Samsung 226BW 22": 3000:1 Contrast, 2ms response time

On my LCD, I see a non-smooth gradient in the darker quadrant. The gradients radiate out from the center. Do those with the 'S' panel see the same, or is this an 'A' panel issue?

buxleyp: It has been said that disabling Magic Color and Dynamic Contrast removes the dithering and banding in gradients. Can you disable those and report if that solves your problem?
 
buxleyp: It has been said that disabling Magic Color and Dynamic Contrast removes the dithering and banding in gradients. Can you disable those and report if that solves your problem?

7331,

Yes, I have experimented with various settings to include disabling Magic Color and Dynamic Contrast to no avail.

I took the unit back to a different CC and exchanged it for another new one. It too was an 'A' model, though from a different batch with a different production date. I opened it up at the store and hooked it up right there. With the second one, the gradients displayed more smoothly (or as much as I could perceive). However, the black ranges still had significant noisy dithering, and the range in the dark areas was poor. The salesman who helped me out (who was very cool to let me try the second monitor in store) agreed with what I saw, though he commented "you only notice it if you look closely." Well, I could perceive it at 1.5 - 2 feet away, which is my normal viewing distance.

A bad batch? An 'S' vs 'A' issue? I don't know, but it's probably my unfamiliarity with TN panels. As this is my first TN screen, I suspect that TN is just not for me. Just for kicks I displayed the same test images on my work monitor (2407), and while contrast/brightness could not compete with the 226bw, everything else was great. I know it's comparing apples to oranges, but at this point I felt like I have to go with a monitor that's proven itself to my eyes; I decided to plunk down the extra money for a 2407 for myself.

Sorry Samsung. I love my Sammy LCD HDTV, but I was quite disappointed in the 226bw.
 
Most of the computer part stores don't have 226BW in stock in Finland at the moment. However I found one for me at "Veikon Kone" and it's an S-panel. I guess computer enthusiasts in here haven't found this source because they don't have their products and stock on the Internet too well. This one was manufactured in Czech Republic in Feb 2007. No dead or stuck pixels yet.
 
Best Buy has apparently just started carrying these panels as I saw three of them new in the box at the local Best Buy in Lone Tree, Colorado.

As others have said, I think that eventually it will be determined that the difference in these panels is not so much "A" vs. "S" but variations in low grade TN panels, which is exactly what these are.

A 24" is really too large for my home setup, so I have to decide today if I'm returning this panel and going back to my Dell 2001FP which is not nearly as bright or contrasty but has much better uniformity.

I will add this much to anyone who gets one of these, spend an extra $69 and get yourself the Spyder2Express. The difference in white balance and color after calibration is really remarkable and cannot be accomplished by trying to "fudge" with the controls manually.

If it wasn't for the calibration with the Spyder2 this thing would have been returned already. Now I actually have to think about it.
 
Well Gunner, I was in the same boat as you. I agree that it is probably just the TN panel as opposed to an S vs A thing. Too bad all of the 22" displays seem to use TN panels. I took mine back yesterday. I eventually decided that there was no point in keeping a display that bothered me every time I sat down to use it. That an the fact that I was at a friend's house and his 19" viewsonic had no such issue. I thought about it until the end though, I returned it at 9:30PM on the last day that I could.

Now to find a new one. Ugggh.

Pete
 
I just picked up the 226bw CC, there is a web sale with $10 off, plus the 10% coupon from e-bay, came to a little over $350 with tax (7% NJ). Get 3 months no interest so I can start saving now for it.

I going to try not to look at the panel model. This is my first LCD (Although I purchased an NEC 90GX for my wife and wanted it).

I am coming from a SyncMaster 950p 19 inch CRT. I am not going to be watching movies on the panel as my television and sound system is for that!

I have my DVI cable ready to go.

I will try to let you guys know how it looks.
 
I just picked up the 226bw CC, there is a web sale with $10 off, plus the 10% coupon from e-bay, came to a little over $350 with tax (7% NJ). Get 3 months no interest so I can start saving now for it.

