IPS 2nd chance

[k9wazere]

Hey Short-time lurker, first-time poster The search for the ideal monitor is never-ending, isn't it?

For years I've been using a Philips 20" S-IPS. It seems it is small enough not to notice the IPS "glow" I've recently discovered.

Then I upgraded to a Dell 2412M. It was great for desktop/text, provided you aren't looking at predominantly black pictures. It was horrid for movies with dark scenes. The four corners could not display black, at all. Black in any corner was light grey/silver. Not even a dark grey that I could ignore. It was like the moon reflecting off a puddle, and it drove me to distraction. Almost ruined "Inception" for me

Eventually, after having sampled two replacements from Dell, I decided e-IPS was not a viable panel type for a 24" or bigger monitor. I was probably a bit hasty to write off the entire IPS technology, however.

(The Dell also lacks 1:1 pixel mapping for 16:9 sources, or a HDMI input.)

Since then, I've also tried a 32" VA TV. It seems I'm a very forgiving gamer, because I didn't notice any blur or ghosting or slow response that VA screens are supposed to have. Given that VA tech is supposed to be excellent for blacks, I found that not to be the case with the TV. With a good, dark black level, details were lost in dark areas. To get those details back, I had to increase black level to dark grey, no better than IPS.

My priorities are:

-everyday usage. desktop/text (web browsing)
-movies
-games

I game more than I watch movies, but as said, I'm a very forgiving gamer. I don't notice ghosting and I don't need 120hz. So I'm elevating movies above games in my deciding factors.

IPS glow is my #1 contention with the technology, which otherwise has everything I want. A-TW polarisers aren't used anymore (shame). e-IPS seems to be a step backwards from older S-IPS displays.

But I also don't have Eizo deep pockets My budget is an absolute max of £300, which I think translates to roughly $350 once you account for tax and regional pricing.

Is there anything worth considering in IPS land, or is the Dell about as good as it gets? If I hate the glow on the Dell, will I find that glow on all other IPS screens?

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'm in the same boat, and so far i'm close to opting for a Fujitsu p23t-6 (found it at 300 euros).

Here's the PRAD review:

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2011/review-fujitsu-p23t-6-ips.html

The one thing that might convince me is a real gaming test performance by one of the forumites here. Everything else looks great, even though PRAD votes it as merely "good", not sure why. From what they said you can't beat this monitor if you want to cover all grounds of performance, not at that price.

 

[cvgd]

Do you still have the Dell?

If so, what brightness are you using it at?

Does the glow disappear when you are looking at the affected area straight on? IE, when you are looking at the monitor straight on in the center of the screen, the corners should display some reduction in contrast. If you shift your head over so that you are directly perpendicular to the top left corner, does the glow in that corner disappear (and the glow in on the right side increase)?

How far away are you sitting from your monitor?

There are two issues that can cause contrast reductions at the periphery of an IPS monitor -- backlight bleeding, which is a produced by the manufacturing process and can chance from monitor to monitor and manufacturer to manufacturer, and IPS glow, which is inherent in the panel technology, to a degree. The above questions will help you determine which issue you are dealing with, as they can appear similar.

If the glow disappears when you are directly perpindicular to a portion of the screen, you are dealing with IPS glow. If you move further away from the monitor and the contrast in the corners improves, you are dealing with IPS glow. If neither of those shifts has an impact, and reducing the brightness has a significant impact on the corner-contrast reduction, you are dealing with backlight bleeding. It's uncommon to have bad backlight bleeding across multiple samples of the same monitor, but not impossible.

There isn't a great deal of variation in IPS glow across the same panel, though there is some across different variations of IPS technology, and there may also be across different backlights (ie, LED v. CCFL).

If you find IPS to be unacceptable because of glow, there are a number of VA monitors that may work for you. You shouldn't assume that your experience with the television will be the same with a monitor; the issue you're dealing with is called "black crush", which is related to the gamma shift inherent in VA, but varies in degree with different *VA technologies.

I believe the NEC EX231Wp-BK is the most recent monitor on the market with a cPVA panel, and it is < $300 in the states.

http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop -monitors/ex231wp-bk

BenQ & others have released MVA panels with high contrast ratios, but I have no experience with them.

 

[k9wazere]

Does the glow disappear when you are looking at the affected area straight on?

Yes, it did. I had the brightness pretty low too, about 25% iirc. And contrast at 50%. I don't like my whites too bright, as I spend long periods in front of a screen, and lots of brightness dries my eyes out quickly.

Honestly, I'd rather have a 16:10 screen, and I'm not sure there are many VA displays around with 1920x1200. Everything seems to be 1080p now, which on a display < 30", looks "squished" vertically (to my eye).

But I would like to connect to a 16:9 source, so 1:1 pixel mapping is important too Am I being too specific here? Does any monitor exist with

-no "glow"/good blacks
-1:1 mapping
-HDMI
-16:10

It seems perhaps that is too much to ask for all at one time

 

[Tup3x]

I am in similar situation. Ghosting has honeslty never been an issue to me, no matter what display but I would love 75Hz support. However picture quality comes first. I hate my current monitors picture quality. Washed out TN crap with extremely poor black levels and contrast.

I most likely order Fujitsu P23T-6P IPS tomorrow (*checks clock* or actually when I woke up).

The 24" Fujitsu would suit your needs pretty nicely. Only issue is that it has only DP, DVI and D-SUB connections. I really like it but for gaming I'd rather take 1080p display.

 

[tangoseal]

There is always going to be glow with an IPS do the INSANE heavy amount of backlighting that it takes to penetrate the IPS matrix (pixels). I have yet to see an IPS that dosent have some sort of glow behind it.

The only screen that doesnt glow that is better than an IPS is my Plasma TV.

 

[tbNB]

I currently have 4 of these Dell U2412M monitors and all of them have very similar (if not exact) IPS glow, but none of them is objectionable when viewed at finger length with brightness at 30ish (calibrated 120 cd/m2) and contrast setting at 75. All but one measure over 1000 to 1 static contrast. When I sit even further back (in movie watching mode), you cannot see the corner glow at all.

The downside as the OP stated, no 1:1 scaling for consoles and no HDMI, although the latter is not an issue with the proper HDMI to DVI cable.

So bottom line for me, unless you need the 1:1 scaling for an external console, I think the U2412M is a great choice in the 24" 1920x1200 category. I am having to return one for a color uniformity issue, but I've decided to utilize 3 of these for home and work.

 

[cvgd]

It sounds to me like you'd ideally have an older dell, maybe a U2408, which has a PVA panel and 1920x1200 resolution with a wide array of inputs (HP LP2465 and Samsung 244t were similar, iirc). They are discontinued, though they can occasionally be found refurbished on the dell outlet or at dfsdirect. I'm not sure of the availability of those markets in GBR.

Honestly, you might want to try the Sony Playstation monitor. I haven't seen any decent reviews of it as a computer monitor, but it has a reported contrast ration > 5000 and the price has fallen to < $300 at Best Buy. It has a glossy VA panel, 1920x1080 resolution, and 60HZ refresh.

 

[Pylon]

The Dell 2408WFP and the Lenovo L220x (22" 1920x1200) should be good for what you're looking for, though both are out of production.