Acer AL2423W... damaged monitor?

Hello everyone,

I just recieved my Acer 2423W and although I have had a positive experience with it so far, I have also found a few disturbing issues.

I am getting bad gradients sometimes, wether I am playing games, drawing gradient-filled rectangles in programs such as Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, or while watching HD movies etc. As an example, I downloaded two WMV HD videos from Microsofts HD Contect Showcase and took a few shots of it (Terminator 2: Judgement Day 1080p 117 MB and Dolphins IMAX 1080p 107 MB).

Image 1: Notice the color transitions/gradients which are not smooth, especially on the right side.


Image 2: Again, but image 1 in close-up.


Image 3: Watch the sky in this shot for the artifacts.


Image 4: Image 3 in close-up making it easier to see that there is no smooth color transition.


Could I be the unlucky owner of a faulty monitor and would it be normal to have it repaired/replaced or is this normal for this monitor and would replacing it make no difference? I thought that since it is a 24-bit color panel, this banding issue wouldn't be present, but then again I am new to this LCD thing as I had been working on 17inch CRT screens for years up until recently. Also after firing up Paint Shop Pro and creating a full screen green to white or a red to white gradient filled rectangle, the gradient (color transitions) is very smooth, just perfect. However, blue to white show 'strips' and black to white is even much worse.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Jean-Daniel