Jason Dunn
05-02-2006, 04:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/26/2007wfp-experiencing-severe-banding-on-gradients/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/26/2007wfp-experiencing-severe-banding-on-gradients/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"It's difficult at this point to tell precisely how many people are experiencing the issue due to the intense echo chamber that are internet forums, but a number of Dell customers have begun complaining about severe color banding issues on their new 2007WFP. The banding, as mocked up above using a screen shot of the issue, apparently makes normal color gradients impossible, kind of like knocking your monitor back down to 256 colors after all these years."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/2007banding.jpg" /><br /><br />This whole thing just makes my head hurt. See, I've had two 2001FP monitors (20.1" square screen) Dell LCDs for a few years now. Great monitors - real champs. I've been watching the prices fall on widescreen monitors and thinking I'd make the jump to 20" widescreens pretty soon - I have three widescreen laptops (my wife uses one), a widescreen Samsung DLP TV, and a widescreen 26" LCD TV - my whole world is widescreen except for the two monitors I do my day to day work on. <br /><br />Dell Canada is doing their <a href="http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/7_days_savings?c=ca&cs=CABSDT1&l=en&s=bsd">"7 Days of Deals" again</a> and they have the 2007FP, 20" widescreen LCD monitors on for a mere $429 CND (about $386 USD), which is a healthy $220 off the normal price. Quite a deal, no? I was ready to snap up two of them, when I remembered an email from Tim Adams in my inbox mentioning something about banding issues on a Dell monitor. Oh, look, it's the same monitor that I want to buy. :? I did a bit more research, finding a <a href="http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4203">review of the monitor</a>, and the <a href="http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_monitor&message.id=54714&view=by_date_ascending&page=10">Dell forum thread</a> on the subject, and the results are not encouraging. At first I thought it was much ado about nothing, because most people don't understand what banding really is or means. After looking at the photos in those threads though, it was pretty obvious there's a problem with these monitors.<br /><br />So, with much regret, I'm going to let the deal pass me buy - hopefully in a few months Dell will have fixed the problem. Anyone own a 2007FP and seen this problem?