Advice for a 23-24" monitor for movies (IPS or PVA, MVA)

C

CRT

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Hello folks and merry Xmas. I am getting ready to buy a new 23-24" monitor for movies and I am not sure whether to go IPS or PVA / MVA. For an IPS monitor I would choose Dell H2412M, but I don't know if an alternative like the NEC EX231WP or the Samsung S24A650 or Benq EW2430 / BL2400pt would do better. Budget is ~ 350$. I'd like to ask your opinion on which is better suited to my uses, with pros and cons:

The primary purpose of the monitor will be movies, displayed mostly in a low light environment (not completely dark room). What I'd like in the display of movies is good colors (natural but also strong and vivid), good black levels, high contrast, good reproduction of details (dark scenes and color gradients) and very little light leakage of any type from the panel (on axis). I do not need wide viewing angles and I do not game. However I would like the very fast CGI scenes in today's movies to play flawlessly.

Thank you for your opinions and recommendations
 
CRT said:
The primary purpose of the monitor will be movies, displayed mostly in a low light environment (not completely dark room). What I'd like in the display of movies is good colors (natural but also strong and vivid), good black levels, high contrast, good reproduction of details (dark scenes and color gradients) and very little light leakage of any type from the panel (on axis). I do not need wide viewing angles and I do not game. However I would like the very fast CGI scenes in today's movies to play flawlessly.

Thank you for your opinions and recommendations
Click to expand...

I would recommend Eizo EV2333W or FS2331 for this. The gamma shift prevents them from being truly satisfactory but their accuracy is outstanding for the price (especially in europe) and the dark scene reproduction is usually better than the Panasonic V20.
 
CRT said:
1.) good black level, very little light leakage of any type from the panel (on axis).

2.) However I would like the very fast CGI scenes in today's movies to play flawlessly.
Click to expand...

1 eliminates IPS/PLS and 2 eliminates VA monitors. Sounds like you should get a CRT:D or maybe look at the current X-mas sales and get a 32" VA TV or consider spending more since there are many decent plasma/VA TV's on sale right now in the 500$+ range which would meet your requirements.

In North America the Eizo models retail for 500-600$ which rules them out if you live in NA, but if you are in Europe the Eizo Foris FS2311 has the best motion handling out of any VA panel and very good black levels. The blacks are slightly lighter as the EV2333/EX231P but they are on par with the BenQ's and you get better motion handling.

FS2331 Review
http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2010/test-eizo-fs2331-bk.html
http://flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1288694516

EX231P Review
http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2011/test-nec-ex231wp.html
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_ex231wp.htm

BL2400PT/U
http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2011/test-benq-bl2400pt.html
http://flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1297345519

EW2430
http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2011/test-benq-ew2430.html

In Canada the BL2400 retails for around 200$ vs 300$+ for the others, it would be my first pick for Canadian residents since they all perform similarily.

There are no reviews for the Samsung 650's. Avoid IPS since they glow and use aggressive AG coating=grainy image quality.
 
The EW2430 is a great monitor and it'll produce the great picture quality that you'd want for high def movies. Since you don't game then this monitor will provide you with all the things you need. Gaming is the monitor's weak point because a lot of people feel that the response time isn't fast enough when it comes to FPS gaming. Regardless I game on my EW2420 (the older model) and don't notice any ghosting at all haha.

The best point about this stunner display is that it really is able to give you absolutely amazing picture quality and you'll notice that as soon as you pop in a blu ray disc. Contrast ratio levels are much higher than TN panels and in my opinion definitely surpass the color reproduction levels of low end IPS panels. The awesome part about this monitor is also it's abundance in connectivity. So if you want to hook a console or a PS3 to the monitor to play blu ray's and what not is easily done without unplugging your PC or whatever. For example, I got my laptop, PC, and console hooked to it, all at once!

The BenQ BL2400PT is quite cool as well, and it has a very ergonomic friendly stand which allows you to adjust in all directions and offers a wide range of height adjustments as well!
 
If watching movies and browsing will be your main thing i would go for NEC EX231Wp. I own it for a week now and the picture is really good!

