Viewing experience with glossy panels?

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veek

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Hey all

I've been looking at tons of LCD reviews recently.
Some of the most promising ones seem to be the so called "glossy panels."
Unfortunately most reviews also hesitate to recommend these monitors due to the glossy finish.

I'm hoping people that have these types of monitors can give their opinion on how much the glossy finish affects their viewing experience on a day to day basis.

For instance, if the monitor is next to a window during the day time, is glare a big issues?

Also how are the viewing angles?

Would I always have to dim the lights for an optimal viewing experience?

I'm trying to understand why so many reviewers seem to have reservations about the glossy finish.

I think me and many other potential buyers would appreciate hearing some practical experiences (pros and cons) from people that own these monitors.

If you could mention what model monitor you have and give some opinions that would be great :)
 
It is not a monitor per say, but we recently got a Inspiron 9400 here at work, and it has one of those glossy panels, and I have to say, the glare and crap gives me a headache, just like the old CRT's do. Not quite as bad, but I like the regular non glossy finish better.


 
Such epidemic glossy factor reservation in the reviews around is disturbing, to say at least. They are either ignorant or simply involving their personal preference. It's NOT problem for the majority of people out there and to kill the monitor review score just because of the coating ... is just nuts, as there are many positive things about them. It's simply exaggerated and not elaborated properly.

Personally, I don't like the AR coating. It's hazy, grainy, crystallized surface and screen door effect is much more pronounced. Even if you have the intensive light source behind the AR coating, you will have one big messy white spot because of the way how the light is "reflected". On the other hand, OptiClear for example is actually absorbing the portion of light hitting the screen and at the same time allowing the screen image to be displayed without distortion.

I own the NEC 20WGX2 and OptiClear is simply bonus for me. It's improving the colour vibrancy, image focus, purity and overall quality. It's maybe not measurable (and this is normal), but it's there and it's pleasant. Apart from this, something that was rarely mentioned in the reviews (if at all) is that with the OptiClear you really just see the image and not LCD surface (something that was always distracting for me) and it will nicely remove all possible screendoor effects, grainy and crystallised surface of the usual LCD panel coatings. I've always missed the overall smoothness of the CRT screens as it's much more easier & pleasant to the eye. When you look at the "OptiClear picture", all you see is the image and no surface. Image is just floating there, with a great sense that panel is just the window to the another world outside. It's more immersive for gaming (even for video watching) and it's really introducing that extra vibrance to the spectrum. Sometimes, is really like there is no barrier between you and the liquid crystal.

One comment about the brigthness. Yes, 20WGX2 is very bright ... but I would say that brightness is not unpleasant, even when monitor is tuned at very high (let's say 60% - 70%) brightness. OptiClear is probably contributing factor for this, as any other panel coating (or the panel itself) will make such brightness simply overwhelming, unpleasant and unbearable. With NEC, it's going very well ... especially in pair with gaming and video.

I wonder, did the reviews people ever used the CRT in their life ... or they simply forgot that nice CRT like feeling. How could they live with the CRT at all (in the past) ? so that they are ignorant for anything else, apart from the AR (anti reflective coating). Pretty much strange.

Regarding reflections, II would say that any nearby window, with the "controllable" ambient light (blinds or curtains) shouldn't be a problem. Some users also reported that side window was not problem for them. Also, you may have more reflections with the opposite window directly facing the monitor during the very bright and sunny day ... but again if it's controllable you shouldn't have much problems. Also, if you have the desk lamp, just behind the monitor you shouldn't have problems also.I think that OptiClear is probably around 20% - 25% more reflective than traditional "glass" coating of the CRT monitors and TV screens. It's hard to tell. In may example, I have a window just opposite the screen and can't say that it was distracting for me to the annoying extent. Even during the very bright and sunny day - when window blinds were properly adjusted - I could finish my work without major issues. Also, after reading many responses from the users around, honestly I can't remember that someone seriously complained about the reflections. In that sense, we may possibly conclude that for the majority of users out there it's pretty much OK. Over bright room or intensive ambient light can be problematic for any screen, including the ones with AR (anti reflective) coating - you may have big and bright white spots. Picture is loosing the fine details, deep black, contrast ... and it can be quite distractive too. A bit like, watching the movie in cinema with the lights on.

