The Official Samsung SM226BW Thread!

Secret_Window said:
What TFT would you say is ideal for contrast and viewing angles fish? I ask because I am interested in getting a new one.
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If you want good viewing angles then anything except TN panels will be fine, so that's MVA, PVA or IPS. Contrast ratio is usually a little better on PVA panels, and maybe MVA is just a little better than TN and IPS. We're not talking big differences though and it varies from screen to screen so it's hard to make generalizations. LCD monitors generally don't do a deep black colour, and without a deep black you can't have a good contrast ratio.

It's also worth pointing out contrast ratio only really tells you how dark the deepest black the screen will do. Don't assume it means the screen looks 'sharp' or 'vibrant'. It's calculated from the brightness of white divided by the brightness of black. So a screen displaying white might measure 250 cd/m2, displaying black it might measure 0.25 cd/m2, so 250/0.25 gives a contrast ratio of 1000:1.

Half the problem is finding out which screens have which panels. If we're just looking at the widescreen sector then all the 22"ers have TN panels so far. Around half of the 20" have TN panels and generally they're the ones in the £200-230 price bracket, the more expensive screens will be MVA or IPS. 24" are mostly PVA IIRC (like the Dell 2407) although there's been a few 24" TNs around which didn't seem to catch on (Acer did one IIRC). 19" widescreen are all TN.
 
fish99 said:
LCD monitors generally don't do a deep black colour, and without a deep black you can't have a good contrast ratio.
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Judging by the photos of the 11 screens tested for bleeding I'd say this monitor has an astonishing black compared to the others. The only reason you know there is a monitor even in the photo is because you can see the power light lol

3rd from bottom

/edit can't say I understand why it has 2 pictures though. But then I really dont get this dynamic thing, seems they have turned it on for one pic n off for the other? :confused:

Going by the second pic it is a clear winner though.
 
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:drool: that monitor is completely stunning! My old IIyama Pro Lite e431s will no doubt finally be replaced with this thing :D was so close to buying a 20" LG but this looks like such a better deal :)
 
Guru said:
Judging by the photos of the 11 screens tested for bleeding I'd say this monitor has an astonishing black compared to the others.
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That picture does show a very even backlight on the particular example they tested, but I wouldn't read too much into the black depth. LCDs still have a very bright backlight shining through a thin LCD film, so there's always going to be some light getting through. I have 2 LCDs here, one 700:1, one 1600:1 (with dynamic contrast) and the black depth is identical on both. All the dynamic contrast does on my set is brighten light colours and crush blacks, and generally ruin the picture, so I have it turned off. Reading about dynamic contrast modes on avforums and the first thing everyone says is 'turn it off'.

SebC/
HDCP works fine through DVI. Also there isn't really something called 'HD inputs'. VGA and component can both do high resolutions. VGA has been doing higher than 1080p resolutions for over 10 years. What you do need for HDCP though is a digital input, so DVI qualifies. DVI is just HDMI without sound basically.
 
The thing that makes me (once again) a little bit annoyed with all this 'HDCP' stuff is that it isn't even supposed to be properly utitlised until 2009/12. Which by then, we would all likely have new screens and stuff any way. It's the same with my gfx card, I got caught up in all this 'HDCP' requirement balony, and went in determined to get something 'ready' for HD content, only to find it isn't really required at the moment.
 
Yeah it's worth pointing out a few things about HDCP - it's only for films, it will never be used for games. It's also only for HD films. So it's only relevant (in the context of PC monitors) if you want to play HD-DVD or Blu-ray movies on your PC, or through some other device connected to your PC monitor (a PS3 for example).

It's also, as said above, not currently 'active' on any of the films you can buy. There's basically a flag on the disc which sets how the HD picture is displayed when HDCP is not detected. Eventually, around 2010 I believe, if you don't have HDCP then HD movies will be downscaled and you won't get the full HD resolution.

The reason the flag isn't enabled is so many HD Ready TV sets have already been sold without HDCP, and the industry thought there would be many angry customers if these sets didn't work with HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so they've said there will be a period of grace before HDCP is enabled.
 
Yeah, i'm using an xbox 360 hd-dvd drive on my pc watching hd-dvd films via vga. If I had been more informed, (my own fault) I probably would've simply got a ATI x1900 XT (without HDCP) and been done with it.
 
Nice one Fish99, thanks for the explaination on that. Don't really watch movies on my main comp, do on my MacBook Pro, but then i have a dvi to hdmi lead that i use to connect to my Samsung 32" Boulevard.

Looks like this monitor is going to take the lead over the dell 2007, anyone got any views on the comparison of these two?
 
So are we able to scale the screen area of not? (Ie. so black bars appear around) (1:1 mapping is it called?)

Btw there MUST be some drawbacks. I mean this screen seems very cheap!
 
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Wally Wacko said:
£226? :eek: where from?
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That would be telling :p

Nah...It's a very LONG story, but basically I've been messed around for over a year by a high street store so I wrote an 8 page letter of complaint explaining the whole story to the Managing Director of the entire group of stores and near enough threatening to take legal action and pass the letter on to my contacts at Watchdog.

This letter has resulted in a free upgrade from my 19" Philips 190X6FB to this new 226BW (a monitor they don't even sell and are getting in on my request after reading about it here lol), a personal check for £200 to reimburse me for telephone calls and other expenses incurred as a result of terrible service and complete incompetence by them and another cheque to reimburse all my payments for the insurance I took out on my 19" which they failed to honor. It's taken over 4 months without a monitor, but I'm satisfied with the result now. Or hopefully will be on the 14th when I go pick up the new screen ;)

The reason it was £226 is because that is the ammount they issued in vouchers as a refund for my 19" monitor which I paid £280 for and which they did not replace despite my insurance cover.

G
 
Heck of a story mate ;) Hope you enjoy it as it looks the stuff and from a lot of reviews, performs the part too. I've been looking around and found it for £226 too
 
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