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Acer AL2216W: a worthwhile compromise?
Acer AL2216W: a worthwhile compromise?
Date: March 10th, 2007
Topic: Display
Manufacturer: Acer
Author: Jarred Walton
 
 

Printing Results

Brightness and Contrast Ratio

Using the standard calibration procedures works well if you only plan on using your computer with online data. In fact, you can generally set what ever brightness and contrast levels you want and then let the calibration software adjust the color profile as appropriate (although depending on the display certain settings will produce more or less accurate colors). However, many image professionals also have a need to match colors between their computer displays and their printers, and what works well for computing purposes often isn't the best suited for doing print related work. To help people who work in such areas match their computer colors to their paper colors better, some standards were established. Generally speaking for print work the standard is a gamma of 2.2 (some people recommend 1.8, but we'll use 2.2), a black point of 0.60 cd/m2, and a white point of 100 cd/m2.

Finding the appropriate settings to reach these levels can be a time-consuming process. Numerous iterations through the calibration process are required in order to end up with the desired white point, and on some LCDs it might not even be possible to reach a satisfactory result. We were unable to get both an accurate white point and an accurate black point according to printing requirements (our black levels always ended up darker than they were supposed to be) but eventually we did manage to get the desired 100 cd/m2 white point on all of the tested displays. This required adjusting the individual color levels on most of the displays (the Dell 3007WFP doesn't give this option). Here are the settings we ended up using for these monitors:

Calibrated for Print Settings
Gamma 2.2, White 100 cd/m2, Black 0.60 cd/m2
Acer AL2216W Gateway FPD2485W Dell 2405FPW Dell 2407WFP Dell 3007WFP
Brightness 80 100 50 100 25
Contrast 80 100 N/A N/A N/A
Red 40 32 7 49 N/A
Green 39 32 10 50 N/A
Blue 39 32 11 46 N/A

Dropping just the brightness on the Gateway FPD2485W and Dell 2407WFP did not reach the required white point, in the case of the former not by a long shot. We also found that dropping the brightness level to zero and then further reducing the color levels did not generate desirable results. We were most successful when we set the color levels to a moderate value and then tweaked the brightness and color levels as necessary to get the desired result. Here's how the brightness and contrast ratios changed with these tweaks.

Monaco Optix XR Pro

Monaco Optix XR Pro

Monaco Optix XR Pro

We were not attempting to get 100% accuracy on the white point, but further tuning of the various displays would have likely made it possible to get closer to 100 cd/m2. The primary goal was to merely get the white point down to close to 100 cd/m2 if possible. The target black point on the other hand is much more difficult to achieve once we have reached the target white point. Due to the reduced brightness level, contrast ratios are lower, but that is expected with print material. For reference, we have included the target values in the above graphs, so the greater the deviance of the display from the targeted value, the less suitable for display becomes for print work. Having calibrated the displays for printing, let's see how they actually fare.

Color Accuracy

Given the importance of accurate colors for printing work, we have adjusted the Delta E scale appropriately. A Delta E of less than 1.0 is definitely the goal here, and 1.0 to 2.0 is merely acceptable. Scores above 2.0 basically mean that the display is not fit for printing professionals.

Monaco Optix XR Pro


Again the Acer AL2216W is the lowest score in this grouping, but we were somewhat surprised with the results we were able to achieve with all of these monitors. With default brightness levels seemingly increasing with every display generation, we weren't sure we'd be able to come anywhere near the desired colors at such a low white point.

The Acer and Gateway displays took the most time to properly calibrate, as it was necessary to spend a lot more effort tweaking the individual colors. Given how bright the Gateway FPD2485W is by default, we were happy to find that customizing the color levels allowed us to reach a more or less acceptable level. While the Acer and Gateway still place at the bottom of the pack in terms of printing color accuracy, they're at least somewhat close to the 1.0 threshold. The Dell 3007WFP is clearly the best out of these displays for printing work, with a very low average Delta E and only two individual scores (pure white and pure black) that were above 1.0 (and still below 2.0).

