X-bit labs

19" LCD Monitors Roundup. Part VIII. (page 22)

Category: Other

by Aleksey Meyev

[ 10/11/2007 | 09:24 AM ]

The monitor has 100% brightness and 50% contrast by default. To achieve a 100nit white I reduced them both to 41%. The brightness is regulated by means of backlight modulation at a frequency of 210Hz.

The average irregularity of backlight is 6.5% on black and 6.8% on white. The maximums are 17.4% and 16.4%, respectively. In both cases the middle of the screen is brighter than its sides. It’s a rather average result in comparison with other monitors.

Color gradients are displayed with banding at any settings. Reducing the contrast setting to 15% and lower makes dark halftones indistinguishable from black. Increasing it above the default value makes lights indistinguishable from white. Thus, you should keep the contrast setting of this monitor within 15-50%.

The gamma curves lie far from the theoretical one at the default settings. The blue curve differs greatly from the other two, which have a too high contrast and a lower gamma value than necessary.

Alas, the usual cure – a reduction of the contrast setting – doesn’t help here. It only makes the characteristic bend in the top part of the diagram disappear.

The color temperature setup is ambiguous. On one hand, the most popular modes (Native, 5000, and 6500) have a temperature dispersion within 600K, which is a good result. But on the other hand, the other three modes, intended for colder ambient lighting, have a temperature dispersion of up to 2000K, and that’s no good at all.

Monitors with an extended color gamut are yet very rare, so you shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of difference between the color gamuts of different models. The LCD1970VX is no exception and its color gamut resembles the models described above.

The response time average is 12.5 milliseconds GtG with a maximum of 22 milliseconds. RTC-less matrixes are generally slow irrespective of the specific monitor, and the LCD1970VX is slow just as well.

The contrast ratio is very good, being never lower than 300:1.

The MultiSync LCD1970VX is only different from other monitors of its class with its rather accurate color temperature setup, particularly in the most demanded modes. Alas, this doesn’t make it suitable for image-editing applications because the temperature might be even more accurate and because the TN matrix itself imposes limitations with its narrow viewing angles. So, the LCD1970VX is just another monitor for working with text, perhaps with somewhat better colors than you get from other models. The low response time and rather high price of this monitor make it a poor choice as a home monitor for games and movies.