Famous Maker TS-20M9 20-Inch LCD Monitor with DVI - Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have owned this screen for almost a year now, and have to say that I am quite impressed. Back when I bought this (the de-branded version of the HP 2009 screen) the price difference was significant enough that I went with the de-branded screen instead of the much more expensive HP version.
Normally I stay away from de-branded/off-bran/refurb items, but I was NOT disappointed with this screen by any means. The gamble paid off!BUILD
VERY sturdy. I have carried this back and forth from my office to home (I can't stand working without it now) and it has been surprisingly scratch-resistant! The tilt mechanism is not cheap by any means, I never feel like I am about to break it.
QUALITY
This is where the screen loses a star. The contrast ratio leaves much to be desired - you will be seeing the contrast gradation rings on this screen! However the response time, brightness and color rendition are all EXCELLENT. As a photographer, I am mostly satisfied. If I am doing extremely important work I use a higher-end screen, however for video/graphic design I have been very pleased so far.
SOUND
Do not purchase this screen (or the De-branded one for that matter) expecting to not need headphones/speakers. For youtube videos, listening to music and general use it's ok if not a little soft. For movie playback/gaming you are not going to be happy - although, who really buys a screen expecting BIG noise?
OVERALL
I am looking to purchase a second one of these soon, and that should say it all. HOWEVER since the recent price drop in the original version by HP I don't know if the de-branded version is worth buying - if the seller hit the hundred dollar mark for this screen I would buy it again in a second!

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Samsung P2370HD-1 23-Inch LCD HDTV Monitor Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm cheap, I play a fair number of video games, and I love to tweak my TV settings to be as "accurate" as possible using reference images and calibration discs. The Samsung P2370HD exceeded my expectations (especially once I noticed an alternative way to fix the HDMI "blurring" issue others have mentioned).
Right out of the box, color accuracy and black/white level are close to perfect. Like most TV's these days, settings for edge enhancement and dynamic contrast are on by default. Disabling those settings and dialing down the brightness 5 ticks put the grays, blacks, and whites where they needed to be. The only annoyance for me, and it's a minor one, is that the backlight is still brighter than I'd like even on its lowest setting. That's not a problem in a room with any light, but you do notice the glimmer in pitch dark.
Game lag isn't an issue with this TV. If you use a digital camera to take photos of certain reference tests, you'll notice some frame drops here and there. In actual play with my own human eyes, I'm able to pull off precise combos in Super Street Fighter 4 and Tekken 6 without problems. There is a "game mode" option in the setup menu that reduces the frame drops; at least, according to my digital camera; but I can't actually discern any difference when my own hands/eyes are involved.
Many people have complained about blurry, overly sharp edges and text when using the HDMI input. The popular solution is to change the name of the input in the source list to read "PC." This works, but you lose access to some very handy image and color adjustments, as well as the game mode toggle. You also end up with a gamut of gray shades, which can make the image seem soft (although some people prefer it).
An alternative solution is to go into the Picture Options menu and change the "Size" setting from 16:9 to Screen Fit. By default, the P2370HD stretches and clips about 2 to 3% of the image from the HDMI source for overscan. The Screen Fit option enables 1 to 1 pixel mapping, just like changing the name of the HDMI input does, but it leaves you able to access the whole range of picture adjustments.
It makes sense when you think about it: Samsung's engineers probably figured if you're hooking a PC up to it, you can make all of the display-related tweaks you need to in the computer's display panel.
Regardless of how you choose to make the HDMI input look nicer, you'll enjoy how your games look on this TV. The colors are pure, the details just pop, and there's absolutely no "ghosting." Oh, and if you're watching actual TV, I can vouch that the off-air decoder inside this TV is very strong. Much stronger than the 42" Vizio in my living room.

