In case anybody's interested: L90D+ vs. 2001FP

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JonDo[H]

Limp Gawd
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Jul 29, 2004
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I picked up a Hyundai L90D+ today to test against my Dell 2001fp. Here's my initial impressions for buyers in the market:

1. BUILD

Out of the box, the Hyundai is MUCH lighter and its casing is soo much smaller than the Dell's. Remember, this is with a power pack built IN to the Hyundai too! (the Dell's one is seperate)

The base of the screen does look a bit tacky, especially when sat next to the Dell screen. Overall, the build quality is nicely robust, but aesthetically the screen looks cheaper than the Dell. Which it IS, so fair enough. What is nice is how small the bezel is: it's tiny, especially when compared to the Dell's. I'll get some pictures up of them together for all to see!

Let me get my biggest negative out of the way now: the buttons on the Hyundai are AWFUL. It's a really nice touch that they're hidden underneath the bezel of the screen, next to the luuurvely blue power led. But having to press them is another thing entirely :p They're basically plastic, flimsy bumps/bubbles that have to be pressed firmly and in the very centre to make them respond. Not that you'll be spending much time with them as the menu screen is actually very basic. After coming from the Dell's multitude of options (you could say there were too many), I was surprised to find no temperature controls at all, just brightness/contrast/input select/language and an OSD changer. I'm not sure if this changes if you use the VGA DB-15 cable, as I haven't got round to testing that yet.

2. PICTURE

Now here's the good part. Firstly, after reading all the reviews, I was expecting a really glary, bright output. Not so. The contrast on this screen is just about perfect out of the box: pin-point whites shine, colours stand out, seperation is nice. However, I wouldn't say it was any sharper than the Dell: in some cases it looks less so. The actually brightness of the screen was too high though, creating a slightly washed out look. This was easily fixed by altering the brightness down to 50. Once contrast was set at 75, everything was looking hunky dory. The screen still is lighter than the Dell's - even with the Dell set to 100 brightness - but this is a really good thing, as tones look less dark and more natural. Also, whilst the screen was warming up, I noticed the colours became fuller too. Another bonus! Another point worth making is that this screen is far easier on the eyes than the Dell. It could be just that I'm using a lower resolution with a higher DPI, but the image seems much more "still". You could say that having now seen both, 1280x1024 looks well suited when stretched over 19 inches, whilst 1600x1200 is too high a resolution for 20.

3. GAMES

So far I've tested UT2004, Doom 3, Half Life 2 and WoW. They've all looked great. Thanks to the extra available brightness, I can see more than on the Dell, and the IQ remains about the same. I'm surprised to say the difference in response time IS noticeable - I'm not normally bothered about these things - and when looking around in say Unreal Tournament the image remains sharper on the Hyundai. It's not completely perfect: there's definitely still some blur. Half Life 2 and WoW are extremely colourful games, and the Hyundai does a good job with them. On the whole, whilst looking more life like, the extreme colours are not as brash and bold as on the Dell. I always found on the 2001FP, using User RGB setting (50/50/50), that reds tended to be highlighted more, and this doesn't happen with the L90D+. What DOES happen though is that all the colours look more equally pronounced, and everything takes on a more photo like sheen. This is good stuff!

So far, everything I've mentioned is in the L90D+'s native res of 1280x1024, compared to the Dell's 1600x1200. When knocking the res down to 1024x768, the Hyundai takes a noticeable hit. This screen is nowhere near as good at interpolating as the Dell. At 1024x768, it does the job ok, but text becomes jaggedy. The image isn't as sharp overall and blur/ghosting (?) becomes more pronounced generally. The Dell manages to retain a slightly sharper image and the text remains intact. 800x600 is unplayable on the Hyundai, but for some reason 640x480 interpolates extremely well! The Dell doesn't particular handle either of these admirably either, though it does have the option of turning the scaling off.

I'm going to give this screen a good workout over the next few days before deciding. I'm actually leaning towards the Hyundai L90D+ at the moment! It's far more portable, the screen bezel is lovely, and the image is just nicer for my eyes. The Dell definitely has the better feature set, but tbh I don't use half of what's available.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask!
 
Thanks for the detailed review. I cant wait to hear what you have to say after a few days of use! I've been stuck between 2001fp and L90D for a couple of weeks now. And now I'm starting to lean towards the L90D because of the positive reviews I've been seeing around.
 
** Further Impressions **

Having played all day, I've got a bit of a confession to make. I think I'm going to have to backtrack somewhat on my previous comments. Not all the way mind...

