Took a bit of adjusting | Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 25.5-inch LCD Monitor

Kickazz LCD! | Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 25.5-inch LCD Monitor

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	• Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 25.5-inch LCD Monitor Samsung Samsung average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I'm Planning on buying this monitor and bought it

I'm planning on purchasing this monitor and have done plenty of research on a lot of the 24-26 inch monitors...Samsung, Viewsonic, Sceptre and others.

First off....this monitor is Vista compliant....which means this monitor is HCDP compliant. The DVI input is fully complaint with any HD content that is copy protected.

As far as the HDMI input...that's another issue as yet unresolved. I have an email into Samsung to get this answered. It would appear at first glance that the HDMI port on this monitor would and should be HCDP compliant. If Samsung installed the chip to activate the DVI port..why not the HDMI? I've read too many reviews on multiple websites by people stating that the HDMI port is not HCDP compliant....therefore I wrote the email to Samsung to clarify this issue. I am hoping that the HDMI is fully compliant with the HCDP 1.3 standard....if it isn't I probably won't buy this monitor.

Regarding the playback of Blu-ray movies through the HDMI port on this monitor. At the present time, the movies released on Blu-ray do NOT have the HCDP activated....so whether the HDMI port supports HCDP or not isn't an issue at this time...the Blu-ray movies will play using that port. The "rub" comes when Sony decides to use the HCDP feature on future releases of Blu-ray (and we all know they will)...Then, if the HDMI port on this Samsung is not compliant with that standard...Blu-ray movies will no longer play through that input in full HD.

However, there are conversion adapters available that can convert the HDMI plug into a DVI plug.....so worst case...you put the DVI adapter on your HDMI out from your player and all protected content will display on the monitor at 1080P.

When I get the response from Samsung...I will post it to this thread.

Cheers

BTW...3 star rating if the HDMI is not compliant....if compliant the monitor gets a 5.

Update: 9/2/08 Bought the monitor today. HDMI is not HDCP compliant. The DVI is. All the Blu-ray and games will play through the DVI connection with no problem..even after Sony activates HDCP on the Blu-ray. I bought this monitor in spite of the fact the HDMI port isn't complaint. Most of the comparable monitors that have HDMI ports are also non-compliant with HDCP...it's the odd case where you find one that has both DVI and HDMI compliant. That being said, here's my thoughts on the monitor:

This this is huge and bright on your desk top. I returned a 24 inch and replaced it with the 26 and there is a noticeable difference in size between the two. 26 inch is NICE!

The monitor comes with the brightness cranked up to 100...way too bright. Adjust it down to 60 and it's about right...still bright be not blinding. Also adjust the contrast down to 50 if you want details to show in the light or white backgrounds. Beyond that...the monitor stock settings were pretty much dead on right out of the box. I checked and tested them against a monitor setup program and everything looked good to me.

The menu controls on this monitor really kinda "wonky". On my desk top in normal lighting I cannot read the adjustment marks on the monitor bezel. I suppose you could keep a flashlight on your desk to use the menu. I literally have to put my nose next to the bezel to see where the controls are. These control are not buttons be rather a touch pad sensor type of control...you literally lightly touch the bezel where the control marks are and the On screen menu appears. The controls are pretty straight forward...although very sensitive and it takes some practice to see what control your touching with your finger tip. As I mentioned above..the only two items I needed to adjust were the brightness and contrast....so once they were set....I won't be messing with the touch sensor pads again.

One other quirky thing I found with this monitor. When I log out of windows and shut my computer down....the monitor will stay backlit and show a square with "Digital, HDMI, and Analog" cycling in the upper left of the screen....so after logging out ...I touch the off button on the bezel and the monitor goes to black. Every other monitor I've had...when Windows shuts down..the monitor goes to sleep and the back lite goes off.

The monitor has the TN panel and is not designed for photo editing or anything that requires exact color representation. If you move your head around there are color shifts on the display. These shifts are not noticeable to the average user...in fact, I didn't notice any color shifts until I put the monitor through the graphics set up program where they display a page with patterns that will point this flaw out. Your desktop and windows applications will look great with this display. This monitor is perfect for gaming, movie viewing, surfing the Internet and pretty much anything a normal computer user will do. Just remember, it's not a LCD TV Set....it's a computer monitor and made to be viewed straight on. If you read some reviews, you'd think this monitor display is really trashy...particularly the 1 and 2 star reviews. It's not. It's designed to have fast pixel response and a bright colorful display....it's made for the average consumer....not a graphic designer.

It was a no brainer for me to buy this monitor....it was on clearance and I paid less for it than a Samsung 24 inch monitor.

