ViewSonic VP912b...

[Patrick Wolf]

Make your room COMPLETELY DARK, so there is no light at all in the room that has your monitor, preview the screen saver "Blank". Is the screen as dark as, or close to, the darkness of the monitor itself? Or in other words, how dark is the screen?

 

[Wolfshanze]

Hmmm... I'm at work, so don't have the monitor in front of me, but I test as I use. I don't turn off all the lights and load up a black screen to see how dark it is because I don't sit in pitch black rooms staring at black screens.

My tests for blackness are how I use it... Doom3 being a perfect example... that's as dark as I think I'll ever need the monitor to be, and I was more then satisfied as to how dark Doom3 was in a pitch black room with nothing but a flashlight... to my eyes, it looked perfectly fine and perfectly black... NO COMPLAINTS FROM ME ON BLACKNESS compared to how I actually use it.

Once again, the only real complaint I have on the LCD has nothing to do with blackness, but rather interloption at non-native resolutions... it's the only "problem" I have with the monitor, but of course, that's the case with all LCDs in non-native resolutions.

In native resolution, I am 100% satisfied with the VP912B, and YES that includes black levels. It's the non-native that bugs me, but I kinda knew that when I bought it.

 

[Kristi2k]

I emailed ViewSonic on the 6bit and 8bit issue:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting ViewSonic Technical Support.

This is an 8 bit panel and does support 16.7 million colors.

Mike W

Regards,

ViewSonic Technical Support
ViewSonic Corporation
381 Brea Canyon Road
Walnut, CA 91789

------------------------

Hi, I am trying to determine of this monitor supports 8-bit color depth or 6-bit as many of the *fast* response time monitors have. Can someone confirm if this monitor supports 16 million true colors ? Thank you for your help

 

[HeatMiser]

Thanks for posting that Kristi. I spoke to Viewsonic a week ago on the phone and they told me that it uses a 6-bit panel. Ugh. I have heard that the vp912b uses this panel from AU Optronics, which is a 6-bit panel. I can't substantiate that because Viewsonic would not confirm or deny anything over the phone. I hope I'm wrong because I have one backordered from Dell and I'd love it if it is an 8-bit panel!

 

[Kristi2k]

I'm going to send another email and see what I get for a response.

 

[Wolfshanze]

It's a 6+2 panel... neither 6 nor 8.

 

[Kristi2k]

Here's the other reply (same person):
Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting ViewSonic Technical Support.

It is an 8 bit panel that supports up to 16.7 million colors.

Mike W

Regards,

ViewSonic Technical Support
ViewSonic Corporation
381 Brea Canyon Road
Walnut, CA 91789

-----

Hi, I am trying to determine of this monitor supports 8-bit color depth or 6-bit as many of the *fast* response time monitors have. Can someone confirm if this monitor supports 16 million true colors ? Thank you for your help.

 

[HeatMiser]

Thanks for the follow up Kristi2k.

 

[Kristi2k]

I decided to purchase this monitor. If I an unhappy with it, I'll post it on ebay or the For Sale forum here. I'll post my reviews when I receive it. (hopefully in 2 - 3 days).

Oh, I purchased it @ Newegg, two hours later they lower the price by $20. I called them and they said they'd credit me the difference.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Good luck with the VP912B.

I personally decided to go back to my 19" CRT and I passed the Viewsonic VP912B onto my wife. She loves the monitor and thinks I'm crazy (plus she needed to reclaim desk space). I mostly went back to CRT because I do spend a lot of time out of native resolution for the LCD, and I just am not happy with the lack of clarity in non-native modes. I would not say this is a knock against the VP912B, but rather against LCDs in general. Of course, if you don't switch resolutions much, LCDs like the VP912B are great, and as I mentioned, my wife is thrilled to have the monitor, but for me, I just wanted to go back to CRT for non-native resolutions more then anything.

Hope you enjoy your Viewsonic!

 

[Kristi2k]

That's too bad about your problem with non-native resolutions. Atleast your wife has it and is happy. I don't think the 12x10 resoluiton will bother me. The only time I switch to a lower res is when I'm checking my web design at 800x600 (sigh... it's a pain designing for it, but some people have bad eye site).

