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NEC Pshaws TN Panels with Pair of Premium 24-Inch LCDs

Paul Lilly — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Forget about those wimpy TN panels, NEC has instead decided to shoot straight for the high end with its two latest 24-inch LCD displays, the LCD2490WUXi2 and LCD2490W2. Both monitors sport IPS (In Plane Switching) panels for better color accuracy, a wider viewing angle, and higher credit card bills.

On the spec sheet, NEC rates both models at a 1,000:1 static contrast ratio, 320cd/m2 brightness, 8ms response time, and 1920x1200 native resolution. Both also come with DVI and VGA inputs. Other similarities include about a 96.7 percent coverage of the sRGB color spectrum, 12-bit color lookup tables, and ambient light sensors. Where the LCD2490W2 separates itself from the base model is with the inclusion of a SpectraView color calibrator.

No word yet on availability, which gives you a bit of time to save up the $1,100(LCD2490WUXi2) and $1,300 (LCD2490W2) these two models command.

Image Credit: NEC via Electronista

BenQ E2400HD

Tom Edwards — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:30:33 -0500

BenQ promises that its E2400HD LCD monitor will provide “a brand-new standard for personal digital audiovisual entertainment….” And while we’ve grown weary of marketing hyperbole, at first glance, this 24-inch panel has the specs to back up this statement. The E2400HD sports a 1080p HDMI interface and utilizes a 16:9 aspect ratio (rather than the more common ratio of 16:10 for widescreen panels), two features that should improve the movie-watching experience. OK, perhaps “brand-new standard” is a bit overboard, but as we unboxed it, we did think that a 1080p 24-inch monitor for less than $400 was certainly intriguing—even if it sports a 6-bit panel.

A 16:9 aspect ratio should, theoretically, provide a better image when viewing high-def widescreen movies because a 16:10 monitor has to either stretch an image by 10 percent or add black bars to the top and bottom of the image to compensate for the additional space. In our tests with multiple DVD movies, however, those ubiquitous horizontal black bars appear during playback. While TV shows and many movies (typically romantic comedies) are filmed in a native 16:9 aspect ratio, many films are matted using a wide 2.35:1 aspect ratio where you’ll still see black bars. Therefore, while the BenQ is capable of displaying a movie in its original widescreen glory, many DVDs will still not be able to utilize all of the screen’s space.

Regardless, this is still a solid panel for watching high-def movies—when the monitor’s Movie mode is used. In standard mode, V for Vendetta suffered from a washed-out palette. The panel couldn’t differentiate the movie’s many dark hues and the bright white seemed to take on a gray cast; however, Movie mode upped the contrast significantly, showing off both ends of the color spectrum. Gaming was also solid; the colors in Far Cry were vivid and we didn’t observe any stuttering or ghosting during gameplay.

Our DisplayMate tests (www.displaymate.com) backed up what we observed in our real-world tests. We were able to differentiate colors at both ends of the spectrum in the grayscale tests, and the E2400HD showed no color-tracking or banding issues when we ran DisplayMate’s scripts.

However, the same Senseye technology that improved our movie-watching experience was much less successful when we viewed high-def photos. With the Photo mode on, pictures took on a cold, blue hue. Standard mode seemed to present a truer presentation of the images colors, but lacked a certain vividness.

Whether the 16:9 aspect ratio will make any noticeable difference really depends on what type of content you’ll be watching; still, with a street price hovering around $350, the E2400HD is a good value. But even at this midrange price, we expect more from the stand, which allows only minor tilt adjustments; if we were to use this monitor as our primary movie-watching or gaming panel, we’d prefer to also have height adjustment and swivel included as well.

Dell 2408WFP

David Murphy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0500

Dell’s 2408WFP is the latest in the company’s line of 24-inch panels, following on the heels of the much-beloved Dell 2407WFP (reviewed September 2006). Unfortunately for Dell, improving upon its predecessor isn’t enough to push the 2408WFP above other tested displays.

Do not try to distinguish the 2408WFP from the 2407WFP. For all intents, they are the identical twins of Dell’s display world.

