Posted 12/05/2008 at 12:33:31pm

The review begins, "It’s no secret that the expensive Samsung 245T hosts an S-PVA panel beneath its slim black exterior." But this seems to be untrue. According to Samsung's own spec sheet for this monitor at http://www.samsung.com/us/pdf/C0700962_245_275T_1sheet_final_LR.pdf , its panel type is "a-si TFT/TN" (i.e., amorphous Silicon thin-film transistor/twisted nematic). I did a live chat with "Matt," a Samsung tech rep, who checked and confirmed to me that the panel type information on the spec sheet is correct. He was (oddly) unable to confirm the monitor's bit depth - 6-bit or 8-bit, though the specs claim 16.7 million colors, consistent with 256x256x256 or 8-bit. Now, from reading MaximumPC's (Oct-08 p. 44) "Understanding the Technology" feature on flat panels, I know that TN-type panels are "the most inexpensive and commonly used" type of TFT, with only "a 6-bit color depth," and that "These panels feature inferior viewing angles and lower color fidelity than S-IPS or S-PVA panels." <p>Now, this just doesn't sound like the Samsung 245T! Its viewing angle is 178 degrees, both horizontally and vertically; and many reviewers rave about its color fidelity. Did MaximumPC err in stating that the 245T is an S-PVA panel? Did Samsung switch to a cheaper type of panel under the same model number, since MaximumPC's review??  If it's really a cheapo twisted nematic panel, how does it manage the amazing viewing angle, color depth, impressive grayscales and color gamut???