Any Flexview owners feel the colors are too washed out?

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fbrdphreak · #1 Post by **fbrdphreak** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:22 am

Hey all,
I got a T60 15" SXGA+ in for review and compared to my T42 15" SXGA+ the colors aren't quite as bright. They're still pretty "vibrant" so to speak, but just not as...washed out or bright. I never felt the colors on my T42 were washed out at all, but looking at the two side by side it almost looks like it.

One thing I did notice is the T60 has a color management profile included, "TPFLEX." I can't seem to load a default color profile on the T60, so I will try loading the TPFLEX color profile on my T42 and see if that makes them look more similar.

Does anyone feel their Flexview screens are washed out or too bright?

icantux · #2 Post by **icantux** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:58 am

Got a T42 with 15" Flexview here. The screen looks beautiful and bright compared to my colleagues with 14" screens. That's the only comparison I have thus far (except for the few non-TP screens I've seen as well).

Never used a profile for this machine either. Wonder what difference it would make.

Jason986 · #3 Post by **Jason986** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:31 pm

The 15" LG SXGA+ Flexview panel in my T43 looks great. Colors are bright and even, with the exception of two dime-sized areas in the bottom corners that are a tad dark. I've yet to see as nice a matte screen in any other 15" laptop.

hoya · #4 Post by **hoya** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 2:18 pm

Tim - take a look at these pictures I took comparing the ID Tech FlexView to the LG FlexView (be sure to read the captions since I switch them around in some shots):

http://home.att.net/~murphj/wsb/html/vi ... html-.html

http://home.att.net/~murphj/wsb/html/vi ... kip-5.html

http://home.att.net/~murphj/wsb/html/vi ... ip-10.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11221256@N00/

hoya · #5 Post by **hoya** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 2:21 pm

I also started this thread, though the info is outdated since ID Tech is no longer supplying panels to Lenovo.

btw, did you do a parts lookup on that T60? It should have an LG panel...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=15796

icantux · #6 Post by **icantux** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:33 pm

hoya, did you use a flash taking those pictures?

fbrdphreak · #7 Post by **fbrdphreak** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:49 pm

Hey John
I'll do a lookup for you within a couple days -- crazy around here! I'm also going to contact our Lenovo guy for more info on the screens. Gotta crack that whip

hoya · #8 Post by **hoya** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:17 pm

fbrdphreak wrote:Hey John
I'll do a lookup for you within a couple days

here's the page for a parts lookup:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... sLookup.vm

according to this page, the panel on that T60 has to be made by LG. personally, I can't stand those LG panels - they seem to have major 'sparkle'
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-62806

icantux wrote:hoya, did you use a flash taking those pictures?

nope, no flash. I used a 3.2MP Canon. also notice that the blacks are much better on the LG panel (better black = better contrast).

dr_st · #9 Post by **dr_st** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:47 am

The pictures on hoya's site compare IDTech's UXGA with LG's SXGA+, but assuming that IDTech's SXGA+ behaves similarly to their UXGA, it seems that IDTech's panel indeed looks a bit more "washed out". So, fbrdphreak, if your T42 has the IDTech panel, and your T60 has the LG panel, that could explain it.

makai · #10 Post by **makai** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:02 pm

At first I thought it was just my eyes, but my SXGA screen looks washed out also. I just recently bought a new T41 for my daughter with an XGA screen, and colors look so much better. I ended up keeping the XGA and giving her the SXGA.

Also noticed that the brightness intensity on the SXGA needs to be set at least 2 bars higher than the XGA to attain the same relative brightness.

I wonder if warranty will cover replacing the screen due to washout. Also wonder if my screen is actually bad. How can I tell??

dr_st · #11 Post by **dr_st** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:00 pm

makai wrote:At first I thought it was just my eyes, but my SXGA screen looks washed out also. I just recently bought a new T41 for my daughter with an XGA screen, and colors look so much better. I ended up keeping the XGA and giving her the SXGA.

