Just got back from perusing Worst Buy (aka Best Buy).
Among the 19" LCDs on display, the NEC 1970GX had the best image, with one caveat: the reflective coating on the NEC's screen will be annoying if lights are near the monitor.
The Samsungs and LGs were about equal, depending on the model.
The best looking 19" in stock for the least amount of money seemed to be the LG L1932TQ. It was around $360 at Worst Buy, so would expect it to be around $299 elsewhere.
Note that at Worst Buy, they were using a still image slideshow, so that's the evaluation's limiting factor (ie, no movies or games).
Yesterday, took a look at Fry's, and the ViewSonic VX924 had the best image of the 19" LCDs, better than the Samsung 940bf. There was an inexpensive NEC too... the model escapes me, but it wasn't the 1970GX... and the NEC was also respectable. Fry's used a fishtank screen saver, again, not a very good way of measuring LCD quality and performance.
Cheers,
PCM