Now it's hit night time, the glare of the screen has reached such a peak that I've had no choice but to lower the contrast significantly. Unfortunately, doing this really drains the screen of colour, and this appears to really hurt gaming. Part of the beauty of World of Warcraft, for instance, is the use of strong primary colours, and these can look quite plain on the L90D+ once the contrast is reduced. Even at a high contrast, the gap between the Dell and the Hyundai is becoming more evident: the Dell steam-rollers over it. To put it bluntly, WoW looks as if its had some of the life sucked out of it. Also, the sharpness of the Hyundai, whilst providing for an impressive display, also helps promote sharper edges and poor textures more than the Dell. World of Warcraft really does look rough at times on it :p

On the flip-side of the coin, some games are REALLY benefitting from the excess contrast. Far Cry looks fantastic, and you could sharpen blades with its IQ. I've just finished dabbling in Dawn of War, and that looks great also. Plenty of detail for all to see.

I still miss my colour though. I'm typing this back on the 2001FP again, and am just soaking up the high-resolution, colourful goodness. Going to give WoW another whirl in a mo, and reassure myself of the difference.

Viewing angles: Tom's Hardware couldn't have said it better. They're really not all that great. Sitting in front of it, swaying side to side, there really isn't an issue. But the bottom of the screem is definitely slightly lighter than the top, and it would appear you can't adjust the angle so that the entire screen is uniform. It's no biggie though.

Films: look fine to me. Am using an ATI X800 XT to run this, and I can't really tell any difference between the two. Photo wise, the Hyundai puts in a good show. Its heavy contrast really brings out any still image you care to put on the screen. The Dell isn't far behind, and its colours still beat the Hyundai in this department, but sometimes so much so that photos can look artificial in comparison. I think I'll give this one to the Hyundai.

Soooooooo, I'm still undecided. But I'm back on the Dell side of the fence, so sorry about any misleading enthusiasm in my initial comments! Both these monitors are great, but for completely DIFFERENT reasons :p Bloody typical.
 
It seems that the L90D+ has come down in price again. Its now $389 at newegg. (down from $409 last week)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-179-014&depa=0

So thats always another plus. Especially for those that are on a budget, but want a good gaming LCD.

JonDo[H], do keep us posted on your experiences with the monitor though. I still have a couple weeks until I'm ready to buy one, so I'd like to hear all kinds of opinions from several people (good and bad). Also, if you could post pics side by side your 2001fp so we can see the difference in size/style. :D
 
I appreciate the time you're taking to write this comparision. I'll also be buying one of these monitors within the next couple weeks.....if uncle sam would hurry his ass up with my returns.

Thanks again!

Keep us posted.
 
JonDo[H] said:
** Further Impressions **

Now it's hit night time, the glare of the screen has reached such a peak that I've had no choice but to lower the contrast significantly. Unfortunately, doing this really drains the screen of colour, and this appears to really hurt gaming. Part of the beauty of World of Warcraft, for instance, is the use of strong primary colours, and these can look quite plain on the L90D+ once the contrast is reduced. Even at a high contrast, the gap between the Dell and the Hyundai is becoming more evident: the Dell steam-rollers over it. To put it bluntly, WoW looks as if its had some of the life sucked out of it. Also, the sharpness of the Hyundai, whilst providing for an impressive display, also helps promote sharper edges and poor textures more than the Dell. World of Warcraft really does look rough at times on it :p
Click to expand...

So I purchased a L90D+ and unfortunately I'm really disliking it. I went from a crt to a lcd so I'm quite biased but anyways here's my problems:

1) WOW looks ok on some levels and horrid on others. Blasted lands for instance is all bright orange/red. The colors just look "off". How do you turn down red? should you have to?

2) COD dark colors look really drab. The colors that looked oh so realistic on my crt look like they are just plain wrong.

When you got your L90D+ was the brightness/contrast already set to 50 each? I found it strange that it was already preconfigured at that level.

I have a ATI 9700 PRO for reference w/ DVI. Kinda wondering if I should try out the analog connector.
 
Here's some pics... Please excuse the ghastly wallpaper! I'm set up in my sister's old room atm :p


1 2 3

One is slightly further forward than the other, as it's hiding an old Samsung 172v that I use as a secondary screen.
 
Thanks for posting some pictures. Its nice to see what they look like side by side. It looks like the dell is able to get much taller, which is a nice feature. But either one of them would look nice on the top of my desk :p
 
aciddrink said:
Thanks for posting some pictures. Its nice to see what they look like side by side. It looks like the dell is able to get much taller, which is a nice feature. But either one of them would look nice on the top of my desk :p
Click to expand...

