Underwhelmed by Dell 2209WA

Bozebo

Bozebo

Bozebo

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Joined
10 Oct 2008
Posts
353
Location
Dundee
Well I got it a bunch of days ago, and all I can say is I wish I just got a TN panel.

Looking at this thing, all I can commend it on is colour representation and the brilliant stand. In just about every other way it is a failure.

I don't know if I just got a bad panel or what, but it is whitewashed, has epic glare (in a pitch-black room), and doesn't have perfect viewing angles in terms of dark regions of the screen vertically (need to tilt it at an angle "above" my eyes). It also has a fair bit of backlight bleed at the bottom.

I only wish it had some dead pixels so Dell would replace it with one with a good panel.

I have tweaked the settings extensively and followed a few guides - even with the brightness at 0 it is whitewashed, a "black" screen is grey. It looks worse than my 4 year old Samsung Syncmaster 17", and it looks worse than all my flatmate's budget TN panel monitors.

To think I had to go through 2 broken samsung 2443BWs (the first one - which actually turned on - looked way better than this) before being further dissapointed by this.

Settings:
brightness: 0
contrast: 84
input: dvi
format: rgb
mode: graphics
colours:
r 96
g 93
b 100
wide: fill
sharpness: 80
dynamic contrast: off (of course)

How do I get my windows settings to show you? I am sure they are all default though - the nVidia control panel ones are too.

Have I done something stupid or do I have a shoddy panel?

Also I noticed that if I press slightly on the panel it "springs" back forwards as if it is not fixed to the inside of the bezel, is that normal? It is far more severe a the top right an mediumly-noticable at the bottom left.
Also it didn't come with a screen-wiping cloth which annoyed me, both my samsungs were meant to (listed in contents) but didn't either.

And what is with the grey bezel, everybody knows all monitors should be black... but that isn't an issue.

edit:
There is something I noticed about the 3 monitors I have had recently. They are all packaged so that the weight of the monitor is supported by a polystyrene pedestal against the panel, and there is nothing on the box marking which way up it should be... Infact simply having the word "Dell" on the side the right way up means the monitor is supporting its weight on the panel...

edit again:
I would take a photo showing the extensive backlight bleed. I noticed it is now up the sides a bit too, and it is blotchy - not parallel to the bezel. But I left my camera charger at home during christmas and I doubt my phone camera would do the screen any justice.
 
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I'm concerned by your experience, as I'm considering buying a 2209WA.

When you say that "a "black" screen is grey", do you mean that the screen looks grey even when the monitor is switched off, or do you mean that the screen doesn't go completely dark, even when showing an all-black image?

It does sound as if you have a duff panel, as all of the reviews that I've read praise the blacks produced by the 2209WA.

I'd certainly be very disappointed if the 2209WA wasn't any improvement on my Viewsonic VX922 in that respect. BBC iPlayer images do look very washed out on my VX922 compared to a good plasma television.
 
Bozebo said:
I don't know if I just got a bad panel or what, but it is whitewashed, has epic glare (in a pitch-black room), and doesn't have perfect viewing angles in terms of dark regions of the screen vertically (need to tilt it at an angle "above" my eyes). It also has a fair bit of backlight bleed at the bottom.
Click to expand...

From your description compared to my two 2209WA (and others i have set up) it sounds as though you have a badly fitted panel or similar...

The DELL's depth of black (for me) is excellent - but this is subjective and relative to past monitors you may have used and setup - but on the whole the average users comments and reviews extols the DELL's black reproduction; again making me think that you have a poorly constructed panel(?).

Will await pics...

Good luck.

EDIT: These are my current core settings:
  • Brightness 10
  • Contrast 70
  • Sharpness 40
 
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Bozebo said:
Well I got it a bunch of days ago, and all I can say is I wish I just got a TN panel.

Looking at this thing, all I can commend it on is colour representation and the brilliant stand. In just about every other way it is a failure.

I don't know if I just got a bad panel or what, but it is whitewashed, has epic glare (in a pitch-black room), and doesn't have perfect viewing angles in terms of dark regions of the screen vertically (need to tilt it at an angle "above" my eyes). It also has a fair bit of backlight bleed at the bottom.

