NEC LCD20WGX2
20 inch Widescreen. 1680 x 1050 resolution, 6ms G2G Response Time, 700:1
Contrast Ratio, 470 cd/m2 Brightness, 178/178 Viewing Angles, DVI and VGA
Connections
Tilt and Pivot Functions, 4 port USB 2.0 Hub, Advanced DVM (1600:1 Contrast
Ratio) and OptiClear Glossy Screen
HDCP Support over DVI on US Version only, 1:1 pixel mapping supported
NEC have been quiet for a couple of years really in the main stream TFT market, but have come back with a new 20" WS model with an impressive spec. Using LG.Philips' AS-IPS (Advanced Super In Plane Switching) technology and their own Advanced DVM (aka DFC) they have listed this monitor at a very impressive 6ms G2G response time, as well as with a contrast ratio of up to 1600:1! The NEC 20WGX2 is the first model to feature these technologies and marks the re-emergence of IPS technology into the main stream market, which has been somewhat quiet while TN Film, PVA and MVA panels have continued to develop.
The response time has actually been boosted quite considerably since the previous generation of 16ms S-IPS panels which became popular in models like the Dell 2001FP and 2005FPW. User reports are that this is a vast improvement with responsiveness being on par with even the fastest TN film panels like the Viewsonic VX922! This really is a break through since previous IPS generations were far from the most responsive panels in the market. LG.Philips haven't released hardly any information about what they have done to achieve these new response times, but we can only assume at this stage that overdrive has been well used to boost grey transitions and really improve gmaing performance. Add to this the truly wide viewing angles (even a little better than PVA and MVA screens) and a true 8 bit colour depth and you have an extremely impressive screen. Black depth is not quite on par with VA panel variants, and movie playback is fairly noisy unfortunately. This is a draw back of a lot of newer screens, and isn't helped by the aggressive use of overdrive which can often accentuate this problem.
Some people may find the OptiClear glossy finish (similar to Sony's X-Black filter) a little too reflective, but it all comes down to individual taste at the end of the day. Reflections are noticeable in certain lighting conditions and movie playback suffers a little because of it.
Official Spec
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Reviews:
BeHardware
Review (April 2006)
BeHardware
Review
(2) (Feb 2006)
TFT Central In Depth
Review (Igor Stankovic - Feb 2006)
FiringSquad
Review (March 2006)
Bit-Tech
Review (March 2006)
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Advanced Tests:
Taken from BeHardware and Tom's Hardware
Default colour reproduction
and with brightness adjusted to comfortable level
Gamut and Colour Reproduction
after calibration
Colour
reproduction Latency
Panel Uniformity Contrast Stability
Gamut
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User Comments:
BEHARDWARE: (From French Site, translated): "NEC lists the screen at 700:1 contrast ratio. However, that to arrive at such a rate of contrast, NEc did not improve its level of black. It is always a little less deep than that of PVA screens; and it reaches a value of about 0,4 cd/mē here, which represents and improvement over the preceding IPS panels. They have really pushed the brightness though. They announce 470 cd/mē. One measures in fact 430 cd/mē with the adjustments by default. It is much too high. It is a little like putting a lamp full power in front of your eyes and lowering the brightness setting not only makes it much more comfortable for use, it actually helps improve the colour reproduction....The NEC offers some of the best colour reproduction with default values, and once calibrated offers even better values.
The NEC features a glossy screen coating with the major disadvantage of this surface being that it looks often like a mirror. In most uses you will not find this a problem since your eyes will focus on the content of the screen instead. In gaming you will forget about it, apart from when you pass through a dark area when you may then notice your reflection. It is especially problematic in films since you can clearly see your reflection in the screen. The only way to get round this is to watch the film in the dark.
We placed the screen in clone mode with the
Viewsonic VX922 (2ms TN Film) and chose a resolution of 1280 x 1024 on the NEC
to compare them both. The results are impressive, both screens are very similar!
It is more reactive than the Belinea 102035W, but is this a gamers screen? The
widescreen format might not be that great for first person shooters, but
strategy games are certainly well suited. The glossy coating is not really an
issue since you don't normally notice it, but sometimes you can easily see your
reflection. The screen is as responsive as the Viewsonic VX922 and Hyundai Q90U
in Pixperan flag tests and is much better than the old IPS panels like that used
in the 18ms rated LaCie 319. The Belinea is not much slower, but there is a
little noticeable difference. In black to white transitions the screen is a
little slower than the TN Film panels but at the same level as the Belinea
102035W. Video is sadly very noisy, even more than some TN Film panels. You also
need to watch movies in the dark to avoid mirror like reflections on the screen.
Viewing angles are very wide, even more so than the Belinea 102035W."
IGORS: "I noticed no tearing, ghosting, latency or blurring whatsoever. It's probably directly influenced by the panel's fast response time. I tried FEAR, HL2, Far Cry ... everything was smooth and a pleasure to play. I have to admit that widescreen field of view is amazing. Again, colour reproduction was perfect. When I opened the AOE3 menu screen, the level of details, contrast and colour richness were simply astonishing. Half Life 2 in 1680x1050 with HDR and 16:10 aspect ratio was real joy to play Also, Call Of Duty 2 experience was superb. While focusing on those single objects (for instance a tree in a game) and strafing (really fast) there was noticeable loss of texture sharpness. It's not drastic at all and without your hint I doubt that I will notice this normally (while focusing on global scenery). Also, this is more visible when you are REALLY close to the object. When you are looking from a moderate distance, it's definitely almost unnoticeable. I have just finished the session in DOOM 3 in full wide screen 1680x1050 glory. Don't know the FPS, but is was smooth as a silk. It was ridiculously good! I can't get enough of this monitor!