Actually, the Hyundai is able to extend quite high.
 
Having been lucky enough to test the very best TN+ panel - the 19" Hyundai L90D+ - and a recommended and nicely priced S-IPS panel - the 20.1" Dell 2001FP - I've come to the conclusion after much testing that the latter is better. And by better, I mean by a country mile.

The Hyundai has the response time, true, as well as a much greater contrast and possibly superior clarity thanks to its heightened contrast ratio (700:1), but otherwise it simply cannot complete with the Dell. Firstly, having a 1280x1024 resolution stretched over 19" provides a large DPI of ~0.29. Couple this with the OTT sharpness of this tft and cracks in games become very prominent. You won't be able to miss bad textures and jaggies will scream out at you even with anti-aliasing enabled. Not only does 1600x1200 and thus a much smaller dpi make these issues simply disappear on the Dell, but its contrast appears pretty much spot on to boot (from dark to bright, everything looks crisp). Secondly, the colours are far from impressive on the Hyundai. Next to the Dell, the best way to describe them would be lifeless. At first I thought they appeared more accurate then the Dell's: this is very possibly the case, but if it is give me exaggerated colours any day! :) The only thing that the Hyundai exaggerates is the contrast between extremely bright, bland colours, and those that are extremely dull and bland. A good example is World of Warcraft: its prominent use of vivid primary colours is pummelled into an ugly, drained mush on the L90D+. That's not to say the Hyundai experience is entirely bad: Doom 3 benefits from its detailed blacks, whilst Far Cry appears pin-point sharp. The Dell still handles these games with aplomb though, and visual are so much richer: the difference between the two can be startling.

To conclude, I guess I've realised how little ghosting matters to me, or perhaps how much it is obsessed over. The Dell 2001FP is rated at twice that of the Hyundai L90D+ (16 as opposed to 8ms, the 2005FPW is even closer at 12!). The difference IS there, but on the Hyundai trails ARE still evident. If you're going to be anal about these things, you owe it to yourself to wait until the delay drops to 4ms, then 2ms, then 1.... Or you could just stick with your CRT :p As far as TFT's go, IMO you can't go wrong with these Dell screens (or the Viewsonic edition for that matter) and as they're appearing at low prices it really is a steal. Just make sure you have the graphical under your bonnet to power it :)
 
On wow did you find that blasted lands looks particularly bad? In general I find that orange/red colors look quite horrid
 
After a week of testing, I've come up with a more objective set of observations for the screens. Here they are, if anyone's still interested??? ;)

Hyundai L90D+

PLUS

Very bright/high contrast image (brings out the tiniest details and sharpens edges, looks good in even the brightest room: Dawn of War, UT2004 and Far Cry stood out as definitely benefitting from this; for example, the little details on troops really stood out in DOW, Far Cry's never-ending landscape became even more apparent)
Detailed Blacks (finally make the monsters out in Doom 3)
Excellent Stills (your OS desktop won't look any easier on your eyes than this, photographs look life-like)
Excellent in motion (lowest response times available, closest you can get to CRT - noticeably less ghosting than the 16ms Dell)
Huge screen that takes up minimal space, very thin bezel, adjustable tiny stand
Very light weight
Cheap (in the states?)

MINUS

In a darker room, contrast will need to be reduced, sacrificing some image detail
Noticed in World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2 that colours took a hit, were more washed out (though this could be down to the brightness of the screen, even when turned down somewhat; I think that readjustment of brightness/contrast settings as well as possibly graphics card colour/gamma settings could fix this, but need more time to test)
Interpolation is average (the native resolution of 1280x1024 is considerably sharper than 1024x768, text is also much blockier in 1024x768: most noticeable in UT2004)
Ugly stand

Dell 2001FP

PLUS

High resolution (1600x1200)
True 8-bit colour screen
Vivid, very bold colour reproduction (the colourful artistry in World of Warcraft and Half-life 2 really stands out on this screen - i.e. the change in colour tone incurred during the change day to night really stood out in WoW, whilst Half-Life 2's lighting looked very real)
Contrast settings looks good out of the box
Very good interpolation (1280x1024 and even 1024x768 look good, sharpness doesn't take too much of a hit and text remains readable: true 4:3 aspect means 1280x1024 is stretched though)
Lots of features and nice looking stand (tv inputs, RGB settings, zoom and scaling functions, Picture-in-Picture, usb hub)

