Samsung 226CW Problem !

technojunky · 1 Oct 2007 at 07:50

Having read some reviews and comments concerning the SM226CW I went ahead, bought one and it was delivered yesterday. Out of the box, the picture was disappointing but, after calibaration, the picture was excellent.

However, on a black screen and in a dark room, I have noticed bleed from the bottom of the screen upwards for about 7-8cms. Additionally, when viewing any graphics with a vertical bar, top to bottom of the screen, the colour of the bar at the top of the screen is significantly darker than at the bottom.

I realise that TN panels generally have a limited viewing angle but changing the viewing position makes no difference to the on-screen colour differentation.

Is this normal for a 22" TN panel or should I RMA the unit and ask for a replacement or refund ?

bobert50 · 1 Oct 2007 at 12:39

sounds normal i'm afraid. Problem is that it costs soooooo much more to get the next best thing (24" dell/benq etc).

Also the fact you say the calibration was incorrect out of the box suggests samsung have been telling porkies again about guarenteed S-panels! shock horror

Greebo · 1 Oct 2007 at 12:44

bobert50 said:
sounds normal i'm afraid. Problem is that it costs soooooo much more to get the next best thing (24" dell/benq etc).

Also the fact you say the calibration was incorrect out of the box suggests samsung have been telling porkies again about guarenteed S-panels! shock horror

But that only works if it isn't old stock.

If the label on the back says Aug 07 or earlier then it will be most likely a C panel. If it says Sep 07 then I would agree they have been lying......again

technojunky · 1 Oct 2007 at 12:59

What would you do, keep it or RMA it ?

The label on the back states the manufacturer date as Aug 07. I had understood that all the new Samsung 226CW monitors were supposed to have a Samsung S panel !

Amnesia · 1 Oct 2007 at 14:38

i had a quick browse over this page...its something to do with the viewing angles and why they have gone so bad.

ofcourse there is a couple of samsung fan boys on this site who will probably slate you for daring to not be happy with your samsung product.

ademcg · 1 Oct 2007 at 14:46

hmmm, doesn't look good.

I was on the verge of pressing "add to basket" the 2232BW but I am just too worried about the whole Samsung saga and its "possible" (I chose that word carefully

) outcomes.

I think I will keep my money for now and see how the forthcoming New Lenovo 22" WS non TN panel shapes up.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10112664&postcount=1

Bry · 1 Oct 2007 at 14:54

the samsung monitors (226bw at least) are supposed to of had all samsung panels for months now. This however is a lie or a lot of retailers/samsung have a lot of backstock which i find hard to believe when you consider the fact they were very hard to get hold of.

As for the 226CW though, im not sure on these, no word on any supposed panel

Greebo · 1 Oct 2007 at 15:23

Bry said:
the samsung monitors (226bw at least) are supposed to of had all samsung panels for months now. This however is a lie or a lot of retailers/samsung have a lot of backstock which i find hard to believe when you consider the fact they were very hard to get hold of.

As for the 226CW though, im not sure on these, no word on any supposed panel

I thought the announcement was that they would all have samsung panels from September but I might be wrong.

div0 · 1 Oct 2007 at 15:45

I find it quite interesting that every thread mentioning Samsung monitors seems to descend into the same discussion about different panel types. The OP was asking about backlight bleed, which is something that can affect any make/model of lcd screen.

technojunky said:
Out of the box, the picture was disappointing but, after calibaration, the picture was excellent.

Ok, I can see why some people might jump on this statement. As afterall, in the Samsung 226BW we have heard a lot about 'A' and 'C' panels needing more manual calibration out of the box than 'S' panels.

But lets not forget that any screen, no matter what make - will probbly need some manual configuration to get the 'optimum' settings, as each individual will have their own preferences. It should also be noted that even with identical screens/panels you should expect that there will be some that need more adjustment than others in order to configure it to your personal preference.

Never the less, the OP doesn't seem bothered by this, so lets not go off topic and lets actually try and address his issue.

technojunky said:
However, on a black screen and in a dark room, I have noticed bleed from the bottom of the screen upwards for about 7-8cms. Additionally, when viewing any graphics with a vertical bar, top to bottom of the screen, the colour of the bar at the top of the screen is significantly darker than at the bottom.

I realise that TN panels generally have a limited viewing angle but changing the viewing position makes no difference to the on-screen colour differentation.

This sounds like possible backlight bleed, which can affect ANY screen, no matter who the manufacturer is, or what panel it is.

This is a 'fault' that affects almost all lcd's to some extent or another! If you get a 'good' screen then a black page will be displayed with almost uniform colour. If you have a 'bad' screen then you tend to have lighter areas in the corners or around the edges (in general).

This sounds like the problem you have discribed.

technojunky said:
Is this normal for a 22" TN panel or should I RMA the unit and ask for a replacement or refund ?

