Product Description

The Samsung 6-series Widescreen LCD monitors is certified to meet Microsoft Vista's Premium standards. The wide 16:10 aspect ratios of these professional-level monitors make multitasking easy. There's room for more applications, multiple images and all your tool palettes. An ultra-fast 2 ms (G to G) response time is perfect for motion editing. 22.0-inch Wide Viewable Size 0.282mm Pixel Pitch 300 cd/m2 Brightness (typical) 3000 - 1 DC Contrast Ratio (typical) 2 ms (G to G) Response Time (typical) 160 Degrees Horizontal and Vertical Viewing Angles 1680 x 1050 Native Resolution 16 - 10 Aspect Ratio Analog & Digital Interface Analog RGB, TMDS Digital Link, DVI Input Video Signal Separate H/V, Composite, SOG Sync Type 15-pin D-sub, DVI-D Input connectors 55 Watt (max), Less than 2 watt (DMPS mode) Power Consumption 100 mm VESA Wall Mount DDC 2B Plug and Play MagicTune with asset management, MagicSpeed, MagicColor, MagicBright 3 Windows, Windows Vista, Mac, Sun DVI (HDCP), Swivel and tilt Dimensions Width 20.3 x Height 16.6 x Depth 8.6 inches (without stand - 20.3 x 2.5 x 13.9 inches) Weight - 16.3 pounds

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296 in Personal Computers
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: 226BW
• Dimensions: 18.00 pounds
• Display size: 22

Features

• 22-inch widescreen monitor offers a 160-degree vertical and horizontal viewing angle
• Samsung MagicColor and 16.7 million colors deliver a clearer, brighter image
• 3000:1 contrast ratio and 0.282-millimeter pixel pitch produce crisp, easy-to-view images
• Samsung MagicBright3 and MagicTune functions create an optimum viewing environment
• Dual interface (analog/digital) design also includes D-Sub 15-pin and DVI-D connections

Amazon.com Product Description
The Samsung 226BW 22-Inch Digital/Analog Widescreen LCD Monitor offers razor-sharp, widescreen image clarity and a host of innovative features. The image quality of the 22-inch widescreen offers wide viewing angles with bright colors for a very favorable viewing experience. With a wider viewing angle (160-degree vertical and horizontal viewing angle) Samsung makes sure you can see objects on your screen even when you're leaning over to grab a snack.

With 16.7 million colors bombarding your rods and cones, you'll be impressed with the clearer, brighter imagery that this wide spectrum monitor has to offer. Another impressive feature of the 206BW is the pixel pitch, or the distance between pixels. This specification is usually measured in millimeters, and the smaller the pitch the sharper the image. Samsung offers a remarkable 0.282-millimeter pixel pitch for outstanding image clarity. The most talked about spec associated with LCD monitors is the measure of the difference of brightness levels between the brightest white and the darkest dark--the contrast ratio. With a contrast ration of 3000:1, this monitor assures crisp, easy-to-view images. Lastly, Samsung has designed this monitor with MagicColor to improve hue and saturation of colors. This function also adjusts mid-level colors to shades that the human eye accepts as natural. By enhancing the contrast ratio with MagicColor, fresh images with exceptional clarity spring to life, even on a darker screen.

Connectivity is also important when choosing a monitor. The 226BW features an advanced dual interface that is capable of handling both analog video signals for present use, and digital video signals for the future. Whatever the signal sources are, this monitor will process those signals to give you an optimal viewing experience. In addition, this monitor features a standard D-Sub 15-pin connection and a fast DVI-D connection for your high-resolution demands.

Other features include compatibility with all major operating systems (including Microsoft Vista's Premium standards) and an ultra-fast 2ms response time that virtually eliminates the "blur" that is present in 25, 16, and 12ms monitors (this is especially good news for gamers). Plus, with Samsung you have Magic Technologies, such asMagicBright3 and MagicTune, right at your fingertips. MagicBright3 is a new feature that provides the best viewing environment depending on the contents of the image you are watching, and MagicTune is Samsung's OSD (On-Screen Display) solution that provides a simple, convenient adjustment to the best image quality.

