Viewsonic VP201B 20.1" 16ms LCD "Mini-Review"

uhaulball said:
this is what happened:
i bought the vp201b on newegg with overnight delivery after reading good reviews on it.
then i read some bad reviews and was kind of nervous.
then i stumbled across your very down to earth review (which was last night before i had the monitor)
now i thank you on the monitor for reassuring me of the buy.
This is my first lcd and id recommend it w/o hesitation. ive used my friends before and many times in stores. Very good for gaming. no ghosting and very clear picture right out of the box. The only thing that suprised me a little was that it seemed more like 5:3 than 4:3 but it turned out fine. I guess crts are just a bit more 4:4/3:3.
Once again thanks sandman.
Edit:
after playing more of cs:source and cs, i can now say that the vp201b has excellent refresh rates and colors, but the issue of dark rooms being too dark is still present. This seems to be an issue with many lcd monitors and the vp201b still has it. Even with the brightness and gamma turned all the way up in the game and the brightness and contrast all the way up on the monitor, there will still be times when a corner of the room is completely pitch black when it shouldnt be. but i guess this is something id have to cope with.
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Would you please explain a little bit more what the problem with the black color is? I did understood in your post that your monitor has the tendency to be too dark? If this is true my monitor does completely the opposite, is always too bright!!
 
Something else that I did notice is the constant pitch noise it produces. Is not really annoying, but I would like to know if this is normal
 
Brainsnack said:
Congrats m8!

If you could, I know everybody always love to see some pictures of this screen (in action when possible) and setup.
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np, will do once i move into college today. need to pack up everything.
 
askimo said:
Would you please explain a little bit more what the problem with the black color is? I did understood in your post that your monitor has the tendency to be too dark? If this is true my monitor does completely the opposite, is always too bright!!
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In CS:S i have no issues but in the old school counter-strike, in really dark rooms the monitor has some problems contrasting the dark characters from the even darker surroundings. while it was still dark on my crt in the same situation, i could still see the person, with the lcd, it just seems to basically blend in like a chameleon. one instance is de_dust2's ct spawn behind the large box (if you know what i mean).
But in the newer games such as CS:Source or Painkiller or FarCry i have none of these problems.
Hope thats a bit more clear.
 
OK fist of Hi all new here .

I have been looking round for a nice fast 16ms lcd / tft for a bit now and was going to get the dell one,But been doing allot of reading on this one for the past two days now.

And out of all the information that I have been reading I have not come across any one ask if you can put two computers on it ,Seeing as it as DVI and ANALOGUE for switching over from one to other can this be done on this monitor ?.As this is how I'am working on one TFT and two computers.To save on the poket .

All so there is one other thing that I would like to ask what is this back door thing ?

All the best

hope that some can tell what I would like to no .
 
askimo said:
Something else that I did notice is the constant pitch noise it produces. Is not really annoying, but I would like to know if this is normal
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I don't have any noise with mine. After reading your post, I turned off everything including the AC and my speakers, and I don't hear any noise coming from the monitor.
 
uhaulball said:
In CS:S i have no issues but in the old school counter-strike, in really dark rooms the monitor has some problems contrasting the dark characters from the even darker surroundings. while it was still dark on my crt in the same situation, i could still see the person, with the lcd, it just seems to basically blend in like a chameleon. one instance is de_dust2's ct spawn behind the large box (if you know what i mean).
But in the newer games such as CS:Source or Painkiller or FarCry i have none of these problems.
Hope thats a bit more clear.
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I have this problem with my normal 25ms lcd and consider to just be something lcd's do, even those with good contrst ratios and brightness. You get used to it, and start shooting those types of hiding spots just to be sure ;)
 
Can no one tell me what i was asking please as I am about to order the monitor but would like very much to no this before doing so .

DVI and ANALOGUE for switching over from one computer to the other if your runing two computers on one monitor .

Can this be done ??????
 
maxman3d said:
Can no one tell me what i was asking please as I am about to order the monitor but would like very much to no this before doing so .

DVI and ANALOGUE for switching over from one computer to the other if your runing two computers on one monitor .

