Bad monitors

Hoping some of you might be able to help me out. I've had endless troubles with my stupid monitor, but I have been living with it. More recently though, it has developed darker bands down the screen vertically. Its only faint, but I can see them when I move the view around in a couple of games, and it is VERY annoying :( (not noticeable in ALL games). I can also see it if I just display a uniform looking screen, all one colour etc. So basically, the screen is not uniform in its brightness.

Returning the monitor is not an easy option, but I won't go into that cause its a long boring story.

Anyway, I am hoping some of you with TFT/LCD flat screen monitors, might be able to tell me if yours is perfect or similar? If I am asking too much from a flat screen monitor, then perhaps I'll feel happier to just put up with it.

Anyway, I made an example of it in photoshop. If you made my computer just display a green screen, and then took a digital camera photo of it.... this is what it would look like:
http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?i...5902590nt4.jpg

Please tell me if you think that is acceptable or not. Also, if you can compare it with your screen, that would be a huge help to me. You can download "Dead Pixel Buddy" from this link below, which is a very small and simple little tool that can make the screen show all one colour.
http://www.laptopshowcase.co.uk/downloads.php?id=1

(download link is at the bottom left above the paypal logo - its free and tiny).

The default colours in there are too bright to see the bands really, but if you can click the little dots next to the "Custom" option, and then "Define Custom Colours", you can just pick a colour from the pallette, and that can REALLY show if you screen is uniform or not. I find dark(ish) blues and greens easier to spot it.

Thanks in advance!

I ran that program and my monitor is fine. No dark lines.

It would annoy me having those lines down the screen. Knowing that they're there, I wouldn't be able to stop looking at them!

What monitor do you have by the way?

Yep! Its a nightmare. Its only recently that its started happening. I'll be playing a game and focusing on something in the distance, like a tank or a sniper or whatever... and then I move the view and I see a big dark band down my screen and it just takes my mind straight out of the game and removes all my immersion and stuff :( Horrible.

I have an NEC 20WGX2. Its the worst thing I have ever bought, and NEC have been terrible. This is my 3rd replacement. Its now been discontinued evidently, so doubt I could get another replacement, but they offered me a refund, so I'm trying to decide if I should do that or just put up with it.

Thanks for the reply by the way, very kind of you.

Good that they are willing to refund

Get a refund man and get something else...

I think I will. I'm having a hard time choosing what I would get though, and I would need to over lap it all, because I don't have a spare monitor in the meantime, and I work off this PC too.

I think I'm quite picky when it comes to monitors too, and I've read reviews of all the top monitors and theres always something that turns me off. For example there is a review on this site somewhere, of the Dell 2007, and it sounds aweful for gaming and movies. And then theres the "Samsung 215TW" which has input lag and screen door effect. Samsung 226BW only has a 6bit panel. Viewsonic VX220 has... something... Etc.. Its not as easy as I thought to find a really good one. And when I do a google search for "best 20 inch monitor", they all tend to suggest the one I've already got :P

I'll get there in the end.... But I've really run out of steam with this though :( I've been dealing with this for about 9 months. I hate it. I just want any easy life and a good screen for gaming. (I would also quite like somebody to put a voodoo curse on NEC)


note: One of the reason's why I'm so hesitant, is because like I said, this is my 3rd replacement screen. (maybe 4th... I'm losing track). Dealing with NEC has been a complete nightmare. And then theres all the screens with all the problems.. argh :( First one had terrible back light bleeding and they had it for weeks "waiting for a part", until they admitted they couldn't get the part and it could take several months. So they offered me a refurbished even although I had just bought it brand new just 3 weeks earlier. Then I had one which had a bunch of stuck pixels right in the middle of the screen and it had image retention too. This one I have now, has 1 stuck pixel, and really bad image retention, so if I have a webpage open for more than 2 or 3 minutes, it will be burnt into my screen. So whenever I start up a game or a film, I can still see my browser for the first few minutes, until it fades. But I could live with that until these dark bands appeared :( The thought of having to contact NEC again makes me depressed.

I use this site for monitor testing http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/#invpattern

Thats a handy link, thanks :)

I can see my dark bands in that too :(