7Planar PX191 LCD flat panel display review (condensed version)

[Muse]

Originally posted by: HardWired
So how do you like the display?

I could read your mind. Well, I hadn't pulled it out of the box when I made my post this morning, but I'm looking at it now. In fact, it's in portrait mode, which I just learned how to do 5 minutes ago. Very nice and very very easy. I didn't install the supplied rotation software but found the adjustment in my nVidia driver properties. However, it takes me 12 mouse clicks to rotate the screen. Hopefully the supplied rotation software makes the rotation adjustment process easier than that!

Just my luck, last Wednesday my BFG Asylum GeForce4 Ti 4200 128 MB video card's fan went south and I RMAed the card. They were supposed to 2-day ship (cross ship) a replacement on Thursday but they blew that. Now they tell me they'll probably ship next Tuesday. So, I'm using my next best video card, an MSI geforce2 Pro 64 MB DDR that has no DVI nor dual display capability built in. So, I'm using the VGA connection on the PX191. It looks very good but there is a very slight ghosting that extends just below text. I just noticed that a few minutes ago. Hopefully, when I get my DVI enabled BFG card, presumably next Thursday, that ghosting will be gone. It is barely noticeable and really only sometimes.

I must say, as someone who is used to CRTs (but do have some limited experience using TFT's, being with Dell laptops), the LCD does have a characteristic look. I figure that it will take getting used to. Interestingly, I will have an excellent opportunity to compare CRT and LCD side by side since by next Thursday I should have dual display going with my NEC FP2141BK 21" aperature grille (they call it 22", but the viewable screen is really the same as 21" monitors) and this PX191.

One thing noteworthy is that after changing my 1280 x 1024 resolution to 75 hz (to support the PX191), and disconnecting my NEC 21" CRT and connecting the PX191, I found that my fonts were way too large. To compensate for the inevitable blurring of the CRT I had increased the fonts in my applications and in IE. I even had my default font in my Anandtech Forum preferences set to 18 point. I decreased them greatly in all cases. Letters are so sharp they look like they were drawn on the screen with an ink pen rather than projected the way CRT letters always look when you put your nose up to the screen. That's what impressed me so much when I first used a TFT and that's why I've wanted to get one for almost 4 years now.

One thing I am disappointed about is that my NEC CRT has a neat feature where you can increase the brightness with a push of the button. There's an incremental brightness control, of course, but there's a button that activates Super Bright Mode 1 and Super Bright Mode 2, which is the brightest. This is handy when watching movies or TV. I don't believe the PX191 has a similar feature and to increase the brightness I have to hold down a button for 5 - 8 seconds. It's not a giant thing, but not as handy as the NEC for that.

Colors? I don't know. I'm partially color blind (green blind) so it's hard for me to pronounce about color reproductivity. I guess I'm running auto adjusted settings for the most part at this point.

I've always found the weirdness of looking at TFTs from even a slight angle to be annoying. I find that this effect starts to kick in with the PX191 with even a 20 degree off center viewing angle. I'm sure that's not just me, and I'm guessing it's a problem for all LCDs. If I have my head positioned optimally, however, it's not a problem. It may actually be hard to have your head in any position where there are no points on the screen at greater than 20 degree angle, but I'm in any case unaware of a problem when my head is in the proper position. The screen itself is very easily rotated left to right or up and down.

I just made the Windows 2000 adjustment, "smooth edges of screen fonts" but haven't noticed an effect. Does that do anything useful? I always have that off for my CRT. I believe the PX191 manual advises turning this on so I thought I'd try it.

Question: Is it worth my trouble to get XP for its Cleartype functionality?

Haven't tested for dead pixels or subpixels yet. I have a couple of websites bookmarked that have testing procedures. I looked the screen over for obvious dead pixels and haven't found any. That's a relief.

Before I even turned the monitor on I tested the current draw of the adaptor. I figured that it would draw 15 watts or something like most wall warts. However, I was pleased to find that with the monitor off, it draws an undetectable amount of power, certainly less than 2 watts. Therefore, I won't bother to turn off power to it when the monitor is off.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

I use ClearType. Yes its worth it.

