Dell 1901FP and extreme ghosting

Question

My Dell 1901FP LCD monitor arrived yesterday, and right out of the box I've noticed some bad ghosting.  When I loaded Half-Life, I could not believe what I was seeing.  The ghosting was terrible, there were trails following everything and colors were bleeding.  I noticed bad ghosting in movies and even Flash animations. I did a lot of research on this monitor before I bought it, and all of the reviews I saw said there was little to no ghosting.  To make sure it just wasn't me, I checked some other Dell LCDs. First, I tried Half-Life on my Dell Inspiron 8200, which has a UXGA screen running at 1600x1200, with a response time of 25ms (the same response time as the 1901FP.)  There was absolutley no ghosting that I could see.  No color bleeding.  Nothing. Next I tried my neighbor's 1800FP.  It's Dell's 18' version, and it has a higher response time (30ms,) so I thought the ghosting must be worse.  Wrong.  His LCD ran Half-Life with absolutley no problems, no ghosting, no color bleeding.  His movies play clearly, with no problems at all. My dad has a 17' NEC LCD with an even higher response time (I think 40ms) and there was no ghosting in Half-Life. My question is, does my monitor have a defect?  Why is this ghosting so badly when other Dell LCD's with equal or higher response times have no problems at all? Thanks, -Keith

robnich · Answer

Are you running your 1901FP at the native resolution of 1284x1024 @ 60 Hz refreash rate? If so, I am puzzled by your problem, as I detect no ghosting on my 1901FP, including running the Monitors Direct Calibrator at: http://www.monitorsdirect.com/toolkit/index.shtml

I don't play Half-Life, but have no significant ghosting on a couple of other games or on Flight Simulator 2004.

If you are running at native resolution, you may have a defective unit.

Bob N.

skwirl · Answer

Yes, I am running at the native resolution, 1280x1024 at 60hz, with DVI input.

robnich · Answer

I have no good answers, but there are a few things you could try if you have not already done so. I assume you have reset the monitor to factory default settings with the OSD.To be sure it is not the digital cable or input at fault you could try the monitor with analog input. Reinstalling the video driver is another possibility. Unfortunately it is hard to be optimistic that any of this will reveal/solve the problem. If it persists, I would take advantage of the 30-day return option and try another 1901FP. As I indicated in my earlier post, mine is entirely free of ghosting or smearing.

Bob N.

lanclav · Answer

Same here.  I get bad ghosting in Max Payne 2.  I ran my 1901fp on DVI (60 hz) and ANALOG (72 hz) with same results.  Is this just my monitor?  Should I send it back and maybe try a Samsung or Sony?

tommxx · Answer

I agree, With my 1901 I get really bad ghosting when playing Counter Srike and Team Fortress!

I never had any problems with my 17" LCD Samsung, and (a cheap LCD) Kogi monitors, which are

2 years (techology) old. I am not sure why a digital monitor of NEW techology would ghost so bad!

But the ghosting isn't as bad with other applications, such as Unreal Tournament. But I am

disappointed in this monitor. I upped the refresh rate from 60 to 75, but there was no difference.

I dont know what to do, I think nothing can be done about this ghosting problem! :(

tomintx · Answer

What you describe is not the normal experience from most postings here in the Forum. You may have some detectable ghosting at very high contrast and frame rates such as in FPS type games. However in most others I doubt you should see any. I play DVD, Flight Sims, NASCAR, and RalliSport with no discernable ghosting.  I would try to update your video card drivers if you haven't already, and if that doesn't do it, return it or exchange it for another.

poorabpaschim · Answer

Even I am pretty disappointed with the 1901FP that I got just last weekend. I am now running it at 1240*1024 and it is a little better. But still I would not suggest this monitor to my friends.

John Redcorn · Answer

my 1900 (which is close to the 1901 but a different manufacturer) has zero ghosting. the only time i can see it is like a very dark gray against black. but even then you have to look for it.

i play lots of fast paced games, including BF 1942, Vice City, Delta Force, and Call Of Duty. No ghosting in those games. I do video work too and it looks great. you guys need to exchange yours.

I wonder if the 1901 manufacturer had more defective panels go out than Samsungs 1900.

skwirl · Answer

hmm I wonder if the 1901FP is just slower all around I really don't want to return this and get another one that is just as bad :/ There's no way this is 25ms

ronss · Answer

that is a shame, i was considering the 1901fp , dells had some great prices on it, but now i may reconsider. i may go with the 193t samaung when it becomes available, may be out now at some places. my also take another look at the viewsonic vp191b and planar px191.

robnich · Answer

I am wondering if these ghosting problems are related to the video card or driver being used. I have no ghosting on my 1901FP with my Dimension 8250, ATI Radeon 9700TX, Catalyst 3.8 drivers and 1 gig of RAM.

Bob N.

poorabpaschim · Answer

robnich, how much memory your your Radeon have - 64MB or 128MB ?

robnich · Answer

128 MB. Bob N.

cemurray · Answer

I have had my 1901FP for a couple months now and I can't say I have noticed any ghosting. Again, I haven't been playing Half Life lately... I have played UT2k3, Halo, Call of Duty (rocks!) and a few other demos. I would think that if there was ghosting, one of those games would have showed it. Another note, make sure to enable V-Sync on all games or set to ON in your video driver preferences, so that no tearing occurs because of the low 60hz refresh rate vs. faster frames a second put out by the latest mid to high end vid card. I personally love the color and brightness of this LCD. No complaints thus far with my first LCD purchase.

Hardware:

Asus A7N8X, AMD 2600+ 333FSB, 512mb Corsair 3200 LL, Sapphire 9500NP 128mb OC'd w/Omega ATI 3.8 cats and ofcourse Dell 1901FP LCD.

skwirl · Answer

Great, I just found a dead pixle today, one that was not there when I first got this monitor.  I wonder how many more will go?  This is totally unacceptable, now I have to go through the hassle of returning it.

Monitors

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