Really the only way to tell if it is considered a 'fault' worthy of RMA would be if you posted some photographs of the problem. Note, that it needs to be photographs and not screenshots (believe it or not, some people seem to think you can capture monitor faults by taking a screenshot!)

ademcg · 1 Oct 2007 at 16:08

div0 said:
Note, that it needs to be photographs and not screenshots (believe it or not, some people seem to think you can capture monitor faults by taking a screenshot!)

Love it !!

Presumably (and waits to be shot by the Pc brigade) they are female and blonde !!!

just kidding don't shoot me !

On a more serious note...the post by memory and the associated link seems to point at all Samsung derived panels, whether they reside in Samsung branded screens or as named in the article Iiyama screens.

Perhaps its the whole Samsung TN Panel manufacture process [poor quality coontrol] that has fuelled peoples concerns.
Never the less "real" peoples experiences count for more weight that articles so yes, lets see some pictures.

technojunky · 1 Oct 2007 at 16:17

Thankyou for the posts.

It might be difficult to take a photo of the backlight bleed issue but I will try this evening when it is dark.

I could live with the backlight bleed on dark screens, but I'm not happy with the colour differentation from the top to the bottom of the screen.

If you go to the Overclockers website homepage and scroll down the screen there is a solid dark grey vertical line on the right hand side of the page. On my 266CW, it looks like there is a fade effect in the grey colour from top to bottom. The top is dark grey and the bottom is a lighter shade of grey. This is consistant despite looking from different angles. Surely this can't be normal !

Greebo · 1 Oct 2007 at 16:30

technojunky said:
Thankyou for the posts.

It might be difficult to take a photo of the backlight bleed issue but I will try this evening when it is dark.

I could live with the backlight bleed on dark screens, but I'm not happy with the colour differentation from the top to the bottom of the screen.

If you go to the Overclockers website homepage and scroll down the screen there is a solid dark grey vertical line on the right hand side of the page. On my 266CW, it looks like there is a fade effect in the grey colour from top to bottom. The top is dark grey and the bottom is a lighter shade of grey. This is consistant despite looking from different angles. Surely this can't be normal !

I meant to add to my last post but my boss walked in that it could still be a Samsung panel but suffers from bad backlighting. You get good and bad in all manufacturers panels but div0 beat me to it If it's bad and so noticable I would rma it.

div0 · 1 Oct 2007 at 16:33

It does sound like you've got some bad backlight bleed towards the bottom of your screen. This isn't something that should affect any particular make/model any worse than any other. Just that if you are unlucky and get a 'bad' screen, then there will be a very noticable change in the 'lightness' of different areas of the screen. This sounds like the problem you have described.

Things to note:

* Backlight bleed is an inherent problem in all lcd's, just that in the majority of them, it should only be noticable if you really look hard, and shouldn't be anything to worry about, unless you are unlucky and get a particularly bad screen.
* Manufacturers don't really have any way of specifying acceptable 'limits' for this problem (afaik), and so it's down to personal interpretation as to whether it is acceptable or not. This may make it quite hard to RMA a screen, as you kind of have to hope that the company agree that it is 'unnacceptable'.
* If you bought the screen online then, you may still be able to return it under the Distance Selling Regulations, if you've bought it in the last 14(?) days. Although, I think technically you're not really meant to have used the item (although I could be wrong). Certainly worth looking into this if you're not happy.

technojunky · 1 Oct 2007 at 18:04

I bought the panel from Overclockers and it was delivered on Saturday. I have called them and they have issued an RMA. It wil be picked up tomorrow.

My only concern is that Overclockers consider the backlight to be within manufacturing limits (whatever that is for these panels) and will not accept the return !

Here are a couple of photo's of the problem. I'd appreciate any further feedback :

705663396f2e6dc7e873a7ca36c6fa5f6599a7facf98f7a7d5e7d5c964dfa96e39d1476e.jpg

8898828529ead40c0676111ac4c00111d93e6aa2ab374407014ad1288451ff6785b4df15.jpg

Thankyou

C64 · 1 Oct 2007 at 18:09

All screens have backlight bleed and btw that can get better over time after a few days use it can get to almost gone.

fish99 · 2 Oct 2007 at 01:17

technojunky said:
However, on a black screen and in a dark room, I have noticed bleed from the bottom of the screen upwards for about 7-8cms.

That does sound pretty bad for backlight bleed. You could get a better one by getting it swapped, but you could get a worse one with dead pixels. It's really up to you and whether you think it's acceptable. Some people have reported backlight bleed improving over time on some screens, but I haven't seen it myself.

Should you have problems RMA wise, remind the shop of the sale of goods act which states products should be 'free of minor defects and blemishes'.

technojunky said:
Additionally, when viewing any graphics with a vertical bar, top to bottom of the screen, the colour of the bar at the top of the screen is significantly darker than at the bottom.

Is this normal for a 22" TN panel or should I RMA the unit and ask for a replacement or refund ?

Yeah that's normal for TN panels because of the limited vertical viewing angles. You'll notice it on the blue background on this forum, it'll be darker at the top of the screen. Even the best IPS/MVA/PVA panels do it a little, but TNs do it quite a bit more.