Samsung 205BW Owner's/Review thread

I was under the impression that a dynamic backlight isn't exactly a desireable feature. I have one on my 27" LCD tv and i hate it. Sometimes its a little slow and I can actually see the screen flick darker or brighter.

Well I was just out to buy one but the store that was supposed to have it had it on hold for somebody until October 11th. What a silly amount of time to hold something.
 
I ordered the 204BW and can't wait to get it on my desk arm mount, its widescreen time for me. Yea Aplle and LG have a LCD cover thats makes them look a tad grainy. Samsungs hust look more 3D to me. I curently have a 12ms Samsung that was very nice a CS:S but I can't wait for the 5MS of this baby, anyway the price on these are insane and anyone looking should kkep that in mind too. $288 to my door, not bad. For owners of the 205BW is there a addpter that is inside the box that alows you to mount to either 75mm or 100mm vesa specs, The monitor info says it will 75mm Optional but I don't see that assesory any where so I thought maybe its comes in the box? Anyway I can get it done even if it doesn't.
 
rrhomes said:
I ordered the 204BW and can't wait to get it on my desk arm mount, its widescreen time for me. Yea Aplle and LG have a LCD cover thats makes them look a tad grainy. Samsungs hust look more 3D to me. I curently have a 12ms Samsung that was very nice a CS:S but I can't wait for the 5MS of this baby, anyway the price on these are insane and anyone looking should kkep that in mind too. $288 to my door, not bad. For owners of the 205BW is there a addpter that is inside the box that alows you to mount to either 75mm or 100mm vesa specs, The monitor info says it will 75mm Optional but I don't see that assesory any where so I thought maybe its comes in the box? Anyway I can get it done even if it doesn't.
Click to expand...
No adapter.
 
I just bought my 205BW yesterday and it's awesome. When i placed it on my desk i finally realized how big it is. It came packaged with a DVI and VGA cable. Bezel=Silver. :mad: It seems that in my country there aren't all black screens. The label on the package states that is it made in Slovakia (Europe). I guess that Samsung has a factory there to supply all over Europe. I'm from Romania.
Luckily no dead pixels. Superb colors, great contrast.

I had the chance to look at 205BW and LG204WT side by side before i bought it. They're both amazing but 205BW beats LG at color display having much warmer and natural colors. On the LG the colors seemed a little washed comparing with 205BW. On the other hand the contrast is better on LG but not by much. All in all i preffer Samsung. At work i have a 740N display and it's great.

I have one question though: how can i adjust the picture quality during movie playback? because i watched a movie (avi, divx) last night and in full screen mode the image got a little sandy. It's a setting or a video coding problem? :confused:

Later i'll play Medal of Honnor: Pacific Assault to see how performs. I wanna use max settings for this thx to my video card :D .
It's a trully big and magnificent display.
 
Was just checking local prices for 205BW, the cheapest is around NZ$700 (~US$450)... the curse of living in a distant miniature country :mad:
 
qtwre said:
I was under the impression that a dynamic backlight isn't exactly a desireable feature. I have one on my 27" LCD tv and i hate it. Sometimes its a little slow and I can actually see the screen flick darker or brighter.

Well I was just out to buy one but the store that was supposed to have it had it on hold for somebody until October 11th. What a silly amount of time to hold something.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you could see the LG L204WT change as well. When I had a black desktop extended over both displays (Samsung as the primary), if I moved the mouse over to the LG the brightness would ramp up... and there was a slight delay. Definitely noticable if you moved an actual application window over to the LG. It's not really a big deal tho if you use the LG as the primary display...
 
just a quick question :) , I already own the Samsung 215TW and think it is a wonderfull screen the only problem being the input lag, does the 205BW have any issues with input lag ?
 
I'm probably going to end up buying this monitor. Tiger has it for $309!!!!

Are there any considerations or things I need to think about from going to a standard aspect to a widescreen?

Can it retain the aspect in games without stretching? and the same with movies
I just don't want things to look distorted
 
Unless the game has a screen size setting of 1680 x 1050, one of two things will happen:

If the selected screen size in the game is a 4:3 aspect ratio, the 205BW will stretch/distort it to fill the whole screen.

If the selected screen size in the game is a 16:10 ratio (but smaller than 1680 x 1050), the 205BW will NOT distort it and show it as a smaller window, centered and surrounded by black bars.

There is a 'widescreen gaming' website and forum with tips on how to get lots of games to run on a widescreen monitor.
 
Jarrett said:
I'm probably going to end up buying this monitor. Tiger has it for $309!!!!

Are there any considerations or things I need to think about from going to a standard aspect to a widescreen?

Can it retain the aspect in games without stretching? and the same with movies
I just don't want things to look distorted
Click to expand...

Last I checked a few days ago, PCCONNECTION.COM has the lowest price and free shipping coupon code for it. It was $289.99
 
Well I bought one today. I love it so far! I put the display setting to Internet because it was too bright and a little hard on the eyes at the stock setting. I've tried half life 2 and fear so far and i've notice no ghosting at all. Also the black levels are very respectable. Leaps ahead of the lcd screen on my IBM laptop.

