UPDATE: I pull the trigger on the LG 226WT

[Starbuck1975]

It seems like I have been on an endless journey to find a suitable LCD for typical home office work and gaming...lots of glorious widescreen gaming. But I have yet to find an LCD that meets the price/performance sweet spot. These are the monitors I have considered thus far:

NEC 20WMGX2: An S-IPS panel that comes highly recommended...however, rather pricey for a 20.1" LCD, and I would prefer something a bit larger for gaming.

Dell 2007WFP: If I play the Dell panel lottery, I can get a 20.1" S-IPS panel for nearly $200 less than the NEC...but doesn't solve the LCD size problem.

Dell 2407WFP: 24" seems to be all the rage right now, and this is the budget option of the 24" crop...but I am leaning against 24", as it is far larger than I really need...and even with coupons and such, the Dell is still a bit above my price range.

BENQ FP241WZ: Probably the best 24" option available at the moment, but also the most expensive, and well outside of my budget.

LG 226WT: Sweet spot of performance and size, but a TN panel.


After extensive reading and visiting various brick and mortar stores, I think 22" is the appropriate size for my needs, but I do have concerns about going with a TN panel. However, the LG 226WT is by far the best TN I have seen, but it still has that, for lack of a better word, the "flat colors" typical of TN panels...I really don't care about viewing angles...plain and simple, I want vivid colors and sharp text, and the LG 226WT, despite its limitations as a TN, is a tempting option.

But I have also heard rumors of better LG and Samsung 22" TN panels on the horizon...and by better, I mean color reproduction such that it closes the gap even farther between TN quality and higher quality panels. I have waited this long, and can certainly wait a bit longer, if there is a 22" LCD on the horizon that offers better color reproduction and sharpness.

So, does anyone know if better 22" LCDs are coming down the pipeline in the near future, or is the LG 226WT as good as it is going to get in this size category?

 

[mc866]

I had a similar issue, I ended up going with the Samsung 226BW because I couldn't tell $50 worth of difference between that and the LG. You obviously understand the limitations of the TN panel, so I would go for it. I don't see any immediate reason to wait.

 

[xtknight]

I've compared a 20WMGX2 and L226WT side by side, and to tell you the truth the difference wasn't as large as you'd think. The NEC revealed more details but the LG sometimes felt more alive due to its higher contrast. That was one TN limitation that I personally believed the L226WT overcame, quite a shock to me.

I'll have to get around to posting the review of the L226WT on my site but right now it's in the LCD thread.

 

[IlllI]

well with dell you also have to deal with the dreaded panel lottery. sometimes you might get the ips, sometimes mva

 

[Starbuck1975]

I had a similar issue, I ended up going with the Samsung 226BW because I couldn't tell $50 worth of difference between that and the LG. You obviously understand the limitations of the TN panel, so I would go for it. I don't see any immediate reason to wait.

I was at Fry's over lunch, and they actually have the LG on sale right now for I believe $330-ish...so that takes the price gap out. Ironically enough, they had the LG and Samsung 226BW setup across from one another, and I did notice a difference between the two LCDs in terms of color, and viewing angle...first opportunity I had to view both simultaneously, and the LG was preferable to my eyes.

 

[xtknight]

You have to deal with a lottery if you get the 226BW too. Supposedly Samsung, AUO, and Chi Mei panels. True maybe they're not that much different after calibration, but how many people have colorimeters?

It would make sense. Samsung has used Chi Mei in their 225BW, and an AU Optronics panel in a few of their Samsung 710Ns as far as I know.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I am aware of the Samsung panel lottery as well.

I am going to pick-up the LG after work...they dont charge a restocking fee at Fry's if I decide to return it within the however many day window on the receipt.

 

[BernardP]

Starbuck1975,

It might be a bit late to post this, but Samsung will release the 226CW with wide-color- gamut panel in early summer. "C" is Samsung naming conventions for "wide color gamut (see current Samsung 931C). It covers 92% of the NTSC color space instead of the usual 72%, so its collors could have more "pop".

There is a video of the 226CW with french commentary here:

226CW Video

Anyway, your comments about your experience with the LG will be very welcome, as I am also looking very hard at this monitor.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the 226WT...got it for $339 at Fry's, around $370 after tax and recycling tax.

A few quick questions:

1. Is this monitor supposed to come with a DVI cable? The packing contents specify that it does, but mine only came with an analog cable?

