samsung SM226BW

cliveuk

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im looking into getting one of these widescreen monitors but ive read i need to make sure the supplier has the S version and not the A or C i think it was, does anyone know anywhere that does supply the S version or is it just potluck?
 
Im looking into this too so any help is appreciated.
 
Im afraid its all down to pot luck. Samsung use to state somewhere on the monitor which panel it has on it, however now the monitors being manufactured have no mention of which panel it has.
 
I recently bought an SM206BW (same model, just 20" version), and I was really worried about the same thing, and I got an S panel.. but it's perfect, I know you hear a lot of bad things on the web, but you should be fine..

It was perfect straight out of the box, no adjustments needed to be made! It possibly could make a difference where you buy it from, but not sure.

:)
 
I was planning on getting the 22" SM226BW for £225 which is just a monitor, but its been brought to my attention (in the last half hour) that you can get the 22" SM225MW which is a Monitor/TV which also has HDMI from Argos for £250! reduced down from £400.

Something to consider...
 
It's a fairly low end screen, and now with Samsung using cheaper "C" panels, it's not a safe bet. I'd rather choose a smaller, higher quality screen. A 20" will have the same resolution, so for Windows the 20" is a better option, although in games 22" has more wow factor, and at least don't require high end spec PC, unlike if you buy a higher resoultion 22", once they're released.
 
It's a fairly low end screen, and now with Samsung using cheaper "C" panels, it's not a safe bet. I'd rather choose a smaller, higher quality screen. A 20" will have the same resolution, so for Windows the 20" is a better option, although in games 22" has more wow factor, and at least don't require high end spec PC, unlike if you buy a higher resoultion 22", once they're released.

Im buying one purely for my Xbox 360 - which would you go for?
 
Mines for 360 too.. It doesn't look great on a 20", and I doubt the extra 2"s makes a big difference.
 
I was planning on getting the 22" SM226BW for £225 which is just a monitor, but its been brought to my attention (in the last half hour) that you can get the 22" SM225MW which is a Monitor/TV which also has HDMI from Argos for £250! reduced down from £400.

Something to consider...

Bargain!
 
There's a massive thead here on the 226BW.

Most of the new panels do not have a way to identify whether you have a S, A or C panel.
 
I don't think the 225MW has the same panel lottery issue that the 226BW sufffered with.
 
well i went ahead and ordered one from dabs and it turned up yesterday, there is no way i can tell which one it is since samsung have removed all marks and menus which tell you but im happy to say the screen is fine and i have no complaints at all.
 
Can anyone tell me whether this enables letterbox, so 16:9 programmes aren't cropped to 16:10, like on the 940MW, or does it still crop them?

Tempted to get this one from Argos, or the LG from Dixons, both £250, don't know which one to get!

Thanks
 
Hi Praxidike
Sorry would answer if I knew the answer. I am not sure what the difference between 16:9 and 16:10 is.....
 
Hi Praxidike
Sorry would answer if I knew the answer. I am not sure what the difference between 16:9 and 16:10 is.....
When watching TV from a freeview or Sky box or something, on widescreen shows, do you have bars, or does it fill the screen?

Or is there an option to choose which one you want? I'd rather have the bars so I'm not missing anything off the sides!
 
You can choose the following modes:

16:9 - You get bars at the top and bottom
Wide - You get less bars top and bottom - seems to stretch it a little
Auto Wide - Does it for you
4:3 - Bars all round
Zoom1 - Stretches picture to fit screen - no bars
Zoom2 - Zooms picture up loads. Not sure what for.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for that - good to see it adds bars if you want them, I have the 940MW and it automatically crops the sides off to fill the screen, and it annoys me!

Might have to get one.
 
Praxidike... have just posted some pics here http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=591956

Quality is not great - but it gives you an idea. Anyway - get it from Argos and give it back if not happy. 30 days no quibble return.
Thanks for that. I bought one today from Argos - happy with it so far, but I'll give it a better test with a film at the weekend when I get time.

One thing though, mine appears to have quite a lot of backlight bleeding all the way around, whereas yours doesn't seem to have any... if it gets annoying I might have to swap it and hope a replacement is better!
 
Hi Praxidike. Funny you say that... When I first posted about the monitor I noticed the backlight bleed around the edges. A week later and I can't see it (as per my pics)
Either
a) It's settled down or
b) I have adjusted it 'out' but that would be surprising since there is not too much in the way of adjustment on these.

I have posted a couple more of TV this time at that same link above.
 
Hi Praxidike. Funny you say that... When I first posted about the monitor I noticed the backlight bleed around the edges. A week later and I can't see it (as per my pics)
Either
a) It's settled down or
b) I have adjusted it 'out' but that would be surprising since there is not too much in the way of adjustment on these.

I have posted a couple more of TV this time at that same link above.
Ah, hopefully mine will settle down too then! I've got 30 days anyway, I'm happy with the TV otherwise, so if after 30 days it still does it I'll have to just get it swapped.

I do tend to have my brightness settings quite low most of the time, but I haven't had chance to adjust them yet (I'm not at home for this rest of this week), so hopefully when I turn the brightness down, that might help the bleeding a little.
 
Hi Praxidike. How you getting on? I can say Sky HD looks very good on this screen :D
 
Hi Praxidike. How you getting on? I can say Sky HD looks very good on this screen :D
I've just come home and had my first real play with it, got it linked up to my PC (its main use will be for a PC - I watch DVDs and everything through PC because it's a better quality)...

I'm happy so far, although I'm not impressed that the remote also works my second monitor, so when I turn one off, the other turns on!

The backlight bleeding isn't noticeable when browsing the internet (AV forums looks so spacious at this resolution, it's huge!), so that looks perfect.... I think the only problem will be when watching something that is letterboxed, but I haven't done that properly yet, so I'll have to let you know when I've watched a film!

But so far, I'm liking it. Picture quality through SCART is better than my 19" 940MW, which you wouldn't really expect, with it being 3" bigger, I would've expected a drop in quality if anything. And switching between inputs is much quicker than the 940MW.

One thing though - do you know of a way to turn off the beep when pressing the buttons on the front panel? I really like the touch sensitive buttons (they're the same as my Samsung phone), but really don't like the noise, especially late at night!

Wish I had Sky HD! HD trailers will have to do for now for testing, until I get a HD DVD drive for my PC...
 

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