Samsung 215TW vs 226CW vs HP w2207

Before you begin, this is not a typical review, its my own expressed, hard to please opinion which I am happy to share. I wont be covering some points which you can get from other reviews as this is a comparison review. Also sorry for the length!!

Background : recently i bought a samsung 226bw which turned out to be an A panel - horrible. After some reading i bought a LG L226WTQ which was had terrible color issues which i posted pictures of in someone elses thread, see them here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=154437

Yes i am picky but spending that kind of money only to be met with poor quality is not exactly pleasing .... So still looking for a 22" widescreen and googling for all its worth i found 2 possible solutions: The Samsung 226CW and the HP w2207. Both of these are 6 bit TN panels. My first choice would be a Samsung 215TW as they use a superior 8bit panel, but they arent available anymore.

A few sites voted in favour of the HP over the 226CW. I scoured some home user reviews as they often reveal hidden gremlins & the HP came up trumps again. You can find more using google but check these for an example:

http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors...7&cval=2447317

http://www.monitorsrc.com/22/samsung...-w2207-review/

Not overly convinced by other peoples opinions, mainly because I am pickier than most but then again several reviews inspired me to buy the samsung & then the LG. There was only one solution - I bought the two! I got the HP from one store and the Samsung from another, both offering a 14 day money back guarrantee.

I connected both & cloned the desktop. I went through some pictures, checkmon, a movie and 2 games (dark and light maps). The HP is slightly better at the whole color range with some being much better than others, otherwise there is little difference unless your talking gaming or pictures. The HP has this magnificant gloss like effect hard coating which clearly gives it the advantage / wow factor. The downside is this shows up fingerprints very easily and you can see yourself reflected in it when there is a light source in the room. It really is nice to look at. Checkmon revealed that where the HP bettered the 226CW in one test, the Samsung bettered it in another, overall the margins were minor but i got the impression the HP did it ever so slightly better.

I didnt get any halo around lettering as some reviews stated with the HP but I did install the drivers & ICC profiles immediately. The samsung seemed good just out of the box but I installed the drivers anyway.

Some websites say the samsung is worse but i felt both suffered backlight bleed equally. Both also suffer on color change, top to bottom or side to side on very minor angle changes but the HP was slightly better, again i feel this is down to the gloss. You have to be looking at the screens spot on for the best picture as with all TN panels, not something I like.

The HP's adjustments is far superior and will go as far as to say the asthetics are better too, but this is a personal preference so it doesnt count in my opinion. However the lack of adjustments on the samsung compared to the HP are deffinately worth mentioning.

I tried one monitor at a time and repeated all the steps but when using the Samsung I could just tell it wasnt as good as the HP. If i hadnt of used the HP I would imagine I would just be impressed. After close scrutiny neither monitor showed ghosting (HP 5ms / 226CW 2ms). It was hard to choose on performance but because of the color the HP had over the 226cw I ended up returning the 226cw. Where's the pictures? Read on ...

Intervention! On ebay was a new Samsung 215TW. An 8 bit true color 16.7 million color panel. TN panels are 6bit 16.2million with dithering - something clearly visible. Being my original choice I had to bid ... and won. Its an inch shorter than the HP and any man will tell you an extra inch will put a bigger smile on your face.

Here's a typical review of the 215tw, any other review they do compares it to the 215tw as its their choice monitor.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/displa...1in-Monitor/p1

I have pictures of the 215TW & HP but not the HP % 226cw. Why? Well when i copied the new pictures from the camera of the 215tw over i actually clicked YES to overwritting the other ones, how noobish is that? Abuse welcome! So I only got half the photo's sorry.

I have repeated all the above tests and here's the pictures. First 2 are with and without flash to show you the gloss the HP has.
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/01.jpg

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/01a.jpg


Here's where the 8 bit panel shines over the 6 bit with dithering.
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/02.jpg
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/03.jpg
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/04.jpg
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/06.jpg
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/07.jpg
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/08.jpg
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/09.jpg


Despite the 215tw doing better job on color range, the gloss on the HP makes yellows & greens appear better, but only slightly. Its hard to see the differences 90% of the time but with dark colors the dithering doesnt do a great job. This is more evident in games with dark maps such as Fear, CS:S and Half Life 2. The 215tw doesnt suffer any ghosting either which I expected with it being 8ms.

The 215tw has many more adjustments than the 226cw, give the impression they cut corners on it, but the 215tw adjustments is not as good as the HP. Somethig else i didnt realise is that the 215tw has S-video, composite & RGB connections which may come in handy for some users.

