Would be nice to have a editor's choice and ratings from low to high. Reading the article is good for the details, but a quick guide to help make the purchase is better. thanks

I'm exactly searching for 20-21" 4:3 monitor these days....
but I'm totally confused... what is the purpose of this test???

Well, you have tested 17 (!!!) monitors... but most of them were with TN panels which are, let's be real, part of (ok, recent) history!
We have pretty thorough tests here, but the models are very strangely picked from the sea of much better ones?!
My question is where are the 20" 4:3 P-MVA, S-PVA or S-IPS models in 400-600$ price range??? (that's the "most bang-for-your-buck zone", isn't it ?)
Maybe I'm missing something, but either there is no part I of this article, or there are some MAJOR models missing here ;)
I respect this site much more than most of the other similar sites, but please!!!...if you read your conclusions you will see that there is not a single monitor that you can even speak about nicely, not to mention any serious recomendation! Are you going to say that there is NO 20-21" monitor that is at least good???... or you were SEARCHING for the WORST in this class???
My opinion is that "non TN+film" 20-24" monitors are the future of LCD both in 4:3 and 16:10 ratios, and that sites like this one MUST pay MUCH more attention on this segment, instead of testing some "old, but not so cheap" monitors.
What is an "average home user" anyway???... the person that doesnt know that he can buy MUCH better monitor for 30-50$ more???

Thanks...but no thanks,
dear readers, go search for other models because the results of this test say that the tested models are AWFUL for the money spent on them... (ok, maybe one is worth a look)

P.S. It was stated somewhere just a few days ago that SONY will stop selling LCD monitors in Europe, so if you're not in Asia or USA...you can just skip the part with SONY models (if this is true, of course)!

I'm not sure about the choice of monitors in these articles. Testing the Samsung 203B, 204B, and 205BW seems unnecessary. I'm surprised to see that no Dell, Envision, Sceptre and only 1 Viewsonic monitor is included in this round up.

Would love to see reviews on the new 22inch models though. Viewsonic, Sceptre, and Acer all have 22inch models and are priced below $400.

It is a good article. But I don't know much about LCD's. I play a lot of first person shooters so I need a fast monitor. At the moment I'm still using an old CRT because I haven't seen yet an LCD without ghosting.

But after this article, I still don't know if their is an LCD good for fast gaming.

Also I'm wondering: If you buy an LCD with 1600x1200 resolution, it works best in this resolution, no? Then you better buy a damned expensive graphic card to play the games, no?

note that these widescreens have some 'blurr' on movement in the screen.... very irritating if you are to close to your monitor

If we're talking about missing brands in this test......
Fujitsu-siemens, LG, Philips (new P7 series), Eizo, Viewsonic (the MOST competitive models, not barely UNKNOWN models!), NEC (but not that 1000+$ models), Belinea....even HP (I hate that company) has 20" LP2065 which seems to be a very good one....
This just pulls the question: Is this test "SPONSORED" or what???

I will say again what I, like, said before in my posting in the II part of this article:

PLEASE, PLEASE review some 1920x1200 monitors. I am in the market for one now. I do not care about the diagonal screen size, nor do I really care about the price as long as it is under $1000.
I would really love to see an article just about 1920x1200 monitors.

Samsung 215TW is simply great with its speed, looks, connections, contrast and absolutely fabulous colors that blow away its competition... BUT it has a major shortcoming, which the review doesn't mention: Serious input lag.

The screen itself is fast, with not much ghosting, but there is a delay of 50-60 ms, or about 3-4 frames, between the computer passing along an image and the image showing up on the screen.

If you're simply watching movies, or doing office work, then it doesn't matter. Playing games however, especially those that rely on sharp timing, such as FPSes and racing games, are quite terrible however. You can't see the effect, but you can feel it - as if the mouse cursor has great inertia, like moving around in thick molasses. It's such a shame, because as far as black levels and colors go, this monitor is awesome, yet for demanding gamers it's unusable.

According to http://www.tftcentral.co.uk, a LTM210M2 is used. The same panel in the http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1028980514&postcou nt=939 Gateway FPD2185W.

