Acer h233h 23" LCD Monitor yielding poor contrast/color

I was super stoked to get an external display for my macbook. The Acer h233h allegedly has 40000:1 dynamic contrast but despite numerous calibrations everything still looks overly contrasty and I'm losing a tone of detail in video and photos. Also the color fidelity isn't great. Does anybody else have this monitor and know why I'm having issues? All the product reviews are positive for the most part but I can't ignore the HUGE difference in image quality between this monitor and the MacBook display. At this stage I'd almost rather just skip the external monitor.

Yes, I know!!!! This monitor is terrible!!! ( I got the matted version). Doesn't help at all! I wonder if it's because of the matte that I lose quality? or just acer? I had an old (very old 19" Samsung Monitor) that had colors very similar to the macbook. I wanted to "upgrade" from the 19" to 23"... well, the only upgrade I got was with the size! That's about it. So disappointed by its' colors.... I can't wait till it dies! So I can replace it! I'll try Samsung or Dell next! Apple display... yeah, ok... NOT! too much $$$$

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LCD Monitor Contrast

I got 6280 nokia. And lcd monitor is very bright. How can i decrease contrast on lcd?
PC: No posts about takeing it to nokia care center are requaierd!

farby wrote:
What aspergerguy means is there MAY be some setting available within SOME Java applications that may do this ONLY when that particular application is being used...
Thanks farby for elaborating, one such application is MjBook.
Happy to have helped forum with a Support Ratio = 42.5

Has anyone used the Acer X223Wbd 22" Wide LCD Monitor with their MBP?

Good afternoon,
I'm currently thinking about purchasing the 22" Wide Acer LCD monitor to hook up to my MBP, so I can have a bigger screen to render graphics and play games on. I was wondering if there is anyone else, who has experience with this product, that can give me their opinion about it. My financial budget is about $200.00, so I need to find the best monitor for my buck. I have read some good reviews on it, but I'm not sure if those individuals had used it with a MBP. I would appreciate any useful information that anyone can give me. Thank you.
AMMOCAN

Thanks J, that's a nice find. I've tried it and it seems to be working seamlessly. As you said, I cannot confirm any multi-touch support and the price that they are asking is certainly not in the private end-user range. Fortunately, according to the terms of use for the evaluation, you only need to calibrate after every 100 touches to keep the driver working indefinitely.
Terms of Use:
TERMS OF USAGE
This software is supplied for evaluation and test purposes only. For use in production systems, driver licenses are required. Please note that click emulation will cease after 100 touches and a calibration or reboot is needed to gain another 100 touches.
This would appear to be a nice work around until acer decides to distribute a Mac driver or someone develops a cheaper alternative.

External display HD LCD monitor vs HD LCD TV ??

Hello All
I'm needing to up-grade me second display and, have been shopping around.
In my shopping I'm getting mixed thoughts, I finding HD monitors and HD TV's so, I'm hoping somebody can point me in the right direction, I'm finding HD monitors in the area of $200. but, all the HD TV's $300. + , is there any real advantage of one over the other ?
I know just going with a standard LCD monitor would not be a good option, it's the HD monitors
that added to my future purchase confusion.
Thanks for any advice and or recommendations

They will probably both do as monitors. The Acer is a Computer Multisync Monitor, claiming to have a full resolution of 1920x1080. It is probably a progressive scan device, with some image processing on board, since they claim "Max. Refresh Rate 60Hz" on the Acer web site, so if you'll preview interlaced video on it, it may have the artifacts associated with standard poor or nonexistent de-interlacers. But it maybe o.k., specially if you are going to output most of your work for the internet, true Multisync Monitor maybe a good thing.
The Samsung is almost a TV set. It appears to be a 1680x1050 monitor. The bells and whistles appear to be associated with the HDTV tuner. As an ATSC tuner, it will have to tune the standard US ATSC channels and decode the standard 18 ATSC formats, including 640x480i30, 704x480i30/p24/p30/p60, 1280x720p24/p30/p60 to 1920x1080i30 and 1920x1080p24/ p30. But all this is converted into the monitor native 1680x1050xwhatever scan rate. From the HDMI inputs it will probably depend on drivers running on the graphics card on the MAC. Make sure that they have MAC drivers for this one, often they have just Windows drivers for these monitors.
I have a 26" Samsung, without the tuner and speakers, as my second monitor, to preview TV destined footage. It's resolution is 1920x1080, and it does an excellent job to show any artifacts that would show on TV.
I would recommend seeing the inputs before ordering the monitor on the WEB, because the most important characteristics are usually unavailable reading the specs. Also check about MAC driver availability.
Best of luck.