Here's the difference on color you get with a TN panel under slight angle changes, there's plenty of gripe about it on the web with all 22" screens. The 215tw doesnt suffer at all unless the angle is extreme.
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/05.jpg


Here's 2 more pics where the HP gloss can be really annoying.
http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/10.jpg

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/11.jpg


I chose the HP w2207 over the Samsung 226CW because of the color and wow factor. I really like the HP & dont want to lose it but the Samsung 215tw does shine above it in many aspects.

Here's the bad points from comparison

Samsung 215tw
-some colors arent quite good as the HP
-plastics not quite as good as the HP
-doesnt have that smile enducing experience the HP does

HP w2207
-only 1 year warranty - you tight fisted bar stewards, 215tw has 3years
-gloss improves some colors & gives a wow factor
-the gloss reflects if a light source is behind you & is quite distracting sometimes
-fingerprints & smudges show up very easily on the screen & surround (pet hate of mine)
-gaming revealed it didnt do as good as job as the samsung


My findings are pretty much the same as others with the HP but I really like the gloss effect, but it is equally annoying as I am always looking at myself in the daytime with a dark screen or if i have a light on at night. Realistcally the advantages the HP has over the 215tw (apart from adjustment) is the gloss screen.

I like love both but decided on the 215tw because of panel technology, better colors in games & that it doesnt suffer color change when you slightly change angle. Also I think the reflecting gloss of the HP will eventually pi55 me off so that was the final decider. At the moment I have just the 215tw on the desk and I already miss the wow factor of the HP (but not the reflections).

Sorry for the length (my wrists are aching as bad as when I was single), comments & questions welcome but for the sake of others scrolling please dont use the quote!

very nice insights.. :)

Can you post some pics of the 226CW? I ordered it.

I just bought 2 of the Samsung 226CW's (Best Buy, on Sale $349 each) and they are incredible looking. Very little bleed, no stuck and/or dead pixels.

Colors are vibrant!

This is the first 6bit panel I have ever had that I can't see the dithering on. My 1 year old 6bit 19" Samsung doesn't hold a candle to the 226cw.

I am very happy!!!

I highly recommend the Samsung 226cw

Ah thank you chriskurn, I ordered it, and lots of people said the monitor was bad, that it was too dark and bad response time.

But now I am certain again.

i overwrote the pictures. i couldnt believe it! and i'd already returned the monitor. i felt like such a muppet, all that wasted picture taking! ha

also be advised the lag they mention with the 226cw is only on upscaling. if you run a game in the native resolution you wont experience it. so if your playing old games that run in 800x600 max and it has to upscaled then it will endure lag. not really a concern for me as everything i tried supported higher resolutions.

i wont rubbish the 226cw, i chose the hp over it because side by side the gloss gave better colors. but as time went on the reflection became irritating, but i do miss the finish it had & what it did to some colors. the difference in photo's of the 226cw vs the hp is the same as above in pictures. ignore the color gradients as that only reveals the poor dithering the 6bit panel achieves.

the only difference the 215tw has over the 226cw in my opinion is the color. performance wise i'd say they are the same. if i hadnt bought the hp aswell i would probably be happy with just the 226cw, although i dont doubt that if i had the 226cw and 215tw side by side i would still choose the 215tw because of the improved colors & that the colors dont darken on the top or sides depending on a minor angle change. you will find this out when you get your monitors. it can be annoying but its livable, i was just learning to adjust the monitor when i was moving in my seat.

on checkmon the 226cw and w2207 6bit panels werent really that different. your not gonna see the dithering until you can compare one to an 8bit panel. i chose the hp over the 226cw after comparing the two. and i've chosen the 215tw over the hp. i was happy with the hp until i compared the 8bit panelled 215tw and could really see the dithering & unbalanced color - you can see clearly in the pictures but was even more noticable in a game when on clone.

i'd recommend a 215tw before anything else, but since the 215 isnt readily availabile i'd happily recommend the HP or the 226cw. it will be a personal preference to the buyer whether the gloss effect will win them over, or maybe the extra adjustments. as long as you dont have an 8bit panel next to it, i am confident you will be impressed with either monitor.

oh ps, cheers for comments for my time & effort. i been drinking (which i shouldnt as i am on strong painkillers) and its slowing my thinking ...... time! ha

Okay many thanks man! Good review.

You do realize that the 215TW has input lag?
I had one and returned it because of that... move your mouse around on the desktop and notice how it feels a little bit sluggish... you could alson clone the desktop on a CRT monitor and run a virtual stopwatch, then take a picture of it with a digital camera set to 1/1000 of a second.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_lag

A perfect example that'll tell you what I mean:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/images/d...p/lag_2405.jpg

My 2407WFP rev. A04 suffers slightly from it too but nowhere near as bad as the 215TW 6 months back...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Garrett

You do realize that the 215TW has input lag?
I had one and returned it because of that... move your mouse around on the desktop and notice how it feels a little bit sluggish... you could alson clone the desktop on a CRT monitor and run a virtual stopwatch, then take a picture of it with a digital camera set to 1/1000 of a second.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_lag

A perfect example that'll tell you what I mean:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/images/d...p/lag_2405.jpg

My 2407WFP rev. A04 suffers slightly from it too but nowhere near as bad as the 215TW 6 months back...

