Zardon

Read The Review Here
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The XL30 is undenably aimed at the less cost aware professional editing and design markets such as graphics bureaus, printers and publishers. It is in these markets that colour accuracy is paramount to the end product and this is where the sophisicated LED backlight plays a part. Samsung claim industry leading colour accuracy/range and looking at the statistics we would already assume this to be true.

swimtech

Yup, the majority of readers are probably going - huh? I bet this review gets some of the same response your's and Stu's article on video reproduction using ATI and Nvidia hardware got - but I much enjoyed that article with its unique perspective, and I much enjoyed this one too. I really got a feel for how this monitor performs from your review Allan, thank you!

Great explanation of how the increased gamut affects the possible number of displayed colors on the screen, with the inherent possibility of banding due to the larger "distance" between discreet colors (dots). I didn't hear you mention anything about banding though in the games you played or the video you watched (in fact, your jaw dropped - where, you didn't say , but glad you got it back!). Is the Samsung XL30 "taking care" of that somehow within the parameters of the selected ICC profile (the 14bit LUT for processing maybe...)? If anything, I would have expected you might see banding a bit in large dark areas of a game such as a night sky...

I know this unit was never intended to be a gamer's monitor, but from a pure performance perspective, smooth color transitions between all colors is important, and large black areas with subtle variances tend to be very difficult to get absolutely smooth for digital displays of any type. Just wondering if you noticed anything along those lines...

Edit: I saw Samsung LED backlit LCD at Infocomm in 2006 - just a 20" but it looked great displaying a fruit bowl. Just two years...

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Zardon

Instead of using compressed files (such as downloaded MKV tv shows etc) I decided to use purely bluray for subjective testing and I would surmise that the 14bit LUT is actually neutralising banding as I watched 4 or 5 bluray discs and it was not noticeable, even on night scenes. It is exceptional for Bluray.

This is actually a very tricky thing to measure especially when you consider that most ingame video content is compressed and inherently has banding and other abnormalities.

Playing Call of Duty: World at war and Crysis Warhead, during the actual gameplay parts I noticed no banding and the colour representation was richer than the Dell 3008 fpw with slightly more impressive clarity.

They certainly are fine screens, the only downside is once you adapt to the accuracy and quality of the colour definition and overall impact then it really is hard to move to a lesser model.

Vikingod

That was the best review of a monitor that I've read, I actually feel smarter having done so.

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Alex

Yeah, very educational indeed. Hell of a screen.

humonous

Wonder if Santa would bring me one if I put it on my list?

swimtech

Ah, so, of course - compressed source material. I missed contemplating that issue with the inherent decoding algorithm anomalies and comprimises built into not just the monitor and its hardcoded software, but backstream in the driver and video card hardware.


I've always thought a review on a monitor, especially one like this, is really an excercise in objective subjectivism to a great extent I would think (...and I have, thought much about it). So many variables, some of which aren't but vaguely defined.


Hard to control those endorphins once released - amen. However, the experience gained from using the Samsung, and comparing it to the Dell next door subjectfully (in an objective sense of course...) must also have been insightfully rewarding, and useful in building for yourself a unique knowledge base.

That being said, please let me know when you just can't stand that 30" Dell any more - shipping for that LCD across the pond can't be too excessive !

Me too!

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

macbiter

bravo Z, bravo.

mike2h

while the monitor is awsome, your review is the star here. very, very informative. something i will actually use as reference. ty for great work.
if i ever win the lottery that screen will be my first purchase for my new super comp. lol. tho the 305t(or its version at that time) is something i'm hoping might be viable in a year.

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