LG L246W

BlueMak said:
In the Nvvidia control panel, under Display, choose Manage custom resolutions.
You should now have two tick options, one of them is the HDTV one..
Click to expand...

Is this available in the Vista drivers? Using Advanced Settings, under DIsplay I have:

Change resolution
Change flat panel scaling
Adjust desktop color settings
Rotate display
Set up multiple displays
 
The current Nvidia Vista beta drivers don't support the option to manage custom resolutions. And none of the scaling options work other than the monitor one that is set by default.
 
I'm actually very unhappy with this monitor. My almost two year old Samsung 244T PVA panel has more detail in dark scenes and can actually render a greyscale gradient correctly without banding. It's really funny when I see this in a monitor today, especially one that costs this much.

If there is anyone out there who knows how to fix or adjust settings on this monitor to get a clean/smooth grayscale gradient(black to white) without banding, please tell me. I am just infuriated by this.
 
I haven't seen any banding whatsoever with this monitor.

are you sure you are running on 32bit colour?

If you use an Nvidia card, try the nvidia tool to adjust the monitor manualy.
 
There is banding on this monitor and most other LCDs to some degree. You can see banding when viewing a grayscale gradient. The panel might not be using a true 8-bit but a 6-bit+FRC panel. But I got mine for $499 so I'm not complaining. The Samsung 244T is more expensive ($699) and has much more input lag.
 
dark_reign said:
There is banding on this monitor and most other LCDs to some degree. You can see banding when viewing a grayscale gradient. The panel might not be using a true 8-bit but a 6-bit+FRC panel. But I got mine for $499 so I'm not complaining. The Samsung 244T is more expensive ($699) and has much more input lag.
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The panel is the same P-MVA as in the BenQ FP241W and is definitely a true 8-bit.

When I first got mine, I noticed horrendous banding and was wondering why no one else had reported this. It turned out that the problem was caused by the settings in the Nvidia control panel, not by the monitor -- I reset them to the default and I haven't had any problems since. YMMV but you might try adjusting the options on your video card, as BlueMak suggested.
 
You can still see banding on gradients. Open up Paint and go to Colors >> Edit Colors >> Define Custom Colors. This is a panel/LCD issue and not a video card issue.
 
I just noticed something. sometimes when i am playing a game, and the antivirus updater popup (antivir free) caused my game to minimize (yeah i fixed that) when i go back in to the game there is usually a discontinuity around 1/3 to 1/4 of the way from the bottom. it looks like it has missed 1 ot 2 lines or maybe its ofset to the side . anyways i can live with it, when the next map comes up it is gone.
 
BlueMak said:
I haven't seen any banding whatsoever with this monitor.

are you sure you are running on 32bit colour?

If you use an Nvidia card, try the nvidia tool to adjust the monitor manualy.
Click to expand...


Yes, I am using 32-bit color. Also my graphics card uses an ATI chipset.

Reading your post and some of the other posts below might lead me to believe I could fix this issue with the graphics card control pane. However, I notice the banding in the cross media bar(XMB) on the PS3 when I hook it up to the HDMI. For example, when I select any icon(game, photo, music) in the XMB and press Triangle, I get a list of options with a gradient background(gray to transparent). The banding is very severe. I can see eilliptical banding as the background fades. This is different however on the PC. Making a white to black gradient image, using a paint program, I see vertical banding. I really would like to know if someone has fixed this banding issue for PC and non-PC devices, hooked up through the HDMI.
 
dark_reign said:
You can still see banding on gradients. Open up Paint and go to Colors >> Edit Colors >> Define Custom Colors.
Click to expand...
I don't mean to be rude, but that's a terrible example -- that's not actually a gradient, it's a series of discrete steps. Try it on other monitors, it will never look smooth. Try the gradient test on this page: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ . Do you see any banding on those images? I don't, even if I rotate them vertically.

There may be slight banding on this monitor -- I'm trying to claim it's perfect. Once I adjusted it properly, though, I wasn't able to find any on any of the examples I looked at, so if it's there, it must be very subtle.
 
bootstrap said:
I don't mean to be rude, but that's a terrible example -- that's not actually a gradient, it's a series of discrete steps. Try it on other monitors, it will never look smooth. Try the gradient test on this page: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ . Do you see any banding on those images? I don't, even if I rotate them vertically.

There may be slight banding on this monitor -- I'm trying to claim it's perfect. Once I adjusted it properly, though, I wasn't able to find any on any of the examples I looked at, so if it's there, it must be very subtle.
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You're right as that was a bad example. My bad.

