172x
- Thread starter Getfunk
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Newegg has them now but the specs on their site say 16ms.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-001-146&catalog=20&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-001-146&catalog=20&depa=1
Just went to that and now it says its 12ms.
Buyer beware. Early review samples that have gone out to reviewers apparently were 16ms panels, NOT 12ms panels. Until the panels are verified, I'd be leery of buying one now just yet.
However, Newegg is a very reputable reseller so check with their return policies if you get one.
Buyer beware. Early review samples that have gone out to reviewers apparently were 16ms panels, NOT 12ms panels. Until the panels are verified, I'd be leery of buying one now just yet.
However, Newegg is a very reputable reseller so check with their return policies if you get one.
I posted this on another forum...
----------------------------------------
OK, just got the Samsung 172x from MonitorsDirect today so this is a very initial review...
This is the 4th LCD monitor I have tried. The others are a Samsung 191T, Proview (AU screen), and last was a Sony HX73.
172x is a very nice looking monitor (as you can see in the many photos on other web sites), solid feel too. Smallest shipment box I have seen. I have two dead pixels in this screen. Love the narrow bezels. I've using both the DVI and Analog. Seems the Analog has issues with lines and other weird things.
Controls are terrible, the worst ever. 5 buttons with labels so small you can't read them. You have to guess and learn. They also are hard to press and you end up pushing the screen around, but you don't end up moving its hinge setting. The screen just bounces a bit. The monitor does not rotate in any direction except tilting forward and back.
Nice long power cable, but other cables are about as short as you find with most monitors.
Games Played: UT2003, UT2004 Demo, Far Cry Demo, C&C Generals
This monitor is *not* a 25ms. Whether it is a 12ms or a 16ms, I'm not sure. However, it does not seem to ghost much, if at all. To me is does seem to have a very slight ghost but one that is not a problem to deal with (and I hate ghosting). I run a test in UT2003 which shows ghosting everytime (certain map, certain area). It seemed to ghost a tad but not sure if it was more or less than the AU screens. Still, very very good.
The thing I really like about this screen over the Sony HX73 and the AU screens is how it dithers (or doesn't). Those screens do a weird cross-hatched pattern dither, this Samsung 172x does not seem to do this. I even notice a "windowsblind" effect after playing games with a AU screen, but haven't seen anything like this with the 172x. You get a nice clean image.
Colors: This has been hard to determine. I've seen them looking just awesome in UT2003, but usually they seem washed out. There is also something very strange about how this screen handles brightness. I think the MagicBright is screwing things up a bit. So far though I have found that I can turn down the brightness in the games to make things look right. It's hard to explain this.
BIG PROBLEM: There is a serious problem when you turn down the brightness below the level of the contrast in UT and it seems like something similar in C&C Generals. When you do this the colors go psychedelic!! I mean really really strange. You can't look at it for long. I have no idea what is going on. Might even be a bad monitor but I bet this might be an issue in all of them. Would love some feedback from other users on this as people get this monitor.
THE GOOD:
Nice looking monitor, narrow bezels.
Excellent response times it seems
Great colors when brightness is set just right
Very small footprint (I had to check to make sure it really was a 17inch monitor)
Doesn't do the stupid dithering like the AU screens.
Doesn't seem to blast (bright) the screen into your face like the Sony HX73 does.
THE BAD:
Terrible controls
Weird problem with brightness and contrast (needs to be fixed)
Expensive (but the good ones are now)
Analog problems (nothing serious, but I would hate to use it as my main video mode)
Anyway, I need to track down the problem with the brightness...maybe drivers (I haven't install the CD yet).
--------------------
I don't get this problem with the brightness, but it seems to have stopped after messing with the color balance a lot. Not sure why that fixed it but all seems better.
I had to use the Samsung "Natural Color" program instead of the Nvidia one for getting the color just right.
