NEC LCD20WGX2 review *** UPDATED 25/02/06 ***

[igors]

Quick question now that I've ordered it

DVI-D->DVI-D cable, 15-pin mini D-SUB male->D-SUB male, USB cable, manual & CD-ROM (with drivers, naviset and some tools) are included.

 

[igors]

I hate you. *weeps*

Richdog, aren't you rich ?

 

[igors]

Sitting in front of a CRT at the moment, and it occured to me to ask, is it more or less reflective than a glass-fronted CRT?

Well, it's difficult to tell as I simply don't know what is your current monitor and what type of screen coat or glass does it have Anyhow, for example I think that NEC is maybe 20%-25% more reflective than my old CRT, as a guess. But again ... it's different type of reflection and as general guideline it's much more sensitive to the very bright objects placed just in front of the screen. As I already mentioned many times, screen "calmness", glare "smoothness" and (at least perceptive) colour reproduction and balance is simply worth it.

but people are saying it's not so great for movies.

Who ? (if we exclude BeHardware)

I know you've commented on the twinkling already

Well ... I have commented the pixel pitch and honestly I have strong stand here (as I already explained in my comments about the BeHardware review and in my global review). Now, if someone can "enlighten" me about the "twinkling" I would be more that nappy

but I'm just being really careful before I spend £400

Of course. You should be careful, indeed.

Would be nice if someone could directly compare the NEC with the Philips, but who has the money to buy them both?

I'm sure that Philips is a nice panel ... especially if it's based on the IPS (but it's still not confirmed and we simply don't know). Also, it's £60 cheaper and price difference is not the major one. Maybe it's unfair that I comment the price difference on your behalf, because for some of you maybe £60 is a lot. For me, major NEC advantages are Advanced DVM, amazing gaming performance, implementation of the latest LG.Philips panel, 0 backlight & colour bleed, impeccable colours, great design and, of course, better engineering. Somehow, it has "stronger" all around package and it's based on the latest technology.

I think that some of the forum users (here) already purchased this monitor. It would be probably interesting for you to see what they have to say.

 

[igors]

I bought mine today, and wow!

I've been using it for only a couple of hours and I'm staggered how good this is. My previous monitor was a superb Mitsubishi DiamondPro 930SB and I had previously put off the move to TFT because of response rates and the other issues. But times have changed and now theres no going back for me.

Glad that "transition" was smooth and enjoyable As I see, your previous monitor was 930SB, best CRT monitor ever manufactured imho. After that monitor, it's no wonder that people are very judgemental when considering the LCD technology

 

[igors]

Hi,

Not much free time lately. I had opportunity tonight for a quick look how the thread is progressing

I see that some of you experienced unfortunate backlight problems. So strange. When I powered on the monitor for first time, panel uniformity was just perfect and there was no single trace of the backlight. This is very interesting:

I could see backlight bleed on the bottom left corner and top right of the screen and I was gutted, but I'm really pleased to say that this must have just been the movement in shipping because the following morning and since, it has been perfectly black with no evidence of backlight bleed whatsoever.

It sounds like self-healing?! or something of the panel and it's rather interesting, indeed. Maybe you should just wait for the monitor to "burn in" or simply try to power off/on when it's not used or used ... just for the beginning. If this is related to shipping movement, I'm simply unable to confirm as such information is also new to me. I still didn't received any "confirmed" complains about the backlight bleeding from other users around. Also, is the backlight bleeding present when the monitor is only @ crazy 100% brightness ? Did you try to decrease the brightness to comfortable levels and verify if there is any improvement ? Anyhow, we will wait for other users and see how it goes. Generally speaking, it's known rule that any LCD monitor can suffer from slight backlight problems ... and this can be related to the slight disposition of the CCFL backlight during the manufacturing process or that light source is somewhere on the panel not properly masked or just uneven construction of the panel itself. Question is how much is too much, what percentage of the units are affected and if such problem will fade away after the monitor burn in (as reported by BigChin1).

