LCD Buyer's Guide

[amd7674]

Blah...Tom's. They've made more than a couple of mistakes before and I've suffered due to them. I don't worry about what other people say about it. It's a great LCD and it's perfectly fine for photo editing. It's better than 95% of the LCDs out there for this purpose just due to the fact it's S-IPS. The fact it's glossy doesn't take away from its photo editing capabilities despite baseless claims. It produces balanced, natural tones and comes out dead accurate on the colorimeter.

Xtknight thanks for all your tips/suggestions. All your hard work is very much appreciated. I love this monitor so far.... I still have to test video inputs on it, before the 14 days return 'no questions ask' expiry. If I don't see any major issue, the monitor is a keeper ;-)
I really like ADM ON setting, brightness around 20 and contrast around 50, dv mode normal and color native.....heheh... This setting seems to be best on my eyes when working late at night. However when I play with photo retouching I turn ADM off and I set contrast to be around 30 ;-)

 

[SilverM]

I'd just like to thank you guys for recommending me HP LP2065. I finally got it yesterday (after 4 weeks of waiting ) and so far I'm very pleased. The colours are great, the picture is very clear, no trouble reading. I've also tried watching some movies and it's very good. The gaming is also pretty good, so far I've only tried S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on 1024x768 and it's great. no visible ghosting so far, dark areas are shown very nicely, and I've noticed no problems in colour uniformity across the display. thank you guys, it's a great monitor altogether

 

[amd7674]

what version did you get and when it was manufactured? I had flickering issues with GSM002 made in Dec 2006. It was very easy to reproduce:
1) factory reset
2) lower brightness to 20 or lower.
3) go to this url Grey background

The mid gray background would cause wavy flickering starting from the middle of the screen going downwards, the only way to 'limit' it was to increase brightness over ~70. Which was bad for my eyes. While waiting for replacement HP send me A-MVA based LP2065 and at the end they couldn't deliver S-IPS based LCD, hence I went with NEC 20WMGX2 and I LOVE IT ;-) Other then flickering issue, and anti-glare surface I liked my ex-HP LP2065 (S-IPS) lcd.

 

[mushroom3]

hey xtknight, hows the bleeding on the l226wt?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Mogget
xtknight, my budget has increased enough for me to consider a better monitor...

I quite like the idea of widescreen, so I'm looking at 20"+ monitors. I get the impression this is your territory . Reviews seem quite positive about the Samsung 206BW: http://www.samsung.com/au/products/monitors/tft/tvmonitor/206bw.asp ? plus it's readily available here. Do you (or anyone else here) have experience with this monitor?

Price: NZ$556.95

Other options:

Hewlett Packard L2045w Price: NZ$543.69
LG Electronics L204WT-SF Price: NZ$582.12
ViewSonic VX2235wm Price: NZ$560.89 <-- 22"
ViewSonic VX2025wm Price: NZ$545.58
And Dell monitors

? I notice the ViewSonic monitors have some potential problems (listed in the guide).
? Both the LG and Samsung are listed together in the recommended Multimedia section. That's a good thing I guess

I know NEC monitors are meant to be good, but unfortunately I can't get them here.

I would really appreciate advice, as on the surface there seems little separating these monitors.

Thanks!

I would really only consider the LG L204WT and 206BW. The VX2025 is a P-MVA sure but I believe the LG and 206BW produce a better picture, still.

Out of both of those, the L204WT is what I would choose. If my L226WT was any indication, LG makes great TNs. Several have agreed the L204WT is a superior TN.

Originally posted by: databird
xtknight (or anyone else for that matter): Samsung recently announced that they will be releasing LCDs with LED backlights (that's how I understood it).

Seeing as Samsung is good at announcing things far before they are released (6 months+), when do you think Samsung LCDs with LED-based backlights will be available as widescreen PC monitors?

Yes, they are LCDs with LED backlights, not OLEDs or anything else.

