DEAD 17" vprMatrix (OEM Samsung!) LCD $300 after MIR @ Best Buy

[sirfergy]

Well, what's the point of having DVI if it's isnt necessarily doing much good? My analog Samsung 171V looks better than this monitor in DVI mode. And yes, ghosting is an issue. Makes me wonder what LCD it really is.

 

[funks]

Originally posted by: Jittos
Ok, here's my review of the monitor (got it early this afternoon)

I tried playing WC3 on it (that's the only game i really play) and I do notice ghosting. when i scroll across the screen, buildings and units r blured. So i guess the respons time isnt that great. I'll see how the game look on my friend's samsung191.

Warcraft III also ghosts on my Brother in law's 191T.

I don't notice the ghosting watching DVD's and etc though..

G

 

[sixt7gt350]

I picked this monitor up tonight, B&M. 3 more on the shelf.
$160 rebate printed out, but no $50. I printed out the $50 one from the website, but since I didn't order online.....
Very nice monitor.
Bright, crisp, no ghosting for me.
3 yr warranty came up at the register for $49. I bit.

I wanted a DVI monitor for my Radeon AIW.
Now the kids get a 15" LCD.

Is it me or does the screen seem more "square" than normal?

 

[sirfergy]

Yes, it appears to be a different aspect ratio than normal 17" LCDs

 

[sirfergy]

Although I think some of that is the extra large border.

 

[agent2099]

I just picked mine up at BB. $160 rebate form did NOT printout at register. They had none on display. I can't wait to get home and test it. I will post some pics when I return.

 

[LoverBoyJ]

Picked one up B&M BB. Too bad missed the $50 rebate, one posted at the beginning of the thread was already due yesterday.

Agent, your $50 link that ends in 4/26/03 actually ended yesterday

OFFER DATE: 01/19/2003 TO 02/03/2003

 

[jaybert]

if you ordered it online and are picking it up in the store, you shouldn't be getting any rebates printing out. The reason being that you cannot submit the copies that print out for BestBuy.com purchases. You have to print it out off the website and send it in.

 

[Jittos]

Originally posted by: jaybert
if you ordered it online and are picking it up in the store, you shouldn't be getting any rebates printing out. The reason being that you cannot submit the copies that print out for BestBuy.com purchases. You have to print it out off the website and send it in.

Yup. And also, you might want to send a copy of the confirmation email along with the $50 rebate. Because the email will show them that you ordered the monitor on 02/03, and thus, qualify for the $50 rebate.

Oh, and agent2099 maybe you can update the title of the thread since now only one rebate exists.

 

[Jittos]

Oh, and I didnt get the extended warranty... do you guys think it's ok if i go back with the reciept and get it?

 

[chrisjor]

I heard that you have 14 days to get the warranty.

 

[Yossarian451]

Was anyone smart enough, or rather I should say lucky enough, to have printed the $50 rebate before they pulled the switch?? If so I think it would be legal and ethical for us to use that one before its date since they pulled a switch on us.

 

[jaybert]

www.eggroll.org/BB/5.htm

 

[bastion]

I picked one up today at my local Savannah, GA B&M store where they had 4 Kogi's and 4 VPR's. the 160 dollar rebate printed up along with the instant 50 bucks off and I got the warranty for 50 bucks. Monitor seems to be working great so far with my GF4 with minimal ghosting for a monitor of it's price. thanks for the great deal. Now I just have to Sit back and wait for my rebate.

 

[diragor6]

I picked one up at a local B&M BB (on Indian Bend in Phoenix, where they had plenty in stock, by the way) a couple of hours ago. I'm using the analog connection with a GeForce3 ti200. I'm pretty impressed with the brightness and color vibrance, and everything is nice and sharp. ClearType in WinXP is pretty nice (on most fonts). I played a handful of games to check out the ghosting issue. It seemed worst in Grand Theft Auto 3 during daylight (in the game), because of the high contrast scenes and fast movement when driving. Even then, I kind of got used to it and it didn't really bother me. In most games it was not bad and overall I'm happy with the monitor for gaming. In darker games like the Doom III alpha (which also happens to be slow-moving) it looks absolutely great because the contrast and colors are very good. In DVD movies I didn't notice any significant ghosting.

Bottom line, IMHO, is that this monitor is definitely worth picking up and trying. The good points far outweight the minor ghosting for me. You've got 14 days to return it with no penalty and you can't beat it for $300.

 

[Kraeji]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
FYI, don't blame folks who called a CSR on this, we have a BB employee monitoring the board:

It's always a bad idea to call guys.. just dont do it man..

 

[Yossarian451]

Thank you greatly jaybert, I think this will be the topper for my new system.