Two thumbs up!
 
t4t3r said:
can you guys who are seeing it at 4 post your settings?
Click to expand...
I dunno, I just put mine on "Internet" and hit Auto. I have edited the gamma, sharpness, and contrast slightly in the NVidia control panel, though.
 
Well if I have my Gamma at 1.0 I see it at 3, if I have my gamma at 2.20 then I see it at about 12. 1.0 gamma looks horibble and 2.20 is the PC standard the lighter your gamma the sooner you'll see it but will be giving up deep blacks. Here a page that use java and you can see where your monitor is at. Get your colors right with any free software like "Monitor Calibration Wizard' then use your monitor controls to adust gamma before you use your video card controls. Monitors ussualy have built in settings that gets close to where they should be, that is they bounce from gamma 1.0 to 1.8(Aplle Standard) to 2.20 PC standard to 2.8 for other useing can't remmeber what for . My monitor is a Samsung 712N I get my 204BW Wednesday.


http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/
 
I am using Gamma mode 3, brightness 30, contrast 70. I was one of the ones who saw the square at 4,4,4.
 
OH! I was wondering why there were 5 steps in the gamma setting for nvidia cards (when I move the bar with my arrow keys). Thanks!
 
lowrider007 said:
just a quick question :) , I already own the Samsung 215TW and think it is a wonderfull screen the only problem being the input lag, does the 205BW have any issues with input lag ?
Click to expand...

I would very much like to know this as well.
Also, what are the dimensions on the actual viewable area? I currently haev 2 17" 172x monitors and would like to compare relative sizes to ensure it is an upgrade in size

Thanks
 
Phunkae said:
I would very much like to know this as well.
Also, what are the dimensions on the actual viewable area? I currently haev 2 17" 172x monitors and would like to compare relative sizes to ensure it is an upgrade in size

Thanks
Click to expand...
17.125" x 10.6875" with my measuring tape... and no input lag that I can detect.
 
GotNoRice said:
My only complaint is how it switches between inputs. I have a 4-port VGA/USB KVM switch. My main computer is hooked to port 1 with the exception that I run the DVI cable directly, bypassing the KVM, and if I want to switch to input 2, 3, or 4 I simply have to hit the input switch button on the front of the monitor at the same time I switch over to the other inputs on the KVM.

But then when I’m on one of the other inputs from the KVM via VGA, and I’m doing windows updates or something and I restart the computer, it will automatically revert back to the DVI as soon as it detects the signal from the VGA absent during the reboot. Then the other computer that the 205BW switched away from automatically will end up booting thinking it doesn’t have a monitor attached and it gives me a max res of 1280x1024 or something along those lines. I kinda wish it just stayed on whatever input I had it on until I changed it, rather than trying to be “automatic” and being a huge pain in the ass.
Click to expand...

Ummm... you can change that in the settings.

Look for 'Auto Source' in the OSD and set it to manual...
;)

I have a 205BW... on my second actually... the first one had a backlight issue, but Samsung promptly replaced it with a brand new one. Props to Samsung support, they have an awesome warranty exchange program.

The monitor itself is awesome. Love the widescreen.
 
I picked up a black MacBook this week and dropped into Fry's for an external LCD. I was aiming for the 205BW since it's the size and resolution I want and the 22" 225BW is a bit large for the space I'm working in. Of course, now that I have the 205BW home, I'm thinking about that 225BW sometimes, but I'm quite happy with my decision.

The Fry's here in Vegas has been out of stock on the 205BW for weeks now, so I kinda figured when I got there they'd be out of stock again - meaning I'm taking home a floor model for a discount.

And that's exactly what I did.

I saw it on the display, asked to check stock, was told it was out, then I turned around and pointed at the one on display like Babe Ruth calling that shot and said "I want that, right now, what kinda discount do I get for it being a floor model?"

The guy walked off to check with a manager who said give me the $50 rebate that's currently in effect for the 205BW. It's a MIR but they treated it like an "instant rebate" and so I walked out with a practically brand new fully functional not a scratch on it anywhere 205BW for $299. Thought it was a nice deal, and since getting it home I've had no issues with it whatsoever.

Great monitor, almost no backlight bleeding that I've noticed, and it handles the DVI output of my MacBook with great clarity.

/me is a very satisfied 205BW owner now...

Just wanted to share my experience.
 
Hello. I just bought my Samsung 205BW Today and am extremely happy with it. How ever I think I have some backlight bleeding on the top of my monitor. I can only notice it when im watching movies though. When i have normal applications open, gaming etc I can't notice it. Heres a pic of the monitor when a Black screen saver is on. My camera is obviously pretty crap, Is this a case of Backbleeding or am I worrying too much? Should I get it exchanged to be on the safe side?



