I'm thinking about getting a new monitor sometime, too.

I've used the 20" version of these monitors and think they are some of the best. They probably are the best when you consider the price.

Good write-up.

Good write-up. Sounds like you scored a sweet deal.

I am planning on getting this monitor later this week for use with my XBox 360. I've been using a 36" standard def TV with my XBox 360 since launch day last Novemeber, and I'm excited about finally (finally!) going to hi def.

I'll probably order from newegg.com because they have the lowest price, but of course I'm worried about getting an "A" version. (Less worried after I started reading reviews that said the "A" was fine, and this stuff was all urban legend. But still...)

I'm surprised you still see ghosting when the monitor has only a 2ms response time. What does the picture look like if you set your console to 1920x1020?

Matt, welcome to THX. Remember that the response time is 2ms gray to gray. It's probably a standard 5ms black to black panel.

There are plenty of people who are thrilled with their A models. Some people say they can't tell a difference. I think they only significant worry about an A model is that they seem to have more backlight bleeding than other models. Picture quality, color, and brightness seem to be comparable. You could always return the monitor for backlight bleeding if you are unhappy with what you get from newegg, although I'm not certain of their return policies.

At 1920x1080 the picture stretches off the monitor and you see the lower right corner of the picture. I can't find an option within the monitor to scale it down so I can get 1050 lines of resolution. Let me know if you do.

Hi. Thanks for the welcome. This was a really nice write-up of the Samsung monitor.

If you can't set the 360 to 1920x1080 and have the monitor scale down to 1680x1050, what happens when you set the 360 to 1360x768? Does it center the picture on the monitor, or does it stretch the picture to fill? (If it stretches, does it look all right and is in the text readable?) I guess I'm asking if the 226BW has 1:1 pixel mapping?

Because I was also looking at this monitor: http://www.sceptre.com/Products/LCD/Specifications/spec_x22wg_NagaP.htm and it DOES have "stretch to fit" and "1:1 pixel mapping" options. Plus, some other options at a slightly lower price.

1360x768 fills the screen nicely (I suppose it's scaling up). That's what I have been using for about 5 weeks now.

I've also looked at the HP w2207 even though it's nearly $100 more than I want to spend. It has 1:1 pixel mapping.

If you don't think that 360 games look weird and skinny on the Samsung, I'll trust your judgment over the hundreds of conflicting voices on the hardforum.com site. For starters, I have no idea if they're talking about the 360 after its latest updates or before.

There's always a possibility Microsoft will add some kind of 16:10 support.

I think 360 games look great on it, and I think they are displayed at the correct aspect ratio.

In web forums I noticed the outsourced models being 'A' 'C' and 'S' Panels 'S' being Samsung.

I looked for an 'S' model. But there was no letter after the Model Number 226BW [R] that I bought.

Well it appears there is another model. With No letter of outsource; but only the country of Manufacture..

This one I bought from PC World (a large UK Chain) last week has All the usual details on the back of the monitor under the clip-on but it also says "Made in Slovakia May 2007".

It got to the shelf pretty quick. I never knew Slovakia had a modern manufacturing base. I suppose the Factories do keep the girls off their backs ;)

I have heard rumors that Samsung is doing away with any lettering after the model number that denotes what type of panel is present. This would seem to confirm that rumor.

The type of panel seems to be linked to date of manufacture. Earliest panels are all "S." Panels after that could be "S" "C" or "A" but are all marked. It appears the newest monitors don't denote the panel. I think the "S" panels aren't used anymore, as Samsung subcontracted the panels and would have no reason to continue producing them in house after contracting the work.

Thanks for the review on Samsung 226BW.

Refering to the back-panel picture of the monitor, it says "S" which you've indicated and it stands for "Samsung". Some forumers said "S" stands for "South Korea plant", "A" stands for "Mexico plant" and "C" stands for "China plant", but after viewing your posted back-panel picture of the monitor, I said it could be from anywhere or mostly manufactured in China.

The panel "S" was manufactued in Tienjin, China (verified from the posted picture), therefore, I am not so sure what are those panel codes stand for anymore.

