Hanns-G HG281DP 28" Widescreen Any good, really??

Got mine on Friday. My thoughts:-

1: Enormous! But in proportion to the screen, the bezel is quite thin. Depth is quite small as well.
2: Excellent response times - coped with UT3 no probs and no mouse lag that I can see.
3: Out of the box it's BRIGHT! Reduced brightness by a full 20 points and contrast by 10 points.
4: once thr brightness is reduced, the backlight bleed seems to be hardly noticable.
5: Viewing angles, great side to side, not so good above/below. Strangely - it seems worse if you're looking up at the screen. From above it's fine.
6: Adjustment - height adjustment is good but not enough for me (I have a two tier desk). What I did to resolve this was remove the stand from the back and then mount it higher up the monitor with just the last row of screws. As the monitor isn't heavy and the stand panel that attaches to the back of the monitor is metal re-inforced it works a treat. Monitor is now only 5mm above the actual base plate - jobs a good 'un.
7: Plays blu-ray movies perfectly @ 1920x1080 - no 1:1 pixel mapping but ATI CC sorts that out by putting a black bar at the top and bottom of the screen. Due to the no !:1 I'm not sure this is for the 360/PS3 crowd.
8: Quiet - no hissing like I've had with other cheapy monitors.

Overall impressions:-

A trully outstanding monitor and not just for the price - if it was £400 I'd still say it was good value. Possibly the perfect general use/gaming monitor @ this size? Okay, it ups the dot pitch a little over 22" screens but I certainly couldn't notice the difference. I honetsly couldn't go back to a smaller monitor - play Warhammer Online on it was great - plenty of room for all the icons needed to play. The 1920x1200 res is perfect for those that don't want/can't go for srtupid amounts of gfx power either (even though I have two 4870's in CF ;-) ) - a single 4870/GTX260 should be able to power this monitor no probs.

So, £260 ish to spend? not doing graphics work? Need a large monitor? This is you're only choice and I really don't think you'll find anything better.
 
Wow. Some might sniff at it being a TN panel but I'm not seeing anything majorly wrong. The viewing angles aren't that bad and PQ is acceptable (May not be as good as My Panasonic PZ60 that I had but hey, for the money it's an absolute bargain). Default settings are extremeley bright so have toned it down and everthing's looking good now. Just been watching Heroes on HD-DVD and now have a grin like the cat that's got the cream. Money well spent I think!
 
couldnt agree more, i dont think you can get a better monitor for the money, the extra space is well worth it when it comes to watching movies or playing games, id never go to a smaller monitor in the future, means i can sit back in my deck chair and dont have to worry about reading the screen

id give it 9/10
 
dammit!!!!! i promised my mum i wasn't going to spend more money on computers now..... but after seeing this :p

i currently have the samdung 2232bw which i have fallen inlove with:)

thinking about getting this bigger screen as i have a freeview dongle thingy and watch tv and films on it and also gaming :), and well being able to watch 1080p in all its glory would be nice :D hehe

however i have read through this thread and have a few quibbles..

firstly, no dvi input? humm ok so it comes with a dvi to hdmi cable but does this have an advers effect on the picture quality or refresh rate? which is better, dvi or hdmi or are they both the same really just one carries audio aswell?

secondly, 800:1..... tis a bit low innit? how does that effect blackness and flashes etc in films and games? is there much banding in colours as that would ruin the appearence of HD video surely?

thirdly, not liking the reports of dead/stuck pixels :( i have a stuck red one on my laptop and its soooooooo bloomin annoying! where does ocuk stand on this as i need a perfect screen or ill be so dissappointed and feel i have just wasted all the money.

fouthly (if thats a word :p sounds odd) well when trying to watch HD video is there anything that can be done to add a black band to the top and bottom rather than stretching? this applies to videos from the pc and also if i were to connect a ps3 up

fifth and final, graphics card for this monitor? now that is a monster of a resolution, and atm have my 8800gts 512 happily churning away on my 22" at 1680x1050 but going to 1920x1200.... thats quite a few more pixels.. over half a million more :p sopmething tells me this card wont cope as i liek to try and have everything on highest settings in everything :) and will plannign to buy the new crysis, far cry2, L4D, so would a 4870512 or the gig version be good enough? maybe get a 4850x2? what ya think cos this could turn into an expensive upgrade lol
 
Ive always been worried about dead pixels.. I bought my last monitor from a plcae that charges £30 for a dead picel check... Although I do wonder, if you buy a monitor without one, are you more likely to get one that has failed this check and has dead pixels.. lol.. least you have peace of mind, even for £30....