I going to try not to look at the panel model. This is my first LCD (Although I purchased an NEC 90GX for my wife and wanted it).

I am coming from a SyncMaster 950p 19 inch CRT. I am not going to be watching movies on the panel as my television and sound system is for that!

I have my DVI cable ready to go.

I will try to let you guys know how it looks.

Would you mind posting some photographs of the LCD when it's up and running.
 
I was succesful at not looking at the panel type! I honestly do not know which one I have.

I just got it set up and have yet to adjust any of the settings.

Sorry, one-liners is how I communicate when I am in a rush.

One thing to note: My room has ambient light in the back and my blue shirt was reflecting off the panel when I first booted up. Realy noticable on a white screen, the REFLECTION that is! I thought I got a bum monitor, only to realize when I went to make the adjusment the colors moved too.

I was, and still am in a CRT world, so this is my only comparison. I had that samsung 950p for AGES! 10+ years? Still kickin butt too.

So far my only complaint is that the lighting in my room stinks. A little reflective on the screen.

I think the monitor looks great! So does the picture. I will have to adjust my mouse to so faster horizontal movements now that I have all that left to right real estate.

Have not looked for dead pixels yet.

Off to try some Widescreen games. What good is a WS monitor without the games?

I get to sit 2.5 to 3 feet from this thing (yeah, just measured). Display set at 1680 x 1050. Words are a bit small, but I can increase the font if I want.

I will try and post some pictures later, and then I will reveal the panel A or S? Maybe I will put it up for a vote to see if anyone can tell?
 
Hi
I just got mine last night from newegg,its an S panel.

I ordered from newegg, 2 more days until delivery.

My first one was an "A" from CC, had it a week, returned it got another "A" from CC and returned again.

This is my third try and I hope is an "S". If is another "A", I'll chop off my pinky finger and RMA again.
eek.gif
 
I ordered from newegg, 2 more days until delivery.

My first one was an "A" from CC, had it a week, returned it got another "A" from CC and returned again.

This is my third try and I hope is an "S". If is another "A", I'll chop off my pinky finger and RMA again.
eek.gif

Why do you insist on doing this? There is currently no real proof that A's actually suck compared to S's. I hope you do get an A. Dickheads like you screw return policies.
 
Funny how so many here seem to hate TN panels, yet there are 1000's of reviews on Newegg who love them.

Banding is not as bad as your making it out to be. I rarely ever see it.

I love like this Samsung very much and am definitely keeping mine.
 
........

I will add this much to anyone who gets one of these, spend an extra $69 and get yourself the Spyder2Express. The difference in white balance and color after calibration is really remarkable and cannot be accomplished by trying to "fudge" with the controls manually.

If it wasn't for the calibration with the Spyder2 this thing would have been returned already. Now I actually have to think about it.

SWEET! My wife needs to get the Spyder2Suite for her Digital Camera and photo printer.
 
I ordered from newegg, 2 more days until delivery.

My first one was an "A" from CC, had it a week, returned it got another "A" from CC and returned again.

This is my third try and I hope is an "S". If is another "A", I'll chop off my pinky finger and RMA again.
eek.gif

I am making light of the situation here.




Why do you insist on doing this? There is currently no real proof that A's actually suck compared to S's. I hope you do get an A. Dickheads like you screw return policies.

Congratulations! After forty pages of this thread, you are the first one to use name calling ("Dickheads like you") in what was a very civilized discussion on the new 226BW LCD panel.

You win the Ann Coulter MORON ! award. It is morons like you who rush to call other people names without knowing all the facts.

Read back some pages. The focus of the thread has been the discrepancies between the "A" versus the "S" model and some of us have returned the monitor a couple of times.

