that would be great

[Nephandus]

you rock

[MrWizard6600]

course you had to mention your speed. it wasnt just downloading fear now. its more like downloading fear.... :D :D AT 700KBPS :D :D

lol. yea it looks big. im still on a 19" CRT. but it goes hella up there res wise. (samsung Syncmaster 955DF) but. this computer is in a home office... maybe i should get something a little more professional...

remembering of course if i get blur in hl2 im gonna be uber pissed....

[Coldtronius]

K, heres photos with hacked resolution at 1680x1050 all options maxed. Due to digital cameras nature, it over exposed the screen in the dark, so this is only a partially as good as it looks in real life. Is it perfect? No, but no LCD is for the most part.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1517/fear3dr.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7797/fear21ve.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2015/fear37ce.jpg

[IQJUMPuw]

This is a great review on a great monitor. I really don't like the viewing angel on my new 2005FPW. Viewing angel actually isn't so bad but black turns purple when viewed from the sides. Congratulations on your new monitors. :)

[L1ght]

Thanks for all those pics, I think I just found my new moniter. :D

[J32P2006]

Thanks for your review.

I'm thinking about getting one of these LCD's as well.

[RSeXXX]

Thanks for the great review. Because of it, I sped over to my local Fry's and purchased it on Monday. Paid $497 + tax (new egg has it for $449 + free shipping) because I just couldn't wait.

[Coldtronius]

Your welcome guys. Be sure to post your thoughts/review/pictures on the thread. We will make this the official Viewsonic VX2025wm thread so everyone can get info on it from one central place.

[Nephandus]

those Fear pics look damn fine to me...I just found my new monitor

[Coldtronius]

Here's a direct link to Newegg for best price I could find, $419, already $20 cheaper then I paid for it!


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381

[jcll2002]

too bad it was free shipping before :(

[Coldtronius]

I'll post some more pics of other games tonight

[Coldtronius]

Here is BF1942 with hacked 1680x1050 all options full except AA.

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2360/bf10vl.jpg

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/5219/bf34ez.jpg

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/1097/bf45nk.jpg

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/7205/bf52bm.jpg

[jcll2002]

yeah, im getting this one ;)

[Nephandus]

awesome

[Deezus]

Ordering one today, thanks for the review. :)

[L1ght]

:eek: Those BF 2 shots are amazing. Thanks. I will be ordering one this weekend.

[dtos01]

Where are you guys ordering yours from??? I'm a little leary of Newegg because of their dead pixel policy of 8 or more...

[Deezus]

Where are you guys ordering yours from??? I'm a little leary of Newegg because of their dead pixel policy of 8 or more...

From Newegg. ;)

[Nephandus]

haha you'll end up with 7 bad pixels clustered in the middle of your screen


I"m trying to wait and see if costco.com is going to carry this screen

[Coldtronius]

Where are you guys ordering yours from??? I'm a little leary of Newegg because of their dead pixel policy of 8 or more...

If that happens, call Viewsonic, bitch and get a case #. With that case #, call Newegg, explain and give case # from viewsonic. They will have no choice but to do exchange/replace/refund because they are the reseller, not Viewsonic and Viewsonic can't give you money or replacement cause you didn't buy it from them.

Thats what I did with my POS VP930b. I got all my money back plus shipping!

[Nephandus]

thanks for the tip cold

[silentsammy]

I"m trying to wait and see if costco.com is going to carry this screen

I doubt costco will sell the VX....Viewsonic sells THIS (http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/aseries/va2012wb/) exclusively at Costco and its specs are very similar. Actually...aside from the brightness I really don't know what the difference is between these two monitors. :confused:

[jcll2002]

I"m trying to wait and see if costco.com is going to carry this screen
great minds think alike ;)

[DrDoug]

Great review, and just when I needed it in making up my mind on what LCD to get!!! This is my first LCD purchase, and this is to replace my 21" Sony CPD-G500 (CRT). I use this system for video editing (Matrox RT.X100 Extreme Pro NLE setup) and gaming, and I wanted as good as I could afford (which ain't much...lol). As my system is running a 9800XT-256m (440/750) with the Omega drivers, I should have no probs (Famous last words...).

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and your thoughts on this!

BTW, do you have stock in Viewsonic...? ;)

I ordered mine last night from Datavision for $449.00 + $29.75 (UPS ground ship). Plus I downloaded a $100.00 rebate form for it if you purchase it from Datavision. So for $378.75 total (after rebate), it looks like a rockin' deal! :D

The rebate expires on April 5th, not March 18th as it says on the Datavision site...

[Sikish]

Great review, and just when I needed it in making up my mind on what LCD to get!!! This is my first LCD purchase, and this is to replace my 21" Sony CPD-G500 (CRT). I use this system for video editing (Matrox RT.X100 Extreme Pro NLE setup) and gaming, and I wanted as good as I could afford (which ain't much...lol). As my system is running a 9800XT-256m (440/750) with the Omega drivers, I should have no probs (Famous last words...).

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and your thoughts on this!

BTW, do you have stock in Viewsonic...? ;)

I ordered mine last night from Datavision for $449.00 + $29.75 (UPS ground ship). Plus I downloaded a $100.00 rebate form for it if you purchase it from Datavision. So for $378.75 total (after rebate), it looks like a rockin' deal! :D

The rebate expires on April 5th, not March 18th as it says on the Datavision site...

Let us know how it's working for you when you get it :)

[Coldtronius]

Great review, and just when I needed it in making up my mind on what LCD to get!!! This is my first LCD purchase, and this is to replace my 21" Sony CPD-G500 (CRT). I use this system for video editing (Matrox RT.X100 Extreme Pro NLE setup) and gaming, and I wanted as good as I could afford (which ain't much...lol). As my system is running a 9800XT-256m (440/750) with the Omega drivers, I should have no probs (Famous last words...).

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and your thoughts on this!

BTW, do you have stock in Viewsonic...? ;)

I ordered mine last night from Datavision for $449.00 + $29.75 (UPS ground ship). Plus I downloaded a $100.00 rebate form for it if you purchase it from Datavision. So for $378.75 total (after rebate), it looks like a rockin' deal! :D

The rebate expires on April 5th, not March 18th as it says on the Datavision site...

Lol, nope no stock in Veiwsonic but now that you mention it, I might just do that. :D Be sure to come back and post your feelings and thoughts on the monitor. I want this to be the official source of VX2025wm information so people don't have to do beloved thread searching.

[Deezus]

Mine should be here Monday, Tuesday at the latest... damn weekends. :rolleyes:

[sanitystream]

Coldtronius -

What is your opinion of the Viewsonic vs. the Dell 2005 you owned? Better? Worse? What's the biggest difference?

thanks.

[SWMeierkord]

Just bought mine from Datavision via Ebay. Bin of $449.99 and you download the rebate from their website Datavis.com. I never delt with this company before but I'm hoping for the best since it is about $60 cheaper then Newegg. This will be a nice upgrade from my 17" Samsung CRT and will be my first LCD! :D

[motoman617]

I'm going to Fry's today at lunch and plan on checking out the 2025 and the new NEC. Don't know which I'll end up with. I'll be paying more but will feel a little better about returns if I have to deal with them. It will be my first LCD also so hopefully I'll get a good one either way.

I'll post back more if I get to go at lunch.

Jim

[Coldtronius]

Coldtronius -

What is your opinion of the Viewsonic vs. the Dell 2005 you owned? Better? Worse? What's the biggest difference?

thanks.


After having just 1 2005fpw, I was done with Dell, it had:

1.Terrible backlight bleeding
2.Had a red "hue" to the screen no matter how much I tweaked the colors
3 Viewing angles sucked

The Viewsonic came with very little backlight bleeding, viewing angles are pretty good and very nice color when tweaked correctly. I think it also ghosts alot less then the 2005fpw did as well, especially in black/white pixel switches. Only sucky part on the VX2025wm is that it doesn't have highth adjustment or pivoting, but thats about it as far as negatives.

[anakin357]

Can you easily switch between VGA and DVI inputs? I want to run my linux router box "headless" and just switch over from my gaming PC to login and take care of various admin tasks occasionally.

Also can we have some pictures posted of DVDs playing?

[Coldtronius]

Can you easily switch between VGA and DVI inputs? I want to run my linux router box "headless" and just switch over from my gaming PC to login and take care of various admin tasks occasionally.


Yes you can, you just simply press the "1" button for DVI and "2" for VGA input on the fly.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5946/switch0yu.jpg

[Jordan1]

Looks like a overall nice monitor.

[anakin357]

Nice feature. That convinced me. :)

ORDER COMPLETED
Once You Know, You Newegg.
Congratulations , your order has been submitted.

Grand total: $434.49 including shipping.

[etherealtml]

Where are you guys ordering yours from??? I'm a little leary of Newegg because of their dead pixel policy of 8 or more...

I just ordered one of these from Buy.com. It was only about $8 more than Newegg, but they don't have any restocking fees, so you can return any amount of dead pixels until your hearts content.

Which isn't to say newegg isnt a bad choice, just be prepared to live with 7 or more dead pixels for the price you pay. Otherwise, RMA for refund could cost you up to 15% of original price.

