Slight halo effect.....

[Goat]

Hey guys....

just got a my new Samsung SyncMaster 997DF and i love it. VERY crisp and vibrant colors. there's just one thing that's slightly buggin me. where a bright color has a hard edge with black or a very dark color, there's a sort of halo effect. there's a faint smear, sort of, into the dark area. if you guys have any tips on how to reduce or eliminate this problem, plz let me know. i got the monitor from bestbuy so exchanges or refunds can easily be made.

thanks

 

[unearth01]

Hey whats up, I had this monitor in the summer, It does suck and it is a problem with the monitor. Or the shadow mask technology. I went throgh 7 of these monitors, 3 at home and 4 in circuit city. becosue they woiuldent let go of restocking fee.

The problem is the light bounces off of reflective inner side of anti-flare coating and back onto the shadow mask. which is metal. The lite somewhat become trapped. Ive heard and researched alot. Some people online never saw it and some do. I saw it heavily on all 7 of them, where some pople didnt ahve the problem. Samsung said it shouldent happen and i reuled the monitor to be a defective batch. here now 7 months later people still have these problems and i have noticed it on all shadowm mask monitors, Its there downfall. Try a appature grille. theay are already better

go to oc forums and just search 997df

 

[Goat]

well damn.....the monitor rocks other than the weird effect. maybe i should just use it for 13 days (14 day return policy) and get something else. my KDS X-Flat went crappy on me and i was using my backup 15" NEC multisync that is so blurry, the 997DF was worth a shot. i was VERY short on cash but in thirteen days, i'll recieve two paychecks which can all towards a better monitor.

Any monitor suggestions?? I'd rather stick to CRT cause you get way more quality for your money (usually ) than with LCD's. I'm also a gamer and graphic designer on the side. 19" is the perfect size for me and i don't mind lifting 40-50 pounds when going to a LAN party (lazy enough once i get there, a little workout is ok).

thanks alot unearth.

 

[unearth01]

the Mitsubishi 930sb is the best monitor, Only thing is it is discontinued

They can be had here refurbished http://www.nm-select.com/product.asp?sku=2551053

They are very good and most likely the best 19" you can buy. The problem is sony and Mitsubishi make the only appature grille monitors. But they have stopped making Crt monitors or will in the very near furture. Appature grille is a supiror form of monitor technology compared to shadow mask. Also try AZAtek.com and Accurateit.com

Both companies sell refurbished monitors and some new monitors, They have good 7 day policys that cover if the monitor is truly defective.


I recommend getting a Appature grille monitor over a new shadow mask. They are just better and you can get a good 21" or 22" for just a little bit . Some good dell monitors for just $220

such as http://azatek.com/details.asp?iid=482

almost brand new

 

[Goat]

thanks again for the info.....

so generally if a monitor doesn't say apeture grille in the description it's probably a shadow mask?

also, is there a downside to apeture grilles? that mitsubishi looks reall nice but i'd like a new monitor cause of the warranty the come with. makes me feel a little more confident. i was looking on dell.com and found this one.....

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...age=productlisting.aspx&instock=&refurbished=

I'd like to order through dell cause of the free shipping and i trust their service.

P.S. this conversation might be easier if we just hook up on msn

 

[unearth01]

the only down side to appature grille is that there is two fait line runnuing acroos the middle each equally apart to support the grille. The monitor you ahve chose is great, it doesnt have a fine .24 grille like the 930sb, but it is also cheaper

also with nm-select has extend 1 or 2 year warrenties. Its really up to you, but finding a good CRT is very hard


Stay away from viewsonic

 

[Goat]

yea, i've read too many "My viewsonic seems too grainy....is this normal?" reviews like that.

i've heard about those two lines......how big are they and where on the screen are they?

i wish my old monitor didn't die.....i was perfectly happy with

 

[GVX]

Hey guys....

just got a my new Samsung SyncMaster 997DF and i love it. VERY crisp and vibrant colors. there's just one thing that's slightly buggin me. where a bright color has a hard edge with black or a very dark color, there's a sort of halo effect. there's a faint smear, sort of, into the dark area. if you guys have any tips on how to reduce or eliminate this problem, plz let me know. i got the monitor from bestbuy so exchanges or refunds can easily be made.

thanks

Yes, the white-bleed is a common problem on all 997DF's and possibly all shadow masks. But is it reason enough to discard the monitor?

Even knowing about the white-bleed I'm still thinking about buying the 997DF because it has awsome IQ, aside from this, and is relatively affordable. So, how bad is this white-bleed, does the white draw accross the entire screen or is it just barely noticeable (pics plz)?

Rather, what concerns me the most about the 997DF is the extremely loud buzzing noise that some ppl have reported (does yours have this problem?).

 

[GVX]

so generally if a monitor doesn't say apeture grille in the description it's probably a shadow mask?

It could also be a slot mask which is basically like a shadow mask but uses a series of fine, metal wires instead of a sheet of metal with holes punched in it.

