Samsung 172X: 12ms Response Time for 17" LCD

On Screen Display

Samsung happens to have On Screen Displays with which we are familiar. Our 8th look at a Samsung LCD brings us to another revision of the same menu found on the SyncMaster 213T and 192T, but with a different button interface.

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Although the menu interface was on par with other Samsung user interfaces, the buttons were not as intuitive or clearly defined. From left to right, our buttons are labeled: Auto Sync, Exit, Menu, Power, Negative and Positive, and MagicBright. Since the buttons are located under the panel, instead of on it, we found ourselves fumbling the buttons a little too much.

Another interesting feature included in the 172X is the "MagicBright" feature, which we first saw in the SyncMaster 192T. This feature is implemented again exactly the same on the 172X. Depressing the MagicBright button gave us three levels of brightness presets, plus one custom user preset. We used the "Entertainment" preset for the remainder of the analysis.

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Even though LCD technology has progressed faster than interface technology, we have always had the analog interface to fall back on. Fortunately, our 172X supports DVI and analog inputs. Switching between the two inputs can be done by pressing the "Exit" button.

Auto Syncronization has always been relatively hit or miss, even on high end LCDs. Much to our expectation, the SyncMaster 172X performs just about average concerning analog sync. A typical sync takes about 5 seconds and adjustment is only hit or miss. Several other LCDs that we have reviewed in the past occasionally adjust incorrectly on the first try, but on a second or third try, we are able to get the adjust to sync correctly. This does not seem to be the case with the 172X; if the Auto Sync does not adjust correctly on the first try, do not count on it working the second time. Horizontal alignment, color and brightness all worked very well, but vertical alignment was fairly inaccurate. Attempting to sync the monitor with black edges near the top of the screen will crop the monitor inaccurately, but will not stretch the signal height. If you adjust your monitor while running in some kind of console or command mode (white text on black background), expect poor or inaccurate results.