Minus

Definite bias towards red hues, colours can be too dramatic (can give images a larger-than-life look, hard to get rid of red bias)
At full blast, about half as bright as the Hyundai is capable of (less detailed blacks, gamma compensation may be required in games like Doom 3)
Backlight leakage (top-right hand corner on mine: a common problem with these screens)
Higher latency than the L90D+ (not a lot, but noticeable when you compared the two)
High native resolution (it's possible you may struggle to run games at 1600x1200 when the next gen of games come out)
Very bulky screen/stand combo (the Dell 2001FP is heavy, maybe twice that of the L90D+)

Neither screen is a perfect all-rounder - in fact they excel at very different things. I think opinions will differ widely on which people prefer. If I've missed anything out, please feel free to add points/features to the list above. Hope this helps any prospective buyers! :)
 
achillez said:
On wow did you find that blasted lands looks particularly bad? In general I find that orange/red colors look quite horrid
Click to expand...

achillez, personally I think you're right, and that if the contrast is turned up they look painfully bad, whereas if you turn it down they look drab. However, some games looked great on this monitor with the same settings :p

I think tinkering with your graphics cards settings may be in order to get a good result here.
 
JonDo[H] said:
After a week of testing, I've come up with a more objective set of observations for the screens. Here they are, if anyone's still interested??? ;)

Hyundai L90D+...

...
Neither screen is a perfect all-rounder - in fact they excel at very different things. I think opinions will differ widely on which people prefer. If I've missed anything out, please feel free to add points/features to the list above. Hope this helps any prospective buyers! :)
Click to expand...

Great job. Makes me really want to retire this old CRT.
 
Tom's Hardware also showed a graph of measurements of the monitor's response time....It actually hit 8ms around 1/100th of the time, which was its best case. In 90% of color transistions it was over 20ms, and about 1/3 of the time, over 25ms. They noted you can't really trust the manufacturer to give you an accurate performance rating. But they also noted that relative to other displays that also run 3x slower than their ratings, this display is among the fastest. Changing the rated speed to an average wouldn't change the actual speed of the monitor, but it'd at least give us a truer idea of how fast it is. For marketing purposes and to distinguish themselves from the competition, they would never do this because there is always constant pressure to keep pushing lower numbers, just like CPUs constantly upping the megahertz over the years and using it as a selling point. But there are still a good amount of people that haven't noticed ghosting on the 2001fp, and won't on this panel either. This would definitely be in my top 3 if I was currently shopping for an LCD. The others would be a Sony Xbrite, and a wildcard.
 
JonDo[H] said:
achillez, personally I think you're right, and that if the contrast is turned up they look painfully bad, whereas if you turn it down they look drab. However, some games looked great on this monitor with the same settings :p

I think tinkering with your graphics cards settings may be in order to get a good result here.
Click to expand...

Yah I hotkey between different modes now depending on which zone I enter. It's funny, some colors look great in the game.. some look like total crud
 
How does blasted lands look on the 2001FP? You mention a red bias so does it look particularly bad? If possible could you put up a screeny of both with blasted lands?
 
JonDo[H], I just wanted to thank you for for your time and effort into your critique of these two monitors, I am in the research phase of buying my first LCD and both these models along with the planar PL2010M and the viewsonic VP201b are in the running. As much as I would rather have the true 5:4 ratio in the Dell the price of the Hyundia is hard to overlook. But after reading your thoughts and experiences I just may go for the Dell. The scariest part of buying the Dell monitor now is all the bad reviews and horror stories I have read about Dells customer service. Right now that monitor is 595.46 shipped to my hometown, that is a lot of beans to be tied up if they dont have it in stock after it is ordered and paid for. And heaven forbid there should be a problem with it requiring its return.
 
>achillez, WoW deserves an honourable mention on the 2001FP, even the the screen is biased towards red this doesn't muddy even the red blasted lands, and I think even they look fantastic as does the rest of the game

>Trucker, I actually bought my screen new through an Ebay powerseller. What made me do that was he offered to do a thorough check for dead pixels and back light leakage prior to sending me a screen. Having had it 6 months, I've discovered one tiny dead grey subpixel and that's it. Might be worth having a look at Flea-bay yourself? :) Oh, and one last thing, the Dell (1600x1200 native res) has a true 4:3 ratio whereas the Hyundai (1280x1024) has the oddball 5:4. This just means that on the latter, games played in 1024x768 tend to look stretched vertically.
 
Heh, I see that now, I just started researching yesterday and looked at probably 50 or 60 different monitors and read about 10 different articles on them, I must have gotten the numbers all jumbled up in my head after all that.....
 
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