Samsung 226BW 22": 3000:1 Contrast, 2ms response time

A lot of nice pics in that post. Heres a borrowed one of backlight bleed that I know interests many people here.


Another borrowed pic showing good detail from a video.
 
Hah, the blue led could become a problem, seems bright. A leak on the left side of the power button maibe?

Shame samsung, taking away the height adjustment... unbelievable!
 
Patsfan123 said:
A lot of nice pics in that post. Heres a borrowed one of backlight bleed that I know interests many people here.


Another borrowed pic showing good detail from a video.
Click to expand...

the guy will post some pics with of 360 games by the end of the week
 
Patsfan123 said:
A lot of nice pics in that post. Heres a borrowed one of backlight bleed that I know interests many people here.


Another borrowed pic showing good detail from a video.
Click to expand...

Yea surprise surprise no baclight bleed when taken with a shutter speed of 1/1000s. Maybe next time the guy should take the pic with shutter speed of 5 seconds and then post it here. :rolleyes:

And of course a 1680 x 1050 shows good detail in video. It would be very surprising if it didn't.
 
SuperKeijo said:
Yea surprise surprise no baclight bleed when taken with a shutter speed of 1/1000s. Maybe next time the guy should take the pic with shutter speed of 5 seconds and then post it here. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Actually, the EXIF header on that picture says the exposure was 1/4th second. That's exceptionally black for that long of an exposure. For comparison, this review on the 225BW at http://www.short-media.com/articles/samsung_syncmaster_225bw_lcd_review shows substantial backlight bleed on a 1/8th second exposure (backlight picture about 3/4 down the page).

Now I need to find a similar picture for the 215TW and the L226WF...I am still deciding on the 226BW, the 215TW or the L226WF.

Mofongo
 
so the 226bw is a 6-bit tn? since i figured it was alot newer i thought it had something else, and had superior performance to the 215
 
Its a 6-bit TN that's advertised as an 8-bit TN, just like all the other TN's that say they're 8-bit. They're not truly 8-bit, but they have improved upon the dithering of the older 6-bit panels. I haven't examined one closely enough to be sure, but I'll bet that any person who has a serious eye for color accuracy could tell very quickly that it is not a true 8-bit panel.

Samsung and LG's marketing machines are going crazy. We've got 1000:1 ratio panels advertised as 3000:1 because of a very situational dynamic backlight, panels that use dithering advertised as a true 8-bit panels, and grey to grey response times listed as the norm. These inflated stats are BS.
 
well LCD tv's do it as well, sony claims it's "dynamic contrast" on the XBR2 i bought to be 7000:1 (but also notes the non-dynamic being 1300:1, the highest for that type of screen).

anyhow, i just get a little tripped up with samsung, as they dont seem to do as good of a job differentiating all of its widescreens to clearcut lines and purposes, but yet have alot of them.
 
So... does this have 1:1 pixel mapping? And has anyone seen both this and LG L226WT to compare?
 
Owskie said:
but TN is better for gaming... correct?
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well, it "was", but i think now the IPS monitors are better, since slow response time was their main fault and that has been boosted, and many say it doesnt need to match TN's to perform as well.
 
Scyles said:
Its a 6-bit TN that's advertised as an 8-bit TN, just like all the other TN's that say they're 8-bit. They're not truly 8-bit, but they have improved upon the dithering of the older 6-bit panels. I haven't examined one closely enough to be sure, but I'll bet that any person who has a serious eye for color accuracy could tell very quickly that it is not a true 8-bit panel.
Click to expand...

Most TN panels cannot do "true" 8-bit (which is to say, the liquid crystals do not have 255 unique states). However, there are different ways to make a 6-bit panel look like an 8-bit one. The most common method is FRC (frame-rate control) where a pixel is rapidly switched between two adjacent colors to produce the desired one. If implemented well, it is impossible to tell the difference between this and true 8-bit. If not implemented well, it produces artifacts like flickering on certain colors (because your brain can detect the pixels flip-flopping between states). LG-Philips TN panels use FRC, and I have yet to hear anyone detect the flickering effect (although I have not had the opportunity to check out their latest panels yet). I cannot find out anything about how Samsung gets 8-bit out of their TN panels. On some of their 1st-generation PVA panels, they used what they called "Hi-FRC," which I assume means hi-rate FRC. Since Samsung is usually quite good at qualifying their LCD panel stats (especially if you go to the Samsung semiconductor website and look at the brochures they give other companies who buy their panels), I would guess they also do some sort of hi-rate FRC for TN. But I don't know for sure. Certainly, the consensus seems to be that that colors look better and are more accurate on their 8-bit PVA panels than their TN panels.

Scyles said:
Samsung and LG's marketing machines are going crazy. We've got 1000:1 ratio panels advertised as 3000:1 because of a very situational dynamic backlight, panels that use dithering advertised as a true 8-bit panels, and grey to grey response times listed as the norm. These inflated stats are BS.
Click to expand...

