SONY SDM-P234B. Another 16ms 23" LCD.

I too am seriously thinking of buying this beautiful looking monitor. I want a widescreen LCD mostly for gaming; Doom3, Half Life 2, etc. I saw one in a store in Tottenham Court Road yesterday but none of the sales assistants knew anything about it and couldn't help me at all.

Does anyone have any experience of using this monitor with games? Is there much ghosting? I'd really love some honest opinions of this screen as it's a lot of cash for me to spend if it won't display games well.

Thanks.
 
I would like to know also and if possible ASAP :D as i am on the order screen and need to know the sony will be great for gaming :)

So if anyone has the sony and plays games on it could you report back please. Thanks in advance :D
 
Just got one of these. Great build quality and zero dead pixels :)
If anyone in the UK wants one I'd suggest
www.dcsplc.co.uk
£1081.50 ex VAT and delivery. Just about the best price I could find from someone reputable (ie not ebuyer!).
A quick question for Jerry and the folks who've calibrated theirs (although mine is not bad at default)- are your custom settings with the ECO mode on medium (ie the default)?
Thanks :)
 
So tell me Uranium....what's it like..?? I'm also in the Uk and am sooo tempted to buy one. I'll mostly be using it for gaming - any advice you can give greatly appreciated!!
 
Hi Geoff,

Yes please keep me informed. I'm at work at the moment and want to get home to get cracking on Half Life 2 tonight!!!

I had a look at the link for the place that you bought it from and I couldn't see it listed. Agree with you 100% about getting it from a 'reliable' dealer and not ebuyer ;)

Look forward to your feedback once you've had the chance to mess around with it.

Cheers,

Richard (short for Bob - it's a long story!!!)
 
Thanks very much for that Geoff,

Now, I'm just waiting for you to tell me that it is as gorgeous as it looks and plays HL2 and D3 with no ghosting and I think you'll have convinced me to get one too!! :)

I was thinking about the 20" Dell widescreen that's just come out but a 23" screen is just too tempting!

Richard
 
Well I certainly think it looks gorgeous- genuine brushed aluminium stand NOT metallised plastic. Very well made all round. Doesn't swivel or have height adjustment- if that bothers you. Still trying to get the 16:10 aspect to work properly with D3 even though the patch is supposed to enable it there is no option for it in the menu nor for higher resolution than 1600x1200. So I'm playing with the cfg file. Where are you based?
Cheers
Geoff
 
I'm really glad that you like it so much Goeff. The fact that it doesn't swivel or have height adjustment doesn't bother me! I am really just wanting to be very indulgent and get a high spec widescreen for gaming, pure and simple!! My pc is based around an Athlon 64 3400 with an ATIx800xt card.

I am based in Sutton, Surrey. Where are you mate?

Cheers,
Richard
 
Brighton, Richard. Not far, so if you find yourself this way you can always come and check it out. I only have the cooking version of the X800, o/ced and with a P4 2.6 o/ced to 3.3 (watercooling ;) ). Just tried HL:source out- looks great on this screen, but not got far enough for fast action to check out the ghosting. But I doubt there will be any- nobody with any of the TFTs based on this panel ie the BenQ, Philips or HP have reported a problem. I just didn't like the look of the BenQ or Philips and the HP is overpriced in the UK.
Cheers
Geoff
 
Hey, that's not far away at all - in fact I get to Brighton with wiork every couple of weeks so if I'm down that way soon, I'll give you a shout. I'm impressed with the watercooled spec of your system Geoff!! I have to say that I'm pretty convinced about the Sony. Saw one in Tottenham Court Road a couple of weeks ago but the salespeople didn't have a clue about it and wouldn't fire it up for me.

I also agree that the HP (which seems popular in the US) is overpriced here. Let me know if there's any ghosting when you get to the fast stuff, but I think my mind's 99% made up...!!! ;)

Cheers,

Richard
 
OK Richard, HL2 looks fantastic on this screen at 1200 x 1920 (2x AA and 8xAF, everything else max) no sign of ghosting, nor in 3DMark03. Still trying to sort out the D3 widescreen issue- you'd have thought they'd make it a menu option. I've lent my copy of Farcry (which has native widescreen support in the latest version) to someone so can't try that cos I can't find a cracked exe for the latest patched version. A couple of people have had issues with the backlighting, but mine seems perfect so maybe they just got a bad or early one. How much are they selling them for in Tottenham Court Road? Yes, let me know if you are down this way.
Cheers
Geoff
 
Right-oh - on the strength of HL2 looking fantastic with everything on max, I think I'm going to search around and take the plunge. DCS have them in next week and I can't find a better price. Micro Anvika in Tott Court Road are now out of stock but were selling for £1,600!!. I'l have a look around cos I might have a cracked exe for latest Far Cry, but I too lent FC to a friend.

Thank you very much for your advice and opinions on this screen. I'll definately order one now and will post again once I've got it (if not before).

