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Three-Way 22" LED LCD Roundup: Dell, LG, And Samsung

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Black And White Uniformity, Viewing Angles

Another measurable aspect of panel performance is brightness uniformity. Most manufacturers calibrate displays based on the center point of the screen. However, every area of the screen behaves differently. Sometimes you can get better performance in one specific region. As a result, we have added a nine-point black and white luminance test to measure the performance of each monitor's panel.

Dell SR2320L
White Luminance cd/m^2
149.6964170.7121166.6663
149.5183182.223162.0439
166.221172.1839176.2046
Black Luminance cd/m^2
0.52290.57110.6191
0.56530.62650.6656
0.74900.78620.7148

The SR2220L appears to have slightly poor white and black luminance on the left side. This is apparent if you view the monitor from the left side instead of the right.

LG E2241V
White Luminance cd/m^2
177.9729170.6266184.4701
177.4437204.3768178.1245
176.9572186.0513177.3021
Black Luminance cd/m^2
0.95770.77501.3384
1.00061.01471.3598
0.90210.82371.0901

The E2241V has poor white uniformity. We calibrate the center of the screen to 200 cd/m2, but every other region seems to fall behind. Black luminance is slightly more uniform, but the right side of the screen definitely has a problem yielding deep blacks. Remember that overall black luminance is poor on the E2241V. At 1 cd/m2, we can't seem to achieve deep blacks anywhere on the screen, even though we set the OSD's Black Level setting to low.

Samsung S22A350H
White Luminance cd/m^2
176.8355182.9128173.9158
182.7114194.9993179.5684
177.4654180.0863170.4172
Black Luminance cd/m^2
0.79910.39270.7043
0.90280.44440.8126
0.73240.37910.5409

Similar to the E2241V, Samsung's S22A250H has a problem with white luminance. We are able to calibrate the center of the screen to 200 cd/m2, but this offsets other regions. Black uniformity behaves completely different. The center of the screen produces the deepest blacks, while the left and right suffer. This reduces the perception of contrast ratios if you're viewing from the left or right side, because you get lower white luminance and high black luminance.

78 Comments Comment from the forums
  • compton 13 July 2011 11:21
    I've put a Jihad out on TN panels. There are so many decent, cheap e-IPS panels out there. At their worst, eIPS screens are better than TN, and at their best comparable to much more expensive IPS units. There isn't really a reason to consider TNs anymore. It's bad enough that every laptop has a TN (except for a few 12" Lenovos), but why rape your precious eyeballs with a terrible TN on your desk? With that said, I look forward to monitor reviews, and this is a pretty good one.
    Reply
  • acku 13 July 2011 11:34
    Point taken. The key is finding those good IPS panels. There are good IPS monitors and there are bad ones. In the same way, there are good and bad TNs.

    I mean if we're breaking down everything down to tech...
    VA are great at black
    IPS are probably the best at color accuracy
    IPS better at color shift resistance, but you get light bleed at angles.
    TNs better than IPS for motion blur, IPS better than VA for motion blur
    VA and IPS both suffer a bit from flashlighting and clouding effects
    TNs don't have great color, but offer decent middle ground
    TNs are dirt cheap
    TNs generally have lower lags

    Big generalization here. The point is that nothing is perfect. If it was, there would be little point to advance technologies. In the end, you pick your imperfection.

    Cheers,
    Andrew Ku
    TomsHardware.com
    Reply
  • Gamer-girl 13 July 2011 11:35
    How about 24"+ 1920x1200 monitors?
    Reply
  • acku 13 July 2011 11:40
    9516998 said:
    How about 24"+ 1920x1200 monitors?

    I can do that. For whatever reason, I don't see that many 1920x1200 monitors. Most of the time I see 1920x1080.

    Is there a particular reason that you prefer 1920x1200?

    Cheers,
    Andrew Ku
    TomsHardware.com
    Reply
  • clownbaby 13 July 2011 11:54
    +1 on 1920x1200 monitors.

    "Is there a particular reason that you prefer 1920x1200?"
    The extra desktop space really helps in my design workflow and adds quite a bit of space over 2 or 3 monitors.

    Reply
  • soccerdocks 13 July 2011 11:57
    ackuI can do that. For whatever reason, I don't see that many 1920x1200 monitors. Most of the time I see 1920x1080.Is there a particular reason that you prefer 1920x1200?Cheers,Andrew KuTomsHardware.com
    I would also be interested in seeing some 1920x1200 monitors. The reason I prefer that resolution is I find that having that extra vertical space is very useful for productivity software, especially word documents. However, for gaming the resolution really doesn't matter to me.
    Reply
  • acku 13 July 2011 12:34
    9517001 said:
    I would also be interested in seeing some 1920x1200 monitors. The reason I prefer that resolution is I find that having that extra vertical space is very useful for productivity software, especially word documents. However, for gaming the resolution really doesn't matter to me.
    Any specific monitors? The list is pretty short on 1920x1200.
    Reply
  • 13 July 2011 12:41
    I agree with the above comments. I loath the 16:9 aspect ratio, and would really like to see some coverage of 4:3 or 16:10 monitors, which (IMO) are much more useful for doing work.
    Reply
  • ksampanna 13 July 2011 12:49
    How about an eyefinity/surround test with a range of TN, IPS monitors across a range of budgets? I know this is pretty huge, but you are toms, so you should be able to easily pull it off.
    Reply
  • Gamer-girl 13 July 2011 12:53
    The dell ultrasharp 24 inch mainly
    Reply