[FitzRoy]

Not convinced here. The 2005's backlight issues seem to stem from the case design. The 2007's new design is radically different. The monitor is overall almost half the size of the 2005. I'm giving Dell a good chance of having a less erroneous product this time around. Plus that, I love the new design and base. It's so flat and clean. I'm definitely waiting.

[Coldtronius]

Heres some movie screens like you asked. Keep in mind, thats not backlight bleeding you see in the corners, just just how the panel is when viewed directly at it. They disappear when you move left or right plus the camera makes them stand out more due to exposure.

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/4268/lotr13no.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1882/lotr26ny.jpg

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/2438/star25bk.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6329/star13xh.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2493/glad23jv.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2945/glad11vt.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7607/glad30er.jpg

[FitzRoy]

Uhhh, I'm pretty sure that is backlight bleeding. It's not some "special" property of the panel. There's something physical about the effect that's causing the light to "disappear" when you look at it from an angle. It's just your eyes/reflections/yada. I don't know how to explain it.

[sanitystream]

Coldtronius -- many thanks for all the pictures you've kindly posted for us to gawk at.

Question: now that you've had some more time to play with it, how well does the internal scaling/re-sizing work for resolutions below 1680x1050? I am so tempted by this thing, but I just don't know how well an Xbox 360 running at 1280x720 will scale (or a PC game at 1024x768, which is about as high as my Radeon 9800 Pro can run things smoothly).

[Coldtronius]

Coldtronius -- many thanks for all the pictures you've kindly posted for us to gawk at.

Question: now that you've had some more time to play with it, how well does the internal scaling/re-sizing work for resolutions below 1680x1050? I am so tempted by this thing, but I just don't know how well an Xbox 360 running at 1280x720 will scale (or a PC game at 1024x768, which is about as high as my Radeon 9800 Pro can run things smoothly).


I'll test that later tonight.

[sanitystream]

I'll test that later tonight.


Thanks. I just noticed a review of this monitor on NewEgg's website that says it lacks the Dell 2005's internal scaling ability, and instead just stretches a 4:3 image so that it comes out looking very distorted.

[Nephandus]

those movie pics look fine to me..i don't notice any bleeding...but then i'm not hyperanal about such things...but i am curious about the scaling..

[L1ght]

Mine is ordered. :D

Should come next wedesday or thursday. :D

Hope my new comp is setup by then. ;)

[jcll2002]

when is the 2007wfp being released anyway?

[TrueChaos]

Grats on your purchase. Right now, I can get this about 100 CAD cheeper than the 2005fpw. I think im sold. Dont want to have to deal with trading back and forth with dell...

Although, I may wait for the 2007 and see.

-Cameron

[anakin357]

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?submit=property&item=24-116-381
Even better price... $419.99 and Free 3-day Shipping, run by same folks as newegg, so same 8 pixel return policy.

[IQJUMPuw]

Grats on your purchase. Right now, I can get this about 100 CAD cheeper than the 2005fpw. I think im sold. Dont want to have to deal with trading back and forth with dell...

Although, I may wait for the 2007 and see.

-Cameron

If you can get this for 100 CAD cheaper than the 2005FPW, by all means, go for it. What the heck are you waiting for???

Dell LCD's are NOT the best monitors. Far from it. They are the #1 best-selling monitors because they are usually much cheaper than similar monitors from other brands. Take it from a guy who has owned 3 different Dell LCD monitors for over 4 years. If you think 2007FPW is going to be better than other more expensive LCD's, you are mistaken. Dell has so many crazy sales (even more discounts when you buy them in bulk) that no one can really compete with them. Other brands go through other retailers like Newegg, BestBuy, Circuitcity, etc so they always cost more than Dell who sells directly to customers not to mention most of their sales reps, customer care are from out of the country not to mention LCD's being built in countries like Mexico. Dell knows how to do business. They are very very good at what they do and because of that, they are able to offer the best price for their monitors.

I'm not trying to say Dell LCD's are bad. Not at all. I think they offer the best bang for your buck (even without the 3year warranty), which is what most people are looking for. If you can get a great 20" monitor from Dell for $350 shipped or get the best 20" monitor in the world for $600 shipped, which one will you choose? They are great for what you pay but there is always something better. People really need to stop saying "OH WHEN IS 2007FPW GOING TO COME OUT? WILL IT BE AWESOME? OH DAMN! I'M SO DISAPPOINTED WITH THE SPECS!" Please...

[IQJUMPuw]

I forgot to add, awesome screenshots! This monitor looks very promising.

One thing though, what you see on your screen are, indeed, backlight bleeding problem. A perfect monitor would have even color throughout the entire screen and not have any brighter/greyer parts in the corner that disappear when viewed from a different angel.

[Eagle156]

Could you post some shots of DOD:S? It's my favortie game right now and I'm wondering how it looks on this monitor :eek:

[the prodigy]

Man, this is the thread I've been looking for and thank goodness for it! Good review but I'll have to agree with someone above that you dohave a backlight bleeding issue because it should be uniform looking at it straight ahead (in the same manner, you wouldn't say that your colors are washed out when looking at the side vs. centered viewing). Like a couple other guys above though, I would like to know about the scaling and does anyone else know a workaround when the monitor doesn't do it automatically?

Thanks

[Coldtronius]

Unfortuantly no, there is no way around the scaling of the monitor, even through the Nvidia driver panel, the monitor automatically all images to fill the monitor.

Didn't have chance to take pictures cause Im fighting a cold and had to go to bed early

[Nephandus]

so if you run a game at non widescreen res like say 12x10, does it look horrible?

[sanitystream]

I played around with the VX2025wm monitor today at my local Fry's.

1) There is no scaling that I could see. It simply stretches the image to fit the screen. If you're running a resolution that happens to be 16:9 in aspect ratio (i.e. 1280x768) then it looks pretty good because there's no distortion. On the other hand, if you run a 4:3 aspect ratio like 1024x768, then there is indeed stretching and distortion to make a square image fit into a rectangular screen. This doesn't look so hot as you can imagine.

2) There was a lot of ghosting and fuzzing to the image, especially around icons on the desktop. This may be due to the video card they had it running on, which was a crappy Intel card. Right next to the 2025wm was the VA1912wb, and that looked very sharp -- probably because it was running on a good Radeon card. Still, it's tough to say for sure. All I know is the 2025 did not look good in the store and if I didn't know better, I wouldn't buy it off that impression.

3) There was no screendoor effect, as some have said.

edit:

4) Being new to widescreen LCDs, I now realize I need to just save up some more money -- because the HP F2105 running at Fry's was stunning at $649 and much better than anything I've seen in the $400-$500 range. Its picture quality is nothing you need to make excuses for, super sharp clarity, vibrant, and on par with a CRT.

[RSeXXX]

Bad news...

The vx2025wm I purchased last Monday (3/6) has 1 dead pixel! Fortunately I bought it from Fry's (over paid $497) and have the option to return it within 30 days.

1) So how are the ones from Newegg? Pixels, on-time shipment, etc...?

2) Or go w/ the Dell 2007fpw?

- Edit -
Come to think of it, I over paid by $100 b/c after taxes, it was about $540 and I hear it's $440 shipped from Newegg...

[anakin357]

I had regrets and cancelled from Newegg. NO WAY will I spend so much on something and get a dead pixel(s). I'll order from buy.com Monday and hopefully get it delivered by Friday.

I wish there were a Fry's Electronics here in Utah. :(

[Deezus]

Mine is on schedule to be here from Newegg this Monday.

And I couldn't beat the cost on this monitor, I only had to pay for half of it and assemble a computer for my boss as payment. Really had to twist my arm on that deal. ;)

[WickedWeasel]

The monitor should have 1:1 scaling. It is suppose to be a basic feature that all LCDs should have.

[Nephandus]

I had regrets and cancelled from Newegg. NO WAY will I spend so much on something and get a dead pixel(s). I'll order from buy.com Monday and hopefully get it delivered by Friday.
:(


I couldn't find the 2025 on buy.com

[JonathanSmith68]

ok, stop being such a Dell hater.

You obviously have backlight bleeding, even if it was a thing you only saw from the center, it's not like you are going to move your head to the left and right all the time.

Also for less than 400 bucks you can get a 2005fpw shipped, free shipping. Also can return it for even a single dead pixel or bad back light saying you are not 100% satisfied.

They send you a replacement, and then you send the defected one back, so you never go without a monitor.

Also all the extra inputs, height adjustment, swivel.

The viewing angles could be better but when are you not going to be looking at a monitor straight on?

Sorry if i sounded like a troll but it was pretty annoying hearing you bash the Dell 2005fpw the whole time.

More features, better service (though not the best, you can pretty much complain as long as you want and you will get your way) more functionality, better price... only seems logical to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love viewsonic, I had a G90F, and loved it, I suggested Viewsonic to all my friends and have pursuaded most of them into getting viewsonic CRTS back in the day, just feel the 2005fpw is a better buy than this.

[anakin357]

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202310998

[JonathanSmith68]

Coldtronius is this panel 6 or 8 bit?

[FitzRoy]

I think you'd be crazy to get a 2005fpw right now over the 2007fpw. It's days from being released. I understand that some people are cheap but... damn, don't buy an old product with a history of backlight issues when the new one has a chance of being less problematic. The thing's lost half it's weight, it has a great design, the purple hue could be gone from the new panels... etc.

