Monitor & TV Reviews

I purchased this computer to replace a Dell with a backlight problem. This is my second LCD monitor, and I guess it’s just bad luck as this monitor isn’t any better. In fact it’s worse now that Dell replaced my old monitor.

This monitor was very sharp, excellent picture for the first few weeks. Then it started going very bright, then back to normal, then very bright again.

After another month I now have a refresh problem. The screen doesn’t keep up. You can see previous windows on the screen , and the sharpness is gone. Can barely use this monitor any more.
Rating: 1 / 5

The AOC2236 looked like a very good choice to replace my old monitor, and while the monitor is not perfect, I am so far satisfied. It is a very inexpensive 16:9 HD monitor which provides an excellent and crisp picture, but with some slight deficiencies. Two previous reviews have given a lot of information, so I will try to keep this brief. (Be sure to look at the picture quality paragraph as it contains my biggest problem with the monitor.)

Instructions – The assembly of the monitor to the base was straightforward, and the pictorial instructions adequate, even though they contained absolutely no words.

Picture adjustment – The instructions are on an enclosed CD, but again they are very minimal. When I hooked up the monitor and turned it on, the picture came to life without any preliminary adjustment, making the monitor really plug-and-play. The picture was, however, stretched because my previous monitor was a standard 19-inch and this monitor has a 16:9 format. To correct this, I had to make an adjustment, which I made through my video card software (in Windows) prior to looking at the enclosed CD. My video card recognized this new monitor exactly, making the adjustment process quite simple through the automatic adjustment feature. I suspect that the correct driver was either already in my system (which would be surprising because my computer is several years old), or it automatically downloaded from the Internet or from the monitor itself, even prior to using the CD. If this does not work for you then you will have to use the enclosed CD, which contains the drivers. Interestingly enough, using the video card was exactly what the CD told me to do. I also contacted AOC and they provided a file, via e-mail, with much more complete instructions. Their response was very quick and much appreciated.

Monitor controls – They are located on the right side of the monitor, just above the power button, but they not easy to find as they are flat and only touch sensitive (as is the power button) and I could not find any instructions for their use. Fortunately, the detailed instructions provided by one of the reviewers (and the file provided by AOC) solved this problem for me. Be sure to look at Tony’s Amazon review if you buy this monitor, it will save hours of frustration and if you still have problems go to the AOC web site and contact them to get the file containing the instruction manual. Without these instructions the monitor adjustments are useless.

Picture quality – I found the picture to be very sharp on moderate resolutions as well as on the highest HD1920x1080 resolution (which is recommended and the one that I use). With all monitors, the greater the resolution the smaller the font and icon size, so I had to go properties-appearance (right click on the desktop) and enlarge the font and icon size to compensate for this. For word, excel and alike, I view at greater than 100%, which given the larger width of the display is not a problem. I like the 16:9 format because it gives me more room for icons on word and excel, and when I use the Internet I can leave my bookmarks in place without any loss in area for the site itself. (Be sure to set the monitor up correctly, so that the 16:9 format is enabled and is not stretched.) My primary complaint, along with the nonexistent information on monitor controls, and why I am giving this monitor 4 instead of 5 stars, is that the brightness and color intensity was not completely uniform, but this effect is not great and I made it even much less so with the changes described below. I do not think that I am the only person who has experienced this problem. One reviewer noted that the picture on his monitor was brighter at the top than at the bottom, it is exactly the opposite for my monitor; the top is slightly darker than the bottom. I am going to go into some detail on the nature of this problem and how I mostly solved it, so that if you experience the same sort of thing you can try to improve things before returning the monitor.