The Dell’s grayscale performance in DisplayMate was great, matching the range of Samsung’s 245T on the light end, although it didn’t quite match the 245T’s abilities at the darker end of the spectrum. These subtle differences became more apparent in our real-world testing, as both our gaming and movie benchmarks looked a bit darker on the 2408WFP than what we’re used to seeing. And we also had less detail in our high-res still images compared to what the 245T was able to produce.

Although it comes with a number of presets, none were able to alleviate the loss of detail we experienced without creating other issues at the same time. The unnatural, over-the-top brightness added by the display’s multimedia and gaming presets is simply unacceptable. Similarly, the 2408WFP’s 110-percent color gamut lends images far more color saturation than we’re comfortable with. Even the grayscales themselves are tinted by a mild green hue.

The 2408WFP comes with a number of connectors: HDMI, DVI, VGA, and component video, as well as a built-in USB hub and 9-in-2 media card reader. Dell also throws in a DisplayPort connector for the few people who run DP-capable videocards.

We applaud Dell’s 2408WFP for its efforts. While its saturation comes off a bit strong, we’d use this monitor on our desk without reservation—unless someone was offering us Samsung’s 245T too.

Samsung 245T

David Murphy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

It’s no secret that the expensive Samsung 245T hosts an S-PVA panel beneath its slim black exterior. But this display’s performance is certainly worth the price. The 245T offers a stunning picture for its class, trumping our longtime favorite 24-inch panel, Dell’s 2407WFP, and even its latest rev, the 2408WFP.

This isn't a perfect display, but it wins the fight.

This 1920x1200 display boasts a 97-percent color gamut and the effect is clear. The 245T dishes out notably vibrant blues, reds, and greens, and its color saturation remains strong at even very light levels. To us, the display’s colors feel just right: crisp and bold without any hint of oversaturation. But even if you disagree, the monitor comes with a number of preset options for tweaking the coloration to your exact preferences. We found success using the Mild preset, as Normal made images appear drab and Brilliant made our images look like a supernova.

We were equally impressed by the 245T’s range of grayscales. The display is able to reproduce more details as its darker grayscales turn to black than any other monitor we’ve ever tested. Its light grayscales are similarly expansive. The 245T’s healthy grayscale range translates into superior detail on high-definition images and movies.

Our criticisms of this monitor are few, but strong: We dislike the 245T’s optional dynamic contrast feature, as it treated us to a healthy dose of image fades whenever our movie of choice, V for Vendetta, switched between scenes of varying brightness. Nor did we like the 245T’s lack of single-button contrast adjustments. You can adjust the monitor’s brightness, but not the contrast, without having to traverse a number of OCD screens.

The 245T supports just about any input connection you might use, including VGA, DVI, component, and HDMI. You can swivel, tilt, and raise the monitor at your leisure, and even flip the whole panel to portrait mode. Five included USB ports sweeten the deal, but we don’t need any more convincing. With features as strong as its picture, the Samsung 245T is the monitor to beat in its size class.

Acer P244w

David Murphy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

Acer’s native-1080p display wins points for hitting the widescreen 16:9 formfactor, but the P244w treats its colors with the same unpleasantness it treats its grayscales. The monitor’s color saturation suffers from a reduced range on both the top and bottom ends of the spectrum: Colors lose their vibrancy as they get darker and become washed out as they get lighter.

The P244w offers acceptable detail in its grayscales in our synthetic tests but still displays less detail in an image than other monitors we’ve tested in our real-world routines. And we didn’t enjoy how dark scenes in our real-world movie tests always looked tinted by a bit of unnatural brightness—we much prefer a richer, deeper black.

When the P244w is on, you’re treated to bleeding backlight on the screen’s top and bottom edges during darker scenes.

Start saving your phone books: You can’t adjust the height of this display. And we dislike how the display’s presets don’t appear to vary the image quality very much at all. The P244w’s list of connections—DVI, VGA, and HDMI—lacks the component option that higher-quality displays often come with. We’d prefer a monitor that has more: picture quality, connections, ergonomic options—anything.