The response time still seems good mostly but at times looks quite fuzzy. I've been playing UT2004 much of the night with no ill effects. However, when testing in Solitare (moving a card around) you can see definite ghosting. Far cry has been good, but I can see some blurriness due to ghosting. Still, very playable. In some ways it seems better than my Sony CRT. Wish I had the Sony HX73 to compare side by side.
Getting a handle on the controls too. Not so bad after you use them a bit, but still not the best.
The double hinge is interesting, but not easy to use. It's hard to adjust to just the right level. It's a two hand process...one adjusting the other holding the monitor stand so it won't move.
Wish this thing came in black instead of silver. These thin bezels are just calling for it...they would almost vanish.
Starting to wonder if this is more of a 20ms screen.
----------------------------------------
OK, just got the Samsung 172x from MonitorsDirect today so this is a very initial review...
This is the 4th LCD monitor I have tried. The others are a Samsung 191T, Proview (AU screen), and last was a Sony HX73.
172x is a very nice looking monitor (as you can see in the many photos on other web sites), solid feel too. Smallest shipment box I have seen. I have two dead pixels in this screen. Love the narrow bezels. I've using both the DVI and Analog. Seems the Analog has issues with lines and other weird things.
Controls are terrible, the worst ever. 5 buttons with labels so small you can't read them. You have to guess and learn. They also are hard to press and you end up pushing the screen around, but you don't end up moving its hinge setting. The screen just bounces a bit. The monitor does not rotate in any direction except tilting forward and back.
Nice long power cable, but other cables are about as short as you find with most monitors.
Games Played: UT2003, UT2004 Demo, Far Cry Demo, C&C Generals
This monitor is *not* a 25ms. Whether it is a 12ms or a 16ms, I'm not sure. However, it does not seem to ghost much, if at all. To me is does seem to have a very slight ghost but one that is not a problem to deal with (and I hate ghosting). I run a test in UT2003 which shows ghosting everytime (certain map, certain area). It seemed to ghost a tad but not sure if it was more or less than the AU screens. Still, very very good.
The thing I really like about this screen over the Sony HX73 and the AU screens is how it dithers (or doesn't). Those screens do a weird cross-hatched pattern dither, this Samsung 172x does not seem to do this. I even notice a "windowsblind" effect after playing games with a AU screen, but haven't seen anything like this with the 172x. You get a nice clean image.
Colors: This has been hard to determine. I've seen them looking just awesome in UT2003, but usually they seem washed out. There is also something very strange about how this screen handles brightness. I think the MagicBright is screwing things up a bit. So far though I have found that I can turn down the brightness in the games to make things look right. It's hard to explain this.
BIG PROBLEM: There is a serious problem when you turn down the brightness below the level of the contrast in UT and it seems like something similar in C&C Generals. When you do this the colors go psychedelic!! I mean really really strange. You can't look at it for long. I have no idea what is going on. Might even be a bad monitor but I bet this might be an issue in all of them. Would love some feedback from other users on this as people get this monitor.
THE GOOD:
Nice looking monitor, narrow bezels.
Excellent response times it seems
Great colors when brightness is set just right
Very small footprint (I had to check to make sure it really was a 17inch monitor)
Doesn't do the stupid dithering like the AU screens.
Doesn't seem to blast (bright) the screen into your face like the Sony HX73 does.
THE BAD:
Terrible controls
Weird problem with brightness and contrast (needs to be fixed)
Expensive (but the good ones are now)
Analog problems (nothing serious, but I would hate to use it as my main video mode)
Anyway, I need to track down the problem with the brightness...maybe drivers (I haven't install the CD yet).
--------------------
I don't get this problem with the brightness, but it seems to have stopped after messing with the color balance a lot. Not sure why that fixed it but all seems better.
I had to use the Samsung "Natural Color" program instead of the Nvidia one for getting the color just right.
The response time still seems good mostly but at times looks quite fuzzy. I've been playing UT2004 much of the night with no ill effects. However, when testing in Solitare (moving a card around) you can see definite ghosting. Far cry has been good, but I can see some blurriness due to ghosting. Still, very playable. In some ways it seems better than my Sony CRT. Wish I had the Sony HX73 to compare side by side.