Nature of My Problem with Picture Quality — The brightness and color intensity difference on my monitor is only noticeable with a custom light color background and the difference, while noticeable, is only slight. (While I am writing this I see that the background is light lime green (my choice) at the top of the screen, gradually going to a less green and to more white and brighter at the bottom of the screen. However, I do not see any variation when I use a luminescence of less than about 150; so if I use a basic black, blue, green or red there is no variation, likewise if I turn up the luminescence to near the maximum of 240, where you get white, there is no visible difference in brightness. The variation is only noticeable with light custom green, red or blue tones (luminescence of about 200), which I prefer because I feel they produce less eyestrain than harsher background colors. Had I used a photograph as a desktop background and a primary color as a background in windows applications (as opposed to a light custom color), I would probably not have noticed any problem. Also, I do not observe any problem with more complex or moving images and the effect is dependent upon the distance and angle of viewing – it is not at all apparent from more than about 6-8 feet or when viewing from an angle of more than about 45degrees.

Correcting Picture Quality — The picture characteristics of this monitor are very adjustable, but the lack of instructions makes this difficult. I get the impression that the manufacturer does not actually want the customer to alter things and run in other than the automatic Dynamic Contrast Ratio (DCR) mode. Unfortunately, this problem was most noticeable with the turned DCR on, so I had to turn it off and go to manual settings. I was able to largely eliminate my brightness and color intensity problem using manual settings. Unfortunately, this required digging out the information on how to adjust the monitor and then going into the ECO mode of the monitor control to turn the DCR to off, and even with more detailed instructions this is not easy to do. With the DCR off, I was able to make brightness, contrast and color intensity changes. I also had to use my video control card to reduce the brightness and contrast ratio. These changes mostly, but not quite completely, eliminated the brightness and color intensity variations. Brightness variations are an inherent problem with all LCD monitors when viewed off-angle, and here the off-angle reduction in brightness eliminates any observed variation, so the angle at which the monitor is tilted relative to your eye position is important.

Since I am otherwise satisfied, and given the very good price, and that I have been able to reduce the variation so it is slight and therefore acceptable, I am going keep the monitor. All in all, a good monitor and hard to beat for the price, but I recommend that you look at the picture prior to buying, to see if you see any slight non-uniform brightness and,if so, if it is something that you can live with, or are willing to try to correct using manual settings. This may be a problem especially for someone who does a lot of photographic manipulation.
Rating: 4 / 5

Very detailed explanation this monitor’s cryptic menu system and workarounds for the buggy installation CD included in this review.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A great looking/performing 22″ widescreen monitor, near-Samsung image quality. More than adequate for all but the power user. A super bargain when selling in November 2009 for about Benjamin-and-a-quarter out-the-door from the Stapled and Buy websites. At full retail, the price isn’t knocked off sufficiently from top-tier products to move, so expect another manufacturer-to-retailer subsidy soon enough. The major downsides are (1) weak, unfriendly documentation (2) a buggy CD and (3) an indecipherable, hieroglyphic-icons-only menu system that will initially give the user massive migraine headaches. Basically, this product persuades me that AOC (Admiral Overseas Corporation, historical roots tied to America’s Admiral Corp.) is either a mock-brand venting of top-tier excess capacity/product/materials – or a truly up-and-coming independent manufacturer. Either way, keep an eye on ‘em.

MONITOR BASICS: Classy, minimalistic look, front and back. Gloss black frame (that takes fingerprints easily), with raised chromed AOC logo at bottom center. Matte screen. No speakers or webcam. 1920 x 1080, 16:9, resolution. Four on-screen display (OSD) menu buttons: running vertical at bottom right front of frame, gray and barely visible, (overly) touch-sensitive, no tactile feedback. Vertical VGA female port. Vertical DVI-D female port. Standard USB female port, horizontal, at back of lower left screen (located such for your keyboard/mouse fob, not day-to-day access). Standard recessed vertical three-prong power socket. USB B-female port (to port data to/fro the standard/A USB female port). VESA 100mm (non-recessed) compliant. Supports DDC/CI (Display Data Channel/Command Interface). Auto-pivot (if enabled), but the OEM stand is too short and has no vertical adjustment (I’m using instead an excellent Ergotron Neoflex Monitor Stand). One LED, bottom right front of frame; blue when Power-On, orange when in Stand-by mode. Three years parts/labor, but it’ll get shipped overseas for any work. Spec sheet refers to a ‘seashell’ finishing–whatever that’s supposed to mean, you or I will never know. When the signal to the monitor drops, it briefly displays NO SINGAL. Lots of user reviews available at Stapled’s website.

