205bw 6bit vs 8bit

[Finsta]

I just got a 205bw last week. I hunted around the forums and am confused: Is this panel actually 8bit or 6 bit? There's a great debate behind it all. Overall, I'm digging the monitor no less

 

[Drags]

6-bit, offering 16.7 million colours. It's a nice screen though, TN Film based but of decent quality. Good colour reproduction, no noticeable FRC artefacts and good colour gradients

 

[Scyles]

6-bit, offering 16.7 million colours.

No such thing. 6-bit is around 500,000 colors. Always. Dithering is used in an attempt to fool the eye into believing it is seeing more colors.

 

[JDAdams]

Worse than that I'm afraid - it's only 262 144 colours.

8+8+8=24-bit, 2 ^ 24 = 16 777 216 colours.

6+6+6=18-bit, 2 ^ 18 = 262 144 colours.

 

[Drags]

No such thing. 6-bit is around 500,000 colors. Always. Dithering is used in an attempt to fool the eye into believing it is seeing more colors.

ok, fair enough i should have mentioned the use of FRC/dithering methods, i assumed people would realise that was what i meant 6-bit panel, 262k colours available, but 16.7 million produced thanks to FRC methods

 

[Scyles]

ok, fair enough i should have mentioned the use of FRC/dithering methods, i assumed people would realise that was what i meant 6-bit panel, 262k colours available, but 16.7 million produced thanks to FRC methods

I know what you mean, but you can't assume people know anything when it comes to displays these days. People are buying 22" TN's in droves, completely oblivious to the fact that they have inferior image quality.

 

[schmitty338]

People are buying 22" TN's in droves, completely oblivious to the fact that they have inferior image quality.

That's an unfair judgement....have you considered that people buying the 22" TN panels simply are willing to compromise between extremely affordable 22" panels and colour quality.

For example, I am a student with huge amounts of debt and until last week was still using my old NEC 19" CRT (not even flat screen)...however, after receiving a couple hundred bucks for christmas i decided to splurge and get an LCD. Being on a tight budget i opted for the Dell E228WFP 22" panel on sale for $299CDN. I read copious amounts of reviews and opinions on pretty much every panel between 20-22" and, being well aware of the inferior colour reproduction on the panel, i still bought it.

I know have it set up, adjusted, and am greatly enjoying the vast desktop real estate with excellent gaming, movie, and general use capabilities. Couldn't ask for more for $300CDN shipped....

 

[Spooky]

I think the confusion is down to Samsung. Some sites list it as 6-bit and others as 8-bit. Either there are two flavours or someone simply has it wrong. I think it has put a lot of people off buying it. I asked samsung about the bitness issue but got no reply.

Here's a review of the 205bw against the Dell 2007wfp which might surprise you. I have a 205bw and find that for the money it is good value.

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article637.html