[Retired] The LCD Thread

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Butterbean

Thanks. I won't need multiware yet anyway. I didn't get lucky this time and new NEC has nasty backbleed from corners and other spots. Just touching frame on left side causes ripples to radiate out into field of view (it doesn't happen on right side - nor does it happen at all on first NEC). A fat stuck pixel on left side as well. I put both NEC's on Eizo display test and at same settings. You wouldn't guess they were same display looking at them side by side. I'll try the old exchange bit.

Sometimes with the NEC you have to wait a week for something to release pressure in the panel, reducing backlight bleed.

 

[Butterbean]

Thanks yes I knew about that. It's just that with this panel reported to be dropped for the TN soon I don't want to slink around a few weeks making prayers to the monitor muse lol. If it was just the backbleed I might give it a bit but the stuck pixel is bad one no doubt because its in pressured/backbleed zone (and I do have one on first monitor but its not that bad). I just got off phone with NEC and they said they will exchange for new one after I mail proof of purchase. Otherwise they would treat it as repair and do a refurbo. Think I woke the NEC kid up - didnt sound too busy lol.

 

[Butterbean]

Just for giggles I made a quick vid of issues using still cameras video function (Canon S3). You can see the backbleed and how sensitive to pressure it is on left. At end you can see stuck pixel. The monitor was at 50% brightness/contrast using Eizo tests blackout function.
The NEC's are great and my first one was perfect in every way. This one is a real stinker for backbleed (equal to any Dell I had) but I consider it just part of the random poo so much a part of trying to score a good monitor.

Vid
http://video.google.com/videop...id=2158141964693972540

I'm not pushing as hard as it looks in vid.

 

[alins]

Received my 20WMGX2 yesterday from newegg. It has 6 dead pixels, possibly seven! What are my options? I am afraid if I call NEC they *may* exchange it with a refurb unit. I will have ended uppaying $400 for a used monitor.

Very disappointed.

Follouwup: Called Newegg, they will take it back and send another one. I hope the second one will be better.

 

[rscl]

I'm about to buy a new LCD monitor, currently using a Hyundai L90D+ 19".

I'm going to use it for gaming, movies and surfing/chatting etc (regular stuff)... so I've looked through your guide and found a seemingly good monitor for a reasonable price: BenQ FP241WZ - but I'm confused, what's the difference between BenQ FP241WZ and BenQ FP241W? I read about some screening technology as well which they're the first ones to have released. Any comments regarding this? I'm getting unsure.

Any recommendations/comments? Anything within the same resolution and price range is good as well!

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I just got and hooked up the Soyo 24" monitor that is on sale for $300 right now.

I bought two to replace my dual Dell 2001FPs, but only one has arrived so far.

It's a LOT brighter than my Dells. I color calibrated it with my Monaco Optix color puck and software, and the colors are nice and accurate for photo editing, which is VERY important to me. So far I have not experienced any of the other problems that other people have been having, so I'm thankful.

I'm definitely liking 1920x1200 over 1600x1200, but it wish it were higher. I have a 5-year-old Compaq x1000 laptop with a 1920x1200 screen so I'm actually kinda used to 1920x1200.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Butterbean
Just for giggles I made a quick vid of issues using still cameras video function (Canon S3). You can see the backbleed and how sensitive to pressure it is on left. At end you can see stuck pixel. The monitor was at 50% brightness/contrast using Eizo tests blackout function.
The NEC's are great and my first one was perfect in every way. This one is a real stinker for backbleed (equal to any Dell I had) but I consider it just part of the random poo so much a part of trying to score a good monitor.

Vid
http://video.google.com/videop...id=2158141964693972540

I'm not pushing as hard as it looks in vid.

Oh, wow. I can barely get anything by pushing quite hard on any side of my NEC w/ a black image up.

Originally posted by: alins
Received my 20WMGX2 yesterday from newegg. It has 6 dead pixels, possibly seven! What are my options? I am afraid if I call NEC they *may* exchange it with a refurb unit. I will have ended uppaying $400 for a used monitor.

Very disappointed.

Follouwup: Called Newegg, they will take it back and send another one. I hope the second one will be better.

Well be glad Newegg was nice about that one because their policy is 8. :\

They should have a policy where you can return it if it has 3 or more dead pixels within 5 days, IMO.

Failing that, most of the time NEC's refurbs aren't that bad. Refurb may as well be new in a lot of cases.

Originally posted by: rscl
I'm about to buy a new LCD monitor, currently using a Hyundai L90D+ 19".

I'm going to use it for gaming, movies and surfing/chatting etc (regular stuff)... so I've looked through your guide and found a seemingly good monitor for a reasonable price: BenQ FP241WZ - but I'm confused, what's the difference between BenQ FP241WZ and BenQ FP241W? I read about some screening technology as well which they're the first ones to have released. Any comments regarding this? I'm getting unsure.

Any recommendations/comments? Anything within the same resolution and price range is good as well!

