Review: Hannspree 25" Model: HF-259HPB

I just recently purchased this monitor (as a replacement for a Envision 22" monitor that I purchased at Best Buy in Aug 2007, damn power supply died on it) and I wanted to give my opinion on it so far.

The monitor I purchased was the Hannspree - 25" Widescreen Flat-Panel TFT-LCD HD Monitor - Model: HF-259HPB | SKU: 8732749
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8732749&type=product&id=1201307759117

I'm running an 8800GT OC (factory OC from MSI with the GOOD cooler) so I'm not looking to break any framerate barriers with the monitor.

I had to buy a monitor from best buy since I had a $25 gift cert I haven't used in nearly 4 months.

3 Things that drew me to this monitor initially from researching on

1) Price for a 25"
2) Size (25" is a noticable increase from my 22")
3) 1920x1080 Res - Not the best resolution for the size, however more than what my needs will be.
4) HDMI input

After Gift card and some cash I had from selling stuff on craiglists, it came to $283.43 after tax.

I unboxed it and to my wonderful surprise not only did it come with a VGA cable, but a DVI>HDMI cable as well. Saved me a bit of hassle/money getting one.

Started to pull the styrofoam out per the box instructions and the foam was very snug. (Good for shipping, bad for me). Flipped the box over and slowly wiggled the monitor out of the box.

Removed 3 pieces of styrofoam. 1 for each side of the monitor, and 1 for the base stem of the monitor. (after placing the base on) I set the monitor of my desk and it just felt HUGE, even though it isn't that much of a difference bigger than my old 22". I did notice that it seemed 'bouncy' or wobbly due to how the base / stem was designed to hold the monitor. Thank goodness the monitor is wall mountable if I so choose. The LCD screen was covered with plastic sheet as well as the bezel around the screen.. Removed the plastic, connected the DVI-HDMI cable from my 8800 GT and the new monitor and fired it right up.

I noticed 2 issues immediately. The screen seemed 'fuzy' and the picture didn't seem to reach corner to corner. left about a 2" gap on every side.

First I set the res on it to 1920x1080, image looked a lil better, but not great. Corner issue still existed.
Next I went into the OSD menu and discovered that the factory default is to set the video display for VIDEO (TV type input) vs PC. Changed to pc, seemed a bit better, but the gap issue still remained.

I fool around with the OSD menu for a while and nothing seemed to work. Did the same with the res settings. Still the gap issue remained and started to piss me off a bit. Finally, I gave in checked the Nvidia control panel. I saw a couple options in there I didn't see before. One of them was "Resize HDTV desktop" I tried that and suddenly I was able to pull my corners to where they should have been.

After I applied that, I noticed I could read all my icons/txt without fuzziness. 2 birds with one stone.

I enjoyed the brightness, however I pulled it down about 20% just because I usually work/play in low light conditions most of the time. I am unsure how to 'tune' the colors as I'm not a display fanatic like some are.

Since I have this on my 2nd tier of my desk, I had to test the view angles. From everywhere sit or move my head, I can view everything and there doesn't seem to be any background / color bleed. That was important to me as my last monitor had some bleed around the top edges. However, since the bezel directly around the lcd screen is shiny, when any color is at the very very top (top 1/4") I can see a small reflection of the image in the bezel. Not the lcd's fault, but I would have thought that the shiny bezel part would only be on the top side of the monitor screen, not on the inside groove as well.

Overall I'm happy with my purchase.

Pros: Good overall value, HDMI / 1920@1080, includes all cables.

Cons: Bouncy/wobbly stand, reflection at the top bezel, factory defaults not appropriate for 99% of most users.

Feel free to post your opinions about the same monitor or give me tips about how I can tune the color on it.

Congratulations on your new display, and thanks for posting

This post is worthless, where are the pics...

Any ghosting when gaming? How's the input lag?

I have the 28" hannspree. They are great monitor for the price.

Diseaseboy said:

Any ghosting when gaming? How's the input lag?

Click to expand...

Gaming seems good so far. I'm only tested out SupCom so far though, going to test out FO3. I haven't seen any ghosting that I can notice. Input lag doesn't seem to exist for me on this monitor. I flick my track ball or click a key and I instantly feel a reaction on the screen.

Movies look superb in 16:9 1080p on it as well.


As for 'the other guy', here's your pics you requested.
Right now have my old 17" sony CRT keeping a spot warm for my other 22" that should be back in 8 weeks.

(Yes, I already know my room is a mess, my wife reminds me of that everyday)







And this pic goes out to you lt_shiro

lol Nice pics man. Lookin good.

Just picked up the HF289H 28" Hanspree. So far...it rocks!

Those speakers, what are those? Curious.