Does the Samsung 215TW not have issues with black detail straight on?

In Xbit labs review, they have a very cursory conclusion on Sony's MFM-HT205.

>>> The MFM-HT205 is not bad, either. But you can spend two thirds of its price to buy a much more interesting model like the NEC 20WGX2 or the Samsung 215TW, taking only those monitors that are described in this review. The TV-tuner these models lack can’t cover the price difference between them and the MFM-HT205.

Actually in many part of the world, Sony market this product under the Bravia LCD-TV brand name.

I am very sad that this article completely shows the poor knowledge on AV equipmments of the eiditor.

Yes. In PC world, those poor quality TV tuner module may not cost $1,000. It is all because they lacks scaling function. This Sony LCD-TV feeds with a Bravia scaling engine inside, and this the best quality LCD-TV at her size and class (even beating Sharp's 20" Aquas). Try to feed in standard NTSC DVD/TV signals thur component input and you will know.

Obviously the reviewer have never tested MFM-HT205's TV function before drawing into such a cursory conclusion.

In the end, what I wanna say is.....you can't get a good scaler with $1000 at all. If we consider this, the

Hi !
I higly apprecite xbitlabs reviews. I would like to see a review about L204WT. What I would like more is the calibration data :) . I own this LCD, and I'm having a hardtime finding a good setting...

10x

PS: If anyone has some profesional cablibration data for this lcd pls post here..

Dear Sir/Madam



Kindly quote your lowest best prices, availability, weight and the earliest delivery period CIF Dubai/UAE as followed;



Any Alternative or Replace Model from any manufacturer as HP, Acer, Siemens, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Dell, Lenovo, LG for;



Sony LCD Monitor Display, Model: SDM – S 205K, Size: 20.1”

Qty: 10



Note: Please include technical details, delivery and validity & Refer to our Inquiry No



We solicit your value cooperation. Thank you.



Regards,

For

Nigel Holt

Emtac Trading & Engineering Co

Tel: 00971 4 3977211

Fax: 00971 4 3977214

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Dubai, UAE

I have recently purchased a Samsung 204b so was interested in your findings.
Apart from adjusting Brightness/Contrast to 50%, what other adjustments did you make e.g what gamma mode did you use ? What settings did you use for Red/Green/Blue ?

I understand this information may not be readily available, but would appreciate whatever information you can provide

Oleg,
I emailed you once a few weeks ago and you were gracious enough to respond, I thank you. I value your reviews because you seem not only technically advanced but also include real world reality which is often more important. I am down to NEC 20WMGX2 or SAM 215TW. Amazing more than a year after release these continue to appear the best mid-lower priced units.

If I'm reading this thread correctly it appears you are/were using the 215TW as your personal monitor? That is the one I'm favoring due to its larger size over the NEC and it appears to be lower to the desk which is a need for me, I currently look UP slightly at my 19" CRT. If the specs given by the OEM's is correct and I translated the mm vs. inches correctly it appears the 215TW viewable screen is 20.7" x 12.75" (518.4mm x 324mm) vs. 20WMGX2 17.1" x 10.7" (434.34 x 271.78) which is a much greater difference than the supposed 1" published diagonal difference might imply.

You and some other professional reviewers tend to favor the 215TW over the NEC while many owner amateur reviewers tend to favor the NEC over SAM. My main goal is the mast accurate easy to read text, then detail/clarity for amateur photo editing and web viewing. I have read the screen covering on the NEC makes the clarity appear better. I've not used a glossy monitor so not sure, background reflections probably not a problem for me, rather dim room. Video and games is down on the list. Having read so much negative about input lag and "dead spot or color shift on darks" when viewing PVA head on, I am wondering. You have mentioned the 215TW appears to not be as affected by the PVA color problems. I also read one owner claiming while typing on 215TW the text did not appear on screen at the same time as it was typed on the keyboard. I find this hard to believe, but wonder if it's true or just his setup. That said, I would never notice because I look at the keyboard when typing. The only thing that would turn me off is if there is actually a lag in mouse movement that can be felt.

Any thoughts on these items if you would be so kind.