IN THE BOX: Monitor, two-piece monitor stand with mounting hardware, power cord (no inline ‘power brick’), a flimsy VGA cable (no DVI cable/adapters), a USB A-Male to B-Male cable, a paper Quick Start Guide and a Manual/Drivers CD. Also several stickers on the glossy frame that are a pain to carefully remove.

QUICK START GUIDE: One page, front only, with a dozen pictures and no words. Totally useless. Plug the power in here, insert the monitor stand here, plug it into the wall here, etc. Some of the pictures don’t even convey anything comprehensible. No other paper in the box whatsoever.

USER’S GUIDE/MANUAL: Only the CD content. Nothing available for PDF download at any of the various regional AOC websites throughout the world.

MANUAL/DRIVERS CD: A lot of posters complained of horrible experience with the CD and its documentation. Not surprising. The CD AutoRun delivers useless, Flash-based, memory-hog brag-screens that never even terminate into the Main Menu properly. And then you have to reboot your machine to escape that mess. To workaround, before the reboot, use MyComputer to copy all the CD files into a folder on your hard drive (except for the two root AutoRun files). Then proceed using that folder instead of the CD. Open the file auto.html in the root to access the Main Menu directly and bypass the FlashTrash.

DRIVERS: There’s no automated driver install process – and, in this case, that’s probably a good thing. The traditional Windows-based process applies. To install the drivers (in XP) follow the path: Control Panel / Appearance And Themes / Display / Settings / Advanced / Monitor / Properties / Drivers / Update Drivers / Install From A List Or Specific Location / Next / Don’t Search / Have Disk / Browse. Then browse to where you copied the CD, choose the ‘drivers’ folder, click on Open and select the appropriate 2236Vw driver.

ON-SCREEN DISPLAY (OSD) MENU SYSTEM. The OSD, driven by the touch-sensitive buttons on-frame, is comprised of nothing but cryptic hieroglyphic icons, many of which will cause even the most seasoned techie to head-scratch. No hints, no titles, nothing. If you are successful in porting the CD contents to hard drive, then you can get some meager support from there. Not by any actual explanation of the OSD icons, mind you, but by installing software so the user can change monitor settings using his/her computer. (via the aforementioned DDC/CI capability). Open auto.html, choose English, choose the “Drivers” tab, then under that, the ‘i-Menu’ tab.

I did eventually install i-Menu software, but the only additional understanding it provided was the names of the menu choices. I enabled something called “show hints” – and nothing happened. The only additional functionality found was (1) accessibility to Text Eco-mode at the expense of power-saving Eco-mode (Eco-mode discussed further down) (2) access to monitor’s pivoting/auto-pivoting feature, and (3) a screen reporting the model, serial number and week of manufacture. For this, you get a smiley-face icon running in the system tray consuming RAM and constantly refreshing data from the monitor. I de-installed it and then reverted to the restore point I created just before installing it. Then I STILL had to re-install the graphics card drivers.

Then I researched. Using (1) experimentation, (2) various other AOC monitor spec sheets, (3) PDF User’s Guide content for OTHER AOC monitors (retrieved from the AOC Australia/New Zealand website) and (4) the menu names given by the i-Menu software, I was actually able to deduce what the uncommunicative and cryptic OSD menu icons were actually intended to convey to the user – and that’s fully described below. If you buy this monitor, save/print it. Cause, believe me, you’re going to need it !!

—< << AOC 2236 Vw On-Screen Display Menu System >>>—

Top-level menu choices in all caps ….

ORANGE-FLAMED LIGHT BULB–Eco-mode

Eco-mode consists of six pre-configured display settings–text, reduced-power, Internet, gaming, movies, sports–to deliver different viewing modalities.