---

im glad you mentioned this before i returned the HP. i was skeptical until i put the screen back up and checked it out. i dont think i saw it before as i was too busy trying to find ghosting & comparing colors.

the delay is obvious in a fast paced FPS but less noticable in other things. a film seemed to be out of sync which i assumed was poor codec use but played it again on the HP & it was fine!!

i have taken pics as you suggested and 2 video clips which i am yet to compress. will post them later on for you guys to see. looks like i will be keeping the HP afterall. I know all TFT's suffer a bit of lag & assumed this is what you were referring to but the delay on the 215tw is something I simply cannot live with.

You could try the Dell 2007WFP... same resolution, great colours and viewing angles and very very little input lag... the HP is a TN panel so it inhibits (almost) no input lag but the Dell's colors are way better.

I'm glad to hear you returned the 215TW... the 244T is just as bad so I've read.

i read reviews on that dell & the 22" model and wasnt won over

the colors on the hp & 215tw are closely matched, could only tell the difference in a game or some pictures as above. infact the hp was better at some colors than the 215tw. so i can live with it ..... for now. i equally love & hate the gloss but the biggest dislike of the other 22 'inchers i've had is the degregation of colors when you change viewing angle slightly. the gloss on the hp may make it stand above the others on this but it still suffers nether the less. i will keep the hp for now until something better is released.

just for you to see, here's another review that helped me make the initial decision. check some of the homer user reviews too

http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors....html?tag=also

all 22" panels are 6bit & the hp seems to come out a consistent winner, even over the 226bw S panel & 226cw. but although reviewers say the HP is the best 22" available dont kid yourself it will live upto some aspects of smaller 8bit panel. in some ways i wish i hadnt of upgraded.

here are the 2 video clips showing the delay on the 215tw vs hp w2207 i promised. the hp is the one on the right (the one thats updating faster). sorry the camera moves alot at the end - i was yawning!!

delay clip1 .... 1.6mb

delay clip2 .... 4.62mb

and here are some pictures of the lag via use of a virtual stopwatch (in red). some of you may argue that there can be a minor lag where a video card updates a 2nd screen via clone or extended desktop, however i swapped cables so the 215tw was first (configured first in the display properties too) and there was still a difference. the disapointment after getting my hopes up is crushing. i would say it would be fine if you werent playing FPS games, however what i thought was poor encoding of a divx when played on the 215tw, turned out to lag as it played be fine on the hp ..... and i find that disturbing. once again garrett, im glad you pointed this out, i would be so pi55ed if i discovered this too late

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/a.jpg

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/b.jpg

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/c.jpg

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/d.jpg

http://www.gwynfryn.eclipse.co.uk/panels/e.jpg

Yeah the first time I moved my mouse on the 215TW I was like: OMG so this is input lag... it was so bad that I was immediately disappointed, and no viewing angle could make up for that :p:
Now I have the Dell 2407 and couldn't be happier with it :)

as already said the 215tw was bought on ebay and the guy wont take it back because he is not a shop. i cant hold this against him so have fallen back on samsung who are sending out a courier with a replacement screen free of charge in the next 5 days.

the samsung rep said he is aware of the lag issue and that "only a few" suffer from it. aparantly this is because during manufacture they got short of a certain component and sourced an alternative temporarily until their usual ones were available again. so these are the ones that cause the problem.

if there is any truth in this i dont know, sounds plausable but also could be made up by someone witty. he assured me though that the replacement will be lag free. i will update you guys again when it arrives. if its not lag free the rep said i could call again on the warranty. i hope he is right and if he is i will keep it, otherwise i guess i will just sell the 215tw to someone who wont play fast paced stuff

Yeah too bad the guy doesn't cooperate...
I've tried UT2004 today on my wonderful (lol) 2407WFP and I notice no lag at all... and I know I'm really picky so all is well :)
You said you were not won over... well I am ;)
The lag-free panels are of course TN, but every LCD monitor probably has its own quirks right?
Hope you get a lag-free 215TW man... would be awesome :up: good luck!

had the 215tw swapped out today for a guarranteed "no lag" model.

after just 30 seconds of testing lag was noticable. swapped ports and repeated and no difference. on virtual stopwatch the lag is slightly less than the pics above but is still aparant. moving a mouse on the desktop isnt so noticable but fired up in quake on clone and a game of spot the difference was easily played.

i'll ring samsung again but i think i will just sell the 215tw on.