[Coldtronius]

Coldtronius is this panel 6 or 8 bit?

Its 8bit

[JonathanSmith68]

I think you'd be crazy to get a 2005fpw right now over the 2007fpw. It's days from being released. I understand that some people are cheap but... damn, don't buy an old product with a history of backlight issues when the new one has a chance of being less problematic. The thing's lost half it's weight, it has a great design, the purple hue could be gone from the new panels... etc.

my advice, keep demanding a new one from dell until you are satisfied, heck they might run out and you may be able to get one of thew new versions.

Anyways, sorry to go off topic, just my view on it all.

This looks like a decent monitor though.

[rek981]

I think you'd be crazy to get a 2005fpw right now over the 2007fpw. It's days from being released. I understand that some people are cheap but... damn, don't buy an old product with a history of backlight issues when the new one has a chance of being less problematic. The thing's lost half it's weight, it has a great design, the purple hue could be gone from the new panels... etc.


Actually, the 2005 is a S-IPS panel, and I'm pretty sure the 2007 is a PVA panel. Some may argue that IPS is superior to PVA, especially for color critical applications.

Ross

[DigitalEdge]

Anyone know if you can use a Ergotron LCD arm on the viewsonic?

[jcll2002]

I think you'd be crazy to get a 2005fpw right now over the 2007fpw. It's days from being released. I understand that some people are cheap but... damn, don't buy an old product with a history of backlight issues when the new one has a chance of being less problematic. The thing's lost half it's weight, it has a great design, the purple hue could be gone from the new panels... etc.
yeah, but if i can get the 2005fpw for $350 shipped when I have literally no idea how much the 2007wfp will cost...

[Bona Fide]

Excellent review. Just placed the order for mine :)

[jcll2002]

@ anybody whos had a glossy screen>>>

Ive had a glossy screen and its been a whlie since ive used the regular anti glare screens. Do you think that ill regret getting a non glossy screen?

[anakin357]

Coupon for first time customers of Buy.com:
Take $15 OFF the purchase of $200 valid in our Computers, Software, Home Networking, Digital Cameras and Electronic Stores! (Affiliate)

Not gonna link anywhere since it's against forum rules, but it's easily found on google.

Exactly $8.34 more than Newegg and their return policy seems "more fair" to the customer. Well worth it.

[Nephandus]

what is buy.com's return policy?

[FitzRoy]

Actually, the 2005 is a S-IPS panel, and I'm pretty sure the 2007 is a PVA panel. Some may argue that IPS is superior to PVA, especially for color critical applications.

Ross

Err, I think you're mixed up there. The pre-release specs are 16ms and 800:1 CR. That is almost assuredly an S-IPS.

[Vertigo528]

Err, I think you're mixed up there. The pre-release specs are 16ms and 800:1 CR. That is almost assuredly an S-IPS.

I'm pretty sure the VX2025 is a PVA panel and it has the same specs. I notice a color difference between the three 2005FPWs (partial to 2005FPW S-IPS) I had and this display but the backlight is so much better and I haven't noticed any screen door effect at all. I'm still not sure if I am going to keep this or try the new NEC AS-IPS panel display.

[jcll2002]

I'm pretty sure the VX2025 is a PVA panel and it has the same specs. I notice a color difference between the three 2005FPWs (partial to 2005FPW S-IPS) I had and this display but the backlight is so much better and I haven't noticed any screen door effect at all. I'm still not sure if I am going to keep this or try the new NEC AS-IPS panel display.
did you notice it on the dell? im referring to the sd

[Vertigo528]

did you notice it on the dell? im referring to the sd

Yes, I noticed extremely obvious and annoying SDE on all three Dell 2005FPW monitors. I tried to get over it but knew in the end I wouldn't be happy so I sent it back for a refund.

[Badd]

I'm pretty sure the VX2025 is a PVA panel and it has the same specs. I notice a color difference between the three 2005FPWs (partial to 2005FPW S-IPS) I had and this display but the backlight is so much better and I haven't noticed any screen door effect at all. I'm still not sure if I am going to keep this or try the new NEC AS-IPS panel display.

the VX2025WM is using an MVA panel, not a PVA panel or IPS panel. Just to clear that all up :) it's listed on Viewsonic's official site here: http://www.viewsoniceurope.com/UK/Products/LCDX/VX2025wm.htm

it's the same Premium-MVA (P-MVA) panel as the Belinea 102035W (AU Optronics M201EW01 V0 P-MVA panel).

Sounds like the "backlight bleeding" reports were more down to slight viewing angle anomlaies, i've experienced this on models like the Dell 2405FPW as well, where the screen seems a little lighter to the sides, but when you move your head along the screen it disappears.


Regarding the 1:1 pixel matching, can you definitely not do this through software or the OSD then? seems like quite a big flaw to me?!

[Coldtronius]

Regarding the 1:1 pixel matching, can you definitely not do this through software or the OSD then? seems like quite a big flaw to me?!

I'll try again tonight to make sure

[sanitystream]

Regarding the 1:1 pixel matching, can you definitely not do this through software or the OSD then? seems like quite a big flaw to me?!


I played with the VX2025wm at Fry's on the weekend and there does not appear to be any control of scaling or aspect ratio beyond just stretching the image to fit. For instance, 1024x768 is stretched and distorted to fit 1650x1080. My understanding is this has always been a drawback to Viewsonic monitors, whereas Dell (and Gateway?) monitors do have some actual pixel scaling.

The Viewsonic image looks okay so long as you stick with a 16:9 aspect ratio, like 1280x720.

[ampedxc27]

I played with the VX2025wm at Fry's on the weekend and there does not appear to be any control of scaling or aspect ratio beyond just stretching the image to fit. For instance, 1024x768 is stretched and distorted to fit 1650x1080. My understanding is this has always been a drawback to Viewsonic monitors, whereas Dell (and Gateway?) monitors do have some actual pixel scaling.

The Viewsonic image looks okay so long as you stick with a 16:9 aspect ratio, like 1280x720.

It's actually 16:10. And if you have an nvidia video card (dunno about ati) you can tell it to leave black bars on the sides just like dell.

[Vertigo528]

the VX2025WM is using an MVA panel, not a PVA panel or IPS panel. Just to clear that all up :) it's listed on Viewsonic's official site here: http://www.viewsoniceurope.com/UK/Products/LCDX/VX2025wm.htm

it's the same Premium-MVA (P-MVA) panel as the Belinea 102035W (AU Optronics M201EW01 V0 P-MVA panel).

Sounds like the "backlight bleeding" reports were more down to slight viewing angle anomlaies, i've experienced this on models like the Dell 2405FPW as well, where the screen seems a little lighter to the sides, but when you move your head along the screen it disappears.

Thanks for clearing that up. I've seen several claims about which panel it was.

I know what you mean about the viewing angle stuff but it's difficult to explain. My monitor does have slight bleeding that I notice in a dark room with a totally black screen but it seems like the colors wash out a little on either side of the monitor when it's viewed from the middle.

[Coldtronius]

Thanks for clearing that up. I've seen several claims about which panel it was.

I know what you mean about the viewing angle stuff but it's difficult to explain. My monitor does have slight bleeding that I notice in a dark room with a totally black screen but it seems like the colors wash out a little on either side of the monitor when it's viewed from the middle.

Thank you! See, im not the only one who confirms this. But noooooo...everyone else says its backlight bleeding when I know damn well its not. View post #40 with pics to back up my claim.

[Voltron]

I ordered mine last weekend, shipped today. Will hopefully get it later this week. :cool:

[L1ght]

I ordered mine last weekend, shipped today. Will hopefully get it later this week. :cool:
Mine to. LOL. Lets see who gets their's first. :p

[Deezus]

Mine has been in town since last night but they won't deliver it until tomorrow.. And they won't let me pick it up.. damn Fedex...

[Voltron]

Mine to. LOL. Lets see who gets their's first. :p

You got it! Looser buy's the beer. :D



Mine has been in town since last night but they won't deliver it until tomorrow.. And they won't let me pick it up.. damn Fedex...

I had to get Fedex to. UPS was cheaper and faster but, I've had some bad experiences with them. Down with Brown...

[L1ght]

You got it! Looser buy's the beer. :D
[/chant]
Right... Im only 16... :rolleyes:

I shipped it out UPS 3 day. If you shipped it using fedex, you should win... :o

[anakin357]

Mine is due here on Friday.

http://www.buy.com/corp/support/returns/default.asp?what=returnpolicy

[WickedWeasel]

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.

If this panel is the same as the Belinea 10 20 35W, does it have the "Twinkling effect on movies" ?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71226

[Coldtronius]

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.

If this panel is the same as the Belinea 10 20 35W, does it have the "Twinkling effect on movies" ?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71226

I posted angle shots of the monitor in the beginning of the thread, it gives you a fairly good idea of the viewing angles. Its good enough for my needs but YNMV

[LordBritish]

How's the ghosting with this monitor?

[Deezus]

It's here! hehe

Work won't go by fast enough as is always the case when you get new toys.

[Coldtronius]

How's the ghosting with this monitor?

Ive played it with HL2 Deathmatch, BF2, BF1942, KOTOR, FEAR and there is very little ghosting. Much less then my 2005fpw or 2405fpw had. Im very happy with it.