Good luck ! ... and may the force be with you.

 

[igors]

Probably something to do with temperature affecting the TFT panel itself and maybe backlight. Retailers and delivery couriers just have freezing cold warehouses!

Well, it's general rule of thumb that electronic equipment should "acclimatize" in the working ambient temperature before powering on. It's quite cold in the UK last couple of days. I remember that when I bought mine it was rather warm on contrary

 

[igors]

LOL, its all speculation, if you theory is right then the problem should disappear within minutes of turning it on since it'll warm up every second its on.

Well ... not exactly. I have witnessed numerous hardware faults (as I worked many years in computer parts trading) when equipment was powered on immediately from the "cold start", as it was brought from the freezing temperatures outside.

Also, how much time monitor really needs to warm up or "burn in" ?

Never mind. It's not important and there is no point that we elaborate this matter to such extent as it's simply not going anywhere. However, for me it's surprising fact that backlight was gone for good (for some users here) and definitely there is no presence of the constant time pattern after the monitor was "cured".

 

[igors]

After a good sesion with this monitor im seriously considering returning it, dont get me wrong gaming etc was awsome but im finding the glossy reflective screen to overpowering, think it might be the way my room is set up but the reflection of the screen is very anoying even after changing the lights in my room its still an issue

Well, that's why my message was that this is just personal. Some people will find it annoying, some people will just used to it, some people will ignore it, for some people it would not be important (as only black background is affected), some people will sacrifice it for the improved monitor clarity, smoothness and colour reproduction ... etc. I would suggest that you give a few days to the monitor and see how it goes. If it's still unbearable or annoying then probably you will never adapt to this type of screen.

For example, today was very bright day in London and my window is just in front of the screen. There was intensive sun light coming in, but still I couldn't find it annoying as I could work normally and finish the work for today, but at the same time I wasn't distracted because of the glossy screen.

 

[igors]

Taken from the AnandTech forums:
http://forums.anandtech.com/message...eyword=&STARTPAGE=6&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Excuse me, but what is the point of this thread and what are you trying to tell us here ?

Some photos of the glossy screen, which I'm getting pretty dubious about:
http://www.prad.de/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=4603

That looks pretty bad.

I wonder. Instead of posting some stupid pictures where there is a 200W bulb just above the monitors, maybe it would be more "constructive" that we hear & learn from user comments here.

 

[igors]

Whats all this talk on AnandTech about the NEC being a 8bit panel?

You have such talk when people are not informed and they are lazy to do some actual research, before posting such information on the forum and confuse everyone. As I said before, IPS panels are offering "traditionally" full 24-bit colour. In other words they are natively 8-bit.

 

[igors]

The monitor has been on for about 8 hours today. The level of brightness will affect perceived backlight bleed, and I'm currently set at 32% for both brightness and contrast. What kind of level is everyone else using?

Interesting enough, as my monitor is now running for almost 18 days, I tried to increase the brightness to 100% and no single trace of backlight.

I'm currently @ 50% brightness & 50% contrast. It's jet black & alpine white Maybe I will try to decrease the brightness to 40%, still not sure about the "sweet spot" and hopefully everyone else will find it eventually. In some general sense, such settings are probably just personal. They are usually related with the intensity of ambient light and user preference about the brightness.

 

[igors]

T Perhaps if you already have a TFT with an anti-reflective coating the difference may be more pronounced.

When you mentioned this, just remembered that one user told me that picture on his previous TFT with anti-reflective coating was somewhat more "fuzzy" and with much less "clarity" (apart from doing the anti reflective job). Apparently, he didn't like it. Not sure what is the meaning of this, from either perceptive or technological level.

 

[igors]

As couple of forum users have migrated from DiamondPro 930SB CRT, this may be interesting for them any maybe others who are worried about the colour reproduction when migrating from CRT:

http://www.lesnumeriques.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=120&ma2=52&mo2=95&p2=969&ph=6

 

[igors]

As for what am I trying to tell you? I think you're being a bit defensive here, and that just makes me wonder why?

