ViewSonic VG800 - Low Cost High Performance?
by Kristopher Kubicki on January 24, 2003 4:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Benchmark
For comparison purposes, we ran a combination of CheckScreen and DisplayMate on the ViewSonic VG800 18.1” LCD against the previously reviewed Samsung 191T LCD. Below is a table with the tests performed and notes we made during testing. Our test machine is composed of an Inno3D GeForce4 4200 using the VGA 15 Pin D-sub, remember there is no DVI on this model. We ran all of the tests at 1280x1024 pixels with a refresh rate of 60Hz. Before the final benchmark, we calibrated the monitor as per the instructions included with DisplayMate; any changes to the LCD during the initial calibration run are noted in the observations.
DisplayMate/CheckScreen |
||
Test |
Monitor |
Observations |
Intensity range check |
VG800 |
Good |
191T |
Looks good |
|
Black level adjustment |
VG800 |
Corners have light highlights |
191T |
Blacks appear slightly lighter than on CRT |
|
Defocusing, blooming and halos check |
VG800 |
No haloing, although ghosting apparent |
191T |
None |
|
Screen uniformity and color purity |
VG800 |
Uniform |
191T |
Sharp, crisp, pure |
|
Dark screen (Glare Test) |
VG800 |
Very little glare, similar to 191T |
191T |
Very little glare. Anti-reflective screen |
|
Primary colors |
VG800 |
Good |
191T |
Looks good |
|
Color Scales |
VG800 |
Problems with red |
191T |
Reds got dark a little too fast |
|
16 intensity levels |
VG800 |
Good |
191T |
Looks good |
|
Pincushion/barrel distortion |
VG800 |
Perfectly straight |
191T |
Completely straight, no distortion |
|
Geometric Linearity |
VG800 |
Completely Straight |
191T |
Razor sharp grid, no curvature |
|
Focus check |
VG800 |
No irregularities |
191T |
Uniform clean focus |
|
Horizontal color registration |
VG800 |
Just off, similar to 191T |
191T |
Slightly off on each color, expected due to RGB sub pixels |
|
Vertical color registration |
VG800 |
Perfectly level |
191T |
Completely level |
|
Fine line moiré pattern |
VG800 |
Moire or Streaking – can not tell. |
191T |
Vertical Moiré, corrected slightly by controls |
|
Screen regulation |
VG800 |
No problems |
191T |
No problems |
|
Streaking and ghosting |
VG800 |
Test produced minor streaking, but other tests produced severe streaking |
191T |
Moderate streaking |
Surprisingly, most of the
benchmarks on the VG800 were right on par with the 191T, which should make
ViewSonic happy.
As expected, we saw
a large amount of streaking and ghosting on the unit. Again, this is another
telltale sign of the absence of digital inputs. Unlike the Daewoo L700C
monitor we saw last month, the VG800 really has a tough time with streaking;
Max Payne was almost painful to play. Likewise, Photoshop did not quite look
right as almost all of our images had unusual artifacts in Adobe’s grey background.
These were products of severe streaking.
On the positive side, the monitor had very little trouble with screen uniformity. Darks were really crisp on the monitor, and we could not detect the backlights at all. If this monitor had a digital connection and slightly lower response time, it would be excellent for gaming. We plan on obtaining revised versions of the VG800 for the future so that we can see how ViewSonic has progressed in their development of an affordable performance monitor.
0 Comments
View All Comments