I have 2 sets. The ones that you probably notice are the Yamaha HS50M Active Monitors. I bought them on zzounds.com when they had a deal to include not only Auralex pads, but full monitor speaker stands. They're $200 a pop new anywhere, however if you can save just a bit more and get the HS80ms, they're 10x better than the 50s as I've done a A-B comparison at guitar center (after I bought them of course)

The other set of speakers, which looks like its apart of the desk is (you can best see them in the first pic) are altec lansing mx5021. Basically the best (but not the most expensive) 2.1 sound system available back in 2005. They have great sound for movies. I switch between the 2 sets when testing out songs I mix down for school or projects.

I'll post better pictures of everything once I clean up my room.

This post is worthy great monitor.

Could I hook a blu ray player directly to this monitor, via the HDMI connection?

Wouldn't it need HDCP support for that?

Oh and grats )

Diseaseboy said:

Any ghosting when gaming? How's the input lag?

Click to expand...

Yeah, would you mind posting some pictures comparing the Hannspree with you CRT using this stopwatch link so we can get an idea of the input lag?

I would really appreciate it because I'm seriously considering buying this.

Bumping this up with another review. I just bought this at Best Buy yesterday as it is on sale for $279.99:

I'm definitely liking this monitor so far. Keep in mind this is my first foray into the LCD world recently though, so I don't have much to judge it against. I was previously using a 19" Samsung Syncmaster 997DF (with a crappy Mag 19" LCD to bring to LAN Parties that I got for cheap on Black Friday many years ago).

Image Quality: Games / HD videos look great on this. The colors are very bright and beautiful. I did change the default color setting of "Nature" over to "User" though... I preferred the latter setting a lot more.

I tested it out with quite a few PC games last night (Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2, Warhammer Online, Tabula Rasa, Unreal Tournament 3, Fallout 3), all at about max settings on my 8800GTX. The resolution was fully supported in each of the games (1920x1080), and there was no noticeable ghosting or input lag at all. Unreal Tournament 3 in particular was exceedingly immersive at the size and resolution this monitor is!

I also hooked it up to my PS3 via HDMI. After re-adjusting the console to 1080p output, I noticed that the colors seemed to be a bit off at first in the menu. I had a blue background, but I noticed some purple swirling in to the mix. Take note, if you experience this, it is an easy fix: In the PS3 display settings area, make sure to adjust the RGB settings and change it from Limited to Full. I'm not sure why it had defaulted to Limited, but once I set it to Full, everything was back to normal (and quite beautiful).

Game wise, I tried it out with Wip3out HD (supports 1080p) and Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty (720p). Both games looked fantastic. See the section at the bottom though for some notes on the resolution while hooked up to the PS3.

Backlight / Brightness: It's a bit bright out of the box, so I did turn down the brightness a bit right away. Backlight bleed-through is a little noticeable around the edges on black screens, but I don't even notice it all when gaming. Plus, from the pictures I've seen of other TN panel LCDs, it seems to be pretty much on par with what you're going to get from anything at that price. It doesn't really bother me at all, even in games with lots of dark areas like Left 4 Dead.

Stand: The stand is definitely a bit flimsy. Try to make sure you get it on a solid, stable surface or you are going to see some wobble. It does tilt up and down a bit. The mechanism is a little stiff though, but that's probably to keep it from falling back down from its own weight.

Speakers: Nothing fantastic, but it sounds like that is normal for these things. I'm not planning on even using them anyways. I had it hooked up to the computer via the included male-male stereo mini cable. Only thing a little odd I did notice is that when I used the headphone port, the bass was noticeably fuzzy / distorted. I did not have a chance to test if this happened with the audio being carried over HDMI with the PS3 though.

Viewing Angle: Again, this may just be because I haven't used LCDs much over CRTs, but the best results definitely come from facing it straight on. There is definitely some noticeable color/brightness drop out as you shift from side to side, and especially so vertically. It won't be a problem for me at all though, as it is just going to be on a desk in front of me. Also, anything that I tend to notice while staring at the screen and "looking for problems", I pretty much never even notice once I start getting into something like a game.

Resolution Notes: I've seen some people speak of having problems with the resolution of this monitor when hooked up to a PC. Surprisingly, I had no issues at all. I am using the included HDMI-DVI-D cable to connect to my PC (via a GeForce 8800GTX). The proper resolution (1920x1080) was instantly detected and set, and the desktop fully stretches to all corners of the screen, with no overscan either. Previously, I had messed around with hooking my PC up to my Plasma TV, and I would always notice that the taskbar would be partly cut off. I had no issues with that on this monitor.

I'm not sure what to say for those who are having problems with the display not scaling right. I guess I'd try adjusting some of the desktop scaling settings in your video card control panel. Again, for reference, my video card is an 8800GTX with driver version 178.24.

