HP w2207 vs. Samsung 226bw

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InventorBear

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Just got back from CC. Both monitors were on display and I was able to play with them. I compared still pictures, videos, and text on both screens. Here are my findings:

1. Stills - HP is definitely better. Colors appeared more vivid and lines were sharper.
2. Text - Again, HP is the winner. Contrast appears much greater even though the specs are the same.
3. Videos - I would have to give the nod to Samsung. The highly reflective screen of the HP really obscured the dark frames.
4. Viewing angle - HP ~ 160 deg, Sammy ~ 120 deg before an appreciable drop off in picture quality.

In my opinion, the HP clearly has the edge in picture quality (eg. colors, detail, sharpness), but only because of its glossy screen. However, because the glossy screen reflects light like crazy, esp while displaying dark colors, I would not recommend it to people who primarily use their monitors for TV, movies, and games, where dark backgrounds are the norm (unless you do these activities in complete darkness thereby straining your eyes). For everything else, like work or surfing the web the HP w2207 is fantastic, displaying photo-like images. But if you are heavy into the three activities I mentioned, the Samsung 226bw is a good compromise. Just my 2 cents.

NOTE: Glare causes eye strain as well.
 
What about the response time? and ghosting??

The samsung is a 2ms while the HP is a 5ms.. this is very important for gaming. The sumsung must have the edge here.
 
Did not see any ghosting on the videos. There is really no noticeable difference between 2ms & 5ms. Anything below 10ms is fast enough ="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/lcd-parameters_2.html"

It boils down to this: If you want the best picture quality, go with the HP or another glossy model. If you're willing to sacrifice some picture quality for the convenience of using your monitor in any ambient lighting, then go with the Sammy.
 
I picked up one of these today for my wife. Two upgrades ago I had got her a Dell 2100FP as a birthday present. It was sort of a big deal at the time because I was always getting the better equipment, etc so it was sort of a way to say "I love you." So yesterday when my wife was moving her desk and PC while I was at work and attempted to plug the power connector into the S-video connector on the monitor...well...zap...shock...a dead Dell and a slightly frazzled wife. So I skipped work today and we went out and got here this monitor (boy did it cost less the Dell did back when I got it).

Its too soon and of course I wasn't the one using it (did you know the Sims doesn't support 1680x1050?):p The brightness and contrast was a bit dazzlingly although the colors look a little over saturated. I see what people mean about the viewing angles, you really do have to look this unit straight on, any other angle looks washed out. From a purely design angle I like the base a lot. One of the nicest features was that the screen can be tilted to a flat 90 degree angle which made seeing the connectors during set up a lot easier. They should have skipped the speakers as they are too painful to every listen to.:eek:

I will give it a test drive when the wife goes to church on Sunday and see how it does with Doom, FEAR and Stalker. The Dell never impressed me hence the 22" monster CRT on my desk.
 
In low-lighting conditions, would the HP be better at displaying details in dark games (like FEAR) better than the Samsung?
 
I agonized for better than 3 1/2 month about the Sammy 226bw's S vs. A panel and got very tired. Just as I didn't know what to do and was itching like hell, I found out about the HP w2207. There were 3 CCs near by and went again to see the Sammy. On display they had an S but didn't really impress me. I asked them whether they had the HP. They looked and had one. I took it and am sitting in front of it. I hadn't calibrated anything, didn't even adjust the factory settings, it's on raw, just out of the box.

First impressions.

I chose this monitor based on my experience with the w19b with its awsome picture, details and colors. The w2207 is close, but because it's a 22 in stead of 19, its colors must be better adjusted. Letters are absolutely fabulous. Though faint, there's a little bleeding at the bottom fifth of the panel. No color bleeding. The adjustable stand is very, very good and sturdy, compared with the absolutely flimsy of the Sammy.

Haven't played movies, but photos look great. In about 1/2 an hour I can't really place a final verdict on this monitor, but I think I'm going to keep it. Interestingly, even though I am a notorious wearer of eye classes, the glossiness of the panel doesn't bother me much, though CRTs did. Go figure.

Of course, this is no ISP or PVA panel. But those cost twice as much. Well, 2 months from now this monitor will probably cost 30-40 dollars less, but I couldn't bear wasting tons of times on research and reading up on material on hundreds of pages at all kinds of forums. And Lo, I ended up buying something that there was very little writing about out there, including forums, tech sites, gurus or who knows who. I hope this will help somewhat.

