specs say it has, specs say it hasn't

Jaymog

Jaymog

Jaymog

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Joined
7 Oct 2006
Posts
9
I am considering buying a 20” monitor, but the specs for monitors seem to change from one review to the next and even on manufacturers websites they contradict each other. The Samsung’s 205BW has 16.2m colours or 16.7m. I’m really confused.

I want a wide screen with a fast response because I play games; I also want the best colour I can because I do occasionally take photographs. I suppose with current technology I am asking for the impossible.

A friend of mine has just bought an HP 19” wide screen and although it looks impressive while looking at web pages, it really is useless even playing simple games, and yet it seems fine playing DVD’s and watching TV by way of a DVB dongle.

Anyone got a Samsung 205BW? Any thought’s on this model? I have also seen the Samsung 204BW and can see no difference in the specs except the 204BW has a pivot mode. At least I think it has pivot mode. One review says it has and another says it hasn’t. Cheers all. ;)
 
The reason for the 16.2 million vs 16.7 million colours discrepency is because the screen is based on TN Film panel technology. In reality, TN Film models only offer a 6 bit colour depth and are capable of only producing a true 262k colours. However, thanks to varying techniques they are able to simulate 16.2 million and now even 16.7 million colours using Frame rate Control (FRC) / Ditherithering methods. See this article for some more info about this :)

I had chance to review the SM205BW recently and was pleasantly impressed with the colour reproduction and accuracy of the screen. It is often commented that due the 6 bit colour depth, that TN Film can;t match the colour performance of 8 bit technologies like S-IPS, MVA or PVA. However, in practice, it can be hard to notice any real difference to the average user. If you really want a better colour depth then it might be worth considering another panel technology, but for a TN Film model, the SM205BW was very good. Review is available here, but regarding colour accuracy it was possible to achieve a good accuracy from the screen if you calibrate it properly:

Calibrated-Delt.jpg


(see the review if the pic doesnt mean much to you)

I saw no noticeable issues with FRC or dithering artefacts, and colour gradients were also very good. Black depth was decent as well, and the viewing angles were not too bad either, so no real need to worry in that regard in relation to contrast and tone shift at slight angle changes. It's not a bad screen for colour work, if you calibrate it properly, but S-IPS / MVA might still be a better choice if you have a look around
 
Jaymog said:
Cheers Baddass.

No competitor talk please!I will go and take a look at one as soon as i can. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

no worries mate :) Careful about the competitor mentions though please! ;)
 
Hmm, I forget where I am and I’m branded a thug? I would like a retrial please. A man is innocent until proven guilty. Dozy I may be, but a thug? lol!!! Thanks guys hee-hee. :)

I think the Samsung 205BW will fill my requirements nicely,(good review) although the 204BW has portrait mode which may or may not be useful for editing photo’s and the like. I believe I am correct when I say these two monitors are exactly the same except for the stand and colour, the 204 is a nice looking black. ;)
 
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