 

[Kraeji]

Originally posted by: bastion
I picked one up today at my local Savannah, GA B&M store where they had 4 Kogi's and 4 VPR's. the 160 dollar rebate printed up along with the instant 50 bucks off

What do you mean instant $50 off? what was your out the door price?

 

[BobSnob]

The $50 rebate is available here. Note that according to BB B&M, the rebate was applicable only to web orders.

 

[Jittos]

Originally posted by: Yossarian451
Was anyone smart enough, or rather I should say lucky enough, to have printed the $50 rebate before they pulled the switch?? If so I think it would be legal and ethical for us to use that one before its date since they pulled a switch on us.

I printed the rebate b4 the date was changed. but i doubt if it'll work. the rebate ID is exactly the same as the one that already expire. But this doesnt matter to me coz i bought it in time.

 

[agent2099]

Ok I've had a chance to test it out. The ghosting is horrible in Half Life. Of course, Half Life doesn?t not have 1280x1024 as an option so it's hard to tell if the ghosting is due to the monitor itself or the fact that it's not at the native rr (perhaps a bit of both).

The Matrix DVD looked pretty good from what I saw. The lobby scene is useless, since it's pretty much all in slow-mo. However, the fight scene between Morpheous and Neo showed little or no ghosting. Also, the intro, which is pretty fast paced, had little to no ghosting.

3D mark had very little ghosting at the native res of the monitor. However, the ghosting wasn't that bad at 1024x768 either! I think 3D mark is a bad method of testing the ghosting because most, if not all of the scenes are in 3rd person, slow, or have camera angles that you would not actually use while playing. When you are playing a FPS for example, you are making RAPID movements with your mouse from left to right, up and down; THESE are the instances where ghosting shows up the most. Slow or 3rd person movement isn't the best torture test for ghosting.

My mouse does not seem to ghost at all. When I rapidly move it, I see can see maybe 3 or 4 mice pointers at a time, but I'm pretty sure this happened with my CRT as well. I think its due to the refresh rate of our eyes, and not the monitor, just like if I rapidly move a pencil from left to right - I see many pencils. I would definitely not describe this as "trails"; the mouse pointer is not trailing at all.

Other than that, the monitor is beautiful. Clear type is awesome and makes the text extremely crisp and easy to look at. Clear type was useless and hindering on my CRT, but on this LDC it's amazing.

The LCD is really bright; I turned it down to 5 and set the monitor to Work mode. I'd be interested in hearing what settings other people are using.

Overall, a great deal at this price. The positives far outweigh the negatives; this is definitely a keeper.

 

[funks]

Originally posted by: agent2099
Ok I've had a chance to test it out. The ghosting is horrible in Half Life. Of course, Half Life doesn?t not have 1280x1024 as an option so it's hard to tell if the ghosting is due to the monitor itself or the fact that it's not at the native rr (perhaps a bit of both).

My mouse does not seem to ghost at all. When I rapidly move it, I see can see maybe 3 or 4 mice pointers at a time, but I'm pretty sure this happened with my CRT as well. I think its due to the refresh rate of our eyes, and not the monitor, just like if I rapidly move a pencil from left to right - I see many pencils. I would definitely not describe this as "trails"; the mouse pointer is not trailing at all.

Other than that, the monitor is beautiful. Clear type is awesome and makes the text extremely crisp and easy to look at. Clear type was useless and hindering on my CRT, but on this LDC it's amazing.

The LCD is really bright; I turned it down to 5 and set the monitor to Work mode. I'd be interested in hearing what settings other people are using.

Overall, a great deal at this price. The positives far outweigh the negatives; this is definitely a keeper.

Seems that sirfergy just had a bad unit as I also don't have ghosting mouse trails - at least when compared to the 191T - the colors are also quite good - DVI here.. Tried out my old copy of halflife on the 191t also, got ghosting there too. Weird that the newer FPS games I've tried don't ghost much at all - unlike halflife.

I've also set the brightness down to 10, the brightness is quite intense at times..

But come on, 300$ for a 17" LCD made by Samsung (the power supply says SAMSUNG in it, the OSD is also exactly the same as on new Samsung LCD's like the 171p and the 191t, bright, DVI - can't be beat..

 

[Flatpicker]

When using DVI the brightness adjustment doesn't do anything. Anyone else experience this when using DVI? The on screen display says it is available but maybe , that is an error. Setting brightness with ATI software works fine.

 

[agent2099]

Originally posted by: Flatpicker
When using DVI the brightness adjustment doesn't do anything. Anyone else experience this when using DVI? The on screen display says it is available but maybe , that is an error. Setting brightness with ATI software works fine.

Use the "Work" mode.

 

[Branded]

I compared this to the kogi in the store, both with analog, and the vpr was better because there was less flashing while scrolling text. Should even be better with dvi.

Has anyone played with using both inputs ? Can you switch between them ?