John.
 
I was deciding between these two also, but I decided to order the Samsung because it is a lot cheaper and much more available. After I get the rebates through it'll only cost me like 300$. Where as the HP is not even available at many online retailers and is around 390$. Tired of this damn waiting game.
 
I just did some research!It looks to me that the Hp w22 would be a better choice.The hp w2207 isnt HDCP!the Hp w22 is.Syvia!If you see this! check out this hp site http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...56AA%23ABA
It cost about $20 more.Dont think CC carries it.Might need to buy direct from HP.
UPDATE!! The above is an error!The Hp w2207 is HDCP ready.
 
sylva said:
Interestingly, even though I am a notorious wearer of eye classes, the glossiness of the panel doesn't bother me much, though CRTs did. Go figure.
Click to expand...

Really? Looking at the display with dark frames for me was like looking at a mirror, esp, with the bright lighting of the store. My CRT is nowhere close to being as reflective.
 
stanleyjohn said:
I just did some research!It looks to me that the Hp w22 would be a better choice.The hp w2207 isnt HDCP!the Hp w22 is.Syvia!If you see this! check out this hp site http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...56AA%23ABA
It cost about $20 more.Dont think CC carries it.Might need to buy direct from HP.
Click to expand...

Um, maybe you ought to do more research & get your facts straight. HP w2207 is HDCP ready. http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...g=&category=&subcat1=&catLevel=#defaultAnchor
Click on the *.pdf file at the bottom
 
Sorry! My error! I looked too early in the day!wasnt too awake yet.I like the hpw2207 style better anyhow.
 
Guys,

You can find most of the answers to your questions on the first page of the Displays thread in the subthread initiated by aarong50 with the title 'Looking for a 22"W and glossy'.

Mansize_Tissue: this monitor is not going to be used for games. However it will be used for playing movies.

I am working on this monitor since this past Saturday to lift its parameters to their optimal performance. So far colors are quite good, but not good enough.
Characters are awsome. Graphics ditto. Photos awsome. To get better colors you will have to tweak color temperature versus contrast. Since every individual display of a batch has some differences I'll be able to give out only balpark figures for those of you who will be interested. Then you will tweak those balpark figures to your own taste, eyes' and monitor's particular characteristics.

To get better information, I suggest that we merge all of the disparate subthreads into a single one dedicated to this monitor. If not, we can go between this one and the above mentioned first page of the Displays thread.

Inventory_Bear: in the other thread I mentioned the environment the monitor is embeded into. To that extent I'll mention only that I transformed one of the well ventilated closets in my apartment into a computer lab. By keeping the dor open, during light hours there's great ambient light coming in. The monitor is facing the door at a distance of 4'2". Yeah, there's reflexion, but only from dark images. During the dark hours I project the light of a high intensity lamp (lower phase) onto the monitor to compensate for its luminosity. The light is coming from the right side (it can come from either side) making an about 10 degrees angle with the bezel so I don't see the bulb. However, this being a wide monitor, moving pictures cover it all and the succession of scenes usually is fast enough to compensate for glossiness. Besically it comes down to a competition between the eye's time constant and the speed of motion on the screen. The problem with the anti-glare coatings is that they wash out colors too much, well at least to my taste. Till now, I've edited movies on a 15" anti-glare monitor. You'd ask 15", why, that's pathetic, and it was. But editing movies means single static frames where the quality of the picture is paramount. So is Photo editing. But I am preaching to the choir, you all know about this.

Taking and uploading pictures: this task will have to be done by someone else, since I do not have a digital camera. Maybe in the future I'll have the funds, but not now after the purchase of this monitor. Remember though, this is a glossy monitor and I don't think taking pictures will prove to be easy.

My strongest gripe about this monitor so far is its narrow horizontal viewing angle. I thought it has finally been resolved for all TN panels. This doesn't appear be an issue with the Sammy 226wb.

John.
 
