I have a few things to say about the Samsung 215tw.
This is my first LCD monitor. I was looking for something that would be as good as my CRT for photo editing (amateur photographer) and do games reasonably well. My CRT is a Viewsonic A90f+ 19 incher - not a pro monitor for certain, but calibrates reasonably well with my Gretag Macbeth Eye One Display (Version 1). Since I do photography more than games, this was my higher priority.
I tried a 970P because of good reviews. However, I can confirm the 6-bitness of this monitor. Horrible banding in gradients. The 2x2 dithering made my photos look much more noisy that they really were. It did games great, but the problems it had with photos made me take it back.
I then got the 215tw. I immediately confirmed the 8-bitness (smooth/no flickering in test gradients). Here's my quick review based on no other LCD experience:
My calibration settings: Bright 27, Contrast 72, Red 34, Green 43, Blue 33 - calibrated to 6500K with Eye One.
The contrast was great. Colors were vivid and clean. I never knew how sharp my D60 and 20D cameras were until I displayed the images on the LCD. It was astounding!
Color accuracy compared well with my non-pro CRT: All images edited on the 215tw were confirmed on the CRT for accuracy (for about 2 weeks now) and I have yet to make any tweaks after reviewing on the CRT. In fact, my CRT images were always a bit flat when compared to my printouts. I've gotten used to it - however, with the extra contrast of the 215tw, the images on the screen match the calibrated printouts in saturation and contrast. Finally... what I see is what I print.
Color Gamut: Using eye-one's software I reviewed the gamut compared to the CRT. The gamut was actually wider than my CRT! (Did I have a sucky CRT all this time?) The Gamut in the light greens, light blues and reds are wider. However, the gamut of the 215tw was smaller in the dark blues. This is probably due to the fact that with back-lights, LCD's just can't get as dark as a CRT.
Color accuracy: Using the Eye-One display, I retested both the CRT and LCD several days after calibration. The CRT displayed an average color difference of 0.76, while the LCD averaged at 0.86 (biggest color differences were in dark blues, but nothing over 3). Based on my old colorimeter, the LCD was pretty darned accurate after calibration.
So, the 215tw certainly passes my scientific tests. If I wasn't clear, it had passed my looks-good-to-my-eye test with flying colors right out of the box!
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I put a break here because this is where my review takes a twist. I was reading the anadtech forums and was concerned that I overpaid for what I was getting. I had played some games and did notice significant ghosting (compared to a CRT) and also heard how well the viewsonic VX2025wm did with this as well as with colors. Before returning my 215tw because of what I heard, I picked up a VX2025wm to look at these side by side (I do love the liberal return policies of some stores).
Now I can intelligently speak on other aspects of the 215tw:
Backlight Bleed: Even at max settings on an all-black screen, the backlight bleed is minimal and can only be seen if all the lights are out at night. At my settings, I have to move my head around and really look for any sign of bleed in the corners in a dark room. I really didn't know what backlight bleed was until I saw the VX2025wm. It was atrocious on that monitor. Even at normal settings, in a lit room, I was still able to see bleed in all corners. This would be enough to affect the appearance of photos in those areas! Big minus for the 2025.
Ghosting in tests: I did the behardware.com test (photograph the moving car at shutter speed of 1/1000s) In this test, the 2025 wins hands down. Images at the end of the refresh cycle on the 2025 showed little, if any, left-over's from the previous frame. Meanwhile the 215tw showed remnants of up to 2 or 3 previous frames. So the 215tw's 8ms is significantly slower than the 2025's 8ms.
Ghosting in Games: I set up mirror mode and played COD2 and Oblivion side by side. If I paid close attention to the high contrast edges of the action, I did notice a difference iin favor of the 2025 - but the 2025 still ghosts. The affect is most noticeable when rotating your POV. As all the elements on screen are in motion, the whole image becomes a tad blurry. This affected both the 2025 and 215tw - and I could tell little difference between the two monitors under these extreme conditions. (If I were playing scrolling games, I guess I would not buy an LCD at all.) Long story short, if you are a hard-core gamer you probably don't want the 215tw. For me, the difference in the two monitors was just not perceptible enough to sway me one way or another.
Color / Contrast: Saturation, black depth and contrast is soooo much better on the 215tw. Did I miss a setting on the 2025? I only had it a few days so maybe I missed something - but I thought saturation and contrast wouldn't be that much different. On paper 1:800 and 1:1000 doesn't seem so far off. However, the images on the 215tw popped, while they just laid there on the 2025. It would be like comparing the burger in the menu with the one you actually get. As I said before, the images on my CRT always looked flat when compared to what printed on my high quality paper - the 215tw seemed much more in line with my printer. The 2025 would be like going back to my CRT.
Sharpness: Since the 2025 uses the same resolution on a smaller area, the screen initially appears sharper. However, significantly less contrast nullified this affect. Text at the same setting was more readable on the 215. Pictures had much more apparent sharpness.
Egro: I like to move around and kick back. Easy rotating and height adjustments of the 215tw make this much easier.
Viewing Angles: The contrast fade you get when viewing off center seems much more significant on the 2025. As I like to move around a lot, this would make it more of a problem.
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Did I get a bad 2025 or a good 215tw? I can't speculate, I am only relaying my experiences. For my purposes, the 215tw is a much better monitor - maybe not $200 better, but that's what I had to pay to get what I wanted.
-Andy