LCD Buyer's Guide

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

VX922 ViewSonic Hands Down is THEE best 19" LCD out there. I was posting about the 214T Samnsung cause i wanted a nice big monitor in combination with being a gamer. Well, after about a week, of using the 214T with 8ms response time i was discouraged with the chopped motion the 214T was giving me. I couldn't figure it out and never did. So, i went to a good merchant and bought the VX922 that I borrowed from my brother to cross check if it was the CRT that was giving me headaches. So with the 2 lcd's hooked up side by side i booted it up. Clearly off the bat the VX was faster and gaming i have yet to see that chopped image from the VX922. If the birds on there logo bother you as they have and discouraged me from buying there products until now, don't look at them, you'll never notice. Infact, now i love those birds

529th

P.S. O'yeah, the Viewsonic VX922 has a response time of 2ms!

 

[noname4498]

If the VX922 was 8-bit, and not a TN panel I would buy one, but then it would be wayyy out of my price range. A 2ms 8-bit panel would be great.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

whats the big deal about 8bit and TN?

 

[noname4498]

TN panels have bad viewing angles and poor video playback, as far as 8-bit just read pg. 16

 

[LintMan]

I asked this as part of a batch of questions in a separate thread, but no one answered this part and the thread got buried quickly...

I'm really concerned about dead pixels: I'm afraid they'd drive me crazy if my nice new LCD had even one, (especially after spending maybe $700-$800 on the thing!), and most online vendors seem to have a minimum 7-8 dead pixel return policy.

How common is it to get a monitor with dead pixels? How noticeable are they? Do walk-in stores like Best Buy or Circuit City have similar policies for LCD dead pixel returns?

I'd probably be willing to pay a small premium to be able to unconditionally return/exchange an LCD monitor with even one dead pixel. Do any really reputable online vendors have that sort of policy?

Thanks!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

could you post articles stating the claim you are making about the VX922 being a TN panel? im new in the lcd scene...

Cheers!

529th

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: LintMan
I asked this as part of a batch of questions in a separate thread, but no one answered this part and the thread got buried quickly...

I'm really concerned about dead pixels: I'm afraid they'd drive me crazy if my nice new LCD had even one, (especially after spending maybe $700-$800 on the thing!), and most online vendors seem to have a minimum 7-8 dead pixel return policy.

How common is it to get a monitor with dead pixels? How noticeable are they? Do walk-in stores like Best Buy or Circuit City have similar policies for LCD dead pixel returns?

I'd probably be willing to pay a small premium to be able to unconditionally return/exchange an LCD monitor with even one dead pixel. Do any really reputable online vendors have that sort of policy?

Thanks!

Its common, they are noticable. when i bought my 214T Samsung from http://www.c-source.com/ i had one dead pixel and they took it back no questions asked. and better yet, they have 2 HOT secrataries working up in the front office area

 

[speedlever]

Check out this url for a mini-review of the VX922:
http://tinyurl.com/a35st

Check the specs: TN and 16.2 million colors. (16.2 million colors is code for 6 bit.)

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

ty for the link

 

[speedlever]

Update:

The replacement 970P came in Friday. I just got home today and hooked it up. Looks perfect to me!

Samsung and J&R did a good job responding to the problem. I felt like I had to prod J&S for info about what was going on, but they got the replacement to me exactly when they told me when I first called to confirm the defective initial monitor on Monday this past week.

Review note: I have a fairly new laptop with a 15.4" WXGA screen running 1280x800/60Hz. I don't know the specs of the panel, but it is an Asus Z71A generic as built by powernotebooks.com. I'm betting it is a 6 bit panel.

The laptop screen (which is very good) is not even close to being as bright as the 970P.. and I'm now running the 970P in text mode (brightness is at 30). I've changed back to default color from warm1. The whites on the laptop look a bit gray when compared to the 970P in text mode/default colors.

Man... this 970P is sweet!

xtknight... your info in this thread was invaluable. Thanks very much for the excellent information and the good discussion!

Edit: fixed J&R

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

anyone ever heard of a dead pixel fixer program? i found this and was just wondering if it actually worked, i have it and if it works id like to share it with everyone, its about 224kb...

cool

529th

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
anyone ever heard of a dead pixel fixer program? i found this and was just wondering if it actually worked, i have it and if it works id like to share it with everyone, its about 224kb...

cool

529th

Yeah...it only fixes stuck pixels, not dead pixels. The stuck ones are colored whereas the dead ones are just black or white.

Oh, and speedlever: great news!