I tried several titles for now, including DivX/DVD and ... again perfect. I tried dark and very bright scenes and they looked great. Dark scenes are surprisingly good, even better than on my home theatre Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV. There was no visible "greyness" in the dark scenes. Also, bright scenes were very vivid and colour reproduction was very good. It seems that sRGB is producing much more realistic colours. Didn't have time to test several movie titles, but I immediately noticed that dark scenes are very good. I tested the screen with Kung Fu Hustle, which is an excellent test for the monitor response times, as it's packed with the fast action sequences. The NEC digested everything without a single hitch. Didn't notice any blurring or tearing. Some people may be disappointed with the video playback, as pixel pitch is present and glossy screen is problematic when there is intensive ambient light.
For Gaming, I was using Advanced DVM + GAMING profile and for the Video Advanced DVM + VIDEO profile. Now, without the Advanced DVM, the screen is much brighter but it's loosing that "fine" contrast detail. Saying that, final picture quality is very customisable and I suppose it can suit to everyone's taste. The Video & Gaming profiles are very similar ... however Gaming will give you little bit more brightness and colour richness.
The glossy screen is maybe problematic when there is a presence of bright ambient light in front of the screen ... but again it's just matter of personal taste. I don't find it very distracting personally. As this is a subjective matter, maybe this doesn't deserve the global minus. At the end of the day, it's improving the smoothness of the screen, as well as colour & contrast balance. As a general guideline, I would not recommend serious "dark" gaming or "dark" movie playback VERY close to this monitor and in the very bright ambient light (in front of the screen). As gaming/video immersion factor is much higher in dark or semi-dark environments, I think that the glossy screen shouldn't represent a problem for most of you out there."
NUTSTER: "Got mine today.. love it! Everything is sooo much sharper and
crisper than my old CRT's. Even though it has just as much vertical screen space
as my 19" CRT, its quite low down, so feels smaller for some odd reason.. its
not though. Need to get a stand for it, that's my only criticism. The DVM modes
work great. Currently just got it on out the box settings with some Digital
Vibrance on to up the colour depth a bit. Played some CS:S in 1680x1050 mode,
looks awesome.. Very slight twinkling effect on things like leaves and stuff.
Whereas on a CRT that would all be blurred together it aint on a TFT.. so high
frequency stuff looks a bit noisy... easily solved with some Transparency AA."
FIRING SQUAD: "As a gaming monitor, the NEC 20WMGX2 had a respectable
PixPerAn score of 13. At peak brightness, however, the monitor had excellent
color accuracy. Although the Samsung 244T edged NEC out in terms of color
accuracy, the high contrast and high-brightness of the image made an ideal
monitor for gaming. Photographers requiring color-critical work may find the
advanced DV mode to be a bit distracting and the standard display to lack
sufficient contrast. The 20WMGX2 was clearly designed for gamers rather than
photographers. The NEC 20WMGX2 was also a superb monitor. While we didn't get
the same pixel refresh performance as the HP f2105, the NEC still represents an
improvement over the previous monitors we've tested. Of the 20" monitors, color
accuracy was best on the NEC. The video input was better than the Samsung 244T
but we'd prefer the Gateway FPD2185W for video use."
RICHDOG: "I did test it for a good few
hours and here's my opinion... it looks ****-hot. I'd never seen a 20.1"
widescreen in the flesh before and wow it is REALLY wide, I can imagine all
games that support it looking completely bloomin' awesome on it and can't wait
to fire some up! Colour reproduction and blacks, again wow, I never imagined it
would be that good. Blacks are deep and velvety, yes gents that means "CRT
black", as if the screen were off, simply amazing. With no tweaking whatsoever
the colours also looked fantastic, rich and even. The monitor also has a feature
called "Advanced DV" and this further dims the backlight to create greater
contrast and colour depth, it also adjusts intelligently depending on what you
are viewing. White text pages will dim to reduce glare, and dark pages will do
the opposite. From what I saw it really looks to be a top feature of this
monitor. The OSD options are many and highly tweakable, for those that can't
abide "stretching" in games that won't work with widescreen, the monitor scaled
down to 1280*1024 on a 1:1 pixel resolution, meaning no blur whatsoever, razor
sharp. I fired up MOH (our work LAN game of choice) and with a eye beadier than
that of Sauron I strafed about like a loon and popped off a few guards. Ghosting
is something I've always imagined with horror, a bit like waking up with your
friends fat mother. However I am happy to report that in the 15 minutes I played
it I, a fussy sod at the best of times, detected no noticeable ghosting
whatsoever, and only minimal "blur" which is inevitable. It's a fast screen, and
I can't wait to play away on it. One last note the screen is very reflective,
you will not to be able to use it with a light source facing it, it's best
viewed in darkness or with a lamp behind the monitor and you'll be fine. For you
WOW players who live in airless pits and last saw daylight a year or two ago
this will not bother you."