They have already released the $2000 Samsung XL20 (20.1" 4:3) for pros, although for consumers the widescreen monitors will likely be at the forefront. Samsung hasn't released a new 4:3 monitor in how long now? (besides the 931C which was just a tech demo of their wide-gamut tech)

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I received my Dell 2407WFP. Rev. A04, made in Mexico. At the top of the service menu, it says

V1B29 HN20826

I have no idea what those two codes mean, but would like to know.

I haven't really been following. I'd check HardForum for the latest info on the 2407 rev encodings.

P.S. Love your quotes.

Originally posted by: nautilus
Hey guys!
Beteween these two monitors, what do you thing it's the best for playing games:

Samsung 932B - http://www.samsung.com/Products/Monitor.../LS19PEBSFVXAA.asp?page=Specifications

Panel Viewable area 19"
Pixel Pitch(mm) 0.294
Brightness(cd/§³)(typ.) 300 cd/§³
Contrast Ratio(typ.) 700:1 (DC 2000:1)
Viewing Angle(H/V) 160¢ª/160¢ª (CR>5)
Response Time(ms)(typ.) 5
Frequency Horizontal Frequency(kHz) 30~81
Vertical Frequency(Hz) 56-75
Maximum Resolution 1280x1024
Color Supported 16.2 Mil.
Signal Input Input Video Signal Analog RGB, DVI
Sync. Type Separate H/V, Composite, SOG
Input Connectors 15pin D-sub, DVI-D

AOC 193P - http://www.aoc.com.br/site_v1/php/index.php?req=produto&ctg_tipo=1&prd_id=119

Panel Viewable area 19"
Pixel Pitch(mm) 0.294
Brightness(cd/§³)(typ.) 270 cd/§³
Contrast Ratio(typ.) 500:1
Viewing Angle(H/V) 160¢ª/160¢ª
Response Time(ms)(typ.) 4
Frequency Horizontal Frequency(kHz) 30~83
Vertical Frequency(Hz) 55-75
Maximum Resolution 1280x1024
Color Supported 16.7 Mil.
Signal Input Input Video Signal Analog RGB, DVI
Sync. Type Separate H/V, Composite, SOG
Input Connectors 15pin D-sub, DVI-D

Absolutely no idea but if I had to guess I would get the Samsung just because I trust them more than AOC. Samsung's had some good TNs lately too and I think the 932B is one of their new ones.

Originally posted by: mushroom3
hey xtknight, hows the bleeding on the l226wt?

Slight amount present on a black screen but noncritical on anything but that. The only thing I noticed was viewing angle issues on normal screens.

 

[SilverM]

Originally posted by: amd7674
what version did you get and when it was manufactured? I had flickering issues with GSM002 made in Dec 2006. It was very easy to reproduce:
1) factory reset
2) lower brightness to 20 or lower.
3) go to this url Grey background

The mid gray background would cause wavy flickering starting from the middle of the screen going downwards, the only way to 'limit' it was to increase brightness over ~70. Which was bad for my eyes. While waiting for replacement HP send me A-MVA based LP2065 and at the end they couldn't deliver S-IPS based LCD, hence I went with NEC 20WMGX2 and I LOVE IT ;-) Other then flickering issue, and anti-glare surface I liked my ex-HP LP2065 (S-IPS) lcd.

Well, OSD says it's version REV.114, serial number CNG706008G, and Everest says it's produced in the 6th week of 2007. I haven't really changed any of the factory settings (brightness is 90, contrast 80) but I don't see any problems. I've just tried lowering brightness to 20 and viewing that grey background but I still don't see any problems... So far, so good, I really can't complain

 

[BernardP]

Hi again xtknight...

May I hopefully bring your attention to the question I added in the

L226WTX Performance Thread

I know I am asking for "detailed details" but I would really like to make sure of as much as I can about scaling on this monitor before I decide to bring one home.

