Samsung 226BW 2ms 22" WideScreen LCD Monitor

[TTT]

I am thinking of buying this monitor, good refresh time and wide screen for photoshopping.
but it has "magic" features that worrys me, like MagicBright and MagicColor.
ie MagicColor is a new technology that Samsung has exclusively developed to improve digital image and to display natural color more clearly without disturbing image quality

here is a link to the brochure
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/conte ... .htm#osd02

does that screw up the screen calibration or do I have to remember to turn them off when I am doing PP

anyboby have used any Samsung monitor with these "magic" features?

Is there any alternative monitor ?

thanks in advance for any comment/advise

[DaveB]

Those "Magic" features are not going to be useful. You need your monitor to be consistent, so that the colours determined during calibration will continue to be valid. That doesn't mean the monitor's not useful, but you'll probably find you get a better gamut using one of the "standard" modes.

does that screw up the screen calibration or do I have to remember to turn them off when I am doing PP

Once you've calibrated the monitor, you shouldn't touch any of the controls until you next calibrate it!


What does (to me at least) mean that the monitor's not going to be useful is the particular TFT technology it uses.

Samsung 226BW (widescreen) has a 22 inch 2 ms (g2g) TN panel.

The use of a TN panel indicates:

• it will only have 64 shades (instead of 256) of each of red/green/blue
• the colours will shift significantly as your head moves (I suspect the colour may differ from the top to the bottom of the screen from the same head position).

Monitors that use MVA/PVA/IPS technology are much better for photography work! The flatpanels site (and a couple of other similar ones) are useful resources when checking out monitor options.

Is there any alternative monitor ?

This was discussed here relatively recently. Do a forum search for the Viewsonic VX2025WM.

[johnd]

Dave, thanks for putting up that information and that link. I have a samsung 19" monitor and I do notice the colours differ from top to bottom and viewing quality is very dependant on the angle you view from. I am in the market for a new monitor so this is useful information..
Cheers
John

[MCWB]

Is there any alternative monitor ?

This was discussed here relatively recently. Do a forum search for the Viewsonic VX2025WM.

Unfortunately this is now EOL and difficult to find, and its replacement is nowhere near as good.

[DaveB]

At the "bottom" end of the market, the Dell 2007WFP (has a PVA panel) currently shows up at $569 at dell.com.au, while the 2007FP is $799 (with an S-IPS panel). The VX2025WM was in the low-400s.
Unfortunately TN panels have taken over the 17" and 19" market segments, and most of the 20-22" market also. There are good NEC/Mitsubishi and Eizo monitors around, but they're not cheap.

FWIW my own Dell LCD has a PVA panel, and it's great!

[Nnnnsic]

Irritatingly, the Dell site doesn't show colour count anymore, and that was the final straw that led me to the Viewsonic.

And yes, the 2025WM will be a pain to find.

[Oscar]

I, too, have been thinking of upgrading. Does this one cut it? http://www.asus.com.au/products4.aspx?l1=10&l2=89&l3=356&model=1382&modelmenu=1

[Nnnnsic]

The Asus says it has 16.7 and that wouldn't surprise me as I noticed the TN panel on Dad's LG is being listed as a 16.7 panel, but I doubt it'll quite have the same quality of the PVA panels the Viewsonic, Dell, and other brands use.

[TTT]

Thanks DaveB for your info and link to flatpanel.dk

what are the alternative ?

ASUS MW221U is TN
Asus MW221U (widescreen) has a 22 inch 2 ms (g2g) TN panel.

Viewsonic VX2025WM
it is over a year old, any newer model coming soon with (vista's ?) HDCP

Nnnnsic,
nothing in ebay, several in shopferret $460 - $639 (6 Shops)
, see this link
http://www.shopferret.com.au/buy/monitors~p-648192.html

the search goes on! .

[DaveB]

nothing in ebay, several in shopferret $460 - $639 (6 Shops), see this link
http://www.shopferret.com.au/buy/monitors~p-648192.html

I haven't dealt with them before, but the $460 (+$22 shipping?) @ S&L Tech looks reasonable.

My brother-in-law bought a VX2025WM recently, and the "biggest" complaints are just that the stand isn't as flexible as on some other monitors (you may need some phone books to get it to a reasonable height) and there's a silly silver trim around the edge (although at least there's a decent black border immediately around the picture area). He calibrates his with an Eye-One Display.
Also I got to play with one at college recently and it looked quite good.

[Nnnnsic]

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/sea ... q=vx2025wm

Try Mtech if you can save 60 bucks.

The stand isn't a good one. No rotating. It tilts backwards and forwards a bit, but no height either. Still, a bloody good monitor for the price. Mine has been calibrated with a Pantone Spyder.

I'd be skeptical over any "new" models of the VX2025WM only because every replacement bearing similar naming structure so far has had a 16.2 panel. It wouldn't surprise me if the new TN panels they were using were 16.7 panels much like the TN on Dad's LG, but I question if it's true 8-bit or if it's 6-bit with some sort of 2-bit processed dithering added on the top of it.