Connecting 2 LCD monitors to my Macbook?

Hello Everyone.
Ok, before I go poking around and stuff something up, can someone please answer my following questions. I am wanting to connect two LCD 22inch monitors to my Macbook Pro.
1. How do I do this?
2. Instead of buying Apple screens, are there any other good LCD monitors that will do just a good a job?
Please help.
Thanks....I love my MAC

1. http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/products/home.php
check graphic expansion modules
2. for serious work I would strongly recommend eizo monitors. current apple displays simply cant compete with them. They are very outdated and therefore overpriced. they have poor adjusting possibilities..in both picture and stands.
tutmir

Which LCD monitor to get? Dell or Apple?

Hello everyone!
Well, I have decided to make the jump from CRT to LCD. I see that Dell has one similar to the Apple Cinema Display which is 20 inches. I am somewhat confused as to what monitor I should get since to me the Dell looks just as good as the Apple?
Can someone recommend for me a nice 20 inch LCD monitor similar or comparable to the Apple Cinema Display 20 inch?
Thanks,

Hi Nadav,
MacWorld reviews:
http://www.macworld.com/products/displays.html
You decide what is important to you in each review. ie. some displays have a "poor" viewing angle, but if that's not important, or privacy is important, then you can ignore it.
Or the UK MacUser labs tests:
http://www.macuser.co.uk/labs/23:9/19in-widescreen-tfts/products.html
Again, filter what is important to you.
Something that was important to me was pitch size, I'm used to 96dpi now (but 72dpi when I had CRT). 12pt fonts look the same size on every monitor I work on. When I have used a Dell "19in" TFT, it was smaller than my 17in Studio Display. It also had some insane native resolution, which made 12pt fonts tiny and unreadable - annoying if you're proofing PDF documents. When I reduced resolution, it looked awful, and was still unreadable.
Oh yes, TFTs can be awful below their native resolution, while CRTs usually manage quite well. There is a technical reason for this - can't find the link just now - something to do with the phosphor in CRTs, maybe.
Still, this might not be important to you, or TFT monitors with insane native resolutions may be a lot better now. Just something to check, 96dpi is good.

LCD monitor profiling: getting started

I have a cheap LCD monitor (Gem brand) I bought a year or so ago. It works okay for me but i've never calibrated and profiled it. I'd like to finally invest in a calibrator. I'm a click away from ordering the X-Rite EODIS2 Eye-One Display 2 as my quick research (thanks to this forum) says that's a fine choice.
Once I receive it I will take a serious look at my ambient light conditions and try to become comfortable living with less natural light in my workspace. I will also consider constructing a monitor hood.
Meanwhile I'll keep reading Real World Color Management.
Does it sound like i'm on the right track? Any advice / caveats at this stage welcome. Otherwise I'm sure you'll be hearing from me. :) Many thanks.