CC has a 14 day "Customer Satisfaction" policy and there is nothing wrong wiith a customer using that policy, the store knows very well that a satisfied customer is a customer that will come back. That is the basis of a FREE ENTERPRISE society, if I am not satisfied wiith the services and good I purchase, I'll go somewhere else because I have those choices. I don't have anything against Circuit City, IMHO they are a good merchant and deserve proper respect, thats why I payed them a 15% re-stocking fee of $57.00 just for returning my second "A" type monitor, thats the fair price to pay for doing busisness with fair retail merchants. I didn't mind paying it as I earn enough money every week to purchase several of those monitors if wanted to.

My first "A" type panel was discovered to have "banding" issues after a few days, and that's why I returned and exchanged for another one. The second one was an "A" type as well and was found to have "banding" issues as well. It was returned the same day and a re-stocking fee was paid.

I gave the "A" panel a try and now I am convinced that these "A" monitors have that issue. I am not willing to give up on the 226BW just yet and that's why I ordered from newegg.com , reports here are that newegg has the "S" type panel and I will give it a try.

I have a right to be satisfied customer. And you, DTX, whoever you are, you have a right to take home with you the first Ann Coulter Loud Mouth "MORON ! " award. Well deserved. Enjoy it.



PS. As I finished writing this post, the FEDEX guy rings the bell and delivered from newegg my new 226BW. IT IS "S" type!. I have no time to play with it ATM but I hope for a "banding" free image.
wink.gif
 
I just got one from Tiger Direct... A Panel. Don't have it hooked up yet but i'm not hopeful :(
 
So here is the problem as I see it. Everyone has an opinion of what they like or dislike about this monitor. I have one and I am very pleased with it. I don't do a ton of photo editing but do game heavily on it. BF2142 is my poison and I am very pleased with the performance of this monitor in such a graphic and fast paced game. It looks good on the web, watching movies and playing games.

C’mon guys, don't let what everyone else says tell you if you like a monitor or not. If you buy it, take it home and hook it up. Look at it and play around with it some. If it looks good to you and you like what you see, keep it and be happy. If you don't like it, take it back. I don't care if someone else says it has banding issues. Mine does not and does not suffer from any serious backlight bleed. The colors are great and it's plenty bright.

I understand some people are making a big deal out of "A" vs. "S" revisions of this monitor and to be honest, I don't get it. The difference (if it even exists) is so minor that it would hardly be worth the effort of sending or taking the monitor back in the hopes you get a different revision. Use your brain for a second here, if you go to CC and get and "A" panel version and you're not happy, what on earth makes you think that taking it back to the same CC and exchanging it will get you a different revision? They got them in at the same time; they came from the same shipment and are probably from the same batch right from Samsung. What a waste to pay any restocking fees when you have little to no chance of grabbing another one from the same store and getting a magic “S” panel.

I have seen some really good input in this thread, but have also seen some really big leaps of logic. In the end it is as it always has been. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and no one can tell me what to like or dislike. I am too intelligent to let someone else dictate what I will and will not enjoy using. Future buyers, use your head. If you have ever liked a movie your buddy hated, then you can relate. Decide for yourself what you will or won’t buy and use your own eyes to make the determination.
 
Parish! I agree with what you say.At this point all this A vs S may be having a brainwashing effect.!A! has gotten a bad name.If i was samsung!i would do some fast damage control.They should at least explain what they have done and reasure that the A is as good as the S.If it isnt!then samsung will need to do more explaining if they want to keep their good name.As i see it! The A panel phoba is getting out of control.I did get a S panel myself and have been very pleased.If i did get a A Panel i would at least give it a chance!BUT!! to be verry honest!! with all the bad A panel talk!i might just be looking for problems that are not really problems and this would not be a good thing to do!.Like Parish said!Buy and judge for yourself! someone recently came up with a great idea!DONT!even look to see what you got was a A or a S until a full judgement on the monitor has been made.
 
Klint, while agree the name calling was over the top, you show a bit of equal ignorance referencing The Ann Coulter award. You obviously don't have all the facts in that case. She didn't call him a name.

