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rballantyne
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2003
- Messages
- 64
I recieved my 172x today and am more or less quite pleased. One note, several reviewers have mentioned the package lacking a DVI cable. Mine came with one, so I'm really not sure what to say about that.
First off, the design is gorgeous. Very sleek and modern looking. I have 2 semi-stuck pixels. It's sort of weird, because the pixels are incapable of producing any shade of gray, but all other colors are fine. I'd never heard of such a thing before. As such I hardly notice them and it isn't worth the hassle of sending it back for replacement.
My usage is about 40% text, 40% photographs, 18% movies, and 2% games, so my opinions are primarily on the former three categories.
Brightness: Excellent, as with virtually all LCDs. I noticed no deviations in brighness at the edges.
Contrast: Very good. Not quite as nice as my old Sony Trinitron, but well beyond adequate.
Colors: Superior. I have never seen an LCD with this level of color quality. It still isn't quite as good as a top-notch CRT, but it is good enough for light professional-grade image work. Reds are a tad washed out, but I imagine most people would never notice this. Blacks were the best I've seen on an LCD.
Viewing angle: Excellent (for an LCD).
Response time: Samsung's numbers are total BS. This is not a 12ms panel by any stretch of the imagination. Using "TFT-Schlieren Test" (thanks Zulu!) I found actual response times to be 25ms across all colors. Black-white rise-fall time may very well be 12ms, but I did not test for that. Keep in mind however that all manufacturer response times for color to color changes are higher than stated. Also, lest the zealots of other brands start saying "nyeh nyeh!", I have tried various 16ms panels (Dell, Viewsonic, etc) and they were all just as bad.
Gaming: I don't have the time for games much these days, but I played rather heavily back in college, so I know what to look for in terms of ghosting.
Unreal Tournament 2004 demo: Ghosting not apparent. The only time I could see any ghosting at all was when I'd walk up to a hovering gun and could see a bit at the edges. Character models at all distances showed no ghosting.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Minimal ghosting. Fine for light to moderate gaming, not acceptable for competitive play.
Far Cry: Same as RtCW.
WarCraft 3: No discernable ghosting.
An odd note: Ghosting was REALLY bad in all 2D graphics games. I loaded up a bunch of old DOS crap I had lying around and they all made me nauseous.
Movies: Excellent. No ghosting at all, wonderful, vibrant colors. Watched Matrix (response time), Laurence of Arabia (colors, fleshtones), and Das Boot (greyscales), all were great.
Final Words:
An excellent business-use and HTPC monitor, but in no way approprate for gaming. My recommendations based on primary usage:
1) Text/Internet: Save your money, get a $300 Wal Mart special and you'll be happy.
2) Graphics: Best LCD available assuming you can't use a CRT for some reason.
3) Movies: Excellent, but there are cheaper monitors just as good.
4) Gaming: Unacceptable for competitive FPS gaming, however I would wager only 5% of gamers would notice. This isn't the monitor to make LCDs viable gaming platforms as Samsung claims.
Overall this monitor fit my needs perfectly, but I believe there are very few people who buy LCDs primarily for their color reproduction quality. At $600 it is overpriced by $50-75.
First off, the design is gorgeous. Very sleek and modern looking. I have 2 semi-stuck pixels. It's sort of weird, because the pixels are incapable of producing any shade of gray, but all other colors are fine. I'd never heard of such a thing before. As such I hardly notice them and it isn't worth the hassle of sending it back for replacement.
My usage is about 40% text, 40% photographs, 18% movies, and 2% games, so my opinions are primarily on the former three categories.
Brightness: Excellent, as with virtually all LCDs. I noticed no deviations in brighness at the edges.
Contrast: Very good. Not quite as nice as my old Sony Trinitron, but well beyond adequate.
Colors: Superior. I have never seen an LCD with this level of color quality. It still isn't quite as good as a top-notch CRT, but it is good enough for light professional-grade image work. Reds are a tad washed out, but I imagine most people would never notice this. Blacks were the best I've seen on an LCD.
Viewing angle: Excellent (for an LCD).
Response time: Samsung's numbers are total BS. This is not a 12ms panel by any stretch of the imagination. Using "TFT-Schlieren Test" (thanks Zulu!) I found actual response times to be 25ms across all colors. Black-white rise-fall time may very well be 12ms, but I did not test for that. Keep in mind however that all manufacturer response times for color to color changes are higher than stated. Also, lest the zealots of other brands start saying "nyeh nyeh!", I have tried various 16ms panels (Dell, Viewsonic, etc) and they were all just as bad.
Gaming: I don't have the time for games much these days, but I played rather heavily back in college, so I know what to look for in terms of ghosting.
Unreal Tournament 2004 demo: Ghosting not apparent. The only time I could see any ghosting at all was when I'd walk up to a hovering gun and could see a bit at the edges. Character models at all distances showed no ghosting.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Minimal ghosting. Fine for light to moderate gaming, not acceptable for competitive play.
Far Cry: Same as RtCW.
WarCraft 3: No discernable ghosting.
An odd note: Ghosting was REALLY bad in all 2D graphics games. I loaded up a bunch of old DOS crap I had lying around and they all made me nauseous.
Movies: Excellent. No ghosting at all, wonderful, vibrant colors. Watched Matrix (response time), Laurence of Arabia (colors, fleshtones), and Das Boot (greyscales), all were great.
Final Words:
An excellent business-use and HTPC monitor, but in no way approprate for gaming. My recommendations based on primary usage:
1) Text/Internet: Save your money, get a $300 Wal Mart special and you'll be happy.
2) Graphics: Best LCD available assuming you can't use a CRT for some reason.
3) Movies: Excellent, but there are cheaper monitors just as good.
4) Gaming: Unacceptable for competitive FPS gaming, however I would wager only 5% of gamers would notice. This isn't the monitor to make LCDs viable gaming platforms as Samsung claims.
Overall this monitor fit my needs perfectly, but I believe there are very few people who buy LCDs primarily for their color reproduction quality. At $600 it is overpriced by $50-75.