[Coldtronius]

It's here! hehe

Work won't go by fast enough as is always the case when you get new toys.

Aint that the truth. Be sure to post your thoughts/feelings/pics here!

[LordBritish]

Ok, i'm blaming you if I go bankrupt !!!

I just ordered this badass from Buy.com

Damn it, I need to save money and be frugal.




Well, screw that, you only live once :p

[anakin357]

So here's what I'm doing while waiting for it to arrive:
http://isnoop.net/tracking/

http://estaticd.googlepages.com/shipping.jpg

That website above has an RSS feed for the actual tracking information. I setup a Yahoo! Mobile alert to track the packages' RSS feed and send me a SMS to my phone whenever the RSS feed is updated. So if I'm away from my house and it's delivered, I know within a few minutes. Pretty chic if you ask me.

[LordBritish]

I paid $455.76 total at Buy.com

Taxes were like $30 of that amount :(

Living in CA has it's pluses but ordering computer stuff online aint one of em.

[Deezus]

Yaaaaaay! :)

Well, in case the above "yay" doesn't give it away, the monitor is here and running.
To sum it up right here, I don't want to go to work tomorrow so I can get *used* to what I've been missing. ;)

This is the 1st LCD that I have owned and used as a primary monitor. I have a cheap ass 17" Sylvania that I use on the test bench though.. But this thing.. I've needed this for a long while.

So.. My really quick review.

After hooking everything up via the DVI link, I booted into the desktop where my system sat waiting for something to load... and sat... and sat.. You now the drill, open up task manager and look how nothing is associated with a user name yet. Wouldn't shut down, etc. So I shut it down the hard way a few times with the same outcome. Now I'm getting a little pissed off, it's almost beer 30 and I haven't played with my toy yet. I swap over to the VGA connection and get the same outcome, I was mad and relieved at the same time.
So I am finally able to load up the Viewsonic CD (system is still not acting right) and install the driver, in the middle of the install (again, you know the drill), all the things I had tried to open, finally opened.
/shrugs
I think the issue MIGHT be associated with the monitor, but I won't hold it against anyone/thing, it's here, it's working and damnit, I want to play! :P
Besides, the OP didn't have an issue like this, so I will chalk it up to "one of those things" that magically fixes itself. workes for me anyway.


Onto the really quick and kinda crappy pics.
*note, still plugged into the VGA*
http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lost22vu.jpg
Ahh, one of my favorite TV shows. Looks very very nice on a true WS monitor. Might have to rewatch the series again. ;)

http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10009649gs.jpg
Giggy! This is a pic to show everyone, including my own curiosity, that you can indeed watch non ws formated video and not have it scale to the ws resolution.. Have to admit, I was stressing about that. No worries though.

http://img129.imageshack.us/my.php?image=backlight9qt.jpg
Some backlight bleeding, but really, nothing too bad and most importantly, I don't care! :)

There were a few more things I was going to mention.. But I can't remember, kinda tired and I need to fine tune this bad boy and play around. Still haven't gamed and I wan't to switch back to the DVI.

All in all, best 420 bucks I have spent in a looong time. Thank you Coldtronius, for sparking my interest in this thing,

[[RCKY] Thor]

Got mine in today. No problems so far, especially since the 7900gtx can run AA/AF with vertical sync.


http://test.air-power.us/gallery/Viewsonic

[borez]

Hi guys,

Was wondering if anyone of you has a monitor calibrator to check the gamma range of this baby.

This monitor has got me interested in getting it for Photoshop usage.

This is what I mean:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/720/gamma7oi.jpg

The dark gamma area is from my Thinkpad T43 (1024x768), and the wider gamma range is from a really old Philips CRT.

Both displays are calibrated with a Gretagmacbeth Eye One Display (6500K)

[Alaric_2000]

Just picked up one of these little baddies last Saturday from my wife as a birthday present. Given the fact that when we talked about it, I was thinking I was going to get it right away, I was ok paying a little extra and getting it from MicroCenter. But alas, my hopes were dashed when we got it home and she said, "Put it in the closet, you're not getting it until your birthday."

So Sunday I get it and I'm excited. Upgrading from a Sony CPD-G520 (think that's what it is).

Very, very excited.

Turning 30, well. . .not so exciting.

[dtos01]

To everyone that has one of these..... Is the non-height adjustment a big factor? Do you have to look down on it? Or because the screen is so big it's not an issue....? Thanks!

[Coldtronius]

To everyone that has one of these..... Is the non-height adjustment a big factor? Do you have to look down on it? Or because the screen is so big it's not an issue....? Thanks!

Yeah, the non height adjustment sucks, so I just went and bought this at Staples and problem solved. Of course, your needs may vary so it may or may not be an issue.

Awesome to hear you guys are liking your monitors, glad I could help you pick one out.

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/9813/stand8qx.jpg

[The Equalizer]

does this monitor have s-video?

[Coldtronius]

does this monitor have s-video?

No, it does not.

[Deezus]

In terms of the height adjustment; it doesn't bother me. Typically when I am sitting at the desk I am in "lounge" mode, chair kind of reclined. So it actually matches up to me well. But the varation in text sizes I get, I find myself leaning forward and back alot. Going to be picking up a desk mounted LCD arm this weekend, should help out a little bit.

[L1ght]

Mine is at home right now, in a box...

In school now, then I got to go straight to work, then youth group, then home! Cant wait. :D

[Coldtronius]

Mine is at home right now, in a box...

In school now, then I got to go straight to work, then youth group, then home! Cant wait. :D

Skip work, skip youth group, they'll understand :D

[Voltron]

Well, I went home for lunch and guess what was waiting for me? To my suprise, Fedex had it to me a day early! The hour I get for lunch just didn't seem like it would be enuff, so I run to the kitchen and fix a sandwich like I'm in the Indy 500 pits. Turkey flying everywhere, mayonnaise some how stuck to the ceiling and my dog looking at me with a blank look wondering wtf was wrong with me. With the sandwich in one hand, bag of chips in my teeth and my monitor in the other hand I race down my hallway and end up dropping my freaking sandwich! Atleast I still had my chips and coke, plus the adrenaline of getting this sucker fired up.

So I get it all unpacked and notice how big it actually is (my 1st WS). I hook it up via vga (didnt have time to do dvi) on my 9700pro (newest Omega drivers) and get it set up as my primary. The first thing I notice is that the whites arent exactly pure white but have some black specs (maybe this is the dreded screen door effect). So I change the background to yellow and check for dead pixels and am happy to say that their aren't any (ordered from NewEgg). Next thing I check is back light and can clearly see the like coming through on the corners (just like in Cold's pic). Might ba able to tilt the monitor to clear some of the back light bleeding out. As fas as the screen door effect goes, it could possibly be my Vga and will swap to Dvi when I get home. Will also play some BF2 and see how ghosting is (seemed like low ghosting in windows).

I will edit this post later to reflect my final thoughts. As of right now, I am pretty dissapointed but I haven't given up on it yet.


//Edit

I believe what I thought to be screen door effect before was just the anti-glare coating. My previous FP did not have any coating on it so it's quite different getting used to. I did play some BF2 and didnt even notice it and no ghosting also. The picture looked nice and crisp. I will continue using the monitor for about a week and see if I should keep it or not.

Please take my review as just an opinion.

[SWMeierkord]

Just a word of advice. If you want this monitor in a somewhat reasonable time do not order it from Datavision. I did a BIN on Ebay from them on Friday (3/10) at 8:35am EST and I called them today to find out what the status was and they said that "The process has been approved it will ship tomorrow (3/16)" Funny how fast they take my money via Paypal but take so long to ship. I ordered through them because of the $100 mail in rebate or else I would have went through Newegg. I'm hoping by some miracle it will show up on Saturday so I have it for some of the weekend.

[[RCKY] Thor]

I think I would rather build the monitor myself than order it from datavision. Always check Resellerratings! 100 bucks is not worth the can of worms you just opened!

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1215.html

[Deezus]

Voltron,
I noticed a very slight screen door effect while it was hooked up to VGA. Didn't do extensive looking with the DVI, but from what I did see, it wasen't as pronounced.

[Eagle156]

Thor']Got mine in today. No problems so far, especially since the 7900gtx can run AA/AF with vertical sync.


http://test.air-power.us/gallery/Viewsonic
Damn you captain :(

[stopmenow]

thinking about jumping on that...

I still cant decide between these monitors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11097928&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11104098&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009031

Any help? Also, is newegg easy to deal with in terms of returns?

i like the last one.

[SWMeierkord]

Well I called Datavision again this morning and they said that they are currently out of stock on the monitor (yesterday they told me they were going to ship it today). I cancelled my order and ordered it from Newegg. I should have gone there to begin with.

[Deezus]

Aye. Live and learn. ;)

[LordBritish]

Mine's sitting in it's box at home right now.

[L1ght]

I got mine, and played with it a little. No backlight bleeding that I am aware of, response time is okay. (No where near the speed of my crt tho, buts its okay.)

Games look awsome, well, atleast HL2, havent tried any others yet.

I love it. :)

[Jodiuh]

So here's what I'm doing while waiting for it to arrive:
http://isnoop.net/tracking/

http://estaticd.googlepages.com/shipping.jpg

That website above has an RSS feed for the actual tracking information. I setup a Yahoo! Mobile alert to track the packages' RSS feed and send me a SMS to my phone whenever the RSS feed is updated. So if I'm away from my house and it's delivered, I know within a few minutes. Pretty chic if you ask me.