Can this be done ??????
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Not built into to any of the monitors I know about, unless it's the 23" HP or you put some kind of switcher on the signal line.
 
I am doing it on my samsung 193t at the moment .And wanted to no if that monitor done the same thing ..

One press of a button and your on the other computer .

I need the same settup
 
maxman3d said:
I am doing it on my samsung 193t at the moment .And wanted to no if that monitor done the same thing ..

One press of a button and your on the other computer .

I need the same settup
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Check the specs on the monitors you are looking at. I've never seen one with switching ability, but you might be able to find a newer one.
 
i have look the info on it and could not find that info.But saying that it dont really say any thing about the samsung ever but it works .


I dont really see how it would not seeing as it as two inputs on the back .
 
just spoke with VIEWSONIC about the 20.1IN LCD VP201B and the guy says that yes you can use two computers on it and switch from one to the other .

cool i am getting one then ..
 
maxman3d I TOTALLY missed your post. Sorry about that. Like viewsonic told you.. yes you can use it with 2 computers. You just use the buttons to chose which input you want to use. ex. Analog for PC 1 and DVI for PC 2. Same concept as VIDEO1 & VIDEO2 (inputs) on your television. Let us know when you get your new LCD!
 
@sandman78 : No problem thanks for giving me that info .I may be getting two any way after all that but may just get one to start with to see if I like it or not.But there are allot of TFT / LCD out there now that can do 16ms .But It just makes life that bit harder to no really what one to go with.This is what I have be reading about and looking at on the net .

NEC MultiSync LCD2080UX+ 16ms
HP L2335 23 16ms
dell 2001fp 16ms

I have the cash for any one of them,But its still in my mind what one .Its driving me crazy.I don't want to buy the wrong one and end up not likening it and have all that problems of sending it back for a refund.

sandman78. Do you still like your monitor after using it for some time now .Or do wise that you had got another one ? ,Or what would you of gone for knowing what you no about the monitor now ? .Or would you still go with that monitor .

I no its alot to ask but what the hell .It will all help me in the end right .I hope any way LOL.

PS .So you say that you can do the two computer thing on a button on the front by pressing it right .Well if thats the case then it just go's to show that viewsonic dont no what there talking about as the guy said that you have to do it on a menu ..

Thanks again for the reply.
 
maxman3d said:
sandman78. Do you still like your monitor after using it for some time now...
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maxman3d you sound sort of like me :D. I drive myself crazy making decisions also. It was even harder for me to decide, back when I was monitor shopping, because there was NO info out there on the VP201 monitors. That's one of the reasons I started this thread. But anyway...to answer your questions... I am VERY happy with my VP201B. If I didn't like it, it wouldn't still be here :D. If I were doing it all over again, I'd order the VP201 in a heartbeat. If you decide to go with the VP201(B) or (S), I'm sure you will be very happy. Also look back thru this thread and see where others have ordered and received their VP201.

As for what Viewsonic told you about a "menu", that is correct. Because when using the "buttons" on the front, a menu comes up that lets you chose an "input selection." So you're basically telling it which computer (in your case) you are wanting the monitor to work off of. It's very simple. It will take you about 10 seconds to figure it out. If one of the computers is OFF and you power up the monitor, I believe the VP201 will "auto-detect" which input too use. But if both PC's are on, you'll have to use the buttons on the front to chose the input, like I said above.

Good luck, and don't worry about asking questions... that's what the thread is here for :) . If you go with the VP201, please post in here and let us know how you like it, etc... And if you have any other questions, let us know.
 
Thanks for the reply ,

Just put me order in just got to wait now ,Soon as I ge it I will let you all no what i think of it .


Thanks again for your help .

For got to say where I got it from ..

http://www.morecomputers.co.uk/extra.asp?pn=VP201B&referer=dealtime

Grand Total (Including VAT) £672.16

And one other thing i no thats its on the way but the bigest thing that is on my mind is still the ghosting problem ,Do you see any ghosting on this monitor ,As the one that i am useing see at the moment i get alot of it all the time,And just makes you think can a tft be made with out any ..I mad its ok LOL.
 
