OSD, Pixels and Brightness
The OSD is something I barely touched on in my review of the Hercules so it's worth a proper visit here. The OSD can make or break your enjoyment of a monitor since it's the mechanism for fine tuning everything to make it just right. Using the DVI-I input on the LG, a lot of the OSD becomes show only, useful only in tweaking the nuances of an analogue connection.
With an analogue connection to the monitor, you're allowed to adjust 'phase' and the pixel clock of the LCD array, fine tuning it to reduce subpixel bleed. Subpixels are the component parts of a pixel that you see on the screen, that make up - in this instance - the 1280x1024 pixel array. Each individual pixel is made up from a red, green and blue component, arranged in a strict grid. In the case of the LG, it uses the much less common BGR arrangement, reversing the regular RGB arrangement of subpixels within a single pixel. Subpixel bleed happens when subpixel components don't hold their colour correctly, for want of a better term, 'leaking' colour into the adjacent pixel, altering its appearance.
However, despite having the clock and phase adjustment necessary in analogue input mode, there was nothing I could do, combined with Microsoft's ClearType tuner as assistance, to completely remove subpixel bleed. It was certainly possible on the Hercules, contributing to my overall perception of its excellence, but try as I might, I couldn't stop it happening with the LG on the analogue input.
No problem I thought, I'll switch to the DVI-I input, its digital nature should completely negate subpixel bleed in all circumstances, given good electronics to drive the pixel array. I was mistaken.
Look at the 'l' character in the last remants of Hercules.com in the shot above. Also the left hand legs of both H and E characters in the HEXUS.net in the next section of the image. The subpixels bleed into the adjacent pixel space, causing it to appear reddish in colour.
Using the ClearType adjustment tool, along with a helpful 3rd-party utility called ClearTweak (http://www.ioIsland.com), it's possible to remove subpixel bleed from those characters, but the contrast adjustment always introduces it somewhere else in the display. It's also worth noting that subpixel bleed is font dependant. Some fonts are immune to the effect; it's the fonts that get anti-aliased the most that are at risk. It may have been sample dependant too but I can't verify without a second sample.
Stuck pixels
Stuck, or dead, pixels are the bane of any LCD panel purchase. In an array of 1280x1024 pixels, that's 1.3M total and over 4M separate subpixels that can fail. With movement during transit and manufacturing issues, it's not inconceivable that an LCD panel sold will have a stuck pixel or two.The transistor controlling the voltage to a subpixel can get stuck at a certain value, allowing a floating colour pixel that's technically stuck, but still changes colour since the whole pixel group isn't affected. The entire subpixel group can also become physically detached from the array, causing it to stick at black (or a predominantly dark colour, depending on how detached it gets). In those cases, gently massaging the area around the pixel can cause it to rejoin the array and function properly again.
So when the LG arrived with no dead pixels, it was a relief to see. However switching it on the day after brought bad news.
Close inspection reveals it to two pixels diagonally next to each other, stuck on black. Massaging hasn't caused them to spring into life. The perils of buying an LCD mean very few companies or manufacturers will give you any kind of concrete guarantee on the number of defects liable to be present, or whether they'll replace the panel on a single dead pixel at all.
Brightness
Just before I move on to performance, here's a shot I wanted to show in the Hercules review but never managed to take at good quality.
That's the LG in the pitch black, at 100% brightness. That kind of high contrast shot quickly brings out any flaws in the ability for a panel to be consistently bright across the entire surface area. The L1810B was exemplary (whereas a certain laptop panel I have is fairly terrible in that regard).
