Customer Reviews

Sony PremierPro SDM-P234/B Widescreen 23" LCD Monitor

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I started looking to purchase a large monitor I ready to get the new Apple 23" monitor for my PC however there have been so many posts about the pink and yellow hues, plus complaints about the 1 year Apple warranty versus 3 years for the Sony and since I have had 2 different Sony monitors in the past and was very happy with them , I decided to get with the Sony and ordered it from Amazon.com. To start I like to say that I am very impressed with the service at Amazon.

Here are some impressions and a strange problem I had to begin with:
The first monitor had something stuck between the clear coating and the LCD screen. It was either a small piece if hair or dust, a very small one however very annoying and definitely something that must have happened during the manufacturing so I called Amazon and the monitor was replaced immediately. I did not even try to change the resolution on the first one read on ...
The replacement monitor was perfect however it would not display 1920 x 1200 resolution using the DVI connection. I could get 1920 x 1200 only by using the VGA connection however the image quality is definitely mediocre under VGA and at close to $2000 I want great, not good! My video card is the NVIDIA 5700 Ultra with 128 MB Ram. I spend quite a bit of time with Sony and NVIDIA support removing and reinstalling drivers, the card, changing settings, editing the .inf files and so on. Finally was told (after being elevated to secondary tech support) that this is a native DVI problem, it is not fixable and if I wanted 1920 x 1200 I had to settle for the VGA connection and "live with it!"
Before giving up all together I decided to try something else and borrowed a friend's new ATI Radeon 9600 XT card. Well, as soon as I installed it I was able to change the resolution immediately to 1920x 1200 without a hitch! The specs between the ATI and NVIDIA are similar so I do not understand what the problem is but be prepared that if you experience the same problem you may need to purchase a new video card.

Now the problem I am facing is that after a couple of days that pink hue appeared especially around bold letters in white or grey background and this is the problem many have been complaining about with the Apple 23" monitors. It is not bad however it is there and no matter how many adjustments I have made, it refuses to go away. Many users might not even notice or not pay attention to it however if you do photography, or work on large spreadsheets it might bother you.
At this point I have been using the monitor for a week and unless I somehow convince myself within the next couple of days that I can live with it, I am afraid I shall return the monitor even though I think this is a great looking and performing piece of equipement.



Here is an update of my review above:
After a bit of trial and error I was able to solve the pink outline around the letters by choosing new settings in the Clear Type and by changing those the letters are now crisp and clear.
Since placing a url in the review is not allowed you can search for "Microsoft Clear Type" and then experiment with the different settings.
Another way to solve the red shade around the fonts is by going to My computer/properties/advanced/visual effects and clear the button "smooth edges on screen fonts' However even though the setting gets rid of the red, it is not as good as changing the clear type because the fonts are not as sharp.
I am very happy with the monitor now and would highly recommend it.

First monitor, it has 8 dead pixels on it. I called Sony, they ship me a replacement monitor after 1 month. First replacement monitor has 26+ dead pixels, so I called again... They sent another one, which has 1 dead pixel but pinkish color on 4 sides of the screen. Then... i call again.. they sent 3rd replacement monitor, no pinkish color but I still have 1 dead and 1 stuck pixel on the screen. The dead pixel is fine with me, but the stuck pixel is one big bright dot sitting where is noticeable. Whenever I watch movie on the screen, I can see the stuck pixel especially in dark background. Why does it has to be me getting all the bad monitors?? I doubt I will purchase another Sony monitor ever again.

I've had this monitor for 4 months now and I'm very happy with it. The difference with space on my desk is huge, going from a 19' CRT. The stand is well made and looks good as does the overall product. The tilt feature works great too. I returned the 1st one to BestBuy after 3 weeks because I found it cheaper from newegg. Both monitors have had zero dead pixels. I haven't expereniced any pink problem, whatever that is.

1st monitor (bought new from online store)
Problems
Defect 1: Approximately 8 dead pixels (really large clusters of dead pixels towards the middle of the screen)
Defect 2: Side menu on Monitor did not work (I called their tech support and was told that it was normal for it not to work when connected with DVI. Turns out that this was not true as the replacement monitors did have that part working fine.)