Hotness!! So...sorry, how? Can I do with MSN?

[anakin357]

Hotness!! So...sorry, how? Can I do with MSN?

Hmm... just looked and found that yes you technically can, but it's not nearly as easy as Yahoo! stuff...

http://signup.alerts.msn.com/alerts/editSignup.do?

Fill out the form and viola, you can subscribe to an RSS feed of your choice.

MINE GETS HERE TOMORROW!!!! Woot.

[LordBritish]

I have my vx2025wm setup.

My major gripe with the monitor is the horizontal viewing angle.

If you view the monitor from an angle, you'll notice something strange happens to the screen image, the contrast or something changes and it doesn't look good. The image gets washed out.

Anyone else notice that?

[Voltron]

Didn't really notice that on mine but I'm really allways sitting in the center view of it. How's your backlighting, LordBritish?

[LordBritish]

I definitely notice the backlight issue on the corners when the screen is dark.

That's a little annoying.

I guess I can't complain for around $420 with free shipping.

[anakin357]

Just got my VX2025 setup.

Glad I didn't go with a 24" because it would simply be too big, the 20" is immersive enough for me when playing video games.

First words... No dead pixels. Seems like most everyone is having good luck so far. This was my biggest fear.

Started up World of Warcraft, ghosting is simply not visible to me. Seems more snappy and jittery when moving camera around.

Started up Kung Fu Hustle, looks brilliant. Definitely capable of playing movies very well.

I can only speak for my screen, but the "backlighting issue" is only noticable when the entire screen is black. When playing back 16:9 content, I simply cannot see it.

All in all, big thumbs up, using Buy.com instead of Newegg for my LCD was simply a no-brainer in my opinion. UPS didn't smash up the box at all. Very pleased.

[Jodiuh]

So none of you guys have a "screen door" effect of graininess on the front of your mons?

[Mase]

So are people NOT reading the previous posts and PICTURES of the supposed backlighting issue? I mean WTF, the guy takes pics to show that that screen is so damn wide that it leaves the appearance of the problem, but the second you move to the left or right, the problem mysteriously VANISHES on that side... if it was a true backlight problem, it would still be there... add to that fact that you dont see this supposed problem in any game you throw at it, i'd say this is a non-issue.

And to people that say the panel sucks viewing it from angles...my god. This thing has so much more angular visibility over any other LCD i've seen. So what if the contrast changes slightly, what LCD does not do this? I took pics of this thing I'll post this weekend and the far side angular shots look great to me, very visible. I'll post and let you decide...

Ghosting? I'm not sure who is seeing this, cause i cant see any. FPS's or WoW look fantastic regardless whats happening on-screen. NO GHOSTS. I can see the flicker in a fluorecent light and the rainbows on DLP's and I see no ghosting anywhere. My eyes and perception are good enough to catch it if i did...
Maybe I'll take some 1/1000 pics to see what if any ghosting is really there.

No dead pixels either! Both Newegg and Buy will require you to take up bad unit issues (dead pixels) with Viewsonic directly. Why Buy.com is a no brainer is beyond me... and screw UPS, this thing ships in its original box and UPS cant seem to understand that a sig should be required before leaving visible bling at people's front door. I ordered from Newegg and got Fedex even though 2 day shipping was more expensive than overnight UPS. Down w/ Brown...

So after one night of running this through its paces, its FANTASTIC! and its HUGE. WoW looks sick as hell and makes your non-WS friends jealous. I'm headed to a LAN party tonight and I'll tell you ahead of time how much I like not heaving a 19" 50lb NEC Multisync CRT around... especially since the picture on this rivals the CRT... At just over $400, anyone still trying to decide on a new LCD should just get this.

I like the cable concealer in back, I like that it powers down quickly w/o a signal. My logitech 5.1 center channel fits perfectly under the front of it within the open base area, menu is nice, buttons are firm and solid, BRIGHT AS NOON! I have a hard time finding fault with this monitor. People complaining need to go back to CRT's...

Sorry to vent but it seems some poeple would have a problem with a free lunch if they got it too... :o
This seems to be the best deal in LCD's by far right now...nothing but quality all around.

[sanitystream]

Mase -- how's it look at 1280x768? That's what I'd run my Xbox 360 at and I'm wondering about how it handles non-native resolutions.

[Voltron]

add to that fact that you dont see this supposed problem in any game you throw at it, i'd say this is a non-issue.

I wish that were true, but it is a issue. I can clearly notice it in Fear and any other dark background games. Movies included.

/Edit: I must just be picky I guess.

[Deezus]

I have the same instance of "backlight" that coltronius has, as in now you see it, lean a lil bit to a side, and now you don't. Like I said in my post after I bought it, it's really a non issue for me because it's not all that bright.

Picture quality is freakin slick, nice and sharp.

As for how it does at different rez's, I guess I could chock that up as a downside as it's doesn't like to look right at different rez's. I haven't done extensive testing of this though, I.E. check and see how the VGA line does.

And the only time I have noticed the screendoor effect was using the VGA line when I 1st got it going. But I could also attribute that to the quality of the movie I was watching, it wasen't a DVD. And on that note, I have noticed the "quality" of TV caps needs to be upped in the future. Watching the shows at 1280x1024 on my old CRT was good... watching those same caps on this thing shows they are lacking.

[borez]

Oh yes...
There isn't any information on this out there, but is this monitor HDCP ready?
It'll be a sweet suprise if it is.. :)

[Coldtronius]

Oh yes...
There isn't any information on this out there, but is this monitor HDCP ready?
It'll be a sweet suprise if it is.. :)

Sorry, it is not.

[LordBritish]

I was trying to get that panel off at the back - the one that's supposed to hide the wires but I couldn't pull it off. How do I get that sucker off? I didn't want to break it so I left it alone.

[HopePoisoned]

eh, not a big fan of viewsonic LCDs

happy blacklight and contrast, it may have been worth it for the extra cash for the gateway....

[LordBritish]

eh, not a big fan of viewsonic LCDs

happy blacklight and contrast, it may have been worth it for the extra cash for the gateway....

Troll !!!

The monitor is great for the price - not perfect. But I dont want to spend $700 for something a little better or no better.

[HopePoisoned]

Troll !!!

The monitor is great for the price - not perfect. But I dont want to spend $700 for something a little better or no better.

no i just didn't have much to say about the [conversation] at hand

[anakin357]

I was trying to get that panel off at the back - the one that's supposed to hide the wires but I couldn't pull it off. How do I get that sucker off? I didn't want to break it so I left it alone.


To get it off the base, grab the cable guide at the bottom and pull up. Mine snapped out, felt like I broke a tab, but nope! :) I guess you could use a putty knife or jeweler's screwdriver if you want to be more careful.

[etherealtml]

eh, not a big fan of viewsonic LCDs

happy blacklight and contrast, it may have been worth it for the extra cash for the gateway....


Troll indeed. Though, what do you expect from someone who buys "Alienware Select" RAM for their PC. Dell just bought Alienware, so now this guy is just a fan boy in the worst sense of the word.

[L1ght]

Played with mine a little. No dead pixels, no backlight bleeding, good response time.

CS:S is sweet on this moniter, response time is not a issue. Got a 2.0 KD ratio, so no problems there. Same as I got on my crt.

F.E.A.R is pretty cool to. Only played the MP demo tho.

Very sweet moniter. I am impressed.

[TrueChaos]

Ive been searching everywhere, and I cant seem to find weither this pannel is 6bit or 8bit. Im guessing its 8bit, and Im about to go grab one if it is... I just havent been able to find the info!

Does anyone know which it is?

Thanks,
-Cameron

[Coldtronius]

Ive been searching everywhere, and I cant seem to find weither this pannel is 6bit or 8bit. Im guessing its 8bit, and Im about to go grab one if it is... I just havent been able to find the info!

Does anyone know which it is?

Thanks,
-Cameron

I've stated this several times but yes, its an 8bit panel.

[TrueChaos]

thanks :) I read the thread, just obviously not closely enought :o

-Cameron

[|MaguS|]

So... Would you guys recommend this LCD or the Sony/HP FW900 CRT? Both about the same price...

I want to go widescreen and can't decide on a monitor, I currently am using a 19" CRT. :o

[Mase]

So... Would you guys recommend this LCD or the Sony/HP FW900 CRT? Both about the same price...


I'm not sure I would buy anything with an HP logo on it, regardless who makes it. I personally hate that company. And come to think of it, how many people do you expect to sell you on the CRT inside an LCD thread? Why anyone would drop good money on a new CRT right now is beyond me... the LCD's available, including this one are just too obvious a choice...IMO.

[L1ght]

So... Would you guys recommend this LCD or the Sony/HP FW900 CRT? Both about the same price...

I want to go widescreen and can't decide on a monitor, I currently am using a 19" CRT. :o
Get this moniter. Its worth it. Much better than my old 19" LCD

[DigitalEdge]

Comp USA Has them for $399 after rebate also free shipping for those who need to have it shipped :) Just picked one

Click Here (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=337678&pfp=SEARCH)

[jcll2002]

Comp USA Has them for $399 after rebate also free shipping for those who need to have it shipped :) Just picked one

Click Here (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=337678&pfp=SEARCH)
nice...