Customer Reviews

A beautiful display!
I've just replaced my ViewSonic VX924 gaming LCD with the Samsung 226BW. Wow, what an amazing display! It's 1000x1 contrast ratio is stellar. Blacks are extremely black and there is virtually no backlight bleed. (Backlight bleed tends to make black or dark colors look gray and it's common with LCDs.) The colors are amazingly bright and vivid. In fact its default settings are almost too bright. Fortunately the 226BW comes preprogrammed with multiple screen modes such as Games, Internet, Movies, Sports, Custom, Default, etc. I prefer the Internet setting as the backlight is turned down to about 75% and it's a lot easier on my eyes in a darkly lit room. The default settings would work best if you are in a brightly lit room, or if you plan on using the display at a distance.

The screen has an amazingly fast response time. Samsung claims 2ms gray to gray. I have no way to verify this, but I haven't seen any motion blur when I play video games. Viewing angles are also superior with this screen. I can be quite a ways off center and colors are still vivid and crisp. My old display would look washed out and gray at almost any angle other than directly in front.

Keep in mind that this screen runs natively at 1650x1050. It's a rather high resolution for older video cards and if you have an old system then you may experience some stuttering. My 226BW is connected to an ATI Radeon X850XT video card with an AGP 8X interface. I can play Elder Scrolls: Oblivion with most settings maxed using the screen's native resolution and it looks and plays beautifully. Remember to install the monitor drivers. They are available for both Windows Vista and XP. You can either use the included CD, download them directly from Samsung, or use Windows Update. (I used Windows Update since those drivers are signed.) The drivers aren't required, but it does make the monitor more compatible with the system.

The Samsung 226BW has HDCP support through its DVI cable connection which gives it more future compatibility. Soon all monitors will need HDCP support in order to play HD video content. I don't need it now, but it's nice to know it's there.

If you really want the best picture out of this display, be sure to use a DVI video cable. (A 3 foot DVI cable and 3 foot VGA cable is included with the display.) VGA is an old style analog connection which was best used with CRT (tube style) monitors. Since LCDs are digital not analog, a digital signal is the best. If you use the VGA connection your video card has to convert the digital signal to analog, then transmit it to the display and the display has to reconvert it back to digital. That's two unneeded video conversions which can result in a washed out picture. With the DVI connection, it's a digital signal directly from the video card to the display with no video conversion, so you get the best picture.

I do have two very minor negatives. Both involve the stand. First, the stand does not pivot sideways for portrait style viewing. That's nothing I would use, but many monitors have this option. Second, a wall mounting bracket is not included even though the Samsung 226BW is wall mountable. If you need to wall mount the display, the bracket needs to be purchased separately.

Bottom line: The Samsung 226BW is definitely worth the purchase and I know you won't be disappointed!

Good monitor - some issues
First off I would like to say that there are 2 versions on this monitor. There is the "S" panel and the "A" panel. To be blunt, the S panel seems to be superior as it has less backlight bleeding. You can tell if your monitor is an S or A panel by popping up the back panel and looking at the sticker it should look like: Samsung 226BW [R] S or A.

I bought this monitor as an upgrade from a 17" CRT by HP. I also bought this monitor from another site as they were offering free shipping. I got an S panel with no dead pixels.

The monitor came pre-set with a very high brightness setting so I had to fiddle around with the color/brightness settings. Nothing too bad. The monitor is really great for the price. Colors are vivid and games look awesome on it and more importantly there were no signs of ghosting. (I played Quake 4, Oblivion and Titan Quest on it. They all look amazing).

Okay there are some downsides, the first being that the monitor I got had some top/bottom color issues. Colors on the top of the monitor look much darker then colors on the bottom. I've read that this is an ongoing problem in TN monitors, but I haven't found a solution to it. If you're a graphic artist you might not want this monitor. The problem with the color differences seems to be a viewing angle problem as I've tried moving the monitor up and down and tilting it forward and back and the colors seem to change, but top colors are still much darker than bottom. That leads me to my next point..

I had to buy a different stand for this monitor as the stock one just swiveled and tilted. I bought the neo-flex LCD stand and it's perfect for this monitor.

There are also some issues with backlight bleeding. Like I said earlier, I can only vouch for the S panel. There are some signs of backlight bleeding on the left and right side but it doesn't bother me much. It's about maybe 1/2 an inch on each side, nothing too bad.

