This is a characteristic of Twisted Nematic LCD panels and it has nothing to do with uneven backlight (that can be another problem, not restricted to TN panels). There are other types of LCD panels (IPS, PVA, etc.), not affected by this problem. This characteristic makes TN easily recognizable by just viewing the screen from bellow: if the image becomes almost black, then it is a TN panel.
I bet those 19" Sony Trinitron CRTs were not $150 when new.
Albeit not. $189 each.
You bought a cheap, esoteric monitor that I can't find a single professional review of and you are disappointed with it? I am not surprised. When you bought those Sony Trinitron monitors presumably you had read up that those were good monitors, that they performed better than the average monitor from other firms and they were worth their considerable extra cost?! Yet 10 years later when your buying an LCD you ignore that, buy a cheap monitor that no reviewer even touched and find it to be rubbish.
Today monitors come in 16:10 and 16:9, that is a change you have to live with. It doesn't mean you loose vertical space it means you gain horizontal space. If colour quality is what you care about don't buy a TN. If even backlighting is what you care about then buy a monitor that has good backlighting, presumably avoiding edge LED for a start. You need to do your research and find a monitor that is actually good, tftcentral.co.uk is the place to go they do very in depth reviews and they will show you what you need to care about. Then you can choose your trade offs and buy a monitor that suits your usage and what you care about.
Back in those days, the choices were few. A word of mouth suggestion from another colleague or client was sufficient for a buying decision. Not many websites existed really in 2003 to give professional reviews of monitors like the gazillion of websites and blogs do today. Anyways...coming to the point, I had personally checked on a few brands and one conclusion that I made, for the same amount of vertical space, on a 5:4 19" you would need a 24" in 16:9. 16:10 monitors are kicked out like CRT, but again I am not looking to host two big whiteboard like structures infront of me for my work.
The P1913S comes at a hefty price for it's size. Infact it is the costliest one for it's segment. The lesser cost ones are the E1913S, E190S etc. It is an awesome display. But it is not the perfect one.
I am well aware of the fact that right now there are no 5:4 IPS panel available, but again I have seen severe corner light bleeding on several Dell U2312Hm s which is reviewed royally by most websites. The P1913S is way better than the U2313HM.
LCD/LED technology is cheap by itself. Even the costliest monitors, do have backlight problems and people replace one for the other in hope of getting something better.
This is just like, using kerosene for cars, and adapting to it happily. If the TN panels do not have the ability to render even displays or the manufacturers cannot do so, then this should be stopped from selling altogether.
The following is the fine print of TOS of LED/LCD monitors fo Dell that applies to their costliest monitor, I am sure other manufacturers follow the same path.
Uneven Backlight (bleed)
We do not validate our monitors in a dark room. We validate our monitors in rooms with a minimum of 150 lux which is standard office lighting. Dell monitors do not have 100% backlight uniformity specification. As long as the center 2" circle meets our manufacturer specifications, it is acceptable. If the Brightness and Contrast are maxed to 100 and you measure the brightness difference of any two points on the monitor, the difference will never be greater than 25%.
Uneven Colors
Dell monitors do not have 100% color uniformity specification. As long as the center 2" circle is 6500K, it meets our manufacturer specifications. The center may be 6500K, but the sides and corners may not, which is why you may see that one side or corner is different than the others.
So actually the price is being for the centre 2"circle no mater what. :thumbsdown: