Sony X-Brite SDM-HS94P/S 19" LCD Monitor (Silver)

by Sony

Product Details

• Item Weight: 15.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 22 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0002IASJS
• Item model number: SDM-HS94P/S
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,935 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 1, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

You'll be the envy of every gadget geek on the block with Sony's SDM-HS94P on your desktop. Not only does it have a glamorous frame, but its technology offers outstanding graphics. Connect to analog and digital graphics cards with ease (both cables included). A curvy stand offers 90 degrees of swivel, while the generous 19-inch display provides 1,280 x 1,024 native resolution and a 500:1 contrast ratio, so you'll be in good hands while you're working away on spreadsheets or chopping evildoers in your favorite game.

Sony's variable lighting technology insures a clean view under any lighting conditions: brightness ranges from 150 to 400 nits. The 160-degree viewing angles permit flexible placement and let everyone see the action when they're gathered around your desk. Sony provides a three-year warranty covering parts, service, and backlight.

What's in the Box
Display, stand, AC power cord, cord strap, PC/Mac utility CD-ROM, analog monitor cable, digital monitor cable, user manual, warranty information

Product Description

SONY SDM-HS94P/S -- Whether you're buying new, or upgrading an old monitor, this elegant 19" LCD display from Sony is an excellent choice. You'll virtually romp and roam in all the space that was previously wasted by your bulky CRT monitor. Sony's new XBrite Display Technology delivers awesome picture quality, with brilliant images, sharp text and eye-dazzling colors. Swivel Range - 90 Degrees Colors - 16.19 Million Response Time - 12ms Internal Power Supply Analog HD15 and Digital DVI Inputs Includes - AC power cord, cord strap, PC/Mac utility CD-ROM, analog monitor cable, digital monitor cable & user manual Unit Dimensions - 18.9 (w) x 17.3 (h) x 10.2 (d) Unit Weight - 15.2 lbs. Color - Dark Silver Chassis with Silver Bezel Warranty - 3 years

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice for an LCD, but black is never black., November 12, 2004

By 

The_Digital_Dude (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony X-Brite SDM-HS94P/S 19" LCD Monitor (Silver) (Electronics)

First off, let me essentially agree with the majority of reviewers who think that the Sony SDM-HS94P is a great LCD monitor. For an LCD display, this model probably has the best price to performance ratio of any on the market today. For general home/office use or even for having a large lightweight portable monitor for gaming parties, it's pretty tough to beat and will satisfy most needs. It's big, bright, sharp, colorful, and easy on the eyes; it uses less power, it won't heat up the whole room, it won't give you a daily X-Ray, and on top of all that it's very affordable for its class.

Having acknowledged so many accolades, unfortunately I still cannot recommend replacing a good quality CRT with this unit if you are doing any kind of serious graphics work, such as digital photography or CG art, as black just isn't black. I realize that most people do not have this requirement, however, so pick and choose from the following observations to determine how they may influence your purchase decision.

- My biggest problem with this monitor is undoubtedly that black is never black. Depending on what part of the screen area you may be looking at, if you are displaying an all-black image (i.e. RGB 0,0,0), what this LCD actually shows you are puffy clouds of dark blue, dark green, or milky grey. I am using one of the latest colorimeters on the market, the Pantone / Color Vision Spyder2PRO, which gives very good results to adjust color temperature and brightness/contrast. Well, whether you calibrate this monitor or not, there seems to be no way to get black to be black. A good Sony Trinitron CRT dramatically outperforms this LCD in this regard. Even after calibration, viewing the colorimeter's color correction curves shows that the very dark end of the spectrum cannot be represented very well. The closer you get to the desired display of RGB 0,0,0, the more the actual individual displayed colors spike too high to ever really be black. This is hardly surprising considering the relative infancy of LCD technology when compared to CRT's, so hopefully it's only a matter of time until LCD's catch up to CRT's. Others have suggested that the pricier but slower Samsung 19" 193P LCD may show black better, but as I haven't seen it myself in a side-by-side comparison, I can't comment on it.