It is selling for $ 369 (regular price) now at FutureShop and I feel it's only a matter of time before it goes on sale for $ 299, at which point it will be hard to resist, unless the Samsung 226CW (wide color gamut) comes out in the meantime.

 

[shilatoe]

Sorry, I posted in the wrong forum. Here is my question again.

I was ready to buy the NEC 20WMGX2 based on xtknight's advice when a friend raved about his Dell 2407wfp last nite. I began to look over reviews and forums re the Dell and it looks good. But then I noticed a flyer in the newspaper this morning that advertised the LG L246wp. This looks brand new, almost nothing online when I google it but the [HARD] forum has a good discussion that suggests it has the same panel as the BenQ and is very good.
My question: Of the 24" wide screens priced around $700 which one does the best job for me? My uses are FPSs, RPGs and strategy games, photo & video editing.
I have the feeling that I can't go wrong with the Dell but this model is almost a year old and this LG is brand new. Also, what else is out there that I haven't heard of yet that might be even better?
As always, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: shilatoe
Sorry, I posted in the wrong forum. Here is my question again.

I was ready to buy the NEC 20WMGX2 based on xtknight's advice when a friend raved about his Dell 2407wfp last nite. I began to look over reviews and forums re the Dell and it looks good. But then I noticed a flyer in the newspaper this morning that advertised the LG L246wp. This looks brand new, almost nothing online when I google it but the [HARD] forum has a good discussion that suggests it has the same panel as the BenQ and is very good.
My question: Of the 24" wide screens priced around $700 which one does the best job for me? My uses are FPSs, RPGs and strategy games, photo & video editing.
I have the feeling that I can't go wrong with the Dell but this model is almost a year old and this LG is brand new. Also, what else is out there that I haven't heard of yet that might be even better?
As always, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Information seems rather sparse about the LG. If you want to be sure get a BenQ FP241W which has gotten consistently good reviews and has been known to provide better color quality than the Dell (perhaps with less colored ghosting problems also).

Apparently new revs of the BenQ also include 1:1 scaling.

 

[tw33ter]

My silver NEC 20WMGX2 should be here on the 18th or 19th , any tips for getting it set up once I get it out of the box?

 

[nemesiz]

My friend purchased the BenQ FP241WZ 24 Inch P-MVA display last week, here is my personal observations and initial impressions. Firstly when you open the box you immediately notice the monitor comes with only the basic essential accessories, a VGA to DVI monitor cable, USB 2 A - B lead, standard software suite on a single cd, and the installation / warranty leaflet which is quite frankly disappointing when you've paid over five hundred pounds for the monitor. The display is easy to set up with the stand simply slotting into the back, unfortunately the same cannot be said about inserting the cable into the back of the monitor as the DVI connector is right next to the stand making it hard to attach. As the monitor didn't come with a DVI to DVI cable, he borrowed a spare one which came which came with my HP LP2065.

Once the monitor is switched on, Windows XP and ATi Catalyst 7.3 automatically recognise the display as a Ben Q FP241WZ, although the defaults set the desktop to 1280 x 1024 due to the refresh rate of 75hz. After quickly changing the refresh rate to 60hz, the monitors resolution can be set to it's native setting of 1920 x 1280. First impressions of the monitor is that there wasn't any dead or stuck pixels, although the image brightness due to the manufacturers default was set too high, causing the picture to be heavily saturated, and detail suffering significantly. After turning the brightness down from 90 to 40, immediately you notice the outstanding image quality, and vivid colour accuracy that is comparable to the S-IPS HP LP2065. Unfortunately BenQ stimp with the software suite packaging including the drivers, an automatic configuration utility (doesn't work) and a standard basic dark scale test to manually adjust the monitor. Although the default brightness was too high, the monitor straight away didn't require any adjustments to it's contrast, passing the basic greyscale test without any banding.