I only wish it had some dead pixels so Dell would replace it with one with a good panel.

I have tweaked the settings extensively and followed a few guides - even with the brightness at 0 it is whitewashed, a "black" screen is grey. It looks worse than my 4 year old Samsung Syncmaster 17", and it looks worse than all my flatmate's budget TN panel monitors.

To think I had to go through 2 broken samsung 2443BWs (the first one - which actually turned on - looked way better than this) before being further dissapointed by this.

Settings:
brightness: 0
contrast: 84
input: dvi
format: rgb
mode: graphics
colours:
r 96
g 93
b 100
wide: fill
sharpness: 80
dynamic contrast: off (of course)

How do I get my windows settings to show you? I am sure they are all default though - the nVidia control panel ones are too.

Have I done something stupid or do I have a shoddy panel?

Also I noticed that if I press slightly on the panel it "springs" back forwards as if it is not fixed to the inside of the bezel, is that normal? It is far more severe a the top right an mediumly-noticable at the bottom left.
Also it didn't come with a screen-wiping cloth which annoyed me, both my samsungs were meant to (listed in contents) but didn't either.

And what is with the grey bezel, everybody knows all monitors should be black... but that isn't an issue.

edit:
There is something I noticed about the 3 monitors I have had recently. They are all packaged so that the weight of the monitor is supported by a polystyrene pedestal against the panel, and there is nothing on the box marking which way up it should be... Infact simply having the word "Dell" on the side the right way up means the monitor is supporting its weight on the panel...

edit again:
I would take a photo showing the extensive backlight bleed. I noticed it is now up the sides a bit too, and it is blotchy - not parallel to the bezel. But I left my camera charger at home during christmas and I doubt my phone camera would do the screen any justice.
Click to expand...

Does sound a bit ropey to be honest... :(

As it's a Dell, I presume it was purchased online?

Tell them you aren't happy and you want a replacement, I've heard Dell are usually pretty good with this?

If they refuse, and it is less than 7 working days from the day after you took delivery, then personally I would send it back for a refund under the distance selling regulations.
 
dewi said:
I'd certainly be very disappointed if the 2209WA wasn't any improvement on my Viewsonic VX922 in that respect. BBC iPlayer images do look very washed out on my VX922 compared to a good plasma television.
Click to expand...

Every LCD will have blacks worse than plasma, simply due to the fact they require a backlight.
 
D D Danneh said:
Every LCD will have blacks worse than plasma, simply due to the fact they require a backlight.
Click to expand...

Yes, I realise that, but I've been spoilt by a plasma TV. Having said that, some LCD panels will have better blacks than other LCD panels. My understanding is that PVA panels have slightly better blacks than IPS panels, which have much better blacks than TN panels. I'm also assuming that an LED-backlit panel would have better blacks than a conventional panel.

I'm therefore surprised to read that Bozebo's 2209WA, which uses an IPS panel, should have poor blacks.
 
ok, I am going to call dell's under 30 day support line thats listed on ocuk. Otherwise though, if it is truely damaged then surely I have a right to get ocuk to pick it up? But really... the only true damage I can notice is the top-right of the panel not being fixed in place - which doesnt seem to be what is actually causing any issues itself.
 
I also have a Dell 2209WA en do not experience any of the problems mentioned here. You must just be unlucky with the one you got.
 
I'm very happy with my Dell 2009WA, although I will agree that in a dark room, back lighting may look a little uneven and obviously black is more grey.
 
I am very happy with my 2 Dell 2209WA's and I changed to them from a Dell 2407 A03, so hardly a rubish panel to compare to, before that I had a Samsung SM213T which had an IPS panel too. I actually found the PVA Dell 2407 to be the worst to use, due to black crush, but that only bothered me when gaming really.

I think you have a faulty screen tbh, I'd send it back and get another one.

I use a brightness of 15 and a contrast of 70. My colour settings are R:96 G:94 B:98.
 
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