Also, when the screen is off it's much more reflective. When you power on the screen, panel illumination is also dimming the reflections. All reviews around are showing the powered off screen, and that is definitely misleading to some extent

So, you see ... I tried to elaborate this issue slightly more than in the reviews itself :) Of course, this is my personal view and you may find it usefull or not ... it's always your choice ;)
 
DVL73 your response was more than I'd hoped for :)
Really appreciate your detailed impressions and insights.

I agree with what you said "such epidemic glossy factor reservation in the reviews around is disturbing..."

People have so many different needs and operating environments that I don't entirely trust the conclusions of a few reviews, and that's why I started this thread; to get some practical feedback from various people.

I wasn't aware of the differences in the different types of coating. It's something
I will watch out for.

Thanks again for such a detailed response.
 
I don't like being able to see reflections in monitors - I find it distracting. My experience is only with laptops such as the XBRITE Sony LCD panels and HP laptops with a similar coating. Every light that's behind me is visible in the reflection and when the screen fades to black, its like staring into a mirror - I can see my face.
I haven't seen the NEC 20" glossy but does it have these issues? Do people who have the 20" NEC not see reflections or are they able to ignore them / tune them out. Does it make much of a difference, say, when watching a movie with night scenes?
 
"Such epidemic glossy factor reservation in the reviews around is disturbing, to say at least. They are either ignorant or simply involving their personal preference. It's NOT problem for the majority of people out there and to kill the monitor review score just because of the coating ... is just nuts, as there are many positive things about them. It's simply exaggerated and not elaborated properly."

Well, you can call that glossy-mirror to be a disadvantage, hence lovering scores. In normal lightnin I can see my own image very clearly, and especially all sources of light. Also the problem is worse than with those old crt's, at least with Acers mirror-glossys. Very distracting and if monitor has very distracting features on normal use, it's a bad thing.
 
I've got a VX2025WM and when I first got it I noticed the coating a lot, now I pretty much see right through it.
 
From looking at laptops and friends monitors, I can definately say that I prefer the glossy screen. Colors look much more richer. To me it looks like the difference between a nice plasma HDTV vs an average lcd HDTV.
 
The screen on my laptop has a "glossy" finish (Its a Dell 9300). As long as you're the only one looking at it, you look at it straight on so if doesn't bother you. When my prof. was trying to look at the screen from the side of me he had a hard time because there was reflection.

It didn't bother me at all and still doesnt. Its a very sharp and clear screen. The only negative is that your finger prints smudge on it too easily...
 
Cool more responses, thanks guys.
Seems like a reasonable conclusion is that reflections are a definite issue with glossy panels but they are something you can get used to, and on the plus side glossy panels tend to provide richer looking images.

Seems they may not be too good for multiple people surrounding the monitor maybe watching a movie or just looking at a document.
 
From the above posts, it almost sounds like theres only two options, Anti-Reflective coating or glossy.

But I just thought I'd point out that there is, of course, the old defacto, non-fancy, matte surface, without either the "AR" or glossy coating. For me, that has no screendoor effect, and no reflection and I prefer it.
 
Hey jook, if you look at the rest of the display section you'll notice the large majority of threads are about matte LCDs.

I just started this one because I didn't see too much info in this forum about glossy LCDs :cool:
 
I recently purchased and recieved the Acer AL2051W (Glossy screen version of the popular Viewsonic VX2025WM, they're the same panels) and must say it's an amazing product, it really brings out the rich vibrant color and contrast you're missing with just a matte finish. It really puts LCD's on a whole new level.

And as for reviewers always complaining about the issue of reflection I agree it's pretty much petty bashing. You'd think they'd never used a CRT monitor or TV in their life as if this is some glaring (no pun intended) new phenomena.

