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

So now, everyone will want to avoid the A and the C; I've got to chuckle a bit.

I'm going to wait for the M version made in Michigan :)
 
Looks like the C Panel has hit the U.S. because I have one in my hands.

I ordered it from Dell this week. I know, "Why not Newegg?". The reason I picked Dell is because I have a Preferred Account with them. Also, I live in Richardson and anything I order from Dell comes in the next day. According to DHL, the panel came from a Dell warehouse in Fort Worth.

Anyways, here's the pics.

226BW1.jpg

226BW2.jpg


It's manufactured in March 2007, which further proves that Samsung outsourced production to another company (Chi Mei in this case) in order to keep up with demand.

This is actually my first ever LCD. Previously, I had a 21" Sony CRT. From my perspective, it's a nice monitor. No dead or stuck pixels. Little bleeding at the bottom of the screen.

I don't know how it compares to the S or A panels. What should I do? Hang on to it? Or bitch and complain to Samsung and try to get an S panel?
 
KungFu-tse said:
Looks like the C Panel has hit the U.S. because I have one in my hands.

I ordered it from Dell this week. I know, "Why not Newegg?". The reason I picked Dell is because I have a Preferred Account with them. Also, I live in Richardson and anything I order from Dell comes in the next day. According to DHL, the panel came from a Dell warehouse in Fort Worth.

Anyways, here's the pics.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/KungFu-tse/226BW1.jpg
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/KungFu-tse/226BW2.jpg

It's manufactured in March 2007, which further proves that Samsung outsourced production to another company (Chi Mei in this case) in order to keep up with demand.

This is actually my first ever LCD. Previously, I had a 21" Sony CRT. From my perspective, it's a nice monitor. No dead or stuck pixels. Little bleeding at the bottom of the screen.

I don't know how it compares to the S or A panels. What should I do? Hang on to it? Or bitch and complain to Samsung and try to get an S panel?[/QUOTE]

Take some shots of the display with the black background so we can compare the 3. It could very well be a middle model between the 3. Just check out the banding as well. "The usual" battery of tests of course. I'd keep it if you're happy with it ^_^
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What an incredible thread this has been. I actually did peruse all 60+ pages (I do too have a life :D ), but anywho....

I decided to play the 226bw lottery. I got a monitor and I REALLY WANTED TO LIKE IT. I ordered from NewEgg and really didn't want to have to return it for any reason. It had no dead pixels which was a tremendous reason to keep it. However, I simply must return it. The backlight bleed is really bad. It's mostly in the top and bottom, but also on the sides. It's not uniform at all; the right corner is especially bad. In watching DVDs, the right corner is washed out. Dark scenes are really annoying to watch....which brings me to my next problem. The pixel swim or dithering. It's most noticeable in dark scenes, but all-around, there's far too much pixelation and pixel swim. I can lower the contrast on the monitor and my video card settings to minimize the effect, but then the LCD winds up being extremely dim and colors are very flat.

I've tried all the settings suggestions mentioned in this thread. I've tried toying with the settings on the monitor and my video card. I spent several hours the last two nights trying to correct it. All my testing was done on DVI, so I tried switching DVI cables. I then hooked it up to a different computer, same result. I then tried hooking back up my old cheapo Hanns-G 19" HU-196D monitor, and it exhibited none of the problems I saw on the 226bw.

And not to keep you all in suspense, but yes, it was an A panel. That fact was certainly in my mind during this whole situation, but the monitor is simply bad even in comparison to my $120 19" LCD. Trust me, I really wanted to like this monitor and be able to call all the complainers "display elitists". They are not. Perhaps there are just some A panels that are bad and it's not systemic. All I know is, I have one of them. I know that backlight bleed is a problem especially on 22" screens, and I could live with that. However, the pixel swim dithering thing seals it. I might wind up with another A panel, but I hope it's not as bad.

Sorry for the long first post.
 
Dont be sorry for your post. Its good to read.
Im questioning on getting a sammy. Or goto the Dell 2407. Its either or..
 
michaLcoughliN said:
Dont be sorry for your post. Its good to read.
Im questioning on getting a sammy. Or goto the Dell 2407. Its either or..
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A friend of mine was also considering this monitor. Based on my experience, I told him not to get it. You'll either wind up with (1) an absolutely beautiful display, (2) a mediocre display that you'll spend hours tuning until it's beautiful, or (3) a mediocre display that you wish was beautiful.

I hope people don't flame me, but I suggest deliberate carefully before getting this monitor. Samsung's claim that all the monitors, regardless of panel manufacturer, perform up to spec is reassuring, but I honestly believe that if the vast majority of the 226bw monitor shipping were uniformly good, there wouldn't be (now) 70+ pages on alledged defects in some of them. Even if you buy it from a place that allows no-questions-asked exchanges, you might exchange it and keep getting inferior monitors.