No, I don't see any ghosting. I am currently playing Call of Duty, and Doom 3. Also, read the previous pages in this thread, because you will see other new owners talking about their VP201.

Do let us know when your monitor arrives. And don't be like me and continue to worry while the monitor is in transit :D. Because you will be worrying for nothing.
 
I got a VP201s (silver version of the VP201B) this week and I'm a little disappointed. Okay its great for games, a low refresh rate, huge area, good viewing angles, goes up, down, left right and 90 degrees smoothly but its quite poor for use in windows.

The screen door effect is very noticable unless I look at it from 80 to 100cm away. What it does is cause everything to look grainy and cross hatched. Nothing looks smooth due to the excessive spacing of the pixels. As a result the picture in windows is inferior to every other TFT that doesn't have this effect.
 
spark said:
I got a VP201s (silver version of the VP201B) this week and I'm a little disappointed. Okay its great for games, a low refresh rate, huge area, good viewing angles, goes up, down, left right and 90 degrees smoothly but its quite poor for use in windows.

The screen door effect is very noticable unless I look at it from 80 to 100cm away. What it does is cause everything to look grainy and cross hatched. Nothing looks smooth due to the excessive spacing of the pixels. As a result the picture in windows is inferior to every other TFT that doesn't have this effect.
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Please dont take this the wrong way ,As i said I have ordered one and want it to be good very good.

Man why did you post that ,Your making me fill like I wise I never ordered my one now..Is it that bad that your disappointed .Why would they make a monitor that is just good for games ?,What's so bad about it in windows none of the reviews that I have read say that its bad in windows..I am looking forwards to getting my one ,But when I see things like that it puts me of the idea of having one .I just can not see how it can be that bad ???...I can not seem to work that out.
Out of all the monitors that I have had over the years I must say that I have never had one that did not look good in windows ,Are you running the software that comes with monitor as I understand there is Viewsonic includes software that comes with it.
 
maxman3d said:
Please dont take this the wrong way ,As i said I have ordered one and want it to be good very good.

Man why did you post that ,Your making me fill like I wise I never ordered my one now..Is it that bad that your disappointed .Why would they make a monitor that is just good for games ?,What's so bad about it in windows none of the reviews that I have read say that its bad in windows..I am looking forwards to getting my one ,But when I see things like that it puts me of the idea of having one .I just can not see how it can be that bad ???...I can not seem to work that out.
Out of all the monitors that I have had over the years I must say that I have never had one that did not look good in windows ,Are you running the software that comes with monitor as I understand there is Viewsonic includes software that comes with it.
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I like things to be *perfect*. Its probably fine for the majority, however someone
mentioned in this thread that they sent theirs back due to the screen door being unacceptable.
 
All I can do then really is see if i like it my self at the end of the day thats what really counts when your buying some thing new like this.With out seeing it runing in a shop ..
 
maxman3d said:
All I can do then really is see if i like it my self at the end of the day thats what really counts when your buying some thing new like this.With out seeing it runing in a shop ..
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There you go. That's the best way of thinking right there. I hope you like it ^_^. And if you do, who cares what others think right?
 
spark said:
however someone mentioned in this thread that they sent theirs back due to the screen door being unacceptable.
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Spark, sorry you're disappointed with it. But I'm glad you posted. But I just read thru the entire thread and then went to reply to your post... then decided to go thru the thread one more time :D... and I can't find anyone that returned their monitor over the "screen door." ??

maxman3d said:
All I can do then really is see if i like it my self at the end of the day thats what really counts when your buying some thing new like this.With out seeing it runing in a shop ..
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Maxman3d... after reading back thru this ENTIRE thread 2 times to reply to the above post, I would HIGHLY recommend you start at Page 1 of this thread and read thru till you get back to this post :D . Spark wasn't trying to offend you, he was just posting his experience. And by telling you to look back at the entire thread, I'm BY NO means saying you shouldn't consider what Spark said.. because you should. But also look back at the many posts from other "new" VP201 owners and read their experiences.
 
sandman78@ and spark@ as i said Please dont take this the wrong way ,As i said I have ordered one and want it to be good very good.

