Samsung T27A950 HDTV Monitor
Sep 22nd, 2011 | By AnthonyProper scientific and empirical testing of monitors is a bit of a complicated business. For the most part, it also happens to be beyond the reach of all except for those with some very, very specialized equipment and a significant bit of capital. Still, though without the means for empirical testing we’ll try to substantiate what we perceive through a bit of a home based standardized test and pictures along the way. The monitor will be running on its native 1920 x 1080 resolution and pictures photographed with identical exposure settings.
First we’re going to start off with a bit of a shotgun approach, testing just about everything we will test on one screen.
“Circles
The four small and one large circle allow the linearity of the monitor to be tested. The center circle should appear to be perfectly round, without distortion in its shape and without forming an oval. The smaller circles are designed to be perfectly round for a 4:3 screen ratio. Other screen ratios will lead to these becoming slightly oval.
Black and white checked border
The checked border allows the position of the image to be checked. If part of the check is not fully visible or there is a large gap between the check and the edge of the screen then the position of the image may need to be adjusted.
Fine Grill
Four grills made up of black and white strips appear to the left and right of the central circle. The top left grill has a pixel spacing of 1 pixel. The bottom left grill has a spacing of 2 pixels. The two grills on the right are spaced at 3 and 4 pixels. It should be possible to see the individual black and white lines even on the fine 1 pixel grill.
Primary and secondary colors
Across the center of the screen are six squares that contain the three primary colors (Red, Green, Blue) and the three secondary colors. (Yellow, Cyan, Magenta). Each color should be of equal brightness and uniform intensity. At the borders between the squares you should look for any evidence of horizontal color blurring or smearing.
Gray scale
Eight different shades of gray are displayed across the middle of the screen. Pure white on the right and pure black on the left. It should be possible to differentiate each different shade and clearly see the borders between the shades.”
Then we’ll look at two solid color screens: black and white.
The black screen is used to determine if there is any color bleeding. What we’re looking for here is uniform intensity and without any blotches. In this respect, we’re definitely not seeing any problems here.
The same goes for white. Notice however we have a bit of a border around the edges. The faint border around the screen is just the reflection off the beveled edge, and is not noticeable in person.
Next, contrast. On this screen, we have three large bars at 0%, 40% and 80% brightness with a series of smaller boxes between of varying levels of brightness. Ideally, we’d be able to distinguish individually between each brightness level, but observe that darker colors are harder to differentiate, especially with blue. Here it should be noted that although the display performed quite well here, it is the fault of camera (Canon EOS 20D) to accurately capture the color due to limited dynamic range.
Next, type. In this test we’re looking at multiple samples of text displayed in Arial and in various sizes. Text is crisp, clear and as sharp as one would expect.
One thing we haven’t talked about yet, which we probably should given we are near the end is sound. The screen does have built in speakers, though at 7W they pack as much of a punch as well, a 7W speaker. Not horribly impressive and again, in both operating environments it is likely one would have a speaker setup of sorts. However, in the off chance speakers aren’t available, the built in ones aren’t terrible and do fulfill their purpose.