 

[Goat]

i was glad when i turned mine on that it didn't have the crappy buzzing noise.

i'll go get my digicam and see if i can get pics of the white bleeding.

 

[Goat]

it obviously doesn't show up the same on a camera but you can get the idea. I was watching man on fire last night and there would occasionally be a black backround and captions and they would have a glow around them so you do notice it in everyday things.

 

[GVX]

Thanks a ton Goat.

I think that I'm still going to buy this monitor (given it has no buzzing). The bleeding is noticeable, but seeing as how I'm upgrading from a 15" LCD w/ a 50milisecond response time, I probably shouldn't be too dissapointed.

 

[Goat]

i'm not even sure if i wanna keep it. oh well, i got 12 days to decide. it's absolutely awesome in games. haven't ran doom3 or any dark maps on hl2 to see if the bleeding is a problem there but cs source rocks with this at 1024x768.

also. the sides of it do get a little gritty. you can really tell when reading text and 1 pixel lines about 2-3 inches from the side. again, this doesn't affect games but site viewing it's pretty noticable.

if you can live with these somewhat minor things, then it's a great monitor.

 

[unearth01]

Look for the 955df. It does not have this problem

 

[GVX]

Look for the 955df. It does not have this problem

The 955DF was replaced by the 997DF. I doubt that it can be had without buying it refurbished.

 

[starhawk]

check the fs/t section here. seriously. there are so many people on [H] that one of them is virtually guaranteed to be selling what you are looking for.

 

[Goat]

i'm gonna go with a different company if i return this monitor.

A 17" LCD would only have 1" less viewable so i may go that route. i really like all this room in photoshop but i'm pretty close to my monitor so i think an 17" lcd would do the trick.

I'd go with another CRT but it seems like you really have to get the right one out of the bunch and just hope that you can live with it's faults.

here's the LCD i'd probably go with....

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-005-026&depa=1

 

[GVX]

also. the sides of it do get a little gritty. you can really tell when reading text and 1 pixel lines about 2-3 inches from the side. again, this doesn't affect games but site viewing it's pretty noticable.

Hey, Goat. I was reading some more reviews of the 997DF and others who mentioned having the "grainyness" problem at the outer edges only reported it at 1600x1200 resolution (click here for review). If you lower your res to 1280x1024 do you still get the "grainyness"?

 

[Sinclair]

I had one of these for all of 2 days before I returned the thing. The monitor is very nice in general, but I noticed some things that I REALLY couldn't put up with. The "slotted pattern" on the sides was a dealbreaker for me. The moire was also pretty bad. I thought it might just be a bum monitor, but after checking out two more of the same model at two different places, each exhibiting the same problems, I decided to move on.

 

[Goat]

Hey, Goat. I was reading some more reviews of the 997DF and others who mentioned having the "grainyness" problem at the outer edges only reported it at 1600x1200 resolution (click here for review). If you lower your res to 1280x1024 do you still get the "grainyness"?

yes.....i still get some grainyness around the edges at any res. i think it's worse at 1600x1200 compared to 1280x1024 cause text becomes smaller, but it's apparent either way.

 

[GVX]

Okay, I bought the monitor and all I can say is WOW!! It is a 100% improvement from what I was using. I no longer get ghosting in my games, and it's nice to finally see what resolutions above 1024x768 actually look like (all I need now is my 6600GT and then I'll be all set).

Of course there's the white-bleed, but I can't really see it unless I look for it. I don't see any grainness near the edges no matter how hard I look, nor do I see this slot/moire effect that Sinclair seems to have had trouble with.

So, as of yet, the only problem that I can confirm with 100% certainty is the white-bleed, but I've found that it can at least be reduced a little bit by adjusting contrast and bightness.

Maybe more problems will surface in the future, but right now it's looking really, really, nice.

BTW, buzzing seems to be only a problem when contrast is turned way up.

 

[Sinclair]

Maybe they've changed the design of it in later monitors, I know mine and the ones I looked at at the time were garbage in my eyes. There was plenty of complaints about the chainlink pattern on the sides all over google, so it wasn't just me either =). In any case, I picked up a Sony HS94P not long ago, never going back now =).

 

[johto]

Hehe, I got this 22" monitor some weeks ago. it uses same tube and electronics than those "best" mitsu 2079b or NEC's same model: Its 100% flat aperture grill. I'm mostly running 1600x1200 85Hz. Factory focus was quite off in the corners, so I adjusted focus pots inside and now I got good enough sharpness in the corners too(i'm very picky).

There is some convergence difference between corners but it can only be seeing with calibrate tools. Contrast, black levels and colors are just WOW ! Its almost too bright if you crank it too much, only need 5% brightness, and 75 contrast. If I activate its "superbright" mode, its like sunbathing

HP p1230:
Here is even LARGER picture

 

[Goat]

sweet, that looks awesome. how much was it? i doubt i could ever afford it but may as well ask.

 

[johto]

sweet, that looks awesome. how much was it? i doubt i could ever afford it but may as well ask.