At any rate. I think what you are going to find is that your S panel will still have banding. It might have a slight less backlight bleed, maybe. Even if it does, you'll never notice it.

The issue with these montors is the viewing angle and that seems to be inherent in the TN panels.

So - I'm afraid you will gain little with the $114 you paid in restocking fees but maybe you'll get luck.

By the way - I LOVE Ann Coulter.
 
And you, DTX, whoever you are, you have a right to take home with you the first Ann Coulter Loud Mouth "MORON ! " award. Well deserved. Enjoy it.

Whatever floats your boat son.


Enjoy your new S panel 226BW.
 
For those of you who have bought a 226BW from NewEgg, what shipping did you use? I am curious. If you like, respond to me directly. Thanks!

I am thinking of buying one and wondering how cheap I can go on the shipping (paranoid that it may get damaged in transit if I ship it cheaply)

Thanks!

Matt
 
For those of you who have bought a 226BW from NewEgg, what shipping did you use? I am curious. If you like, respond to me directly. Thanks!

I am thinking of buying one and wondering how cheap I can go on the shipping (paranoid that it may get damaged in transit if I ship it cheaply)

Thanks!

Matt

UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Shipping. The box it arrived in was not damaged in any way, shape, or form for me.
 
I still do not know if I have an A or an S panel.

Here are some pics. If you guys want to make some suggestions on how to take better ones, then tell me.

I am not the guy in the blue shirt in the train picture.

Crap, Can I e-mail someone with the pics? I don't have a web site to post to and can't link them to the message.
 
Yeah, but look what is says on it - "Gateway". Yuck.

And only a 1 years warranty compared to the 3 year on the Samsung.
 
I'm getting the 226BW, and when I do I'm NOT going to see what panel it is. I'm going to open the box and act like I never read any of this post.










...secretly hopes for a S... :rolleyes:
 
UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Shipping. The box it arrived in was not damaged in any way, shape, or form for me.

I dont have the patience to wait for UPS, they are always delivering late in the day or even the day after schedule delivery. I got mine Fedex Express Saver $34.00, Fedex rocks, ordered on Thursday at 11pm, schedule to be deliver Wednesday but got it today Monday at noon time.



...
At any rate. I think what you are going to find is that your S panel will still have banding. It might have a slight less backlight bleed, maybe. Even if it does, you'll never notice it.

So - I'm afraid you will gain little with the $114 you paid in restocking fees but maybe you'll get luck.

I did not paid $114, CC does not charge re-stocking fee if replacing for the same. And you are right, There is still some banding with the "S" panel, but only with certain games. Never in movie playing or regular browsing. Maybe there is a setting I have to find to minimize the banding in those games that show it, maybe is not the monitor at fault for that because it only happens with certain in some games.

What I can tell you is this,- from my experience having used two "A" type panels and this "S" type panel - the A and the S are NOT the same. Period.(at least not in my opinion, mind you, I am not an expert on LCD's or digital display imaging) Samsung has two different 226bw's here. I was sitting in front of the A panel for many hours and I can tell you that I can see a difference, this S type has more vibrant colors, looks solid like a rock when it comes to the color. The viewing angle is somehow more impresive. Out of the box I am impressed, more than before and I hope is not just my imagination. And I haven't got a chance to do testing other than load up a couple games, a couple movies and a few test images. I get that "WOW" feeling loking at this panel from different angles.

Maybe there is a reason why OverclockersOnline.net "recommends" that you try to find a "S" true Samsung panel if you can. I can see why.
 
Here is my take on the whole back light bleeding and gradient banding "issue".

I noticed that a lot of images taken of monitors posing with a black screen tend to appear over-exposed. This makes the bleeding effect very noticeable but highly undesirable. I know that when I was lurking inside of this thread before I made the purchase I found some images to be so discouraging that I second-guessed buying this monitor. I thought, "Wow, could this monitor be that bad?" Then, I realized I was looking at images that were not accurately duplicating the issue at hand.

