colours and details on Sony & Viewsonic 19"

Violett · 30 Apr 2006 at 20:10

I’m very close to buying a 19” lcd monitor, and have whittled it down to a choice between two models: Sony SDM HS95PR or the Viewsonic VP930. I’ve found lots of useful information on this forum about the Viewsonic. And elsewhere about the Sony.

Has anyone got any opinions of which of these would be better? I want colours to be bright and vibrant, and to be able to see lots of shades and tones. I've seen a game that I play though someone else's monitor and realised that I'm currently missing out on a whole spectrum of colours and details with my 8 year old Iiyama crt!

Most sellers have the Sony listed as 1000:1 contrast, because of a mistake on one of Sony’s webpages, but I have an email from Sony stating that the TRUE contrast Ratio for the SDM-HS95PR is 550:1 (Typical) 580:1 (Maximum).

So Viewsonic has the higher contrast (1000:1) but the lower brightness (250c/m compared to Sony’s 450cd/m). Both have 8ms response time.

I don't know whether brightness or contrast makes more difference and I’d really appreciate any help. Thanks on advance.

Baddass · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:16

the "mistake" regarding the contrast ratio on the Sony HS95PR is likely to be because of the other version of that screen. Sony used to offer the HS95P (note, no "R") which was a 12ms MVA panel, and was rated as 1000:1 contrast ratio. However, it looks like Sony have swapped the panel and are now using an 8ms rated TN Film panel and hence the spec and name change.

The HS95PR is a very different screen to the Viewsonic VP930 though, don't let the specs fool you. The Viewsonic is based on P-MVA panel technolgy which offers wider viewing angles, smoother movie playback, deeper black and better colour depth than TN Film panels like that in the HS95PR can offer. It's one of the best all round panels in the market and would be a much better choice than the Sony imo. TN Film has it's drawbacks and is more of a "gamers" technology. Take a look at this information about panel technologies which should help

RaidersGuy · 1 May 2006 at 15:23

I have been trying to decide on a TFT as well and keep coming back to the VP930 but a lot of people keep moaning about backlight bleed and that the monitor is not a true 8bit

So I decided to call local ViewSonic Contact Center and they were quite surprised to hear someone asking about this, but after little waiting a really helpful guy in the customer service did some research for me (called to some tech guy in Germany) and confirmed to me that the VP930 is really a 6bit+2bit FRC monitor. After that even he didn't recommend that monitor for me.

LINK TO THE ABOVE I also considered the Samsung 970 but didn’t want to use software to adjust the brightness colour etc. I may give up in the end and go for the LCD20WGX2 20.1 even though I'm not keen on a glossy display and a little apprehensive about wide screen.

Violett · 5 May 2006 at 18:55

Before I started this thread I was sent a Sony SDM-HS95PR by mistake from a company who had it advertised as the earlier no”R” (higher contrast) version. I only had it a couple days when I sent it back as I realised it was the wrong model. I was absolutely blown away by the vibrancy of the colours when I used it in games, but Windows was a little muted. P’raps I hadn’t set it up correctly, but I was mainly using the auto mode, which I assumed meant I didn’t have to set it up myself.

I’ve now bought the ViewSonic, and I love it. The biggest difference (and the one I appreciate most) is the height adjuster. The Sony is beautifully designed to look at, but stands very close to the desk, with no height adjuster, which means after a couple hours I’m slouching down with a bent back. I’ve set the ViewSonic perfectly at eye-level which obviously is far more comfortable.

It also came with its (very, very easy) own software to set the display as I like. And although I'd heard lots of scary stuff about dead pixels & backlight bleed, I haven't spotted any!

I know it’s not fair for me to compare the monitors, as I never saw them side-by-side. But I’m very happy to have decided on the ViewSonic, eventually!

Thanks for the advice!

RaidersGuy · 5 May 2006 at 21:59

Hi Violett many thanks for your post, I'm glad your over the moon with the VP930 there is no better recommendation then from someone who has a monitor in front of them, and I also assume you have gone through the web looking at reviews etc on TFT’s like I have, I wished Sony had not changed the panel and it doesn’t lend it’s self to wall mounting which I want to do.
On the ViewSonic is the software optional for calibrating screen to printer etc or is it for software control for the OSD I wonder.

pcknight · 5 May 2006 at 22:33

Well, i bought a Viewsonic VX924 19" and it was awesome! Superb crisp picture! Well pleased with it. It did have one lazy pixel but that didn't bother me at all. I say was Awesome as i was bought a 24" widescreen for my birthday by my family!! Really cool. Widesreen is superb. To me though, the Viewsonic TFT had a more crisper picture and was ace in gaming!

Just got to get used to the 24" TFT now and try and sell the new Viewsonic!

So, i would highly recommend a viewsonic and if i had the choice when buying the 24" widescreen i would have gone for a Viewsonic make anyday!

RaidersGuy · 5 May 2006 at 22:41

Thanks monkeybutt it looks like Viewsonic is going to be my choice, cheers

pcknight · 6 May 2006 at 12:35

RaidersGuy said:
Thanks monkeybutt it looks like Viewsonic is going to be my choice, cheers

Yea, you won't regret having a Viewsonic. Couple of my mates have them too and are well impressed with them! As for lazy pixels etc that is a matter of luck but it has not bothered me at all!! What is one pixels among all the rest! Anyone want to buy my VX924?!!