IntroductionI just bought a Samsung 226BW to replace my aging 191T, which has served me well for 5 years. The price of quality widescreen LCDs with fast response times finally fell to my breaking point. While my 19" 191T cost almost $800 when I got it in 2002 (from a sketchy retailer with the lowest price I could find), I just got this 22" widescreen 226BW from NewEgg for under $300.
The Samsung 191T is still a great monitor; even today, it holds its own compared to a lot of modern LCDs, with its great color, classic design, screen homogeneity, and very wide viewing angle. Pretty much everything about it is great except the response time. Rated at 25ms, the monitor that was once "the best 19" LCD on the market" has been killed in terms of response time over the years by the advent of "gaming LCDs" with TN panels. The 226BW, Samsung's latest refinement of such an LCD, has a quoted 2ms response time, making for streak-free FPS gaming. The only downside is that I'll be out of excuses for sucking at Counterstrike other than my lack of skills.
Controversy
This popular model has, however, come under scrutiny because Samsung has used LCD panels from at least three different manufacturers since its release. The monitor is sold with the same model name and no indication of a change on the packaging. You have to look at a tag on the back of the monitor or view a hidden service menu in the on-screen setup interface to find out what panel it has inside.
The use of different panels is particularly disturbing because most of the reviews of the 226BW are based on the original, and by all accounts superior, "S" panel, which is made by Samsung. The respected monitor review site Behardware praised this "S" version, specifically for its exceptional color out of the box. Then, Samsung began silently shipping the same model with a panel made by AU Optronics, the "A" version. It was found to have bad color compared to the "S", and people who ended up with one felt victimized by Samsung's bait-and-switch.
Behardware recently published an in-depth comparison of the "S" and "A" panels, along with a color profile for the "A" panel that improves its colors to being as good as the "S" panel. After reading this, I was ready to buy the monitor, even if I got an "A" version, knowing I could use the ICC profile they provided if that was the case.
Improving the Color of Your "C" Panel
I hope that in following the three steps below, those who have bought a "C" version like me will be able to improve its color as dramatically as I have. I made color profiles using both 100% and 75% Brightness for anality's sake, although switching back and forth between them I can't even tell a difference.
1. Go into the setup menu of the 226BW, and choose Reset Image and Reset Color. Among other things, this will set the Brightness at 100%, which may bother some people. If you like a dimmer display, use one of the ICC profiles below that were made using 75%, 50%, and 25% Brightness.
2. Using my RGB values may or may not improve the white point on your 226BW, because of many factors that could play into things, such as different video cards. Still you could use them as a rough guide, assuming all "C" panels could benefit from the slight adjustments I made. To make the changes, navigate to Color Control in the setup menu, and set the RGB sliders to the values I mentioned above: R51 G47 B50. If nothing else, you can try them out and then revert back if you think it's worse.
3. Download an ICC profile below:
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226BW(Digital)-factory-R51-G47-B50.icm
Use with Brightness at 100%
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226BW(Digital)-factory-Bri75-R52-G46-B50.icm
Use with Brightness at 75%
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226BW(Digital)-factory-Bri50-R51-G48-B50.icm
Use with Brightness at 50%
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226BW(Digital)-factory-Bri25-R51-G47-B50.icm
Use with Brightness at 25%
XP users:
Download Microsoft's WinColor, install it, and now Color will appear in your Control Panel. Open Color, select the Profiles tab, and load one of the profiles above. Next, go to the Devices tab, choose Displays, and click Add.... Now select the profile you want to use with the 226BW, hit OK, and choose Set as Default.
To get the profile to load with Windows XP, right-click the Start button » Open All Users, navigate into Programs » Startup folder. Put a shortcut to WinColor.exe here. Right-click the shortcut, click Properties, and add /L to the end of the Target field, so it looks something like this:
"C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe" /L
Don't copy and paste the above line into your Target field, since you may have installed the program to a different location. Just add a space, forward slash, and an L to the end so it looks like the above example. Also be sure you don't have any other gamma loaders in your Startup folder or otherwise set to start with Windows, such as Adobe Gamma or Powerstrip.
Conclusion
I am very happy with the 226BW "C" version after calibration. If I had to use it the way it came out of the box, I would have sent it back or sold it on eBay in a heartbeat; the color was that bad. I imagine a lot of people wouldn't have a problem with it, but coming from a great monitor like the 191T, I had high expectations. Fortunately, the Spyder2 allowed my expectations to be met. There is little to complain about with this beautifully designed monitor, and I would encourage anyone on the fence to go ahead and make the purchase.
I hope this review was helpful for those who are wary of the mystery surrounding the "C" version of the 226BW, which has seemingly supplanted almost all of the stock available these days. I took some more shots of the monitor that are in my photo gallery . If you have any special tests you would like to see done, just let me know. As long as they are relatively easy to do, I'm happy to oblige.
Pros
- Extremely good response time for smear-free gaming and movies
- Great color possible with a custom ICC profile
- Beautiful housing design looks a lot better than typical computer equipment
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