Once all these initial problems are solved I must say performance is outstanding! Film playback was near perfect with no twinkling, ghosting or other effects when watching the Casino Royale. Furthermore first impressions when using the monitor for gaming ( C & C Tiberian Wars and Titan Quest) is that it doesn't suffer any ghosting due to the 6ms GTG response time, the colours were accurate, bright (too bright for my personal liking), and vivid, and detail didn't suffer from blurring, or wash out. Overall the monitor is on par with HP LP2065 for image and text quality, and better suited for gaming and filming due to the widescreen and extra screen width. Highly recommended.

 

[amd7674]

first lower the brightness level or it will burn your eyes ;-)

Settings

widescreengaming

I found above links helpfull, the settings I like are:

Bright: 21
Contr:50
ADVM: ON
color: native

I use my lcd most of the time in dark room, with the light behind it.

Good luck !!! ;-)

 

[xboxist]

Originally posted by: amd7674
first lower the brightness level or it will burn your eyes ;-)

QFT -- I'm fairly certain I was mere seconds away from losing my eyesight after I first set it up and gave it a good looking at. Think it ships with default 100 brightness. For comparison, I think I use a setting of 25 for most applications.

 

[Mucks]

Is there any difference in quality between the BenQ FP241W and the BenQ FP241VW? The VW is more expensive and has a different design, but a quick comparison of the specs made it seem like it was identical to the BenQ FP241W.

I'm looking into LCDs to use for watching movies (running a 9800 Pro on my old desktop) and for the occasional gaming (hooking up my PS2 or Xbox). This looks like the best bang for the buck right now.

 

[shilatoe]

My question regarding 24 in WPs may partially answer Mucks question:
The LG L245WP, distributed in Europe, uses the PMVA AOU panel model M24OUW01 V0 which is the same panel as used in the BenQ FP241W.
Does anyone know if the LG L246WP, the USA model, has the same panel or is it the newer AMVA AOU panel model M24OUW01 V2 which is used in the BenQ FP241WZ?
Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Whats the difference between LG L226WTQ-WF to LG L226WT-BF??

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Mucks
Is there any difference in quality between the BenQ FP241W and the BenQ FP241VW? The VW is more expensive and has a different design, but a quick comparison of the specs made it seem like it was identical to the BenQ FP241W.

I'm looking into LCDs to use for watching movies (running a 9800 Pro on my old desktop) and for the occasional gaming (hooking up my PS2 or Xbox). This looks like the best bang for the buck right now.

Found this on the NCIX forum:

2) The FP241VW is the same as the FP241WZ but it has a aluminum casing, very stylish and solid and the buttons are on the front instead of being on the side which makes it much easier to adjust. The P241W and WZ casing feels quite cheap in comparion. On the other hand the VW style might not suit everyone. The preset options for games on the VW are not really worth the look, nothing you couldn't configure by yourself on the other monitors.

The VW and WZ feature BenQ's BFI to speed up response time, so that is the main difference between these models and the regular W. For some reason, they don't seem to be nearly as popular as the W.

This guy actually has a pretty good comparison of three 24" monitors (BenQ FP241WZ, 2407WFP, LG L246WP) for all those interested:

http://www.bexox.com/showdown.htm

The BenQ does sound like the best choice to me, and as such I have recommended the W for months now over the 2407 due to better color reproduction.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Whats the difference between LG L226WTQ-WF to LG L226WT-BF??

Not sure but the specs don't look different to me. Probably the same thing with a very minor change (certainly not a panel change). They have the same inputs and features.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: shilatoe
My question regarding 24 in WPs may partially answer Mucks question:
The LG L245WP, distributed in Europe, uses the PMVA AOU panel model M24OUW01 V0 which is the same panel as used in the BenQ FP241W.
Does anyone know if the LG L246WP, the USA model, has the same panel or is it the newer AMVA AOU panel model M24OUW01 V2 which is used in the BenQ FP241WZ?
Any help will be appreciated.

