First impressions,This monitor is Samsung's 22 inch LCD wide-view in 16:10 Theatre aspect ratio.Very NICE! It really enhances the use of FS9 when running in 1680x1050 rez. The wide-view is most enjoyable.The ATI X1950Pro bangs out the same FPS's as though it was running a 1280x1050 setup.This monitor is very bright, clear, and 2ms FAST. The set up is all of 30 seconds, and you really do have much more real-estate on the wide view units. I didn't know if I would like the 16:10 format, but after using it for half an hour so far, am finding it using FS9 and in viewing movies as most enjoyable. Also, the monitor is HDCP-ready with the included HDCP compliant cable. Matching that up with the ATI X1950 Pro was a no-brainer because this card is ready to rock at High Definition 1080p as soon as a Blu-Ray gets installed in the 'pute. The card's AVIVO engine takes care of 'movie night at the computer desk'. I just did a test watch of 'The Last Samurai' and the theater mode is grrrrreat with the 16:10 aspect ratio. Much better than my standard view 19 inch.Recommended.Mike, you were right. Great monitor! :)Mitch

Folks, the difference between a 19 inch LCD (running FS)at its max native (1280x1050)resolution and a 22 inch wide screen running at its max (1680x1050)resolution is so stunning in comparison and difference of viewing experience--- for the wide-screen side of things, that it merits a full, in-depth review.Such, as field-of-view, human peripheral view, depth perception within the simulation, 'the you are REALLY there, quantum', etc. All of it.I'll write my review tomorrow as I intend to fly tonight with all my flight scenarios.The preliminary though...is don't walk...RUN to get a wide-view over your conventional monitor, or budget for one for when you can.It's THAT good.....Cheers!

I have not bought any Samsung computer parts in about 14 years. What kind of reputation does Samsung have regarding overall quality/durability these days? What kind of warranty do they have on those?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Hi Rhett,Three years! The quality, fit, and performance is like my other Samsung---excellent. They produce screens. They know their stuff.I bought 18 or more months ago their SyncMaster 19 inch LCD 931BF to replace a natural-death ViewSonic G19.I found it to quite excellent, with all reviews right on the money as to performance, minimal bleed through, etc.The only fly-in-the-ointment for me with LCD's is that you are pretty much regulated to the native resolution of the monitor, which was for me on the 19 incher, 1280x1050.I was thinking about going back to a CRT so I could run where I always did---1600x whatever, but wanted MORE real-estate rather than smaller panels, yada, yada...So, today I went out and bought (based on encouraging reviews and a no-fuss 14 day return (no stocking fee, etc)) policy. How could I lose? Yeah...right....how could they (the store) lose? They had me...even before I walked out of the store, LOLOLOLOL.This monitor is flying off the shelves apparently. Good cause...I see why....I'll give you a really in-depth review tomorrow with the heavy emphasis on using it with our hobby. Use this with the AFG B300...and you ARE in the cockpit...oh yeah.......ohhhhhhh yeah!1680x1050x22 inches of monitor joy....oh yeah.....Tomorrow....tonight is flying the thing off of the desk...LOL!Cheers!Mitch