Actually, I think Samsung has always done a good job of stating which standard they are using. For example, if you go to the Samsung webpage for the 226BW, it gives both static and dynamic contrast ratios (and labels them), and also qualifies the 2ms response time as gray-to-gray. LG is not always as forthcoming as to which measure they are using, and most other monitor manufacturers are even worse.

I think it's perfectly OK to advertise your panels capabilities as long as you are clear what you are measuring. A 5ms BTB panel with 2ms GTG is better under most circumstances than another panel with 5ms BTB and 5ms GTG. Furthermore, a panel with 1000:1 static contrast (SC) and 3000:1 DC is potentially better for games and movies than one with 1000:1 SC and 1000:1 DC. You just have to be up-front about what you are quoting so that people can compare apples to apples.

Mofongo
 
Kast said:
So... does this have 1:1 pixel mapping? And has anyone seen both this and LG L226WT to compare?
Click to expand...

I see no mention of this function in the manual on Samsung's website. Also, I don't see an option for selecting 4:3 vs. wide size. I have never owned a widescreen monitor...would this be a problem or can I set this using the video drivers? Basically, if I have a game that only does 4:3 resolution, I would like that to stay in 4:3 and not be stretched horizontally. The 215TW has an option for 4:3 vs. wide, but the 226BW does not.

Mofongo
 
I believe the Samsung "B" series monitors are their low-end consumer level line of displays which all use TN panels. Those with a "T" or "P" are their business and professional series monitors which use variations of PVA panels, offer better color, and are not targeted towards gamers.

I went from a Samsung 193P+ to a 225BW and hated it as soon as I brought it home. Going from a PVA to a TN panel meant the viewing angles were worse, the colors looked de-saturated, and text became difficult to read even with ClearType font smoothing turned on. I returned the 225BW after a week or so and ended up with the FPD2485WH. I love it so far.
 
also considering buying Samsung 226BW or LG L226WT
the only thing I dont like about Samsung is the color
silver would be better for me and my eyes

is there any chance of Samsung's 226BW silver version?
 
My local Circuit City just got these in, and are selling for 379.99. I plan on picking on up tomrorow. Let me know if there is anything specefic you guys would like to be try or test out when i get it home.
 
jhhack, could you give us an overview? Some things to check out:
Backlight bleed, clarity of text, input lag, richness of color, ghosting during video, any other good or bad stuff. thnx
 
jhhack said:
My local Circuit City just got these in, and are selling for 379.99. I plan on picking on up tomrorow. Let me know if there is anything specefic you guys would like to be try or test out when i get it home.
Click to expand...

Yep its in stock at my local circuit city too (at least thats what it says online)...wonder why circuit city has it already and not best buy. Will check it out tomorrow.
 
jhhack said:
My local Circuit City just got these in, and are selling for 379.99. I plan on picking on up tomrorow. Let me know if there is anything specefic you guys would like to be try or test out when i get it home.
Click to expand...

Nut854 pretty much summed it up. Backlight bleed, color saturation / accuracy, and viewing angles are at the top of my list. Input lag and ghosting comes next.

We really appreciate it. :)
 
still, while this is samsungs newest montor (since the older 225 has been out for a while) of this line, the BW's are the lower end cheaper monitors generally right? while the T series are the upper end?

albeit i wonder how it compares to the recentrly released super roided TN paneled LG's (which dont seem to have seperate quality related lines).
 
Just ordered the 226BW. Should be in the next couple of days. It's going for $479 cdn which is $407 us.

There was only one store that had it. BB and FS didn't have it.

edit: I couldn't find one are the Toronto area. I ended up going to the CC in Amherst, NY friday afternoon. The guy there said that they have 3 in stock and the CC in Cheektowaga has 4.

I'm replacing an 8 year old Samsung Sycnmaster 900p. This 226bw is slick. I don't notice any ghosting. Been playing UT2004 for a couple of hours...what a difference. It was sharp the whole time I was playing. I love this lcd. Plus the footprint of the base is at least 10" less deep than the 900p. The bezel is somewhat iPodish. Looks real good but will get smudgy easily.

When I first plugged it in I thought maybe I made a mistake and got a monitor that's too large (wide), but once I set it up properly it really shined. I'll probably keep this for 7 or 8 years.

It was worth the 1.75 hour drive to Amherst. BTW, the people I met there were very nice. The two guys I talked to at CC were up front. No bs, not like a lot of the people who work at Future Shop up here. The guys let me hook up the 226bw before I left the store with no complaints or excuses from them at all. They just said no problem "sir" (ouch), hehe, and just stood back and let me inspect the lcd. My first time in CC. Big props to the people there.
 
