Samsung S23A750D 3D LCD Display
by Chris Heinonen on December 17, 2011 2:45 PM ESTSamsung S23A750D Brightness and Contrast
The S23A can produce more light output than many monitors, with over 300 nits of light output possible. While in most cases I would say this kind of light output is a crazy amount that few people will use, the highly glossy screen on the Samsung might make this much light output useful if you have a lot of reflections around your work area from windows or overhead lights. Additionally, Active 3D glasses will cut the light output in more than half, as each eye only views the display half the time and they have tint to them, so ~25% of that light output would be 80 nits. It also manages 76 nits with the backlight brightness set to the minimum, so that gives you a very wide range to adjust the monitor to your preference.
The black output level on the Samsung falls right into the expected range for the monitor. I was a bit disappointed with this as Samsung has managed to get darker blacks out of their LED edgelit TVs, so I was hoping more of that technology would copy over to their monitors. As it is, it’s a little on the bright side for a monitor of this size.
Despite the brighter whites, the black levels rise as well and so the contrast ratios are a pedestrian 900:1 on average. That's neither spectacular nor disappointing; the contrast ratio is merely average for 2011. As usual, we test without dynamic contrast enabled, as the change in backlight intensity tends to be visible and distracting, though Samsung claims up to a 5 million to 1 contrast ratio with dynamic backlighting. (I'm not sure how they'd get there, considering the maximum white level divided by the minimum black level only results in a contrast of 3813:1; they would almost need to shut off the backlight entirely to get down to the necessary 0.000064 nits black level.)
The brightness uniformity of the S23A comes in as merely average as well. With the center at just over 200 nits, only one other area of the screen measured over 190 nits, and only one more was even over 180 nits, with the lower right of the screen measuring over 20% darker than the center.
The black uniformity was a little better, though the higher black level overall meant that none of the values were spectacular. The same lower-right area that was darker in the brightness measurements was also darkest in the black measurements, so the backlight just seems to not be as powerful in that area.
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Sebec - Monday, December 19, 2011 - link
"Not everything has to be written like a technical brief presentation or be a class on the electronics of how TN panels work."Maybe not, but on Anandtech, I'm come to expect that level of precision technical writing and explanation.
kris79 - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
Erm, makes me wonder if some of the nitpickers would complain about getting too much money in their EBT checks. Before complaining, one may want to remember that this info is, erm, Free! The writing is fine. Some of them may not use English as their first language. Some of the readers may not either. I, at least, like the chatty style more than the antiseptic, scientific style that more anal retentive types seem to like. I even like comments about power supplies. Naturally, I can understand that some would prefer to change all that to make the rest of us more like themselves. Erm, that is all I have to say...ImSpartacus - Saturday, December 17, 2011 - link
I have a problem with posters that use caps lock in a potentially rude manner.The tone of your post is already flirting with "rude". Using upper case characters nudges it over the edge. I cannot tolerate rude comments from individuals that represent Anandtech.
I suggest not replying using language that could be interpreted as rude.
To help achieve this goal, I suggest reading some of Anand's comments from past articles. He has an especially fantastic tone to every one of his comments.
I hope Anandtech maintains its exemplary reputation of mature and thoughtful staff.
Cheers!
Kristian Vättö - Sunday, December 18, 2011 - link
I used caps because there is no bold (yes, this system is in need of an update). I wasn't trying to be rude, sorry if it sounded like that. I was just trying to get the message out in as short as possible. The poster didn't bother reading the article, so I couldn't be sure that he bothers reading my comment as a whole.Kristian Vättö - Sunday, December 18, 2011 - link
Also, thanks for the feedback. We (well, I in this case) can't really learn without someone else saying what is wrong. If someone bothers to comment about it, it must be something that actually has a value to someone.I'll be sure to pay more attention to my language in the future. Not that I post replies like the above often (first time I think)
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, December 19, 2011 - link
"I hope Anandtech maintains its exemplary reputation of mature and thoughtful staff."We most definitely will :)
Take care,
Anand
Iketh - Sunday, December 18, 2011 - link
I honestly did try to give examples. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to copy/paste a few sentences, but I can't change pages in the article without losing the post I'm writing. So then I started using print screen and erased my entire post that was in clipboard, so I said screw it.Here are some from "Lag and Power Usage".
", so the effect should feel like less." Like, for sure!
"The power use of the Samsung was a bit higher than a normal LCD, though this could easily be due to the 120Hz refresh rate that uses more power." should be something along the lines of "Power consumption of the Samsung was a bit higher than a normal LCD, though this could easily be due to the 120Hz refresh rate."
There are tons in the summary page from what little I saw of it.
Hey thanks for calling out a 13-year account as a "hater."
Iketh - Sunday, December 18, 2011 - link
This is what I saw in the introduction."Virtually every game now is rendered in 3D, and so all of the information is there that is needed to show the game in 3D to the user..."
"Virtually every game today is rendered in 3D and thus have all the information needed to be displayed in 3D..."
I did not understand what was being said in the very next sentence. What is "running in active 3D"?
Kristian Vättö - Sunday, December 18, 2011 - link
Sorry about the hater part, I would edit it out if we had that option. It just triggered me because it was the second comment and you clearly admitted that you only took a glance and still said it's bad. Okay, I know taking a glance has varying interpretations but from a writer's standpoint, your earlier comment was among the worst ones.The good thing is that you came back and did what you should have done in the first post: Provided some examples. That is how we can learn and also edit or explain ourselves if needed.
For future use, you can open the article in another tab/window so you can keep posting the comment in one tab/window while reading the article in the other ;-)
lyeoh - Sunday, December 18, 2011 - link
OK, here's my opinion: I don't really want to know about the writer's _off-topic_ difficulty in setting up an environment or rig to test the equipment, unless it's actually very interesting or amusing or written in an entertaining style (but that sort of thing should belong on a blog or a different section ala Byte's Chaos Manor or an entertainment-oriented publication/show e.g. Top Gear).Unfortunately the entire section on the lack of suitable PSU and display card and the resulting solution was not interesting, amusing nor entertaining. An editor would cut that section (and PSU gallery) entirely out. It just gives me the impression that the writer may be shilling for something/someone. Like those clumsy product placements in movies.
The rest of the review is OK from a glance, assuming the measurements etc were correct and done correctly.