Hi... i just returned my 226CW after using it for 2 hours and finding it had some of the worst backlight bleed i ever saw! on bioshock i could see the light bleed as much as 50% up from the bottom of the panel... and 30% in from the right side.... also was a dark patch 3/4 of the way up the screen... an inch thick reaching almost the entire width of the screen... truly shocking quality.... took it strait back and after a large argument (there tech support guy didnt even know what backlight bleed was!! typical PCworld here in the UK ) i swapped it for the HP 2207.... far superior...

just wondering if anyone else with the 2207 could share whats a good settings for this monitor if possible please? thanks :)

gotta love pc world

what you make of the gloss on colors? also your thoughts on any reflection? i gotten use to mine now when i notice it

my settings are brightness 65 & contrast 78 but thats to my room and preference. color is on 6500 but i did have it on sRGB with different settings which was good too. i downloaded monitor calibration and turned off the hp thing via the monitor, but it couldnt compete so stuck with hp. try it yourself, greys and blues suffer.

after you fiddled with the hp software, uninstall it. its buggy and only really needed 1st time round for setup. also i installed ICC profile driver as recommended, but noticed no difference.

To be honest.. i was also worried about the reflective screen .. but can say after a full day / night of use i havent noticed it even once....... maybe im just lucky with the placement of my moniitor , a solid wall behind me so no light source, although theres a large window to the right of me i havent seen any reflections on the screen so far :)

changed settings to near yours.... 65 bright and 75 contrast.. and is seeming to give better whites than how i had it set.... not to keen on the sRGB setting... not quite sure why but theres something just not quite right :/

As for the colour representation.... its my first TFT and i was a little worried comming from a 21" CRT it wouldent look as vibrant... but im suprised to say it knocks the socks off my old samsung CRT.... much brighter and more vibrant colours..... really jump off the screen........ MoH airbourne just looks amazing :)

Why didnt i make the jump to TFT sooner!... lol :)

Gents,

I have ordered pc a few days ago and as far as know it's being assembled at this moment. Hopefully I will get it on monday. The Pc spec is:

Core 2 Duo E6750 2,66 GHz @3,6 Ghz 1800 FSB
Scyhe Ninja Plus
ASUS P5K P35 CROSSFIRE
2x KINGMAX DDR2 1024MB PC1066 4-4-4-12
Palit Geforce 8800GTS 640 MB DDR3 DVI @660 i 1900 (max 680 i 1950 mhz)
SAMSUNG 400 GB HD320LJ 7200 SATAII 16 MB CACHE
LG DVDRW SATA czarna
Tacens VALEO 460 W Aktywne PFC, V2
THERMALTAKE VC3000BNS Armor

+

fan Scythe 12 CM white
fan 12 CM FAN LED
TUNER TV COMPRO VideoMate X500 NICAM FM
Creative Audigy X-FI

I have read the review regarding the LCDs a few times but still need some feedback from you ..I am struggling between Samsung 226CW and Samsung 2232BW. I do not realy want to experience the flickering effect while scrolling the web pages whcih I see on my laptop now:/

I really appreciate your help.

Many thanks and all the best 4 U

i wont recommend the 226bw or cw

as for the other one you mentioned i have not seen it so i cant comment. be careful on reviews, as mentioned above, they have got me to buy several screens all of which i have been unhappy with. because of the trouble i thought i'd share it to help warn others

my honest advice tho is to wait until some better screens in this size hit the market and make do with a cheaper 19" or so for the time being

thx 4 ur help...... but just have one question...when you are browsing the internet pages doesyour screen flicker a bit ?? or comparable to the samsung that you had a chance to test ??

regards

i didnt notice flickering with the samsungs on scrolling, fast images or the like. my only gripes are as above

the only "flickering" i have seen is where a particular pattern forms banding here n there and flickers when scrolling. is this what you are meaning?

What I meant was that when you scroll down a web page it seems like the text lines are overlapping each other. Have you noticed a lag on 226CW ??

THX 4 help

the lag test you performed on HP is not that much visible.. does it really noticeable ??

the lag test above shows that the samsung is behind the hp, not the other way around. i havent noticed any lag on the hp, its instantaneous as older tft's i have used

scrolling on the 215tw or the hp didnt reveal a problem as your describing. i cant comment on the 226bw or cw as i never looked for that. but have to say on a personal recommendation, i'd suggest the hp over them providing you can find it as cheap and check out the gloss to see if it will annoy you or not.

other than that, i think its worth holding out until something better comes along

I've got a 225BW and I positively love the damn thing. Haven't had any issues of input lag, banding, or bad color re-creation. If anything my only issue is that it isn't 30 inches but that's not related to the monitor at all. I guess either I have simple desires in panels or I have terrible eyes in regards to color recreation. No lag at all though, perfect for gaming at 1680x1050.

