Great Affordable HD 23" Monitor Setup

MagicCat

Well-known member
HI all

Recently, I picked up a Samsung 23inch computer monitor for 200 bucks at Micro Center. I was intrigued with the resolution, 2048x1152!!!, and, the fact it is a True widescreen 16x9 aspect ratio. Many of you may already know, that most computer monitors only do a 16x10 aspect ratio (or something like that) and are not capable of displaying 1080 HD video without some pixel Tricks. In fact, most I have seen only do 1650x1020.

This monitor, a Samsung 2343 BWX, Only offers VGA and DVI input. Im shooting on an HVX200 with component only output. This was not a problem. I picked up a very inexpensive, Chinese no-name Component to HDMI Converter box off Ebay, then used an HDMI to DVI converter cable I already had, and Presto!! What a beautiful 23 inch production monitor for my analog output!! Focusing with a 35 adapter is a snap. I found that even Without making ANY adjustments to the panel, the color is visually, quite true, right out of the box!!.

This is a flat response LCD. It does not have a shiny screen, or enhance the view as many others do. That is a real plus.

My over-all investment was under 300 bucks including the cable and converter box. I am so impressed with this, I'm buying several more in the upcoming months. In fact, I'm going to replace all my editing displays with them. I also find the extra wide format very very nice to work with when editing. Lots of horizontal real-estate for Timelines ETC.

The footprint of this monitor is extremely small, the chassis is very thin, and does not extend much beyond the size of the viewscreen. For transportation, I just picked up a peice of thick Lexan, cut it to fit over the face of the monitor, affix it wit a little velcro, and I can lay it down face first, or sandwich it in between other gear in my van without worry of Puncturing the screen,. It pulls off quickly for use, or leave it on when the environment is not so kind.

This is not something I would suggest for Direct sunlight, you may have some small issues in an extremely well lit environment. However, it would not be a problem to make a sunshield out of some black CoroPlast, that could fold up like barn doors when not in use. (coroplast is the same stuff Kino uses for many of their light fixtures. 40 bucks should get you a 10mm thick, 4x8 foot peice from any plastics house.)

Hope someone finds this helpful.

Enjoy!!
 
I've been using the same monitor for editing and have been quite happy with it. Haven't tried to use it as a production monitor yet. I'll have to give it a test.
 
I've been using the same monitor for editing and have been quite happy with it. Haven't tried to use it as a production monitor yet. I'll have to give it a test.


Not to mention, there are not any other computer screens that I am aware of (and that may not mean much) that has the resolution this Samsung has, anywhere even remotely close to it's price range. The last high res LCD computer screen I saw was well over 800 bucks. great Photoshop monitor too!


A friend of mine has an HMC150. He bought one of these Samsung's after I took the plunge. He picked up an HDMI to DVI converter cable and plugs is camera right into it. Both of us have become really fond of this thing for field use. It outperforms any consumer HD LCD TV I have seen to date in any price range for color, precision, and clarity. It is also very fast. I don't get any blurring.

Personally, for a large field monitor, I could not see investing anything more unless I was going to get into one of the professional series Panasonic's or Sony's that cost nearly ten times this. Respectfully.

I have a 32 inch Sony and another 32 inch Olevia consumer TV set in my home. This little 200 dollar computer screen smokes both of em by leaps and bounds. If it had speakers, heck, I would probably buy one just to watch TV on.
 
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I have been trying to crack this nut for a few days with a component to VGA cable and it doesn't work. What is the converter box you are talking about?


THanks.
 
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Sorry it took so long to get back to you, here is a link to the closed auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=110453296794&view=all&tid=455737099001

I just went back to the seller looked, it does not look like they have more of these. However, they are a dime a dozen on ebay for the cheap ones. I just typed in Component to DVI converter, and bought the first one I could find from an American Ebayer that had free shipping. It was like, 40 bucks out the door. It took a little goofing to get the monitor to see the signal, but once it did, it was beautiful. No visual signal to noise increase. (which is what I expected from an anonymous brand name out of China)

Mine has no brand name on it. Typical Chinese 3rd party MFR stuff. Bad spelling, no brand name, Directions were picture based and not product specific, ETC ETC. The little box it came in sure was colorful!! I bet they spent more in ink and laminate coating, than they did to make this electronic marvel.

NOTE: I bought a component to DVI converter because I already have a bunch of DVI to HDMI turnarounds. You could probably find the same thing for about the same price in Component to HDMI. Mine does not cross convert (DVI to Component AND Component to DVI) There were tons of similar boxes with free shipping out of the orient. I did not have two weeks to wait for it to come in, especially when I was unsure if it would even work. It was a 40 dollar gamble that paid off. I should also note, it does not upconvert or downconvert. Im not sure if it is the monitor, or the box, but one of the two devices seems to have an issue with 24p in both 1080 or 720. A bit of a disappointment, but then again, it was 42 dollars including shipping. I have spent more than that on a few rolls of Gaffer tape and accidentally left them behind. Not bad IMHO.

Anyway, hope this helps. Feel free to PM or Direct Email me, I am happy to help.
 
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