Update 10/15/2007:  For verification, Samsung sent us a second SyncMaster 226CW, their latest 22 inch screen.  You may recall the first was a bit disappointing due to overly saturated preset colors that were impossible to calibrate and a weakness in reactivity which led us to believe that the overdrive functioned incorrectly.

Just a small story to start things off…At the beginning of summer in an informal conversation, we were sure of the success of the future 226CW while Samsung representatives themselves were very skeptical of this product, which we hadn’t tested yet.  On paper the 226CW looked more than promising.  It represented an evolution of the very popular 226BW on which there was the assured presence of a Samsung panel – very sought after for its reactivity and color fidelity – in addition to a wide gamut.  In the end, they were right.  The second series of tests completely confirmed initial results.  There was still a reactivity that wasn’t up to par with other 2 ms TN rivals and there were overly saturated colors which were impossible to adjust.  Unfortunately, this first test stands as is:

The first test on 09/10/2007 :
If there was ever a screen on paper that could potentially rival the Samsung 226BW (the most popular 22 inch since its release at the beginning of this year), it’s the...Samsung SyncMaster 226CW. This is all the more so true because it isn’t too much more expensive.  In fact, there are supposedly two main advantages : Samsung assures the presence of a Samsung panel and in addition it’s a wide gamut model.

More specifically, the 226CW should avoid all of the polemic surrounding the 226BW and its game of musical chairs with the panels that came first from Samsung, then AU Optronics, then CMP and finally Chimey.  Performances were inconsistent to say the least. This time, Samsung assures a 100 % Samsung panel source moreover this is related to a particularity of the panel in question.  This brings us to the second point: the  226CW is a 2 ms TN (like the 226 BW, however see box) wide gamut.  In plain English, this means the color space has been extended and it’s capable of displaying nuances that are inaccessible to other monitors.  This will benefit digital reflex owners who don’t work in sRGB as well as movies lovers because this type of screen usually offers more shades and they are less subject to solarization.

Richer color but not adjustable…

Actually, as our colorimeter showed, the 226CW’s color space is significantly larger.  The real improvement is even more impressive than what the graph suggests, particularly in red and green tones.  This may take some getting used to, all the more so because color fidelity isn’t as good on this  226CW as with the 226BW (at least the S series).  Grays are more or less true without any particular dominance, however pure colors like magenta, green and blue are overly saturated.  It’s really too much.  Our manual adjustment attempts and even trying with our calibration sensor were futile.  We never were able to display true colors in photos whether in sRGB or Adobe RGB.

This problematic rendering also affects movies.  On the other hand, we did appreciate color gradations that were more progressive than usual instead of the typical uniform color blocks.  Of course, it doesn’t make up for the fact that Samsung still doesn’t integrate any video processing circuitry on its monitors, this function being reserved for their televisions.  The result is that there is shimmering in large colored spaces and video compression effects are very noticeable.

In the end, we find ourselves with a screen whose color fidelity is poorer than that of the 226BW (manual adjustment is even possible on the AU Optronics, Chimey and CMO versions), reactivity is less and the price is higher.  In our opinion, the 226CW fails to be a worthy successor to the 226BW.