Best Gaming LCD as of Sept 2007?

[AlucardX]

Originally posted by: Arc337
I saw Xtnight say that he didn't see any panel improvements in the near future, so I couldn't pass up the latest 206BW deal (after all, it also got zero input lag on DigitalVersus). I got it for $251.74 with free shipping, and there's a $20 rebate I have to fill out, bringing the total to $231.74. Hopefully I'll get an S-panel, but the panel won't affect the input lag

can you please comment on any ghosting or lag in FPS'. I'm still using a 8-9 year old 19" CRT that is dying. but i'm hesitant to go with these LCD's for fear of being disappointed with ghosting and lag.

 

[Scoobyd00]

Originally posted by: AlucardX

can you please comment on any ghosting or lag in FPS'. I'm still using a 8-9 year old 19" CRT that is dying. but i'm hesitant to go with these LCD's for fear of being disappointed with ghosting and lag.

They still blow for for FPS type games where frames per second and refresh rate matter.
I have yet to see a single lcd that doesn't ghost.
Until then I will stick with my OLD 19" crt (samsung 950P) set at 120 hz

 

[bexamous]

Anyone have a 206BW and can take a few pictures vs. a CRT? I don't know if I believe the 0ms results on DigitalVersus. I haven't seen any other proof it is really 0ms.

I was thinking about a 226BW but they're out of stock at BestBuy.

Is there any good 19" screens that score <10ms at least? I hate getting stuck with these 22" TN panels... they're fast but too big. I already have a nice 24" for desktop use, looking for a 2nd monitor to play games on basically. Don't really want a 24 and a 22" on my desk.

 

[taltamir]

mmm, I am trying to figure out what you actually need it for..
Why don't you just buy a CRT? They are still much better then LCDs in this regard, although they lack elsewhere...

 

[thejez]

Originally posted by: bexamous
Anyone have a 206BW and can take a few pictures vs. a CRT? I don't know if I believe the 0ms results on DigitalVersus. I haven't seen any other proof it is really 0ms.

I was thinking about a 226BW but they're out of stock at BestBuy.

Is there any good 19" screens that score <10ms at least? I hate getting stuck with these 22" TN panels... they're fast but too big. I already have a nice 24" for desktop use, looking for a 2nd monitor to play games on basically. Don't really want a 24 and a 22" on my desk.

i was really concerned about this as well when i got my LCD (coming from CRT)... but I got the 206BW and there really is zero lag... i dont notice any difference in response time of ghosting.. anything... only the picture is a LOT crisper!!

 

[j0j081]

same here it's a very good 20 for the price.

 

[techgamer]

those that are keeping up with reviews, what is the current best of these 3, 226bw, L226WTQ(BF), and ViewSonic VX2255wmb?

 

[bexamous]

With any LCD what is the best way to test input lag?

I got a 206BW at Frys today and sorta happy, I was expecting it to be a little nicer. Not sure if I am going to trade it in for a 226BW or not.

I'm using Nvidia control panel to clone the desktop onto a crt, LCD is running at its native resolution.

Here is some random VA702b (8ms screen) vs a CRT (GG 15" that cannot produce the color green anymore).
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1974/img0661sfb5.jpg

The CRT almost always (maybe 1 out of 30 shots I took) shows only one time stamp very clearly. I think this proves that my camera is 'good enough'. Doesn't have a 1/1000 shutter speed but whatever.

In the picture above I'd say the LCD is 1 frame behind, the current time is barely visiable and the strongest time showing up is the previous time stamp. After a bunch of shots about half the time the LCD is on time and half the time it is 1 frame behind. In all shots there is about 2 previous time stamps still visiable. You can actually make our 4 time stamps but the top one in this pic is so light I say its only 3.

Anyways so this is how I've been testing.

I went out at lunch today to get a 206BW at Frys $249-$30MIR.

Straight out of the box doing the same test procedure the 206BW is almost always 1 frame behind. I'd estimate 80% of the time it is 1 frame behind, 20% of the time it is on time. The ghosting however is waaay better, 90% of the time I can only read one timestamp and the other 10% of the time there will be one old dim timestamp.

This is with overdrive on.

Turning this off almost every shot I get 3 timestamps on the screen... the current time is almost always there but sorta dim, the previous timestamp is very bright, and two time stamps ago is very very dim.

Less delay but more blur.

I have 30 days to trade in and get a 226BW, $50 more. Not sure if I should. I don't think the 226BW will be any better or worse, these results I'm getting is what I would have expected from the 226BW. I was thinking the 206BW was going to be slightly faster.

 

[FireChicken]

Nice testing bexamous. What program did you use to make the time stamps? Thanks

 

[bexamous]

http://www.draebenstedt.de/reaction/timecode.zip

 

[j0j081]

I have 30 days to trade in and get a 226BW, $50 more. Not sure if I should. I don't think the 226BW will be any better or worse, these results I'm getting is what I would have expected from the 226BW. I was thinking the 206BW was going to be slightly faster.

would you be willing to take the casing apart to find out what kind of panel yours has? I just got another 206bw, gave the first to the gf and it seems to have the new AUO panel ending in V8 found here.

http://auo.com/auoDEV/products...items&items_id=1&ls=en

If that is the case it seems to have the same improved color gamut as the 226cw, as you will see by checking the V8's specs. I thought Samsung was the only one that made panels like that but maybe not. This one certainly does seem to have better colors than the one I gave away which has a Chunghwa panel. If you don't know how to take it apart (its actually quite easy) let me know and I'll send you a link.

