Samsung prices crash on monitors. Looks like they are finally going free market.

[Santilli]

Costco: Samsung 27" 300 bucks

Samsung 23" 180.00 dollars

Samsung 24" 200 dollars.

That's a HUGE price cut, from 21.5" for 289.00. Looks like the anti-trust stuff, and the economy, not to mention TV's are finally forcing them to quit price fixing.

 

[LunarMist]

I'd like to buy a new monitor too, but there is no price drop on these yet.

 

[time]

I've wondered, perhaps fancifully, if Samsung is chiefly to blame for the preponderance of TN panels.

Other volume manufacturers that I can think of, such as Acer, AOC, HP, LG-Philips and Viewsonic, have all offered IPS panels in their monitors. Samsung never, although in the past they sometimes had PVA panels in their high-end models.

Samsung has tricked the masses by selling TN where other manufacturers are trying to sell IPS. They made endless mileage out of the supposed speed of their TN products, as well as their outrageous "dynamic contrast" claims.

I still recommend Samsung monitors for ongoing support reasons, but they have definitely been over-priced for what they are. Why anyone in their right mind would buy one of their ludicrous 27" 16:9 TN very-narrow-angle monitors, let alone the TV version (!) is completely beyond me.

 

[Chewy509]

Slight OT: Panel designs

Actually I would like one of these panels in my next netbook/laptop.

http://www.pixelqi.com/products

5x less power than a conventional LCD and able to viewed in any light conditions (esp outdoors in bright sunlight).

 

[time]

They're monochromatic - can you live with that?

If I had direct control over the backlight and therefore the chroma, I think it could be a great idea. I see you can buy your own panel to retrofit to certain netbooks.

 

[Santilli]

Well, life is weird sometimes.
I traded in my two 2233's that I paid nearly 300 each for.
I replaced them with a P2770.
I was never going to buy another Samsung, but, the only thing in the 32" range, 1080P, was
around 550.00 at Costco. The only one close in 1080P was a 27" TV, for around 320, but, it used a 8 bit LCD screen.

So, by default, since all the other LED TV's with 10 bit screens are over 600 dollars, I went for the 27" Samsung computer monitor, buying price, at 299.00.
I took it out of the box, and went a bit psycho when I saw the power brick. Power bricks are not one of my favorite items right now, after the toaster's brick had to be replaced, and it took over a month.

To my surprise, for once, I feel I'm actually getting a bit of a value. This monitor turns out to be LED, which, considering the very high prices for LED TV's right now, caught my by surprise.

It's very bright white, brighter then the Vizio, at least at the settings it came at.
It will be fine for the HTPC, in that it's big enough to play old games on, nicely, and,
while not the 37" TV I wanted, I can't currently even find a 10 bit panel 32" or bigger TV for twice that 300 dollars. Looks like I got caught in the middle of a market switch, going from LCD to LED, and the initial high prices for TV's will come down, I'm sure.

This monitor is a surprise, in that it's LED for a reasonable amount of money, and, it's big.
It's pretty much reversed my feelings about Samsung, since it's the reverse of paying 300 dollars for a 21.5" LCD screen, when I should have bought an LCD TV at the time.

So, I'm pretty happy with this purchase, even if it has a power brick.

 

[time]

Greg, you may care to inspect the following images, from this excellent article at TFT Central.



They should reveal that you have just bought a TN panel, which regardless of advertised bit-depth, uses dithering to render 16.7 million colors.

You might also like to visit the LCD monitor test pages, particularly the viewing angle tests.

I see you can get the Viewsonic VP2365wb 24" IPS monitor for US$280. It's 96% of the height and has 10 lines for every 9 on the Samsung.

 

[Santilli]

Time:
Is this Viewsonic the IPS panel?
27" 50 bucks more:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...t=MONITOR&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode matchallpartial

 

[time]

No, that's a VX2739wm. It very likely uses exactly the same panel as the Samsung.

I also made a mistake - sorry. The Viewsonic I mentioned is only a 23" 16:9 monitor, I was just trying to point to possible alternatives - it appears they're aren't any.

How did you go with the visual tests? Did it perform better than expected? The viewing angle problems are what bother me most about TN panels.

 

[time]

When did Samsung start cutting their monitor warranty to just 12 months?

 

[Chewy509]

They're monochromatic - can you live with that?

If I had direct control over the backlight and therefore the chroma, I think it could be a great idea. I see you can buy your own panel to retrofit to certain netbooks.

If it means being able to see or not see the image, then yes.

PS. I've read in another article, that you can directly control the backlight via a small switch.

 

[Santilli]

No, that's a VX2739wm. It very likely uses exactly the same panel as the Samsung.

I also made a mistake - sorry. The Viewsonic I mentioned is only a 23" 16:9 monitor, I was just trying to point to possible alternatives - it appears they're aren't any.

How did you go with the visual tests? Did it perform better than expected? The viewing angle problems are what bother me most about TN panels.

I know. I looked up the stuff you linked to, then the numbers, and found the same thing.
The new software on this monitor sucks compared to the 2233, but, I really did think it was an LED at first. VERY bright whites, and, the brightness is only half way up. Apparently it's not very good through the HDMI port, or, the guys that tried used inferior output, cable, or video cards. Bunch of people complained about the text through HDMI, but, using the DVI cable, it's brilliant, and clear.

The color pages appeared so close to the Vizio I couldn't tell the difference. Much like when I bought the 2233's, and TV's were all starting at 800 dollars, this is about the only game in town for that kind of money, that size, and Costco had listed a 3 year Manufacturers warranty on this item.

Angle wise, it faces straight at me, so no problems there. In the living room, hooked up to the HTPC for games, I'll be looking straight on, and, for DVD's should be about the same.
Oblique angles aren't a problem for me, since I don't throw big parties;-)

GS

 

[LunarMist]

When did Samsung start cutting their monitor warranty to just 12 months?

This year I think. Perhaps they make the monitors cheap and junky with terrible warranties to lower the overall price.

 

[LunarMist]

Well, life is weird sometimes.
I traded in my two 2233's that I paid nearly 300 each for.
I replaced them with a P2770.
I was never going to buy another Samsung, but, the only thing in the 32" range, 1080P, was
around 550.00 at Costco. The only one close in 1080P was a 27" TV, for around 320, but, it used a 8 bit LCD screen.

So, by default, since all the other LED TV's with 10 bit screens are over 600 dollars, I went for the 27" Samsung computer monitor, buying price, at 299.00.

Where is it mentioned that color is 10 bits per channel? I thought Displayport was needed for that.

 

[Gilbo]

Where is it mentioned that color is 10 bits per channel? I thought Displayport was needed for that.

Displayport, compatible video card + drivers, OS support, AND application support... (Photoshop is not compatible.)

10-bit support is pretty much worthless.


Now larger bit-range hardware LUTs in the monitor can help, but that's a different kettle of tea.