Samsung LN-R238WA 23-Inch Widescreen HDTV-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV Review
December 6th, 2009
Samsung LN-R238WA 23-Inch Widescreen HDTV-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV Review from Andrew Pleasants. excellent purchase, I bought this TV as a do-it-all device. I wanted to get a FP LCD monitor for my computer, and I was looking into panels that had multiple inputs. I wanted to be able to use it to play games and watch DVDs as well be able to use it for my computer. I figured while I was at it I might as well equip myself with something that can handle HD signals and I can watch tv on as well. The following is my take on its performance in said areas:
PC:
As a computer monitor it works very well. I am EXTREMELY picky about this type of thing and I wouldn’t say it was good if it wasn’t. I use it primarily as a PC monitor and I would rate it’s pc performance a 4 out of 5. To get the best picture you need a decent video card and a decent VGA cable(read: WUXGA or UXGA and some cases SXGA because of the high resolution of the panel). DVI->HDMI does not display well, you can use it in a pinch, but it will not look right, the tv was not designed to use this as a pc input. VGA works just fine, but you have to be sure you enable your resolution to match the native resolution of the monitor (the same is true with ANY LCD FP if you want the best picture quality). The native resolution of the panel is 1366×768… you can enable 1360×768 and it will chop 3 pixels (you dont lose any visual data, it just doesn’t use these pixels) off of each side. Look for a program called “powerstrip” if you can’t get your desktop to accept that resolution by default. If you choose not to use a widescreen desktop, then set the monitor picture size to 4:3 instead of Wide and use a desktop resolution of 1024×768 (the height of 768 ensures that you are still using native pixels). If you have trouble getting games to run at 1360×768 this is also a good option (set the game res to 1024×768 and change the picture size on the monitor).
The picture quality is crisp and clear. There can be some very minor “ghosting” effects around certain colors/texts which can be aggrevated by a poor quality VGA cable. For the most part you will not notice this unless you sit extremely close to the panel or you display odd color combinations (i.e. fine bright blue text on a black background blurrs a little bit). As I said, I am extremely picky about this type of thing and if it was bothersome enough to return the monitor, I would. As with most LCDs it favors red a little bit and sometimes there can be a bit of boldness/bleeding on strong red in tight spaces (like a bright red bolded font).
As far as pc games go it performs beautifully. Games are crisp, vibrant and clear. Best of all there is no response time “ghosting”. This is something I was very concerned about because I play a lot of CS, BF2, etc. This monitor responds just as quickly as my CRT. I noticed absolutely no ghosting.
Note: Most games today have command line options to set their resolution to special/custom sizes. The widescreen res you are looking for is 1360×768. Some games (like CS1.6) do not specifically support 1360×768 but do have wide aspect resolutions that still work well, but there is slight interpolation using non-native resolutions that will cause things to look a little different (still very very playable). And if all else fails you can always use 1024×768 and set the monitor to 4:3.
Games:
When not using it as a pc monitor I use it mostly to play PS2 and Xbox. I purchased component cables for both (which I would highly recommend) so I will comment on that.
Both systems are very crisp and very clear. There is NO ghosting whatsoever and I read that others had problems with delay in response and lag between input and action on-screen. I have noticed no such thing. Again, I am extremely discerning about this type of thing and if that were the case, I would have returned it. Perhaps they had faulty panels or were using odd input sources. As far as component goes, they play VERY well. Again I would rate this 4 out of 5 because I have noticed a strange problem with PS2 displays. In certain PS2 games when there is very fine detail or there is some type of filter/mask/blur effect in the game, the panel seems to display it incorrectly. Its really hard to give an example, but its like if there is a blur effect on a shiny object, instead of the blur being uniform and fading, it has something of a checkerboard pattern. It is akin to trying to reproduce 32-bit color in 24 or 16-bit mode on a computer… it takes the two closest colors and checkerboards them together so that it seems like its one solid color. I have only noticed this in a handful of games, and even in those games it is usually restricted to whatever the softening/blurring effect is on. If you want a good example, pop in Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1. The game seems to have a full screen blur on it, I suppose to soften the sprites and make it more fluid. However, when using component cables (I have tried 2 different cables) the screen just seems to have a checkerboarded pattern instead of a fluid/smooth fading/softening to it. A minor gripe (except for in FFT since it takes up the whole screen) but a gripe none the less. I dont know if its the panel itself, the way the PS2 outputs to component, or perhaps just my panel. But I can say that I dont notice it on Xbox or on the pc. The only other game on my desk that I can think of that displays the problem is Mega Man X8 (which looks sweet in progressive mode, just hold down X and triangle as the game boots). Around some parts of the characters (easily seen on Zero’s sigma blade) there is a shine/blur effect and it does the same thing.
TV:
I dont have HDTV or digital cable for that matter, so the standard signal is decent at best. Very watchable, but it performs like all LCDs do when using a non-digital/HD signal. No gripes.
DVD:
Crisp, clear and vibrant. I don’t have component cables for my dvd player so I havent watched any in progressive scan yet, but via PC and PS2 (SCPH30001, no progressive) it looks fantastic (I think I actually prefer the PS2). I can only imagine it with a pro-scan set top.
Bottom line:
As long as your panel is in working condition and you have the right equipment for it, it makes a dynamite PC and videogame monitor. Thats the whole reason I bought it so I can assure you that I am very critical about those features. I don’t know why other reviews are stating it doesn’t perform in those areas when it does. Don’t be shy of this model if you want to use it for a PC, games, dvd or a TV. It shines in all categories, its not extremely expensive and its about the perfect size as an all-in one without being too big a monitor or too small a TV. I recommend it.
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