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Samsung SyncMaster 171MP 17" HDTV-Ready LCD Monitor

Samsung SyncMaster 171MP 17" HDTV-Ready LCD Monitor

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's pretty nice
Review: The design is wonderful. The tilt is adjustable. It's great for watching DVDs, but get up close and you'll notice that it suffers from not having a DVI connection; text looks like it's smudged, sort of ghosty-like, even at the native resolution. If you're just looking for a flat panel television then it's great, but if you need a computer monitor look for something with a digital interface.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great all around monitor that performs great in all areas
Review: This LCD monitor is simply superb. Even when it is powered off, it looks superb. A 17" screen that is only about 2" thick. This is a very compact and extremely lightweight LCD (10.4 lbs) that displays gorgeous visuals for PC, TV, and my PS2.

I have a GeForce2 graphics card, and the image quality at its native resolution of 1280x1024 is bright and crystal clear with great vivid colors. You must make sure to touch the Auto adjust button which calculates the best image quality for the signal coming from your video card signal at each resolution. After you do, even the scaled-down resolutions of 1024x764 or 800x600 is very good. (At these lower resolutions, games have an anti-aliased look.)

I also have the highly-respected Samsung 770TFT, and using the 770 as a benchmark for comparison, the 171MP seems to outperform the 770 overall in picture quality, especially in brightness. Blacks look very black (best I've seen on an LCD), and the presence of the backlight cannot be detected in full-screen black, even around the far edges of the screen.

TV quality seems to be better than on a regular television, having higher detail and clarity. However, the quality of the TV output on the 171MP seems dependent upon your incoming TV signal. On a weak or bad signal, the 171mp's TV mode will bring out all the noise and graininess more so on its high-resolution screen, possibly making TV viewing worse than on the television in your living room. So make sure to have a good strong signal. If you don't, lowering the sharpness will help. Btw, the remote controller is great and does not have the problem of the 150/170mp models; the remote sensor is very sensitive, and one does not have to point towards the screen to change channels.

As far as viewing moving images, the display performs wonderfully. I use WinDVD, and DVD movies look absolutely stunning and incredibly detailed and sharp (appears sharper than the 770). Ghosting and "trails" is very minimal in the 171MP, a problem prevalent in most LCDs today. "Trails" is slightly noticeable in high-motion fast-paced FPS games such as UT and Q3, but not enough to detract from your fragging performance. Playing FPS games on the 770TFT was barely bearable, but now with the 171MP, it is an improved LCD fragging experience.

Lastly, playing console games with this thing is near unbelievable. Once you plug your Playstation2 with the Monster S-video cable for PS2 into the 171mp, you realize that you were missing out on the true graphical capability of the PS2. If you have been playing games such as GT3 on a normal TV and you thought the graphics for GT3 were impressive, then I must tell you that playing on the 171mp with monster s-video makes GT3 even more impressive. It almost seems as if your PS2 is suddenly outputting video at a higher resolution. This setup makes the PS2's graphics seem better than the Xbox. This graphical improvement of the PS2 is not seen when connecting the monster cable to a regular TV--so it is the 171mp that is bringing out the best of the PS2.

The speakers on this monitor are better and more powerful than the 150/170mp, and they are surprisingly very good for built-in monitor speakers, which are usually disappointing.

Overall, this monitor is THE ONE for anyone who is seeking great image quality, style, multitasking work with play, easy portability for presentations or LAN parties, or a compact all-in-one entertainment center.


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