Discrepancy in displays between two 1704FPV's...

Question

OK, I had some dead pixels on my brand new 1704FPV so I asked for an exchange and I just received it today. This is what I've noticed between the two monitors: Display on my right, the replacement, says 'Model Number: 1704FPVt' and it looks like it's refurbished (minor scratches on the label) Display on my left, the original LCD, says 'Model Number: 1704FPVs' and it looks like it's brand new I put both monitors in clone mode. I tried some tests using one monitor on the DVI connection and the other on the VGA connection, then switched it and ran the same tests. Instantly I noticed that the left monitor's text was more blurry than the right one, regardless of whether it was on a DVI or VGA connection. The right one was very sharp. This is a problem I've noticed even before I received the replacement. The right monitor's colors were cool whereas the left monitor's was warm. There was no way to make the color settings the same because on the left monitor, the default settings were 50/50/50 and on the right one they were 95/100/95. If I cranked the left one to 100/100/100, the screen pretty much was way over contrast. If I cranked the right one to 50/50/50, it was like someone turned the brightness all the way down. Throughout these tests both monitors were on brightness: 100, contrast: 50. What worries me is how, on the right display, even if I change the color settings to 100/100/100, the display still looks a bit dim. Although on both screens, white looks like grayish-white, but I noticed it was slightly dimmer on the right LCD. On the left monitor, when using the DVI connection, really light-colored colors displayed very well. I have several low-contrast, near-white wallpapers that I used to test this with and I could make out the minor details where contrast between the colors was extremely low. On a VGA connection, however, the contrast was lost and no matter how much I tried tweaking the settings, it wouldn't display the image correctly. On the right monitor, the image looked the same on the DVI and the VGA connection, like how it looked on the left monitor with a DVI connection (sans the color issue). So my question is, which monitor is the defective one? I think that the left monitor has a better contrast ratio but a poor VGA/DVI decoder because of the blurry text, and the right one has a good decoder but not as good of a contrast ratio. But it's strange because both monitors are supposed to be the same exact model and yet there's these huge discrepancies between the two. I would call Dell and ask them about it but I doubt I'll be able to talk to someone who actually knows what I'm talking about so I decided to post my issue on the forums instead. At this point I'm about ready to just return both monitors and pick up a nice CRT if I have to deal with this, before this I had to return 4 LCDs back to CompUSA for various problems and I'm just tired of dealing with it any longer. I need a good display that has sharp text, good color saturation, and excellent contrast because I do a lot of Photoshop work. Edit: Doing some research, I found out that the 1704FPVs was intended to be used with an Optiplex SX280, but the specifications for both are exactly the same so why are the colors so different? Message Edited by Ranma13 on 02-08-2005 10:14 AM

Ranma13 · Answer

Nobody has an answer? I called up Dell and talked to three different people about this but each one seemed more confused than the previous as to what I was talking about.

I have taken some pictures of the differences:

http://ranma13.no-ip.com/monitor1.jpg
In this picture, both monitors are set to brightness: 100, contrast: 50, color: 100/100/100. They look exactly the same when I switch the DVI/VGA connections.

http://ranma13.no-ip.com/monitor2.jpg
Here is a picture of me running Photoshop with a pure white (RGB 255/255/255) canvas and a square that's filled with RGB 250/250/250. On the left monitor which is currently using the VGA connection, the square cannot be seen, but on the right monitor it is visible although tinted slightly green. Brightness and contrast for both monitors are at 100/50 and color setting for the left monitor is 50/50/50 and for the right one it's 100/95/95. When I switch the connection, the square shows up nice and bright on the left monitor using DVI and the right one looks exactly the same on both VGA and DVI.

http://ranma13.no-ip.com/test.jpg
Here is the image I used to test the contrast on both monitors.

This issue is driving me nuts, why in the world do two monitors that have the exact same model number (only difference is the s and t suffix) have such different performances with color???

Message Edited by Ranma13 on 02-09-2005 06:56 AM

Message Edited by Ranma13 on 02-09-2005 06:58 AM

Message Edited by Ranma13 on 02-09-2005 06:59 AM

speedy5200 · Answer

you have two 1704, fpv monitors, one a fpvs, model, one a fpvt, model,  they are two different displays,  the fpvt, is made by liteon, and the fpvs, is made by samsung, thus the slight differences, you need to get two of the exact same, type & and manufacturer i guess,  did you order these new or were they refubs? also, were they bought at the same time?   http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/1703fps/en/tco99.htm   http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/1704fpvt/EN/appendx.htm#Regulatory%20Information   look at this link for the fp1703 monitors, at the middle of the page it shows the manufacturers.  the second link is the1704  monitor regulatory page used to show both as well, but now it only shows one.    this is just a guess, but id say thats what is going on. Message Edited by speedy5200 on 02-09-2005 08:47 PM

Ranma13 · Answer

I see, thank you very much for that clarification. All my searches could turn up was that the 1704FPVs was listed as for the Optiplex SX280 whereas the 1704FPVt had no computer that it was designed for.

I bought the 1704FPVs as a new unit and asked for a replacement about 4 days after due to the dead pixels and slightly blurry text, and that's when I got the FPVt. Otherwise than that I was quite happy with it but the 1704FPVt was definitely not up to par, colors looked washed out and was too cool despite my best attempts at tweaking it both with software and with the monitor's OSD. The only thing the t model had over the s model was that text was slightly sharper.

If indeed the panel was made by Samsung, it definitely shows. The LiteOn panel is no match for the Samsung one. However, I've decided that this isn't worth my hassle so I decided to return both and wait until I have enough money to pick up a 1905FP, which I'm wishing that I won't run into the same trouble as I did here. All the reviews I read stated that it uses the same panel as the Samsung 193P and I hope that stays true when I buy it.

Having two monitors with exactly the same model number but a different panel manufacturer is simply ridiculous. I expected to get a replacement unit that looked exactly the same (since I was perfectly happy with it except for the dead pixels) and I get something that can't even beat the socks (color-wise) off my old LCD. The very least Dell could have done was slap on a different model number instead of just providing a different suffix. The average home user might not care about color saturation but there's a reason why I picked up an Ultrasharp instead of their lower LCD model. Color saturation is very important when you work with Photoshop on a daily basis.

speedy5200 · Answer

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/r83546/EN/appendx.htm#Regulatory%20Information   here is the 1905fp, reg link, its made by liteon as well. i have the1704fpvt, and i really like mine, although ive never seen the samsung model to compare. i almost got a 1905fp, but they were on b?O when i boght mine. good luck!

Ranma13 · Answer

You can tell the difference when you put the 2 panels side by side. The 1704FPVt is definitely more blue.

Your color settings are set to about 100/100/100, right? On a 1704FPVs, those settings will produce a nearly-white screen and the optimal settings are 50/50/50.

I guess it's really up to the user what they want. I do a lot of Photoshop work so I need accurate colors. The t model was tinted way too blue and made my images look like the wrong hue.

Monitors

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