Monitor decision time

philhoole

philhoole

philhoole

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Cambridgeshire
I've been using a 20" 4:3 Viewsonic VP201b for the last year or so (no complaints) but the time has come to go dual monitor.

I could get the latest Viewsonic (VP2030b) which physically seems to match my current monitor but uses an updated panel. I guess these would look best side by side. Cost around £400.

The Dell 2407 looks tempting and the resolution, widescreen aspect and it's connectivity are very appealing. Cost around £620

The Samsung 244T is also on my list although it's more expensive but appears to use the same panel as the Dell. Reviews seem to indicate that the picture is superior though. Cost around £740 - Ouch !

My concerns are,

1. Is Win XP happy driving different resolution monitors? Is Ultramon the answer if there are problems? Anything I should be aware of ?

2. Slight niggles with the Dell 2407. I realise the A02 revision is an improvement but are there still issues? Really ? I can be quite fussy and will pay the extra for the Samsung rather than feel disappointed with the Dell. Hope that didn't sound too snobby.

I suspect in reality I would be delighted with the Dell but there's still an element of doubt.

I'm sure there were more questions but can't remember them now.

Any input appreciated.
 
like you say, the VP2030B would be a good match for your current screen. However, the Dell 2407WFP is a fantastic screen and offers some excellent performance and features as well. The "issues" with the 2407WFP have pretty much been cleared up, with the majority of people being perfectly happy with the screen now. Have a read of this article about the new Dell range and details on the issues you might hear about across the net. While the Samsung 244T might wel not experience the banding issues (debatable as to whether this is even an issue now anyway on the Dell) the reports of input lag have been worse on the Samsung model. Add to that the extra price, and i don't see any real reason to get the Samsung instead of the Dell myself.
 
Thanks for the response. I did read that article (amongst lots of others) last night when I was trawling the net for reviews and it does help.

I do a certain amount of graphic work so that's really where my banding concerns lie. I doubt it's noticeable in games. If the picture on the Dell is as good as my Viewsonic then I will have no complaints.

I suspect I will go for the Dell as it's such good value. I think buying something like this unseen is my only worry. If it was a TV I could go and have a look at several side by side and be nit picky.
 
well if it helps I have a Dell 2007WFP A00 with me at the moment for testing purposes and this is one of the models WITH the banding issue before Dell released firmware updates to sort it. In real use I can't notice any adverse affects of this issue. It's not a problem in gaming, movies, office and looking at photos. It's certainly noticable (through DVI) when looking at colour gradients, but i'd question whether it would really be a problem to most average users. The newer revisions have helped eliminate it further and unless you're a major colour enthusiast i just don't think it will be a problem for you in normal use.
 
Cheers ! I think you are right in that reviews can pick up on very minor things and make them seem disastrous. I suppose they have to distinguish between products though.

I won't be using the thing profesionally so I doubt it really is going to be a problem. There's no way you would notice this sort of thing on detailed images or motion. As you say it will be on colour gradients where it could possibly show up. I did read elsewhere that if you put the panel in "desktop" (I think) mode then it goes completely.

I will get the credit card out during the week !
 
the reviews do mention it but the main culprit for stirring up the banding hysteria is people on internet forums who don't know much about monitors and aren't putting it into real perspective :) The A01 and onwards versions have a firmware fix which disables the Faroudja Video Processing suite (which Dell identified as the culprit here) in the "desktop" preset mode and so using that should all but eliminate any banding issues anyway.
 
I guess they use the Faroudja chip for scaling purposes as I have these in my DVD player and AV amp and they do an incredibly good job of scaling DVD up to 720p/1080i.

It's true about internet forums (including this one) in that it's sometimes hard to know if someone really knows what they are on about or if they just parotting something they read elsewhere which may be completely wrong.
 
the Faroudja processing suite adds a lot of video enhancements and has been used in TV's etc for a while. Includes things like jagged edge smoothing, colour management etc. If you're interested in reading a bit about it there's an article here with more info :)
 
I have first hand experience of the Faroudja processing from my home cinema kit and I wouldn't have bought what I did without it or similar. Not sure which Faroudja/Genesis chip my AV kit has but over DVI it is superb.

I hadn't realised they had moved into monitor displays until recently. I've seen the effect it has on scaling and the way it deals with smoothing diagonals etc. Very impressive but take it for granted now when I watch a DVD.

Thanks.
 
oh it certainly has it's advantages no doubt, but in the case of the Dell, it looks like it was incorrectly configured and used and so was leading to this colour banding issue which people complained about. They left it on in the mulitmedia and gaming preset modes though so people can have it on if they want :)
 
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