Originally posted by: nickdc
Thanks for this highly informative article. I'm looking to replace aging crts on a dual display set up, used mainly for photo and video work as well as dtp. I'm drawn to the NEC 20WMGX2, which you describe as an "awesome" display. However, further research brought up this comment from another reviewer:
"Sadly, despite its gamut of goodies, the 20WMGX2?s performance is seriously lacking. Several shades of dark gray were indistinguishable from black, even with the brightness at 100 percent (and mind you, this screen is already uncommonly bright!). Grayscale ramps, which should progress in a smooth, gradual manner, were riddled with bumps, kinks, and banding. And color-tracking discrepancies were visible in scales of 32 or more steps. These issues plagued the screen?s performance in our real-world tests. In high-res digital photos and illustrations, banding, contouring, and the presence of different hues disrupted what should have been subtle shade changes. In DVDs the effect was even more noticeable, with shade transitions appearing blocky and pixilated. And in HD, the panel?s poor grayscale abilities were all the more evident. Who even cares if it can play games without ghosting?"
(Katherine Stevenson at
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/nec_multisync_20wmgx2)
This review was back in March; not sure when you last looked at this monitor - could there have been changes? Difficult to see how two clearly expert reviewers could come to such different conclusions - or am I being naive? I'd be grateful for any comment and any other recommendations for a high quality 19" or 20" monitor.
Basically they didn't use it on standard DV mode so that jeopardized the whole review. Granted, the NEC isn't as good as some for displaying dark tones it is good after calibration and I regularly offer profiles
here. Them saying it was "riddled" with bumps and kinks is exaggerating, if they were on standard DV mode. Yes there is some banding on this display but that makes it a lot worse than the other TNs they reviewed? Absolutely not. It's about at the level of the Dell 2407WFP in terms of banding, but most people are fine with the Dell. I find it hard to believe also that the TNs they reviewed in the same round-up did blacks and dark tones any better. MVAs excel at this but TNs in general are usually equal to IPS in this category or worse. Again they probably used a weird DV Mode causing their impressions of this display to be greatly skewed. Indeed I think the other DV Modes look awful for most things, at least after I tried DV Mode standard and a calibrated profile.
I have tried several HD trailers on this display, and I can't see any banding on any of them under standard DV mode.
The single time I have seen banding in real tests is when using Blender and looking at a gray shaded 3D cube where it was pretty obvious. This depends on the settings a bit, though. You can mess with the brightness/contrast to greatly reduce this effect.
I don't see mentions of great uniformity or very little backlight bleeding, though. Nor much about the great viewing angles, or accurate and punchy colors. Response time control is flawless. Despite its minor banding this is the best LCD I've ever used. The glossy screen makes it really comfortable to look at, just as long as you don't have too many lights around you that would cause reflections. As I'm speaking I'm using it in daylight with a window (and chair) behind me and reflections are minimal to none. My body itself is blocking all the reflections...
If you're using it for photo editing, just set DV Mode to Standard, Advanced DVM to Off, and Colors to Native (sRGB isn't quite what it seems) and you're all set to go. This monitor's native white temperature is about 6450 K, making it great for photo editing. Not to mention, the gamma curves are about as accurate as a professional-quality LCD (take a look at X-Bit Labs reviews, compare gamma graph of NEC LCD2190UXi and NEC 20WMGX2, etc).
I know that the MaximumPC review wasn't the only one like this, but most of the other reviews knew enough to use standard DV mode. They had some qualms about the glossy display, which as I have said simply aren't an issue for me (or many others). I see few reflections, and most of what they're seeing is due to their bright lab lights.
One legitimate concern is burn-in. I'm speculating that some people have had it a lot worse than mine. The display also gets pretty hot which may cause the burn-in. On my display I have some burn-in issues at the top centimeter or so which is definitely due to heat (I've turned it off for long periods and it disappears). It could just be the lack of decent ventilation that I have here, or a defective unit. It's not all that bad in itself since it's quite subtle. The good news is that NEC is always more than willing to give you at least refurb replacements. I'm pretty sure most people have gotten 'new' replacements for things like this. I'm living with mine as-is since the rest of the display is more than perfect and this burn-in doesn't bother me on a daily basis. It is worse on some colors (particularly dark ones) than others, but since I have a light gray taskbar at the top I essentially see nothing but a pixel or two difference in the burnt spot. I haven't heard of any other person having this problem specifically but I just wanted to let you know I'm being honest here since my impressions are a polar opposite of Maximum PC's. Photos of the unit defect here on dark color and most visible:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9138204@N03/
Just to clarify things, when I say most people might have worse burn-in I am not talking about this heat problem. This heat problem is probably a different type of burn-in. General burn-in, common on S-IPS displays, is where images leave slight residual marks in high contrast areas. For all intents and purposes I have not had this problem. If you leave a sharp black/white border on the screen for a few minutes you might see a slight remnant of it later but I'm not all that sure this is any different than a typical LCD. When they got the NEC, some have reported worse backlight bleeding the first week or so due to panel pressure. I don't quite recall this issue but I can say with certainty that the panel has great uniformity.
I hope this clears things up. If you are wondering how good this display really is all you have to do is read these reviews.
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_20wgx2.htm
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/re.../nec_20wgx2_phase2.htm
The black level on this display is great especially with the coating, but it's not the best out there.
http://lcdresource.com/profile...x2_d65_Lstar_160_2.png
0.35 cd/m2 while the best PVAs can reach 0.20 cd/m2 or lower. You can achieve a better black by lowering brightness a tad (around 100 nits CRT level, roughly ideal for night gaming). I have gotten 0.22 on the NEC with the right settings.
X-Bit Labs did get a unit with what I suspect had a bit of bad omen with it.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...ay/20-21inch-2_15.html
0.85 black at 100 white? Yes this is pretty high although X-Bit's black levels for LCDs have always been much higher than other reviews. The rest of the review is quite spot-on as you would expect from a reliable source like X-Bit. IPS panels have never had as high contrast as their PVA brothers but despite that they tend to give a much better image. The glossy panels helps this out quite a bit. I have a P-MVA (ViewSonic VP930b) next to me which regularly gets a 0.25 or lower black level. I still prefer the ~0.35+glossy of the 20WMGX2. Black still looks better on this display with that kind of coating, which colorimeters don't really benefit from, but people's eyes do.
Or, you can always be the judge (100_0874~100_0877):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9138204@N03/