Dell 2405FPW problems.

[neonart]

I wanted to upgrade my "old" Formac Gallery 2010 (20.1" LCD) and after all the rave reviews and posts of the 2405FPW I decided to get one.

Overall this is a great monitor with alot of features. Gaming in WS is fantastic.

Weird thing is that apparently the Formac Gallery was too good of a monitor, or my Dell has problems.

The three main issues are:

1) Viewing angle. The Gallery 2010 could be viewed from anywhere and has practically no color distortion. No so with the 2405FPW. In fact, just moving your head from one end of the monitor to the next shows color distortion.

3) Overly saturated colors. Not a huge problem, but you can definitely tell. Blues seem too blue. Other colors like red and green just seem like a TV with the color setting too high. This is not such a big issue, and I'm ok with it. But the 2010 had wonderful color reproduction.

2) Uneven backlighting (or brightness). On the 2010 the entire screen was bright and consistent. You could move windows or photos to any corner of the screen and there was no change. Unfortunately, on this 2405 the left side of the screen is darker than the right. Is seems the left has a warm hue to it, whereas the right is cooler. You can actually move photos side to side and see a noticeable difference. Solid color backgrounds appear to have a gradient from one side of the screen to the other.

My beef is that I figured that a brand new LCD made in 2006 would be at least on par with a 3 year old one and it's not really the case.

I can deal with the viewing angle and the saturated colors. But the uneven backlight is kinda driving me crazy.

Do you have a 2405 with similar issues?

Is this just their nature and I just got used to a color calibrated monitor?

If the uneven backlight is a "normal" thing with them, then I'll just deal with it since this one has no dead pixels. But if it's a problem I will send it back for replacement.

BTW, I have calibrated it several times and tried all the different settings, both on OSX and on the monitor settings. I've also tried setting the backlighting on the monitor from 0 to 100. 25-50 seems to be best.

Thank you for your input and suggestions.

 

[CanadaRAM]

The Dell monitors (and the iMac LCDs) are well known for being over saturated on the colours.

If you want accurate colour you do need to pay considerably more for a Sony or LaCie calibrated monitor.

 

[neonart]

The Dell monitors (and the iMac LCDs) are well known for being over saturated on the colours.

If you want accurate colour you do need to pay considerably more for a Sony or LaCie calibrated monitor.

Most reviews gave the 2405 and advantage over most other 24's available including Sony and Samsung and better than Apple's 23.

Here is an example: http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2401p056id123235.htm

I have not researched much into LaCie, but their largest LCD is a 4x3 21.3".

The Formac (touted for color accuracy) I had previous was about $1600-1700 in it's day- cheaper than Apple then, but providing much higher quality. I had hopes that this 2405 with such rave reviews would fare at least as good being much newer.

Unfortunately Formac only makes the same 20" 4x3 and does not seem to be selling in the US anymore.

Again, my biggest concern is brightness. See the photo below and compare the left and right sides.

 

[cairo]

Only problem I've experienced is the over saturation of colors... Have you contacted Dell regarding your problems?

 

[neonart]

Only problem I've experienced is the over saturation of colors... Have you contacted Dell regarding your problems?

On the phone with them right now... They're replacing it.

BTW, a picture is worth 1000 words.

While the support person on the phone was very nice, he did start to run through the scripted "troubleshooting". I let him know I had a photo of the problem if he'd like and he loved the idea. Immediately after seeing the photo he agreed to there being a problem.

I'd still love to get your input and calibration suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[rgsaunders]

Colour Calibration

The Dell monitors (and the iMac LCDs) are well known for being over saturated on the colours.

If you want accurate colour you do need to pay considerably more for a Sony or LaCie calibrated monitor.

Or you can spend a little more, ie about 100, and buy a Pantone Huey monitor calibration device which works quite nicely. There are other slightly more expensive and capable options available from them as well.