Ghosting on new 22" LCD

[Gusty987]

I just got an LG L226WTQ 22" widescreen LCD yesterday and I have a question.

I notice a heck of a lot of ghosting. I can go into MS Paint, create a red circle over a grey background, then move the window across the screen. Moving at the rate of 1 time across the screen per second or so, there is a whitish/bluish ghost trail about 1/2 inch long.

Playing BF2, ghosting is very obvious, especially when viewing something moving against the sky.

Moving the mouse at normal speed results in a very noticable blue/white trail behind the arrow.

Also, normal black text against a greyish background, i.e. "File", "Edit", "View", options at the top of Firefox, have a suble whitish "halo" or "border" around them. Text mostly looks great though.

Is this all normal or is there a chance I got a defective model?

I am using an analog video cable by the way, as it didn't come with a DVI cable.

 

[AlucardX]

1. try DVI

2. return it

 

[Gusty987]

Well I picked up a DVI cable, and still the same issues. I guess I'll go exchange the monitor...

 

[Gusty987]

I just got back with the new monitor and I am still seeing the same issues.

WTF?

Could it be my video card or something?

I played with the 226WT they had on display at Circuit City and it had none of these issues.

 

[Gusty987]

Here's some pics I took with my phone of the ghosting I am seeing:

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9259/image013gi7.jpg

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/5677/image015vp4.jpg

 

[Fallen Kell]

You need to read the LCD Buyer's Guide thread that has been around here for the last year or two.

Ghosting is a common problem on many LCD displays even today. You are actually seeing an over-shooting of the color the LCD is changing into. Basically, the crystal structure that changes shape when an electric current is applied moves changes shape faster when it being told to change into a shape farther away from its present shape (in other words because a larger change in electricity happens there is more "pressure" in a sense to change shape out of the current state and into the new one). As a result, it takes less time to go from full black to full white and vice versa then it does to go from gray to gray. A trick that many makers employ is to apply more (or less) voltage then needed to initially get the crystal changing in the correct direction and then figure out what the correct amount of voltage should be and fine tune the quick and dirty color change to the precise color needed. In theory, this makes some sense. However, in practice, it leads to may different visual artifacts, such as the ones you posted. They didn't do a very good job at fine tuning their over/under-voltage values, and you visibly can see and watch as the panel makes too much of a jump and then slowly corrects to the correct color.

In your pictures, you can see that it almost completely just removed the Red color from the pixels which are in the color change state from the red circle to the greenish background, and then corrects that so that there is some red color in the green as well as the longer amount of time it takes the green color to change from the brighter green to a darker one.

With LCD's you really need to do your homework on what you will be using them for and what panel type you should be buying (IPS, IPA, etc., etc.,). All the different panel types have their strengths and weaknesses. You need to know what you want the panel to do for you. In other words, do you need extremely good color quality with a high % of viewable colorspace being producible from the LCD (usually people who do a lot of photo work need this so that the printed photo looks the way it the photo does on the screen and vise versa). Or do you need extremely fast refresh rate or color response (helpful in multimedia where lots of color changes occur).

Again, some panels will be better for certain things. Personally I use a NEC 20MWGX2, which has one of the best response times and best color representations available in a consumer level product. I wanted a monitor which I could watch movies, play games and edit photos. This was it. If you just want to play games, well, get a Samsung SyncMaster 940BF, or BenQ FP93GX, they both use the same panel, just different electronics/controllers/power supplies. But those are both not widescreen, and do not have nearly as good color representation as the 20MWGX2.

 

[Gusty987]

But the same model on display at Circuit City had none of these issues, neither did the one I played with at Best Buy.

 

[erple2]

A LOOOOOONG time ago, I recall reading that not all DVI ports (particularly on nVidia parts) were created equal (that was back in the GeForce 5x00 days, so take that with a bit of a grain of salt). It is POSSIBLE that you are seeing the product of a very cheap DVI interface. The only way to really tell is to:

1. Take your monitor to another person's computer, plug it in and try it out.
2. Try a new video card by a different manufacturer.

1 involves just finding someone else with a DVI connector on the back of their computer (anyone who has purchased a computer since 2003 should have that). 2 involves some possible cash outlay for you (not necessarily ideal).

Did your computer exhibit similar behavior with your previous monitor? Was it a CRT?

 

[Gusty987]

I plugged the monitor into another computer, a Dell with integrated graphics (analog plug). SAME ISSUES!

Oh and yes my last monitor was a CRT.

 

[Captante]

Compared to a CRT even the very best LCD's will display noticable ghosting under certain circumstances, however yours looks particularly bad ... some if the color inaccuracy likely has to to with the 6-bit TN panel that as far as I know all 22-inch wide screens still use, but thats about the worst I've seen.

I think your best bet is to return the moniter for a refund if thats still an option for you & to do a bit more homework before you buy its replacement ... frankly I don't think any of the 22 inch TN's are going to be good enough if accurate color reproduction & precise IQ are important to you.