Are monitors all junk now?

D

Demigod Mac

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Oct 13, 2008
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I've been looking for a monitor to replace my Viewsonic G225f CRT, and I've had some astonishingly bad luck so far.

Viewsonic VLED221wm
LED = good, right? It should have been, with 118% NTSC color gamut and all, but this monitor's viewing angle was its fatal flaw. Every area that my eyes were not directly focused on had a reddish tinge (even when I was viewing the direct center of the screen). Whites looked pinkish. Terribly disappointing.

HP LP2275w
Great image quality and industrial design. Unfortunately, it had rather severe input lag and made this high pitched whining noise (an internal fan, perhaps?) I tried two of these and they had the same problems.

Samsung T220
The backlight uniformity on this was so awful, what was supposed to be a solid color ended up looking like a discernible gradient. So much for TN panels.

Dell 2007FWP
Great overall image quality, but it had *six* dead pixels and a discolored portion of the screen. My mistake was buying it refurbished, I guess. These are getting hard to find in new condition from a reliable seller.

I went to Best Buy and Office Depot to test monitors. Sure enough, every one of their screens (likely all TN panels) had the uneven backlighting, with the exception of Apple's displays. "Now I understand why they're so expensive," said the salesman who let me test drive the monitors.

I'm really at a loss of what to do. I suppose I could wait for Apple to unveil their expected LED Cinema Displays in January, though that's a while off and they'll probably be expensive.

I do some amateur graphic design photo work as a hobby, so I need uniform backlighting and good image quality. I also do some gaming, so I'd prefer to avoid a screen with heavy input lag. Any suggestions?
 
NEC 2490 or 2690 SV for teh win.

They run about 1100-1300 so be prepared to fork up some cash. My 2490 just came in to day. It looks incredible.......

Check out the NEC 2690 thread and snowdog's 2490 review.
 
Demigod Mac said:
Samsung T220
The backlight uniformity on this was so awful, what was supposed to be a solid color ended up looking like a discernible gradient. So much for TN panels.
Click to expand...
I'm using a fairly cheap Acer TN panel (the AL1917W).

If you move to a side angle, the color appears off a bit, but sitting directly in front of it, the colors are deep and vibrant, much moreso than on my old CRT.

Text looked pretty bad with an ancient vid card, but once I upgraded to a card that can do its native 1440x900, it's crystal clear. Honestly, I used to think CRTs were better, but now I wouldn't go back.
 
I'd prefer a 22" screen if possible, hence my trouble as most 22" are TN panels.

I guess this means I gotta fork over a lot of cash if I want something with consistent color and lighting across the panel, eh?
 
IBM / Lenovo has a 22" that runs 1920x1200 now, and I believe it's non TN with fairly good color gamut, but again, be prepared to pay... $900+ if I remember correctly..
 
I just got a new 24inch, the Benq V2400W and i love it. i have 0 dead / stuck pixels and to me its looks great on colors


i got it for 400 bucks on amazon.com and cost 70 bucks S&H to japan.
 
I took a serious look at the 22" Lenovo Thinkvision. I may give it a try since Amazon sells it and they have a fantastic return policy. Any idea if it has input lag or any problems like that?

My most basic in-store test is to pull up Paint and floodfill a light blue color, zoom in so it's as fullscreen as possible, and check the lighting uniformity. Monitors I don't like will go from blue to light blue, top to bottom, when it should all be one single color. I don't think a single TN panel I've seen has passed my test.
 
afaik you're asking quite a bit for a TN panel.
If uniformity is that important, might be better to look at different types of panels.. though I'm no panel guru. From what I've gathered (I purchased a Samsung 2443BWX myself recently) you're asking for two contradicting qualities- TN panels are good for response time while PVA panels will give you reasonable color quality without breaking the bank (though response times are slowest). S-IPS seem to be the highest quality and response time is a little behind TN but these tend to be very expensive.
 
Demigod Mac said:
I've been looking for a monitor to replace my Viewsonic G225f CRT, and I've had some astonishingly bad luck so far.
Click to expand...

The monitors you are looking at are crap. They all use TN panels (except the Dell 2007WFP) which is why they are so cheap and looks terrible.

I recommend you look at 24" LCD monitors which uses either a PVA or IPS LCD panel. These monitors starts at around $600 shoots up to around $1,200 for the NEC LCD2490WUXi (awesome monitor, simply awesome).

The HP LP2475W is about $650 and uses a IPS panel (like the NEC), default colors are not very accurate (if you have a critical eye). A colorimeter ($100 - $300) is recommended to get the best possible colors, or you can manually adjust it to your liking (not very precise, but free).
 
LCDs have pretty much turned to crap unless you are willing to spent a few bucks to get a good one. Blame all the people who wanted HARCORE GAMER LCDs for under $200 :p
 
Every TN panel (and one MVA) I've tried in the past six weeks of shopping has been "junk".

HP W2207h. The stand was misaligned and the screen had a permanent tilting/sagging to the right, Plus the box was totally empty save for the monitor. No cords, no software, no warranty card or manual. And it appeared to be a sealed new one - someone fell asleep at the factory packing department.

HP W2007. Stuck green pixel in a noticeable spot.

HP LP2275w. Very dull color that defied calibration attempts. Plus an intermittent error message saying the monitor was "out of range" and to set it at its native resolution (it already was). Plus intermittent red horizontal lines and blue vertical lines of "static" running through the screen.

Samsung 2220WM-HAS. Worst backlight bleeding and clouding I've ever seen on any monitor. Very dull colors as a result (calibrating that one was fun).

SAMSUNG 2053BW. Tried two. Great color, contrast and brightness out of the box, but stuck bright pixels in the middle of the screen on both.

Velocity Micro W220. Got it for $139.00 at BestBuy on clearance. Screendoor pixilation whenever a screen (or my head) would move. Now I know why it was so cheap.

ASUS PG221H. Strong brownish backlight bleeding from both sides, plus a "normal" narrow band of backlight bleeding on the top and bottom. Very stong oversaturated yellow-green overtone in the colors. Tried calibrating with a Spyder 2. Helped a little, but not much. Unacceptable for the price I paid.

They've all been sent back or returned. I'm picky, this is true. But not unreasonable. I'm trying to replace a faithful Samsung 710N (TN panel 17") from 2005. No backlight bleeding, no stuck pixels, good color/contrast/brightness. I know its possible to get a decent TN panel just from my experience with that one. I just don't think manufacturers (including Samsung) make quality control much of a priority in 2008.
 
Stanley Pain said:
LCDs have pretty much turned to crap unless you are willing to spent a few bucks to get a good one. Blame all the people who wanted HARCORE GAMER LCDs for under $200 :p
Click to expand...

ahahah. agreed but my samsung 226bw looks amazing and i got a S or C panel. which GG's
 
Jeffredo said:
Velocity Micro W220. Got it for $139.00 at BestBuy on clearance. Screendoor pixilation whenever a screen (or my head) would move. Now I know why it was so cheap.
Click to expand...

heh i picked one of these up too. i figured for $139 what's the risk in trying? i noticed the screen door effect too, but also the colors were severely washed out compared to my Gateway S-PVA. so it went back to BB. great panel for someone looking to upgrade to a 22" without spending a lot of money, not so great for everyone else.
 
Apple just unveiled there "24 inch Cinema Display for $899. It will available this November :D
 
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