Closing Thoughts   Next Page

 
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32 Comments - Last by DannyR, 946 days ago
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Excellent setup on the viewing angle! by rqle, 1067 days ago
Excellent setup on the viewing angle!

Reply
Have and like this display by kmmatney, 1067 days ago
I have the display and am happy with it. While I could easily nitpick away at various details, it's a great LCD at the $300 price point. However if I was buying a 22" TN display now, I'd go for the Dell 22" model. It has a much nicer stand, and looks better overall.

Reply
Color calibration by Den, 1067 days ago
What is interesting to me is that if you are not willing to spend an extra $200 on a color calibration device, the cheap Acer has FAR better colors than any of the more expensive panels that have been reviewed here so far. Indeed, since 99% plus of people don't have a calibration device, I think this should be weighed far more heavily than the calibrated values. (Obviously, professionals who do have a device will reverse this weighting, but for the rest of us...) Also, could AnandTech make their calibrated color profiles available for the rest of us to download? I realize there is some panel to panel variation so it would not be perfect for every owner of the same display, but for most I think it would be far better than the factory default.

Reply
RE: Color calibration by JarredWalton, 1067 days ago
I agree that the uncalibrated results are important, but at the same time I think most people will be okay with even Delta E of 6.0 if they don't know any better. Your eyes and brain are generally happy with what they see, whether or not it's 100% accurate. I've used a Dell 2405FPW for a long time without proper calibration and it never bothered me; now that I have a colorimeter, I suppose I'm seeing more "true" colors, but if I were to just walk up to a display and try to judge it it would be hard to say how it performs. For image professionals, a colorimeter should be standard equipment; for everyone else... unless the display is *really* bad, other aspects probably carry at least as much weight. The viewing angles, for example, normally don't bother us much, but the Acer panel clearly has a much narrower viewing arc.

And since you asked, here's a link to the <a href="http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/mon...ndtechColorProfiles.zip">color profiles</a> for all of the monitors, including both the print and standard profiles. The settings used for calibration are listed in the file names. Obviously, these are targeted at the panels we have, but as a baseline others may find them somewhat helpful. Cheers.

Reply
RE: Color calibration by JarredWalton, 1067 days ago
Let me try that link again. :)

Downloadable Color Profiles

Reply
RE: Color calibration by anandtech02148, 1042 days ago
This is very helpful Jarred, these files save us some time if we plan to invest in these monitors, it's already obnoxious to spend 600buxs on a monitor and another 1-2hr calibrating, such little details is mind boggling, and manufacture reset is not that great. Maybe they should hire a professional calibrator like yourself.



Reply
Color Gradients by Chadder007, 1067 days ago
On the color gradients....I don't understand how its supposed to look. It is supposed to look smooth throughout the colors going from dark to lighter? Or is it supposed to have a blocked look to the colors in sections?...or is that what is called banding?

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RE: Color Gradients by JarredWalton, 1066 days ago
It should be smooth, so the blocks are indeed banding. Without calibration, the banding tends to be a lot worse on some of the displays (particularly the Gateway FPD2485W).

Reply
Input Lag by Bana, 1066 days ago
I'm glad to see that you tested the input lag (buffering) of the monitors this time around. I am unfortunate enough to be able to see and feel the difference on my mom's 2405fwp (hence why I haven't bought an LCD for myself). It would have been nice to see the monitors compared to a better baseline ie: a CRT monitor to get a more repeatable measurement. It'd also be nice to see get an actual response lag range like BeHardware does.

Thanks again Anandtech. :)

Reply
Another review request... by kmmatney, 1066 days ago
NewEgg has a new interesting monitor for sale, which I believe is an IPS panel, for $350. The link is here. Would be nice to review a monitor in the same price range which ay perform a lot better (with a slightly smaller screen and 4:3 aspect ratio).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824005091

Reply
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