The question is:

Is this monitor worth the extra $125 over the sceptre?

[Killermac]

Over all I have to say from all the debating on the threat I like the looks of the pics from the monitor. It seems like a good value.

KM

[jcll2002]

Over all I have to say from all the debating on the threat I like the looks of the pics from the monitor. It seems like a good value.

KM
if you LOVE glossy like I do, then get this. http://www.buy.com/prod/Acer_AL2032WA_20_Wide_Screen_TFT_LCD_Display_1680X1050_800_1 _8ms_ET/q/loc/101/201955864.html

Im still trying to decide if its worth the extra $150 over the sceptre. What do you think?

[|MaguS|]

Last question... Does it support console hookups?

[DigitalEdge]

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

[pookguy88]

ok thats just cool

[jcll2002]

ok thats just cool
agreed

[Jodiuh]

How much one of those flexo-arms set you back?

[DigitalEdge]

$64.99 (http://www.buy.com/prod/NeoFlex_desk_mount_arm_with_external_retail_box/q/loc/101/201655629.html)

[Dillusion]

Awesome thread. I sold my L90D+ and im going WS. Picked up the VS 2025WM on techonweb.com for 414$ shipped no rebates.

Gets here friday, cant wait!

[TrueChaos]

Got mine yesterday, couldnt be happier with it. No dead pixels, no noticable ghosting, and only minor backlight bleeding, almost exactly like what the OP posted. Its a wonderful monitor, and at 150$ less than the 2005FPW, It cant be beat.

-Cameron

[jcll2002]

$150 less than the 2005fpw?

[DarkLegacy]

Hmm, this does seem to be a very good monitor. Comp USA (False Rebate USA) as I like to call them, seems to have a growing list of Widesreen LCD's with new ones being added every week. Im waiting to see someone hook up an Xbox 360 to this monitor since that is the only reason I am looking into Widecreen LCD's. Highly intrested in a well constructed/ well speced WS LCD myself, but it definitly would not hurt saving some money on an alternative option. Such as the WS Sceptre Naga III monitor at the same size. Gonna continue to google the Viewsonic model to see if anyone has a review up for it hooked up to an Xbox 360.

-DarkLegacy

[DigitalEdge]

The 100$ Comp USA rebate is directly threw Viewsonic. You really cant go wrong as far as quality with viewsonic I am very happy with mine just waiting to give oblivion a whirl ;)

PDF Rebate (http://image.compusa.com/pdfs/0022045.pdf)

[TrueChaos]

$150 less than the 2005fpw?

Canadian :p

2005fpw = 649$

VX2025wm = 505$

so ~150 cheeper :D

-Cameron

[steveng]

Canadian :p

2005fpw = 649$

VX2025wm = 505$

so ~150 cheeper :D

-Cameron
where did you find vx2025 for 505? the lowest I can find is $499 at www.pccyber.ca

[hkky]

www.canadacomputers.com

[Devorikk]

I may have missed this in a previous post, but is it feasible to get a component-to-DVI converter and connect a 360 to it? Has anyone tried it?

If this works, I'm sold and will purchase immediately.

[DigitalEdge]

Oblivion 1680x1050

http://www.digedge.net/misc/VSO1.jpg
http://www.digedge.net/misc/VSO2.jpg
http://www.digedge.net/misc/VSO3.jpg

[Nephandus]

nnnnnniiiiiiccceeee

[Dillusion]

Waiting for fedex guy to arrive :(

[jedicri]

where did you find vx2025 for 505? the lowest I can find is $499 at www.pccyber.ca

I bought mine from Monitor Depot On-Line which went for $488:
http://www.monitordepot.com/TheWeb/md/home/md_main_frm.htm

I didn't order on-line but I went there and picked it up --- only 20 minute drive from where I live.

A shipment of 60 units of monitors arrived last Wednesday. By Friday there were 40 left and by Monday when I finally decided to buy this particular model, there were only 14 monitors left. Heck, I bought one for myself and for my brother since I was sure it would sell out either that same day or the following day.

Now as for the monitor itself, well I have to credit the topic starter Coldtronius for helping me decide which brand and model to buy since I also had a certain budget I wanted to spend for an LCD monitor.

I'm very happy with it, this being my first widescreen lcd monitor. I've even left the see-through plastic laminate that protects the screen, lol.

[Bop]

So... Would you guys recommend this LCD or the Sony/HP FW900 CRT? Both about the same price...

I want to go widescreen and can't decide on a monitor, I currently am using a 19" CRT. :o

I was in the market for a new monitor and I was going to buy either this or the NEC 20". I saw a 20" screen in person and it felt small height wise coming from a 21" CRT so I'm plunking down on the FW900. 22.5" viewable, perfect blacks, zero lag, accurate colors.

Not so good when it comes to text however. It really depends whether your using the machine for work/text or games/photography.

Although this is a LCD dominated thread, if you want a monitor for gaming I'd say go for the HP FW900, $479 shipped from Azatek.

[DigitalEdge]

I rather have a LCD that Sony though nice, is a big mother and weighs allot also give off major heat.

This veiwsonic is a very nice LCD I am very happy with it, it does have some backlight bleeding but most lcd's do. Doesn’t bother me at all. Games look great on this thing no ghosting

I remember going from crt to lcd for gaming I was more impressed with the lcd back then I had a 19 in viewsonic. Just the room on my desk was insane

I use to have two 21inch crt's for gaming and graphics and I will never go back to crt's except for my TV I bought a 30 Panasonic crt I just don’t like LCD TVs for some reason

[Cannydog]

I just got my VX2025wm this evening. Purchased it through NewEgg. I could see no bad pixels, used Pixel Buddy to inspect it. Again there is some lightness in the corners, but as Coldtronius describes it's not like the backlight bleeding that I've seen with other LCDs. Response times are a big improvement over my previous Samsung 191T+, or 192MP. I did some brief tests with a 3D screensaver, called Latice, and while I could detect a touch of ghosting it really isn't that bad.

I don't currently play allot of games. But AoE3 recognized 1680x1050. I had read previously, in this thread that WoW, works with this aspect ratio. So I'll reinstall UT2004, I'm pretty sure it will work fine as well. If any game has issues with ghosting it will be a FPS. (I'll post back here after I test it further.)

I played about 30 mins of Gladitor and didn't notice the twinkling that others have mentioned. So my best guess is that I'll be happy with a second one of these, for the system in my bedroom. ;) The 192MP that I mentioned is serving in that spot now, and it has "real" backlight bleeding... :p

Overall, I'm definately happy with my $420 purchase. Too bad UPS didn't just drop it outside my door and run. It would have been an incredible temptation to make them buy me a second one. :eek: Doh! did I say that!?! :o

[xoshiex]

From the initial review and all the replies, it seems like I may have something wrong with my set up, defective monitor or maybe need to upgrade my vid card.

I recieved my vx2025 about 10 hours ago and yes, it sure is sweet. Only one problem, looks grainey, light screen door effect and general lack of sharpness. Even dvd movies look like theres something between me and the image. Think I just got a bad one or is this just the way it is?

For the last 3 years I have been using a Dell 19inch P992 Trinitron CRT and loved it, except for being bulky & heavy.

I have a decent vid card, nVidia 6800gt OC (BFG) set to native res now and and image quality was awesome on my CRT. I know that LCD's arent quite as good as CRT but I dont think I can deal with the grainey look this monitor has.

Am I alone here or am I just too used to the old CRT? Anyone have an idea of what is wrong?

[margarineoferror]

I have to agree with this.

I bought a 20” Philips TFT and I own a LG CRT. I’m not too keen on the grainy look of TFTs, movie playback is not as enjoyable. The TFT is much sharper for regular desktop stuff, but when it comes to image quality and color reproduction my CRT wins hands down. I’m even considering selling off my TFT

[kaldaim]

Anyone have an idea of what is wrong?

Are you using VGA or DVI? VGA definitely will not give you as clear of a picture as DVI will. If you are using DVI have you tried switching to a different cable? The cable that came with my NEC was bad and caused all of the images to look smeared.

Your 6800GT should have no problem as long as you use DVI.

Good luck, hope your monitor situation works out

[jedicri]

I also have a BFG 6800 GT OC.

Have you adjusted the color correction through the nVidia display panel: Digital Vibrance, Imaging Sharpening?

[Deezus]

From the initial review and all the replies, it seems like I may have something wrong with my set up, defective monitor or maybe need to upgrade my vid card.

I recieved my vx2025 about 10 hours ago and yes, it sure is sweet. Only one problem, looks grainey, light screen door effect and general lack of sharpness. Even dvd movies look like theres something between me and the image. Think I just got a bad one or is this just the way it is?

For the last 3 years I have been using a Dell 19inch P992 Trinitron CRT and loved it, except for being bulky & heavy.

I have a decent vid card, nVidia 6800gt OC (BFG) set to native res now and and image quality was awesome on my CRT. I know that LCD's arent quite as good as CRT but I dont think I can deal with the grainey look this monitor has.

Am I alone here or am I just too used to the old CRT? Anyone have an idea of what is wrong?