Hi Mitch,Very good decision :) You won't regret it!I posted the following in your other thread, but rather than simply providing a link to it I thought it might be more helpful to repeat it here:"OK, found out where the S,A,C is...on the back tag at the top right."Sadly, it is now no longer quite so straight forward as the panel letter identification has now been removed!This article takes you through the steps necessary if you are really determined to find out what you have bought:http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?optio...=4259&Itemid=40This article also refers to quite pronounced backlight bleeding issues affecting the "C" panels. I don't know whether the fact that I have a Rev C1 (July 2007) has any relevance, but I really don't see this. It is possible that more recent "C" panels are better in this regard than the earlier variants.Following the initial rumblings out there about the allegedly 'inferior' "A" and "C" panels, those sneaky people at Samsung presumably issued directives to their subcontractors to remove those indentification letters from the label at the back of the unit. You now have to invalidate your warranty by opening up the back to get at another label inside. This is now further complicated by the fact that this label has been moved from the right hand side over to the left so you do have to take care when lifting up the metal container that houses the power and video circuitry so that you can see underneath. It's not difficult, I've done it so I know it is possible.However, if my experience is at all typical then it seems to me that it really doesn't matter what panel you end up with as this appears to be a configuration issue. The "S" panels appear be set up correctly out of the box and these were the panels sent out by Samsung to the reviewers. Not surprisingly this tactic attracted the kudos, which also explains why customers who were not so lucky subsequently may have felt they had been cheated.Now it could certainly be argued that AU Optronics and Chei Mei Optoelectronics should have paid much more attention to this aspect before releasing their panels to market and does beg the question as to why Samsung, once they were rumbled, did not insist on uniform quality control rather than trying to hide the problem from their customers.In the end, this 'problem' does have a solution. In my case, I had downloaded prepared colour profiles for both the "A" and "C" panels in anticipation that it was more than likely I would end up with one or t'other rather than the fabled "S" panel. But then I started to consider the other major variables, the GPU and drivers, and so I decided instead that it would be far more sensible to create my own accurate colour profile. As it turned out the tool for the job is the Spyder2express and this clever piece of kit can be used over and over again no matter the GPU or monitor. Expensive? Possibly, but to my mind it is a very worthwhile investment. Even the "S" panel will drift over time and will need recalibrating. With this tool you can always be sure that the colour profiling is spot on.This experience has underlined the fact that the vast majority of monitors in use are not calibrated correctly and owners are not seeing the benefits. I find trying to calibrate a monitor with any degree of accuracy is difficult at best and consequently I'm forever fiddling until I achieve a reasonable compromise. The Samsung comes with a plethora of on screen controls which, paradoxically, just makes this aspect all the more difficult.Oh, I did try the pre-prepared "C" colour profiles and they did help a great deal. You can download them from here:http://www.andrewswihart.net/blog/review-s...6bw-lcd-c-panelBut, the created Spyder2express profile is, without doubt, an order of magnitude better and really makes this monitor shine. I can now see real black with the room lights out. On my previous LCD panel I could only achieve an approximation with ambient lighting left on. Playing space games/sims like Orbiter and X2 and X3 are now wonderful to behold! And, of course, the reason why we are all here: FSX and FS9. Accurate colour profiling has simply transformed the appearance of both sims and each in its own right has now become an exceptional visual delight as viewed on this very fine monitor. Cheers!Mike

I have the Samsung 226BW and you don't need to do anything if you are running it in the digital mode. Brightness maybe but the colors are spot-on.

Hi Mike!I have an ME220W (Samsung) or type: 'S'.I opened four boxes to the horror of the floor salesman, and all were original Samsung Screens. I asked him when he got the shipment in, and he said one week ago. More snooping around the Net shows that Samsung has a good supply once more of their 226BW screens, and so it is no longer even an issue. Well...old stock sitting around for about a month or so, would be I guess.I was threatening to write a user review of this monitor, but you have had one for so much longer. How 'bout it? Get your fingers tapping to let others know about the benefits of going wide-screen. Cheers!Mitch

Hi John,I am running mine with the Digital-D and the colors are quite beautiful to behold, bold and not washed out even though the screen can go as bright near as the sun, lol.Great monitor. X-Plane looks unbelievable on it.Later,Mitch

N/C

Hi Mitch,"I have an ME220W (Samsung) or type: 'S'.I opened four boxes to the horror of the floor salesman, and all were original Samsung Screens. I asked him when he got the shipment in, and he said one week ago. More snooping around the Net shows that Samsung has a good supply once more of their 226BW screens, and so it is no longer even an issue. Well...old stock sitting around for about a month or so, would be I guess."Are you absolutely sure you have the 'S' panel? Even the so-called "Secret Service Menu" has had that info removed. On same menu my version No. is M-ME22W0BDA - 1003, but this does not identify the panel variant. As far as I am aware, the only way currently to properly identify the panel is to take the back off and look for that label, as described in the first link in my last post. If you do follow that route do take great care to avoid leaving any traces of unauthorized entry otherwise you will likely be screwed if you have to make a claim on the warranty.If you do have the 'S' panel then you are one of the lucky ones since my understanding is that this is made by Samsung themselves in Canada. I suspect they are reserving most of these panels for their home market to avoid having to fend of any local lynching parties..LOL! But seriously, I'm convinced that this is no longer an issue as long as you are prepared to invest some time creating an accurate colour profile. I confirmed I have the 'C' panel (originally branded as being the worst of the three) and the colours were frankly awful the first time I used it. Now, with proper colour correction, this monitor rivals the best of the best IMHO."I was threatening to write a user review of this monitor, but you have had one for so much longer. How 'bout it? Get your fingers tapping to let others know about the benefits of going wide-screen."Oh, don't you think I've said enough already?! Anyway I'm sure you are dying to give this beautiful piece of kit a thorough shake out. I, for one, would be very interested to read about your impressions.I tried the 'Dynamic Contrast' setting, but found the colours way too saturated for general use. The idea is clever enough, but in reality is probably more of a gimmick and I suspect, once the novelty has worn off, most folk will soon stop using it. Maybe okay in certain games, but otherwise not my preferred option. However, there are several other choices provided. You can, if you wish (by bringing up a sub-menu on screen), quickly override the brightness and contrast values, as set in your Custom profile, to more appropriate levels for working with Text documents, Internet browsing, Gaming, Sport and Movie watching.Cheers!Mike