Cheers Geoff,

Richard

Yes - will let you know if I'm in Brighton. :D
 
i'm looking at this monitor as well...thoughts in reguards to gaming and ghosting?
 
Well I have been using this monitor for about 2 weeks and I can honestly say that I am very happy with it. I use it mostly for gaming and play UT2004, Half-Life 2, Doom 3, etc on it all the time. The picture is simply stunning and I can not detect any ghosting at all, either with games or watching DVD's. Once you play games in widescreen you will never go back!! :D

I reccomend this monitor 100% to anyone who is considering spending what is a lot of money - I'm sure that you won't regret it.
 
If anyone wants one of these with FULL warranty I recieved one from Sony yesterday and may be getting rid of it. I will save you at least $100 of the best legitament price you can find.....


Mac
cmacclel at comcast dot net
 
I'm another person looking to buy a big monitor with a good resolution and fast refresh rate. I've read all of the other threads (and subsequently instead of creating another decided to add to this one ;) )

It is my understanding that the main monitors in question all use the LG panel so picture quality will be pretty similar (backlighting and stuck pixels aside) so looks of the monitor are pretty paramount.

I really like the Sony at the moment however the lack of a VESA mount is really bugging me because I want one of these http://www.atdec.com/netscape/html/articulated_wall_mount.html

Also in relation to using the above, does the Apple or the Sony weigh more without their stands (from the looks of things the Apple would weight about the same, whereas the Sony would shed a fair bit of weight).

My decision is purely between the Sony and the Apple so pleas nobody bring up the HP or Samsung because IMHO they look shocking!

I do a fair bit of gaming, photoshop and I plan to use the monitor with my media centre PC so TV and DVD viewing will come into play. (BTW, off topic but if I wanted to connect an Xbox to this monitor would I need a composite > DVI adapter (do they exist!) )


Thanks,


Lloyd
 
cmacclel said:
If anyone wants one of these with FULL warranty I recieved one from Sony yesterday and may be getting rid of it. I will save you at least $100 of the best legitament price you can find.....


Mac
cmacclel at comcast dot net
Click to expand...

Can you go 100 beloow $1500?
 
albany said:
Yup, sending my Western Union money transfer to Vilnius as we speak :p

Don't worry, I'll be in the money next week. Some Nigerian guy who mailed me needs to get his fortune out of the country and is using my bank account details. Easy city from here on in ;)
Click to expand...


OMg I am in tears with laughter
 
GamezUK said:
I
My decision is purely between the Sony and the Apple so pleas nobody bring up the HP or Samsung because IMHO they look shocking!
Click to expand...

I keep reading stuff on how amazing the Samsung 243T's picture is and it's driving me crazy!

I still don't like the look of the monitor though!

I read that it was first announced in Sep 03 so do you think there'll be a new monitor soonish (well, within 6 months)?
 
I own the Samsung 243T and the Sony P234. The Sony is very sleek and the illuminated logo and touch sensitive buttons are really cool. However the monitor stand is not height adjustable (and very short) and the screen will not rotate. The Samsung is very plain looking but it is height adjustable and rotatable. Picture quality wise the Samsung wins hands down. The sony has pretty poor black and white reproduction (compared to the sammy), is not as bright, and has a MUCH worse viewing angle. The viewing angle of the Sony is what I really dislike about it. If you look at the screen from a slight angle it has a redddish gold tint to it. I really, really, wanted to like the Sony because it is such a cool monitor (and it was almost $500 cheaper) but I have to stick with the sammy because its picture quality blew me away.
 
Thanks your exactly the person I want to talk to since you own both!

Does the samsung look cheap or tacky next to the Sony (thinking of the buttons especially)?

You say that the Sony's stand is quite low and not height adjustable... have you looked into wall mounting it / are there any ways of wall mounting it?

Finally. How much bigger does the Samsung look / is it too big?

Thanks a lot!

Lloyd
 
The Samsung does not look cheap or tacky. It is just much more functional in design. It is not flashy but feels very solid. To me the Samsung looks nice, just in a simpler way than the Sony. As soon as you turn on the beautiful Samsung screen that is all you notice.

The Sony does not use a VESA standard mount and can't be used with an arm. I had to use a monitor riser to get it to a comfortable height on my desk. The Samsung uses a VESA mount and can be mounted on an arm.

The Samsung looks a little bigger on my desk but not too big. I don't really notice the extra 1" in screen size. The Samsung actually takes up a little less of my desk because I don't have to use the riser.
 
I think you may have just sold tha Samsung ;)

Thinking about it, the Samsung and Sonly look VERY similar once you take the stand out of the equation and I plan to wall mount the Samsung anyway!

I'm still hovering over the Apple but I've heard it suffers from slightly washed out colours like the Sony.
 
I really wanted to like the Sony but once I weighed the pros and cons of both monitors the Samsung won out. The thing that scared me the most about the Samsung was the slower pixel refresh. In real use the differednce between the two monitors very small. When I first got the Samsung I thought I could see some more blurring of fast moving images (games) but after a couple weeks of use I don't notice any difference at all. I don't watch DVDs on this monitor so I'm not sure how they would look.

