The A and S series of the 226BW : colors
We will address the problems in the order they were presented above. Problem number 1 : a potential color dominance.
On the one side we have our 226BW A brought by our reader, Sp1r1t (who is a concert photographer, who needs a screen to touch up photos), and on the other, a new 226BW S lent to us by Samsung. This wasn’t the same screen as the one in our 22 inch survey.
Once the screens were connected in clone mode, we didn’t need the probe to confirm the impression of A series screen owners that there is a clear blue dominance. It’s obvious:
Left, the A series, on the right, the « S » The profile loaded is indeed a generic one in Windows Vista, called Moniteur Plug-and-Play generic, as you can see in this screenshot:
You may have noticed the evolution since the last 22 inch comparative. In the future, tests will be carried out with Vista and an HDCP certified NVIDIA 7950 GTX.
After having warmed up the screens for two hours so that colors would stabilize, we booted each one and used our colorimeter to measure the difference in the color actually displayed and the one we wanted.
Standard rendering on the Samsung SyncMaster 226BW series A, average dE = 6.5
Standard rendering on the Samsung SyncMaster 226BW S series, average dE = 2.1 
Standard rendering on the Samsung SyncMaster 226BW S series tested in February 2007 with XP on another graphic card, average dE = 2.4The average gap for colors for the “S”, average dE, went down even more compared to the first 226BW tested. It’s 2.1 instead of 2.4 for the previous model. Contrast is also as impressive. As in the previous test, we didn’t touch anything in the monitor’s OSD, but used the Internet mode. We obtained a white of 220 cd/m² and a black of 0.23 cd/m², or a contrast of 957:1. At the same time, while there was some evolution, the two tables are quite similar. These screens are indeed closely related and underwent the same in factory pre-calibration.
It’s a little more bleak for the A version. A 6.5 average dE isn’t great, but does conform to what we often obtain with AU Optronics panels. For example, this is exactly the average difference that we found on another popular AU panel, the Belinea 10 20 35W. At what point does this large dE become a problem? This may help you to better understand:
Grays on the Samsung 226BW A seriesto be compared with:
Grays rendered on the Samsung 226BW S seriesThese grays clearly show the excessive blue dominance.
In terms of contrast, in standard settings the 226 BW A have a brightness of 235 cd/m² in white and 0.28 cd/m² in black or a ratio of 235 / 0.28 = 839:1. Colors may be untrue-nothing more to say here-but images are contrasted and we can’t complain much in this area.
For the 226BW S, white in standard settings is 265 cd/m² and black 0.28 cd/m². This gives us a contrast ratio of 946:1.
So images on the « S » are slightly more contrasted and also brighter-maybe even too much. We even recommended that you switch to the
Internet mode via the MagicBright button on the front of the screen. Now, white is at 158 cd/m² and black 0.17 cd/m² (!), or a ratio of 929:1. This is an advantage of the S version in that we can lower brightness without losing contrast or color fidelity. On the « A », this isn’t the case.
With the 226BW A, the
Internet mode is highly unrecommended as it is, because just like in standard settings there is a strong blue dominance. Either way, we measured it just to have an idea of contrast. Here, we found white at 137 cd/m², black at 0.17 cd/m², and a ratio of 805:1.