I agree that is sounds like your using the VGA line. To be sure, you can select the input through the monitors OSD. Make sure it's set to digital.

[HoodooGuru]

Ok, I made the plunge. Just got back from CompUSA, where I got as good a deal as I'll find for some time. I paid $499-$5 (coupon)-$100 mfg rebate for a total of $394 before taxes.

I'll set it this new Viewsonic VX2025wm and provide my own review in this thread. Note that I am a VERY discerning (picky) consumer when it comes to PC gear and monitors in particular. I've stuck with my Dell CRT because I had not yet found an LCD that met my high standards. I've seen the Dell 2005FPW in person and just wasn't blown away by it enough to warrant buying it. We'll see how this VX2025 does-- if it has any backlighting, screendoor effect, or response rate problems I will NOT hestitate to return it to CompUSA.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to really set this up and test it until next week.

Until then...

[xoshiex]

I am using the supplied DVI cable, the monitor is set to Digital.
As for the Digital Vibrance its set to Off & Image Sharpening is to the far left. If I move the Digital Vibrance it makes the reds appear more orange and moving Image Sharpening makes the words on the buttons and shadows look out of whack.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate the ideas.

I called ViewSonic about it and spoke with a complete n00b; needless to say, their escalations office is calling me back in 12-48 hours.
I just want to find out if I got a bad one or if I am being too sensetive. This monitor is now at CompUSA so I think I'll just swing by there and take a look at their floor model and see if it looks grainey, similar to mine.

[Coldtronius]

I am using the supplied DVI cable, the monitor is set to Digital.
As for the Digital Vibrance its set to Off & Image Sharpening is to the far left. If I move the Digital Vibrance it makes the reds appear more orange and moving Image Sharpening makes the words on the buttons and shadows look out of whack.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate the ideas.

I called ViewSonic about it and spoke with a complete n00b; needless to say, their escalations office is calling me back in 12-48 hours.
I just want to find out if I got a bad one or if I am being too sensetive. This monitor is now at CompUSA so I think I'll just swing by there and take a look at their floor model and see if it looks grainey, similar to mine.


You may be sensative to the "Anti Glare" coating that this LCD has. It causes images to be somewhat grainy, though nowhere near as bad as the 2005FPW I used to have. Nothing you can do about it either.

[sanitystream]

Hey all -

I was just glancing through today's ad for Fry's Electronics, and they show the VX2025wm for $499 - $100 mail-in rebate for a total of $399. Limit 1 per customer.

[HoodooGuru]

Hey all -

I was just glancing through today's ad for Fry's Electronics, and they show the VX2025wm for $499 - $100 mail-in rebate for a total of $399. Limit 1 per customer.Save $5 more and get it for $394 at CompUSA.

Coupons here (http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8140/bbthanksfooter8op.gif)and here (http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8681/coupon21ib.gif). There is no barcode, but I just bought this VX2025wm at CompUSA 2 hrs ago and will end up paying $394 (before taxes). They accepted this coupon, but YMMV.

21-day return policy with no restocking fee. Not sure about Fry's, as we don't have them here...

[jedicri]

I am using the supplied DVI cable, the monitor is set to Digital.
As for the Digital Vibrance its set to Off & Image Sharpening is to the far left. If I move the Digital Vibrance it makes the reds appear more orange and moving Image Sharpening makes the words on the buttons and shadows look out of whack.

For my setting, I have Digital Vibrance almost between the first two dots; Brightness I left at the default setting (100%); Contrast at 115%; Gamma at 0.91; Image Sharpening all the way to the left.

But that's just me and my personal preference.

[kaldaim]

fry's is 30 day return no restocking.

the compusay by me is 15% restocking on all products. i will never buy anything from there

[jekyll917]

Hi Coldtronius
Nice review! But I have one question, I'm playing a game which only can be runned under 800 x 600 res. If I run this game on vx2025wm what will it looks like? The monitor will stretch the pictures to fit the whole screen in distorted way? Or it will leave the black bars around the 800 x 600 picture?
Thank you!

[sanitystream]

Well I bought this monitor today at Fry's, unfortunately I'm taking it back tomorrow. Here's why:

1) As a PC monitor, the VX2025wm is great. If that's all you want it for, this is a fine monitor, everything is sharp, no backlight bleeding, no screen door effect, good colors, and games still play fine even below the native resolution of 1680x1050. It's a keeper in this regard.

2) BUT... as an Xbox 360 monitor it doesn't cut it. The problem isn't really the monitor at all, it's the damn 360's VGA cable. For some inexplicable reason, Microsoft's VGA cable severely washes out colors, gamma, and contrast. I knew this going in and had my fingers crossed. You see, on my old Dell CRT I could over-compensate for this "wash out" by maxxing my individual color levels (R,G,B) to 100. That took care of the problem, and everything looked fine.

Unfortunately, the factory default for VX2025 is *already* at 100 for R,G,B, so there is no room for over-compensation. It ships at the limit for colors. Which means games are *severely* washed out and desaturated. I tried Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and the beautiful outdoor scenery looked very bland and boring. Shadows are gone, there's no contrast, everything just looks kind of lifeless. Sunsets no longer "popped", as if the world is drained of life.

No kidding -- my girlfriend knows absolutely nothing about computers, and when she walked in to see my new $400 toy playing Oblivion, her first comment was: "That looks dull".

She's right. That's the best way to sum it up: an Xbox 360 hooked up to this monitor is very dull and there's no easy way to fix it.

The only solution would be to run the Xbox's component output (720p) through a VD-Z3 transcoder to retain the proper color saturation, and then the VD-Z3 woud convert it to VGA. That would theoretically work. Unfortunately, I don't have a VD-Z3, they're back-ordered for several more weeks, and there's no guarantee the sharpness and clarity would be acceptable after the various conversions.

The more realistic solution is to find an LCD monitor that has more allowance for maxxing out the RGB levels and overcompensating for the crappy VGA cable. (Anybody know of such a monitor?)

Sigh. The Viewsonic is so nice in every other regard.

So it's back to Fry's I go (thank goodness for 30-day no questions asked return policies!)

[sanitystream]

But I have one question, I'm playing a game which only can be runned under 800 x 600 res. If I run this game on vx2025wm what will it looks like? The monitor will stretch the pictures to fit the whole screen in distorted way? Or it will leave the black bars around the 800 x 600 picture?Thank you!


The Viewsonic will just stretch the 800x600 to fit the screen. There are no black bars. You need to get a Dell 2005/2405 or Gateway if you want internal re-scaling and aspect ratio control.

[Nephandus]

well, just received my 2025, and am on the forums now with it..Blacks look great, don't notice any significant backlight bleed..haven't tested it for dead pixels yet, just messing around with it at the moment..but I don't notice any...i must say, coming from a 17" CRT, this thing is massive..there is a little bit of screendoor effect, i think this is just the antiglare coating...makes things look kinda sparkly, but it's not like super bad..after an hour i pry won't even notice it

[killedaway]

2) BUT... as an Xbox 360 monitor it doesn't cut it. The problem isn't really the monitor at all, it's the damn 360's VGA cable. For some inexplicable reason, Microsoft's VGA cable severely washes out colors, gamma, and contrast.i've got one of these monitors on it's way right now. my 3sexy is hooked up to my 50" Sony LCD RP, and it looks absolutely perfect. i plan to use the Viewsonic with my PC mainly, but i was entertaining the idea of picking up a VGA cable for the XB so i can run them both in my studio at the same time. if i get around to trying this, i'll post results here, along with side by side pictures of my TV and LCD for comparison.

[Nephandus]

ok, i've played around with it a little bit..I do have some backlight bleed, the classic "x" pattern, but didn't really notice it till it went to a black screen..played fear and WoW and didn't even notice it...I took some pics, but it's like 5 am and i don't feel like uploading them now...

[jekyll917]

The Viewsonic will just stretch the 800x600 to fit the screen. There are no black bars. You need to get a Dell 2005/2405 or Gateway if you want internal re-scaling and aspect ratio control.
Thanks! If it could do the scaling...then I think it would be the one for me....is the scaling thing relate to the monitor self property or maybe some software can help?

[-=ABUSIVE-69=-]

very nice monitor dude

[wonkman]

There was an awesome deal on this last night at Amazon. $339 and $10 shipping. No rebate. Sold out in about an hour but maybe it will come back.

FatWallet (http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/594067/)

[ctheory]

Awwww fuck.

Well...it's 415 on the egg. Still not bad at all.

[sanitystream]

Thanks! If it could do the scaling...then I think it would be the one for me....is the scaling thing relate to the monitor self property or maybe some software can help?


Some monitors have the ability to scale an image using internal circuitry, but the Viewsonic doesn't. It just stretches everything that's below native res, so a 4:3 image (like 1024x768) is going to distort on this monitor. It's possible your video card could compensate for this, I'm not sure.

[wonkman]

Some monitors have the ability to scale an image using internal circuitry, but the Viewsonic doesn't. It just stretches everything that's below native res, so a 4:3 image (like 1024x768) is going to distort on this monitor. It's possible your video card could compensate for this, I'm not sure.

I haven't tried it but I've read a few posts that teh Nvidia software will scale and keep the proper ratio. Don't know about ATi.

