Which Monitor???

bfar

bfar

bfar

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14 Jul 2004
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Is it just me or is monitor hunting a nightmare? :eek:

Need some thoughts on a new display - based on currect prices/reviews, narrowed my options down to the following:

LG W2453V-PF 24' TN LCD 2ms
Dell U2311H 23' IPS LCD 8ms
Benq G2420HDBL 24' TN LED 5ms
Acer G245H 24' TN LCD 2ms
Asus VW246H 24' TN LCD 2ms
Samsung P2450H 24' TN LCD 2ms

Would be doing equal and regular amounts of surfing and gaming. Occasional movie watching, and I might plug the xbox 360 in from time to time. I have a DVI-HDMI converter, so I can live without a HDMI port. Don't use monitor speakers. Moving up from a HPw2207h 22', I'm primarily after a slightly larger screen and sharper image - 1080p @ 23/24' should be a perfect balance between resolution, DPI and gaming performce. I'm aware that I might loose a centemetre or two of vertical height.

The LG is the cheapest of the group, with the rest of the TNs coming in at <€250. If I'm gonna get another TN, it has to have very decent response times; however, I refuse to pay more than €250 for a TN, so 120hz or fancy LEDs are a no go :p
The Dell is interesting, but obviously more expensive - is the IPS really worth it? I'll stretch my budget it if it is, but just for that monitor! It's response times are meant to be adaquate, and I can live with minor ghosting if the image really is much better, particularly with darker pictures, blacks/grays. Otherwise, colour accuracy isn't a major issue, I don't do much graphics/photo work. It would be an advantage not to have poor backlighting/viewing angles, but not a deal breaker.

All thoughts appreciated, and if anyone owns any of the displays above, I'd love to hear your thoughts :)
 
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IMHO, IPS is worth it, even for general use and gaming. Mainly due to the wider viewing angles and better colours (most TN monitors use 6 bit panels, compared to 8 bit ones found in the Dell). The excellent stand and warranty are other reasons why it is great piece of kit to buy.

Have you had a read of this review? Its a really good review that really puts the Dell U2311H through its paces.

Personally, I often use the Dell 2209WA (another E-IPS monitor and the precursor to the U2x11H series) and I find it fantastic. The E-IPS tech has improved IPS technology so it is much more affordable than before, but also responsive enough to deal with fast paced games and movies.
 
I'd go for the U2311H myelf. I am currently testing the U2410 and in games it's shockingly responsive. I mean seriously. Better than some TN panels I have tested recently. :eek: The RTC algorithms and input lag reduction in "game mode" are just fantastic - Dell has done the technology proud.
 
I went through a simular decison and its a difficult one. The 2311H is the better buy considering its a IPS. But i ended up going for the Samsung XL2370.

I just got it today... and it is AWESOME!!!!!

The image quality is superb, It works great for 360 and PS3 (only games ive tried yet are Gears of war 2 and Uncharted 2)
I should have a review up by early next week. Most likely monday.
 
I'm glad you're enjoying it White hell. Best TN panel made so far IMO. Looks lovely, performs fantastically in every key area and doesn't use much power.
 
Oooh, lots of replies, thanks!

That Samsung looks decent, but it's expensive for a TN. I still hold to my theory that none of em are worth more than £200/€250.

The Dell is ordered :) More expensive, but would probalby hold onto it a lot longer than I would a cheap TN. Easier to sell too, decent displays are rare!

Will post thoughts in a few days.

Thanks again :)
 
I have to vote for the Dell 2311 as well.

Oh - I see you already bought one. Well, I'm sure you'll be pleased with it!
 
Yey, the u2311h is here!

It is better than my older HP w2207h, no doubt about that. Colours and viewing angles are noticeably improved. Colours don't shift as you move your head, which is super cool. There's a bit of glare at more extreme angles. White level is much better. Two people could sit side by side and not lose contrast.

However its fair to say that its a luxury I could live without - I'd still consider the old HP a fine display. TN is fine for most casual people. That said, I'm pleased with my choice.

A quick go of UT3 confirms that response time & ghosting are not issues at all, coming from a 2 year old 5ms TN.
Fast TN owners might have problems, I don't know.
 
Remember - it's not just 'off centre' viewing angles that TN panels stuggle with. It's consistency across the screen. Try this out on your Dell and compare with a TN panel and you'll be laughing.
 
Had a go of L4D2, Cryisis Warhead and BFBC2 last night, with all the settings maxed. I have to admit, the image quality considerably superior on the Dell. The contrast/colours are totally consistant across the screen, no darkening around the top like on my old display. Love the dot-pitch, the screen is a perfect size for 1920x1080. Reminds me of the old days when I gamed at 1600x1200 on a 19' crt.

Great for desktop use; colours and text are great, whites and blacks are excellent, docs fit perfectly side-by-side.

All told, I'd still say a cheper TN would be perfectly adaquate for most users, me included. Given the money an IPS is a snobby option, but one I certaintly don't regret. This is a panel I can see myself holding onto for a few years - until the Jesus monitors come on the market.
 
Glad you like it.

By Jesus monitors, I presume you mean OLED screens? :p

The 2mm thick 31" OLED 3D TV that LG showed off recently looks absolutely unbelievable. I can't wait until we can get something similar for gaming... Will be a couple of years yet though (unless you have the £6k to buy that screen in March next year).
 
Yeah I think he did mean OLED screens. I'm hoping to review the LG 15EL9500 soon (15 inch OLED TV) as a monitor and hopefully the 31" one in the not too distant future. This should help give a bit of a 'real' indication of what people can expect from OLED monitors.
 
