X-bit labs

Closer Look at the 19" Monitor Features. Part III (page 27)

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 03/30/2005 | 01:45 PM ]

When the monitor is connected via an analog connection, the auto-adjustment feature works automatically when the display mode changes. I didn’t have to invoke it manually in my tests. The auto-adjustment works well, without noise, shadows or any other artifacts.

The gamma curves suggest that all the three basic colors are too intensive. The characteristic bend in the area of light tones means that the monitor doesn’t reproduce the lightest colors very well. Yet, the deviation is small and will hardly be perceived by the eye. Moreover, this problem vanishes completely if you reduce the monitor’s contrast setting, but the gamma correction coefficient is still somewhat lower than it should be (the lower this coefficient, the higher the middle part of the gamma curves lies).

The manufacturer declares a response time of 20 milliseconds for this monitor. This is the first PVA matrix we’ve ever tested to have such a good responsiveness (25 milliseconds is the typical response time for PVA monitors).

My measurements entirely agree with the specification: the monitor does perform black-white-black transitions in exactly 20 milliseconds. But like with all other PVA and MVA matrices, the response time grows up on black-to-gray transitions, up to several tens of milliseconds. On the other hand, I often register a max response time of above 100 milliseconds with matrices of these two types in my tests, while the SyncMaster 193P always stays within 85 milliseconds. Well, it’s hard to tell if this is the consequence of the use of a different matrix or of a different setup and calibration of the monitors.

I heard the opinion that smaller response times can be achieved in monitors without vent holes, i.e. due to the higher temperature of the matrix. This is not true. The statistical data on different monitors with 25ms PVA matrices suggest that devices with non-ventilated case (starting from the relatively old models like SyncMaster 172T, SyncMaster 192T and so on) have in average no better speeds than their analogs with an integrated power adapter and ventilation – and actually they have almost the same temperature of the case!

Unfortunately, the contrast ratio didn’t reach the same heights as we saw with the previous three models, but it’s anyway quite good.

So, the SyncMaster 193P can be regarded as an image-making model. Its excellent design is going to appeal to the potential buyer, but it is already inferior to the newer SyncMaster 920T in its parameters, especially in the number of various settings. The only parameter the 193P is better than the other monitors from Samsung in is response time, but the advantage of 5 milliseconds is of little value for a PVA matrix since it’s a small achievement considering the absolute response speed of tens of milliseconds.