The BenQ is a fine choice. The Z simply has a response time acceleration tech that you can disable if you want. It flickers the screen to wipe your eyes of the last image, improving perceived response time, but some find it annoying. There are actually 3 levels of operation for it. YMMV. I recommend the Z because it has 1:1 pixel mapping guaranteed, with no firmware updates required unlike the regular FP241W. If you want a 24" then the BenQs are the best choices right now. The PX2611W is even better for gaming but it's a bit more expensive. I'm not sure if it has all the scaling options but it doesn't have the other video inputs that the BenQ does.

 

[imported_Filbert]

Originally posted by: Butterbean
Am I corrrect to think "Ultramon" is better for running duals than "Multimon"?

I've never used Multimon before but did use Ultramon for some time and was pleased with it.

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I just got and hooked up the Soyo 24" monitor that is on sale for $300 right now.

I bought two to replace my dual Dell 2001FPs, but only one has arrived so far.

It's a LOT brighter than my Dells. I color calibrated it with my Monaco Optix color puck and software, and the colors are nice and accurate for photo editing, which is VERY important to me. So far I have not experienced any of the other problems that other people have been having, so I'm thankful.

Look out for the flickering pixels on certain colors. Mine had that problem, I returned it because of some vertical bars and the replacement had the same problem. Now over two weeks later my dad bought the same monitor and asked me to make sure it was okay. I hooked it up next to mine and it had the same problem.

It isn't too much of a problem though since it doesn't occur often and when it does turning the monitor off and then on again gets rid of it.

 

[Pithlit]

I am looking for a new monitor now and it seems to be the best place for a advice I would like to spend <$300, preferably about $250. The recommended list ones are about $350+, I wouldn't want to spend that much unless I really need to [or I am convinced to].

I mainly will use it for gaming, movies and normal use, so 20"+, probably widescreen. I have 8800GTS 320MB if it makes any difference.

 

[imaheadcase]

I would like to let people know about my 2407WFP-HC 24inch in gaming so far. I have been playing Team Fortress 2 beta for most of this week, maybe 25 hours total playing. I LOVE IT. This monitor is perfect for gaming in fps, i was worried because of fast turning and such you do in these games, but it is very good. No diffrence between this and my old 19inch CRT i had, accept the extra space


Now the ONE downside of this monitor so far, which is minor but still a concern, is that downloading movies make sure you get DVD rips or HDTV rips to watch. I tried to watch some plain old 700meg DIVX movies and they looked terrible on monitor unless you scaled screen size down to like Ipod video size. lol. Anything else looks great though.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Been using the 24" Soyo for a couple of days now and I haven't noticed any flickering pixels or anything.

HOWEVER, you know the two blue LEDs that vertically surround the power button? On one monitor they sometimes, um, flicker for a second or two. Ever so slightly. I'm on a 7900GT with dual 24" Soyos. Could this possibly be some kind of bandwidth issue, like the 7900GT can't run two 1920x1200 resolution monitors?

 

[imported_Filbert]

I don't know if there's an issue with that. When I had two of the Soyos hooked up both were to separate 6600GTs.

I finally got a response from Soyo about the flickering which said that it might be caused by my surge protector, just some problems with my video cards, or a magnetic field created by my speakers. I don't know what it could be but an environmental variable could be right since all three monitors that I've experienced the problem with were basically in the same situation.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Pithlit
I am looking for a new monitor now and it seems to be the best place for a advice I would like to spend <$300, preferably about $250. The recommended list ones are about $350+, I wouldn't want to spend that much unless I really need to [or I am convinced to].

I mainly will use it for gaming, movies and normal use, so 20"+, probably widescreen. I have 8800GTS 320MB if it makes any difference.

Give the Samsung 226BW a shot (even though it's a panel lottery). The A and C panels aren't so bad.

~$280 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...96&Tpk=samsung%2b226bw

Failing that, give the Acer AL2216WBd a try (~$225):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824009094

The Samsung 206BW, again a panel lottery, is around $250 AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...95&Tpk=samsung%2b206bw

The 206BW may have the fastest response time and least input lag, so it's a great choice for gaming. I'd recommend the 206BW out of all these.

 

[xtknight]

I have no idea what would cause the Soyo flickering, but it could very likely be an issue with the model itself, not what you have connected to it. I thought the 24" BenQ FP241W (same panel) had a similar problem w/ blacking out.

 

[Snakedog]

I just got a 20WMGX2 and it seems to be a pretty flawless one! So far I've tried some different settings that have been posted and like them, but the blacks in videos never get nearly as dark as the black borders around the video. Ideally the video black should be just as black right? I can see nice dark blacks on websites etc. but video blacks are much lighter. Does this have something to do with how most videos have black at rgb=16, or maybe I can adjust the brightness/contrast, but I'm afraid that will introduce other problems or inaccuracies.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Snakedog
I just got a 20WMGX2 and it seems to be a pretty flawless one! So far I've tried some different settings that have been posted and like them, but the blacks in videos never get nearly as dark as the black borders around the video. Ideally the video black should be just as black right? I can see nice dark blacks on websites etc. but video blacks are much lighter. Does this have something to do with how most videos have black at rgb=16, or maybe I can adjust the brightness/contrast, but I'm afraid that will introduce other problems or inaccuracies.

