![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
So I pulled the trigger today on a 22" TN Chimei panel from Microcenter ($269). I was looking heavily at the Samsung 226BW, but I came to the conclusion that none of the 22" TN panels are perfect, and I went by price, plus the Chimei panel gets great reviews.
After a few hours with it, I can say I'm happy about the fit/finish and look. I have two dead pixels, both near the right edge of the screen, and both only show up against a white background (they show up black). Not nearly as bad as the 4 red pixels I had stuck in a square on my first LCD TV 3 years ago (that I paid over 3 grand for) and returned. I'm not too worried about them, and only notice when I'm specifically looking for them.
As this is my first LCD panel, and I"ve used the same 21" CRT for 8 years, I'm adjusting slowly. I do, however, like the desk space it gives me. A couple of questions.
#1- Should I bother with a different DVI cable (I'm running an EVGA 7800 GT)? I hear the cable that comes with the Chimei is cheap. Will I see a noticable difference?
#2- I used Nvidia's calibration tool that comes in their drivers. It told me to set brightness and contrast to 100, then lower brightness. I lowered the brightness to 35, but the contrast was still at 100. Dropping it to 50 made it much better. I then further dropped the brightness to 30, and am considering going to 25. What do others set their brighness at?
#3- Do most people enlarge the fonts with a 22" native resolution (1680x1050)? Or leave them default?
#4- I tried playing WoW. It looks great, except for one thing. The LCD seems to have a real problem with crushing whites. For example, a dranei's head is hard to tell details in, or the eyes from the faces of creatures with white skin. Any settings that would help this? Brightness, gamma, and contrast don't seem to change it.
#5- I tried massaging the dead pixels, no luck. Anyone have any luck with any of those utilities that change colors rapidly? I'm hoping maybe it will go away with some use.
#6- Regarding the resolution in WoW, I set the resolution to 1650x1080, and the game itself looks perfect, but the text/UI overlay does not. Is there something weird where this is using a standard resolution or something? The 3d parts look great, but the 2d overlay looks crappy...
By the way, my only other complaint is there is definitely some backlight bleed, and I can see banding in the tests (and only the tests, not in games). Still, I think these issues can be found in all TN panels.
After a few hours with it, I can say I'm happy about the fit/finish and look. I have two dead pixels, both near the right edge of the screen, and both only show up against a white background (they show up black). Not nearly as bad as the 4 red pixels I had stuck in a square on my first LCD TV 3 years ago (that I paid over 3 grand for) and returned. I'm not too worried about them, and only notice when I'm specifically looking for them.
As this is my first LCD panel, and I"ve used the same 21" CRT for 8 years, I'm adjusting slowly. I do, however, like the desk space it gives me. A couple of questions.
#1- Should I bother with a different DVI cable (I'm running an EVGA 7800 GT)? I hear the cable that comes with the Chimei is cheap. Will I see a noticable difference?
#2- I used Nvidia's calibration tool that comes in their drivers. It told me to set brightness and contrast to 100, then lower brightness. I lowered the brightness to 35, but the contrast was still at 100. Dropping it to 50 made it much better. I then further dropped the brightness to 30, and am considering going to 25. What do others set their brighness at?
#3- Do most people enlarge the fonts with a 22" native resolution (1680x1050)? Or leave them default?
#4- I tried playing WoW. It looks great, except for one thing. The LCD seems to have a real problem with crushing whites. For example, a dranei's head is hard to tell details in, or the eyes from the faces of creatures with white skin. Any settings that would help this? Brightness, gamma, and contrast don't seem to change it.
#5- I tried massaging the dead pixels, no luck. Anyone have any luck with any of those utilities that change colors rapidly? I'm hoping maybe it will go away with some use.
#6- Regarding the resolution in WoW, I set the resolution to 1650x1080, and the game itself looks perfect, but the text/UI overlay does not. Is there something weird where this is using a standard resolution or something? The 3d parts look great, but the 2d overlay looks crappy...
By the way, my only other complaint is there is definitely some backlight bleed, and I can see banding in the tests (and only the tests, not in games). Still, I think these issues can be found in all TN panels.
