Gradient-like viewing...

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NyteBlade

Weaksauce
Joined
May 25, 2007
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I recently purchased a L1933 monitor, mainly because of the nice specs (2 ms response time, looked decent in the store, high contrast ratio etc.). However, it has a rather nasty issue I believe...on about 80% of websites, it produces a color gradient when there is no gradient. Colors are noticably lighter at the top than they are at the bottom. I cannot even possibly describe how annoying this is when trying to do any sort of web design. I'm not exactly a professional, but when the color changes drastically it annoys the living crap out of me.

I called up LG. I managed to get "darker on the top than the bottom.." out before the woman immediatly said it was a backlight issue and told me they'd send another one out and it should be here within 2-3 days. When I first bought it from Circuit City, I returned it for another one and it had the exact same problem. It seems like LG might know something I don't (manufactoring defect, or maybe they changed the panels or something?).

I was just wondering whether it *was* a backlight problem and just getting a good monitor is a crapshoot, or whether it was just something with this particular model or TN panels in general. I'm one of those people that is generally anal about things such as color consistency and such, so if all of these monitors are going to have the same problem(s), is there some other type of monitor I should look into, or am I on the 'waiting for OLED or related technology bus?

Thanks in advance!
 
All TN panels have this type of behavior. They all have poor verticle viewing angles.

H-IPS and S-IPS panels don't have any color shifting or viewing angle problem. You should check out IPS monitors. There are quite a few threads where people are looking for IPS monitors, check them out.

The VA-type panels have horizontal color shift. S-PVA's typically have the worst horizontal shift. The new A-MVA panel is supposed to have improved in this area.
 
I'm not too sure whether this is a viewing angle issue or not. Even if I look at it straight forward, it still exhibits that kind of behavior...noticibly darker on top, noticibily lighter on the bottom. I can tilt it, move my chair, look at it from 40 different directions and it's still the same.

Is this a TN panel issue, or is there just something wrong with this monitor/monitor model? Could anyone recommend a decent 19" non-widescreen IPS panel?
 
This is a viewing angle problem. Even when looking dead on, most TN panels will have noticeably uneven brightness from the top to the bottom. Looking at the LCD from a lower angle will really worsen this problem.
 
Hey everyone,
I decided to post a bit of an update here and see if I could get some more advice. I got a replacement from LG, this is my 3rd replacement so far, and it does the exact same thing. Gradient-like viewing, colors darker on top than they are on the bottom. I called LG again, and they said that once I returned the replacement they'd be willing to send another model...either a L196WTQ (widescreen) or some type of L1953.

After a bit of research, for some reason the L1953 appears to be much newer, but actually has a LOWER contrast ratio (2000:1 instad of 3000:1) and a 5 ms response time instead of a 2 ms. The widescreen L196WTQ is the same way. It looks like they both use TN panels. Not too sure why the newer ones would have worse specs....

Given that it's been more than 30 days since I purchased this monitor, I doubt Circuit City would be helpful at all. I'm doubting LG would be willing to give me any sort of refund, and being a college student, simply getting rid of this monitor and buying a new one wouldn't be good at all.

Does LG make any 19" S-IPS panels, or even some sort of PVA/MVA panel that I could ask they give me and see if I could just pay the difference or something? Will the newer models they offered to send me be any better at the gradient issue? I'd hate to sell this thing on eBay too...I'd be looking at a $100 or so loss :( I think it'd be a nice monitor for hardcore gamers, but at this point I'm not too sure what to do...
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
I think you are pretty much boned, LG have a very poor selection of monitors. The only way you can get a 8bit panel from them (at least in Austrlia) is to buy a 32" LCD TV.
 
Destroid said:
I think you are pretty much boned, LG have a very poor selection of monitors. The only way you can get a 8bit panel from them (at least in Austrlia) is to buy a 32" LCD TV.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I looked, the only one they have with an 8-bit panel is the L2000...which is $550 or something, and I highly doubt they'd even consider for a moment giving me one of those as a replacement.

I guess my only option at this point is to get the newer model, hope it's better in the backlight/viewing angle department and maybe makes the problem a lot better...if not, I wonder if a widescreen TN would be any better at viewing angles/more even backlighting? Maybe with any luck they'll have a replacement with a VA panel or an older one with an S-IPS one they'll exchange one with. Doubtful, but I'm almost at the edge of my sanity.
 
Destroid said:
I think you are pretty much boned, LG have a very poor selection of monitors. The only way you can get a 8bit panel from them (at least in Austrlia) is to buy a 32" LCD TV.
Click to expand...

The current 24" LG is definitely 8-bit.
 
applebook said:
The current 24" LG is definitely 8-bit.
Click to expand...

I REALLY wish they'd send me one of those as a replacement.
I'll just have to call LG on Monday and see what they'll do. Maybe I'll be able to speak with a tech and see what they say about it - see if it was some sort of a backlight problem that was fixed in a newer model or something stupid or what the new model changed besides a reduction in specs :rolleyes:

I think if I had to do this all over again, I'd buy a Dell 2007WFP and just play the panel lottery :p Unfourtantly, at this point I don't really have much of a choice now besides dealing with LG or taking out a loan ;)
 
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