Customer Reviews

NEC Display Solutions P221W-BK 22-Inch 8ms(GTG) 300 cd/m2 1000:1 Widescreen LCD Monitor (Black)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I spent many hours and days researching monitors prior to purchasing 2 of these and am certainly glad I chose them.

I was tired of the uninspiring image quality produced by TN panel monitors. While not too horrible, cheaper TN panels never gave me what I hoped for when editing images and videos. Even with good color calibration software, I could never get consistent results especially in a dual monitor setup. The limited viewing angle of TN panels also became a real issue as I began to move up in size. The larger the TN panel, the more color shift occurs at the edges.

While IPS monitors are currently regarded as being the top tier, they come at a hefty price and my budget/conscience just wouldn't allow me to invest so much money in a dual monitor setup. I have compared my two NEC S-PVA monitors with another manufacturer's IPS monitors and I will say that I see no difference and the NEC's have far more features.

After purchasing the SpectraView software from NEC to use with my x-Rite i1, the monitors are incredibly precise and match one another perfectly. This would have been possible to achieve even without the SpectraView software but it sure simplified the process. The software allows you to calibrate to several different targets and change many settings on the monitors without having to access the menus.

The build quality is typical of NEC - excellent. They are made to last and the bases/stands are rock solid. The matte finish on the LCD is a very nice feature that reduces eye strain significantly and eliminates glare that would otherwise interfere with the editing process.

Blacks are amazingly black and there is absolutely no backlight bleed on either of the two I received. Absolutely no dead or stuck pixels either.

While there are a couple of IPS monitors available now near this price point, they currently get very mixed reviews on reliability, consistency, and ease of use which was the final deciding factor.

I received two P221w's this weekend and so far so good. I will update this review over the next month or so. I'm running two monitors with the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT that came with my MacPro dual 2.66. Initial impressions are compared to my set of Samsung Syncmaster 226bw that the monitors are replacing. Both were calibrated with colovision spyder2pro, but with the NEC spectraview II software on the p221w's. Blacks are MUCH better on the P221w's. Very noticeable when you shut down the computer and the screen goes black for a period of time. Resolution is better on the p221w's, despite the similar proclaimed resolutions. Color accuracy appears to be much better on the P221s's, but I have created prints just yet. The most notable benefit to me so far is that the two displays appear to be consistent. I was never able to get both of the syncmasters to calibrate the same. I'm calibrating on a regular basis with the idea that the monitors are really just burning themselves in in the first few days.

My main criteria for success will be my ability to reliably soft-proof with my preferred photo processor. I'll be doing this a lot over the next several weeks and I will report back.

I am a serious amateur and have spent thousands of dollars in camera equipment, editing software and calibration software. But I kept on using my regular desktop screen or laptop screen, thinking that calibrating them was good enough.

This display has dramatically improved my viewing experience and I deeply regret not having purchased a professional monitor long ago. The major advantage that a professional monitor gives you in addition to larger size and better colors, is the much larger viewing angles. You can move your head up and down or sideways and the image does not change like in traditional displays. I can have friends around me and they can see the image in full splendor.

This NEC display can be calibrated with special software, but if you want, the display's Native mode using the included ICC profile is 99% perfect right out of the box.

When I have the money I may go for the NEC LCD2490WUXi2 or LCD2690WUXi2 which are more high end and expensive. But so far I'm very happy with this one.

NEC has really outdone themselves again with this great display. It's perfection - widescreen which can be easily rotated to portrait mode, optional speakers, and optional color calibration built-in to the display so your graphics card can run at full bandwidth. Crisp, sharp, and super bright. On a brightness scale of 1 to 100, I have mine set on 11 in a darkened room. It's counter-balanced perfectly so I can raise and tilt the display with little effort.

It comes with both VGA analog and DVI connectors. Customer support was quick and responsive to all my pre-sales questions, such as will this work with a Mac Mini? Yes, it does. The power connector plugs right into the back without a "brick." There's even a cord organizer and wall-mount option (they include the screws). The buttons are easy to press, although black-on-black buttons can be tricky to adjust in a dark room. They thought of that too! Just learn where the menu button is and the on-screen menu includes on-screen button tool tips for left, right, select, and exit. Nice touch.

It's just so near perfect that I feel the need to pick on just a few imperfections. The power LED which glows blue when on and amber when in power save mode will light up the room in the dark. A sliver of black cloth tape took care of that nicely. The CD appears to be a hybrid mac/pc format which is years behind the times. Mac's can read PC format CD's just fine these days. And, the Windows applications are not accessable from the Mac - ok, but the icc profile is on the Windows section. You don't really need it as OS X appeared to have created a profile for it. It wasn't that good.

I calibrated it with a Sypder2express rather than purchase the special calibration kit from NEC since it costs as nearly as much as the monitor itself. Upgrading from analog VGA to DVI on this display is showing me colors which I've never seen before - such subtle shades of blue. I also had to add many, many icons to my OS X dock since it's so much wider now. I look forward to using this monitor for many years.

