A couple of internet review sites have started to charge money for "early preview" of their reviews.
Prad.de has been doing it for a while.
TFTCentral has recently followed them.
Can internet reviews be trusted to the point of paying for them?
Facts first.
Let's see.
Just one example. Just one (although we can continue).
Have you guys heard about the NEC 2490WUXi?
Ask anyone more or less informed of LCD technologies on this forum about the single most important feature of this IPS monitor.
The feature for which many of us have been dreaming about this monitor (now discontinued) and still looking for it on eBay, etc...
Yes, it's A-TW polarizer.
This is what prad.de says about the NEC 2490WUXi:
TFTCentral:
So, according to prad.de, the A-TW polarizer is not worth mentioning.
According to TFTCentral, A-TW polarizer introduces slight white tint.
Feel free to comment this in perfect English.
My English is a second language so it may sound too harsh in this situation.
Now my opinion.
This is not the first mistake I have come across on prad.de.
But after this one I wanted to put them into ignore list.
I did not because the right method remains the same: gathering facts from different sources.
Although one has to dig through ads and useless info (reviews are heavily overloaded by calibration for calibration, playing with tools while visual comparisons are neglected), it's still possible to get some useful facts (skipping "verdicts").
TFTCentral (although not free of mistakes, not the best source for video support info) seems to be more real world and more user-friendly reviews thus more useful.
What I would do:
1. Use different sources for facts and comparisons as usual.
2. Look at reviews when they are available for free.
3. Not even a penny for pay-per-view.
Prad.de has been doing it for a while.
TFTCentral has recently followed them.
Can internet reviews be trusted to the point of paying for them?
Facts first.
Let's see.
Just one example. Just one (although we can continue).
Have you guys heard about the NEC 2490WUXi?
Ask anyone more or less informed of LCD technologies on this forum about the single most important feature of this IPS monitor.
The feature for which many of us have been dreaming about this monitor (now discontinued) and still looking for it on eBay, etc...
Yes, it's A-TW polarizer.
This is what prad.de says about the NEC 2490WUXi:
TFTCentral:
So, according to prad.de, the A-TW polarizer is not worth mentioning.
According to TFTCentral, A-TW polarizer introduces slight white tint.
Feel free to comment this in perfect English.
My English is a second language so it may sound too harsh in this situation.
Now my opinion.
This is not the first mistake I have come across on prad.de.
But after this one I wanted to put them into ignore list.
I did not because the right method remains the same: gathering facts from different sources.
Although one has to dig through ads and useless info (reviews are heavily overloaded by calibration for calibration, playing with tools while visual comparisons are neglected), it's still possible to get some useful facts (skipping "verdicts").
TFTCentral (although not free of mistakes, not the best source for video support info) seems to be more real world and more user-friendly reviews thus more useful.
What I would do:
1. Use different sources for facts and comparisons as usual.
2. Look at reviews when they are available for free.
3. Not even a penny for pay-per-view.
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