[Nephandus]

Here's a few pics...notice i am not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination

Backlight: The camera shows this being like twice as bad as it really is, so is really not a fair estimation of backlight bleed..
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/Nephandus/IMG_0132.jpg

Gradients:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/Nephandus/IMG_0128.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/Nephandus/IMG_0133.jpg


WoW@1680x1050
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/Nephandus/IMG_0127.jpg

[xoshiex]

You may be sensative to the "Anti Glare" coating that this LCD has. It causes images to be somewhat grainy, though nowhere near as bad as the 2005FPW I used to have. Nothing you can do about it either.



I think this is correct. I went to CompUSA and the floor model has the same issue I saw, leading me to believe the coating is to blame.

Oh well, just something i gotta get used to. Overall, having a widescreen monitor makes video games better and enhances surfing the net. I will be keeping my vx2025.

[Dillusion]

Got this monitor up and running last night, and all i can say is WOW. The image quality is superb, the text is crisp, the backlight bleeding is virtually non-existant, and eberything else is just awesome! Im playing BF2 @ 1680 on high with my X1800Xl and loving it!

http://dillusion.net/pics/vx4.jpg

http://dillusion.net/pics/vx5.jpg

http://dillusion.net/pics/vx6.jpg

This monitor blows my L90D+ out of the water, and i think its an EXCELLENT WS monitor. im going WS all the time now from now on for sure.

[techer]

I ordered one from Amazon.com last night about 10 pm for only $339.99 + $9.99 shipping.
:)
I couldn't resist after seeing DigitalEdge's Oblivion pics he posted. Widescreen just looks really good for gaming. After placing the order, I went back to the webpage for it a couple hrs later and that price was history. I was going to post hear to tell everyone about the price, but I had to sign up and wait to get authorized to post in the forum.
Anyways, I never had a LCD, much less anything widescreen. So this is definately going to be a big change, hopefully for the better. Previous monitors were a Dell 17 CRT, and now a Samsung SyncMaster 997DF CRT.
However, I do have some concerns:
Resolution: 1680x1050..... man, that is high :eek:
I cranked up my crt (1600X1200) just to see what it would be like that high. Eye strain, even after raising font size. But, it could've been that my monitor can't display text well at anything above 1024x768..it was sort of fuzzy. But, I heard LCDs, especially with a DVI, have very sharp text. Hoping so......considering most of the time in front of monitor is spent reading and programming.
I have a BFG 6800gt OC AGP card and I am worried about being able to play games with a playable framerate. I could just run COD2 in DirectX7 mode and turn some stuff down in Halflife2 for e.g. But, for Oblivion, no way in hell at 1680x1050 :mad: Guess, it's time to go PCI and either a 1900xt or new Geforce card.
I also plan on getting an XBOX 360. I've seen the 360 running on a Samsung 32 LCD with a VGA and it looked amazing. Another poster here said the VGA for Xbox 360 isn't a good solution, but I've read otherwise from other people, so I hope it turns out ok.

[TrueChaos]

OP, how did you hack BF2 to do the widescreen deal? I havent been able to find info on it, albet im not the greatest at searching :(

-Cameron

[techer]

OP, how did you hack BF2 to do the widescreen deal? I havent been able to find info on it, albet im not the greatest at searching :(

-Cameron


You can try this:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1030

[DigitalEdge]

I ordered one from Amazon.com last night about 10 pm for only $339.99 + $9.99 shipping.
:)
I couldn't resist after seeing DigitalEdge's Oblivion pics he posted. Widescreen just looks really good for gaming. After placing the order, I went back to the webpage for it a couple hrs later and that price was history. I was going to post hear to tell everyone about the price, but I had to sign up and wait to get authorized to post in the forum.
Anyways, I never had a LCD, much less anything widescreen. So this is definately going to be a big change, hopefully for the better. Previous monitors were a Dell 17 CRT, and now a Samsung SyncMaster 997DF CRT.
However, I do have some concerns:
Resolution: 1680x1050..... man, that is high :eek:
I cranked up my crt (1600X1200) just to see what it would be like that high. Eye strain, even after raising font size. But, it could've been that my monitor can't display text well at anything above 1024x768..it was sort of fuzzy. But, I heard LCDs, especially with a DVI, have very sharp text. Hoping so......considering most of the time in front of monitor is spent reading and programming.
I have a BFG 6800gt OC AGP card and I am worried about being able to play games with a playable framerate. I could just run COD2 in DirectX7 mode and turn some stuff down in Halflife2 for e.g. But, for Oblivion, no way in hell at 1680x1050 :mad: Guess, it's time to go PCI and either a 1900xt or new Geforce card.
I also plan on getting an XBOX 360. I've seen the 360 running on a Samsung 32 LCD with a VGA and it looked amazing. Another poster here said the VGA for Xbox 360 isn't a good solution, but I've read otherwise from other people, so I hope it turns out ok.

Wow you got an incredible deal, if I would have known about it I would have bought another one. Awesome LCD and at that price its a no brainier

Oblivion 1680x1050 Amazing game in WideScreen btw:Im running a 7800gtx

http://www.digedge.net/misc/VSO4.jpg

[DarkLegacy]

2) BUT... as an Xbox 360 monitor it doesn't cut it. The problem isn't really the monitor at all, it's the damn 360's VGA cable. For some inexplicable reason, Microsoft's VGA cable severely washes out colors, gamma, and contrast. I knew this going in and had my fingers crossed. You see, on my old Dell CRT I could over-compensate for this "wash out" by maxxing my individual color levels (R,G,B) to 100. That took care of the problem, and everything looked fine.



Hmm, I wonder if the Monster VGA will fix this problem. Have you tried the Monster one yet? May not do much better, but may be worth a shot. I may get around to doing it first next week If I am able to pick up the monitor by then.

-DarkLegacy

[jekyll917]

Wow you got an incredible deal, if I would have known about it I would have bought another one. Awesome LCD and at that price its a no brainier

Oblivion 1680x1050 Amazing game in WideScreen btw:Im running a 7800gtx



Your picture is awesome!!!

[sanitystream]

Hmm, I wonder if the Monster VGA will fix this problem. Have you tried the Monster one yet? May not do much better, but may be worth a shot. I may get around to doing it first next week If I am able to pick up the monitor by then.


I don't think it has anything to do with the cable, nobody has ever said Monster's VGA looked better. It's just how the Xbox 360 outputs the signal.

Now then...

My search for a proper monitor to run both an Xbox 360 and a PC paid off. I spent a lot of time at stores messing around with color controls, trying to find one where I could oversaturate the color levels to compensate for the crappy Xbox VGA cable. And the winner is...

The Gateway FPD2185W. I bought one at Best Buy and brought it home and the Xbox 360 looks just fine on it through the VGA cable with R,G,B, levels all maxxed to 100. In fact, running it through the Gateway's component is not advisable since (like many people have said) the Gateway's component is too dark.

So to sum up my experience this weekend:

-The Viewsonic VX2025wm is a terrific monitor if you're only going to run it on a PC. I bought one, but then found it does not fare well with the Xbox 360 because it cannot oversaturate the color levels to compensate for the VGA cable "wash out" effect. (And for what it's worth, the Viewsonic cannot re-scale images that aren't native resolution. They distort and stretch).

-The Gateway FPD2185W is a terrific monitor for both PC and Xbox 360, the 360's color levels look fine on this baby. Downside is, the component input is too dark, but I don't really need that and I recommend running your Xbox 360 via the VGA cable with this monitor. It's definitely sharper that way. The upside with the Gateway is it *can* re-scale images: you can pick "Zoom", "Wide", or "1:1". The last option will just leave the image alone, so for instance 1024x768 will be a 4:3 box in the middle of the screen with black bars on the sides.

One last thought: on both the Viewsonic and Gateway, I'd have to say the Xbox 360's image (1280x768) is fine, but not quite up to par with the way it looks on a good CRT. Stretching 1280x768 to fit 1680x1050 works just fine, but you do lose some clarity and sharpness and there's nothing you can do about it. You're gaining more real estate, a bigger image, and the proper wide aspect ratio in exchange for crispness.

[UnrealCpu]

NOW LETS SEE THE FW900 IN ACTION WITH OBLIVION :)

Wow you got an incredible deal, if I would have known about it I would have bought another one. Awesome LCD and at that price its a no brainier

Oblivion 1680x1050 Amazing game in WideScreen btw:Im running a 7800gtx

http://www.digedge.net/misc/VSO4.jpg

[killedaway]

One last thought: on both the Viewsonic and Gateway, I'd have to say the Xbox 360's image (1280x768) is fine, but not quite up to par with the way it looks on a good CRT. Stretching 1280x768 to fit 1680x1050 works just fine, but you do lose some clarity and sharpness and there's nothing you can do about it. You're gaining more real estate, a bigger image, and the proper wide aspect ratio in exchange for crispness.do you mean 1280x720, or is there some sort of provision built into the 360 that sends 1280x768 when outputting to VGA?? 'cause thru component, it's definitely 1280x720, hence "720p", and WS on any flat panel PC display i've ever seen has always been 16x10 (ie: 1280x800). i ask because if you're sending 1280x720 to the Gateway display, you must be seeing a letterboxed image? if not, then i guess it's a slightly stretched 16x9. oh well, i'll give it a swirl myself in a couple weeks when my VS comes in.