Depending were you buy it, 400-700$ avarage...i payed 650e(including heavy shipping) and that was still quite cheap comparing what they ask for it locally(800-900e)...so i ordered it in other country inside EU. I would think you could get same kinda monitor lot cheaper! (NEC or Mitsu, and not this HP branded), because you are inside US, so i would think its something around 500$ dollars then

 

[Goat]

thanks for the info, but i do occasionally go to LAN parties and that thing looks like a bitch to lug around.

 

[johto]

thanks for the info, but i do occasionally go to LAN parties and that thing looks like a bitch to lug around.

LMAO, thats why you carry another lighter monitor, these kinda monitors stays one one place, ok? ;D

 

[Goat]

I don't have a lighter monitor just lying around that acutally displays a decent picture so it's LCD for me

 

[sulestis]

just want to throw in my two cents to goat

I just returned my 997df to circuit city today. And honestly feel a great relief that that thing is not in my apartment anymore.

Reason was because one, i got unlucky and actually had a dead pixel on the screen, and two, because I really couldn't stand how the monitor looked anymore.

Sure, games looked beautiful, no problems at all. But writing code or word processing gave me a headache. If I ever had to read text within an inch of the border of the screen I felt myself becoming frustrated and angry. Sure, I could *read* the text, but there is no reason to have to deal w/ that crap..

And of course there was also the painstaking process of sizing the screen and trying to get the geometry right. Problem was that it was impossible to get the geometry just perfect.

It just didn't seem right that my old dell round tube crt looked better then that monitor. (except for the fact that the screen occasionaly collapses and i have to turn on and off my monitor to get it to come back again...). Of course now I am used to looking at a flat crt, so this thing looks like an image projected onto a balloon.

I went ahead and ordered the Mitsubishi 930sb from nm-select w/ an extra 2 year warranty.


oh, and i now hate johto for posting that beautiful hp monitor i can't afford (well I could but that would be better spent on a new video card)

 

[GVX]

just want to throw in my two cents to goat

I just returned my 997df to circuit city today. And honestly feel a great relief that that thing is not in my apartment anymore.

Reason was because one, i got unlucky and actually had a dead pixel on the screen, and two, because I really couldn't stand how the monitor looked anymore.

Sure, games looked beautiful, no problems at all. But writing code or word processing gave me a headache. If I ever had to read text within an inch of the border of the screen I felt myself becoming frustrated and angry. Sure, I could *read* the text, but there is no reason to have to deal w/ that crap..

And of course there was also the painstaking process of sizing the screen and trying to get the geometry right. Problem was that it was impossible to get the geometry just perfect.

It just didn't seem right that my old dell round tube crt looked better then that monitor. (except for the fact that the screen occasionaly collapses and i have to turn on and off my monitor to get it to come back again...). Of course now I am used to looking at a flat crt, so this thing looks like an image projected onto a balloon.

I went ahead and ordered the Mitsubishi 930sb from nm-select w/ an extra 2 year warranty.


oh, and i now hate johto for posting that beautiful hp monitor i can't afford (well I could but that would be better spent on a new video card)

Man, it sounds like this monitor has really given you trouble. To be honest, it hasn't recieved very good reviews (well some really good and some really bad 50/50).

I guess I have just gotten lucky (granted I may experience more problems with this monitor in the future), but I see no grainness at the edges all, I had very little difficulty getting the geometry nice, and the IQ on this monitor makes the image on my (cheap)LCD look like one of those 60W lightbulb overhead projectors

That dead pixel thing is really weird (as I pointed out on the other thread).

Dumb Q but did you increase your refresh rate? (60hz would give you a headache).

I can't really blame you for ridding yourself of it though. If I had even half the troubles that you've had I would never buy from Samsung again.

 

[sulestis]

Man, it sounds like this monitor has really given you trouble. To be honest, it hasn't recieved very good reviews (well some really good and some really bad 50/50).

I guess I have just gotten lucky (granted I may experience more problems with this monitor in the future), but I see no grainness at the edges all, I had very little difficulty getting the geometry nice, and the IQ on this monitor makes the image on my (cheap)LCD look like one of those 60W lightbulb overhead projectors

That dead pixel thing is really weird (as I pointed out on the other thread).

Dumb Q but did you increase your refresh rate? (60hz would give you a headache).

I can't really blame you for ridding yourself of it though. If I had even half the troubles that you've had I would never buy from Samsung again.

At first I ran it at 1280x1024x85hz. But because of the smaller text the blurriness of the edges was even worse. I used it the last couple days on 1152x864x100hz which was a little less irritating. I just had to get rid of it though. It might have been smart to exchange it first and try another, but at that point though, I just wanted to find a differenent monitor altogether.

It also might be a personal sensitivity to shadow masking, and not just that samsung. Either way though, it's gone, and hopefully a much better one is on the way.

Oh, and did I mention that for some reason whenever I booted my computer back up in the morning, the geometry was always slightly ascued. So i was constantly having to readjust it...