Display Quality Tests: Two Samsungs and A Viewsonic

Our monitor quality testing takes on CCFL and LED Samsung displays plus a CCFL Viewsonic model.

Samsung BX2350

Samsung’s LED-based BX2350 was an odd bird at the beginning, arriving with a strangely sensible brightness of 50, a 75 contrast, and color levels of R50/G50/B50. This provided a downright moderate luminance of 150.2 cd/m2 with a 0.2 cd/m2 minumum. Unfortunately, the temperature was way off, swinging far into the red at 7200K.

During calibration, we found the red channel very difficult to move. To get the desired 6500K, we had to force the red up even higher to 73 and both the green and blue down to 32. Arriving at a 120.2 cd/m2 luminance needed knocking the brightness down to 39. The red channel is skewed in our post-calibration readout.

Perhaps not surprisingly, we had a fairly wide temperature range across the screen following calibration, with a low of 6200K (top-center) and a high of 7000K (bottom-center). Fortunately, the luminance variance was much better—actually one of the best in this roundup. Values ranging from 109.4 to 125.1 were downright even and dependable. Score one for the LED.

The BX2350 nabs our group’s highest calibrated gamut volume: 949 526. This is interesting, because even though we had a heavily weighted red channel, it’s the yellows and greens that blow way past sRGB’s profile attributes.

On Delta-E, the Samsung LED performs fairly well. We see one gray tone pop out to 2.17, but otherwise the results seem fairly normal, with the navy blue spiking to 4.11 and our overall average hitting 1.41.

Samsung P2350

Now on to Samsung’s CCFL unit. Despite having the same default settings as the BX2350, this LED unit had us reaching for sunglasses the first time we fired it up, thanks to its relatively nuclear 315.5 cd/m2 luminance (0.3 cd/m2 minimum). While near the end of this roundup, the P2350 was actually the first monitor here on our bench, so we spent the most time experimenting with it.

In the first calibration, we had the monitor set at a brightness of 36 and a contrast of 83. In the second, we kept the same contrast but notched back to 34 brightness. This was the configuration we finally settled on. We point all this out to illustrate how calibrations are not fixed; there’s no one right way. If you prefer, say, a brighter screen or stronger blues, you’ll want to prioritize those attributes at the outset and calibrate around them.

The P2350 flags a bit in overall luminance. It’s strongest at the center, with a moderate fall-off toward the left.

At these color settings, the P2350 turns in good results in our gamut test, showing a total volume of 897 107. The sRGB only escapes past the monitor’s capabilities in the violet range. 

The P2350 performs very well on accuracy in the grayscale tones. We see the usual bumps in blue inaccuracy, but overall, the Samsung CCFL remains true enough to average only a dE of 4.37.

Viewsonic VG2428wm

Trying hard to keep even with Samsung’s P2350, the CCFL-based VG2428wm defaults to Retina Blister Mode at 305.2 cd/m2 (0.3 cd/m2 minimum). This derives from a 100 brightness and 70 contrast. Even though the monitor states that it’s running at 6500K, Eye-Match reports 6300K.

Kudos go to Viewsonic for trying to take a more professional tack with its integrated color settings. Users can opt for various color temperature presets as well as an sRGB preset. However, Viewsonic and Eye-Match tend not to agree on matters. For example, Viewsonic’s 7500K gets measured as 6700K. The sRGB profile comes back as 6200K. We went with the 7500K preset, nudged the contrast to 75, and pulled the brightness down to 53, resulting in a final luminance of 119.8 cd/m2, a minimum luminance of 0.1 cd/m2, and a color temperature of 6400K. We should note that temperature stayed impressively uniform across the display, fluctuating between only 6200K to 6400K.

Luminance distribution was very good with this unit, peaking only slightly over target in the screen’s center and never dropping under 100 cd/m2 in any region.

Our calibrated Viewsonic does OK on gamut. What it gains in the yellows and reds it gives up in the violets, resulting in a total volume of 884 335.

Unfortunately, Viewsonic gets nailed with one of the worst Delta-E results in our roundup, with its navy blue leaping clear out to 5.21. Not even a fairly decent grayscale showing can save it from a 1.61 dE average.

A subjective analysis of the Samsung and Viewsonic trio reads much like that of the Dell and BenQ trio, only the Viewsonic’s vertical viewing angle problems single it out here. Straight on, though, the unit does well. It shows a bit flatter, less vibrant palette than its CCFL partner, the P2350, but the Samsung offers a blue/green cast in comparison. Personally, we’d take flat over skewed, especially with Viewsonic performing much better on power consumption. There are some exceptions, though, since we found that some scenes, such as backlit tulips, looked markedly more vibrant on the Samsung. Both monitors do well with detail in bright areas, with Samsung showing a bit more in the darks. 

In comparison, the BX2350 stands out with its reddish overtones. The calibrated BX2350 is not overly bright, but it’s still prone to losing detail in very light regions. Conversely, it does exceptionally well for an LCD in differentiating tones among blacks. You see this particularly well at a distance.