yeah after a reading a review i put the 225b on my short list however no one had it in stock when i went to buy. shame as i would really liked to have tried it

I got my 215TW at Best Buy last year for $550 now I could get a 24" for that much, but I still love it ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheGoat Eater

I got my 215TW at Best Buy last year for $550 now I could get a 24" for that much, but I still love it ;)

---

does your suffer any lag? there are a few that dont suffer it and samsung have promised me a replacement screen that doesnt suffer from it. but awaiting on them to get back to me (they already swapped it once)

if i dont hear anything by the end of this week i will be selling it on

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by it_burns_when_i_pee

does your suffer any lag? there are a few that dont suffer it and samsung have promised me a replacement screen that doesnt suffer from it. but awaiting on them to get back to me (they already swapped it once)

if i dont hear anything by the end of this week i will be selling it on

---

I haven't noticed any:up: -had since last year

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheGoat Eater

I haven't noticed any:up: -had since last year

---

try the test i done above. look on yourtube for 215tw and you will find several videos with the same.

the one i have is made in slovakia, june 2007. when / where was yours made

Hello it_burns, First thing I am gonna say is this. I noticed that the two screens in your photo look wildly different in color and brightness, gamma. Every screen is different. They need to be calibrated to make accurate judgements on color and gamma. At the very least use either the program on the 215TW CD or the program in the nVidia control panel to do basic adjustments to each monitor and then look at them through on this page:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

For color I would take pics with a digital camera and have them printed , some place like Wal-Mart or Target will do because those printers will be set up to be neutral and not to any specific monitor. Hold the pics up to the monitor and compare the colors, dynamic range, and detail in the shadows and highlights. Don’t worry about any tint as that won’t be accurate without proper calibration.

Now, I hate to say this but in regards to input lag, You’re not making a lot of sense. First you say that everything is fine, and you even games on it and there was no problem. To quote:

Quote:

---

I went through some pictures, checkmon, a movie and 2 games (dark and light maps).

---

Then all of a sudden you hear of an input lag problem from Garret and now what happens?

Quote:

---

the delay is obvious in a fast paced FPS but less noticable in other things. a film seemed to be out of sync which i assumed was poor codec use but played it again on the HP & it was fine!!

---

Wtf, I thought the games and movie was fine a min ago? Garrett was kind enough to post some photo of a test you can do. The lag with his Dell (which he “coulnt be happier with”) was 3.6ms.
Lets look at your tests results, the difference in ms , 215TW vs. HP: 4.6ms, 3.2ms 6.3ms, 4.2ms, and 4.8ms. Average = 4.6. (just subtracting stop watch times)

3.6ms vs. 4.6ms of lag. thats nothing dude. No way is 1ms of lag going to make lips not match and be ‘obvious’ in fast paced FPS games. It might pose a problem with FPS games if you are a Pro gamer, but Pro gamers always use CRTs or at the minimum a gaming oriented TN Panel. Neither the Dell nor the Samsung is TN, hence the slight lag, but in return you get 8 bit color.
I looked at the YouTube videos. All the tests were done with the person was moving their cursor slower than you. You were going faster to achieve the same effect in my opinion.

I want to add is that the majority of LCD HDTVs out there lag by at least 10-15ms. It has to do with the size, and the fact that unless it’s a 1080p TV displaying 1080p, they are almost never displayed at native resolution. Most 720p monitors use 1366x768 so both 1080i and 720p must be resized. DVD, 480p must always be resized, and anything I must always be deinterlaced, which causes lag. This always attributes to input lag on a HDTV. It’s not a huge problem because console FPS games are not fast paced, but it’s something to consider when thinking about lips not matching in video. According to Garrett’s linked Wikipedia article I will take one line:

Quote:

---

“Input lag contributes to the overall latency in the interface chain of the user's inputs (mouse, keyboard, etc...) to the graphics card to the monitor. Most sensitive users can tolerate latency under 20ms.”

---

I have no doubt that there are affected 215TW’s out there, as evidenced by YouTube, but I thought I might save you the time of switching out LCDs and thinking you still have the laggy one because your just looking at the raw data; I think it’s best to just play a game and see if your performance is affected. I really don’t think that you have one of the laggy 215TWs, for several reasons:
a) You were moving your mouse faster than the people in YouTube to achieve the same effect, they were moving it painfully slowly across the screen yet lag was still there.
b) The stopwatch photos showed your LCD to be hardly behind a TN panel, TN panels hardly lag at all, even if a TN panel lags ½ as much as Garrett’s Dell, that still puts the Samsung at roughly 6ms of lag. Still not a huge deal.
c) Garrett noticed his mouse to have a slow response right away, you played games and watched movies and didn’t notice anything until someone told you.

