Hanns-G HW191D Thread (Now £107.95 @ OcUK)

[Joe42]

There has already been a thread on this with some useful info, but i want to create a thread specifically about this monitor and ask a few more questions about it.

-The specs for this monitor are here (pdf)
-And heres an enlarged image of it.
-It appears that this monitor does not come with a DVI cable, and a higher than usual number of them seem to come with dead pixels.
-The website for it is here.
-The manufacturer appears to have been making specialised lcd monitors for some time and seems trustworthy.
-The OcUK Monitors section is here. It costs £152.69 inc vat.

-As usual Baddass was able to provide some very useful information about this monitor in the other thread, particularly regarding the panel used.

it looks very much like the Hanns-G HW191D is using Samsung's 19"WS TN Film panel (8ms, 700:1, 300 cd/m2) instead of the CMO TN Film panel more widely used in the 19"WS market at the moment. The same panel has been used elsewhere in the Samsung 940MW for instance, and is basically a WS format version of the very well established version running in some of the most popular models like the Samsung 913N, Hyundai L90D+ etc. Should be a good performer, although at the end of the day, pretty comparable to the other CMO based models like the Viewsonic VA1912W and Acer 1916W anyway. Very nice price though

I have a few questions:
-Any owners of this monitor, what are your impressions of it?
-Any pictures of it in 'real life'?
-Is it better than the similar Acer?
-Are the viewing angles too restrictive (130/150, same as the acer) ?
-Does it have any features to prevent stretching of non widescreen games?
-If not, how can the stretching of games be avoided?

Thanks

 

[Joe42]

I need some info about widescreen, game stretching etc. Anyone?
I've reaserched it and its left me a little confused.

 

[AdamEW]

1.) First impressions are its a good looking monitor with a nice simple bezel although the base is different to the one on the website, colours seem fine although I havent seen the acer in action so cant comment on it in comparison

2.) with my Dell 15"



Back of monitor



The viewing angles are fairly decent horizontally but vertically colours do begin to change quite quickly and as far as I can tell the monitor does not have a funtction for 1:1 pixel mapping.

please excuse the dust, you cant actually notice it without the flash gun

 

[Mud]

I have a few questions:
-Any owners of this monitor, what are your impressions of it?
-Any pictures of it in 'real life'?
-Is it better than the similar Acer?
-Are the viewing angles too restrictive (130/150, same as the acer) ?
-Does it have any features to prevent stretching of non widescreen games?
-If not, how can the stretching of games be avoided?

Thanks

-N/A
-N/A
-?
-Depends what you want to use the screen for, sitting directly infront of it at a desk will be ok, but don't move your head much, especially downwards (TN trait)
-probably not, a few screens have the option to map the resolution 1:1 (centred output), fewer still have an 'aspect' option to make the picture as big as possible whilst retaining the aspect ratio
-Go here


edit: too slow for my own good

 

[Joe42]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Sounds like the viewing angles will be ok, i can't see myself looking at it from a vertical angle and the horizontal is ok.

If a game doesn't support widescreen and the monitor doesn't support 1.1 pixel mapping, is there any way to prevent the game becomming stretched?

I am reading the widescreen gaming forum but i can't seem to find the information i'm looking for.

 

[Joe42]

According to the widescreen gaming forum, all games that don't support widescreen will either stretch or revert to 4:3 and have bars down the side.

Is it possible to choose which it does?
Can the graphics card software be used to force it to use 4:3 or is this a feature of the monitor?

 

[Joe42]

It sounds like you can just run a game at a 4:3 resolution such as 1280x1024 and it will work with bars down the side. Is this the case?

Edit: I think this answers my question:

WS resolution is not supported by all games, some might be ok with 'hacks' (see here) but some will only run in 4:3 aspect ratio, resulting in borders down the sides.

It looks to me like this monitor will be better than the Acer, meaning it should be very popular. Hopefully this thread can serve as a place to share information and opinions on it.

From the information i've seen, this looks like a very good deal and i think i'll be getting two of them.