I bought this monitor because of good reviews and Samsung's reputation for quality. Mine could've just been one of a few really bad units. But I could've paid $250 for a monitor that was supposedly lower quality. When I pay a premium for the Samsung name and quality, I want a monitor that is not lower quality. Yeah, I only paid $320, but why do I get a better picture out of my $120 LCD?
 
Are there any better alternatives to the Samsung 226BW in the 22" range? The only ones that really come to mind are the Viewsonic VX2235 and a couple from Asus and Acer.
 
Jesus christ what a terrible company Samsung is. After the whole A panel fiasco I myself fallen a victim of they continue to screw the consumers with a new alteration of their monitor (C panel). Goverments must protect consumers from these scams and force companies to put different model numbers for different quality monitors. Personally I'm never trusting Samsung with another purchase again. The A panel is a horrible monitor, I can attest to that, and I feel pissed off I was scammed.
 
Korgan said:
Jesus christ what a terrible company Samsung is. After the whole A panel fiasco I myself fallen a victim of they continue to screw the consumers with a new alteration of their monitor (C panel). Goverments must protect consumers from these scams and force companies to put different model numbers for different quality monitors. Personally I'm never trusting Samsung with another purchase again. The A panel is a horrible monitor, I can attest to that, and I feel pissed off I was scammed.
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Let's not get carried away here. :) I understand Samsung's motivation for using other panel manufacturers (availability, cost perhaps). And from what they've said, the other panels meet their spec's and pass their tests. However, we all know that spec's only tell you part of the story. Samsung cannot know all of the intangibles beforehand. It's possible that a vocal minority of A panel users are unnecessarily causing hysteria. The situation is likely a combination of both the A panels being prone to more issues than the S panels and some A panel users exaggerating the differences. Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll ever know the truth definitively unless we can gather all the 226bw's out there and test them using some objective measure. Samsung's decision to refuse swaps of the A for the S can be seen to stem from practicality as well as self-preservation. But I do rather find it interesting that they've now added a 3rd panel to the mix. If Samsung starts shipping fewer A panels out, but continues with the S and C models, what would that tell you?
 
We discussed 70 pages about S vs A. Now we have C. I guess we'll discuss at least 200 pages more. This monitor and this thread are legends! :)
 
dch693 said:
Let's not get carried away here. :) I understand Samsung's motivation for using other panel manufacturers (availability, cost perhaps). And from what they've said, the other panels meet their spec's and pass their tests. However, we all know that spec's only tell you part of the story. Samsung cannot know all of the intangibles beforehand. It's possible that a vocal minority of A panel users are unnecessarily causing hysteria. The situation is likely a combination of both the A panels being prone to more issues than the S panels and some A panel users exaggerating the differences. Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll ever know the truth definitively unless we can gather all the 226bw's out there and test them using some objective measure. Samsung's decision to refuse swaps of the A for the S can be seen to stem from practicality as well as self-preservation. But I do rather find it interesting that they've now added a 3rd panel to the mix. If Samsung starts shipping fewer A panels out, but continues with the S and C models, what would that tell you?
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You obviously haven't owned the A panel. Video quality is horrible with obvious noise, backlight bleeding is acceptable but still not good, colours are bad with obvious banding. I don't know why you people are defending a company that is screwing you the consumers. I guess you can't be angry if you haven't been screwed yourself.

Like I said though this is partly the goverments' fault. They should regulate laws that penalize companies like Samsung that are scamming the consumers by selling different products under the same model. I can't believe there isn't an organization that protects consumers from this crap.
 
Please, someone come up with a 22" replacement that's not controversial, and I may send mine back in the 30-day grace period.

I want a gaming monitor, 22", of high quality, and unfortunately, must be sold by Newegg!

Give me the models #'s please!!
 
mansize!dekruyter!The Hp w2207 may be a monitor for you to look into.It recently came out and is getting a good responce on this forum.Cnet also just came out with a positive review on this monitor.
 
Korgan said:
You obviously haven't owned the A panel. Video quality is horrible with obvious noise, backlight bleeding is acceptable but still not good, colours are bad with obvious banding. I don't know why you people are defending a company that is screwing you the consumers.
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I'm not saying your panel isn't bad, but again we have someone assuming all A panels are bad. If the video quality you're referring to is DVD, from what I've researched TN panels in general aren't the best panels for viewing DVDs. With a blank screen, my backlight bleeding is pretty bad - actually horrible. However I don't notice it under normal use. I never had bad color or banding, and now that I feel I've properly calibrated it, I think it's an excellent monitor.