 

[bexamous]

If you have a link on how to take it apart I'll give it a try.

My camera has no shutter speed setting, even in manual mode, but I found out if I use the 'kids' option it uses a real fast shutter speed. The camera is supposed to be capable of 1/1500s but kinda sucks you can't select a speed on your own. I was trying to use the 'kids' option and images come out much darker which would make sense for a faster shutter speed.

I'm going to use the same timecode program and setup as before except with the 'kids' camera option, take 20 shots with overdrive on and 20 with it off and then trade this monitor in for the 226BW and do the same test again. I can post them as well incase anyone wants to see them.

The 20 shots will be the first 20 that are usable.

If anyone has any suggestions for improvement in setup or test let me know... not sure if there is any program better than this timecode one I found using google. I'm a little unsure on how DigitalVerses does their testing... they seem to just be taking pictures with a stop watch running on the screen. Their data however is very accurate, 8ms for example. The screens are running at 60hz or 16.7ms.... how can they measure 8ms? I'll try running a stopwatch-like-program as well I guess.

 

[thejez]

Originally posted by: j0j081

I have 30 days to trade in and get a 226BW, $50 more. Not sure if I should. I don't think the 226BW will be any better or worse, these results I'm getting is what I would have expected from the 226BW. I was thinking the 206BW was going to be slightly faster.

would you be willing to take the casing apart to find out what kind of panel yours has? I just got another 206bw, gave the first to the gf and it seems to have the new AUO panel ending in V8 found here.

http://auo.com/auoDEV/products...items&items_id=1&ls=en

If that is the case it seems to have the same improved color gamut as the 226cw, as you will see by checking the V8's specs. I thought Samsung was the only one that made panels like that but maybe not. This one certainly does seem to have better colors than the one I gave away which has a Chunghwa panel. If you don't know how to take it apart (its actually quite easy) let me know and I'll send you a link.

I thought you could tell the panel by looking at the numbers on the back? Or was that only between the samsung and the AUO panels?

 

[thejez]

Originally posted by: j0j081

I have 30 days to trade in and get a 226BW, $50 more. Not sure if I should. I don't think the 226BW will be any better or worse, these results I'm getting is what I would have expected from the 226BW. I was thinking the 206BW was going to be slightly faster.

would you be willing to take the casing apart to find out what kind of panel yours has? I just got another 206bw, gave the first to the gf and it seems to have the new AUO panel ending in V8 found here.

http://auo.com/auoDEV/products...items&items_id=1&ls=en

If that is the case it seems to have the same improved color gamut as the 226cw, as you will see by checking the V8's specs. I thought Samsung was the only one that made panels like that but maybe not. This one certainly does seem to have better colors than the one I gave away which has a Chunghwa panel. If you don't know how to take it apart (its actually quite easy) let me know and I'll send you a link.

I thought you could tell the panel by looking at the numbers on the back? Or was that only between the samsung and the AUO panels?

 

[bexamous]

Well Fry's apparnetly had a sale going on. The 206BW was $249 w/30$MIR and now is $279 w/30$MIR... 226BW was $299 w/30$MIR and is now $329 w/30$MIR. In any case I ended with only 30 minutes to test the panel again and my camera was running out of power... I took as many shots as I could using a clock similar to DigitalVerses of the 206BW-- wasn't able to use that timecode program I linked to earlier. Went to Frys and after a f*ckin hour walked out with a 206BW@249 a 226BW@299 and a 226BW@329.

I'll charge up the camera this weekend and take shots Monday and post results of 206BW vs 226BW.

 

[FireChicken]

Originally posted by: bexamous
Well Fry's apparnetly had a sale going on. The 206BW was $249 w/30$MIR and now is $279 w/30$MIR... 226BW was $299 w/30$MIR and is now $329 w/30$MIR. In any case I ended with only 30 minutes to test the panel again and my camera was running out of power... I took as many shots as I could using a clock similar to DigitalVerses of the 206BW-- wasn't able to use that timecode program I linked to earlier. Went to Frys and after a f*ckin hour walked out with a 206BW@249 a 226BW@299 and a 226BW@329.

I'll charge up the camera this weekend and take shots Monday and post results of 206BW vs 226BW.

kewl!! cant wait for the results. Make sure to compare each to a crt. And if you can please let us know which panel you got for the 226bw. You might have to take it apart but its real easy.

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: bexamous
If you have a link on how to take it apart I'll give it a try.

just read the bottom part of this article. easy to understand instructions on how to take it apart safely.

http://www.bcchardware.com/ind...view&id=4259&Itemid=40

 

[graywulf]

not to dig up a dead thread, but I was wondering how the OP's experience was with the 206BW? that's the monitor I'm looking at, simply because of no input lag (has anyone verified this? I've only seen digital versus).