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Display Quality Problems - XPS GEN 2 DISPLAY NOISE FACTOR TEST

post #1 of 21
5/20/05 at 1:46pm
Thread Starter 
There are numerous postings here about display issues... grain, sparkles, etc.

Bottomline is that these issues do exist. We have experienced them through 8 screens on five different XPS GEN 2 units (trying to buy 4 units) and have yet to receive displays without excessive GRAIN and other various issues including light leakage, particularly on the the Samsung, inconsistent up to two inches, uneven at the bottom of the screen. The grain problem in particular makes it nearly impossible to do any photo editing.

Apparently some customers have received displays WITHOUT defects.

I've devised a simple test for XPS GEN 2 owners, especially those of you that have a second machine and photoshop with a CRT monitor, (or a CRT monitor hooked up to your xps gen 2).

FIRST:: set your XPS GEN 2 desktop background to solid red. Do you see solid red or do you see grainy red?

SECOND:: Open photoshop on your CRT monitor machine. Create a large document and fill it with RED 255,0,0. Make sure your document is displayed at 100%.

THIRD:: Select Filter / Noise / Add Noise... in photoshop. Adjust the noise levels in photoshop until the view of the red area matches the view on your XPS GEN 2 displays red desktop background. Set the Distribution to Uniform and check monochromatic while performing the test.

THE RESULTS OF MY TEST, THE XPS GEN 2 DISPLAY NOISE FACTOR IS::
21/1600x1200/14%
CRT monitor is 21"/1600x1200
Photoshop Noise Filter is set to 14% / Uniform / Monochromatic


PLEASE post your results here. Very curious to see the ACTUAL comparison of other screens using this test. Will anyone have an actual SOLID RED???
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post #2 of 21
5/20/05 at 2:31pm
i9300 - LG screen - 1920x1200 (tested on 19" 1600x1200 CRT)
Noise Filter: 9% / Uniform / Monochromatic

The noise doesn't bother me at all. . .I don't even notice it. I'd MUCH rather be on this screen than my CRT. . .the CRT is so "intense" - how it 'flashes' each image up. You can notice the difference SO greatly when you come over to the solid-image LCD. . .

I LOVE MY 9300
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post #3 of 21
5/20/05 at 2:35pm
Thread Starter 
9% is significantly less than 14%

Sorry... i should have indicated SAMSUNG SEC5557

We have units with both the LG and the SAMSUNG... samsung test coming shortly...
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post #4 of 21
5/20/05 at 2:55pm
Thread Starter 
OK... OUR LG display results:

21/1600x1200/13%
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post #5 of 21
5/20/05 at 3:03pm
That's an interesting way to quantify the grainyness, but the bottom-line is that Dell chose to go with vendors who provided an anti-glare coating under the glossy finish. All anti-glare coatings will produce some amount of grainyness. Until Dell changes the panels they use, you'll never find one that's noise-free.
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post #6 of 21
5/20/05 at 4:18pm
Thread Starter 
The SONY with an anti-glare coating is perfect, no grain.
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post #7 of 21
5/20/05 at 4:21pm
Then buy a SONY. Problem solved.
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post #8 of 21
5/20/05 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah that might be the only option. Too bad the SONY is otherwise significantly deficient.
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post #9 of 21
5/20/05 at 4:46pm
Looks like you're SOL then.
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post #10 of 21
5/20/05 at 5:10pm
Thread Starter 
the point of this thread was test results from various users... there are wide variations in quality on these displays... some are terrible, some might be ok.

We are interested in seeing the range of results for users here.
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post #11 of 21
5/20/05 at 5:54pm
It's an interesting idea. I don't have a crt at the moment but I do have Photoshop. Glad somebody is trying to quantify this.

I tried the red but magenta shows it even better. Maybe because the lcd has to use both red and blue pixels in equal proportions. I tried it with yellow (red/green) but not as good. Cyan (green/blue) is just too intense to look at lol

I'm really interested in seeing where this thread leads.
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post #12 of 21
5/20/05 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpca
The SONY with an anti-glare coating is perfect, no grain.
It also costs about $300 extra.
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post #13 of 21
5/20/05 at 6:25pm
Is there little enough variation now in CRT monitors for this to work? I've seen some pretty ugly ones.
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post #14 of 21
5/20/05 at 6:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpca
The SONY with an anti-glare coating is perfect, no grain.
The glossy Sony (like on the A290) does not have an anti-glare coating, which is why it has no grain. I have no idea why Dell chose to mix an anti-glare coating with a glossy reflective coating. It makes no sense.
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post #15 of 21
5/20/05 at 6:50pm
5.41% looks pretty close to me on mine. If anything I'd say it's less than that. LG.
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post #16 of 21
5/20/05 at 7:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpca
Yeah that might be the only option. Too bad the SONY is otherwise significantly deficient.
The Sony A600 isnt so bad.....Solid construction, Nice big keyboard, 2.13 Ghz Pentium M770 CPU, 533 Mhz fsb, up to 2 gig DDR2 SDRAM, 100 meg 5400 rpm SATA Drive, Dual Layer DVD, built in 802.11 abg wireless and the Best Screen Going....... Guess it's major shortcomming is the X600 128 meg graphics card..... but only a shortcomming for for gamers... It's super fast for me..... I do mostly Photograhic, and Graphics Design with Photoshop CS.... I couldnt ask for a nicer machine..... The XPS Gen2 is a great machine too, except fot the LCD and Dell IS AWARE of the problems.....
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post #17 of 21
5/20/05 at 8:07pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dellbert
The glossy Sony (like on the A290) does not have an anti-glare coating, which is why it has no grain. I have no idea why Dell chose to mix an anti-glare coating with a glossy reflective coating. It makes no sense.

Good point. Guess they chose to do it because it was cheap. I'd prefer they offer two screen options. I'd pay +$300 for the better screen.

The SAMSUNG SEC5557 is originally manufactured as a flat, anti-glare screen (they actually put one of these on my XPS GEN 2 by mistake)... my understanding is that the glossy coating has been applied on top of that.

I've heard (not sure) it is a glued on sheet... that would explain the visible horizontal lines that do look kind of like glue.

I've heard that the LG is sprayed on to an antiglare screen... which would explain the more variable look of the grain on that display.
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post #18 of 21
5/20/05 at 8:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpca
I've heard (not sure) it is a glued on sheet... that would explain the visible horizontal lines that do look kind of like glue.

I've heard that the LG is sprayed on to an antiglare screen... which would explain the more variable look of the grain on that display.
Wow, that actually explains a lot. The LG has ripples that seem to be on the surface (like it was buffed), but the Samsung has very weird striations that seem to have some color and light dispersal effects. Both of them are subpar.
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post #19 of 21
5/20/05 at 9:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dellbert
Wow, that actually explains a lot. The LG has ripples that seem to be on the surface (like it was buffed), but the Samsung has very weird striations that seem to have some color and light dispersal effects. Both of them are subpar.
Exactly... the LG has kind of cellular shapes in the gloss if you look close.
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post #20 of 21
5/22/05 at 4:19am
Thread Starter 
anyone else going to perform this test?
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