If you read the customer reviews on NewEgg, you'll see there are very few complaints about the A panel. Do A panels have more problems? Possibly, but it doesn't mean they're all bad nor does it mean the "coveted " S panel is problem free. A few posters here have mentioned problems with their S panels.
 
svgtom said:
I'm not saying your panel isn't bad, but again we have someone assuming all A panels are bad. If the video quality you're referring to is DVD, from what I've researched TN panels in general aren't the best panels for viewing DVDs. With a blank screen, my backlight bleeding is pretty bad - actually horrible. However I don't notice it under normal use. I never had bad color or banding, and now that I feel I've properly calibrated it, I think it's an excellent monitor.

If you read the customer reviews on NewEgg, you'll see there are very few complaints about the A panel. Do A panels have more problems? Possibly, but it doesn't mean they're all bad nor does it mean the "coveted " S panel is problem free. A few posters here have mentioned problems with their S panels.
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Complains are only a few for two reasons: 1) Newegg is almost always selling S panels so I guess the complains are from the few unlucky ones that got the A ones. 2) because most people are ignorant and even when they're buying a bad product they're not smart or experienced enough to realize it, and that's what Samsung is exploiting afterall.

I did my research and looked at plenty of monitors before I decided to buy the 226bw and trust me it wasn't what it was promised to be from the reviews, pictures and impressions of the S panel (later I saw it up close and indeed the S panel is a very good monitor). If you know what banding, dithering and backlight bleed is you can clearly see the difference. Do you really believe it's a coincidense that all these people who bought the A panel think it is a bad monitor while most of the people who have the S one are satisfied with their purchase?

And btw I don't have it anymore. After lots of fuss I managed to return it but the store is holding my money until I buy a new one but I'm certainly not risking it again with 226bw.
 
Korgan said:
You obviously haven't owned the A panel. Video quality is horrible with obvious noise, backlight bleeding is acceptable but still not good, colours are bad with obvious banding. I don't know why you people are defending a company that is screwing you the consumers. I guess you can't be angry if you haven't been screwed yourself.

Like I said though this is partly the goverments' fault. They should regulate laws that penalize companies like Samsung that are scamming the consumers by selling different products under the same model. I can't believe there isn't an organization that protects consumers from this crap.
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WRONG. I am looking at an A panel right now. My screen probably looks like yours did. It has terrible backlight bleeding and the same bad video noise. I can't deny that the evidence presented here seems to paint a bad picture of Samsung. As I said in my previous post, if I am paying extra for Samsung quality, then I want Samsung quality. I can't prove the A panel is general worse than the S panel, but if it's true, then Samsung really has done their customers a disservice. For my part, I am trying to get my monitor exchanged now because whatever the truth, I did not pay a premium price for Samsung to receive a monitor I consider defective.
 
Korgan said:
Complains are only a few for two reasons: 1) Newegg is almost always selling S panels so I guess the complains are from the few unlucky ones that got the A ones. 2) because most people are ignorant and even when they're buying a bad product they're not smart or experienced enough to realize it, and that's what Samsung is exploiting afterall.
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What I meant was that there are a lot more positive reviews of A panels on NewEgg than negative reviews. Again, I'm not denying there are more bad A panels than S panels. Maybe there are. If most people are ignorant then there could be a lot of people who have a bad S panel but are too stupid to realize it. But there could also be a lot of ignorant people who automatcally assume all A panels are bad because of forums like this one and try to find fault with their A panels because they are led to believe the A panel is inferior.
 
I loved my A panel, but I have to admit, my new S panel is definitely superior to my A panel. I used the icc profile associated with my 8800gts to calibrate my A panel and I got it to look good. I had 2 days left to exchange this thru CC, and I went ahead and rolled the dice and exchanged it and got an S panel. Let me tell you, this panel is fucking awesome! I have absolutely NO backlight bleed, and colors are fucking amazing! All of the dark areas in Fear are well balanced and almost perfect. Fear is truly the game to benchmark this monitor against. I also play Oblivion, Stalker, and Prey, and they all look great. There truly is a difference between A and S versions of this panel. Movies dont look washed out on this at all. Skin tones are very nice with this S panel.
My settings:
Brightness:70
Contrast:75
Every thing else default. I'm using ICC profile from 8800 gts.
I have this thing looking as good as my IBM P260 Trinitron, which is quite a feat, if you know anything about CRT's
 
Really into a GDM-F520 I got a great deal on a while back. (Still love the CRT.)

However, I gave a 226BW as a gift to some relatives. Wasn't aware of the controversy, but it is an "S" panel thankfully. Anyway, I think the price/performance is very impressive.
 
stanleyjohn said:
mansize!dekruyter!The Hp w2207 may be a monitor for you to look into.It recently came out and is getting a good responce on this forum.Cnet also just came out with a positive review on this monitor.
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I would get that HP W2207 in a shot if it was available in the UK. I really want a glossy monitor, too bad the only other alternative here is the NEC 20WGX2 which i don't know if i can afford.
 
