AOC i2353Ph - IPS for a nice, low price
by Chris Heinonen on January 30, 2012 12:40 AM ESTCalibration and Results
Of course, once we use ColorEyes Display Pro to calibrate the AOC, we would expect even better results than we got out of the box. As usual, we set a white point target of D65, a gamma of 2.2, minimum black level, and a white level of 200 nits. I then checked the quality of the calibration using the Gretag Macbeth color checker chart. Often you will see display reviews that use the calibration target points to see the quality of the calibration. That gives you a good indicator of how well the software and hardware was able to hit those targets, but unfortunately no idea if only those targets improved, or if other colors were improved as well. Using the Gretag Macbeth swatches, which are designed to mimic common colors in the real world, gives you a better idea of the overall quality of the calibration instead of the quality of those specific targets.
Here we see that the AOC calibrated down to an average dE of 1.64, which is pretty common. When I looked at the results some more, I got a little curious and also decided to see what the median color error was for all the displays. The Gretag Macbeth color checker includes some shades of blue that are at the very edge of the sRGB colorspace, or totally out of it in the case of one sample. In these cases if the display can’t reproduce those shades, the average dE for it might be thrown way off, but the median dE could still be very low since it does a very good job with the colors it can reproduce.
Looking at the results, we can see that the AOC has a much lower median dE than some monitors that produce a lower average dE. When we get to the color gamut data later in the review, we will see that the AOC has a smaller than average gamut, which is leading it to have larger than average errors for color samples on the edge of the sRGB colorspace. In effect, the conclusion we can pull from this is that the AOC can’t produce as many colors as other reviewed displays, but for those that it can produce it does so more accurately. Results like this are why you can’t just look at a lower dE and assume that a display will automatically be better than another display with a higher dE, as it’s just a single number that only tells part of the story.
For people that might use the AOC for press work, or prefer a dimmer display in a dark room like myself, I also calibrated the display to 100 nits of brightness and then took another set of readings.
The numbers for 100 nits are almost identical to those for 200 nits. The grayscale is good, and the large errors are all contained in shades of blue, as we would expect.
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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?