- Improved fast response time of 12ms is readily apparent in games that have fast action, such as FPS's. UT2K4 is actually quite playable at the monitor's native resolution of 1280x1024. There is some minor choppiness in screen refresh with a lot of motion going on, especially when playing in lower non-native resolutions (which isn't recommended anyway but does perform better than on older LCD's), but the difference over 25ms or 50ms LCD's from a couple of years ago is dramatic. The excessive blurring problem of older displays is just about gone, but the monitor industry needs to keep their R&D focus on getting LCD response time to 3ms or less so that it more closely matches conventional CRT's. I had this Sony LCD setup temporarily as a dual display along with a Sony Trinitron CRT, and comparing the two side-by-side definitely showed a lot more motion blur on the LCD than on the CRT, as one would expect, but by no means is it the show-stopper for gaming that it used to be. So, in terms of response time, the Sony SDM-HS94P is really sweet until the technology advances further. Personally, I still prefer a good CRT over any LCD for gaming performance if you don't need portability, but the difference is more minimal than it used to be. It bothered me more that dark areas of the game (e.g. caves, tunnels, shadows, etc.) were never really very dark because this monitor is incapable of displaying black properly.

- After a couple minutes of exploring the on-screen menu options, I found the controls easy to use. There are independent RGB gain controls for more precise color temperature adjustment, which is a real plus. Sharpness can be easily adjusted, but the default factory setting seems best. I found the default automatic sensor setting of the input selector distracting, as the monitor wasn't always making the right decision for me to switch to the other input, such as when rebooting the then active PC. Being able to turn off the sensor via the OSD menu was thankfully included as a necessary feature. Overall, I was fairly pleased with the OSD menu options and didn't notice any glaringly obvious omissions like on some other manufacturers' models, although notably there is no direct interface connection so that colorimeters with software control can interact directly with the monitor, while leaving you with the ability to adjust settings manually on the front of the display when you need to do so.

- I found essentially no display quality difference between using the HD15 analog VGA input (using either the included Sony VGA cable or a high quality Monster Cable thick VGA signal cable) and the DVI-D digital input (using the included DVI-D signal cable). Sometimes I have seen annoying image / text ghosting when using the analog input on other LCD monitors, but I saw no such problem on this model. Either the analog or digital should serve equally well, although technically the digital input is the better choice.

- The pixel pitch of .294mm may be standard for 19" LCD's, but it takes a bit of getting used to when compared to something much tighter on a good CRT, like .24mm on a high-end Sony Trinitron CRT. I find .294mm to be a bit "blocky", but I guess there isn't much else to say about it until the technology improves. Some people might never notice this, but I guess it depends on what is "normal" for you. For me, I sure hope the manufacturers work to improve this in the future.

- Text or straight lines may blur up when they "fall between the pixels", especially for smaller font sizes. Make the assumption that you will need to zoom in for any detailed graphics work.

- The unit I bought had only two minor pixel defects on the upper left side, within 1cm from the edge, as evidenced when looking at full-screen displays of red, green, blue, black, and white. It wasn't worth returning or exchanging the monitor for them. One was apparently a dead pixel, but it wasn't always viewable, depending on a slight difference in angle from how you're viewing the screen, given this more recent type of LCD screen technology. The second problem was a hot white "speck" but was only visible on a black screen, and was so small that it looked more like a light bleed from in between a couple of pixels than an actual hot pixel itself; it was actually less noticeable than the dead pixel, so not really a problem either, thankfully. The center of the screen looked essentially perfect, which is the most important area of concern.

- The very edges of the screen were excessively bright with lots of light leakage evident on a dark image being displayed. Sony definitely needs to get a handle on this "light pollution" problem as it's really obvious.

- Despite the specs, I still found the viewing angles to be quite limiting in terms of seeing consistent color and brightness/contrast. If you move your head just a little bit from side to side, the colors change significantly. Moving your head or the monitor up or down changes the amount of light hitting your eyes, which prompts you to find a sweet spot somewhere in the middle by adjusting the monitor's tilt. Hopefully a consistent viewing angle will be a future spec for LCD's, as currently CRT's are much better at this.