Dcr–Dynamic Contrast Ratio On/Off

Dynamic Contrast Ratio auto-adjusts screen brightness, increasing the darkness of dark pixels and the brightness of bright pixels, creating a higher contrast ratio that allows users to see greater detail in the darker areas of the image. The actual DCR ratio varies according to the base-line contrast ratio of the specific LCD monitor. For THIS monitor (according to its published spec sheet), the DCR ratio is 60,000:1. DCR is recommended for movie/video content. NOTE: If you browse selections in this submenu, you are selecting one of them. Use the “sRGB” selection (under “Color Temperature”) to reset any and all color choices made using the OSD menu.

CheckmarkInsideBox–Standard Eco-mode

LightningBolt–Power-saving Eco-mode

InternetExplorerLogo–Internet Eco-mode

GamePad–Gaming Eco-mode

Reel2ReelCameraOnTripod–Movie Eco-mode

DashingMan–Sports Eco-mode

PAINT BUCKET POURING RAINBOW–Dynamic Color Boost (or DCB, as noted on packaging)

Dynamic Color Boost (DCB) is an advanced color adjustment technology. Through its analyzing of RGB signals, DCB creates more vivid and natural images to suit various color environment needs. NOTE: When Dynamic Color Boost or Picture Boost features are in use, all other color settings, including Dynamic Contrast Ratio, are disabled or returned to their defaults.

TriSpokedArrow–”Full Enhance” mode (select “On” only)

When “Full Enhance” mode is turned on, the color saturation of the entire screen is fully enriched, making all colors more vibrant.

FemaleProfile–”Natural Skin” mode (select “On” only)

When “Natural Skin” mode is turned on, the red and yellow colors are enriched automatically, presenting human skin in more natural, truer colors.

Clouds–”Blue Sky” mode (select “On” only)

When “Sky Blue” mode is turned on, the color blue is fine-tuned so that the sky or ocean landscapes will look more vivid and in-depth.

SpikyBladesOfGrass–”Green Field” mode (select “On” only)

When “Green Field” mode is turned on, greens are enriched so that football fields and mountain landscapes will look more natural and fresh.

Auto–Automatic adjustment mode (select “On” only)

SplitBox–Split-Screen On/Off

For comparison of current image to setting changes. The left side of the screen “holds” the original image; the right side of the screen reflects the changed settings. Turning Split Screen off effects the changed settings for the entire screen.

Off–Turns off any chosen Color Boost mode

DoorAjarWithArrow–Exit this submenu

HALF-WHITE/HALF-BLACK SUN–Luminance

HalfWhite/HalfBlackCircle–Contrast Slider

EightTippedCircle–Brightness Slider

GreekGammaCharacter—Gamma Correction Slider (reviewers recommend Gamma 3)

DoorAjarWithArrow–Exit this submenu

SCREEN WITH CROSSED POINTERS–Image Setup

NOTE: On my setup, I could not access this submenu with either the OSD or the provided software. YMMV.

HorizonalLines–Correct for horizontal line noise

Adjusts the phasing as set in the pixel clock. An incorrect phasing setting manifests itself as horizontal disturbances of the image.

LinesPlusOneVerticalLine–Correct for vertical line noise

Adjusts the horizontal sweeping frequency as set in the pixel clock. An incorrect frequency manifests itself as vertical striping of the image as well as incorrect image width.

Dcr–Dynamic Contrast Ratio On/Off (feature as discussed above)

BoxAboveBox–Adjust vertical position of image

BoxToRightOfBox–Adjust horizontal position of image

TRIO OF RED/GREEN/BLUE CIRCLE–Color Temperature

r–Red adjustment slider

g–Green adjustment slider

b–Blue adjustment slider

WavingCheckmarkFlag–Recall “Normal Color” skin

ShiningSun–Recall “Warm Color” skin

Snowflake–Recall “Cool Color” skin

sRGB–Reset Red/Green/Blue to factory defaults. Use this option to reset any and all color choices made using the OSD menu.