I have one question for Garrett: when you had a 215TW did you ever take a picture with a CRT to measure the lag? If so what was the difference in times? For you to notice it right away with the mouse, or look like the ones I saw on YouTube, my guess is that’s its much higher than what it_burns is getting.

Hopefully Garrett can answer. If the time differences were significantly larger than 4.6ms, I think we can assume that you do not have the laggy 215TW, and you need to decide if just S-PVA panels aren’t fast enough for you and you need a TN like the HP. If they are right around 5ms, than you can try once more for a switch I suppose.

All LCDs lag. It’s just how much they lag and does that amount really affect what you do with the screen. You are going have to make a choice on how Pro of a gamer you are. S-IPS can have ghosting problems. TN panels cannot possibly be 8 bit. And S-PVA panels have input lag. In my opinion being 4.6ms behind a TN panel is very good. But that’s just my opinion. Do you have a CRT to compare to? Maybe you can get how far behind the Samsung is to Garrets Dell? You know the one he “couldn’t be happier with”

I’m brand new LCD owner and it’s a Samsung 215TW btw, and I play CS 1.6 on small deathmatch maps filled with people, consider myself quite good, and see no noticeable impact on my gaming performance. After reading your thread, I even re hooked up my CRT monitor in clone mode and played on LCD and CRT back to back several rounds and noticed no difference. If I sit back I can see differences, very minor, but who cares, my performance or gaming experience didn’t go down any.

Made in Mexico March 2007 btw.

Sorry if I’m coming off harsh, but it just amazes me that the second someone mentions a problem then you notice lips not matching on a movie when it was no problem before. Hilarious. Stop looking at the data and play the game and see if you start sucking or if your still good.

the colors are matched!?! look again. the difference you are seeing is the color change on the 6bit and the gloss. part of the hp screen is the same color as the samsung where the angle is not causing brightening / darkening of the colors. i spend a good few hours tweaking them. at the end of the day i wanted the better of the two monitors and i wasnt go to do a half hearted job deciding. i scrutenized over a number of days

i did say that i didnt notice the lag on clone, i was too concerned looking for ghosting & comparing the colors. after pulling down the monitor i hadnt played any CS as thats a typical weekend thing. was skeptical at garret's statement but he saved me a costly mistake. you wouldnt believe how nuts i would have gone discovering that too late, especially after all the comparing i did. thanks again garret.

and the lag you refer to on upscaling / downscaling wasnt the cause. it was hooked up to a pc which was outputting the native 1680x1050, if it was hooked up to something else which had a lower res being upscaled i would have taken that into account. truth is it was lagging on its own native resolution.

i know all tft's suffer some lag but the 215tw seems to suffer more. make some use of google, there are 1000's that have the same opinion as me and garret. the lag is obvious fast or slow & im sorry if you disagree but its not something i can tolerate. maybe you can but as said i am picky. i play fast paced stuff - i expect it to be at least as good as my 2 year old HP 19" which coped absolutely fine. so you say the 215tw is displaying lag because i am moving the mouse fast? oh im sorry how dare i expect it to achieve such a task? the hp seems to cope quite well, what does that say?

samsung gave me a statement (whether bollocks or not) that some screens made in slovakia suffer from slow panel technology but the ones made in mexico are fine ... only hardly of them got to the uk. the first and 2nd replacements from samsung were both made in slovakia and suffered equally. i have now sold the 215tw. if it truly was a better screen dont you think i would be keeping it than settling for the 6bit hp?

do some google-ing with "215tw mexico" and "slovakia" and you will repeatadly read the issue i have gone through. if samsung could have delivered a mexico model i would have happily gone through the boring tasks and probably end up keeping it. but for the time being i am going to have to make do with the hp and sell up when something better comes along

what do you think HP2408 compare to Dell 2407?

have not tried either

i can and will only give opinions on screens i have tried for myself. check google for reviews but also opinions. a few reviews have had me buy some screens i wasnt too happy with

Guys,

Just to make it more clear, please look at that test :www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=3054

I have a HP w2007 the 20" model and I'm happy with it. The nice thing over the 19" is it has a max res of 1680/1050. Im not able to see any lag in it and the color is great for a LCD.

deciding on a new lcd is quite frustrating...i keep going around in circles trying to decide what to get :(

Thanks to this thread i ordered a w2207, got my order canceled because the store managed to sell out all of their stock before getting back to my order, and got a nice little discount on a Samsung 2232BW instead. Great screen indeed, i've been whoring FPS games since and notice no input lag yet. Check it out, and if in doubt, get it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rawcat

Thanks to this thread i ordered a w2207, got my order canceled because the store managed to sell out all of their stock before getting back to my order, and got a nice little discount on a Samsung 2232BW instead. Great screen indeed, i've been whoring FPS games since and notice no input lag yet. Check it out, and if in doubt, get it.