The saga continues...
I've been watching Chris Murphy's lynda.com 'Color Management Essential Training' videos, which are very good but i'm still not sure I'm doing this properly. Here's the story:
He outlines a test to determine whether your LCD display's backlight is controlled via the Brightness or Contrast on-screen control: fill a new Photoshop file with black, and adjust each control independently to determine which shows a visible change in the solid black. After resetting my monitor to defaults, and trying this, it was obvious that the Contrast control was linked to the backlight.
Murphy then demonstrates profiling, using the same Eye-One Match software. He skips the 'Set the Contrast' portion in the software, as that relies on adjusting the Contrast control to adjust backlight. I did do it, because my monitor backlight does appear to be controlled by Contrast.
Next is the 'Set the White Point' portion, which involves adjusting RGB values separately. Chris says it's not a good idea for non-high-end LCDs -- that it's better for white point adjustment to occur in the video card LUT. So he skips that portion, and -- although my monitor does allow such independent adjustment -- i skip it as well.
Then it's 'Set the Luminance', where we use the Brightness control. In Chris' case he's adjusting the backlight. In my case, uh, I dunno what I'm adjusting exactly. Anyway, I can't get the current marker all the way down to the target value. With Brightness at 0, it's slightly above my target 90. (I wonder if this means my monitor is burning out, or it's an indicator I should have done the RBG adjustment stage?) But Chris encourages staying slightly above the target so there's a little room to come down later. I settle at 92.6.
Then calibration, correction curve, RGB->XYZ, and a display profile is born!
I learned from Chris that Eye-One Match includes a Monitor Validator feature. I do it and find my DE2000 is 2.56! Seems quite high. (Chris' was 0.78.) Does it mean my monitor just sucks, or is it an acceptable value, or is there something I need to adjust?
In other news, blinds are more closed (except for one window -- this room has lots of 'em), room is darker, I shall start wearing black. :)
Thanks for any perspective on any of this.

LCD Monitor Calibration

There is an vast amount of information on this topic, that topic being LCD monitor calibration. Some LCD have presets, theatre, games, etc. I want to calibrate my LCD so that if someone else is viewing my work on their monitor and they complain it is too light or to dark, I can say it is your monitor. One of my LCD has two presets that are of interest 'standard' & 'sRGB' my other LCD doesn't have any presets. What is the best or near best calibration I can manually set both monitors too, if this is even possible on LCD, I hope it is, atleast I hope they have matured from the past.

I get into trouble with everyone when I suggest using a gamma calibration target and using on-monitor and video card controls to get the monitor calibration close to 2.2 gamma, so I probably shouldn't do it. But hey, it's not absolutely necessary to spend money to get closer to your goal. It really boils down to how good is good enough for you. Better color accuracy than what you have now could be a stepping stone.
One approach - and I'm not saying it's the best one, but it'll get you closer to your goal without spending money - is to set your monitor to the sRGB preset, set your monitor profile to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 in Windows, then adjust the video driver controls so that the gradients in this target, when displayed at 100% zoom, appear like neutral gray gradients.
This is what you want it to look like:
I wish I could say it's simple to get it to look like this, but unfortunately it's not. However, if you have the ability to set gamma, contrast, brightness for each of the three color channels in your video drivers (ATI Catalyst drivers offer this ability), then with a little elbow grease it is possible.
-Noel

External LCD monitors - important specs???

Hi,
I'm looking at getting an external 20" - 22" LCD monitor to go with my 15"MBP C2D.
Looking at the specs of various models, I'm wondering how important the contrast ratio is - it seems to vary from 500:1 to 800:1. I'm using the comp for video editing/design work and am keen on faithful colour reproduction.
I guess viewing angle is another important spec while response time is important for gamers. What are other specs to look out for? Pixel pitch? Display colour (is 16.2M adequate or should I hold out for 16.7M?)?
BTW, are there any third party models out there that offer additional USB/FW ports as the cinema displays do?
Thanks, Sean

If color is important to you the most important thing to look out for is professional reviews; specs are secondary to that. On paper one monitor might have better specs than another... but when you look at the two side by side the lesser spec monitor can have better overall image quality.
Basically narrow down all the models/brands you can afford... and then start googling for reviews on them. You'll find lots of reviews on online mags like trustedreviews.com etc... but you dont need to search those sites... just search google. Read all the reviews and then you can make your mind up from there.
The profesional reviewers usually use software like DisplayMate to measure the performance of the monitors in loads of different areas of image quality... color gradients, bw gradients... shadows, midtones, hilights, grey-grey response time, black-white response time etc. The figures you see in specs usually dont mean much as they have a lot of marketing crap attached to them. E.g. most cheap monitors which boast hi response times usually omit the fact that they can achieve those response times because they use lower-bit depth panels... which mean dark gradients appear very banded etc. YOU wanna make sure your monitor has as little banding as possible. Also the contrast ratio which they boast arent always accurate... they may say 800:1 contrast ratio but for some reason when the contrast ratio is measured it is nowhere near that figure... whereas other brands/model quote more accurate figures....
So in short, google for reviews.... dont put all your faith in ONE review but read as many as you can and look for COMMON points from all reviews (e.g. one review may prefer model A over model B, and another review may prefer model B over model A... this can be down to personal taste... but lookout for what common things which both reviews say about both models.... that stuff is probably accurate).
MacBook Pro C2D 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) Week 46 Build

LCD monitors - are HD better?