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ViewSonic VX2268WM 22-Inch 120 Hz 3D-Ready Monitor with 1680x1050 Resolution and Stereo Speakers - Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this monitor to play fps games competitively on the pc. The monitor is very nice and works at 120hz right out of the box, no need for drivers. The monitor is very good for gaming especially if you are someone who needs 120hz to get your game to feel completely smooth. This 120hz lcd feels as good as my 120hz crt that it replaced. The monitor can be a bit bright and the stand is a bit wobbly. However, if you have a sturdy desk the wobbliness should not be a problem. You can also adjust the brightness in game and on the monitor to tweak it so that it is not so bright. Although the monitor might be on the bright side, it allows you to see people easier in call of duty, battlefield, and even quakelive. It allows me to easier see dark areas that I sometimes had trouble seeing with my old 120hz crt. I have used the monitor on numerous games and it has worked flawlessly on all of them. It helped improve my visibility in call of duty 4, and bc2 with its great crisp colors and brightness. The monitor is even perfect for twitch shooters with its fast response time and 120hz. It has zero input lag and will only help you improve your aim in FPS games. The monitor is also beautiful on SC2. It allows you to get a very wide view of the battlefield allowing you to micro better.
I would recommend this monitor to anyone who is looking to get a new monitor for gaming. One of my real life friends also purchased this monitor and he seems to love it more than I do. The monitor came with zero dead pixels for both him and I and worked at 120hz straight out of the box for both of us (no drivers needed). However, we both noticed that the monitor was very bright. Sometimes the brightness can make text look strange in microsoft word or a PDF. However, you will get used to it after you use it for a little while.
If you have an ATI card beware that some of the cards do not support 120hz. This monitor without the 120hz runs like crap and looks like crap. I would advise that you buy a different monitor if you are not going to use it at 120hz.
I would also recommend that you buy this monitor over other 120hz lcd monitors that support 1920x1080 resolution due to the fact that the 1080p resolution is not that great for gaming. 1680x1050 is the way to go if you are into FPS games. I have a 1080p lcd monitor and it is not as smooth as this monitor and it makes the games look too pretty can bog down your system.
i7 930
kingston hyperx DDR3 1600
asus p6x58d premium
evga 260 gtx
Windows 7 64 bit ultimate

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Matrox MXO2 Mini for Desktop Systems for Mac and PC Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been an Avid editor for over 15 years and thought the idea of home monitoring was GREAT... but this product is awful.
HDMI/BLU-RAY CAPTURE
I know some of you want to use it to record off of Blu-Ray or PS3. They flat out say that you can record right from HDMI... they don't tell you that 95% of the time it doesn't work. Whether it's copy-protection or differing frame rates, it's almost impossible. I was working on a project where I need to use some Blu-Ray footage off of a disc that I owned, just some landscape stuff for a presentation... after FOUR DAYS of different configurations, there I was shooting it off of the friggin' screen. Unreal. So if you want it for the HDMI recording, forget it.
AVID MONITORING
This barely works and it's a pain in the you know what to set-up the first time, especially since there is zero info in the manuals and the customer service is non-existent. Once you get it rolling, guess what, it takes your video... which is great... but then your audio too. You CANNOT use your studio monitors while in Avid with this thing hooked up!!! Someone said you can use some line out to back in b.s. workout. Forget it. You should be able to override the audio and keep it 'home'. I don't know who thought this was a great idea.
SOFTWARE
I saw the Mac version and it looked a million times better but on PC it's cryptic and impossible to figure out what anything means. The basically is the "AV Tool" and the Control Panel, as well as monitor calibration. The monitor is self-explanatory. Control Panel? Yikes. It's an absolutely half-baked mess, super vague. It's flat-out awful.
CUSTOMER SERVICE?
(Crickets chirping) Absolutely abysmal. Since they don't explain ANYTHING in the manual, I went to YouTube and then the forums. I posted a question, updating it every couple of days, asking for help... pleading... nothing. Honestly, I'm telling you guys... I was super excited to get this but in retrospect I wish I'd saved the money. It's TERRIBLE!!!! Save yourselves the hassle.

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Samsung B2430HD 24-Inch WideScreen LCD Monitor Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The specs, price, and graphics quality in particular are excellent for this model.
But there are some serious disadvantages, exacerbated by Samsung's lack of support and unusually hostile response to those who are complaining about it.
The driver disk that comes with this product doesn't load in Windows 7 64-bit, which is now the standard for newer computers. You can find drivers that work, but not easily from the official Samsung site. There are actually two drivers, one for VGA and one for HDMI connections. In VGA mode, the monitor's native resolution of 1920x1080 is not supported; it deforms horizontally and clips off 3/4" on either side of the screen, thus converting squares into rectangles and circles into ovals, a fact that even level 2 Samsung support defiantly insists is OK.
In HDMI mode, they have written a fix (as of this writing) which allows a hardware option to 'fit screen' instead of the usual '16x9', which of course never should have been necessary, since the monitor itself is shaped as a 16x9 to naturally match the 16x9 standard. Also, the default mode for use in HDMI is AV, not PC, and if you don't override that, the type quality in particular is smeared and virtually unusable.
Worse yet, the front panel controls, which are both critical and extremely difficult to use, except in very bright light, can be overridden by software (convenient), but again ONLY if you are not using Windows 7 64-bit, a limitation you can find buried in their Web site.
Of the three reviews submitted to their site, it got one five star and two one-star reviews, and Samsung deleted the initial one-star and refused to publish mine. A company that makes a lot of fine products can get in serious trouble treating users as the enemy and failing to support those products. Be forewarned.

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