 

[Baddass]

whether a 4:3 game is strecthed or has borders down the sides depends on whether the screen has 1:1 pixel mapping options, which come hand in hand with modes to maintain the aspect ratio. I'm not sure if the Hanns-G has this option, and tbh i would be surprised if it did. Maybe some owners can confirm if it has this option. IF it doesn't you either have to have a WS game, have a hack for it (from WSGF) or settle for it being stretched to fill the screen

 

[Joe42]

From what i hear it does not have 1.1 pixel mapping. Does the Acer have this?

Is there any software that can be used to prevent game stretching? Could that Nvidia grid thing be used to force it to run with black bars down the sides?

I'm a bf2 player and it does not support widescreen.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Baddass]

there is an option in Nvidia graphics software to do the same kind of operation, but from what i've seen, it doesnt actually help on WS monitors like this. For instance, people tried this on the Viewsonic VX2025WM which doesn't have 1:1 mapping, and it still ended up strecthing the image. This might vary from screen to screen, but i'd need to check about that. Have you seen this 'hack' for BF2 though

 

[Mud]

I've never seen a DVI screen that the nVidia drivers couldn't force Display Adapter Scaling/Centred Output/Monitor Scaling/Fixed Aspect Ratio Scaling correctly.

 

[Baddass]

i wasnt sure if it was a universal thing or not. I only know that people tried it on the VX2025WM and couldnt get it to work. Maybe they weren;'t doing it properly. Maybe we can find some users here on OcUK who can test their non-1:1 monitors using software and 4:3 games?

 

[Joe42]

I would have thought its fairly easy for the graphics software to pretend that its not widescreen and force bars at the edges.
If i can't find anything to do this, i'll have to try the bf2 hack.

It too good a deal for the stretching problem to put me off.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Baddass]

no worries I'm also trying to get some clarificaion on the software side, i'll let you know when i know more

 

[Joe42]

i wasnt sure if it was a universal thing or not. I only know that people tried it on the VX2025WM and couldnt get it to work. Maybe they weren;'t doing it properly. Maybe we can find some users here on OcUK who can test their non-1:1 monitors using software and 4:3 games?

This is a common problem for all ws monitor owners, perhaps this calls for a thread asking if anyone has managed to do this?

 

[Joe42]

no worries I'm also trying to get some clarificaion on the software side, i'll let you know when i know more

That would be extremely useful, now that ws monitors become more popular and many games still refuse to support them properly.

As i said, i'm sure it must be possible for the graphics drivers to force bars down the side by pretending that the screen is square and making sure that those two blocks of pixels appear like they aren't part of the monitor.

 

[Joe42]

Just a thought, will my 6800gt be able to power two of these?

Obviously game detail settings will have to be lowered a little...

 

[AdamEW]

no worries I'm also trying to get some clarificaion on the software side, i'll let you know when i know more

I believe there is someway of doing this with powerstrip, dont hold me to it though

 

[HicRic]

It appears that this monitor does not come with a DVI cable, and a higher than usual number of them seem to come with dead pixels

I'm dead keen on getting this monitor, but this is damping my enthusiasm. Is it likely I could have dead pixels then? I imagine they're very annoying/offputting, and from what I hear they're 'expected defects' so I won't be able to send the screen back under warrenty or something?

It's a bit naff to be honest, spending that much on a screen and having broken parts be considered 'normal' and acceptable. Unless it's not very likely or not really that big of a problem?

Also, for those who have one already, can you notice any ghosting or things like that in games?

 

[Joe42]

My plan if i get one with dead pixels is to send it back under the distance selling act, pretending i bought it in error. It means you pay the postage but seeing as the monitor is so cheap i would rather take my chances of getting one with no dead pixels than pay a lot more for an expensive one with a zero dead pixel warranty. I could afford to send several of these back for the price of a more expensive one with a zero dead pixel warranty.

A couple of people have reported dead pxiels, its difficult to say how likely you are to get a bad one but i think its more likely than if you were getting a more expensive panel.

As for ghosting, i never expreience it on a 16ms panel so i would expect not to see any on this one.