PCM2 said:
Yeah I think he did mean OLED screens. I'm hoping to review the LG 15EL9500 soon (15 inch OLED TV) as a monitor and hopefully the 31" one in the not too distant future. This should help give a bit of a 'real' indication of what people can expect from OLED monitors.
Click to expand...

Well, if you do get a chance to review either, as a gamer I'd particularly interested in two things from the new technology, which aren't generally reported in TV reviews:

1. Tearing: Does the incredibly high update speed of OLEDs have any impact on how noticeable tearing is?

2. Input lag!
 
I'll bear those things in mind. I will probably find it difficult to get a good idea of overall responsiveness and image quality from the 15 incher given the small size but I'll do my best. Of course things will be easier with the larger screens.
 
PCM2 said:
I'll bear those things in mind. I will probably find it difficult to get a good idea of overall responsiveness and image quality from the 15 incher given the small size but I'll do my best. Of course things will be easier with the larger screens.
Click to expand...

Yes, of course :)

Not meaning to be pushy, just saying that those are things that I personally (and a lot of gamers) find important, but that reviews in general tend not to focus on. I'm just curious how the new tech handles them is all :) After all, OLED screens are likely to be the display technology of choice for the next 20 years.
 
Duff-Man said:
Glad you like it.

By Jesus monitors, I presume you mean OLED screens? :p
Click to expand...

We could start a new thread on this!

The Jesus monitor will have most/all of these
Feel free to add :)

- Great colour reproduction & accuracy
- Great Contrast
- Perfect image stabiliy
- No perceptible input lag
- no perceptible response issues
- high refresh rate (real, not interpolated) 120hz at least
- No contrast shift/viewing angle issues
- No glare/tinting
- Full connectivity
- Decent speakers
- Switchable resolution or at least 1:1 pixel mapping
- available in different screen sizes/aspects to suit
- Low power usage
- Small form factor
- Walk on water/speak prophesy

hopefully OLED will tick a lot of those boxes :)
 
bfar said:
We could start a new thread on this!

The Jesus monitor will have most/all of these
Feel free to add :)

- Great colour reproduction & accuracy
- Great Contrast
- Perfect image stabiliy
- No perceptible input lag
- no perceptible response issues
- high refresh rate (real, not interpolated) 120hz at least
- No contrast shift/viewing angle issues
- No glare/tinting
- Full connectivity
- Decent speakers
- Switchable resolution or at least 1:1 pixel mapping
- available in different screen sizes/aspects to suit
- Low power usage
- Small form factor
- Walk on water/speak prophesy

hopefully OLED will tick a lot of those boxes :)
Click to expand...

would it be too much to ask for an optical out, so you can take the digital sound feed from HDMI/Displayport and output via optical :cool:
 
bfar said:
We could start a new thread on this!

The Jesus monitor will have most/all of these

[...]

hopefully OLED will tick a lot of those boxes :)
Click to expand...

Well, OLED screens will have the following:

- Great colour reproduction & accuracy
* Possibly not. This is the one real weakness of the OLED technology. Getting an extremely accurate initial colour reproduction will be easier than with LCD tech, but OLEDs lose brightness differentially. That is, the blue subpixels lose brightness faster than the others. Manufacturers are compensating by using larger blue sub-pixels so that the overall degredation is roughly constant, but it will still be difficult to maintain perfect colour reproduction over a ~20,000hr lifespan.

- Great Contrast
* check
OLED "pixels" can be switched off entirely, allowing near-perfect black levels, and therefore near-infinite contrast ratios

- Perfect image stabiliy
* check
the technology is completely different to TFT (i.e. not based around a light-scattering matrix) so the image will be precisely the same no matter what angle it is viewed from

- No perceptible input lag
* Too soon to say. Will depend a lot on how many post-processing features manufacturers work into the screens.

- no perceptible response issues
* check
OLED screens should have response times in the region of ~0.1ms

- high refresh rate (real, not interpolated) 120hz at least
* check
The panel LG demonstrated is capable of 120Hz output. No reason this can't be increased at a later date if there is a demand for it

- No contrast shift/viewing angle issues
check
see "image stability" above

- No glare/tinting
* will depend on the surface finish manufacturers choose to add

- Full connectivity
- Decent speakers
- Switchable resolution or at least 1:1 pixel mapping
- available in different screen sizes/aspects to suit
* again, will depend on manufacturers choices

- Low power usage
* check - much lower power usage than LCD under normal operating conditions

- Small form factor
* check Is a 2mm-thick 31" screen good enough for ya?!

- Walk on water/speak prophesy
:p

OLED screens should do to displays what SSDs have done to HDDs. They really are the wave of the future. In five years you won't even consider buying an LCD screen, for anything other than budget purposes. Also, once the tech has matured, manufacturing costs should be lower than for LCDs too.

Oh, did I mention that OLED screens can be bent almost at will? :D Curved super-wide aspect ratio monitors here we come!


edit: A couple of videos:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/lgs-31-inch-oled-spin-slices-its-way-into-our-cold-lcd-hearts/

and

 
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Wow Duff-man you speak my language! I am certainly looking forward to reviewing any OLED monitors I can get my grubby mitts on. I believe that the earliest iterations of this technlology will be in the form of premium LG TV screens. I have been extremely impressed by the demonstrations of Samsung OLED screens I saw in Asia earlier this year. One of the screens I used was a 24 incher with a 0.02ms ISO response time (if I recall correctly). The amazing fluidity, colours and contrast of the image made everything seem so natural. Samsung OLED screens will probably not be released until they are more economically viable and hence attractive in the marketplace. It is certainly an exciting development.
 
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