---

looks the muts! i'll have to check it out. i see it has the same gloss effect as the hp

Nope, that's the 2232GW, the BW has a matte finish. Although the bezel is glossy too. :)

guys,

I have picked up my brand new 226cw yesterday...and it is perfect but not as juicy as hp w2207....unfortunately hp was not available in the store so I bought samsung....no regret so far....no input lag at all... pictures soon :))

You most likely have no input lag because you have a TN panel ;)

what sort of software do you recommend for the best colour calibration ? I haven't installed the original form samsung as it is really crap to be honest. Any suggestions ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by e60.deluxe

3.6ms vs. 4.6ms of lag. thats nothing dude.

---

btw, it's 36ms and 46ms. which is considerable.


...about the HP w2207. i have one too and i must say the reflections can be really annoying, but then again the colors are great for a TN Panel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Der_KHAN

btw, it's 36ms and 46ms. which is considerable.


...about the HP w2207. i have one too and i must say the reflections can be really annoying, but then again the colors are great for a TN Panel.

---

that's the only i reason i'm not getting the w2207... i got a lot of windows in my room and with a glossy-panel i wouldn't see anything on the monitor :(
and after the samsung 226bw panel-fiasco the w2207 is the only monitor that offers what i would want.
this sux so much. i'd really like to have a decent 22"/24" wd/gaming tft.

so there's nothing i can do but wait for a new generation of tfts :/

pva-panel with <2ms would pwn so much! (the removal of native resolutions would be genious too :D)

Guys,

can you suggest something regarding the software for color calibration ??

Thx

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RaZz!

that's the only i reason i'm not getting the w2207... i got a lot of windows in my room and with a glossy-panel i wouldn't see anything on the monitor :(
and after the samsung 226bw panel-fiasco the w2207 is the only monitor that offers what i would want.
this sux so much. i'd really like to have a decent 22"/24" wd/gaming tft.

so there's nothing i can do but wait for a new generation of tfts :/

pva-panel with <2ms would pwn so much! (the removal of native resolutions would be genious too :D)

---

waiting is a good idea. im just repeating myself but when something better comes along i will check it out

as for software i used HP's own plus 2 or 3 i downloaded from google after typing in "monitor calibration". there was a photo one too. your software drivers should include a calibration tool. the hp one is buggy so after tweaking to my liking for the light in the room i uninstalled it. but recommend you install the drivers / icc profiles for your screen for optimal results

also check this out

http://http://www.displaycalibration..._contrast.html

Great review! The HP W2207 is the clear winner here! :up:

I have a Hanns-G HW191D (19" Widescreen, 1440x900 16:10, 5ms) could you tell me what kind of panel it is?... :) I would but I'm sort of busy right now and I have close to no knowledge in LCD parts... :yawn:

no idea

@it_burns_when_i_pee: how about Viewsonic or Dell? & what's that underneath the LCDs? is that an amplifier?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by emoners

@it_burns_when_i_pee: how about Viewsonic or Dell? & what's that underneath the LCDs? is that an amplifier?

---

i have not tried either sorry

this "review" is my own opinion of the monitors i tried. although most comments are 90% in agreement with other reviews comments i thought i'd just share my thoughts

Great review. I always attributed the lag I had to game server lag. I never thought it was my Samsung. Now it makes sense. Time to get a new monitor.

Do you lose much of your vid cards performance when going to a larger size screen, say 24"?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by goatboy

Great review. I always attributed the lag I had to game server lag. I never thought it was my Samsung. Now it makes sense. Time to get a new monitor.

Do you lose much of your vid cards performance when going to a larger size screen, say 24"?

---

i've not tried a 24" but i did have my pc hooked upto a 40" plasma for a while and never felt or experienced lag.

pick a model you may consider and google it a few times with "problem" "lag" "issues" and of course check reviews

So I think I am just about settled on purchasing the w2207. My only real issues are:
1. Glare
2. physical horizontal size of the unit

For 1, my apartment has skylights in which the sun pours in (immediately behind my back, when seated at the computer desk). I currently have glare on my CRTS so I would image the glare on the w2207 would be worse then my current setup. Any thoughts.


For 2, most websites report the height of the unit as 19". (with the exception of amazon, who reports- 11.38") That seems an awful lot more then other 22" screens which are usually 16" high or so. I was thinking that the 19" quote might be the height when the stand is at its highest setting. I read somewhere that it can be raised 4", so that would be it is 15" at the lowest setting (much more reasonable). Do you have any clue what the height really is at the lowest setting?

Thanks again!