I mean if you're in a room with a lot of light and you've got the screen all dark because you don't know how to keep the right brightness and contrast settings you're obviously going to have problems. Besides, if you've made the investment in the monitor you should have a good video card to go with it, there are plenty of brightness, color, gamma tweaks in addition to having the monitor controls at your disposal to get the picture right.
 
It all depends on what you do with your monitor.
I am one of those said friends that Kuyaglen has mentioned.
I own a Asus PW201 (see my review in the display forum), a NEC 1920GX, and a Dell 2405FPW.

The Dell of course is Matte. The other 2 are glossy.
My NEC has a nicer glossy by a little bit and is a little bit brighter than my Asus.

I use my NEC purely for watching TV in my bedroom with SageTV. Yea it also displays weather and the local movie listings. When I did use it to play games it was far superior color wise than my Dell. But my Dell was handsdown better b/c of the real estate and total visual space.

I use my Asus as my Windows MCE TV viewing panel, my HDTV viewing panel, and I play some BF2 and other games on it. It is also my everyday surf the web and what not panel / computer.

About the glossy on those two. IF YOU ARE ANAL STOP READING THIS!
Seriously I don't set out to look for my reflection in these things. Yea it's there but it's not distracting b/c I am concentrating on what I am doing, IE typing on forums, watching The UNIT in HD or in Windows MCE, or watching NFL Live with MCE. The experience is just 10x better on my Asus compared to my Dell.
Sure my Dell is slightly larger and can display the full 1080i resolution of the HD content I record, but it doesn't beat out looking at the pretty colors on my Asus.

I play BF2 on both and I would have to say the colors are better on my Asus, but my Dell just gives me a better gaming experience b/c of the size.
My perfect world would be a stylish glossy 27" 1080P LCD monitor. NO that's not a typo I would think 27" is perfect for my desk top. Why I choose to have soo many LCD panels on my desk vs buying a nice Pioneer Elite plasma? B/C when I come home from work I spend more time on my computers than just watching TV.

Ask yourself this, are you going to check for banding issues, and other weird non noticeable issues with your panel when you get it? Sure 1 or 2 dead/ stuck pixels suck, but if the size of the pixels are soo minute that you don't notice it doing everyday stuff then are you going to return the panel? If you replied yes to all of these glossy is not for you.
Ignorance is bliss. I check for dead pixels and that's it. On my NEC I found 1 stuck green pixel in the bottom left hand corner. I bought it from Fry's but I can live with it. So I didn't bother to return it. (call it laziness, or just ignorance.)
So how does this apply to Glossy? Well if you like rich colors and detailed viewing then get the glossy.
 
For me the glossy lcds are way way more reflective than any crt I have ever used. I am fine with them on brighter material, but anything dark, (like all the black areas on this forum) are like mirrors. So whenever I would choose a darker wallpaper it was awful since my eyes would constantly change focus between the image and the reflection (I was not actively looking for it). I could probably learn to live with the glossiness, but whenever I would sit down on another lcd in the house with a matte screen it felt like pressure lifting off my head. So I returned it (but for more reasons than just the glossiness). It was phenomenal for gaming, but I don't game all that much on my pc.
 
veek said:
Hey jook, if you look at the rest of the display section you'll notice the large majority of threads are about matte LCDs.

I just started this one because I didn't see too much info in this forum about glossy LCDs :cool:
Click to expand...

Yeah I know. I'm just referring to DVL73's post and how it seems like the decision to be made is only between Anti-Reflective matte coated, or Glossy coated. I'm just saying not to forget that you can get NON-anti-reflective matte coated screens.

Of course, nothing quite beats chocolate-coated.
 
My w3j laptop has a glossy screen and IMHO it is awesome! And we're just talking about a laptop panel here, which doesn't have nearly as good contrast or color reproduction as a high desktop lcd has. It noticably improves contrast and somehow makes colors stick out more, can't really describe it beyond that. As for glare, only times I notice it is when I turn brightness way down, or if I go outside with it. Now that I'm looking for a desktop lcd as well I would highly recommend you try one out.
 
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