Philips 190S5FS
The 190S5FS is one of the fastest screen on paper. Philips says 12 ms for response time. But as you already know, we don’t take this information seriously. We point out the following to start this test:
- it has a LG-Philips panel,
- it’s a TN 12 ms,
- we already tested a 17’’ TN 12 ms LG-Philips panel with the Nec LCD1770NX test here
Before testing this product, we thought that we would obtain the same results as with the NEC screen. We were wrong as the 190S5FS is noticeably more reactive and therefore better.
Ergonomics Small vertical viewing angles, only one analogical input, no headphone jack (no speaker), non-vertically adjustable, no USB hub, this screen doesn’t include any of the 910N’s strengths (test next page).
There are, however, some good sides. First of all, the screen looks good. The body, base, colors, and combination of materials make it a success. It’s even possible to put the screen in vertical position (the only screen in this test to offer this option).
There are two possible uses for this last feature. First of all, professionals could put it under a glass desk, checking information, and saving work space. It’s also possible to hang the screen on the wall but it’s just too bad Phillips didn’t go all the way with this option. The screen’s base isn’t properly equipped, so you will have to make a few holes in the metal plaque under the base.
Color qualityBrightness is quite strong. We have already mentioned in past articles that we prefer brightness below 200 cd/m² for viewing comfort. With these settings, whites are too strong, especially when working in a poorly lit room. If you are like us and bothered by so much light, you may manually reduce the brightness and contrast ratio.
Even if it was really bright, this screen was very accurate. Large color areas are homogenous. LCD screen accuracy has nothing on a CRT’s, at least when used with high levels of brightness. If brightness is reduced to 100 cd/m² results can be quite different. This is another issue and only concerns graphic designers that currently use CRT screens. This test’s LCDs shouldn’t be sought out by graphic designers, one reason being that their resolution is too low at 1280 x 1024.
Here are the190S5FS results:
How to interpret the graph? The X axis is 0 to 100, 0 is black and 100 is white.
When Delta E > 3 the desired colors is noticeably different from the one on the screen.
When 1 < Delta E < 2 colors are accurate. When Delta E < 1 the result is perfect.
From black to white, colors are displayed accurately. You won’t see a difference between the requested and displayed color. We measured 536:1 for the contrast ratio, which would have been more impressive if blacks were deeper (only 0.50 cd/m²).
The screen’s color spectrum is as good as most of its competitors, and it goes a little farther than the reference Mitsubishi CRT.
Games
We were afraid of afterglow observed on 17” LCD screens equipped with LG-Philips panels. With this new 19” series, LG-Philips succeeded in resolving several disadvantages of smaller size screens. Reactivity is noticeably better. The trails of light behind objects visible with 17” 12 and 16 ms panels of the same manufacturer are apparent here. Our impression is that the displayed frame rate - with and without vertical synchronization activated (it is better to deactivate it with LCD screens) - is still a little lower than CRT screens. We noticed distortion in pictures where characters moved quickly. Objects were superimposed across the screen instead of moving smoothly from one place to another.
This result isn’t better or worse than any of the other Samsung, BenQ and NECs. All four screens have comparable reactivity and fluidity and are sufficient for the fastest games like Unreal Tournament 2004. (There is a slight advantage to the 931N as this screen is slightly more reactive).
InterpolationThe screen display quality in 1024x768 is better than usual. Images are a little bit less nice but it is stil possible to play. With lower resolution like 800x600 the lack of details is too strong to use the screen. So it is generally better to reduce manually graphic options than the screen resolution to increase performances.
Movies
If LG-Philips was able to improve panel reactivity, movie quality didn’t improve.
The “twinkling” effect in wide colors due to the 262K colors in standard mode (extended to 16.2 millions with dithering) is quite noticeable. Areas on the color scale aren’t homogeneous. They include noise or pixels with lighter or darker colors, which slightly affect picture quality. It’s imperative to watch the screen from a distance to not see this effect.
Verdict
Take a look at this manufacture’s dead pixel policy by clicking here! 