@ dropandhop - i did reply to your pm but didnt realise you had posted as well.

i dont have the sent mail for others to read and i cant be bothered to type it all again! nice of me eh?

for everyone else, below is it_burns_when_i_pee's thoughtful reply:

hi

the glare was an "issue" for me at first as i have a 6 foot b6 4 and half foot window behind me. its not more than the glare of a tv, its just because your closer you notice it when the pc is loading or on really dark screens. i thought it would really play on me but it hasnt. the glare maybe worse, depending on comparison to your crt, as most crt's screens are curved, the hp is completely flat, like a sheet of glass.

out of the ones i tried i found it the better tn panel, but thats only because the gloss improves the colors and gives it a wow factor. theres still color change as you move around but in reality i guess its just a little worse than the 8bit versions in 20in screens and less.

i've yet to see a non TN 22in panel apart from the 21in samsung 215tw, but that had lag and was un-livable in my eyes.

Acer, LG and samsung have brought out gloss screens, have not tried these but the fact they copied the hp in this department says it deffinately improves the screen's colors. check them out too.

the asthetics of the hp are awesome and the tilting really makes the difference. the samsung and lg i had could hardly be adjusted, and found i had to look down on them. the hp is awesome in the way you can look straight at it, above or below. its so adjustable compared to any other screen i have ever used.

as for height, all the way down its 14.6 inches and all the way up its 18.8 inches. depth is 11.4 inches plus a bit for the cable coming off the back.

from what i've tried i can still say its the best tn panel. the fact other manufacturer's are glossing their screens says something. if i were you i'd check them out too. dont just google for reviews but problems too, such as lag, delay etc. samsung seem to be very unreliable on the grade of screen you get. they've done it with several models making it a lottery. i'd only buy samsung again providing the store has a returns policy if i dont like it.

however i'd still recommend that if its avoidable, dont purchase a screen until the new screen technology hits the market sometime in spring.

oh, lastly, the gloss is best cleaned with a window cloth, not the wipes you get for tft's. it only leaves streaks.

best of luck

it_burns_when_i_pee:

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. Just a few reactions.

Wow, I can't believe it is that low and everyone seems to quote a whopping 19" height! Can you do me a huge favor and confirm it actually gets that low?
Sorry to be such a pain (my setup is a really tight squeeze).

Interesting that you were able to cope with the glare. So you think there is hope for me yet with this monitor, eh?! The glare is really close to a deal breaker for me (unfortunate that I won't know how it will react in here, because the skylight sun comes from mostly above). Did it almost stop you?

Thanks once again,
A

google the monitor and check the rear. you will see how it drops to its very base. its like a V shape not a stand going upwards.

i measured for you and thats what it comes out at. fully extended its well tall for my desk. im 6'4" so height is an issue - i have a low chair and the monitor is on a raised piece but adjusted low so its eye level for me.

sunlight from me comes from a very large window, directly behind me. as i said its only when its a dark image can i see myself. i dont think it would be as bad for you unless the sun shines in directly onto the screen

my friend has a massive loft conversion with skylights and has these shade things that are effectively "block" the entire window, stopping light coming in directly, it has sides with reflective panels. they are to stop the light hitting the tv and dimming all the colors. it does stop some light but he has like 4 windows on each side of the roof. maybe you could get something like that?

I have no lag on my 215tw, it's one of the newer not made in mexico ones.

the one i had was made in slovakia, aparantly they all suffer from it

and i was led to understand, from samsung and online that the mexico ones didnt suffer lag?

I don't have a lag problem, I mean it is slow compared to a crt but not near as bad as the youtube video, mine at least isn't.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Torphoto

I don't have a lag problem, I mean it is slow compared to a crt but not near as bad as the youtube video, mine at least isn't.

---

you lucky mofo! if i come across one without lag i would seriously consider losing an inch and swap my hp

now how many men would consider losing an inch? ha

I've had a 215TW for quite a while now. Mine is an all-black Tijuana, Mexico model. Works like a champ, and I lucked out when Office Depot was selling them for $275-$100 rebate. =) Anyway, enough bragging.

Have you looked at the 216BW? I thought they used an 8-bit panel. I saw one at my BB the other day.

not tried that screen. i dont review screens, all the above was my personal opinion and disapointment on the screens i had

the 215tw i had, as you can see in the pics, is silver and black. i did read that people wanted the pure black one but not because it was made in mexico

im waiting for these LED TFT's i read about a while back, i think its next year they are out

So I made the plunge, and I got a w2207. I love it! Although, the screen is pretty sensitive to movement so it shakes as I type. Have any of you noticed this? Any fix out there?!

Thanks again,
A

glad you like it

however no mine does not shake. i just rapidly tapped hard and still nothing. hitting the desk is the only thing that makes it move

maybe its your desk or the hinge on the screen isnt that tight?