 

[edman24365]

Speedlover,

After hours of research and comparing dozens of models I've decided on the 970p. After doing a simple search at pricegrabber I found the best price at J&R, which if I'm correct is where you purchased yours from (well you said J&R originally and then J&S..prob just a typo). My concern is that the closest store is 55 dollars more ($575 from $520) and the rest of the retailers sell them from upwards of 600 and 750. So my question is, would you do business again with J&R? Does their service, namely their Return service merit such a discount in price? I've had excellent experiences with NewEgg and Zipzoom, but if I'm going to drop five hundo on this monitor and it doesn't work I want a little more assurance that they will work with me if something goes wrong.

-edman

 

[speedlever]

edman,

I also like Newegg.. and it's been a while since I bought from ZZF. Outpost.com also has the 970P for ~$500, iirc.

IAC, I was pleased with my purchase experience with J&R. The fact that my first monitor had the line of dead pixels... well, that could happen anywhere. J&R put me in touch with Samsung. Samsung went through a brief troubleshooting process and then declared the monitor defective and directed me to call J&R back.

J&R customer service was courteous and quickly agreed to cross-ship a new 970P to me. This all occured the same day that I got the original monitor (last Monday). Tuesday and Wednesday went by with no information from J&R... so I called them and they basically assured me the process was working. I sent them an email Thursday morning requesting confirmation of my RMA status and replacement monitor and shortly thereafter received an email with the information I was looking for including a tracking number for the replacement monitor. It arrived on Friday... just 4 days after receiving the first monitor and right on schedule from what I was told on Monday. Now if they quickly credit my account for the defective monitor which I will ship out tomorrow, I can simply not complain about the purchase or the RMA process. It was as painless as it could be. My only suggestion would be that J&R could do a better job communicating during the RMA process.

Yes, I am happy with J&R and would NOT hesitate to buy from them again.

I hope your purchase experience is equally pleasant and without the inconvenience of receiving a defective monitor.

 

[edman24365]

Thanks for the detailed explanation and info speedlever...I will probably be ordering the 970p sometime later this week, aka after I get paid...I'll keep you posted on how the new screen is...hopefully without any defects

edman

 

[Blackjack2000]

Huge thanks to the OP for starting this thread. As a result, I am now sitting in front of a VP930b courtesy of ZZF. I would've gone Newegg, but with they were charging tax and shipping upwards of $50. (I guess Newegg has a location in NJ now so they have to charge us tax)

ZZF charged no shipping, no tax, and it arrived in 2 days.

One thing I must say is that I have not been happy with the video playback thus far, though it's entirely possible that it's the fault of my software or computer hardware not being set up right.

There is a stuck pixel in the upper left of the screen. Honestly I didn't even notice it over the last week, and decided to check before posting this thread because I didn't want to give bad info. I opened up notepad, and sure enough, there is a tiny red speck in the corner. if there's any color except pure blue on that part of the monitor it's completely invisible. Honestly, it took me a whole week to even notice it.

Also, I have to say that the dot pitch is more noticeable than I thought it would be. It doesn't bother me, but I think if you're worried about it, you should probably just stay away from 19inch LCDs altogether.

Where this monitor really delivers is color and form factor. The sliding and swiveling adjustments are outstanding and the color is breathtaking. Well worth the $450 i paid at ZZF.

 

[xtknight]

Blackjack2000: What's wrong with the video playback?

 

[noname4498]

Well, I ordered the VP930b from newegg with UPS 2-day on monday and the 3.99 rush shipping. I will get It tomorrow and put up a little review on it. I have done a lot of research this time and think this is the right one. I was going to order from zipzoom, but the last time it took them 4 days to ship out my motherboard and it arrived openbox without the driver disk(it worked fine but still made me quite mad)

 

[Blackjack2000]

I don't know, I thought it was just not smooth, but now that I'm watching the DVD again, I think it's just crappy filming, I'll try an actual hollywood production in there soon and let you know, I think it's actually ok.

 

[Compellor]

Originally posted by: Blackjack2000
There is a stuck pixel in the upper left of the screen. Honestly I didn't even notice it over the last week, and decided to check before posting this thread because I didn't want to give bad info. I opened up notepad, and sure enough, there is a tiny red speck in the corner. if there's any color except pure blue on that part of the monitor it's completely invisible. Honestly, it took me a whole week to even notice it.

Where this monitor really delivers is color and form factor. The sliding and swiveling adjustments are outstanding and the color is breathtaking. Well worth the $450 i paid at ZZF.