Jason Mock said:
I loved my A panel, but I have to admit, my new S panel is definitely superior to my A panel.There truly is a difference between A and S versions of this panel. Movies dont look washed out on this at all. Skin tones are very nice with this S panel.
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Jason, I also read your previous posts regarding the A panel. I'm particularly interested in movies. My A panel shows a tremendous amount of pixel swim. Just wanted to know if the S had this particular problem. Thanks.
 
Mansize_tissue said:
Are there any better alternatives to the Samsung 226BW in the 22" range? The only ones that really come to mind are the Viewsonic VX2235 and a couple from Asus and Acer.
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From what I've gathered, if you're looking for a monitor with similar specs, the two preferred choices at first were this sammy and the LG226wt. Now HP has thrown their own w2207 into the mix. These three all have the same specs basically, and I"m not sure about subtle differences that make one better than the other. Going by looks, I think the HP is a pretty attractive/stylish one though, I simply wouldn't be fond of the glossy screen on it, but that's personal choice. I purchased the 226bw from samsung a while back and I've been loving it. I'm not an expert at judging a monitor or anything but I did try tweaking it a little. Finaly I just used the settings that ego24 mentioned a while back and feel as though I've purchased a thing of beauty. Anyway, there's other good 22" monitors out there as well. I've read a few recommendations for a dell monitor as well, but I'm not sure of it's model number or any of it's specs.
 
Well, the 226BW I ordered from newegg on March 31 was lost by UPS. For six days after Newegg confirmed it was lost I waited for an answer after asking for a replacement instead of a refund but they never sent anything or called so I just told them I want a refund, which will take yet another week to get. What a snafu.

I dunno, maybe this is a blessing in disguise, hell the price went down on it a bit right after I ordered so that's good but man 2 weeks of thinking I'm gonna have a sweet new monitor and then nothing kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm having serious doubts about re-ordering another one. I've always been confident in Samsung's quality, however, the whole S panel A panel drama/hype is getting to me a bit. I wasn't biased before but at this point it does seem a little ridiculous not knowing what panel you're going to get and what issues it may or may not have, with all the random reports of banding/swim, inconsistent backlight bleeding, blotchy video playback, etc. It just seems like too much is left to chance.

I really wanted a 22" widescreen but I'm now starting to look at the Dell 2007 WFP. If it were a little cheaper or 22" I'd be almost sold but I still don't know, Dell is not the first name that comes to mind when thinking about a monitor for me, plus I'm on an old Dell 1800FP that I've always felt left something to be desired. I really need a widescreen monitor best suited for video playback and with no speakers, so the new HP W2207 is out of the picture, so to speak.

Does anyone have any recommendations for ameliorating my semi-crisis? They'd be seriously appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
JoopvtG said:
Yea, go to my Post before yours, and get all buyable 22" LCD tested in details, the Samsung 226BW, HP W2207 (see also roundup chinese) and you can this test results compared Face to Face.

Hope this help ;)
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Yes, I noticed that link right after I posted. I initially though it was just part of Mansize_tissue's signature or something and passed it by. I already tried it but the only results I got with my specifications were the 226BW and the VX2025WM which is no good because it's 20" and has speakers, which I do not need at all (I already have a very high quality 7.1 setup which is why I want a 22" widescreen to better compliment).

Thanks for the reply though. :]
 
VismundCygnus said:
Yes, I noticed that link right after I posted. I initially though it was just part of Mansize_tissue's signature or something and passed it by. I already tried it but the only results I got with my specifications were the 226BW and the VX2025WM which is no good because it's 20" and has speakers, which I do not need at all (I already have a very high quality 7.1 setup which is why I want a 22" widescreen to better compliment).

Thanks for the reply though. :]
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Have you tried the face to face comparison on the website JoopvtG suggested?
 
Mansize_tissue said:
Have you tried the face to face comparison on the website JoopvtG suggested?
Click to expand...

No I hadn't. Thanks for the link. Pretty sweet page there, but I just wish it had a video rendering comparison...

After all this crap that's happened I'm seriously considering saving up some more and going with the 2407WFP. It seems like a lot more for just 4 more inches vs the 2007WFP, it's almost double the price but I really want the best video playback possible. However, I still don't trust Dell entirely, nor do I Samsung after the whole A/S panel bs. The 226BW looks a lot better to me in the game rendering and text rendering tests, albeit a bit bright, but I dunno. I can't find one around me anywhere so I'd have to buy it from newegg and if something is wrong with it it's gonna take so much more time to resolve, not to mention possibly more shipping charges. Time to make some tough decisions...

Thanks again.
 
i just buy the 226 bw (S) : when i am in this forum i have to go down in brighness 25 and contrast to 55

because il all 7 mode the white text on the black is hard to me eyes

still i dont like my settings is there are other settings i can do beside contrast and brigh....

tyvm
 
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