My Nec 1880SX review

OlivierMDVY

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Jan 8, 2002
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Here is my review about the Nec 1880sx.

First, no dead pixels, good starting...

I bought the 1880SX black, very nice design.
I'm using a digital connection through my Leadtek TI4400.
Under Windows XP with cleartype activated the text is very sharp.
When you scroll up or scroll down a window content the text does not come too fuzzy. This is also true when you move quickly a window across the screen.
By the way, there is an auto bright control which reduces or increases the brightness. But i don't like it; sometimes when you open a large window with a white background the brightness becomes a little bit too dark.

The picture quality is good but the gray scale should be better.
But when displaying a black background the corners are a little too brights but it's not a problem.

Watching DVD is so good, no ghosting, no motion blur... very nice indeed even when you watch fast action scenes.

Programming: using Windows .NET developper studio is a real pleasure, the text is crystal clear.

And now, the games....
First this 5:4 panel can expand a non-native 4:3 resolution (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x960) to full-screen, without distorting it. (in fact it remains black borders up and down.

I played FPS like MOHAA, Castle Wolfeinstein, Counterstrike and Alien vs Predator 2 in 1280x1024 (native rez).
So no ghosting but a little bit of motion blur, it's amazing that with these fast games the display remains so nice !
Note: using a non native rez the motion blur is more noticible.

I played driving games like Nascar 2002 and Colin Mc Rae Rally 2 (in 1024x768 rez).
These games are not as fast as the FPS and i thought that should be better, but that's not the case
In fact this is not a ghosting problem (there is a little bit of motion blur also) but it's a stutter (or stuttering ?) problem.
The display is not really smooth, this is true when you watch the replays. In fact the right and left scrollings (when a camera makes a quick right or left movement).
Hopefully this problem does not occur when you are in your car and drive it.
Sometimes when you make a fast turn you can notice that the trees become fuzzy.
I'm thinking that i have to try the 'enable sync' option in the nvidia driver for DirectX and see what happens.

Misc Games:
Flight simulator 2002 (1024x768): my slowest game i think, and this is here where you can notice the most motion blur (when you start at Meigs if you turn right or left the Chicago buildings become really fuzzy...
This is amazing but it seems that slower the game is the more motion blur you get (???????)

Falcon 4 (1024x768): an other flight simulator, but faster than the FS2002, and here the motion blur is present but not annoying !


Well, that's all for now... yes i know i haven't try the pivot software.
In conclusion i'm happy with this lcd monitor and finally you can also play videogames with this monitor

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
 
Read a few magazine reviews, but good to see a positive review from a user. I think I'll go for it myself now.
 
How much? I did a quick search on pricewatch with no luck.

I did find <A HREF="http://www.nec-mitsubishi.com/specials/lcd1880sx/english/findex.html" target="_new">this</A> where you can play with a virtual one.

Cya


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If you go <A HREF="http://www.necmitsubishi.com/products/index.cfm?url=http://www.necmitsubishi.com/products/home/product.cfm?productid=209" target="_new">here</A> and goto page 16, u'll see it says 50 ms.

Sig of the week.
 
Ok i found your 50ms in the user manual pdf file but maybe it's a mistake because in my printed user manual shipped with the monitor the response is not 50ms but 33ms in english, spanish, french, deutsch,....
 
1690 EUR = 1554.98 US dollars.


Ouch!

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Enabled vsync in your video options panel will definitely help the problem you described. It is commonly referred to as 'tearing'.

As for the clear-type option in Windows XP, I had tried using it for a while with my Samsung760TFT but I thought that text looked much better without it enabled. I had thought that I had it configured correctly, does anyone have any recommendations when it comes to clear-type?
 
I'm not sure if this a little late but I wanted to add my opinion. I had owned 4 LCDs, my first was the blue 15" Apple Display (although it was made for Apple it still could be used on the PC). The Apple display was a nightmare to use as it could't really go anywhere over its native resolutions and refresh rates without the screen blanking out. The next was the Viewsonic VG175 which was average and not very bright. Only after I read the Tom's LCD guide about response time, contrast and brightness rates I then started to search for a proper LCD screen.

I read a few reviews around the web but most were 15" displays but I wanted at least 17". Thats where I found the review for the NEC 1880SX in a computer mag, it gave it good review and the specs were about right. I bought one and have been using it for a few months now and have never been happier. It cost me £980 UK approx 1400 euros which was cheaper than my Apple 15" then. I got it hooked up to a Gainward Ti4600 and the display were superb everything the review said. The Cleartype was enabled as it was clearer than Standard setting.

I later purchased an Eizo L565 17" to compare with my 1880SX. The L565 is a lot brighter the colour similar and also run games smoothly with no real artifacts or problems. The thing noticble was the screen and text size, although they have the same 1280x1024 resolution. The 1880SX is that much more better because reading text is so much easier on the eyes. Maybe I should swap the L565 for the L685 and compare that way. Heck, I get a Matrox Parhelia and another brand 18" then I probably know the differences then with triple-head feature.