Yes, it has to do with the rgb 16 NTSC standard for videos. I don't like it either but I don't have the problem when I use Overlay video instead of VMR/DirectX. I have a feeling you will be sacrificing stuff by adjusting it (like w/ ffdshow).

 

[ponchoboy]

First, let me say that this thread rocks! I've been wanting to upgrade my VGA ViewSonic G90f CRT for some time (tired of the blurry text that apparently comes with the higher resolutions and VGA). I've learned that there was a lot I didn't know about LCD monitors, and I think I am ready to pull the trigger on a NEC 20WMGX2 (it's sitting in my cart at Newegg, since the $100 rebate expires today!!!).

I'm a little concerned with some things I've been reading about the image persistence though. xtknight, you are apparently a 20WMGX2 owner, can you put my worries to rest? How has the image persistence been for you?

Thanks in advance.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: ponchoboy
First, let me say that this thread rocks! I've been wanting to upgrade my VGA ViewSonic G90f CRT for some time (tired of the blurry text that apparently comes with the higher resolutions and VGA). I've learned that there was a lot I didn't know about LCD monitors, and I think I am ready to pull the trigger on a NEC 20WMGX2 (it's sitting in my cart at Newegg, since the $100 rebate expires today!!!).

I'm a little concerned with some things I've been reading about the image persistence though. xtknight, you are apparently a 20WMGX2 owner, can you put my worries to rest? How has the image persistence been for you?

Thanks in advance.

Well, one week when I was using it heavily it started appearing in the center of the screen. I was actually thinking of RMAing it a that point, but I'm glad I didn't.

It only started happening after a year or so, and I had even been using it heavily before with no problems. If you use it 6 hours a day, day in day out, maybe it's not the monitor for you. But I figure most people have a job or school, and they don't have time to use it that much. 2-3 hrs on weekdays and any amount on weekends is fine for my unit. If that's the case for you then it's a great monitor. I don't think you have anything to worry about, unless you start using it a lot during the summer if you have vacation, then some problems can occur. Even then, the burn-in in the middle of the screen really only happened a couple of days and it is always reversible by letting the monitor rest.

I did have some rather permanent odd-looking burn-in at the top (some 5 mm) but again this wasn't enough to impede my work, and it was also completely reversible. I see only a small trace of what used to be there. There is no way the average person would notice it, the way it is today.

I'd rather deal with some burn-in problems on this monitor over summer vacation than use another one. And thankfully now that school has started, my monitor usage time has greatly dropped and the burn-in is non-existent. I think it's a sign from above I need not be on the PC so much.

 

[acegazda]

Hi there,
one of my pc's crt's died, so I need a new monitor. I have an LG L19wt (19" widescreen) monitor and like it for gaming, but it's very bright in office apps, and some light objects seem washed out. That being said, I've narrowed down my search to the LG 1970HR and the NEC 90gx2. The concerns I have with both are that the LG suffers from the same fate as my current one, and that I can't find the NEC in black grey for a decent price. I suppose the white would work, but I would rather have the former. On the pc in question, we will be gaming some, but primarily it will be used for office apps and web surfing, with some multimedia. Basically I want an all around monitor. I also need to keep it $200-250. Any thought, suggestions, comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: acegazda
Hi there,
one of my pc's crt's died, so I need a new monitor. I have an LG L19wt (19" widescreen) monitor and like it for gaming, but it's very bright in office apps, and some light objects seem washed out. That being said, I've narrowed down my search to the LG 1970HR and the NEC 90gx2. The concerns I have with both are that the LG suffers from the same fate as my current one, and that I can't find the NEC in black grey for a decent price. I suppose the white would work, but I would rather have the former. On the pc in question, we will be gaming some, but primarily it will be used for office apps and web surfing, with some multimedia. Basically I want an all around monitor. I also need to keep it $200-250. Any thought, suggestions, comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I think the NEC 90GX2 will be a good choice for you. I also got stuck with a silver 20WMGX2 when I wanted a black but I have no regrets. You really don't notice the bezel. The glossy coating should prevent things from looking washed out. I can't say how the LG will compare, but it will probably look about the same as what you have.

 

[acegazda]

alright thanks. I'll prolly get the NEC from directron

 

[Guess2]

What is the common opinion of Acer monitors? I saw a 24 inch Acer for $330 after manufacturer rebate.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Guess2
What is the common opinion of Acer monitors? I saw a 24 inch Acer for $330 after manufacturer rebate.

It's a TN, so I'd highly recommend the Soyo 24" (VA 8-bit) instead. It's higher quality for the same or lower price (if that deal is still active).

 

[Guess2]

what is a TN?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Guess2
what is a TN?

I recommend you read the first post of the thread.