Just bought a Samsung 226BW and am very unimpressed

[Therk]

Just yesterday I bought myself a Samsung 226bw thinking the lottery fiasco was over and that they were quality panels now... boy was I wrong.

First, and major problem, is WHITE, WHITE dominates EVERYTHING, de_dust2 on cs looks like its frikken snowing - it gives me a headache, and this is on 25 brightness which is ridiculous. Everything is washed out except darker colours. Putting down the brightness fixes the problem partially but absolutely kills the rest of the colours displayed by the monitor.

The next problem is something I haven't encountered before, when moving windows on the desktop or when say, turning in fps games I keep on getting a 'blocky effect'. I.e. I start seeing squares forming as if the monitor is not catching up evenly or something, it is difficult to describe but kills the eyes. Vsync PARTIALLY fixes it in games but is still present in windows. When turning the textures also start flashing which didn't happen with my 19" AOC CRT.

Overall I'm extremely unimpressed by this monitor and Samsung in general. I have played on this monitor in an internet cafe before and it was leaps and bounds better in every aspect (and its what made me buy it) Colours were fantastic, it seemed to have better viewing angles and there was no blocky effect anywhere to be seen. I'm wondering if I should RMA this monitor or is this normal and Samsung has really gone down hill?

 

[postmortemIA]

white is there to cover up monitor's inability to display colors properly...

 

[Makaveli]

Its either a faulty monitor or your PC. I have the 225BW which is the previous model and it is excellent no issues.

 

[Therk]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
white is there to cover up monitor's inability to display colors properly...

So are you saying the monitor is faulty, because it sure seems like it is.

Originally posted by: Makaveli
Its either a faulty monitor or your PC. I have the 225BW which is the previous model and it is excellent no issues.

I am going to try the monitor on my new system with a 8800GT later tonight and if its still the same I'm gonna try to rma it.

 

[Cheex]

An RMA seems to be in order.

It is the first time I've heard of that complaint with a 226BW.
Most if not all complaints arise from the panel lottery (which is usually fixed with calibration).

 

[Goldfish4209]

I have the exact same panel and it works perfectly for me, bioshock looks beautiful. I concurr with the others, it seems as if you have a defective panel.

 

[Therk]

But how is it defective though?!? I'm willing to bet the store will say its fine and that the 'blockyness' and crappy colour is normal... What am I supposed to day

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Therk
But how is it defective though?!? I'm willing to bet the store will say its fine and that the 'blockyness' and crappy colour is normal... What am I supposed to day

What store did you buy it from? I doubt a place like Best Buy or Circuit City would give you a hassle over it if you're still within the return period.

I got a pair of Plantronics headphones for Christmas, and when I was walking out of my room the other day the cord caught on my foot and snapped in two. (Actually one end of it pulled out of the splitter where the mic connector separates from the headphone connector.) At any rate, I brought it into Best Buy and showed it to them, and they let me exchange it no questions asked. I thought they'd claim it was my fault that it broke (and they would essentially be right, even though it was an accident) but they exchanged it right away.

 

[Therk]

Here in New Zealand there really isn't a return policy unless the product is faulty (which they can just say since these things may be 'minor' to them). I can however pay a 10% restocking fee which I think is unfair.

 

[DSF]

I don't know how things work in New Zealand, but if I purchased an obviously defective monitor (which yours seems to be, pending testing it on another system) and the store refused to honor a return, I wouldn't shop there anymore.

 

[Therk]

Originally posted by: DSF
I don't know how things work in New Zealand, but if I purchased an obviously defective monitor (which yours seems to be, pending testing it on another system) and the store refused to honor a return, I wouldn't shop there anymore.

The shop I bought from has been good to me so far, always has good prices, friendly and everything. I'm just worried that if I send it for an RMA that the person who looks at the faults thinks its fine because he/she has gone through a lot of cheaper panels with similar problems. Then I'll end up having no monitor for a week and will have to pay shipping both ways only to get the same monitor back.

 

[Cheex]

Don't send it...Take it back to them personally and show them what the faults are.

 

[Therk]

Yeah but then I'd have to take my pc aswell to show them the tearing in games (its a lot worse in games)

 

[postmortemIA]

So maybe it is just how that monitor is?

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Therk
Yeah but then I'd have to take my pc aswell to show them the tearing in games (its a lot worse in games)

Oh.

I think you should test the monitor on another system though.

 

[Therk]

My new system will be up and running today, I'll inform you all later on how it goes.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
So maybe it is just how that monitor is?

So your point is?

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: Therk
Just yesterday I bought myself a Samsung 226bw thinking the lottery fiasco was over and that they were quality panels now... boy was I wrong.

First, and major problem, is WHITE, WHITE dominates EVERYTHING, de_dust2 on cs looks like its frikken snowing - it gives me a headache, and this is on 25 brightness which is ridiculous. Everything is washed out except darker colours. Putting down the brightness fixes the problem partially but absolutely kills the rest of the colours displayed by the monitor.

The next problem is something I haven't encountered before, when moving windows on the desktop or when say, turning in fps games I keep on getting a 'blocky effect'. I.e. I start seeing squares forming as if the monitor is not catching up evenly or something, it is difficult to describe but kills the eyes. Vsync PARTIALLY fixes it in games but is still present in windows. When turning the textures also start flashing which didn't happen with my 19" AOC CRT.

Overall I'm extremely unimpressed by this monitor and Samsung in general. I have played on this monitor in an internet cafe before and it was leaps and bounds better in every aspect (and its what made me buy it) Colours were fantastic, it seemed to have better viewing angles and there was no blocky effect anywhere to be seen. I'm wondering if I should RMA this monitor or is this normal and Samsung has really gone down hill?

this is why i will never buy an lcd with a TN panel

 

[zorrt]

Well my benq is overly white too. I just calibrated the colour profile which fixed it up. Not sure if that means I had a faulty monitor or not tho.

 

[ZoNtO]

Have you tried setting the MagicBright settings to "internet" mode via the menu?

 

[Therk]

where is this? I only see Magicolour

 

[ZoNtO]

it's the button that has a rainbow looking thing/down arrow, just keep pressing it until you get "internet"

some review I read said that this gave the best black depth and lowered the white balance to a tolerable level. Have mine set on that and it's glorious!

 

[Cookie Monster]

Firstly, stay away from magic color.

I have this monitor, and i have bought it in New Zealand. Read up this.

Link

The 226bw is an awesome monitor, no banding, no tearing and a little bit of back light bleed (well my one is) although i dont notice it anymore. After calibration, the monitor is very good.

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions yet, and only would after trouble shotting process.

 

[ZoNtO]

I wasn't suggesting magic color, I was suggesting changing the magicbright settings for brightness reduction on his whites.

 

[Therk]

I tried the magic bright setting on internet, it fixed the brightness but completely and utterly killed every single colour - it basically just put the brightness on 10.

I tried the C profile and it still looks like ass.