I'm shopping for an LCD monitor my desktop PC. Some monitors say HD and some don't. Is HD better? If so how? Is it the contrast ratio that is better for HD, or does HD mean only the screen is wider? I don't see much difference between the HD and non-HD Dell's. For example, the Dell S1909WX 19" non-HD and Dell S2009W 20" HD both have a contrast ratio of 1,000:1. But the 20" HD is 1600 x 900 while the 19" is 1440 x 900.

The HD is going to offer a slightly better picture quality because of the increased resolution, that is about it.
Adam
Best Buy Community - Retail, Americas
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LCD monitor suggestions...HELP!!!

I have 2 Samsung 910T monitors with my Mac Pro....I want to get 2 widescreen monitors to replace them...I LOVE my color rendition of the Samsungs, they have 1000:1 contrast ratio, and nice brightness....370...My prints look EXACTLY as they do on my monitors...so I am reluctant to change. So I was looking at the Samsung 244T 24" widescreen LCD's, 1000:1 contrast, 470 brightness....so it looks good spec-wise....The Apple 23", which is not quite as good spec wise (but specs are not everything)..The Dell 2407, which looks almost identical to the Smasung...the Benq 24" which may actually be the EXACT same panel as the Samsung, and then possibly 1 30" instead of 2 24"...The options there are the Apple 30" and the Dell 3007 30"...The Dell can be had for about $1300 which is only a few more than a 23"!!! The question is how is the color, the calibration, and accuracy....What is everyone using?

Dell 2405 24" LCD Monitor.
Dell 2405 24" LCD Monitor.
I say that twice, because I have two. And they beat the Apple 23" monitors in performance AND price (Sorry Ken).
www.barefeats.com/lcd.
Shane
Dual 2G G5 (additional 250GB SATA), 2xDell 24 Monitors Mac OS X (10.4.2) Aurora PipePro Studio, 2xG-Raid 500GB, DSR-11, FCP Studio

Guide lines to chosing a LCD monitor

I am in need of a new monitor. My Trinitron CRT is giving out and would like to replace it with a LCD type and know that Adobe does not support LCD gamma adjustment. What are some of the guide lines to use for the selection of a new monitor? Does "contrast factor" have a bearing on the dynamic range (Dmax)? What about "color space" of the LCD? Is there some way of finding out from the manufacturer what the color temperature is? Or do I just buy a monitor and along with some test apparatus, do the measurements at home?
If anyone has had experience with this I sure would like to get some pointers.
Ken Clunis