Our realworld test of the PX191 found it more like 4W on standby.

Kristopher

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: KristopherKubicki
The PX191 is really sweet. I have the 192T now (which is apparently the same panel). Nuff said.

Samsung says the 192T has

Brightness (cd/m^2) 250 cd/m^2
Contrast Ratio 750:1


The PX191 is speced at

Brightness (cd/m^2) 300 cd/m^2
Contrast Ratio 700:1

How could they be the same panel?

 

[Muse]

Later into the first day of owning my first LCD (Planar PX191)

I would call this spectacular! Last time I had an eye test I had some computer glasses made. I thought it was a waste of money because I was doing fine with my regular glasses with my CRTs. I guess the CRTs are so fuzzy (even the best I'd ever seen, which was my NEC FP2141) that good glasses don't make a difference. I never wore my computer glasses, just my regular glasses. Today, with this PX191 I see why I have computer glasses. Without them, everything is fuzzy and hard to focus on. My eyes hurt. Put on the computer glasses and sharpsville. This thing is so bright it's unbelievable. OK, the room is darkly lit and that's a big part of the reason, but I have it set at 12% brightness and it's REALLY bright! And SO sharp. I think that when I get used to this I won't be happy with my CRT anymore except for maybe movies and games. Just a hunch.

Edit: I just checked using Monitor Direct's dead pixel test and couldn't find any dead pixels or subpixels.

 

[Muse]

I just made a very interesting discovery. One of the neat features of my NEC FP2141 monitor is a free download called Brightness Controller. I just discovered to my surprise and delight that it also works with the PX191, and I presume with other monitors too. What it does is allow you to run your video applications (such as movies or TV from a TV card) at full brightness and at the same time have your other applications run at any lesser brightness level you want. I like to turn up the brightness when watching video but have my applications dimmer, and it was just such a preference that Brightness Controller was created for. You can get it at the drivers page of Nec/Mitsubishi. It's very easy to use. It creates an icon in your tray. You click it and either check a checkbox or uncheck it to enable or disable Brightness Controller. When enabled, you adjust a slider with your mouse to boost or diminish the brightness of your non-video applications. The brightness of the video applications remains the same.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

Samsung says the 192T has

Brightness (cd/m^2) 250 cd/m^2
Contrast Ratio 750:1

Please show me the page that claims this. Our 192T sample had only a 500:1 contrast ratio. And believe me, each manufacturer is different on the way they measure.

Samsung pretty much makes one of the few 19" panels available in the market, and if you and I are talking about the same monitor, those were not even the original specs.

Cheers,

Kristopher

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: KristopherKubicki
Samsung says the 192T has

Brightness (cd/m^2) 250 cd/m^2
Contrast Ratio 750:1

Please show me the page that claims this. Our 192T sample had only a 500:1 contrast ratio. And believe me, each manufacturer is different on the way they measure.

Samsung pretty much makes one of the few 19" panels available in the market, and if you and I are talking about the same monitor, those were not even the original specs.

Cheers,

Kristopher

You will find Samsung's own specs for the 192T here. Same place I got them last night. I too was surprised at the 750:1 contrast ratio specified. I could have sworn I looked it up a couple weeks ago and it was quoted as 500:1. Could they really have changed the design that radically without introducing a new model? Seems strange indeed.

Dan

 

[trikster2]

Originally posted by: Muse
I just made a very interesting discovery. One of the neat features of my NEC FP2141 monitor is a free download called Brightness Controller. I just discovered to my surprise and delight that it also works with the PX191, and I presume with other monitors too. What it does is allow you to run your video applications (such as movies or TV from a TV card) at full brightness and at the same time have your other applications run at any lesser brightness level you want. I like to turn up the brightness when watching video but have my applications dimmer, and it was just such a preference that Brightness Controller was created for. You can get it at the drivers page of Nec/Mitsubishi. It's very easy to use. It creates an icon in your tray. You click it and either check a checkbox or uncheck it to enable or disable Brightness Controller. When enabled, you adjust a slider with your mouse to boost or diminish the brightness of your non-video applications. The brightness of the video applications remains the same.