2. Had a chance to run Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander and Morrowind on the monitor thus far. Haven't played for an extended period of time, but my GPU is definitely stuggling to keep up...had to turn down the graphics settings on all three games to prevent sputtering.

3. Haven't noticed any ghosting as of yet.

Will post more specifics once I have a chance to truly take it for a test drive.

 

[BernardP]

DVI cable is not included with the LG L226WT.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Some more comments on the LG 226WT after playing with it a bit last night.

The default factory settings looked incredible right out of the box...I did use the auto calibration feature to fine tune the brightness and sharpness a bit, but overall, I am pleased with the image quality.

Viewing angles are a non-issue...I literally had to stand up or move away from my desk to notice the viewing angle issues typically attributed to TN panels...but for normal use, I can't anticipate ever encountering a problem with the viewing angles.

I am still getting used to have this much real estate. I didn't notice any ghosting, but there is a little bit of motion blur, but I think it is because I still haven't found in game settings that my video card can handle at this resolution.

One thing worth mentioning is that my wife came in while I had Oblivion on the screen...I was just running about the forest, playing with different draw distances and texture settings, to see what my video card could handle...she never remarks on any of my games, and was WOWed a bit by the cinematic nature of playing in wide screen on such a large panel.

Haven't eyed any dead pixels as of yet...haven't run any tools yet to check the monitor from a technical perspective.

I am also noticing a bit of input lag, but it could be because I am using a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase, but am starting to think that even 22" may be too much LCD for me. However, I was probably due for a GPU upgrade anyway, and this gives me an excuse to upgrade my video card.

One question, since my LCD did not come with a DVI cable...will there be any difference in going from analog to digital, or should I just keep using the provided analog cable?

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
Some more comments on the LG 226WT after playing with it a bit last night.

Viewing angles are a non-issue...I literally had to stand up or move away from my desk to notice the viewing angle issues typically attributed to TN panels...but for normal use, I can't anticipate ever encountering a problem with the viewing angles
Haven't eyed any dead pixels as of yet...haven't run any tools yet to check the monitor from a technical perspective.

One question, since my LCD did not come with a DVI cable...will there be any difference in going from analog to digital, or should I just keep using the provided analog cable?

Here is a nice web site to calibrate (in part) and test your monitor. As for viewing angles, if you have no significant problem with the first color (purple), you should be good to go. I know the purple panel looks horrible on my Dell 1907FP at work, but flawless on my CRT at home.(Please tell me how it looks on the L226WT)

Here you go:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Regarding the DVI cable, since you have an NVidia 7 series card, the DVI input would allow for videocard scaling of lower resolutions. But I understand that the L226WT scales very well natively (hence through VGA), from comments xtgnight made in another thread.

Setting your rez at 1280x800 for demanding games would be much easier on the videocard. The 7900GT is no slouch, and you could delay an upgrade by making such a "compromise".

In theory, a DVI cable allows for a direct digital signal and better picture quality. You could try one to see if you notice any difference.

As for dead pixels, you can download a simple testing program on this page. I can vouch for it:

http://www.edgeworld.com/notebook/old/dead.htm

 

[Starbuck1975]

Setting your rez at 1280x800 for demanding games would be much easier on the videocard. The 7900GT is no slouch, and you could delay an upgrade by making such a "compromise".

The native resolution for the L226WT is 1680 x 1050, which is rather high...I did set my desktop to this resolution.

However, in a few games, I attempted a few lower resolutions to improve my frame rates, but the monitor did not scale...I did get the stretching and distortion typical of running widescreen outside of native resolution...I gave up after trying a few different resolutions, but I don't think I tried 1280x800.

I am assuming that 1280x800 is a lower resolution for which the L226WT scales? If so, I may set all of my games to this resolution, as 1680x1050 is really pushing the limits of my 7900GT.

I will run the tests you mentioned tonight in the links you provided...thank you for providing those by the way, as that was my next question.

One test I did run was backlight bleeding...I turned off all the lights in my room, and simply set an all black screen...I could not detect any backlight bleeding at all...initially, there was a little bit at the top and bottom, but over time, the longer the LCD was on, the less pronounced it became...I wouldn't even call it an issue really.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
However, in a few games, I attempted a few lower resolutions to improve my frame rates, but the monitor did not scale...I did get the stretching and distortion typical of running widescreen outside of native resolution...I gave up after trying a few different resolutions, but I don't think I tried 1280x800.