I needed a new monitor, mostly for photo work. I hadn't looked at monitors in awhile and discovered that the manufacturers are abandoning the mid-price range. Most people want 'em big and cheap and for the rest, there are the Eizos or maybe one of the better LaCies. A number of photo superstars, from Jay Maisel, to JP Caponigro to Graham Nash, Jeff Schewe, etc like the NEC 2490 so much they endorse it but its $729. So this P221W, if almost as good as the 2490, would have been a godsend.

Alas, no. The P221 looks great. Fabulous, in fact. (OK, the blacks aren't state of the art but other than that). The hitch is, its one of a new breed of wide gamut monitors. Sounds great, right? Alas, no. You probably already know that you can only reproduce a small fraction of the colors and range you see on your monitor, in a print or on the web. So, whereas a "standard" gamut monitor will display colors you can't print, a wide gamut monitor will offer up colors that you can't even dream of printing. Can this be mitigated with careful calibration and profiling? Alas, no. At least I couldn't. Long story short, the same super gamut that displays skies so far into the blue, they are violet and the most intense reds you have ever seen, makes profiling with conventional devices impossible. NEC offers a modified Eye One that's usually backordered but they said the new Spyder 3 would also work. I made numerous attempts with the Spyder and ColorEyes Pro and also with the software that comes with the Spyder and I could never get that fantastic red under control. Whites and highlights were always pink.

You may have better luck than I did. And if you need a monitor for games or to watch movies the P221 is unreal. (Literally). No doubt, before long there will be software and/or hardware to tame these things. But I had to bite the bullet and get the NEC 2490. Wow. Now I know why fine art types like the 2490 so much. Its a little bit better than the P221 in evenness, blacks and so on. But the real difference is in the accuracy and subtlety of what it can display. Your images look the way you remember them and sometimes you see stuff in dark areas you didn't notice when the photo was taken. But it ain't cheap.

Happy with image quality at price. Bought a 2nd after receiving the first. Using for critical photographic workflow in a color calibrated setting...

Received an NEC 22 inch screen thru Amazon. Quick delivery. Low price. Great screen for professional graphics. I am very pleased with this transaction and the resulting great piece of equiptment.

Several months ago, I bought two of these to use with Photoshop. They are a great product and have been absolutely trouble-free. Brilliant colors with a full range of callibration adjustments, they've added a lot to my photo processing cabability.

At the same time I bought the monitors, I also purchased the NEC Spectravision II calibration package, which is like the little girl with the curl. When it's good, it's very, very good, and when it's bad, it's horrid. I - and my IT consultant - had a devil of a time getting it to recongnize and communicate with this monitor. After hours of work and a heated exchange or two (he thought I had purchased an un-supported monitor) we finally identified a correct download to solve the problem. BUT WE SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO.

Now, I've had to have a faulty hard drive replaced, and we've got the problem all over again. Downloading and installing the latest version of Spectrview seems to have solved the recognition problem, but it won't run. Windows keeps shutting it down.

If you Google "Spectra II problems" you'll get 397,000 hits. If I had a do-over, I'd get these monitors and calibrate them with the Spyder package.

I've had this computer hooked up for 3 days now, and love the colors, construction quality, etc. The monitor shipped with the brightness set at 100%! I turned it down to a little less than 50%. The Disc that came with the monitor has several files, including the "User's Manual" which doesn't explain anything about how to install the drivers. The driver folder contains 3 files... the P221w "Security Catalog", the P221W setup information, neither of which auto loads and contain only codes... and last, the ICC Profile, which is 520 bytes. There is no explaination in any of the documentation on how to use this disc, or even what it's for. I plan on using the Color Munki color profiling hardware/software with colorimeter for calibrating my monitor and Epson Pro Stylist 3880 printer to get colors on my screen to match what I print. Is the disk that came with this monitor usefull for anything at all?

NOTE: If you are getting this monitor mostly to do photographic work, DO NOT SET THE AUTO BRIGHTNESS TO ON!!! If you do, the monitor will go dim, then bright etc. about every 3 seconds with no change in your enviroment lighting!! I think this is an engineering defect. Just set it to "OFF" via the menu button on the front of this monitor. This is especially critical when calibrating this monitor using colorimeter hardware such as Spyder or Color Munki.

Without going into detail I will simply state that this is one of the most rewarding purchases I've made in the last year. I bought this monitor specifically for photo editing and viewing. Everything about it works perfectly. The size is perfect. Anything larger would too large to view at a desk. Setup couldn't be simpler. Truly plug and play. Right click on the desktop provides option to choose which monitor you want to use. The higher resolution provides mades editing easier and viewing much more pleasurable.
Shipping was very quick and the monitor arrived in perfect condition.