Anyone heard of a Princeton VL2017?

[Lemodular]

Can't seem to find much information on this monitor. The price for this 20.1" (4:3) monitor at my local Costco (not online) is only $349. The specs (see link) reads OK, but I have not seen any reviews/opinions on this monitor. I don't know what panel it uses. I want to know is it is truely an 8 bit panel that produces 16.7 mil. colors or does it dither. Princeton Graphics, I know can make some kick-azz pro CRTs but how are they in the LCD world? The price is right and its from Costco so I can just buy it to try out and return it if I have to.

I called Princeton's tech support, and although responsive did not know the specific panel used and only speculated that it was a true 8 bit panel.

Link to product.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

I would stay away. Even though it might in fact be a good deal, $350 is not something to play around with. Why don't you get like a dell or something? not that much more expensive, and its widescreen..

 

[xtknight]

From the specs (170 degree viewing angle and 16.7m "true" color) it looks like it's probably 8-bit.

 

[Keysplayr]

I have dealt with Princeton in the past. All I can say is, you better hope that you will never need tech support and/or an RMA from them. Prepare yourself to write some nasty letters to "maybe" get some assistance.

Princeton = Garbage product backing.

 

[Lemodular]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
I have dealt with Princeton in the past. All I can say is, you better hope that you will never need tech support and/or an RMA from them. Prepare yourself to write some nasty letters to "maybe" get some assistance.

Princeton = Garbage product backing.

Buying from Costco would give me some peace of mind knowing I can return it anytime. So far, when I contacted their Tech Support, I got right through and did not have to wait. I have not had to deal with them as you have. I am awaiting their response on the panel mfg. I will be impressed if they call back this week.

 

[Lemodular]

Update:

I took my chances with the Princeton at Costco. I hope I don't have any issues that would require going through Princeton. Here is what I think of the monitor:

Out of the box, on POST, the blacks were very dark and there was no light leaking around the edges or the middle of the panel. The colors seems ok but not great, the brightness was too high and the image seemed a little washed out and the contrast ratio did not seem that great. There was a slight blue push and the overall tone was rather "cool". But after a little calibration however, the image is GREAT. For now, I only used the color corection from my NVidia software to adjust the individual gammas. I will further tweak this monitor to get the most out of it. For now, I think it looks great, some test images show no dithering or moire patterns. I tested the monitors colors after calibration with some color photos made with a Canon digital camera of objects around the room; and the Princeton's color is pretty accurate. So far, I really like this monitor and plan on running more tests to see if I need to make more adjustments. I am happy with the price and think it's a steal! A 20.1" (4:3) 8 bit(?) panel for $350 w/ a lifetime warranty!

The big con is that this monitor needs software compensation to get the colors right. Out of the box performance is not that great and the view angle may be 170 but color fidelity suffers once you're off axis even by 15-20 degrees.

For reference, I plugged it into my 6600GT through DVI (don't remember drivers ver.). Almost no ambient lighting and