I am assuming that 1280x800 is a lower resolution for which the L226WT scales? If so, I may set all of my games to this resolution, as 1680x1050 is really pushing the limits of my 7900GT.

One test I did run was backlight bleeding...I turned off all the lights in my room, and simply set an all black screen...I could not detect any backlight bleeding at all...initially, there was a little bit at the top and bottom, but over time, the longer the LCD was on, the less pronounced it became...I wouldn't even call it an issue really.

As this monitor doesn't have fixed aspect ratio scaling, if you select a non widescreen resolution (eg: 1280x1024), it will be stretched to fill the screen. But if you select a rez with the proper 16:10 ratio, such as 1280x800, it will still fill the screen, but without distorting the picture.

You might have to create a custom resolution in the NVidia control panel if it is not available. You might have to uncheck the box that says "Hide resolutions not supported by the monitor" to have access to 1280x800 or another custom resolution. 1280x768 is also another rez to try, as it causes only a 4% vertical stretching.

If you want to know more abour scaling performance, see my detailed questions on that subject as well as the patient answers by our resident expert, xtknight in This Recent Thread

Thanks for following up with more of your experience with the L226WT. Your comments about the backlight bleeding are reassuring.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Here are the results of my testing:

Dead Pixels: I could not detect any dead pixels using the utility you provided.

Quick Gamma Test: The bars progress from lightest to darkest as specified in the instrucitons.

Gamma Calibration: My monitor did fail this test in that the boxes on the sRGB line are not uniform, nor are any of the other rows below it. I can't figure out how to adjust the gamma using the monitors menu, but I may run the nVidia control panel to solve this problem.

Gradient Test: No banding at all.

Contrast Test: I can see all of the boxes, and they progress from lightest to darkest.

Viewing Angle Test: Looking at the monitor dead on, the color is not uniform for purple...the color shifts from purple to pink towards the corners, but not in a distracting manner...red appears perfectly uniform, as does blue and green.


I loaded up Company of Heroes, and ran it at 1280x800 widescreen mode, and while the game did scale appropriately, the text now appears blurry. I am going to try a few more games, but where can I find resources or workarounds for scaling my monitor to 1280x800 in the event that I encounter problems with my GPU running at native resolution?

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
Here are the results of my testing:

Dead Pixels: I could not detect any dead pixels using the utility you provided.

Quick Gamma Test: The bars progress from lightest to darkest as specified in the instrucitons.

Gamma Calibration: My monitor did fail this test in that the boxes on the sRGB line are not uniform, nor are any of the other rows below it. I can't figure out how to adjust the gamma using the monitors menu, but I may run the nVidia control panel to solve this problem.

Gradient Test: No banding at all.

Contrast Test: I can see all of the boxes, and they progress from lightest to darkest.

Viewing Angle Test: Looking at the monitor dead on, the color is not uniform for purple...the color shifts from purple to pink towards the corners, but not in a distracting manner...red appears perfectly uniform, as does blue and green.


I loaded up Company of Heroes, and ran it at 1280x800 widescreen mode, and while the game did scale appropriately, the text now appears blurry. I am going to try a few more games, but where can I find resources or workarounds for scaling my monitor to 1280x800 in the event that I encounter problems with my GPU running at native resolution?

Your test results seem very good...No Dead Pixel ! :beer:

That purple screen is a tough one...My parents have a 19-inch monitor with PVA panel and I am going there tonight to look at how that purple screen looks on this monitor which has wider viewing angles than a TN panel.

As for scaling at lower rez, it is normal that text should look blurrier, as LCD monitors provide their best picture quality at native resolution. You can try 1280x768 or 1152x720 to see if it looks better. You can also try scaling through the videocard instead of letting the monitor do the scaling.

What scaling throught the videocard does is convert to 1280x800 or other rez before sending a 1680x1050 signal to the monitor. This way, the monitor gets the native signal it prefers while the user sees a 1280x800 picture on-screen. In that situation, gaming demand on the GPU is still only 1280x800.

A very good place for widescreen gaming info is:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com

 

[Starbuck1975]

Will check out the WS gaming forum for hints on scaling.

I do have a concern with the gamma setting though. On the website you sent, it did specify that for the first test row, the smaller box should be the same tone and brightness as the border box around it.

When I run this test on my LCD, I can clearly see the smaller box inside the larger box...I suspect this means that my gamma settings are off.

However, I cannot seem to adjust the gamma manually on my LCD where it is improving the situation...is this something I should be concerned about, or will playing with the brightness improve things?