Watching movies on a IPS won't be as good especially in a dark room! NEC EX231Wp has a contrast over 3000:1 while IPs panels barealy reach 1000:1 most don't!

I calibrated my NEC EX231Wp with Spyder 3 Pro and the resault is very nice. My brother has the Samsung F2380M and i did a side by side comparison with it. The NEC uses the Sauses exactly the same cPVA panel as F2380M and you can see this clearly when puting them side by side but the LED helps the NEC to achive a better contrast, nicer whites, brighter picture, better shadow detail and even the colours are nicer and more acurated but that's of course not because of LED. I also did a comparison in a completely dark room and compared some movie and darker pictures. The blacks on the EX231Wp are really awesome for a monitor, they look close to my Philips Edge LED TV which has a contrast over 5000:1 contrast! F2380M already has great blacks but EX231Wp goes even blacker and trust me you won't want to own a IPS panel after seeing this monitor, especially in a dark room, it will spoil you!

Even my previous 6 year old Samsung 971p which is a sPVA panel has a better contrast than any IPS panel so i really didn't want to go a step back and want for a VA again. I simple love the VA panels! They have great colors, great viewing angle, exellent contrast/blacks and very important the backlight uniformity is really good, even better than on the non LED Samsung F2380M.

The EX231Wp also has a lighter AG coating then any modern IPS panel. Coating is exactly the same as on F2380Mso the text is really nice and crisp.

IPS probably became so popular because of gamers. In the last years everything is more focused towards gaming, just look even the 16.10 formats are this days more rare then 16:9. I would never trade the high contrast with a lower response time, oh and some years ago i was playing my Xbox 360 on my old Samsung 971p and i wasn't bother by the response time at all. Of course the TN or IPS panel will have less input lag and better motion because of the lower response time but the rest will look worse on TN and IPS will only have better viewing angles which are already good enaugh on a VA panel, colours won't look any better on a cheaper e-IPS panel, probably only on the very expensive high range H-IPS!

NEC EX231Wp also has features some features which other monitors don't have if you care for it but it has one thing that annoys me, it's not completely silent, i can hear some buzzing in the upper left corner, don't know if that's a defect or if all unites have this. Luckily it's not a annoying high pitch sound or anything that i bad for ears, it's just some soft buzing which you won't hear if you are at least 1-2m away from the monitor. I have a really silent PC that's why i noticed it immediately ut still looks like that a lot of modern monitors have some kind of noise while my old Samsung 971p is completely silent absolutely nothing, never ever! Even the Samsung F2380M buzzes very little, but you can hear it only if you put your ear near the back of the monitor.

Like joeshmoe said, the EW2430 is also a great option for you but the EX231Wp is definitively better when it comes to PQ because of it's superior panel. EW2430 only wins when it comes to motion.
.

If you want to read more about this, than check my recent thread.

I hope i could help you ;)
 
Thanks for all the interesting and informative opinions so far. About the Eizos, actually I had considered them, but unfortunately where I can order them from they are twice as expensive as the others, way out of my budget (350$). Regarding IPS, this confirms my impression that they are good all-rounders but for some specific demanding tasks (movies), other options can perform better.

So if I am to choose between various PVA / MVA options, it seems the best models on the market today within my budget are the NEC EX231WP (PVA), the Benq EW2430 (MVA), the older Samsung F2380M (PVA) and possibly their new S24A650 (MVA). Any others ?


Regarding which one is the best for me, I have a few questions and comments:

- the response times, particularly on the NEC may be a problem. A friend had a Samsung 971P and coming from CRT :p, the ghosting was noticeable in fast movie scenes. It was acceptable once you got used to it, but an even slower response might not be satisfactory on fast scenes. So how big is that problem and how would you say these models (above) compare to the good old 971P in terms of response and motion handling ?

- I understand that to achieve their best, VAs have to be calibrated (especially for colors, also dark details). Can this be done by software methods / applications, as I don't have a hardware device ?

- in your opinion, are the new S24A650 or other upcoming models worth waiting for ?


Thanks again for your opinions and advice
 
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