What does EVEN backlighting look like?

Hey guys,

I just got a new LG L246WP, and have a question about backlighting. When I crank the brightness up over around 50 or so in a dark room, I can see a perfect rectangle formed on my screen. The first 1" - 1.5" around the bezel is much lighter, kind of gray in color, in a perfect rectangle. The "inner" rectangle is a good, deep black.

Is this normal? Or do I have some backlighting funkiness going on? I actually noticed it while playing my PS3, but once I turned the brightness down, I can hardly, if at all, notice it.

Normal? Once it gets good and dark tonight, I'll take some pics and post.

What you're experiencing is just part of *VA technology. Scoot back from the screen and the whole thing will be a good, deep black. So it has to do with viewing angles, not an uneven backlight. The backlight on the L246WP is about as even and bleed free as they get.

I think this is definitely more than a backlighting issue. Something is not right here:



You can see on the left side its much lighter than the rest of the image. I have calibrated my contrast and brightness, and they are set correctly (despite what the picture may look like).

This can't possibly be normal...

You think thats bad?

http://lh3.ggpht.com/cbtark/SBuNkY5Ci5I/AAAAAAAAAHY/9VWAbydbHqQ/P5020016.JPG

Is that a straight paint bucket of blue? Wow...

Yep

None of those two above links work.

So this is normal?

Here's some more pics. The first is probably the easiest to see, from the right side:



Another good one, from the left side:



A little bit of research turned up someone who had a similar problem. The thread can be found here:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1216985

Looks like I'll be RMAing this bad boy. What sucks though is that the place I bought it from will not pay return shipping, even for a defective item. I've considered just getting warranty service from LG, but I'm worried about ending up with a refurbished monitor in it's place. My reasoning thinks that a refurbished monitor is much more likely to suffer from dead/stuck pixels.

Can anyone speak to this?

ugh, I knew my good luck with panels recently was going to rob someone else. Well anyhoo, yeah thats definitely a return. I'd try LG as it could save you the shipping cost. Most refurb monitors seemed to have the backlight go out or other electrical problem so I would not say dead/stuck pixels are much more likely. Any ones with enough pixel defect to be returned, LG would not be able to fix and recycle. Still its all chance :/

my 24" Soyo (VA panel) has the best solid blacks i've ever had on an LCD (it has better blacks than my Hyundai 42" 1080p LCD TV, and better blacks than both of my 19" samsung TN panels)



pretty much zero backlight bleed on this monitor, apologize for the quality of the image, it was taken with a cellphone (VX8300) camera, i'll try to get some better pics w/ a digital camera later

edit: the left side of the first pic seems whitish, however that was because i didn't have my camera centered (contrast isn't the best on this screen, viewing from the center though shows zero BLB)

Yeah, that needs to be RMAed. My L246WP has zero backlight bleed, even at 100 brightness.

That's definitely not normal. Mine doesn't show anything like that. Get it exchanged.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm definitely going to be exchanging, I'm just still debating whether I should go with LG or just pay the shipping and try with another new one again.

I can ship it for about $25-30. If that gives me the slightest bit of an advantage in getting one without dead/stuck pixels, I'm all for it. The thought of an LG refurb still kind of concerns me.

I would try and exchange for a new one.

This is not a common problem I've seen or heard about with these monitors. Others on the LG thread had LG pressuring them into taking the W2452T as a "new" return over the L245/6WP. They ended up getting an excellent refurb L245WP, but I think LG's stock on refurbs is getting low.

Regards,

10e

Sometimes backlight problems go away with a few weeks use and pressure of liquid equalizes. I don't like the look of that perimeter banding though. The pic below is of one of my NEC 20WMGX2's. I have had some uneveness on most of my LCD's but that one is about as perfect as I have had.

Well, this sucks. LG has a 2-day turn around with advance exchange, so I figured I'd give the warranty deal a try first. I was very specific when I noted that under absolutely no circumstances were they to send me anything other than an L245 or L246. And of course, what do I get? The newer W2452T, which of course uses the TN panel.

I've called them back up, and they are insistent that they no longer have any L245/246 monitors to send out. I find this very hard to believe, but whatever.

So now I either have to send back the monitor for an exchange where I purchased it online (and pay the return shipping), or I just sit tight with this defect and live with it. What really sucks though, is that the return will take forever, I'm sure. It has to go all the way back to California (from NC), then another will have to be shipped out (from NJ, which shouldn't be too bad). I'm probably looking at at least1.5 weeks without my monitor, which means 1.5 weeks without my PS3.

This is why I hate monitor shopping.