The 226bw monitor was in stock at circuit city but I wanted to see it on display (way back, top shelf, in the corner). The salesperson tried to sell me 1 of the remaining 2 225bws in stock but after he realized I wasnt going to fall for it he said that the store manager wont put out the 226bw on display until the remaining 2 225bw models are sold.

Guess Ill have to wait a few days....its either this monitor or the gateway 24 which is only $250 more.
 
Has anyone seen or heard of the 20" 206bw model? I plan to purchase one but there's no mention of it anywhere.
 
I got this monitor via mail from Circuit City as well.

Plan to put up some pics this weekend. If anyone wants anything specific, just let me know.

This is my first LCD. I've had a decent 19" CRT for some time and have been holding out for LCD's to "mature" before taking the leap. At $379 this monitor is a steal.

I have not done a lot of testing. If anyone has any particular apps they want me to test, I'd be happy.

Text clarity is excellent. There is no screen door effect. In fact, this monitor resembles the clarity of my CRT.

It is big. I had to move it back 8-9 inches from where my CRT screen used to sit. Also, because of the resolution, I am using a large windows font. Maybe I'm getting old, but the default fonts are very small.

Blacks are very black and whites are very white. You can distinguish shades of grey and black very well, there isn't that oversaturation that I have on my "el cheapo" LCD at work.

The viewing angle is a little weird. If you move left or right of center, the white colors seem to "brown out" just a tad. I think that's just how LCD's work, but if you want the best colors, you need to be looking head on.

It is very bright. I have it down to 50% brightness right now and its plenty bright enough.

There is a little blacklight bleed on the top and bottom. But it is very, very minor and hardly noticeable even in the darkest of movies or games.

There is no input lag that I can see.

I am a gamer. I've noticed no ghosting or motion blur with this monitor while playing BF2142, RTCW, Oblivion... it's all good.

But, if you want FPS over 60, you gotta ditch vsync, which is going to give some tearing. I haven't frapsed anything yet. I had to basically get a new video card to handle this resolution. I bought the Power Color x1950 PRO. I previously had a 6600GT and it just wouldn't handle this with any style.

So... all in all.. real world application... very good monitor. I am picky, but probably not as technically so as some of you. This is an excellent monitor at a great price point.

My rationale? I know LCDs are coming down in price this year. There are some investigations into price fixing on panels. The market is oversupplied and that is going to drive down prices.

At the very least, this is a good interim purchase while you wait for larger, faster, more technically spec'd monitors to come down in price.

Two thumbs up from a first time poster. I registered here just to tell ya's about this screen!
 
Also, there is no hardware option for 1:1. I don't know that much about all that, but this panel does not offer it.

I understand some others do and that Nvidia drivers offer that support. If you have an ATI card with this monitor, I don't think 1:1 is possible.

I can take some long exposure black screen shots over the weekend and post here. I have a Canon 630 which is pretty decent. And webhosting, so I can pop images in here.

Any other shots?
 
I just ordered this monitor, but have to wait for it for at least two weeks. Let's see some good pictures of it in the meantime! :)
 
Diabolikul , you're awesome. Thanks for the review.

SBeNder, a 22'' widescreen is basically the same viewing area vertically as a 19'' and obviously longer horizontally.
 
lcdsizejx5.gif
 
SBeNder said:
I would be great if you could set aside 22" and 19" to see how much bigger it really is
Click to expand...

I sure can. It might be a little difficult to get them precise, because neither has height adjustments, but I'll put the CRT back on the desk side by side and let you have a peek. I also have an "el cheapo" HP 17 inch LCD that I've been using forever to run RCON controls while I'm playing games, ventrillo, etc. So, that'll give you a good look at 17" LCD, 19" CRT and 22" widescreen.

I'll set up a tripod and get the longest exposure I can with a black screen. Hmm.. how to get an all black screen? How would I do that?

nut854 said:
Diabolikul , you're awesome. Thanks for the review
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Thanks! I found this forum and it's a great resource, so I figured if I could give back... well! Like I said, if there's any testing apps that I can run, just let me know.

Basically, I use this monitor gaming. It does a fantastic job for me so far and I don't have anything bad to say about it. I see alot of discussion about this panel or that panel being better or worse. Like everyone else, I try to purchase the best I can get at a reasonable price. This monitor is an excellent value and I have little to complain about. If I was a millionaire, would it be my first choice? Probably not. But, I'm just a regular guy and this is a fine monitor. It's a great hold over for a year or even 2 until the same amount of money will purchase something bigger and faster.

Any other questions, just let them fly.

Thanks all!

D
 
Here are a bunch of tools to set up your LCD and tests you could run (I know there's a lot, I'm just linking for people's references, I don't expect you to do all/any of them):

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1865

Do you think you could plug in your CRT and this LCD and check the display lag between them? Here is a link to the programs and an explanation:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14062#14062

Thanks for the review and in advance of whatever else you're going to do.
 
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