Cheers :-)

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Took a bit of adjusting

I did a lot of research on monitors, learning the lingo which had changed since my last monitor purchase. I upgraded from a 21" Sony Trinitron Multiscan 500PS which I was very happy with, but Sony no longer makes monitors so I was back to square one. After reading many reviews on various brands I decided on a Samsung. Overall the reviews were very good, and Samsung had the best warranty (3 years). Some brands I researched folks said crapped out the minute the 1 year warranty expired.

After creating a chart of specifications and plugging about 15 Samsung models into it, and reading reviews on Amazon and several other websites, I decided on the Samsung 2693HM. First thing most folks wouldn't know is that Samsung has a BUNCH of different models, most aren't available in stores so go to their website and you can see a very detailed PDF file of the specs for each model.

I found a really good price here on Amazon but was afraid to buy online because of the few bad reviews. What if I hated the quality or it had bad pixels? Virtually all the manufacturers allow some bad pixels and won't take it back for that. I couldn't get a clear answer on how easy returns would be so I figured I'd go to a local store and look at it in person.

That didn't help. The picture clarity in the store was AWFUL. But my tech fella who went with me told me that the way they hook up monitors in stores to display them isn't going to show you the best it can offer. He said I could not trust what we were looking at.

Long story short I bought it locally, in the store with a really good return policy in case I hated it, their return policy allowed even for bad pixels, got it home and hooked it up to my MacPro1,1 (the original MacPro that came out in 2006). I paid $120 more for buying it locally to have the return policy peace of mind.

I do not have any addons to the MacPro, no extra graphics or game cards, just how it came off the shelf. It took a LOT of diddling to get it to my happy place, both in it's calibrations and using the Mac preferences. But once I got it to the happy place, the picture is excellent. No problems with the viewing angles or colors fading at the edges. No bad pixels that I can find. The picture is very clear. I had to change the fonts for everything, finally settling on Verdana 14 for most things. And turned font smoothing off for 9 and smaller. Originally the text was awful and hard to read until I made the changes. I had to make the text much bigger for this monitor and go with a heavier font.

Would I recommend this monitor? Yes, absolutely. Picture quality is excellent, this model has a lot of features including built in speakers, height adjustment, swivel, tilt, pivot, fast 5 ms response time.

Downside: Yup, as everybody said the buttons are awful. Not only do you need a flashlight, but the menu keeps turning itself off before you've finished making your changes so you have to bring it back up again. Of course once you've gotten to your happy place the buttons won't matter anymore so it's a minor downside. Also, don't make a bad judgement until you've done everything possible to maximize the picture quality and font quality. I spent hours getting it to its happy place. Especially the font (which you'll need to change the default in all your programs) because it initally looked awful, fuzzy and hard to read. If you have it too small some of the letters turn green. If you increase the size and choose heavier fonts the green goes away and the text becomes very clear.

What do I use it for? I create graphics for t-shirts and computer games, so image quality is important to me.

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Kickazz LCD!

I'm really, really happy with this monitor, and I ain't easily pleased. In fairness, I had to RMA my first one due to problems with the touch controls, but Samsung cross-shipped, so I didn't have to wait. The clarity on this screen is beautiful, and I have not experienced any color anomalies or problems of any sort. Yes, the labels for the touch controls are hard to see, but how often do you use them? It's set it and forget it. I've been using it for six months, and I'd buy another one without hesitation.

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Beautiful

This LCD Screen is great! It is enormous. It is bright, and very colorful. Setup was easy, although I had to get a new video card to really experience the beauty of it.

I would easily suggest this to others interested in a wide screen LCD with vivid color.

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Great monitor!

This monitor has an amazing color quality, allows scaling from 4:3 , and has HDMI which is a nice bonus.

My only complaint is that even using HDMI you cnn't properly scale 1080P it automatically sizes to fit the monitor which causes to look choppy and slightly stretched, so I had to set the output as 720P which still looks nice.

PS this monitor does have HDCP unlike some reviews previously mentioned.

The 2693HM has everything that you need. With a Height Adjustable Stand (HAS), built-in-speakers, HDMI technology, full 1080p input and fast response time, you will be able to power through a work day and watch a movie or play games with all of the extra free time that you will have. Not to mention, the eye catching bezel design will fit perfectly in public view or in the comfort of your home office. The 2693HM is Microsoft Vista Certified and works hard while looking good. With the 2693HM it's not hard to imagine. With HDMI and built-in speakers, the 2693HM is a comprehensive entertainment solution. 160º/160º Horizontal and Vertical Viewing Angles VGA, DVI, HDMI Connectors Built-in 4Watts (2W x 2 CH) Multimedia Speakers Approximate Unit Dimensions - 23.54 (W) x 18.03 (H) x 9.84(D) Approximate Unit Weight - 21.3lbs 3-Year Warranty

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