As for having the PS3 hooked up, nothing was seeming to get cut off either, but I did notice a couple of weird things:
1) There is a setting that can be adjusted in the monitor OSD to go from "Full" to "Fit". It defaults to full. On the PC, there is no difference. With the PS3, I did notice that on "Fit", the left and right edge of the image pulled in maybe like 2 or 3 pixels or so. Not really sure what that's all about (this isn't my area of expertise), but I figured I'd include that note in there for those of you who might be able to get some meaning from that.

2) When hooked up to the PS3, I noticed another video option in the OSD that was not present when hooked up to my PC. My only guess is that it has to do with the PS3 being hooked up with a HDMI-HDMI cable and the PC using HDMI-DVI.

The new option was a HDMI video mode setting, with the choices being "PC" and "Video". It defaulted to "Video". When I would adjust it from Video to PC, I would notice that it seemed to render a little more on the sides and top/bottom. For example, on the PS3 XMB, a few of the icons that were trailing offscreen would be partially more visible. I'm not really sure what that setting would be used for, as it seems the default of Video must cut some stuff off.

Here's what the included user manual on the CD says about this setting:

Transferring audio-video image by HDMI port would cause edges of the image being cut on the screen; select「PC Mode」to display in full screen. Enter the option and select 「VIDEO Mode」(VIDEO) or 「PC Mode」(PC).

Click to expand...

Overall - 8.5/10: I really like the monitor the more and more I'm using it. Again, I don't have anything similar to compare this to, so take everything I'm saying from a newbie's perspective. The 24.6" of screen space and high resolution has sold me on this as a gamer. I'd say if you were on the edge about this monitor, it wouldn't hurt to try it from a local store like Best Buy where you can return it if you aren't happy with it.

I have seen three different people complain about the same issue(see below), can anyone that has it, tell me their experience?

Quote from one person....

The screen itself appears to be 25", but the monitor housing allows only 24.6" to be seen. Can't see the bottom half of the task bar in windows and can't see the top, bottom, right, left pixels in games. Not sure how many pixels the housing blocks, but it makes my games unplayable at the 1920x1080 resolutio

Click to expand...

So.. generally speaking this is a good monitor?

bandit390 said:

I have seen three different people complain about the same issue(see below), can anyone that has it, tell me their experience?

Click to expand...

It is 24.6" viewable (and is listed as such even in the specs), but I have absolutely no problems with any cutoff of the images while hooked up to my PC (HDMI-DVI, 1920x1080, Geforce 8800 GTX). My taskbar appears fully, and I don't have any problems with game's images being cut off. As I noted in my review above, I've tested this on over 6 games with no issues. Just for the heck of it, I even tested it in ancient Unreal 1 and it ran fine at the above resolution with no problems. I'm really not sure what is happening to others who are having issues.

As for your question Modi, I'm pleased with it so far personally. My one new complaint that I would add for reference is that at least with my monitor, the bottom left corner has a little more backlight bleed-through than I previously noticed, causing some saturation issues at some viewing angles. But, again, I don't even notice it when I'm gaming and not focused on finding flaws. For the price and being able to buy it locally, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

Not sure, but it sounds like they are using their PCs with the monitor HDMI in "video mode" from what LifesBane said.

Thanks for the info gents, much appreciated. Good luck with your new screens.

bandit390 said:

I have seen three different people complain about the same issue(see below), can anyone that has it, tell me their experience?

Quote from one person....

Click to expand...

10e said:

Not sure, but it sounds like they are using their PCs with the monitor HDMI in "video mode" from what LifesBane said.

Thanks for the info gents, much appreciated. Good luck with your new screens.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that worked....at least now I don't have to use overscan to get it to scale right.

Heres what I think of it so far....

Yes, I know the quality sucks....pic is from my phone.





Pros:
1. Don't notice any backlight bleed.
2. 1" bigger than all those other 24" with 1080p resolution.

Cons:
1. Text looks a little fuzzy/blurry. Then again i'm coming from a 40" with 1920x1080 to a 25" with 1920x1080, so maybe that has something to do with it.
3. If your using an lcd arm, think again. The LCD has a 6 hole pattern 200x100mm and most arms (including mine) has the 4 hole pattern 100x100m. So no matter which side you choose(with 4 hole pattern, its not going to be even and might create some problems keeping your lcd even. The fix could be to use a bracket with a six hole pattern, but I have yet to find one. I'm only able to find a whole different arm with the six hole pattern and they aren't that many.
4. Only 1 hdmi and 1 vga, no dvi.

Overall, if it looks like something you might like. Just pick it up from bestbuy and try it out. You get a 14 day return policy with no restocking fee.