With that said, 100% accuracy to duplicate such a problem is near impossible; however, you can get damn near close to it. And that is what I have tried to do. I have not color calibrated my screen (though I will be soon) and have made slight changes to the monitor settings. They are as follow:

Monitor: Brightness: 90 --- Contrast: 80
ATI Control Center: Gamma: 1 --- Brightness: -36 --- Contrast: 109
These changes made the screen appear more natural for use, but is not by any means an accurate setting.

Before you look at these images, do realize that you may get different results and may experience something completely different. We all live in different lighting environments and such a problem may not be a big thing.

What I have tried to do is take an image, without manipulating it through Photoshop, that is damn close to what I see with my own eyes. Taken with a Canon Powershot G2 on a tri-pod:

226BW "S-Panel" backlight bleed

Here is where I have outlined, roughly, where the bleeding occurs:

226BW "S-Panel" backlight bleed outline

The cursor in the middle is from Photoshop.

Here is a clipped image showing what occurs during a smooth gradient from left to right, white to black. This is NOT an image to show whites/grays/blacks. This type of banding can be duplicated with a color fading into black. It is not duplicated with all colors, though. This image really doesn't do justice as the banding is a wee bit more noticeable.

226BW "S-Panel" gradient banding

I may edit this post tomorrow when I can get some natural light shining into the room so I can take some pictures of the monitor in use.

With the knick-picking out of the way I must say that this monitor is still superb. The back light bleeding issue just isn't annoying at all through normal use. You can see the bleed when watching DVD's but it isn't annoying at all. Aside from DVD's, gaming is amazing with visibly no ghosting and great colors. Photo-editing is where I would say this monitor falls over, head first, and takes a dive. Well, it's OK for moderate image-editing but for those who need accurate duplication between your monitor and printer the banding will get in the way, and a S-IPS panel would save the day.

If anyone has any questions or a request for an image go ahead.
 
I just picked up the 206BW at Circuit City. I had to get the 20" because the 22" was a bit too wide for my desk. It looks amazing.

There's slight backlight bleed and I noticed some slight banding in the sky when I fired up HL2: Lost Coast, but neither is enough to bother me. In fact, I never would have noticed had I not been looking for them.

Oh, and from what I can tell, I got an A panel.
 
... and have not made any changes to the monitor from out of the box. The only changes I have made are with the ATI Control Center. They are as follow:

Gamma: 1 --- Brightness: -36 --- Contrast: 109 These changes made the screen appear more natural for use, but is not by any means an accurate setting.
you would probably get much better results if you play around with the monitor's controls rather than using the ATI software. all the samsung magic stuff could be causing issues. out of the box, my 226 was WAY too bright (100% default setting). after turning it down to ~65% it is much better. i use a solid black background most of the time and it looks uniform to me. also, try tilting the monitor back a little so that the bottom and the top are more equidistant from your eyes. ergonomically, your eyes should line up with the top of the monitor, but that doesn't mean the bottom should be many inches further away than the top. that helped me (the neoflex stand really comes in handy here).
 
For all those people out there wanting to know how badly your console gaming machine (16:9 aspect ratio) will be warped by playing it on this monitor (16:10 aspect ratio with NO 1:1 pixel mapping), you can try this...

1. download Media Player Classic (MPC)
2. download a decent video of a game you would like to see (that is recorded in widescreen (16:9 format); don't worry if there are black bars on the top and bottom of the movie
3. start MPC and play your movie, resize the MPC window so the inner part showing the movie is some multiple of 16:10 (1280x800, 1152x720, 1680x1050, 1229x768, etc) (if you are already running it on a widescreen monitor, just run the movie full screen by double clicking the movie)
4. the movie should be touching the left and right edge of the screen/monitor and there should be black bars at the top and bottom of the movie
5. now pess the '8' key on the keypad - this will stretch the movie vertically - keep pressing the '8' key till the top and bottom of the movie are touching the top and bottom of the screen/window

there, now you have distorted your 16:9 game to 16:10. how does it look (besides the fact that you are watching a movie and not the actual game)?

i was watching the ps3 warhawk movie and i could live with it till i can afford a 50" HDTV.
 
you would probably get much better results if you play around with the monitor's controls rather than using the ATI software. all the samsung magic stuff could be causing issues...