I opened four boxes to the horror of the floor salesman, and all were original Samsung Screens. I asked him when he got the shipment in, and he said one week ago. More snooping around the Net shows that Samsung has a good supply once more of their 226BW screens, and so it is no longer even an issue. Well...old stock sitting around for about a month or so, would be I guess."Are you absolutely sure you have the 'S' panel? Even the so-called "Secret Service Menu" has had that info removed. On same menu my version No. is M-ME22W0BDA - 1003, but this does not identify the panel variant. As far as I am aware, the only way currently to properly identify the panel is to take the back off and look for that label, as described in the first link in my last post. If you do follow that route do take great care to avoid leaving any traces of unauthorized entry otherwise you will likely be screwed if you have to make a claim on the warranty.---------------------------------------------------------Yep, yep...I guess that I can count myself 'in' on the 'S' club. There was a review on the Net whereby a reviewer had the same TAG number (at the bottom right of the Service panel) and when he opened up the back of his 226BW, he did indeed have the clearly identified 'made by Samsung Ltd' with their unique code.So...I do have an 'S' panel in my 22 inch, BUT...funny enough---I have an 'A' in my 931BF. I bought that about 18 months ago. As you said---I have had stellar performance from my uh..er..'A' panel 931BF and have absolutely no complaints. I'm sure that all the other manufacturers follow suit.I am thinking of bringing home a Samsung 24 inch (245BW)to see what FS9 looks like with all that real-estate AND a native 1920x1200 resolution. I know that my ATI 1950 256MB Pro video card is giving me the same FPS's at 1680x1050 res as it did with 1250x1050. I am most curious to see if the card has enough power and headroom to breeze it at the high end of the resolution meter. If I do bring it home, I'll let you know which way I will go---either keep the 22, or climb up to the 24. Both monitors are the same in 99 percent of specs. I'm going to later on today give a detailed report on the 226BW. The only truly major difference between the 226BW and the 245BW is the refresh rate. One is 2ms, and the other is 5ms (24 inch) I want to see amongst other things if having a 5ms screen will cause blurries in the display of the rotating turbo props such as the AFG B300. To me, that would be about the 'fastest' thing to render when using the monitor for flight simulation usage.Cheers!Mitch

>any local lynching parties..LOL! But seriously, I'm convinced>that this is no longer an issue as long as you are prepared to>invest some time creating an accurate colour profile. I>confirmed I have the 'C' panel (originally branded as being>the worst of the three) and the colours were frankly awful the>first time I used it. Now, with proper colour correction, this>monitor rivals the best of the best IMHO.>How do you go about "fixing" the colors? Is this some program you buy, or is it within the monitor controls itself?So are you saying that it makes no difference if you get the "C" model, because all you need to do is create a better color profile?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Hi Rhett,"How do you go about "fixing" the colors? Is this some program you buy, or is it within the monitor controls itself?"You can do it yourself using either the plethora of onscreen controls or Samsung's supplied utilities: MagicTune and Natural Color Pro,OR, you can try out the following prepared profiles:For the 'A' Panel, look at this interesting review:http://www.behardware.com/articles/667-3/s...he-verdict.html(you will find the profile on this page - Page 3)For the 'C' Panel:http://www.lesnumeriques.com/images/1/test...ung-226BW-C.iccOR, as I did, order a Spyder2express and create your own accurate profile. This can serve as a very sound basis for further tweaking if you so desire.I find the created profile to be as near perfect as I am ever likely to achieve and so I'm currently leaving well alone :)"So are you saying that it makes no difference if you get the "C" model, because all you need to do is create a better color profile?"It's possible that this was not the case with earlier examples of the 'A' and 'C' panels. My 'C' Panel was made early July 07 and, yes, that's all it needed to bring it up to spec. Prior to purchase I was feeling a little anxious that backlight bleeding might prove to be an intolerable issue. However, I was delighted to find that this was not the case. I can detect perhaps a tiny amount around the edges of the screen while displaying black, moreso at the bottom, and also a little at the centre. However, to all intents and purposes this certainly won't be noted during normal use of the monitor.This article might help to reassure you in the event you end up with a 'C' Panel. Outside Canada and USA I suspect that this is probably more than likely:http://www.andrewswihart.net/blog/review-s...6bw-lcd-c-panelRegards,Mike