I just tested a white to black gradient in Photoshop and only see just a hint of banding toward the darker end. You really can't see it unless you look really close.
 
yoshi9784 said:
I don't notice any banding on the gradient image on the test page you suggested(http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/); however, it does still exist on the PS3 and in the image rendered by my paint program.
Click to expand...

I don't have a PS3, but, have you considered that the problem might not lie with this monitor but with either the PS3 or the specific graphics in it?


Again, the Paint program thingy is a terrible thing to see banding since it has deliberately, steps in it.

The link that the guy provided above will not show banding unless you really really really try to search for it and be very very very picky. In which case you can see tiny "banding".
But to claim the monitor has banding issues is like saying Kate Moss has fat issues.
 
but how about detail in dark scenes? in both games and movies...

how is it compared to other tfts and a crt?

can you actually see anything, or do you have to guess what is happening as on most lcds?
 
Run Display Optimization Wizard.
The above is your friend.

I followed the instruction and when I finished I had (and have) excellent details without losing colour or darks.

It's in the Nvidia control panel under the Display heading.

that is under XP, don't know about Vista.


Before this monitor I have (recently) used a lot 2 monitors, one 4:3 17" Viewsonic, and a Samsung 19" 930BF, plus my laptop.
The LG blows them away.

I haven't used a CRT monitor for over 1.5 years, so don't remember much apart that I can't work on them any more for how they are never truly flat, and that they kill my eyes.
 
I just picked one up from BB yesterday and I guess I am a little bit disappointed. Here is what I have noticed:

- Noticeable ghosting when strafing from left to right, especially on text and objects that are close to me - trees for example.

- Pretty noticeable banding - in HL2: EP1 I am walking around the dark areas by that big blue orb and I see horizontal lines all the way down the darkened hallways. In the banding test at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ I do notice vertical lines starting at about 1/3 in.

On the plus side, blacks are great and image quality is superb. I still think I will be returning it though and waiting for an LCD that doesn't have the above issues.

EDIT: I reset display defaults and reran the calibration tool and the banding is nearly undetectable on the test image and less pronounced in HL2.
 
Well. I finally got an ADC adapter so I can connect both of my LGs to my older G4. Upon doing so, I notice that my right one does not have the brightness of my left one. It has a washed appearance, even when they are both calibrated.

I also notice that when I am not mirroring my blacks are off on one. I am pretty sure that is due to the video card not having a dual LUT.

I am thinking of sending my one in for warranty. It seems dull and not as sharp as my other one. It also has a murky sort of look. The brightness is the big thing. It is off by a bit at the same settings as my other one.

I am pleased with them though. I will let you know how LG service is.
 
I returned my HP w2408 to Circuit City yesterday and picked up one of these. (matched Best Buy $499) I really like the w2408 in all aspects except the TN viewing angles. The LG was $100 cheaper though and it is the first monitor in a long time I'm having trouble finding something wrong with. :D I've had a lot of PVA/MVA panels in the past and always ended up returning them because of something like ghosting, input lag, etc. This panel is great though. I have it in sRGB mode hooked up to my Mac Pro that has both OS X And Vista on it. Colors are great. Black levels are great (A dark game like Bioshock looks wonderful). No backlight bleeding, no input lag, barely a hint of ghosting (compared to the Dells and Gateways I've owned you might as well say the LG has no ghosting at all). I'm very nitpicky and this is the first monitor in a long time I don't have a nagging feeling that I should return it and look for something better.

I'm upgrading from an HP L2335 S-IPS panel, which I've been trying to replace for a while now in search of better contrast/blacks/colors. I'll give it the full return period, but I think I've found my next monitor. Funny it ends up being one of the cheapest 24" models available. But hey, I'm not complaining.
 
ctishue,
can you give me your view by comparing the HP w2408 to LG L246w in term of Color/Contrast/Black and Image quality?
thank you.
 
BlueMak said:
I don't have a PS3, but, have you considered that the problem might not lie with this monitor but with either the PS3 or the specific graphics in it?


Again, the Paint program thingy is a terrible thing to see banding since it has deliberately, steps in it.

The link that the guy provided above will not show banding unless you really really really try to search for it and be very very very picky. In which case you can see tiny "banding".
But to claim the monitor has banding issues is like saying Kate Moss has fat issues.
Click to expand...