Thanks Muse!!!!!!!!!

That is a great little utility.

My PX191 is in the family room which is surrounded by windows. During the day the brightness/antiglare of the PX191 rocks. I can't believe how much better this is than my old 19" CRT.

During the night though the brightness is overwelming and you have to press that brightness button like 40 times to get the brightness down. This is a wonderful little utility.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

[KristopherKubicki]

Interesting indeed. I have emailed Samsung. They might be putting some "marketing updates" on the monitor to make it more attractive.

Kristopher

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: trikster2

Originally posted by: Muse
I just made a very interesting discovery. One of the neat features of my NEC FP2141 monitor is a free download called Brightness Controller. I just discovered to my surprise and delight that it also works with the PX191, and I presume with other monitors too. What it does is allow you to run your video applications (such as movies or TV from a TV card) at full brightness and at the same time have your other applications run at any lesser brightness level you want. I like to turn up the brightness when watching video but have my applications dimmer, and it was just such a preference that Brightness Controller was created for. You can get it at the drivers page of Nec/Mitsubishi. It's very easy to use. It creates an icon in your tray. You click it and either check a checkbox or uncheck it to enable or disable Brightness Controller. When enabled, you adjust a slider with your mouse to boost or diminish the brightness of your non-video applications. The brightness of the video applications remains the same.

Thanks Muse!!!!!!!!!

That is a great little utility.

My PX191 is in the family room which is surrounded by windows. During the day the brightness/antiglare of the PX191 rocks. I can't believe how much better this is than my old 19" CRT.

During the night though the brightness is overwelming and you have to press that brightness button like 40 times to get the brightness down. This is a wonderful little utility.

THANKS AGAIN!

You're welcome! Yes, indeed, it is a GREAT utility, and you've already discovered that it can be used not only to have two separate brightnesses for video and non-video applications, but you can simply toggle between two altogether different brightness settings with two clicks of your mouse. Or, if you aren't satisfied with the lesser brightness, simply drag the setting on the slider with the mouse. Sure beats pressing a button on the monitor N times. Enjoy!

I've found Brightness Controller to be a bit quirky occasionally. YMMV, but for me, a small percentage of the time the Brightness Controller icon doesn't appear in my tray and I have to restart my computer to get it back. Maybe there's a solution in the provided help application. I haven't looked at it much because the utility is so intuitive I didn't need it.

I agree, the antiglare of the PX191 is excellent. Much better than my NEC GP2141. As soon as I get my RMAed BFG video card, I will be comparing the NEC and the Planar side by side via nVidia nView. I hope I find something redeeming in the NEC! It costs nearly the same as the Planar.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

Muse: Samsung's PR firm, HWHPR claims Samsung changed the spec after we reviewed the monitor. They do not know why (at least they say) and I recieved no other information than that. Oh well.

Kristopher

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: KristopherKubicki
Muse: Samsung's PR firm, HWHPR claims Samsung changed the spec after we reviewed the monitor. They do not know why (at least they say) and I recieved no other information than that. Oh well.

Kristopher

That really makes you wonder. If I'd thought the 192T was 750:1 contrast ratio I may well have bought it instead. How could they have failed to get it right in the first place? Is it a different substrate? Is it possible that the electronics are so improved that the contrast ratio has become that enhanced, from 500:1 to 750:1?

I wonder what other sites post as the 192T's contrast ratio. This site (Gideon Tech) has it as 500:1 in their review. Same at Bjorn3D. I imagine that most other review sites have it at 500:1.

 

[billyjak]

That's weird I have the ATi Tab on my system, using the Catalist 3.7 drivers without editing nothing and it works with my Hitachi LCD and it dosent even pivot.