Are you joking with me ? Last thing that I want is to be defensive in this thread ?! You may actually read complete thread and see how & why.

I am certainly not implying that users here are somehow not as expert as Anand users, and hope you didn't get that impression. But where did you get the idea that there was a 200W bulb just above the monitor? That room doesn't look over-bright to me.

That room is *very* bright and that viewing angle is simply "strange". Who will look at the monitor from that FOV ?! Also, that scene & environment is not indicative nor common one (as each of you out there is surrounded by different environment when using the monitor). So ... what such picture is the proof of ?? And to repeat again:

... maybe it would be more "constructive" that we hear & learn from user comments here

As for the picture being "stupid", well if enough feel that it is a moderator can remove it, I'm sure. It's not exactly false advertising now is it?

?!?!?!

Anyway, no need to start an argument here, so I'll leave it at that

Fair enough.

 

[igors]

If I get bad bleed or any dead pixels I may cry.

Dear Richdog,

I understand you completely. I was in the same "mood" as you. I'm very picky in life when choosing the things and it was exactly the same story with this monitor. I'm sure that you will be pleased with the monitor. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee the backlight bleed free or dead pixels free state of the panel Let's just hope that current OCUK batch of this monitor is not suffering from those side effects ... or even better question is if this monitor is seriously suffering from those problems at all ?!

As I already mentioned, mine is pixel perfect and with the 0 backlight. Still no "confirmed" response from other users around about the dead pixels ... so far so good. Some of them had light bleed which faded away after few hours (or even next day) and that's all I know for now. No serious problems of any type.

If you are *really* picky about the monitors, we have one guy who changed the "15" LCD monitors and he was always negative about them and sick of the swapping. He is now "settled" with the NEC and he is raving about this monitor on the forums around. Quite accomplishment, isn't it ? He purchased the US version, but essentially they are based on the same technology.

 

[igors]

We could all sit and wait for the next big thing and as a result never buy anything as there is always something better on the horizon.

Personally, I think that NEC is currently offering the best possible colour reproduction, image quality and response times - money wise. Even if you opt for the larger screens (like 24" or higher) I doubt that they can match the NEC display quality & response times ... and you are also paying the massive price premium for the 4" extra, as they are almost 70% more expensive. (starting price is at least £700, here in UK).

 

[igors]

An X1900 XT is my next purchase.

I was thinking maybe just to wait for the Nvidia refresh ... this month. Who knows what they will bring on the table this time. Anyhow ... I'm not upgrading my current 7800GTX set-up unless I can expect at least 50% increase in the GPU speed ... and not just the benchmark speed, but "real life" gaming performance (as I'm not the big fan of the synthetic benchmarks, anyway). Maybe I would just wait for the next gen of the GPU cards ... not sure

Do you share igors opinion of the blacks too, are they deep and the colours rich?

Richard, r e l a x

 

[igors]

Are you a proper widescreen gaming convert now?

Well, it's the same thing as with the movies. I guess that all of you are watching the movies in 16:9 widescreen format now and switch back to the 4:3 box would be rather unpleasant experience, I suppose. Now, even my office 4:3 LCD looks strange to me, and every morning I have to "adapt" myself to the office screen and somehow I miss the desktop widescreen Quite bizzare.

 

[igors]

Well ive returned mine today

Well...that's shame. You must be at the very "enlightened" position if it's so much annoying to you. Anyhow, I hope that you will eventually find your perfect monitor one day and be happy with it.

 

[igors]

Hmm that's a shame. I have a couple of light sources too, we'll just have to see whether it proves an issue or not.

If you have light source slightly "behind" the monitor or even above (average ambient room light), I think you should be OK. However, you will probably be the best person to judge that I don't like the office or room ambient lights. I always preferred the desk lamps (at office and at home). It's somehow more pleasant to work with.