I'm really not sure. There are times when they silently update the panel revision so it's very hard to know, anyway. I'm not even sure that they are using AMVAs yet but it's certainly possible.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: nemesiz
My friend purchased the BenQ FP241WZ 24 Inch P-MVA display last week, here is my personal observations and initial impressions. Firstly when you open the box you immediately notice the monitor comes with only the basic essential accessories, a VGA to DVI monitor cable, USB 2 A - B lead, standard software suite on a single cd, and the installation / warranty leaflet which is quite frankly disappointing when you've paid over five hundred pounds for the monitor. The display is easy to set up with the stand simply slotting into the back, unfortunately the same cannot be said about inserting the cable into the back of the monitor as the DVI connector is right next to the stand making it hard to attach. As the monitor didn't come with a DVI to DVI cable, he borrowed a spare one which came which came with my HP LP2065.

Once the monitor is switched on, Windows XP and ATi Catalyst 7.3 automatically recognise the display as a Ben Q FP241WZ, although the defaults set the desktop to 1280 x 1024 due to the refresh rate of 75hz. After quickly changing the refresh rate to 60hz, the monitors resolution can be set to it's native setting of 1920 x 1280. First impressions of the monitor is that there wasn't any dead or stuck pixels, although the image brightness due to the manufacturers default was set too high, causing the picture to be heavily saturated, and detail suffering significantly. After turning the brightness down from 90 to 40, immediately you notice the outstanding image quality, and vivid colour accuracy that is comparable to the S-IPS HP LP2065. Unfortunately BenQ stimp with the software suite packaging including the drivers, an automatic configuration utility (doesn't work) and a standard basic dark scale test to manually adjust the monitor. Although the default brightness was too high, the monitor straight away didn't require any adjustments to it's contrast, passing the basic greyscale test without any banding.

Once all these initial problems are solved I must say performance is outstanding! Film playback was near perfect with no twinkling, ghosting or other effects when watching the Casino Royale. Furthermore first impressions when using the monitor for gaming ( C & C Tiberian Wars and Titan Quest) is that it doesn't suffer any ghosting due to the 6ms GTG response time, the colours were accurate, bright (too bright for my personal liking), and vivid, and detail didn't suffer from blurring, or wash out. Overall the monitor is on par with HP LP2065 for image and text quality, and better suited for gaming and filming due to the widescreen and extra screen width. Highly recommended.

Hey, thanks for the favorable review. I'll be sure to take your thoughts into account when recommending it.

 

[Cookie Monster]

So the LG226WT is the best 22inch LCD compared to the likes of samsung 226BW?

 

[tw33ter]

I got my 20WMGX2 in yesterday, and when I first turned it on, I was simply blown away by it. After I tweaked the settings with the help of the Monitor Profiles/Settings Thread, it looks amazing.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
So the LG226WT is the best 22inch LCD compared to the likes of samsung 226BW?

Yup indeed the LG holds the throne. They're about the same price too (at Circuit City the last time I checked). The 226BW (if you get the S panel and there have reportedly been A and C panels) is hardly bad though, it's definitely the second best, above all the mediocre (Chi Mei) 22"s out there.

I actually don't know why the Acer is still on my OP list. The Samsung will be replacing it.

 

[Phlargo]

Originally posted by: tw33ter
I got my 20WMGX2 in yesterday, and when I first turned it on, I was simply blown away by it. After I tweaked the settings with the help of the Monitor Profiles/Settings Thread, it looks amazing.

I saw one while I was at Fry's today.. what a pretty monitor. I think I lost about a pint of drool.

 

[CK804]

I recently placed an order for a Dell 2007FP due to the positive experiences I've had with their previous monitors, but I've been reading about all the issues with it and this is the first time I have ever crossed my fingers while waiting for a Dell monitor. Is there any way I can tell which panel I have (S-IPS or S-PVA)?