I noticed the stuck pixel on mine right away. It's also a red one and is near the right edge of the screen. After a few weeks you will probably not notice it as much or at all.

I agree with the color. I used the PerfectSuite calibration software and it makes a difference from the default 6500k setting.

I bought my VP930b from ZZF back in November of last year for $417. I'm surprised at how the price rose to $450 and higher not long after I got mine. It's worth it though. This is one sweet looking LCD.

 

[xtknight]

Wow, why have I noticed like 5 people say video playback is bad on their LCDs? It's just surprising. I don't think you guys are crazy, I'm just curious as to what it is. The blocks may be more distinct because they aren't as blurred together like on a CRT. Maybe same thing for antialiasing. I don't play enough low-bit rate videos to notice. I do have a CRT next to me so I think I'll give it a shot/set up dual monitor clone mode and see what's up.

Is it bad at 640x480 on a CRT as well?

 

[Mephibosheth]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Wow, why have I noticed like 5 people say video playback is bad on their LCDs? It's just surprising. I don't think you guys are crazy, I'm just curious as to what it is. The blocks may be more distinct because they aren't as blurred together like on a CRT. Maybe same thing for antialiasing. I don't play enough low-bit rate videos to notice. I do have a CRT next to me so I think I'll give it a shot/set up dual monitor clone mode and see what's up.

Is it bad at 640x480 on a CRT as well?

I have the 2405fpw and, given the high res of this monster, DVD payback is not too bad, and I think the real issue is that it has to be scaled up to so high a res to do fullscreen (a must, don't you think?). Now the thing that *is* bad is NTSC fullscreen. I'm not too sure what I can do about that (and I *am* open to any suggestions...). the issue here as well, and to a much greater degree, is scaling 640x480 NTSC up to 1900x1200 fullscreen. I have tried several different hardware and software soltuions with not the best of luck as of yet, and I'm not finished.

It's highly unlikely that I'll find the perfect solution for this issue at this point in technology, but I do hope to find the best interim solution possible. I suppose that, if nothing else, I could run the TV in a window half the size of the monitor and use black wallpaper to minimze the distraction. Also I could reduce the res when I wish to watch fullscreen, but my agenda is to find the configuration that runs best at the high res, and then perhaps reduce the res to obtain a better picture.

Meph

 

[xtknight]

Oh, that could definitely be it. Resolution scaling. I can't believe that escaped me, heh. They must be talking about fullscreen in WMP. (But I don't think WMP changes resolution for videos?)

Dot pitch could definitely be it as well. My 17" CRT has about ~3" less viewable area than my 19" VP930b LCD, and both are running at 1280x1024, so that could have a definite effect on perception.

I didn't notice any remotely sizable difference between the macroblocks in videos on CRT vs LCD, but I did notice my LCD did 'tear' the video and the CRT did not. It must be due to the way things with the graphics card work. I mean, it's possible for the LCD to get a smooth image, but the whole so-called media playback architecture expects an electron-gun-based system so it doesn't even take into account incomplete frames. Bad programming.

 

[noname4498]

I got my vp930b today, and I have to say It is so much better than the vp171b. The colors seem so much deeper and the blacks are are tons better.

The backlight X thing has not been a problem at all, I only see it at system boot and loading screens. People really seem to have overdone this, I almost did not get this LCD for this reason.

The screen is very large, everthing is not pushed together like the 17in was, and at 1280x1204 that is a must for me.

The MVA panel really makes a difference in the viewing angles, I can set back in the chair below it and still see everthing bright and clear.

It only has one stuck pixel that only shows up on black screens, and even then I can hardly see It.

I have not noticed any more ghosting in games than the vp171b did, I was a little worried there, some said it ghosted bad. It has been a pleasure to game with, as with all LCD's there is still a little ghosting here and there, but I have not noticed much at all, just a quick slight blur when you turn fast, It has not bothered me.

The only thing that will take some getting used to is the .29 dot pitch, I set a ways back so I don't notice it that much.

I am still not happy with lowbit rate videos, but they seem much better than the vp171b.

xtknight I think your right, LCD's don't blur video together like CRT's do, but I can deal with a little loss of quality and some "blocks"

Overall I am very impresed with the vp930b, Its a keeper.

 

[xtknight]

Dot pitch could definitely be it as well. My 17" CRT has about ~3" less viewable area than my 19" VP930b LCD, and both are running at 1280x1024, so that could have a definite effect on perception. Yeah, I only find the X to be a problem on darkish scenes and in the lower end of the color spectrum. Unfortunately it does cause some discoloration at times (too much fluorescent blue in that area).