By the way, I just bought a unit of this 226BW and so far I am thrilled of its quality. :)

I am planning on buying a new monitor this week. Sam's has the 225BW monitor for $295 +tax. I am wondering if it is worth buying at all, or should I just put up the extra cash for the 226BW?

On Friday Staples had a 22" monitor with decent reviews for $200 shipped.

Check some online sites before buying the 225BW. Backlight bleeding is supposed to be an issue on most of them, and $300 can score you a 226BW online.

$300 for a Samsung 22" isn't bad. The panel is worth it. Shop around and you may be able to find it for $250.

$300 in a store isn't bad, though.

Well, I ended up getting a 226BW for around $309 with mail in rebate. Tax makes it a little higher. I am liking this monitor so far. Gears looks beautiful!

I have a pretty good graphics card on my computer, and it is working well with this monitor as well.

If you got an A or a C panel make sure to let us know what you think of it and if you notice any backlight bleeding or otherwise quality issues.

I got a C, so far it looks really nice. I told the guy that I didn't want an A panel under any circumstances.

Great! I'm sure you'll be pleased with it.

I have an A panel, after adjusting the colors it looked great.

but I have had this monitor for aprox 45 days and now have dead pixels
and a streak across the bottom right of the screen, I am already in the process of RMA with Samsung.

Great review. I've had an "S" type for a few months and it is perfect. The provided DVI cable was a pleasant surprise. There is a total of two dead pixels, but they're unnoticeable. Great buy, great display.

Nice review! I have a 226BW myself, aswell as an Xbox 360. I got a tip and a question for you ;-), you can set the 360 to output at 1280x1024 and set the screen format to widescreen, and you'll get a higher resolution (1310720 pixels instead of 1044480 (1360x768) without stretching, it looks very good. My question is if you have yet come across a away to use 1920x1080 on the Samsung 226BW with the xbox? It would be so awesome to be able to play at that res...

Kind Regards // Mathias

Mathias,
Thanks for the tip. I'm gonna try it, but I don't understand how it'll fill the screen at that res without stretching. Does the combination of setting it to 1280x1024 and widescreen effectively give a 1680x1024 res?

I've yet to find a way to run 1920x1080. I know it won't take that res natively, but one would think that 1680x1050 wouldn't be difficult to downscale from 1920x1080.

Hi there guys.
I dont know much about tech stuff but have done a bit of research for a new monitor. My current one runs on coal and an excersie bike with a drive belt so am looking for an LCD. I just do music production but want to have one for the occasional DVD or games (maybe one with the option for a tv tuner if its possible) The Samsung 226BW looks like the best bet and I was wondering where the cheapest place to go would be for shipping and overall cost? Hope you can help...regards, Noobie

Noobie, go to www.pricegrabber.com and type in 226bw to find the lowest advertised price.

Cheers Midnight mate : )

How do you have your sound hooked up. Do you have external speakers that take rca inputs? If so can you post pic of your sound setup. Thanks

I used an Earforce X2 wireless headset. The L/R RCA audio cables plugged into the Earforce's transmitter.

If you want to use PC speakers just get a dual RCA to 3.5mm converter available at Radio Shack, BestBuy, etc. Tell an employee what you need and they'll help you out.

I am trying to decide between the Samsung 226BW, and the Viewsonic VX2245WM. BOTH look good - but the Viewsonic has a height adjustment. I can also find it for $299 where Best Buy has the Samsung 226bw for $349.

SO in a shootout - which do you think would win and why?

(DIS, aughtta be good!)

Hello all .... Just got a Samsung 226BW was manufactured in may 07 in China no clue what panel ver. it is cause Samsung no longer list this info on the back of the monitor. The Monitor has very nice color and allmost no ghosting at all only problem i have with it is when playing video that blends between a wide amount of colors (like a video showing the sun glowing and getting very bright) the colors look like your running them in 16 bit mode for lack of a better way of describing it. I have looked online and saw in other blogs this is a overdrive bug and was woundering if there is a way to turn off the overdrive?