Gateway FHD2401

David Murphy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0500

The Gateway FHD2401 hits a ball or two out of the park, but we’re not terribly impressed by this 24-inch panel’s overall performance.

The FHD2401’s mighty speaker bar wins the sound portion of our display testing, no question.

The display’s grayscale performance favors the darker side of the spectrum. The FHD2401 is able to distinguish among shades of gray against a black background, but a below-average showing in lighter grayscales hurts overall performance.

Worse, banding and color-tracking discrepancies permeated the darker end of the grayscale when the monitor was tasked with producing 256 different shades.

The 1920x1200 display touts a 92-percent color gamut, which made for rich coloration in our real-world suite of tests. But the display’s visuals aren’t the best we’ve seen—in our movie, game, and image-quality tests, the images were lacking minor details on both ends of the grayscale spectrum compared to the best panels we’ve tested.

The FHD2401 offers support for HDMI, VGA, and DVI inputs, but no component input. You can’t adjust the monitor’s height either, a sloppy omission for a monitor in this size class.

LG W2452T

David Murphy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:58:02 -0500

We were excited when LG’s W2452T arrived in the Lab—we had high hopes this monitor would break the streak of middle-of-the-road 24-inch displays we’ve tested lately. And it nearly did. Although the 1920x1200-res screen was able to hit the grayscale extremes on our DisplayMate tests, this functionality came at a horrible price: noticeable compression when given an increased range of grayscales to work with.

And then the LCD monitor turned to mush.

A host of silly sound effects are produced whenever you press the monitor’s front buttons—it’s the first thing we turned off.

LG’s W2452T suffers from noticeable banding issues—the ugly streaks that disrupt what should be a smooth gradient. It was quite bad on a few of our high-definition photos, but the problem was especially frustrating in our gaming tests. Nothing ruins a good fog effect like large, chunky lines bisecting the image.

The monitor’s coloration is acceptable, but not great. We didn’t expect overwhelming vibrancy from this display, which performs like a 6-bit panel, so we weren’t surprised when the monitor failed to produce images as vivid as those of other displays. Overall, the W2452T’s picture is a bit muted when using the display’s normal settings. Adjusting the settings did little to improve the image, and heaven forbid you use the display’s presets. The movie and demo modes saturated the colors so much that they turned normal video into an acid trip.

LG spent a little too much time on the monitor’s funny features: We see no need for a zoom effect, nor would we ever want to switch our display over to a sepia tone. Instead of these additions, LG should have included more connections on the display, as just a single DVI and VGA port are provided. And be careful adjusting the monitor’s angle, the stand is wobbly.

The W2452T creates a good basic image, but tweaking the monitor to achieve better coloration leaves a little—or in some cases, a lot—to be desired.

HP W2408

Katherine Stevenson — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:04:35 -0600

It’s easy to be seduced by the sheer size of a 24-inch LCD screen—any display that big just looks like it means business. And there was a time when large LCD panels were almost exclusively high-performance parts. That’s no longer the case. As the 24-inch LCDs reviewed here demonstrate, large screens are just as varied and prone to flaws as their smaller counterparts.

It might surprise you that the w2408 is the least expensive of the three LCDs here, because it seems to offer the most. It has a chic, shiny bezel like the Westinghouse—and a chic, shiny screen to match. The glossy surface can be real image booster, making colors appear more vibrant than they do on coated panels. But in a well-lit room the screen is like a mirror, reflecting you and everything else around, so consider your environment before buying.

The w2408 also offers ergonomic adjustments, including height and pivot, plenty of user controls via the OSD, and software that instructs the panel to assess environmental lighting and adjust the picture accordingly. It has DVI, VGA, and four USB ports. And it’s equipped with HDCP support.

But despite all the features in its favor, the w2408’s performance failed to win us over. The glossy 1920x1200 screen really enhances movies and games, and we didn’t notice visual anomalies in either circumstance, but a couple issues reared their heads in DisplayMate. Banding appeared throughout the utility’s grayscale test screens, and we detected some color-tracking discrepancies. These issues weren’t apparent in most real-world content, but they did show themselves in high-res illustrations. Enough so, at least, to temper our recommendation.