Samsung
Pros:
Very good color reproduction.
Close to black blacks and white whites.
VESA standard mount.
Very bright.
Stand allows rotation and height adjustment.
Wide viewing angle
24"

Cons:
Plain looks
25ms pixel refresh
Only 1 DVI and 1 VGA input

Sony
Pros:
Very nice looking: Cool glowing logo, completely hidden cable management, and touch sensitive controls.
2 VGA and 1 DVI input
16ms pixel refresh

Cons:
Narrow viewing angle
Ok color reproduction
Poor black reproduction and white is not quite white even with calibration.
Somewhat dim.
Short non adjustable stand.
No VESA mount.
 
Do you have this monitor is black or silver?

This is going to sound stupid but, I'm worried that Silver is going to start looking old soon and that black is the new silver (I've noticed lot's of new tech stuff going black recently ;) ).

The other factor that applied to the Sony and now this monitor is the weight. I wish to use an articulated arm in conjunction with this monitor and the one I've found so far states a maximum weight of 20lbs. I've seen the Samsung stated as being 21lbs but I'm not sure if that includes the stand...

The Apple comes in at 15lbs.

As I may have said I want to use the monitor in a MCE (05) setup so I've be watching a fair amount of TV and maybe DVD on it. PC World said it was below average for DVD playng (whereas they said the Apple was above average).

Overall they gave both 4 starts (out of 5).

I keep going in circles!
 
Mine is black. I like black because in the dark the bezel becomes invisible.

I'm pretty sure the Samsung is 21 lbs including the base. The base is weighted and quite heavy.

If you are going to use the monitor for DVD and TV watching the narrow viewing angle of the panel that the Sony and Apple use may be a problem. I have not owned the Apple display but since the Sony uses the same panel I assume that the viewing angle problems apply. Looking at the Sony at even a slight angle produces a reddish gold sheen when there is black (or dark colors) on screen. This drove me nuts and is the reason that the Samsung is my main display.
 
I had a look at the apple and a smaller version of the samsung (15 or 17 inch).

The apple did look nicer which may just have been the size. I don't dig the white plastic look along the sides at all though and as you said, once the monitor is on it's the picture you notice.

The critical weight for the articulated arm I'm looking at ( http://www.atdec.com/netscape/html/articulated_wall_mount.html ) is 19.8lbs do you think the removal of the stand will be sufficient ( I realise it'd be a guess!).

Thanks,


Lloyd
 
I'm still looking around and have just come accross the LG L2320A.

I've heard very little about this monitor in these forums so it's either very old or very bad :(

The specs are all pretty impressive the 25ms response time aside (but the same as the Samsung 243T).

The number of inputs are incredible, it looks nice.

Good or bad?


Thanks
 
the connections are cool, you can connect almost everything there, but the 25ms response is no longer a good choice:), Im from portugal, and im waiting for my P234 that shipped today from techonweb.com.
 
bonitacio said:
the connections are cool, you can connect almost everything there, but the 25ms response is no longer a good choice:), Im from portugal, and im waiting for my P234 that shipped today from techonweb.com.
Click to expand...

congrats for your new display.

How much cost you the shipping to portugal?

i'm from spain
 
well, the monitor was $1550 (dollars), then for shipping and insurance $180, and then i have to pay 19% of the lcd price on portuguese fees, that´s all. Total is around €1500 (euros).
Im just praying for no problems with the lcd, i do not want to pay ship to usa and then usa to me. :)
I just couldn´t resist, and here they cost €2500, so i think i did a good buy.
When it arrives, i´ll post my opinion about it, and if it came with any prob. :)
 
does anyone have played pro evolution soccer 4 on a 23" 16ms panel???
I heard that you can notive a bit ghosting, and car games too.
 
I have read in our local paper in vancouver that LED is 25 percent accurate color than current lcd's and backlight life is double what normal lcd life which is 50,000 hours. I think myself I am going to wait till LED is used.
 
When led is out, another panels will be announced! I think that is better to live with what is now available, and then, when something new appears, then i´ll think about it. :)
 
I know I am gonna save up also article said that led has no color loss. All colors appear as they should. Not like lcd's which are about only 75-80 percent accurate.
 
Night_Hawk-19 said:
I have read in our local paper in vancouver that LED is 25 percent accurate color than current lcd's and backlight life is double what normal lcd life which is 50,000 hours. I think myself I am going to wait till LED is used.
Click to expand...
I've also read of the advantages of using LED backlighting, but when will displays be released? More importantly, when will 23" and larger displays using LED backlighting become available?
 
If one is not concerned about response rate too much, is the samsung 213t the best option? Does it have the best picture?
 
best picture is very relative, every single lcd has it owns pros and cons. 1 day to get my p234 eheheh
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top