Then why does my Samsung 244T not display any of these symptoms? It displays the gradient just fine as well as anything PS3 related. With the 244T, I can even make out more detail in the dark scenes in games like Lair.

As for the banding in the image I created in a paint program. I made the gradient using the gradient fill tool in my paint shop pro program. I did not just open the color panel and look at the gradient in there.
 
yoshi9784 said:
Then why does my Samsung 244T not display any of these symptoms? It displays the gradient just fine as well as anything PS3 related. With the 244T, I can even make out more detail in the dark scenes in games like Lair.

As for the banding in the image I created in a paint program. I made the gradient using the gradient fill tool in my paint shop pro program. I did not just open the color panel and look at the gradient in there.
Click to expand...



Well, I don't know. As I said I experience no banding with PC and Xbox 360.
The details are great. I play all kind of games and mostly FPS and strategy games. I haven't noticed anything like that.
 
yoshi9784 said:
Then why does my Samsung 244T not display any of these symptoms? It displays the gradient just fine as well as anything PS3 related. With the 244T, I can even make out more detail in the dark scenes in games like Lair.
Click to expand...

If the 244T uses a S-PVA panel it might do a bit better with shadow detail. One thing crucial to getting a decent black level and better shadow detail on the L246W is to run it in sRGB mode and calibrate the gamma to 2.2. The banding is barely noticeable on mine but it does exist.
 
Maybe I should be more specific. The banding is mostly seen on the grayscale gradients(black to white). The banding is much less apparent on the blues, greens, and reds.


Also, to the sly comment on Lair--you should try it before you project hate on it. The controls are actually good and many of my Xbox360 fanboy friends who have played my game a very confused over the poor ratings given to the game due to the controls.

But let's stay on topic. This thread is about the the LG L246wp, not amazing PS3 games.


dark_reign said:
If the 244T uses a S-PVA panel it might do a bit better with shadow detail. One thing crucial to getting a decent black level and better shadow detail on the L246W is to run it in sRGB mode and calibrate the gamma to 2.2. The banding is barely noticeable on mine but it does exist.
Click to expand...



How would I adjust gamma, without going into the computer graphics card control panel? Adjust the greens?
 
yoshi9784 said:
How would I adjust gamma, without going into the computer graphics card control panel? Adjust the greens?
Click to expand...
You can't on this monitor. The video card CP is the only way to adjust gamma. With sRGB you will need to use the CP to adjust color and contrast as well. It's not ideal but the User mode on the monitor has poor black level and contrast ratio.
 
I have one of these monitors, and I'm wondering: Is there a better 24" for PC gaming only?
 


another one joins the club. trying to fine tune it at the moment . looks fantastic at first sight:cool:
 
M4573R said:
I have one of these monitors, and I'm wondering: Is there a better 24" for PC gaming only?
Click to expand...
I think that depends how you define "better". :) If you're only interested in improving response time and willing to sacrifice color uniformity and viewing angles, lots of people seem to be happy with the Samsung 245BW. It's a little faster than the LG, since it uses a TN panel, but I think the LG is a better all-around monitor, especially in terms of color. If you're only interested in gaming, though, the Samsung may be worth a look.

Since you're only interested in PC gaming, I'd rule out the BenQ FP241W and its variants, since it's essentially the same panel with more connectivity options (s-video, composite, etc.). I'd also stay away from the Gateway FPD2485W and the Dell 2407-HC because there have been lots of reports about inverse ghosting caused by the overdrive (i.e. when things move quickly across the screen they sometimes leave trails of a different color behind). I'd don't believe the regular Dell 2407 (non-HC) has this problem, but I'm not sure there's much of an advantage to switching to that over the LG. I'd also stay away from the Samsung 244T, as it has pretty bad input lag. Then, of course, there are more expensive, higher-end models (NEC, Eizo, etc.), but these are really aimed at professionals and so there doesn't seem to be much point in paying a lot more if you only want to game.
 
I can readily go pickup the samsung to compare, but I'm wondering if the ghosting will be such a difference to really go through the hassle.
 
i've got excessive banding in this monitor , same as my samsung 226BW C panel . somethings not right here , i thought 8bit panels dont have banding issues :confused:
 
At sRGB default settings I get no banding. As soon as I try to improve the contrast using the nvidia control panel I start getting banding and black crush.

I would say it's an alright all around monitor for the money but don't expect great black levels or anything like that. I'm coming from a Mitsubishi 920 pro 19" CRT that I had for 5+ years and a 15" IPS panel Thinkpad.
 