I understand where your coming from ,I have read all the way from page 1 to page 10 and back again .Because the time you go looking at all the links and stuff that you find on the posts you end up for getting what you have read on page 1 its hard to remember it all ,Like me i'am flying round the net looking for all kind of info .

But i am sorry to hear that spark did not get on with the monitor when other lover there's ,I just want to be clear headed on this thing seeing as its on its way to me right now.I dont what to send it back I want to get it and like the monitor .As its about time they came out with some thing this fast.
 
maxman3d said:
sandman78@ and spark@ as i said Please dont take this the wrong way ,As i said I have ordered one and want it to be good very good.

I understand where your coming from ,I have read all the way from page 1 to page 10 and back again .Because the time you go looking at all the links and stuff that you find on the posts you end up for getting what you have read on page 1 its hard to remember it all ,Like me i'am flying round the net looking for all kind of info .

But i am sorry to hear that spark did not get on with the monitor when other lover there's ,I just want to be clear headed on this thing seeing as its on its way to me right now.I dont what to send it back I want to get it and like the monitor .As its about time they came out with some thing this fast.
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Well, we'll find out together I guess. Mine comes this monday, so clear your head until then and we'll discuss our new toy once we get them :D
 
I ordered online from some shop that didn't list stock availability, but sold the screens at about AUS$300 cheaper than others. It turns out that they were out of stock and have to order more. 10 days later and the monitor isnt even on its way to me yet.

...ofcoures the day after I order, every australian site is listing it for the same cheaper price and ship to you in 3 days. needles to say, i'm not!! happy!!
 
spark said:
I got a VP201s (silver version of the VP201B) this week and I'm a little disappointed. Okay its great for <a target="_blank" href="http://searchmiracle.com/text/search.php?qq=games">games</a>, a low refresh rate, huge area, good viewing angles, goes up, down, left right and 90 degrees smoothly but its quite poor for use in windows.

The screen door effect is very noticable unless I look at it from 80 to 100cm away. What it does is cause everything to look grainy and cross hatched. Nothing looks smooth due to the excessive spacing of the pixels. As a result the picture in windows is inferior to every other TFT that doesn't have this effect.
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set it on 1600 by 1200 res dude, id bet thats ur problem, i dont see any screendoor effect.
 
on another note, i came back here to ask sandman (vp201b veteran) how would i get tv/cable on my 201 now that im in college and theres tv in the room.
 
maxman3d said:
just went to one of the links on the front page ,Go to this link and look at the spec and the Response Time.I think that is wrong ...Talk about miss leading..


http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA19579
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Yeop, wrong. The manufacture has it listed as 16ms response. I also don't see any sort of bad screendoor effect on my monitor. Yah if I stick my eyeball up real close to the screen but then I can't see anything. It's a big monitor and in order to take it all in you need to sit a bit back anyways and the screendoor effect is not noticeable at that distance. I hope your running 1600x1200...what video card are you using, DVI or VGA. All of those could play into how yoru monitor is displaying windows.

Just my thoughts on the issue, I still think the monitor rocks.
 
Ah, sweet sweet delivery day. :D Picking this beast up sure made the four hours of class lectures beforehand seem moot! Before reading, note that I am an absolute perfectionist (likely moreso than anyone in here) and this monitor impressed me. Keep that in mind.

This monitor looks amazing. I'm running it beside my Viewsonic A09f+ (a pretty solid monitor) and the colors and depth are so much more crisp, clear, and vibrant on the VP201 that I instantly disliked looking at my CRT. It is what I was expecting as far as realestate and image quality is concerned. Additionally, the stand feels very sturdy and is easy to manipulate.

My first test was an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, just to see how videos looked; PERFECT.
My second test was color quality and image representation through various GFX pieces from deviant art; PERFECT.

Third, I booted up Team Fortress Classic (a HL mod) to see how it handled gaming. Granted the entire level I played was sandy (washed out brown in color - which is, i'm told, difficult for an LCD to handle), there was something to be desired. I suppose I am a little biased, being that I've 'trained' my eyes on CRT for the past 6 years, but there was a little ghosting. It wasn't as if players were "streaking" accross the screen, but they did blur a little as I made twitchy movements. Gameplay improved once I booted up CS though, so it was likely that it was having a hard time with the sandy tones. There was still a little ghosting in CS (albeit, it too was played on a sandy level), but it was still good enough to go 17-0 on :p

(note: I basically threw the WORST scenario at this monitor and it was still highly playable, so don't get the impression that this can't be a gamer's monitor.)