DoorAjarWithArrow–Exit this submenu

GREEN BOX WITH ORANGE CORNER–Picture Boost

Users can change the color settings of a specific selected area of the screen. The size and position of that selected area, called the “Bright Frame,” can also be adjusted. NOTE: When Dynamic Color Boost or Picture Boost features are in use, all other color settings, including Dynamic Contrast Ratio, are disabled or returned to their defaults.

BoxAboveBox–Adjust vertical position of Bright Frame

BoxToRightOfBox–Adjust horizontal position of Bright Frame

HalfWhite/HalfBlackCircle–Contrast Slider for Bright Frame

EightTippedCircle–Brightness Slider for Bright Frame

CrossedArrow–Enlarge/Reduce Bright Frame Size

BoxWithinBox–Bright Frame On/Off

NOTE: When Bright Frame is off, all other Picture Boost menu options are unavailable.

DoorAjarWithArrow–Exit this submenu

CROSSED WRENCH & SCREWDRIVER–Hardware & OSD Menu Settings

Earth–Select OSD menu language

TwoCirclingArrows–Reset OSD menu defaults

Ddc/Ci–Plug & Play VESA DDC-CI (Display Data Channel/Command Interface) Support On/Off

This monitor is equipped with VESA DDC2B capabilities according to the VESA DDC standard. DDC is a collection of digital communication protocols between a computer display and a graphics adapter which allows the display to communicate its supported display modes to the adapter and adjust monitor parameters such as brightness and contrast from the computer host. The DDC suite of standards aims to provide a “plug and play” experience for computer displays. DDC2B is a bi-directional data channel based on the I2C protocol. The host can request EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) over the DDC2B channel. Both DVI and HDMI connectors feature dedicated DDC2B wires. DDC/CI (DDC Command Interface) specifies a means for a computer to send commands to the monitor, as well as receive sensor data from the monitor, over a bidirectional link. Specific commands to control monitors are defined in a separate Monitor Control Command Set (MCCS) standard. DDC/CI monitors are sometimes supplied with an external color sensor to allow automatic calibration of the monitor’s color balance. Some tilting DDC/CI monitors support an auto-pivot function, where a rotation sensor in the monitor enables the operating system to keep the display upright as the monitor is moved between its portrait and landscape positions. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Stopwatch–Set OSD Menu inactivity timeout (in seconds)

TwoOverlappingBoxes–Set OSD Menu translucency level

BoxAboveBox–Adjust OSD Menu vertical position

BoxToRightOfBox–Adjust OSD Menu horizontal position

CircleWithVerticalLine–Active-Off mode (Power Standby mode, as indicated by monitor’s orange light) inactivity timeout (in hours)

DoorAjarWithArrow–Exit this submenu

SWINGING DOOR–Fully exit the OSD Main Menu System

There is ALSO a SECOND, smaller MENU attached to the UP touch button …………………………

GREEN BOX WITH TWO HORIZONTAL ARROW–Image Ratio

Auto–Automatically configure image to best ratio (select “On” only)

16:9-Force 16:9 image ratio (select “On” only)

MONITOR PLUG–Signal Source

Auto–Automatically detect signal source (select “On” only)

VGAFemalePlug–Force VGA input only (select “On” only)

DVIFemalePlug–Force DVI-D input only (select “On” only)

—< << END >>>—

[UPDATE 01/24/2010]: I subsequently found that there WAS some explanation of the OSD menu on the CD. Do the workaround for the CD as described above. Open the auto.html file. Select “English” then select the “Adjusting” tab then select the “OSD Setting” subtab. It isn’t as complete as what I’ve written above, but it’s some additional help and it does verify what I deduced.

[UPDATE 02/18/2010]: I DID eventually find an driver auto-install process on the CD. Do the workaround for the CD as described above. Open the auto.html file. Select “English” then select the “Driver” tab. But given what trouble I encountered with the monitor’s software, I wouldn’t recommend installing the driver at all. My graphics card is handling the monitor just fine without it.

Rating: 4 / 5

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