X-bit labs

New LCD Monitors from Samsung: Roundup of 5 New Models (page 11)

Category: Other

by Oleg Artamonov

[ 03/04/2004 | 03:34 PM ]

The monitor uses a TN+Film matrix, but the viewing angles are acceptable. The common problem of this technology – narrow vertical viewing angles – is noticeable, though…

By default, brightness and contrast controls are both set to 50%. The Entertain mode sets them to 75% contrast and 50% brightness, the Internet mode means 56% contrast and 50% brightness, and the Text mode produces 43% contrast and 50% brightness. If you drag the controls to zero, you dim the screen down completely, which is quite an unusual thing for an LCD monitor. Thus, it’s quite possible to work with SyncMaster 173MP even in an absolutely dark room without any problems. 100nit screen brightness is achieved by setting 45% contrast and 40% brightness.

Unlike its above-discussed less expensive mates, this monitor has a few color temperature presets: “Normal” (10,340K white and 13,790K gray), “Custom” (by default, 10,260K white and 13,830K gray), “Cool” (10,640K white and 13,150K gray), “Warm” (9,060K white and 11040K gray) and “sRGB” (8,260K white and 12,950K gray). When you switch into the sRGB mode, the screen brightness grows considerably, while the brightness, contrast and MagicBright switch controls become locked.

The color curves don’t look good. SyncMaster 173MP increases brightness for most color tones, and green is too intensive in bright tones. Thus, a bright picture will have a slight tincture of green.

I haven’t expected anything extraordinary from my measurements here as I already learned the behavior of TN+Film matrixes from my previous experience. SyncMaster 173MP is a little slower than specified, but overall behaves like a regular monitor with a TN matrix.

This monitor cannot boast a good contrast ratio: 200:1 only, and the level of black is above 1nit. In practice, this means that it won’t be comfortable to work with this monitor under an insufficient external light (and, accordingly, low screen brightness) as you will see dark gray instead of the normal black color.

So we’ve got an excellent LCD TV-set with a few minor drawbacks. I can’t say we discovered any serious problems, but we may wish such a top-end device had no drawbacks at all. The inaccurate color reproduction setup and the low contrast ratio are the main disadvantages of SyncMaster 173MP.