LCD Washed out at bottom?

Twisterz

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2005
10
0
0
I did quite a bit of shopping for LCD monitors in the past two weeks and finally settled down for a Samsung 930b. While it is not the point of this post, it has the problem I will describe...

Having tested 3 diffrent LCD models, they all seem to have this weird vertical gradient which makes colors darker on top and brighter/washed out at bottom. This doesnt seem to be an issue with where my eyes are because the effect remains the same. This is most noticable for example when using windows explorer, and while looking at the list of files you will see one column that has a different color (the sorted column) and clearly has the problem im describing.

Has anyone experienced that before or am I just badlucked? I was thinking its based on the way LCD works but i'd like to hear more comments on this matter!
 

ChuckHsiao

Member
Apr 22, 2005
157
0
0
It's a viewing angle issue. That's how TN panels are. Don't believe the manufacturer's specs for viewing angles. They often post the angle at which the contrast is 10:1, when our eyes notice image degradation waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before that (like say 100:1). Even worse, some manufacturers have started using 5:1 in order to inflate the angle and/or cover up the fact that their viewing angle sucks. Also, the faster monitors (lower response time) tend to compromise on viewing angle in order to increase their speed.

To get around this, you'd have to look for another type of panel; I usually prefer MVA panels but I'm more experienced with them (never seen an IPS panel in person before, so can't vouch for how they do in the viewing angle department). MVA panels are usually rated for 170 degrees at a contrast of 10:1, while TN panels are maybe around 140 degrees or so at that contrast level. MVA panels are also slower though, so there's some tradeoffs involved. However, there's very little viewing angle change for MVA panels. Another way to go around the problem is to look for a slower TN panel, but then you're not getting the speed nor the color quality.

Samsung's specs:
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc...prod_id=BI19BSSB&selTab=Specifications
 

Twisterz

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2005
10
0
0
Are there any fast MVA panels you would recommend? Hopefully they are still in the same price-range as the 930b
 

Spacecomber

Senior member
Apr 21, 2000
268
0
0
Unfortunately, PVA and MVA panels have notoriously slow response times, especially when you get beyond looking at just their white-black transition times. Manufacturers are making more use of techniques to try and overcome this problem. You'll see these referred to as "overdrive" technology, for example. The latest version of Viewsonic VP191b (I think this is like the third iteration of this model number) uses these techniques with a MVA panel.

By and large, this seems to have been a successful way to turn an MVA panel into something that a gamer could be happy with. However, there are some drawbacks to this "overdrive" technology.

Do a search of this forum for relatively recent threads on the VP191b, and check Tom's Hardware for his review of this monitor. There may be some other reviews by now, as well.

I'm not aware of any other PVA or MVA panel that I know for sure uses these techniques to bring the response times down around 16ms for the full cycle off a wide range of color transitions. Maybe the Samsung 193P Plus does.

Space
 

jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
7,430
0
71
No problems here on my 730B, the 930B's smaller sibling, although I've heard various reports of problems with the 930B.

Are you connected by DVI or VGA? If using DVI, are you using a high quality, thick cable or some thin junk?
 

Twisterz

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2005
10
0
0
I used both DVI and VGA, for the 3 monitors I tested, and always got hte same result. Image quality is great and all, I would love this monitor if it wasnt for the annoying gradient :/

No matter what angle Im at though the bottom is ALWAYS brighter than the top ...

I did look at the 913+ and 191b and they are both $100 more than the 930b, but they seem great. Maybe I should just keep using my 'broken' CRT till the technology gets better? What are LCD user's opinions?