Thanks for the accolades Mansize. I haven't owned the Sammy 226wb. I have the HP w2207 because of the S vs. A panel craze. I am a man of statistics and simply put there were many more complaints about the As than the Ss. However, I've seen it (that is the 226bw) at CC and decided that the LG had better colors and less bleeding though without swearing by the LG. But that may have been due to a difference in individual monitors and not between whole batches. And, of course, I haven't seen the 226wt performing under happier circumstances. CC's display software and common signal sourcing are totally abominable. But so are BB's. Under these conditions no one on this Earth, Moon or Mars could discern among the many parameters we're looking for when putting a monitor under scrutiny. The HP w19b was connected to an individual computer and they let me play with it. It's a glossy monitor with exceptional picture, awsome graphics, etc. I said to myself that if this is so good then its bigger successor will measure up to it equally well. So far so good, but I don't think I'll succeed in obtaining a picture of similar quality for the simple reason that the difference in resolution is not all that great. And then, no matter how we look at things, bigger monitors have bigger lighting issues as far as uniformity and homogeneity are concerned.

Anyway, I got (much) more work to do in my attempt to max out this monitor's possibilities.

John.
 
Yesterday I did a small experiment by installing two 15 watt 18" long fluorescent lights in my computer lab closet. Installation was done so that the lights won't be visible on, and reflected by, the display but the generated incident light's angle still permits good effect on the panel. Well, amazing things happened.

1. The monitor's strong brightness now is much better compensated. I think this happens because the color temp of the neons approaches that of the monitor but it's not exactly the same.

2. The black is much blacker. Silly, but this is the impression generated.

3. In general the colors are better.

4. Eye strain is gone.

As a conclusion, subjective though it may seem, your monitor will be as good as the illuminating environment it is sunk into. I think this may make sense. Just think a bit. Suppose you're listening to music that has high dynamic (great differences between weak and strong signals, ex. classical or big band or theatrical play). If you have an ordinary living room, the best system will render the sound under very limited accoustical conditions. The same room if treated accoustically will sound completely different. It looks like this monitor will turn out to be a great one.
 
I have the HP and use it for gaming and movies and I love it. The glare is not bad at all and the color is great.
 
Today I got my DVI cable from Radio Shack. It's not Belkin but StarTech. No problem, it's very high quality (thick which tells me it's well shielded and will last). $9.99 + 5 shipping, but shipping went down to 1.66 because I ordered 2 more items. I connected the cable to my other computer with 128 Megs of card memory. The picture is breathtaking and have to tell you I'm glad I had the guts to get this monitor despite the lack of references. I watched movies in Media Player Classic. Had to jack up contrast. The picture is great. What's so good about MPC is that video adjustments affect only that application. When you exit it, the monitor will be working with its own configured parameters. The menu's monitor switch worked perfectly. I have 4 computers, three with analog and one with digital/analog video output. The one with digital is connected to the monitor independently, the other three are connected via a passive KVM. Picture is great even with an el cheapo 8 Meg Vanta RGB card as well as a formerly very expensive Diamond Stilth 2000 4 meg card. But the digital is just, well, gorgeous. However, even this Predator 9250 is a cheap one, it cost $34.50 at Microcenter 2 year ago. The picture would be even better with a 512Meg faster card but that will have to wait.

I have a question though: wide format movies are played with the usual strips on top and bottom of the screen. But I think the strips are too wide, about 1 1/2 inch each. I know, I know, it's 16/10 in stead of 16/9 however I wonder whether there is some way to compensate for the strips because one looses about 20% of screen real estate.

My previous complaints about yellow rendition are things of the past. Further, I don't think that a monitor calibrator will be needed till the necessity of matching with color printers will occur. But, again, my complaints about colors being somewhat unnatural are also a thing of the past.

Foz2001: No, it's the w2007's bigger brother, the 22" w2207. I could've bought the 20"er but I wanted a bigger one. If course, I assume manufacturers are working on 24" TN panels and I wouldn't be astounded if HP came out with a glossy one 1/2 year from now.

Request: anyone who could send me their Vista sample pictures would be much obliged to. Thanks with anticipation.

John.
 
sylva said:
Foz2001: No, it's the w2007's bigger brother, the 22" w2207. I could've bought the 20"er but I wanted a bigger one. If course, I assume manufacturers are working on 24" TN panels and I wouldn't be astounded if HP came out with a glossy one 1/2 year from now.
Click to expand...

No no, I mean in terms of same specs despite the size difference.
 
