AOC i2353Ph - IPS for a nice, low price
by Chris Heinonen on January 30, 2012 12:40 AM ESTPeak Levels, Contrast, and Color Gamut
The brightness uniformity of the AOC was overall good, but just how bright can the AOC go? With it set to user mode, and the backlight raised all the way up, I only managed to get 233 nits out of the display with a solid white screen. Since it is a matte surface and not glossy, reflections should not be a big issue and this level of light should be more than enough for most people. Unless you have direct sunlight on your display I don’t think most people would need more light output than it provides.
Turning the backlight all the way down left us with 72 nits of light output, which lets us know we can turn the display down enough for print work, or a completely dark environment, without having an image that is too bright for what we are working on.
After the black uniformity tests, I was a little bit worried about what the minimum black levels would be, and it looks like I was correct on that. With the backlight set to maximum, and pure black screen gave us 0.342 nits of light, which is pretty bright for a black screen. Lowering the backlight all the way down to minimum took the black level down to 0.105 nits, which is still high. This is similar to the last eIPS display that came past my desk (The Dell U2311H), and we discussed that black levels are an area that IPS still needs to work on. For comparison, the recent VA panels from BenQ with an LED backlight have a black level at maximum brightness, 0.066 nits, that is still far lower than the AOC can put out with the backlight level at minimum. If deep, rich black is important to you, you probably will want to look at an option other than the AOC, or even IPS altogether.
Once I saw the black levels, I had a feeling that the contrast levels were going to leave something to be desired. Looking at what the AOC can produce, we can’t quite hit 700:1 for the contrast ratio with the backlight at high or low power. This isn’t really surprising given the price point of the AOC, and the use of an IPS panel.
As we discussed in the calibrated results section, the color gamut on the AOC is a bit smaller than the sRGB colorspace. When we measure against the AdobeRGB colorspace, we expect to see a monitor be able to reproduce around 71% of that if it is sRGB capable, but with the AOC we only saw 67.7% coverage. This is what is leading to the larger average dE error, as it can’t produce some of the colors we are looking for, but it still has a lower median dE since it does a good job with the colors it can produce.
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sviola - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Ok. Thanks for the info. So I'll still keep my Dell WFP2007.I really want someone to release a 120Hz IPS with 1920x1200 resolution.
JFish222 - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
When I read these monitor reviews I often see a great deal of info on color calibration, contrast etc. but would it be possible to add a new metric to the reviews?I am specifically interested in text clarity and eye strain.
How would a given monitor compare for reading/heavy text usage?
As a developer I spend an incredible amount of time in front of the screen. I'm not sure what metrics correlate to a "good" viewing experience but a test around such criteria would be fantastic for the office workers and monitor jockies among us.
I have 7+ diff. monitor models at my office. And have found that some monitors are much easier on the eyes than others. We have a particular 22inch Dell IPS (about 5 years old now) that I would rate the best, but can't tell you what qualities provide such a comfortable viewing experience. There are other IPS monitors that do not match it, its pixel density is avg among our models, etc.
Would something like this be possible?
Thanks for another great review,
- J
mr2kat - Monday, February 6, 2012 - link
I have two of these monitors which I use for C# and asp.net development along with web design. My gold standard are my Dell PVA 24 inch monitors (I now have six 2408 monitors in total) and I also have 2 Dell IPS monitors (U2410's). I reject TN monitors as unusable for every day programming and design work.I was concerned that text would appear fuzzy because these are e-IPS monitors, but in daily use I see no significant difference between this monitor and my U2410's.
The LED back-light does provide higher contrast but after calibration I still prefer my U2410's. For programming I like to rotate my monitor display by 90 degrees, and I usually have 3 of these lined up side-by-side or two in the vertical and one in the horizontal attitude. Unfortunately the AOC monitor cannot be rotated and does not have height adjustment. However the monitors run incredibly cool and I am using them for web development.
My criteria (for work usage) is:
Viewing angle
Banding and color accuracy
Ergonomics (adjustment potential)
Eye strain and headache issues from long term use (>18 hours per day)
Relative to my Dell monitors, the AOC scores 9, 8, 3, 10 respectively. Against this, the best 120Hz TN monitor scores 2, 7, 9, 2. So I would say they are worth the price bump over TN for office and extended work usage.
I really wish they came as 24 inch monitors but on the odd occasion I watch media content the AOC is close to ideal. I have no ghosting on my displays (I use only the 2 hdmi connectors of course).
I still prefer my 2408's for day-to-day use, and until the AOC's arrived I considered the U2410 / Z24 to be the ideal compromise monitors. Despite ergonomic limitations the AOC is an excellent display and I will be buying more of them (I have 3 separate work stations in daily use). They set the minimum for acceptable workstation display IMUO.
slypher1024 - Saturday, February 4, 2012 - link
Any plans on reviewing the LG IPS236V or HP ZR2440w?svojoe - Saturday, March 3, 2012 - link
As per this article, I decided to buy this monitor.But I've had some problems, I have my second one now and I cannot get any display to show up on HDMI, I have tried 2 different cables and 3 different computers (two intel HD3000 and one ATOM/ION netbook) and I get nothing. I get output on VGA but not HDMI. AOC engineer told me I had a dud to RMA it. I did and my replacement is here doing the exact same thing. I need this monitor for a time sensitive deadline project and not having the extra screen space is hurting me.
No a single word on the net about problems with this monitor. But something us up for me to get two ;(
svojoe - Saturday, March 3, 2012 - link
After a day of tinkering I was able to figure it out. Its a windows 7/Intel HD driver issue. Default settings on Win7 Display modes would not allow it to be detected until i deleted all drivers for display and really messed around with the 'projector/external display settings'. Now it shows up.and it LOOKS AMAZING!
Welliam - Saturday, March 24, 2012 - link
Hi,I want to buy this monitor but some say it has blur in FPS which I play all the time. but I really like this monitor is it possible to adjust the vertical and horizontal refresh lines to prevent blur ?
please advise from people have this monitor I dont have another IPS choice near my place.
Pratyatosa - Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - link
1. When plugged into a switched outlet, can it be made to power up without having to press a power-on button?2. Can the speakers be made to work with the digital audio from the HDMI cable?
chamilafernando - Saturday, October 20, 2012 - link
Can someone confirm me this actually have an audio output please ?Tx
taeyeonwong - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Hi! I've been looking for an external monitor for my MacBook Pro 13-inch Early 2011. Would this be a good monitor for my computer? I'm looking for a monitor that will display extremely crisp text, display accurate colours (vibrant colours) and doesn't lag when watching videos. I don't want ghosting or any bleeding either. Would this be a good monitor?