Sony X-Black Monitors

[London Geezer]

Hello guys,

Seems Sony has a new range of monitors out based on their X-Black technology. I saw them in a shop and they just looked a million times better than other LCDs. They have a funny shape, but my god they look good when they're turned on.
I've been searching the net for info and they even look good on paper, with the 17" having a 8ms response time, which is very good, all things considered. The image quality is just gorgeous, black is pitch black and they're VERY bright too...

So...

What's the catch? Apart from the price, which isn't even TOO high...

 

[Guden Oden]

What's their color precision? Most/all? fast-response panels are six bits per channel...

 

[London Geezer]

That's the new range

And here.

 

[Druga Runda]

so they claim 16.77 mi colors - sound like 8 bit panel; they should be claiming 16.2 for 6 bit interpolated

 

[London Geezer]

Oh, the 19" has 12ms response time, the 17" has 8ms.

 

[Tahir2]

We have some in stock and a review coming very soon.

The 17" is using a TN panel and the 19" model is using the MVA panel.
Contrast ratio on both is very good and having seen the 19" model running WoW I can say that the 19" model is way ahead of anything else I have seen thus far in the way of PC LCD screens. The image quality was even better than a Viewsonic 20.1" VP201 (16msec).

It is to be noted that the MVA panel does give the best colour reproduction in most cases but is also the slowest responding - the 12ms rating would be listed a lot higher if this were a TN panel or S-IPS panel.

 

[London Geezer]

We have some in stock and a review coming very soon.

The 17" is using a TN panel and the 19" model is using the MVA panel.
Contrast ratio on both is very good and having seen the 19" model running WoW I can say that the 19" model is way ahead of anything else I have seen thus far in the way of PC LCD screens. The image quality was even better than a Viewsonic 20.1" VP201 (16msec).

It is to be noted that the MVA panel does give the best colour reproduction in most cases but is also the slowest responding - the 12ms rating would be listed a lot higher if this were a TN panel or S-IPS panel.

Oh cool! Can't wait for the review.
I also went WOW when i saw them, especially cause they (the 17" and the 19") were sitting next to other "normal" LCDs and the difference was like night and day.

That's why i asked, what's the catch? Are they just very very very good?

And the next question would be, why has no one else developed a technology that makes LCDs look so much better than the competition? Not just a little, it's a WOW kind of difference.

 

[Tahir2]

WoW is World of Warcraft but it may have been Lord of the Rings.. em but yea they are WOW indeed.

And there is a catch as with all things in life . . . watchout for the review it should be up tonight.

 

[London Geezer]

WoW is World of Warcraft but it may have been Lord of the Rings.. em but yea they are WOW indeed.

And there is a catch as with all things in life . . . watchout for the review it should be up tonight.

So there IS a catch!!!

Review up where?

 

[Tahir2]

http://www.gladiatorcomputers.com/support/index.php?page=29&aid=44

Review up here... we do sell them at Gladiator but all reviews are done without editorial influence and the only bit of editting I did to this review was to do with clarification.

Hope you like the review!

 

[London Geezer]

Great! Thanks! I think i'll have to invest on a 17" one soon

 

[Druga Runda]

so no catches with visual quality... the only ones are with the design decisions... now did you try to game on the 19" one and see how it goes, that must be the most appealing panel out there now, and the price 415£ - HUH!!!

 

[London Geezer]

so no catches with visual quality... the only ones are with the design decisions... now did you try to game on the 19" one and see how it goes, that must be the most appealing panel out there now, and the price 415£ - HUH!!!

I was looking to import one from the US, it would come up to £340 or so. by the time i pay tax and all, i might just as well buy it from here...

 

[Tahir2]

The review makes it clear that there is high glare on the monitors in rooms with a bright light source (e.g. light bulb).

Did try the 19" which was on display in our shop for a while and it was gorgeous.. literally blows the competition away with regards to image quality. The response time is said to be 12ms but it is an MVA panel.

 

[London Geezer]

The review makes it clear that there is high glare on the monitors in rooms with a bright light source (e.g. light bulb).

Did try the 19" which was on display in our shop for a while and it was gorgeous.. literally blows the competition away with regards to image quality. The response time is said to be 12ms but it is an MVA panel.

Can you explain the difference? That's the only thing i didn't get...

 

[Frank]

The response times quoted by manufacturers are not that interesting. There is a whole lot of other things that determine the fitness of those LCD's to play games, or even the actual response times.

For starters, what do those numbers mean? What does it mean, having a response time of 8ms? Full screen or single pixel? From dark to bright and back, or the other way around? What technology is the display using? And what about the delay? Which delay? There are multiple.

Normally, the time it takes for a single pixel to switch from off (dark, normally) to on (bright) is less than the time it takes to switch the other way around. Capacity and all that. And each technology has it's own relation between switching single pixels or an area, and the amount of "bleeding" that happens between adjacent pixels and slows the transition. Or even the time it takes to update a full screen, or only the pixels that changed.

Whatever. In short, all this means is that the time specified is the best case of a single pixel switching the way it does best and disregarding everything else. If you want to see if it runs games well, go take a look and see for yourself.

 

[MPI]

If you want to see if it runs games well, go take a look and see for yourself.

Yeah, I'll go right now, to the store where they have 20 monitors coupled up to a monitor splitter, with 1024x768 res. on all of them...

 

[Frank]

If you want to see if it runs games well, go take a look and see for yourself.

Yeah, I'll go right now, to the store where they have 20 monitors coupled up to a monitor splitter, with 1024x768 res. on all of them...

Try another store, and tell them you'll buy one if they hook it up for you.

 

[Tahir2]

If you want to see if it runs games well, go take a look and see for yourself.

Yeah, I'll go right now, to the store where they have 20 monitors coupled up to a monitor splitter, with 1024x768 res. on all of them...

Try another store, and tell them you'll buy one if they hook it up for you.

And that store will probably say "NO!" because of the Class 2 ISO warranty provided by most LCD manufacturers.

 

[MPI]

It was more a joke, on the futility of it all(maybe they'll get that latest Sony model actually in store ...in a couple of years) ... 90% of the consumers that REALLY care about display quality has to rely on second hand impressions(or worse). Sometimes you even have to take a stab in the dark and hope for the best. It's a sad fact.