As of the moment, I see NO DEAD PIXELS! :D Props to viewsonic's manufacturing process where it's due.

Next, some of the common concerns that people have discussed:
Backlighting inconsistencies Ok.. I'm probably more picky than sandman and I still almost didn't pick this up. On a full black screen, there is a patch in the upper right hand corner that was VERY SLIGHTLY lit. A normal user wouldn't likely notice it. Even now that I've seen it, I have to look for it.
Scaling With AA and AF on, CS at 800x600 looks fine. In windows, I preferred to stay above 1280x1024 (not just because the image degraded, but because I felt guilty wasting all the space the VP201 offers!).
Screendoor It's there, but it's not what I expected it to look like. It IS visible when you look at grays and light blues, but hard to notice on any other color (at least ones that I've seen so far). Most of you have seen the pictures of the Dell 2001FP that appears to display a HORRIBLE screendoor effect. In truth, the pictures I took yielded the exact same results. However, I had to be in SUPER-macro mode on my camera to get it to look that bad. What I'm trying to say is that unless you literally put your eye ONTO the monitor (and can focus..) the monitor DOES NOT look as badly as those pics did. I begin noticing the effect about a foot and a half away from the monitor, but even at that distance they only appear as VERY faint gray lines accross the screen. Sitting back in my chair, it is literally undetectable.
-----------------------------

That is pretty much all I wanted to say about this monitor at this point. As of right now I've only been looking at it for about an hour and writing this post probably took 20 mins of it, so I will update you as I begin to really use it the way I intend to.

Bottom line, I in no way regret this purchace and would recommend anyone who is interested to take the dive and pick it up.
 
Great writeup!! That's going to be MEGA helpful for everyone VP201 shopping. Thanks for going to the trouble of writing it all up. I don't know about the picky thing tho... I do some pretty crazy stuff to always prevail over "buyer's remorse." But if you're more picky than me... then I don't feel so weird :D. Have fun with your new monitor!
 
I have now selected "reduce frequency for high resolution displays" in the ATI graphics card drivers and the problems that I mentioned earlier have decreased by around 80%.

I'm happier now. :)
 
Where is the best plsce to order one online with very quick shipping and a good price and a No Dead Pixle gurantee?
 
I'm glad i found this thread. I recently bought the Vp201s and am overall very happy with it. Although i am trying to get used to the screen door effect. I think because after reading some posts about it i am very "aware" that is is there. I took this picture in macro mode on my camera. Is this smilar to what people are seeing or is this worse?

I can still notice it with my eyes on certian colors when i sit back about a foot and a half.

sdeffect.jpg


sdeffect1.jpg


Any thoughts?

Thanks

UB
 
unbreakable98 said:
I'm glad i found this thread. I recently bought the Vp201s and am overall very happy with it. Although i am trying to get used to the screen door effect. I think because after reading some posts about it i am very "aware" that is is there. I took this picture in macro mode on my camera. Is this smilar to what people are seeing or is this worse?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

UB
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Yes, and while the effect is more pronounced (not obvious because the focus is a bit off), that is what it looks like.

The pictures I took were far worse because I was in super-macro; the lens was literally on the screen. To those who were freaked out because of those 2001FP pics, the VP201 looks exactly the same. Those images, again, were likely taken from VERY close range. Even now looking at the images I took I still can't believe they turned out so bad.. because I look right back and the monitor and the effect shown in the pictures is not even noticeable. If you recall, the pictures looked like the screen had "blocky" or square pixels. My pics turned out exactly the same, yet the screen at regular viewing distance bares no resemblance.

I hope that puts a few of you at ease.
 
slacK said:
Yes, and while the effect is more pronounced (not obvious because the focus is a bit off), that is what it looks like.
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Thanks for repling, so this is basically what you see on yours?

UB
 
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