2nd monitor (replacement) refurbished
Problems:
Defect 1: Sony sent me a refurbished monitor with scratches on surface and 3 dead pixels.
Defect 2: There was a redish glare on the edges: (Documents and other items that were supposed to look white would show up semi-reddish on the edges of the monitor.)
Defect 3: When the monitor was reassembled, they did not do it in a sterile environment, there was some sand and dust on the inside of the panel. (This was evident when looking towards the start menu in windows.)

Replacement 3 (refurbished)
Problems:
Defect: Approximately 15 dead pixels

Replacement 4 (refurbished)
Problems:
Defect: 1 dead pixel in the middle of the screen.

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I think I am giving up on Sony. I have come to the conclusion that Sony will just continue to send me defective replacement monitors. If a monitor with one dead pixel is the best I can get from Sony, then I will probably have to live with that.

This has been a reliable display device used as a program monitor on many Final Cut Pro editing systems editing 1080i programming for broadcast.
It exibits some LCD lag but reliably scales correctly to 1920 x 1080 using a converter (HDP) from HDSDI. Too bad this is a discontinued product or I would purchase more.

I bought this because I tried another monitor, and it had an input lag issues that made it unusable to me (I'm sensitive to that sort of thing). I am a perfectionist, so I decided to pop some extra money for quality. Well, I have to say: I think Sony really does deliver outstanding quality with this product.

Pros:
- Great color reproduction.
- Great panel uniformity.
- 0 Input lag.
- Light-up touch-sensitive panel controls are awesome.
- Great for gaming! If you are playing games in 4:3 resolution, this monitor scales amazingly. No jagged edges like older LCDs, and you have the option to stretch to full-screen, stretch to 4:3 (e.g. for 1024x768, where it has to stretch it to 1600x1200), or display at original resolution pixel-for-pixel. I play FPS games and the response time of this LCD is great.
- Tons of settings (this is good for power users that want to do things like change the level of the backlight).
- Auto contrast/brightness adjustment (this is just plain cool. When you turn on the room lights in the dark, you can see it get brighter to compensate).
-Ability to turn off extra-bright Sony logo (bright LEDs and logos on perfectly good products can be a pain. Glad Sony lets you turn the lit Sony logo off!).

Cons:
- No height adjustment.
- No component or HDMI inputs. So, if you want to hook your XB360 up to this baby, that's going to be a problem. I believe you can get an HDMI-to-DVI converter, but you would have to then use the 1 DVI port for your XB360 and connect your PC to the D-Sub (of which their are 2). Why not 2 DVI and 1 D-Sub?

The conclusion:
I've seen a lot of reviews where people were talking about technical issues with their PCs and blaming it on the monitor (e.g. people who can't get the suggested resolution, having trouble with ClearType, etc). So, I had to write my own review because I strongly believe that this is the best monitor I have ever owned, and it is the best looking monitor I have ever used (and I have used my share).

This is probably the greatest gaming LCD Monitor that I've seen. I have not yet installed EQ2, but WoW runs great and smooth even at 1920x1200 with a 3.4Ghz processor... I would highly recommend this for the purpose of programming, development, business work, and games.

The star trekish buttons in the front really adds a nice touch! Even though it took me a while to figure out how to turn it on, haha.

No matter, great job Sony! It's to be loved!

[...]

I'm visually impaired, so I need a large, crisp monitor that's flicker free. When I started looking, the choice was between the Sony and the Apple 23" monitor. While I thought the Apple's case, etc. was more durable, I chose the Sony because the contrast ratio was 500:1 as opposed to 400:1 for the Apple.

Letters and graphics are crisp. I needed to find drivers to make the aspect ratio more correct on my screen. Type tends to spread out more with the wider aspect screens, which makes it hard to read.

Overall. a good choice, I just wish I had not paid so much for it.

This monitor has great color, and is very easy on the eyes. It's a beautiful screen, and I would give it 5 stars, except for one glaring issue. Around the edges of the screen, about 1" wide, everything is tinted pink. Perhaps not a huge deal for most users, but I do a great bit of graphic design work, and find it incredibly distracting.

I'm very glad that I waited for the right time to purchase this awesome monitor. I up-graded from a Sony 17" LCD, SDM-V72W. I found it on-line at B&H Photo for a mere $725.00, a significant discount from the original street price of $2,000. Excellent Pricing aside, the monitor performs as specified and exceeds all of my expectations. I understand it has been discountinued by Sony but If you can find this monitor, buy it!!

Pros: Read the specs
Cons: None