Getting a handle on the controls too. Not so bad after you use them a bit, but still not the best.
The double hinge is interesting, but not easy to use. It's hard to adjust to just the right level. It's a two hand process...one adjusting the other holding the monitor stand so it won't move.
Wish this thing came in black instead of silver. These thin bezels are just calling for it...they would almost vanish.
Starting to wonder if this is more of a 20ms screen.
Where do you find this 172x with 12ms panel?
In sweden the 172x has a 16ms panel, and samsung sweden say that there isn't going to be any new models in the near future.
MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR
AMD XP3000+
2x256 Corsair XMS PC3200 Cas2
Hercules 3d Prophet 9700PRO
Maxtor 120gb 8mb cache
Yamaha CDRW-2100E
Chieftec Dragon DX-01WD
Philips 107E
In sweden the 172x has a 16ms panel, and samsung sweden say that there isn't going to be any new models in the near future.
MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR
AMD XP3000+
2x256 Corsair XMS PC3200 Cas2
Hercules 3d Prophet 9700PRO
Maxtor 120gb 8mb cache
Yamaha CDRW-2100E
Chieftec Dragon DX-01WD
Philips 107E
Psychotron
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- Dec 31, 2003
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I finally got one!!! I just recieved mine today. Check Pricegrabber.com for merchants who have it. Don't trust their stock count though call before you order to see if they actually have one.
Anyway this is my first LCD monitor I just switched it from a gigantic 21" NEC, it was it's time to go still worked but damn it was old. Anyway this monitor is great. I installed all the drivers and everything on the cd and have no complaints about it. It's got a very sleek design and the monitor itself is only about 1/2 inch it's crazy to see. The bezel is very stylish and very small. Adjust the dual-hinge was a bit akward. The buttons are nice you can definately feel the response they are strange while trying to adjust the menus but you only should have to do that initially so no worry's there. Setting my color balance and brightness was rather easy with the software included, monitor is bright but not blinding.
Games - Playing UT2004 for awhile this morning and I have noticed no ghosting so far. It appears to handle fast action quite well which is what I was looking for. MagicBright is a rather neat tool nice for having UT2004 bright and looking great and then simply hit the button and your back to normal desktop brightness. Only have 1 dead pixel but i'm working with the company now to get that fixed but overall a solid monitor. I am using DVI so I didn't have any experience with the Analog. Great monitor though price is a little high but that's expected for a good lcd. Hope this helps anyone looking to buy.
Anyway this is my first LCD monitor I just switched it from a gigantic 21" NEC, it was it's time to go still worked but damn it was old. Anyway this monitor is great. I installed all the drivers and everything on the cd and have no complaints about it. It's got a very sleek design and the monitor itself is only about 1/2 inch it's crazy to see. The bezel is very stylish and very small. Adjust the dual-hinge was a bit akward. The buttons are nice you can definately feel the response they are strange while trying to adjust the menus but you only should have to do that initially so no worry's there. Setting my color balance and brightness was rather easy with the software included, monitor is bright but not blinding.
Games - Playing UT2004 for awhile this morning and I have noticed no ghosting so far. It appears to handle fast action quite well which is what I was looking for. MagicBright is a rather neat tool nice for having UT2004 bright and looking great and then simply hit the button and your back to normal desktop brightness. Only have 1 dead pixel but i'm working with the company now to get that fixed but overall a solid monitor. I am using DVI so I didn't have any experience with the Analog. Great monitor though price is a little high but that's expected for a good lcd. Hope this helps anyone looking to buy.
Psychotron
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- Dec 31, 2003
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Another Review of the 172X from someone who actually knows what to look for http://www.explosivelabs.com/reviews/samsung_172x&173p/index.shtml
Psychotron
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- Dec 31, 2003
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Yet another review if anyone is interested talking about the confusion on why some sites review a 16ms version.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/172xredux/index.html
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/172xredux/index.html
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