Shuttle XP17 Preview: A better looking 16ms LCD
by Kristopher Kubicki on July 29, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Displays
Subjective Analysis
| DisplayMate/CheckScreen/VESA FPDM 2.0 | ||
| Test | Monitor | Observations |
| Intensity range check | XP17 (digital) | 4.5 |
| XP17 (analog) | 4.5 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 5 | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 5, Good | |
| Black level adjustment | XP17 (digital) | 5, Excellent, but glare becomes more apparent |
| XP17 (analog) | 5 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 4.5 | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4.5, Acceptable | |
| Defocusing, blooming and halos check | XP17 (digital) | 5, None |
| XP17 (analog) | 5 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 5, None | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 5, None | |
| Screen uniformity and color purity | XP17 (digital) | 4.5, Uniform, pure, accuracy issues? |
| XP17 (analog) | 4.5 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 4.5+ | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4.5+, better than 192T, but still small imperfection on upper right | |
| Dark screen (Glare Test) | XP17 (digital) | 2, Distractingly present |
| XP17 (analog) | 2 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 4.5 | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4.5, Improvement over 1702FP and 192T | |
| Primary colors | XP17 (digital) | 4, Issues but corrected with OptiCal |
| XP17 (analog) | 4 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 4 | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4, attempted to fix curves with OptiCal | |
| Color Scales | XP17 (digital) | 3.5, Difficult to ascertain correct scales due to glare |
| XP17 (analog) | 3.5 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 4, red errors | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4, red errors | |
| 16 intensity levels | XP17 (digital) | 4, Extreme darks fade too quickly |
| XP17 (analog) | 4 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 4.5+ | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4.5+, Improvement over the 192T | |
| Screen regulation | XP17 (digital) | 5 |
| XP17 (analog) | 4 | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 5 | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 4.5 | |
| Streaking and ghosting | XP17 (digital) | 5, None |
| XP17 (analog) | 4, Present but expected | |
| 2001FP (digital) | 5, None | |
| 2001FP (analog) | 3.5, Extremely present at 1600x1200. Analog signal is not capable. | |
Undoubtedly, for all its advances, the Shuttle XP17 has a major glare problem. In many cases, it was difficult to get accurate readings from our instruments because there was too much glare coming off the unit. In a darker environment, glare disappears quickly, but spending too much time in front of an LCD in a dark lit room will assure your eyesight to disappear quickly as well. The monitor sits on a 5 degree slant upwards instead of completely vertical, which contributes to the issues of glare and reflection. Given proper lighting and orientation (or extremely light background applications), glare can be reduced on the monitor; but we almost always noticed a clear reflection in the glass bezel.
As either a result of the glare or perhaps a separate issue itself, playing Max Payne proved very difficult because of the extreme contrasts. Areas that should have been very dark appear to melt all into the same shade of black, which somewhat negates the purpose of a fast response time LCD. That being said, the black level of the LCD is phenomenal; although, part of it may be a trick on the eyes due to the glass bezel. The quicker response time was noticeable on UT2004 and Halo.
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marcusgdaniels - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
In light of the claim that there is a new model shipping with better anti-glare coating, I am not encouraged to see that there is a no refund/no return policy on the XP17. It makes one wonder if they are shipping less `perfect' units to overeager buyers...Jyrinx - Friday, August 13, 2004 - link
Oh, yeah, I forgot my point :-) So, do you suppose you'll be amending the review, or does Shuttle only get one chance? (Not sure what your policy is; I'd just like to know if you would think better of the monitors as available now.)Jyrinx
Jyrinx - Friday, August 13, 2004 - link
Hey - I just got word from Shuttle that (contrary to common sense) they sent you a crappier demo than the production units (as agrees with the word on the street), and that the ones shipping have nicer anti-glare/reflection coating on them. Here's the original e-mail:---
Thank you for contacting Shuttle Computer.
That XP17 monitor we sent to reviewer Anadtech was the first demo
product we have, so it is not as perfect as the product we just released
now.
The product we have now has anti-glare coat on each monitor.
If you have any question, please let us know.
Thank you.
Sonic Tseng
Account Executive
Shuttle Computer Group,Inc.
Phone:(626)820-9000 ext.201
Fax:(626)820-5060
Email: sonict@us.shuttle.com
---
Jyrinx
jyrinx@mindspring.com
fragstar - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link
refering to your comments that the Neovo monitor didn't have a glare issue, I took the panel off my monitor to show the world how bad viewing the neovo monitor really is.Check out my thread in the video section of the forums for pictures
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=...
MadAd - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link
Going slighly off topic, I hope you are going to be evaluating the L2335 sometime soon? (16ms 23" tft)Thx Kris
KristopherKubicki - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
nullpointerus: Yeah, glare was an issue, but plain old reflection was terrible too - which is probably much worse!Kristopher
KristopherKubicki - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
nullpointerus: I like your suggestion. Consider it done for the next review.Kristopher
nullpointerus - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
And if you think Max Payne can stress test the glare on a display, you should try running one of the Thief series. You will *kill* your eyes if you don't have the right setup. If glare is such a big issue, maybe someone at Anandtech could incorporate this game into the display articles?nullpointerus - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
It sounds like that 17" LCD is just what I'm looking for provided I can eliminate the glare problem. Kinda negates its usefulness as a LAN gaming LCD if you have to tote around an easily-smudged glare filter, though.Just an FYI for Anandtech readers: glare can usually be fixed by removing glare emitting light sources (e.g. putting room darkening blinds over windows, switching to properly angled halogen lights) and by purchasing a decent glare filter (e.g. Fellowes) which can usually be had at a good price on eBay.
CRXican - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
Have you guys checked out the price tag? They want $650 for that thing. Rip off!!!