I recommend that you go to HP's site. CC's site's specs are somewhat limited. I would assume that at 20" the specs would be the same and probably the picture sharper due to lower real estate but same amount of pixels, though the 22 incher is very very sharp and crisp especially in digital mode. ;)
 
Yeah, I read the review this morning. It's not comprehensive enough to give a real technical appraisal.

InventorBear: as I wrote in one of my previous posts, DVD is great IF one plays with contrast. At first I had the same qualms as you had. However, after some tweaking, both in the monitor's menu and Media Classic Player's configuration, I got a pretty good movie screen. The DVDs are not HD, therefore one needs to sit at some distance to get a clear and colorwise correct picture. It's by far not a monitor issue, but a DVD resolution issue. Remember though, if you want to run HDDVD, a video card that can decode it is a must.

BTW, has anyone tried to run 720p, 1080i or 1080p on this monitor? I don't have anything of that nature, so I'm waiting for someone else to issue opinion.

Stan, I am glad you're following the evolution of this thread. Again, this monitor is great in VGA mode, but when it's run in digital mode gives absolutely fabulous imagery :) :) :).
 
sylva said:
BTW, has anyone tried to run 720p, 1080i or 1080p on this monitor? I don't have anything of that nature, so I'm waiting for someone else to issue opinion.
Click to expand...

The monitor's resolution isn't high enough to support 1080i or 1080p, is it? A 24" monitor, with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 (i believe), would be able to cope but not 1680 x 1050.
 
Its my Birthday today and it looks like ill get some money and am looking for a WS LCD and just found this and had been looking at the Samsungs 206BW and see the panel crap thats going on with them. So I was wondering how the HP W2007 is in PC gaming and if anyone has it hooked up to a 360?



Thanks.
 
Mansize, you're right about this, however it'll still show up as high resolution, though not true HD. Close though. I wonder how the picture will look and how wide the side black striping will be. This is why unless someone tries these standards out, our discussion is bound to remain theoretical. In any case, the monitor is gorgeous and even if 2 months from now it'll get down to somwhere in the $340s I won't be too piseed.
 
I went to bestbuy today to check out this monitor (2207). They had it hooked up to a new HP computer. I first noticed that there was ghosting all over the image, so im like wtf.... then I checked and they wernt even running it at native resolution. I tried to change the resolution in vista, but the native resolution wasnt even supported by the video card (nvdia something...) Ive previously owned a 215tw (high end lcd), so I wanted to compare them., First, the viewing angle is retarded. the wallpaper was that colorful one that comes with vista, and if you move you head aroung the display all the colors change a lot. This is probably a problem with the lcd type (TN, pva.. etc..) but still I didnt know the colors could change that much. I want either a 226bw or this monitor so I have to compare them at a store that has a proper setup.
 
Yes, it's a display issue. TN panels have narrower vision angle compared to even the S-PVAs, let alone the ISPs. However, they're much less expensive. As I said many times before, my MAIN qualm with the HP w2207 is its narrow viewing angles, V & H. If you don't move your head too much, say about +/- 2.5", everything is fine. I can more than live with it. Colors are gorgeous, graphic and character content stunningly clear and crisp.

Now, imho, you were extremely lucky to have found ANY newly released monitor hooked up to a single computer. For ex. here, around the DC area, BB has on display four 24" monitors, all connected to that ever abominable presentation software run from a single source, NONE at native resolution. So what can your above average customer ever see from that lowly, negligent, amateurish, setup? They just don't care. CC, where I bought my w2207, is the same, NOTHING at its native resolution. The only explanation for this is that they also have 17 and 19" monitors connected to the same source and this is why resolution cannot be set to native. But, then again, why single sources? Why not implement a second source for the smaller monitors? More over, they didn't even have the w2207 on display, and I took it home based on what I've seen from its earlier cousin, the w19b. Exception to this rule is Microcenter, a much smaller chain.

The Samsung 215tw is a very good monitor. The 226bw is also a very good monitor. From what I've seen at non-gloss monitors though, subjectively stated, they're not as vivid and crisp as the glossys. Critical is how the monitor is positioned height and tilt wise. Mine's center is about 3/4 - 1" below eye level and the tilt is about 25 degrees to the imaginary gravitational perpendicular dropped from the ceiling.
 
