NEC P221W-BK-SV works great out of box-- May have spoke too soon

[rmyers]

It seems that a lot of times only problems with products get posted on forums.  I understand that and have done it myself.  However, it can make a product look like it is problem riddled.  This is an alternative post.

Built a new desktop Christmas Eve, actually my nephew built it, I mostly watched.   We then hooked up my new P221W monitor with Spectraview.  It worked great out of the box.  I calibrated to the preset named "Photo Editing" in one try with no problems.  I am now in the process of calibrating several different starter point targets with different white points, luminance values and contrast.  I am finding that running the calibration more than once produces a tighter calibration.  I think the calibration system only spends a certain amount of time on the calibration.  If this is so, it makes sense that several runs would produce tighter results.

All in all, this is a great monitor.  I actually wanted the PA241 because of the 10 bit capability, but couldn't afford it and the computer build at one time, so I got the P221 with the intention of getting the PA241 later and having a two monitor set up.  Now I am not sure I need the PA241 though I eventually do want a two monitor set up and will probably get it later.  However, this monitor will more than meet my needs for some time.  Great product.

[ramestica]

how does the small 1680 x 1050 resolution feels like? Your report pushed me almost over the edge, but I'm still hesitating about its resolution.

thanks

[rmyers]

Well, I had good intentions of posting a favorable report of this monitor.  I waited until I ran through trying to solve the problem to post the results so I wouldn't post any unfounded guessing.

Turns out the monitor had pretty severe uneven brightness and a pink cast over the brightest part of the monitor.  The darkest part of the monitor was approximately the left 1/4 of the monitor.  The pink cast was on the other, brighter 3/4, or at least that is where it was most visible.   I worked with the calibration at night after work for several days and couldn't clear up the issue.  I searched on this forum and others for like problems and found some useful posts about calibrating to the native white point and some other things that I tried to no avail.

I called B and H and they gave me an RGA for the P221.  I decided to go ahead and pony up for the PA241 to replace it.  I got it in yesterday and hooked it up last night.  It has even brightness and no pink cast.  As an experiment, I calibrated the PA241 using the puck that came with the P221, as I hadn't returned the P221 yet, to see if it gave the PA241 a pink cast.  It didn't.  It calibrated the PA241 nicely.  The PA241 is a beautiful monitor.  I also set it up for 10 bit color and downloaded the ATI test image and verified that it is working.  Not sure what that will do for me in the real world, but I will find out as I work with it.

I will attempt to answer your question about the P221.  It also is a nice display.  It has very deep blacks, maybe more so than the PA241. I had no issue with the size/resolution of the monitor. If I had not had the problem with it, I would have been happy with it.  I would point out that this is my first professional level display, so my baseline before these two monitors was from some pretty crappy monitors. I think my issue is an isolated issue with one unit as I have seen many people post positive things about this monitor.  It happens.  It was resolved in a very customer friendly way. 

However, after getting the PA241, I think it is well worth the difference in price.  I have spent very little time with the MultiProfiler, but it looks like a great tool as well.

Also, B and H gets major cudos for their customer service.