Bandit, I'm curious-- how are you hooking up your monitor to your PC? Are you using the HDMI-DVI cable that was included or something different? And you said you had access to the HDMI mode option in the OSD (the Video-PC mode toggle)?

So i bit and I bought one of these at my local BB. I went from a Samsung Syncmaster 712N and an old Sony lcd to this beauty + the 712N. Let me just say that this thing is big, it's beautiful, and i'm happy with it so far after 2 days of ownership. There's no backlight bleed, or at least any that i could notice. It's a bit bright out of the box, had to turn it down some. I played a couple of regular definition dvds and they looked beautiful. The supplied hdmi to dvi works well, although it would have been nice if this had a dvi input also. I've played WoW on it and it looks great, although i can't crank up the graphics because i'm still using an old x800xl Soon though when i get a 4850 or 4870 there will be lots of graphic goodness


I saw a Samsung 2443 BWX on sale at my local costco for $279.99 until Jan. 30th. So if for some reason i get some problems from this monitor i'll just return it and try the Samsung one.



I'm curious as to what color/sharpness/contrast/brightness settings others with this monitor are using.

TTT

Looking to (maybe) buy this monitor.

How is it holding up for those that purchased it?

Love mine, got it this past week, out of box requires some defenite tweaking but other than that its been solid.

I bought the monitor and returned it to BB on the last day of the 14-day return period. The monitor produced a low humming noise and would not give me a signal if i turned off the monitor and left the pc standby. Sometimes if i left the monitor for a long period of time "on" but on standy, i would get a "no input signal" message. I would have to unplug the power cord or unplug the hdmi cable and plug it back in so that I could get signal. So not wanting to take any chances, I returned it and got a Samsung 245BW w/ HAS from Costco for the same onsale price that i got the Hannspree one. The Samsung monitor is much better than the Hannspree one imo. The only downside was that i went from a 25-inch monitor (well technically 24.6 inc) to a 24-inch monitor. But that really wasn't much of an issue for me

Hello, I just bought this monitor yesterday from BB.

All in all picture quality seems to be fantastic using it as a PC monitor through HDMI, I have not had a chance to use my Xbox 360 yet though.

But with my previous monitor (it was actually a TV that I used the HDMI on, for both computer and Xbox 360 using a HDMI switch to change between) I used my computer's optical audio output going to my surround sound, and this worked fine.

With this monitor, hooked to HDMI through a HDMI switch, the video display is fine, but the audio only comes from the monitor's built in speakers, even though my computer's settings are set to the optical audio output.

I have not checked the manual yet, I hope this is some simple setting I"m overlooking, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Anyone else having trouble hooking this monitor with HDMI and surround sound?

I am thinking about picking up this but I am incredibly confused with HDCP.

With this play HDCP content?

I picked up the Hannspree HF-257HPB for $240 today at Best Buy. I gotta say, for the price, it looks amazing. I had an Acer 22" before, the model just before they released their full HDMI compliant models, and the Hannspree has a lot better colors and just looks awesome in games. I played some Left 4 Dead on it at 1920x1080, and damn it looks good.

Krakn3Dfx said:

I picked up the Hannspree HF-257HPB for $240 today at Best Buy. I gotta say, for the price, it looks amazing. I had an Acer 22" before, the model just before they released their full HDMI compliant models, and the Hannspree has a lot better colors and just looks awesome in games. I played some Left 4 Dead on it at 1920x1080, and damn it looks good.

Click to expand...

I also picked up the newly released HF-257HPB.

It's a typical TN display with typical TN issues. The same issues that are on models costing 3x's this.

Fantastic for what it is. Noticably larger than 22".

Blu-rays and games via my PS3 over HDMI look outstanding.

$240 for a reasonably performing display of this size is truely outstanding.

Only complaint is that I can't find a way to adjust the angle at which the monitor sits. If you sit at eye level of your monitor like I do, it can be a little frustrating. At this price, I'll likely pickup a better stand and still have an extra $100 in my pocket.

A little late to the party, but could I get some pics of this monitor running PS3 games and Blu Rays?

Please and Thanks,

One2The3

Shrimpanzee said:

Yeah, would you mind posting some pictures comparing the Hannspree with you CRT using this stopwatch link so we can get an idea of the input lag?

I would really appreciate it because I'm seriously considering buying this.

Click to expand...

The inputlagTest test is also available in English here: http://www.flatpanelshd.com/focus.php?subaction=showfull&id=1229335064

I purchased this model about six months ago, and it just gave out on me. It keeps powering down in screen saver mode and won't stay on more than 5-10 seconds at a time. Thankfully, I still had my old monitor (ViewSonic A90) or I'd be up the creek without a paddle. I ordered online from Best Buy, so I'm assuming I can just deliver it to one of their stores for a repair, though I have no idea what that will entail.