Also noticed that the brightness intensity on the SXGA needs to be set at least 2 bars higher than the XGA to attain the same relative brightness.

I wonder if warranty will cover replacing the screen due to washout. Also wonder if my screen is actually bad. How can I tell??

Is it the 15" SXGA+ or 14" SXGA+?

makai · #12 Post by **makai** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:41 am

Is it the 15" SXGA+ or 14" SXGA+?

Both T41's I own have 14" screens.

dr_st · #13 Post by **dr_st** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:59 am

makai wrote:
Is it the 15" SXGA+ or 14" SXGA+?
Both T41's I own have 14" screens.

So it's not a Flexview, therefore doesn't really apply to this thread.

However, what you say is interesting. According to the official specs, the 14" XGA and SXGA+ should both have the same brightness (150 nits). However, it is a known fact that Lenovo uses several types of LCD panels from several manufacturers with the same basic specs in their laptops. I suspect that for models rated 150 nits it's not uncommon to have them use some 150-nit rated panels in certain units and some 200-nit rated panels in others, thus leading to potentially noticeable brightness differences even between notebooks that should be the same.

With the Flexview IPS panels it's less common, I guess, simply because there are far less IPS panels available to choose from. But even here you can have noticeable differences between IDTech and LG (SXGA+) or IDTech and Hydis (UXGA).

makai · #14 Post by **makai** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:23 am

So it's not a Flexview, therefore doesn't really apply to this thread.

True. However, since the thread did mention SXGA, I thought I would mention it.
The problem I see is that the contrast level of SXGA is poor. Blacks are not really black... more toward greys. Even whites move toward grey. I'll be interested if the orig poster can find a solution.

Thanks

Troels · #15 Post by **Troels** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:56 pm

Another issue:

When looking at hoyas images on a CRT, with a IDtech sxga+ flexviews, the washout does not seem to be there, it does not have the colors like seen in those images.
Hoya, are they set to the same brightness level? Did you try focusing on one of the monitors at a time and see if the colors changes (i.e. manipulated by the camera because of different brightness etc.) ?

EDIT: CRT and thinkpad with idtech sxga+ set to max brightness on LCD and what seems to be visually the same on the CRT.
http://users.cybercity.dk/~dsl35822/IMG_1599.jpg

#16 Post by **Kyocera** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:51 pm

Have you tried quickgamma? It helps tweak the colors.

hoya · #17 Post by **hoya** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 3:01 pm

Troels wrote: Hoya, are they set to the same brightness level? Did you try focusing on one of the monitors at a time and see if the colors changes (i.e. manipulated by the camera because of different brightness etc.) ?

Yes, all notebooks are set to MAX brightness and all are running on AC power. I intentionally switched the position of the notebooks so that the camera angle wouldn't affect the color.

every picture tells the same story: LG's Flexview has much better colors and far less washout than either the ID Tech Flexview or the non-flexview 14" SXGA+ panels. perhaps this is one reason why Lenovo has switched to LG panels for the 15" SXGA+ flexview and BOE Hydis' panel for the 15" UXGA flexview on the T60p.

Troels · #18 Post by **Troels** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 3:59 pm

Another reason might be/have been that Sony bought all IDtech's Japanese fabs in a new company spun off from IDtech (so that the name is still the same), buying the equipment, facilities, and personnel and will produce LTPS-TFT instead.
Maybe IBM wasn't very happy this happened to one of their join ventures...
It is questionable why this is the reason though... Lenovo made the decision, but as Idtech was joint ventured with IBM/CMO and the same people will be working there, and that there are fabs in China too...

That aside, idtech has had many versions of the same footprint 15" sxga+ display out. Some might not be the same, so Idtech is not just an Idtech, just as LG is not just and LG... But i guess it was a mjaor factor in the decision, and that Idtech just was outclassed by LG.

Any Flexview owners feel the colors are too washed out?

Any Flexview owners feel the colors are too washed out?

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