Hmm. After going back into the monitor controls I found that someone, while I was away over the weekend, did change some of the Brightness / Contrast controls. Sigh... *lays in the road*

Apparently Brightness was/is at 90, and Contrast was/is at 80 and not at factory defaults. All the Sammy MagicDust PokeInTheEye v2.0521 settings are either off or at regular settings. Time to edit my post.

But anyways I am not going to scratch my balls and mess with the settings any longer until I get my color calibrator in a few days / week. They're at comfortable settings at the moment and will be interesting to see what it thinks natural is.
 
grimace15 if you post a photo of a black screen I think I will be able to tell if you have an A or S panel ,
and I like that who got the A panel please post some sample of your screen for more reference
 
Has anyone purchased a 226BW from Best Buy yet? I'm curious which batch of displays they have gotten in.

CC has a "3rd" display on order for me as I contemplate keeping/returning this second "A" revision panel that I have and changing it out to something else entirely.

As to the post about backlight bleeding photos being overexposed, that is true. The pictures I shot were with an S550 and a D20 SLR on a tripod but I did not go in and do an exposure compensation, so they look a little overexposed on screen.

However, the backlight bleed on both of the panels I have worked with has been pretty noticeable, especially when walking up to it with the screen saver running.

I also can't stress enough that you are only going to get good calibration results if you use an actual colorometer and software to set up the color. I spent hours trying to adjust the color and couldn't get close to what the colorometer I bought was able to do in just five minutes with a few mouse clicks.
 
We have some folks around here who seriously need to get a grip. This whole "A" vs. "S" panel debate is a almost a joke and certainly wearing thin. The difference between them is minor at best. No matter what panel you get, there are allowable tolerances in the manufacturing process that could net you an "S" panel with just as much backlight bleed as an "A" panel… sad but true.

Let's focus on some genuinely important stuff ok? Such as exactly how many of you sit in front of your monitor looking at an all black screen for minutes/hours on end? Not a one I would bet. So is it really important to have CRT-like blacks from an LCD panel? I doubt it. You should be more concerned about color reproduction and gamut, which negates whatever difference you *might* imagine you see between the "A" and "S" panels. On paper the differences are minor enough that only the most discerning of tastes would have any serious issues with the difference. You WILL get backlight bleed on EVERY LCD panel on the market. Get used to it. What defines an acceptable amount of backlight bleed varies from person to person. People around here need to start saying they are expressing opinions and not stating fact. If you think the panel has too much bleed, then that is your opinion and NOT a fact. Someone else might not agree with you. Stop beating a dead horse here fellas and move on.

Samsung did right by putting this monitor on the market as it is about the best you can do on a budget for a 22" HDCP compliant LCD. It has fast response times (G2G) and a good native resolution.

Claiming they did a "Bait and switch" is also silly because as the manufacturer they can revise the product as much as they want. Less than 2% of the consumer market would even care and the only ones who notice this stuff are people like us. If Samsung decided to cut production costs by using a comparable panel to the one they originally placed in the monitor then that is their right as the producer of the product. Get over it.

It’s almost laughable that people would go buy something and then exchange it for the same thing several times hoping they will get the goose that laid the golden egg. If you are so unhappy with your purchase, return it and get something else. If it were really that important, you would spend whatever money you had on something that lived up to your standards, but you don’t.

In the end there are certainly worse monitors you could get (almost all of them in this size range for example) and they are more deserving of whatever angst you might have. Leave this 22” offering form Samsung alone as it is markedly better than the others in it’s range.
 
I actually have an "S" panel, but didn't bother to check until last weekend and even then only did so because of this lunacy...lol
 
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