heywood on 9/12/2009 at 03:06
Larry -
The Samsung 245T is known to be a laggy monitor. Not as bad as the 244T, but still a lot worse than a TN panel or CRT. The culprit seems to be their use of voltage overdrive to reduce the pixel response time. You may also be seeing "inverse ghosting". See page 4/5 of (
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/2009/02/06/the-dark-side-of-overdrive/1) this.
Before you return it, look through the menus and see if you can turn off the overdrive. They probably won't call it overdrive, but look for an option related to response time. If you can turn it off, the pixel response time may fall to something like 16ms, but that's better than suffering from ghosting and 30ms of input lag.
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I'm also weary of monitors boasting 2ms response time. A TN panel is normally 5ms, which is basically as fast as a CRT. Over-driving a TN panel is totally unnecessary and may actually make things worse by increasing inverse ghosting. I wouldn't buy a monitor with a 2ms response time spec without reading the manual to make sure the overdrive can be turned off in the menus just in case it produces side effects.
LarryG on 9/12/2009 at 06:43
Thanks heywood, but the monitor is gone. I had read that article before and I could not find any way of shutting off overdrive with that monitor. So it had to be returned.
Instead I've decided to go retro and get a newly refurbished CRT, a Sony GDM-W900 - 24". The refurbisher is just a few miles away, and the only Sony monitor repair site in North America is in San Diego, a reasonable day's drive away.
The GDM-W900 is close to 100 lbs of monitor, and the only things it lacks to be really retro are fins! :laff: I'm hoping I can sit out the next generation of LCDs with it. By the time that it dies, I'm betting, LCD technology will have matured enough to provide a good gaming and graphic development experience. Wish me luck.
Renzatic on 9/2/2010 at 19:32
I haven't played with either one, but they're both decent brands. You'll get good picture quality out of both of them.
Thing is, I remember you complaining about bad viewing angles in another thread a couple months back, and both of those monitors, being TN panels, won't give you want you want on that front. If you want a good monitor for not too terrible a price, your choices are fine. But if you want a better overall experience with good contrast ratio, color reproduction, and viewing angle, look for IPS or VA monitors specifically.
You can usually tell what kind of panel a monitor is sporting just by looking at the body. The thin, sleek LCDs are usually TN. Boxier, thicker LCDs are almost always IPS.
Namdrol on 9/2/2010 at 20:00
I've just ordered an NEC IPS, the (
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_ea231wmi.htm) NEC EA231WMi
Should be here tomorrow.
Though it's only 23" as opposed to the 26"s you're looking at and about the same cost.
The black levels are superb at 0.15 cd/m2 and it's got great reviews
ZylonBane on 10/2/2010 at 03:17
IPS panels are tempting, but I keep reading they tend to have significant blurring and latency issues. Kind of a deal-breaker for gaming use.
dj_ivocha on 10/2/2010 at 03:51
If you don't need the tuner and various other inputs (component?), why not get a T260 instead?
It's been more than a year since I bought my T220 and the details about reviews I'd read are somewhat murky, but I seem to remember that the HD versions were quite a bit laggier than the normal ones (as in input lag, not panel response time).
Renzatic on 10/2/2010 at 05:24
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
IPS panels are tempting, but I keep reading they tend to have significant blurring and latency issues. Kind of a deal-breaker for gaming use.
Depends on the monitor. Unless you're talking about some ultra cheap POS with a ridiculously high response time, latency is more an academic issue for the high tech enthusiast types to bobble their heads over than an actual noticeable problem.
I have both an S-IPS monitor built back in 07 and a TN equipped monitor manufactured just last year. The IPS has 8ms response, the TN 5ms. My experiences with both monitors, from goofing around on the desktop, to playing some fast paced game that has you whipping the mouse around like you've got the palsy, ghosting has never once been an issue. If you want an IPS panel, just read some reviews and pick one that has a response time below 12ms. You'll more than likely be happier with it in the long run.
Gryzemuis on 11/2/2010 at 01:08
I wanted to buy a T260 last summer. The price was dropping below 300 euros. I decided to wait a few weeks and see how low the price would drop. Well, since then, the price was only going up. 350 euros. In January I asked an eshop what was going with the T260. They told me Samsung doesn't make them anymore. And indeed, there were hardly any shops in NL that would sell them. The last ones I guess.
I bought a Samsung 2443 in stead (240 euros). 24" turns out to be big enough. (I had a 20" CRT before). The screen is very sharp, that's nice. But I'm a bit disappointed with the colors, not as nice as my old CRT. And the view angle for dark areas is something not great. But overall, definitely worth the 240 euros.
