Quick run down on widescreen tft 20" specs

drunkenmaster

drunkenmaster

drunkenmaster

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my back up computer(home, main rig at uni) monitor is on its way out. starting to randomly go out, flicker/noise a lot etc, etc.

time to get a new 20" widescreen tft me thinks, current monitor is like 4/5 years old and out of warranty so thats over.

just some quick info, seen some monitors like the cheap dell 20" E207WFP , which in theory looks really good. but from the current best 20" screens which have what kind of screens, viewing angles etc. I do still play a lot of games at home but also my dell what 2001 or 2005 or something at uni isn't great for games so this monitor might replace that. basically looking for the least ghosting, best gaming monitor possible. the uni dell screen is a 16ms version(think there was a 12ms one around the time i got it but assume i got a 16ms based on the way games feel).

are there any monitors that rotate or mix up which panels they have and are best avoided due to possibility of getting a worse one?

any help appreciated, i would spend a few hours reading but busy and want to try to get one ordered tomorrow as i think this monitor is a few days from going out for good.
 
To be honest pretty much all the 20" widescreens around today are good enough for gaming. The NEC LCD20WGX2 and Dell 2007WFP both have very quick IPS panels, so definitely look at those. The 2007WFP can be had for bargain prices if you shop around. It does have a bit of a panel lottery in that sometimes it comes with a slower PVA panel, but that's pretty rare and I haven't heard of anyone getting a PVA panel in months, and then it was only in the US IIRC. I haven't used the NEC myself but it's reckoned to be a touch quicker than the Dell and do deeper blacks, but you pay more of course.

The E207WFP you mention has a TN panel, so it's still a nice quick screen, but the viewing angles aren't so great. Samsung and LG both do nice cheap TN screens in 20" widescreen too.

Then there's MVA panels like the Viewsonic VX2025wm and the Belinea 102035W which have good viewing angles like the IPS panels, are a touch slower, but do smoother movie playback.

You can't really go wrong in terms of gaming performance no matter what you buy, it's just about whether you want good viewing angles, whether you want quality or value, and how much you want to pay.
 
its a mixed bag at the moment, i want a really good screen, even half thinking about a 24" for the higher res as right now buying a screen not capable of showing 1080p seems well, a bad idea to say the least but simply don't think i can afford it.

you said theres not much difference between the ip and tn screens across the dells, the E207 can be had for so cheap though, under the impression that the cost is the panel and the 2007WFP has extra inputs and stuff aswell?

one last question, the mva screens, are slower but seem to be smoother for film playback, whats the reason behind that? i'm normally either watching tv/films or playing games i guess.

to be honest i didn't think there would be huge differences, i guess i was wondering if saving £100 on the E207 was going to be a mistake somehow but i guess not.
 
I've seen the 2007WFP for £240 delivered so the difference isn't so great. When I was saying IPS and TN were similar that's just in contrast ratio, IPS has much better viewing angles than TN and if anything IPS is quicker. IPS is also 24 bit colour whereas TN is 18 bit + dithering.

I've never used an MVA panel, so I'm just repeating what I've read about it producing smoother movie playback. On my IPS 2007WFP, movie playback isn't awful, but it tends to bring out the noise and compression on the movie a little more than you would really like. All LCDs do this to some extent though, even my LCD TV does it. One solution is to use ffdshow which has a very good set of NR filters, and also upscales much better than WinDVD/PowerDVD.

Yeah the 2007WFP also has s-video/composite (not component) inputs but I wouldn't factor that into your decision too much since I doubt you will use them much. They don't look that great TBH. It does have a better stand though, height adjust, rotation, landscape/portrait pivot etc.
 
Hmmmmm, that dell screen does look tasty. I've noticed recently my Hyundai L73D does not blur at all from any viewing angles. Which makes me wonder what type of screen it is. I can literally, look from the top and not see a distorted image and the same from the bottom. Which brings me to what I am about to consider, I could be 'downgrading'' if I went with a TN 22".
 
mainly as i just haven't been able to find the 2007 version that cheap, had a quick look at other screens. theres the samsung £225 model- the 205bw- and theres a £260 226BW coming out with ETA on ocuk site of next week, 3000:1 contrast, 2ms reponse and all the rest. early reviews say its a pretty sweet screen.

worth waiting for that? or hows the cheaper currently out samsung screen. i've always been impressed with samsung tft's and from what i recall dell use samsung panels a lot anyway. do samsung still do that no dead pixel or we'll swap it out thing aswell?
 
Secret_Window said:
Hmmmmm, that dell screen does look tasty. I've noticed recently my Hyundai L73D does not blur at all from any viewing angles. Which makes me wonder what type of screen it is. I can literally, look from the top and not see a distorted image and the same from the bottom. Which brings me to what I am about to consider, I could be 'downgrading'' if I went with a TN 22".
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Based on the specs I've just seen (16.2 M colour, 150 degrees viewing angles) the L73D is definitely a TN panel. If you're happy with that I'd say there's no reason not to get another TN screen. When we're talking about viewing angles, the screens don't 'blur' at wide angles, it's more about how the picture intensity fades, so they will either go pale or dark.
 
drunkenmaster said:
mainly as i just haven't been able to find the 2007 version that cheap, had a quick look at other screens. theres the samsung £225 model- the 205bw- and theres a £260 226BW coming out with ETA on ocuk site of next week, 3000:1 contrast, 2ms reponse and all the rest. early reviews say its a pretty sweet screen.

worth waiting for that? or hows the cheaper currently out samsung screen. i've always been impressed with samsung tft's and from what i recall dell use samsung panels a lot anyway. do samsung still do that no dead pixel or we'll swap it out thing aswell?
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It's not hard to find that price but I've probably already broke the rules by mentioning it, so I'll say no more.

Samsungs dead pixel warranty is pretty much industry standard, a whole dead pixel means you get a replacement, but dead subpixels is another matter. It's probably about 5-7 of those until you qualify for a replacement as with most companies.

Dell use a variety of panels. The 2007WFP has a Philips IPS panel. The 2407 has a samsung PVA panel. Dunno about their TN screens.

That Sammy 226BW looks very promising but I'd wait (probably a week after release would be enough) for some positive customer reviews before ordering just to be sure. I'd never want to be the first person to order a brand new screen as so many screens have teething problems.
 
hmmmmmmmmm, the reason why I thought it might not be a TN TFT is because the other TFT i own, a LG L1720B has horrible viewing angles and goes lighter and darker when you look from the sides or from above, whereas my L73D doesn't. Or maybe, because the LG is older and the hyundai is newer, TN panels have just improved :confused:
 
Who knows :eek: Maybe Hyundai used several different panels during the lifetime of the L73D and your isn't TN.

Just going back to the 2007WFP price, I didn't realize OcUK were selling it at £277. That's a very good price, it was over £340 only a month ago.
 
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