The photo makes the bleeding look worse :p
 
HardCaution said:
The photo makes the bleeding look worse :p
Click to expand...
You shouldn't post pics like that one, it gives us nightmares. :p

That looks like a mild case of backlight bleeding at the top, but it depends on how bad the camera is making it look..
 
HardCaution said:
Hello. I just bought my Samsung 205BW Today and am extremely happy with it. How ever I think I have some backlight bleeding on the top of my monitor. I can only notice it when im watching movies though. When i have normal applications open, gaming etc I can't notice it. Heres a pic of the monitor when a Black screen saver is on. My camera is obviously pretty crap, Is this a case of Backbleeding or am I worrying too much? Should I get it exchanged to be on the safe side?

The photo makes the bleeding look worse :p
Click to expand...

Have you tried lowering the brightness a bit. It looks like you have the brightness on default, and if I remember default is pretty high. It may lessen the backlight bleeding.
 
Yes the brightness was on 100 I lowered it down to 90, but the thing is I can only notice the backlight bleeding in a dark room. When the lights are turned on or its daylight I cant notice the bleeding. Is this normal? And I've remember reading something about LCD's show their full potential once you've used them for a month or so. Maybe the bleeding will settle in.

I also noticed on the first page Kick has a similiar lighting effect at the top as me. I'm not too sure if all monitors suffer this or we just got shoddy ones. But like i said its not That bad, The Camera exaggerates it
 
With the calibration software I have, I noticed Samsung has the contrast set perfect out of the box at 75 and if I varied even one click off I lost a little contrast, the brigtness should be between 50-75 at 100 its like your looking into the sun. lower your brigtness and your black levels will improve a tad. I have the 204BW and for the money to my door $288 it make me realize I need to move to a 2 monitor set up, get two of these babies on desk arm mounts for about $650 includeing the mounts. Very nice. I have this very mount and love it, its very sturdy and you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for it or drill holes in your wall, this one I linked is black also. Its bigger than it looks in the picture and really makes your monitor seem to float in air because when set up if you look at the bottom of you bezel you can only see 1 inch of the mount - the monitor practically hides the mount also the cables can be nicely hid in the mount.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-LCD-Monitor...2QQihZ014QQcategoryZ51049QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
HardCaution said:
Does anyone have the same bleeding at the top that I'm having before i return my Monitor?
Click to expand...

I have the same issue, most noticeable when I'm on the desktop. I'm thinking maybe I should just choose a different background to help it. I've played around with Brightness/Contrast and the different preset modes but same thing. It is starting to annoy me, but all that goes away when I play games. No lag, No ghosting nice big screen.

I ordered the Sceptre 22" from Costco, hoping that it is a sleeper/good performer. For such a low price with HDMI and what looks to be an 8-bit panel, we'll see... :cool:
 
ok i made my mind up im getting this lcd would the system in my sig be able to handle guildwars at at 40+FPS with this LCD's native res?
 
Question for you Nvidia 204bw owners: Does the nvidia software correctly keep 4:3 & 5:4 ratios with black bars on the side if need be?
 
rrhomes said:
they need to make the LG in black. The 205BW is my choice right now one becasue LEd backlite LCd will in 2 years be the big thing and decenly priced so I don't want to spend more than $300 at the most knowing I'll only have it for 12-24 months at most.
Click to expand...

pretty wise choice.

as for the 225bw, ill let everyone here know when i get the latest version from samsung and see what the backlight bleed is like. it would be easily as good as the 205bw if it didnt bleed, but of course 2" bigger. i just installed a 205bw for someone, its an excellent monitor. i didnt see any backlight bleed or weird view angles.
 
I've had this monitor for about 2 months but just realized that I can't tilt it back. I can only tilt the monitor forward.

I can only tilt this way:

| |.....//
| |....//
| |...//
| |..//
| |.//
| |//
BASE


Not this way:

| |\\
| |.\\
| |..\\
| |...\\
| |....\\
| |.....\\
BASE


Is there something wrong with the stand? The farthest it goes back it just to 90 degrees, and even then it sags a bit so the screen is not fully parallel to the stand. Sorry for poor illustrations, will try to get pics up.

Oh yeah, I called them earlier today and they said this is how its supposed to work. But I look at pics and reviews and see the monitor tilt back so I don't know.

Thanks.
 
This is as far back as it tilts:
Upright.jpg



This is how far it can tilt forward:
Tiltforward.jpg



Here are a couple of pics of the tilt hinge:
HingeTop.jpg

HingeBottom.jpg


I've seen other pictures of the monitor on the net and on those, the metal part of the hinge does not seem visible like mine when looking at it from the side. If you look at it from the top, it seems that the plastic does not open as much as it does on the bottom side so that could be what is preventing the monitor from tilting back.

If anyone with this monitor can do a little comparison with theirs, that would be great. I'm gonna run to the store to check out if they have this monitor available to compare as well. Bought this off of Newegg a few months back and only figured this out last night :( doh! Like I said before, called samsung and they said this is how its supposed to work but I see pics with it tilted all the way back.

Thanks.
 
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