I also noticed that some graphics look a bit grainy...for instance the wallpaper I use, which is the standard blue wavy WIN XP wallpaper, has a little grain to it.

 

[BernardP]

As for gamma calibration, the instructions are to "take a few steps back from your monitor such that you don't see the individual pixels". This seems pretty vague. Not being able to see individual pixels depends on one's visual acuity. A few steps can be pretty far (as a golfer, I figure a step is about 3 feet). The better your acuity, the farther back you will have to move.

When clicking on the More Info button, above the first row of squares, the example shows that everything is not supposed to be perfect. It's the 2.2/0.45 line that matters the most. As you said earlier, you can try playing with gamma in NVidia control panel. If all the other tests give good results, I would not worry too much about this. Maybe it's like the purple panel in viewing angle test: There is only so much one can do.

As for graininess, it might depend on your source picture. If the original image has a resolution lower than your desktop, stretching it to fullscreen can produce blur/grain.

 

[BernardP]

Additional info:

I went to my parents' to check their Dell 1907FPV, which has a Samsung PVA panel. The tests all look very good/excellent, except the purple color panel. It is markedly better than on my Dell 1907FP at work (TN panel...what a difference that V makes), but color aberrations are clearly visible, and become increasingly so when moving closer to the screen. So even with a PVA panel, it is nowhere near perfect.

I found no gamma control in the OSD of the Dell 1907FP or FPV. However, I played with gamma in the NVidia control panel on my own CRT, and found that a setting of 0.75 produces the desired result: from about 4 or 5 feet, the center square becomes virtually invisible on the sRGB and 2.2/0.45 lines.

Edit: Leaving now until Monday. Will check this thread then to see if you have more comments Starbuck1975.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Over the weekend, I realized that the 226WT comes with a software application through which you can calibrate your LCD...I wasnt having much luck with the nVidia control panel, or attempting to adjust the LCD settings manually from the button menu.

The LG software calibration tool is quite useful, and with a little tweaking, I have the colors, brightness and gamma set to my liking...and let me tell you, as xtknight mentioned, it is hard to believe that this LCD uses a TN panel.

Anyone looking for that price performance sweet spot in an LCD larger than 20.1" will not go wrong with this LCD.

I havent had a chance to game on it for any extended period of time, and will post again once I do.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Starbuck1975
Over the weekend, I realized that the 226WT comes with a software application through which you can calibrate your LCD...The LG software calibration tool is quite useful, and with a little tweaking, I have the colors, brightness and gamma set to my liking...

Nice to know you are fully satisfied. What is the name of the calibrating app? Is it Forte Manager? Some users have reported problems with this.
Also, if I may... What is the usual distance between your eyes and this monitor?

 

[Starbuck1975]

Yes I am using Forte Manager, and haven't encountered any problems with it.

As for distance, the LCD is rather bright, so I have it about an arms length and a half away. I have a U-shaped desk at home, and the LCD sits nearly to the back of the "U". I actually like it a little further back, as closer, my eyes were having trouble adjusting to the widescreen for gaming.

 

[BernardP]

Thanks for the info. An arm and a half is fairly far back. The farther one is from the screen, the narrower the viewing angle, and thus the less potential problems with viewing angle color/brightness aberrations.

 

[mark0417]

Hi. After reading a number of reviews, including this thread, on the LG 226WT, I purchased this monitor yesterday.

I am very satisfied with it with one question: backlight bleeding. On a black screen, my monitor exhibits backlight bleeds at the top and bottom (about 1 inch) and a few minor areas of backlight bleeding elsewhere on the screen.

My question is: How big a deal is this? Is this pretty standard for monitors with TN panels? Am I likely to see some backlight bleed on any monitor like this?

Thanks for your help!

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: mark0417
Hi. After reading a number of reviews, including this thread, on the LG 226WT, I purchased this monitor yesterday.

I am very satisfied with it with one question: backlight bleeding. On a black screen, my monitor exhibits backlight bleeds at the top and bottom (about 1 inch) and a few minor areas of backlight bleeding elsewhere on the screen.

My question is: How big a deal is this? Is this pretty standard for monitors with TN panels? Am I likely to see some backlight bleed on any monitor like this?

Thanks for your help!

Backlight bleeding is not only standard on TN panels, it's also the norm. It never bothers me. I only notice it in dark backgrounds (of course). Happy with my LG 226WT