I know Iv asked before, but would like a wider opinion know there are more ownders.. is 1280x720 (720p) a crisp/clear res to use.. Ive got poor eyesight, and 1920 is too damn small, even using large fonts etc.... My monitor at work is 1920 native, and anything less is fuzzy....

Can anyone with this monitor comment on 720p performance, and clarity of text...??
 
1280x720 wouldn't be the right res as it's a 16:10 screen. Just tried it on 1280x768 and it looks ok. Actually quite nice for internet browsing and reading through forums, etc. I'll put it back up for my fullhd goodness though, my eyes are fine. And no dead pixels on mine. Don't know how everybody else has got off. Going from my Samsun SyncMaster 191T to this has been a revelation!
 
1. DVI to HDMI shouldn't give any noticeable loss in quality, it should be fine.

2. Contrast ratios...in my book its a waste of time looking at manufacturer-quoted ratios. Was doing a (physics) lab experiment at uni last year measuring response time of a twisted nemantic LCD, and the demonstrator turned out to be a pretty clued up professor in liquid crystals, and he spent ages explaining/ranting to us about how quoted response times/contrast ratios etc of LCD screens are a pointless, inaccurate measure because every single manufacturer has their own way of measuring it, theres no industry standard. I have taken his advice!!
Colours and blacks look fine to me, I do have noticeable backlight bleed though, but to be honest I only notice it when a pure black screen is on, not during dark scenes in gaming etc. Haven't tried HD video yet. Bioshock and Gears of War look fantastic on 360, and those are both pretty damn dark.

3. Mine is perfect, and thought most (if not all) peoples' were the same in this thread? They have a 7 day returns policy at OCUK regardless of whats wrong so you could always use that, I think. Double check that though.

4. You can get the ATI control centre to add black bars for PC HD viewing. No chance with PS3 though, no 1:1 mapping here. It will stretch. Again, its fine with me for 360 gaming, I can't really notice, I personally wouldn't worry about it.

5. Don't really know to be frank!
 
HDMI to DVI makes no difference at all, it's completely digital and HDMI is essentially the same as DVI with just a few extras and a different shaped connector. It's not like going from DVI to VGA.

As for the 8800GTX it depends on how much eyecandy you've got your games set to. I've got an ATI HD3850 and I can play Oblivion and Medieval II at 1920x1200, just had to reduce the settings to compensate but at these higher resolutions I find AA and AF become less necessary anyway.
 
I have this monitor and just bought a 4870 512, after the 280GTX I had would not run with my PSU

The 4870 is more than enough and actually works well at the higher res.

Was playing Cod4 last night online full res, my fps set to 125 and it never moved from 125.

Love the monitor and love my card :)
 
think the gig version of 4870 would be a good buy for it as the extra mem could help with aa and af at that high resolution? espically as its on offer ;)
 
elroberto said:
Wow. Some might sniff at it being a TN panel but I'm not seeing anything majorly wrong.
Click to expand...
Heh. I've always believed the letters 'TN' are a big problem in themselves. I was interested to notice Custom PC magazine reviewed the Hanns-G this month. The review isn't online yet, but some select quotes from the print verision:

"...lack of depth, washed-out colours, and suppressed vibrancy..."

"...the HG281's performance is rather fascinating - for all the wrong reasons."

"...significant image quality problems..."

They give it 57% and recommend buying a Dell 2408WFP instead.
 
Well, I've had it 3 days and I'm happy with it. Sure the 2408WFP might be technically better, but I'm sure I'd miss the extra four inches of screen. For this money, you'll not find anything else as good.
 
Problem with the Dell is its £411.24 :eek:

Thats the problem with a lot of PC Gamer type mags they review stuff based on the fact that everyone has lots of money.
 
"...lack of depth, washed-out colours, and suppressed vibrancy..."

"...the HG281's performance is rather fascinating - for all the wrong reasons."

"...significant image quality problems..."

They give it 57%
=============================

1 Word for those quotes and rating CRAP or NONSENSE take your pick.....

In all honesty what the hell does "suppressed vibrancy" among the other quotes even mean.

Average person is not going to have the foggiest idea what those quotes even mean.

For the money you aren't going to find anything better, buy one don't even hesitate.

If for some reason you are an expert on colour depth and vibrancy etc then give it a miss lol....
 
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