In sRGB you really only need to bump the contrast up to 55 or 60. A little bump in contrast goes a long way on this LCD. I set mine to 55 and see no banding or black crush. White levels are well defined and colors are nicely saturated.

For an LCD the black levels are pretty good as long as you use sRGB and keep the brightness setting at 30 or under. Calibrating using a pluge pattern is recommended for the correct brightness or black level.
 
ea6gka said:
i've got excessive banding in this monitor , same as my samsung 226BW C panel . somethings not right here , i thought 8bit panels dont have banding issues :confused:
Click to expand...
You need to calibrate. Out of the box settings on this monitor are not so great.
 
Now mine in its way.
I'm querying if i got someone color's profile "spyder2pro" to work with,will work?
hope if yes. some one here to sharing with us his profile.

dark_reign said:
In sRGB you really only need to bump the contrast up to 55 or 60. A little bump in contrast goes a long way on this LCD. I set mine to 55 and see no banding or black crush. White levels are well defined and colors are nicely saturated.

For an LCD the black levels are pretty good as long as you use sRGB and keep the brightness setting at 30 or under. Calibrating using a pluge pattern is recommended for the correct brightness or black level.
Click to expand...

but i read somewhere here i have to change the colors(red-blue-green)and gamma if i set it to sRGB?
is that right

and if yes...what's the best setting in nv cpl ?

thanks.
 
In the Nvidia control panel I've set mine to:

Red channel brightness: 50
Green channel brightness: 52 (50 may look more balanced on your monitor)
Blue channel brightness: 42

Contrast all channels: 55
Gamma all channels: 48

These settings are close to 6500k color temp. If you prefer a cooler color temp for brighter looking whites then set the Blue color channel higher.

I also changed the ICC profile to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 under Color Management.
 
dark_reign said:
You need to calibrate. Out of the box settings on this monitor are not so great.
Click to expand...


i did and i still get the same banding as with the 226BW. i am tellin you mate its like looking at the same monitor :eek: . me thinks it has to do with forceware, i will check with an ATI card and report back.
 
I am considering selling mine and getting a two month old Dell 2007wfp S-IPS Rev04 in perfect shape that my cousin is willing to trade for a new 2007wfp if I get a S-PVA (or keeping the new one if I get a good S-IPS).

How does the 2007wfp compare to this monitor in terms of input lag / response time / ghosting?

The viewing angles issue is what really kills me. I really really hate seeing so much change in the darker areas of a scene when I move my eyes a couple inches to either side.

UPDATE: OK so i'm on the 2007wfp right now, unfortunately can't test them side by side but obviously neither is perfect. The IPS sparkle is still annoying but the colors, although less vivid, seem to be more accurate, except for reds which are kind of weak on this panel. Ghosting and Input lag are not issues at any level that would bother me. Tearing is less noticable in Bioshock but the shadows are just as bad (I miss my Mitsubishi DiamondPro CRT the most in this area). Blacks are still not black but they are MUCH more consistent. I have to move my head a lot more for them to shift at all. The monitor as a whole is easier on the eyes, text-wise and design wise. It is, of course, not as big but I think 20", and more importantly, 1600x1050 is quite manageable. Difficult decision here. I think id go with the Dell if I could start from scratch but I don't know if it's worth the hassle of selling the L246.

UPDATE2: I've decided to keep the LG :-D Maybe two years down the road we will be talking about 24" OLED displays instead :-o One can only hope.
 
Overall, it's a great monitor imho. I don't really notice the banding, viewing angles, nor ghosting. I traded in my Samsung monitor because that had horrible viewing angles. I didn't even need to move my head a couple inches. I just looked at different parts of the screen and noticed the difference.

My one area of complaint (and this won't effect most of you) is the lack of scaling options. I tend to play a lot of older games which have a fixed 4:3 resolution, and it doesn't look right if it fills up the whole screen. And if I play at the original resolution, it's way too tiny. Due to the applications, I can't use the drivers scaling. It ends up going into the monitors scaling routine.
 
I just got this monitor last week and I LOVE it! In sRGB mode, it's really amazing. My only quarrel with it is the coming out of standby problem. However, I just set my monitor to never go into standby and problem solved.

Best $499 I've spent in a long time.

The monitor is bright and beautiful. I haven't noticed any ghosting, any banding, any input lag or anything TRULY negative about it.
 
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