Another downside is that the Blue Power button on the bottom right is always lit when on, very annoying when watching movies with the lights out.

Another problem was that I expected way too much out of a 22". I know, this is my own problem, but I just wanted to share my experience on the matter. I was expecting this monitor to make downloaded movies look amazing. Infact.. they look a little grainy upclose but fine from a distance. I know this monitor can't make a 700mb movie look amazing, but I thought it would do a better job than it currently is.. oh well my fault. If you're interested I have this hooked up to a 7800GT through DVI.

So basically to review:

Pros:
Good Price.
Live vivid colors.
2MS, "3000" - 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Monitor is pleasing to look at and not dull.
3 Year warranty (some only offer 1, gateway for example.)
No dead pixels! (Okay that was just for me..)

Cons:
Lottery? "S" vs "A" panel.
Top/Bottom color differences.
Monitor stand is next to useless.
Small amount of backlight bleeding.
Samsung only takes the monitor back if you have SEVENTEEN dead pixels. Better check the policy from whom you buy from, but I hear Amazon is pretty lenient.

A lottery for 2 Monitor Setup, determine your Panel Type
I urge people to read this review and post what versions of the 226BW they are receiving from Amazon... as well as anyone who has posted recently, please edit your review and post your panel version.

I actually ordered 2 of these recently (Oct 15th) from Amazon, received them, but didn't figure out how to determine the Panel Type until after I sent one of them back, as it was defective. I then realized that the one I kept was / is an S Panel (version info : BAA 1002), and I think the one I sent back was too... Amazon has now sent me two more defective monitors (which in Amazon's defense seem to be the result of shipping damage via UPS), both of which were either A or C panels, I know from comparing their versions to the list you'll find below, but more importantly comparing them side by side with my S Panel. Panels other than the S panel are extremely more Blue. I'm now at a loss for what to do since side by side, the color is so drastically different between the S and A / C that without another S panel, using two of these together will be very annoying. This is absolutely ridiculous on Samsung's part... obviously Amazon has no way to tell which panel is which. I just can't believe that I am NOT able to buy two of the supposed same monitor and use them side by side, because their color is NOT the same at all. Shame on Samsung.

I'd recommended this monitor to anyone using a single monitor setup, because individually each panel is great and better with the right calibration. Although if you plan on purchasing 2, just hope that you receive two of the SAME panel, and that one panel is not defective so that you'll need a random replacement... technically I believe I DID receive two S Panels originally...although again I can't confirm that because I sent the defective panel back before I knew what the version number meant, although I vaguely remember that when did check out of the box, both versions were the same... not to mention both serial numbers were almost identical. So hopefully if you order two, they'll grab them from the same batch, and they'll both be in working order.

To all those trying to determine their 226BW Panel version ... you can actually figure out which version you have even though Samsung has stopped adding the A, S or C to the product sticker on the back. You need to go into the secret menu (set brightness to 0, set contrast to 0, click menu button, hold source button for a few seconds. Take note of the version number and compare it with this list (found in a french forum on the net):

série S

version info : BAa 1001 panel info : AMLCD 220M1
version info : BAA 1002 panel info : non indiquée (après démontage : dalle LTM220M1 L01 )
version info : BAD 1001 panel info : AMLCD 220M1

série A
version info : BAa 1001 panel info : AMLCD 220M1
version info : BLA 1001 panel info : AU M220EW01
version info : BLA 1002 panel info : non indiquée

série C
version info : BDA 1003 panel info : non indiquée
version info : BIA 1000 panel info : CPT 201WA04

série P
version info : BIA 1001 panel info : non indiquée

série non indiquée
version info : BDA 1002 panel info : CMO M220Z1
version info : BDA 1003 panel info : non indiquée
version info : BDA 1003 panel info : non indiquée (après démontage : dalle CMO M220Z1)
version info : BIA 1000 panel info : CPT 201WA04
version info : BIA 1001 panel info : non indiquée
version info : BLA 1001 panel info : AU M220EW01
version info : BLA 1002 panel info : non indiquée

I can verify that this is very accurate, as stated above.

The most appalling thing here is that I have read posts that Samsung actually stated months ago (I think in May) that it has stopped manufacturing any panel but the S Panel. Well, all the panels I've received were manufactured in either July or August... so Samsung has some explaining to do.