Circuit City has the Samsung 225WB for $188:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-22-Widescreen-Monitor-225BW/sem/rpsm/oid/161753/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#tabs

Details about the deal: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=578266

Damn :( If only I had waited a few extra weeks...

That's Moore's life story. He even wrote a law about it.

Nice write up. Very helpful for people like me who have been locked out of civilization for a while :D

EDIT: Doesn't it hurt the image quality to play it at 720p, since that's not the monitor's native resolution?

Monitors always look best when used with their native resolution. However, the 360 doesn't offer 1680x1050. 1366x768 looks very, very good.

Hi, great review for the 226BW. Looking at your picture, it seems like you are playing XBOX360 on your monitor, how did you get that fine high resolution almost HD looking picture with you play games? what converter did you use? I bought a converter, but when I play my 360 with it, it looks foggy, the graphics is just far from what you had in your picture. Let me know how you did it. THANX!!

Yea i would also like to know how u got the quality so nice. when i use my samsung 226bw with the xbox360 vga cord with the exact same resolution as urs(1360x768) but the picture also seems to be foggy or somewhat blurry. how did u get the picture to look so clear? please answer this question cuz i think it sorta stupid how i jus spend a bunch of money and the picture isnt even like urs yo.

I didn't adjust anything at all. I connected it, set the resolution, and it looked great. Since then I have used the Windows Media Center monitor calibration tool to set brightness/contrast/sharpness/color.

how come quality looks way better than mine...?

Same here, i would like to get sexy quality like you.

I also have the 226BW and it is connected to my Xbox360 with the VGA cable. However, when I select 1360x768 everything looks fine but if I check the monitors OSD info page it says the resolution is 1280x768. Other resolution selections do not do this. I am curious if anyone else has noticed this.

Thanks,

bump

I bought it for $309 no tax and a $40 MIR at Buy.com . So after rebate it is $270(approx). I think that is a sweet deal.

I can't seem to find any real good deal on this in UK. I am really tempted to buy it from the US though, but I am afraid I will have to pay import taxes to the UK. It really seems to be the best gaming monitor out there, check this: http://www.testseek.com/computers/displays/monitors/lcd_monitors/Samsung_SyncMaster_226BW-p-614FF394-F978-D519-E696-4945AD8761E4.html

I counted ten awards from 39 reviews and the average score is 83%! Not too bad.

/Stan

My parents just bought me a Westinghouse 22" L2210NW. I like it so far, I have it hooked up to my laptop when im at home.
____________________________________________________________________
Currently playing:
Team Fortress 2 (PC)
Audiosurf(PC)

Hrm, forgot about this thread. I've actually got two of these now, running a nice svelte 3360x1050. Very happy with the monitors, got them both for $270 at separate times from newegg. They stopped putting the panel mark on the back of the monitors because people were returning them to stores claiming inferior panels and whatnot. I wouldn't consider the lack of speakers as a con, it's more of a pro to me than anything. Means that they spent the time and money for construction on the monitor itself, instead of adding some cheap 2w speakers on the side that just extend the size of the monitor to unwieldy dimensions. Besides, my Logitech z-5500s > monitor speakers any day :).

DJ

I just want to say that I love this monitor! I have had mine almost a year now, and it has served me well thus far. Its perfect for LANs because its easy to pack up and carry, yet it is large enough to split screen two people on.

Also, RTSs like LOTR:BFME2 look great on this thing. :)

I pointed a friend looking for a new monitor to this thread today, so I felt led to make this little note.

------------------------
"Don't blow this, Gene!"

Same here. Nothing but good things to say after about 11 months of ownership. In November I also purchased another 22" monitor, the Samsung 220 WM. It's a pretty bare bones monitor, but has been giving me great quality and was only $200.

Hey I have the same monitor...
Loving it so far!
Just one question.

I have also set my 360 up to it
but how should i go about getting the audio? lol
since there are no built in speakers in this monitor.
I have a logitech 5.1 computer speaker set up.
Just dont know how to get the audio from point A to point B.

Thanks
Steve