- There are no standard mounting supports in the back to place this monitor on an extension arm. In fact, the back is covered by a large removable piece of plastic that gently sits in some peg holes. Whatever you do, do NOT lift the monitor by this plastic back cover, as you will surely smash your monitor to the floor. There is even a bright warning sheet greeting you to this effect when you open the box. Hopefully Sony will figure out a better design than this going forward. Or, you could just leave the cover off altogether.

- For a dual monitor setup, the two-inch bezel is ridiculous. That equates to four huge inches of plastic nothingness in the middle of each pair of LCD screens. For a single monitor setup, it's not a problem.

- The base could use at least a couple of pounds of additional weight, as this model is quite top-heavy. You have to be consciously aware not to smack it by accident as you're turning around or moving near it, as you might knock it over. My unit had an August manufacturing date. Some people have reported that recent assembly line changes have added some weight to the base, but I don't know if my particular unit qualified for this or not; I just know that what I received is still too top-heavy for its own good. However, don't let this issue deter you too much from purchasing an otherwise capable display.

- At first glance when removing the unit from the box, you're taken aback by how ridiculously shiny the surface of the screen is, almost like a mirror. My Sony Trinitron 21" CRT screens are far less reflective, so I'm not sure why this LCD display is so different. However, once the power is on and you're doing regular work, I'm happy to report it's not a problem as long as you have no light sources behind you. If you don't have control over creating a light-friendly ergonomic environment, such as in many workplaces with overhead fluorescent lighting or huge glass pane windows, perhaps your mileage will vary.

So, after all this investigation, it should come as no surprise that this Sony LCD is on my wife's desk and not mine. She loves it for doing e-mail, spreadsheets, or perusing the Internet. It's "pretty".

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny ..., September 27, 2004

By 

William K. Harmon "wkharmon" (Prospect, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony X-Brite SDM-HS94P/S 19" LCD Monitor (Silver) (Electronics)

This is my first review at amazon.com, but this is also the first product that I have ever purchased which I feel strongly about. These are quite simply, the best monitors that I have ever purchased. I work in the IT Industry, so I see a lot of monitors. I purchased 2 of these monitors from Best Buy for $799 a piece - $100 mail-in rebate ($699 a piece after rebate) for my home computer to replace a pair of Sony SDM-X82/Bs. While my not-so-old previous monitors were great and all, the difference with these monitors is night and day. The picture is brighter (I had to turn the brightness DOWN on these), the colors have more depth, and the 12ms delay is remarkable. I can play all of my favorite First Person Shooters with no ghosting what-so-ever.

In my opinion, gamers who have insisted on CRT monitors over the years would be quite pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Sony SDM-HS94P. The only monitors that I have seen of comparable quality are the Apple Cinema Displays, which retail for significantly more money, and don't have half of the features that these Sony monitors feature.

I purchased two monitors. There is 1 stuck pixel on one of them, and the other is completely free from defects. This is perfectly acceptable in my opinion--I barely even notice the single stuck pixel. Overall (in case you can't tell already) I believe that these monitors represent one of the best purchasing decisions that I have ever made.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant colors, but bad backlight problems, November 19, 2004

By 

G. Duda (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony X-Brite SDM-HS94P/S 19" LCD Monitor (Silver) (Electronics)

I am a big fan of X-Brite on notebook screens, so I was really excited when I purchased this Sony. I have a graphics card with two plugs, so I was able to compare this monitor side-by-side with a 19" f1903 LCD from HP (one monitor used DVI, the other analog, but I switched back and forth and it didn't seem to make any difference which one was on which for my observations).

The Sony was bright and brilliant, and made the HP look positively dull by comparison. Also, colors on the Sony were truer (though with a slightly bluish cast). However, there is noticeable "bleed" from the backlights that are visible along the right and left edges of the screen. While the HP can show a true black screen, the Sony's blacks are marred by the light "leaking" in from the side. This is usually not a problem for every day tasks, but it is especially noticeable when doing things where the color black is prominent on the screen (e.g. Doom 3, editing the shadows of photos, playing movies in black letterbox).

This monitor has a lot going for it. Too bad the backlight problem ruins an otherwise great purchase.