I have in my possession an HP W2207, a Samsung 226WB, an NEC 20WMGX2, and an LG L246-WP so I can hook any two and compare side by side. All 4 of these monitors are very good, maybe even what most would consider great. Currently, I have the HP and Sammy connected and I can honestly tell you that the HP has a better display ..... in my opinion, of course. The colors and are much more vibrant and the text is crystal clear. The Sammy is going back to BestBuy tomorrow. I like the HP so much I may purchase a second one and run dual 22's. But then again, I may just use the single HP and wait until NEC releases their glossy 24. :D The NEC and LG screens stay here. I'll keep them around.
 
Yeah, ODNT, all thumbs up for the w2207. One more thing I did not mention much is backlight bleeding. There's an article at http://www.bexox.com/showdown.htm comparing a few of the more popular 24" monitors, accompanied by a rich slew of photographs. The photos about the BenQ241WZ are about 1MB, so they've been taken at better resolution. If that's true, I can attest that, imho, bleeding is less on my display than on this great S-PVA panel.
 
ODNT said:
I have in my possession an HP W2207, a Samsung 226WB, an NEC 20WMGX2, and an LG L246-WP so I can hook any two and compare side by side. All 4 of these monitors are very good, maybe even what most would consider great. Currently, I have the HP and Sammy connected and I can honestly tell you that the HP has a better display ..... in my opinion, of course. The colors and are much more vibrant and the text is crystal clear. The Sammy is going back to BestBuy tomorrow. I like the HP so much I may purchase a second one and run dual 22's. But then again, I may just use the single HP and wait until NEC releases their glossy 24. :D The NEC and LG screens stay here. I'll keep them around.
Click to expand...
How is the HP 22" vs the NEC? Got my eye on these two.
 
The NEC is better than the HP, I think. Plus, the NEC has a built-in TV tuner. The NEC does cost an extra $250 but it has a 3 year warranty versus 1 year on the HP. If money is no object, get the NEC.
 
ODNT said:
The NEC is better than the HP, I think. Plus, the NEC has a built-in TV tuner. The NEC does cost an extra $250 but it has a 3 year warranty versus 1 year on the HP. If money is no object, get the NEC.
Click to expand...
I'm taking you haven't put the two side by side? The tuner doesn't really matter to me. Just image quality. Thanks for the info.
 
Oh yeah, I've put the two side by side. I think the NEC is a better screen but somebody else may say the exact opposite. Like I said before, if money is not an object, get the NEC. If somebody asks me to recommend either the HP or the Sammy, I'd recommend the HP. If somebody asks me to recommend a 24 inch screen, I'd definitely recommend the LG. I had a Gateway 24 inch screen back in November for about 2 weeks and it went back and was replaced by the NEC. In my opinion, the LG is a better screen but the Gateway has better on screen controls.
 
ODNT said:
Oh yeah, I've put the two side by side. I think the NEC is a better screen but somebody else may say the exact opposite. Like I said before, if money is not an object, get the NEC. If somebody asks me to recommend either the HP or the Sammy, I'd recommend the HP. If somebody asks me to recommend a 24 inch screen, I'd definitely recommend the LG. I had a Gateway 24 inch screen back in November for about 2 weeks and it went back and was replaced by the NEC. In my opinion, the LG is a better screen but the Gateway has better on screen controls.
Click to expand...

Do you have any test shots side by side?

I know it's a TN vs AS-IPS, but color dithering aside...how do the colors compare to one another? What about text visibility / sharpness / contrast / etc?

I'd imagine with a smaller dot pitch, the NEC would be noticeably sharper, or do you have to really look closely to tell the difference?
 
perfect, i do not have any shots to upload. sorry, dude. the color differences between the HP and the NEC is noticeable. There's no doubt about that, I must admit. I love my NEC! The text is also noticebly sharper and more crisp (you don't have to look closely) versus any of the other 3 screens. The NEC is the best of the 4 in my opinion, to be honest. As I said before, if the money is not a restraint, I highly recommend the NEC over the HP and the Samsung. If cash is an issue and the choices are the HO and the Sammy, I recommend the HP. The Sammy will be going back to BB by noon today.

hacksaw, when i went to CC to get the HP, the store didn't even have it on display. The salesperson had to look on the computer to see if they had any in stock. He had no idea the chain even had the monitor. It always pays to ask. Also, not all BB stores stock the HP. I know my local store doesn't. That's why I had to drive to Indy to get it.
 
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