I have never used 12x10 before, I'm kinda scared. I'm used to 1152x864. I'll keep this thread updated if anyone else has any other questions.

 

[Miseryrail]

hi people, maybe I should start a new thread but I have been following these discussions with interest for a couple of weeks. I started looking for a 19" TFT and there is very little in the way of tests and reviews of the newest hardware. The Viewsonic 912B ( theres an 912S model now) was one that caught my eye early on along with the Benq 937S.

Subsequently I discovered the BenQ 937S+ which had a response time of 8ms so I took the plunge and bought it. I sent it back after 3 hours and got a refund. It was much darker at the top of the screen than at the bottom, by the time it got to the the taskbar it was quite washed out looking. No fault was found at the retailer (Digi-uk.com) but they gave the refund anyway (top marks to them). Maybe it was my video card (ATI 9800 Pro).

Now of course I am still looking but cannot find any details on the limited choice of 19" TFT's with sub 12ms response times. Does anyone know where I can find reviews or tests of the following models. Hyundai ImageQuest L90D+ , Samsung SM913N.

By the way the BenQ937S+ was excellent as far as ghosting goes, I tried Far Cry, COD, BF1942 and BF Vietnam all excellent. No stuck pixels either.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Kristi2k... as I stated earlier in my "mini-review" of the VP912B, I thought it was superior to any CRT in native mode... for those that stick in one resolution, I think LCDs are the way to go... me, however, I just can't get pigeonholed into one resolution. I routinely work in 3 or 4 differant resolutions a day for various reasons, and I wasn't satisfied with the non-native resolutions, and once-again, I think this is more of an LCD-thing then a fault of the VP912B.

As soon as I turned it over to my wife, I was already missing it's slim design, lack of heat output and sharp text and graphics in native resolution, but all I had to do was toggle my CRT to a few differant resolutions to remind me why I went back to CRT. As I've stated before, the amount you'll like your LCD will probably directly tie-in with how much time you spend in native-mode vs non-native-mode. For me, it wasn't acceptable, but other's mileage may vary.

Of course if Samsung is serious about their slim-CRTs... I'll be first in line for a thin CRT monitor if/when they come out!

 

[KBtn]

Originally posted by: Miseryrail
hi people, maybe I should start a new thread but I have been following these discussions with interest for a couple of weeks. I started looking for a 19" TFT and there is very little in the way of tests and reviews of the newest hardware. The Viewsonic 912B ( theres an 912S model now) was one that caught my eye early on along with the Benq 937S.

Subsequently I discovered the BenQ 937S+ which had a response time of 8ms so I took the plunge and bought it. I sent it back after 3 hours and got a refund. It was much darker at the top of the screen than at the bottom, by the time it got to the the taskbar it was quite washed out looking. No fault was found at the retailer (Digi-uk.com) but they gave the refund anyway (top marks to them). Maybe it was my video card (ATI 9800 Pro).

Now of course I am still looking but cannot find any details on the limited choice of 19" TFT's with sub 12ms response times. Does anyone know where I can find reviews or tests of the following models. Hyundai ImageQuest L90D+ , Samsung SM913N.

By the way the BenQ937S+ was excellent as far as ghosting goes, I tried Far Cry, COD, BF1942 and BF Vietnam all excellent. No stuck pixels either.

I counldn't find a review for the Hyundai ImageQuest L90D+ , but I did find it at a great price http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50999292&pfp=srch1

 

[Miseryrail]

Thanks friend but I'm in the Uk. I can find the Hyundai at good prices but after the BenQ business I want to know a little more about it. The Samsung BTW is ruled out it's only got analog input, I want DVI'

 

[Kristi2k]

Freaking blizzard prevented FedEx from delivering the LCD today! Hopefully I'll receive it Friday.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Well, it's Friday... hope you got your LCD.

 

[Kristi2k]

Yep, I received it today. I LOVE it. I am writting a review on it that I will post this weekend. I can pretty much reiterate what you have said, Wolf.

 

[Wolfshanze]

In other words, it looks great in native, but sucks out of native, so your love of the monitor will be directly related to how much time you do or don't spend in native resolution?!?!

Hope you like your monitor... I spend too much time switching resolutions, so I went back to CRT, but my wife sticks to native and she loves the Viewsonic and is very happy.