Ken....
I've just been through the process of choosing a new LCD screen to replace my dead one. The biggest problem I faced was that there was no way I could try out a monitor and send it back just because it wasn't up to my idea of good. So I had to rely on reading about some of the issues in various reviews etc. Trouble was that most folks had conflicting experiences and many reviews I came across mostly focused on the gaming market.
Being an Engineer I resorted to looking at the various spec's with a hope to making a decision this way but this didn't help as many specs were a little limited in info. In the end I looked at the technology and some practical issues that surfaced.
1. Many OEMs like Dell don't make their own LCD panels, which is the key ingredient. Instead they'll buy from where ever they can get the best deal. This means that the quality and type varies from batch to batch. The advice I came across said to look for a display that used an S-IPS (or AS-IPS Panel). These have better viewing angles than some other types. Their were reports of some Dells using these and others of the same type number using a PVA panel.
2. Colour space isn't a concept the average LCD manufacturer worries about. If you want AdobeRGB then the choice is limited and more expensive. Most will approximate sRGB.
3. Being able to change the colour temperature is important rather than having a preset value. If your going to invest in a colourimeter then I'd advise checking to see if you can independently adjust the R,G,B. Although to be fair this can often be done by the display driver.
4. I'm not sure about Contrast Ratio v Dmax. This is tricky for LCD screens because there isn't any control for Contrast/Brightness - just the backlight control. On my display - NEC 20WGX2 - the Contrast Ratio I think was spec'd at 1000:1 but the screen was so bright I had to wear dark glasses until I'd set it up with my Eye-One. This resulted in a 15% contrast setting and a 25% Brightness setting. Backlights are subject to degradation and start to change after about 18months or sooner if you run them at full wack. So, I'm hoping that running it at lower settings will extend its life.
5. In the end I went for the NEC 20WGX2. a) NEC make there own panels, b)NEC make Professional Displays for Photographers and Artists, c) it got a good review for what I could afford.
There was some very useful information on the following web site along with some good information on the technology and choosing a display.
6. If you are lucky enough to be able to try one with a Colourimeter then a good test is to see how much adjustment is required for the Colour Temperature. The more you have to tweak the RGB the harder the Profile has to work to render the colours which might introduce more errors. Displaying a Grayscale Gradient is another good test to check for banding. Do the same on a Colour Gradient as well.
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk
Colin

Dual logging: macbook and samsung 2233bw lcd monitor: missing drivers

hi,
this x-mas i got a samsung lcd monitor. it is connected via dvi, and it's great to have all this extra screen space to play with. i have an issue, though. my new monitor is unable to take advantage of all the graphic features because the driver that came on the samsung c.d. is for windows os. there is no driver download for mac osx on samsung.com. i don't really feel like buying huey pro or spyder 2 colorvision. what can i do to 'unlock this monitor's potential?'
thanks and happy new year

well you don't actually need "drivers" for a monitor. the only thing beneficial would be a color profile. the cd probably contains some of those. but profiles need to be monitor, not monitor-model/series specific, as such, bundled profiles are just a "rough guide".
Since you cannot use the cd, you could try calibrating it with the colorsync utility in your applications->utilities folder. There are also some other better calibration tools on the net. a quick search yields good results.
but these eye-calibrations are never as good as the hardware calibration tools. maybe you know somebody who could lend you one?

I just bought a recertified Mac Mini, and I wonder if anyone here knows if it's possible to hook up my Mac flat screen LCD monitor to it using what adapters? I currently have a DVI to ADC adapter connected to my G4 Powermac.

I just bought a recertified Mac Mini core duo - it's not the newer model-, and I wonder if anyone here knows if it's possible to hook up my Mac flat screen LCD monitor to it and using what adapters? I currently have a DVI to ADC adapter connected to my G4 Powermac.
The company I bought it from is not Apple, and I may regret that. It was in my price range, though.
This is the first time I've used this community, and I've been a Mac owner since 2000. Thanks in advance!

when you say "Mac flat screen LCD", do you mean this:
http://www.ares-woo.com/christmas2005/images/pc_cine.jpg
if it is, you might wanna try this:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

LCD Monitor with B&W G3 Tower

Hello, I am looking to replace my 17" Apple Studio Display CRT on my G3 B&W Tower with an LCD monitor. My questions are: 1) Will my computer (VGA port) accept any current LCD screens on the market, or do I have to stay with Apple's LCD monitors? 2) There are several Apple Studio LCD Displays offered on eBay. They mention DVI and ADC connections. How do I know which models will work with my B&W G3? Forgot to mention that I have upgraded the processor with a Sonnet G4 500Mhz. Thanks.

Hi,
your B&W (like mine) should be equipped with a standard VGA output on your video card, which should accept any monitor with a VGA connection.
I tried a couple of LCD (a Samsung and a Hewlett Packard) which worked flawlessly and did not give me any problems.
I am not sure whether you can connect any of the current generation Apple flat screens due to the different interface, but you surely can take advantage of any VGA equipped LCD.
cheers

Acer h233h 23" LCD Monitor yielding poor contrast/color

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