Last message on previous page:
So you got an S, which is nice, and that proves my theory that they were stockpiling the a and c versions contrary to their s display ones, which jackasses

Sorry. Here in SA only one physical shop carries stock of the samsung 226 and then you have to go from branch to branch since some of the incredible connection(local south african retailer) does have stock and some don't.

Most of the guys here seem to have gotten the S panel version so far but thats only after asking for in shop display of the one they are buying.

If had any money left over, I would go to my local circuit city and see if they would do that, since they keep an s panel on display, too bad I don't

Well at least you guys have a chance of getting a S panel, here in New Zealand I have been looking around all over the place.
Companies here seem quite happy to tell me what panel they stock...

They all stock c panels and apparently I wont find any S or A panels anywhere here.

I was really keen to get one of these monitors but I don't want to have it sent internationally and I don't want a C panel

Try newegg then, it's a lottery, but people have been in general recieving s or a panels, both of which are good

The only problem with the a panels is that they are too bright and need to be color calibrated a bit from what I hear, otherwise the quality from what I've personally seen comparing one from compusa and one from bb (display models) is the same

I got a C panel and couldn't be happier. I don't know who started this. But i wouldn't read to much into it. I have no complaints.

See my Updated comparison - Samsung 226BW S, A & C panels thread in the Flat Panels / LCDs section.

The "C" panel is the worst of the three panels.

To make matters worse, there is a rumor that a 4th panel will be making it's way into the 226BW line. It will be a 22" panel that is made by a company called CPT and has a worse reputation than ChiMei (CMO).

In other words there will be two different "C" panels.

Have fun playing the lottery.

Just out ... The Samsung 226CW - 22" LCD (for the same price).
(Available from Best Buy)

It looks great and no problems so far, and as far as I am aware, it's made by Samsung, so no worries about lesser quailty displays from Mexico ('A' Version etc etc)

HELP!!! New Samsung 226BW September 2007 Model (NO A C OR S ANYMORE!!!)

OK! I just got a brand new Samsung 226BW in the mail from NewEgg.com TONIGHT! I tried to look on the back and I even opened up that secret Service Function window by holding down the Source key and everything else. There is no sign of Panel Info or what kind of Panel this may have. There is nothing to the right of the model number like the older ones on the back of the monitor, it just says "226BW". In the Service Function window the Panel Info line doesn't even exist anymore, it's just blank there now. ANyone have any updated news on this or any new methods of finding out which panel it is or did they finally correct the issue and have all S panels now?! It seems to be working fine so far, but I don't have the best eye so I don't know exactly. I've been running an old 17 CRT for the last year so anything looks better to me..... Help!?

Only way to find out is to take the monitor apart and look at the serial number of the LCD panel itself.

By the way, doing so will void your warranty.

Mehhhhh I think i'll just enjoy my nice new monitor

nm .. hadn't read the entire 5 pages worth

Yeah, I wouldn't take it apart either. Not a good idea.

I got one from NewEgg a little while ago too. I tried to find out which screen it had by the same techniques as well. I came to the conclusion that no mater what screen is in this monitor the previous problems have been solved and it simply rocks. I didn't find any back light bleeding or color problems reported with the early models.

Samsung rocks. They had a problem and fixed it.

Awesome, I'm glad you're happy as well. Unless someone finds an easier method to identify these or hopefully brings some good news of total conformity to a good quality samsung panel, I don't see any reason to worry about this anymore

I just swapped my 204B Syncmaster out (20.1 in) for the 22 in 226BW that everyone is talking about. I went through the same uncertainty trying to figure out what is so bad about the "bad" ones and what is so good with the "S" panels. I was dreading picking it up (it was a direct swap from Samsung at their suggestion which I agreed to after research). Well I got it hooked up and the first thing my friend and I thought was hmmm.... a bit what's the word? washed out. But it didn't look bad, just "off" somehow. I figured it was just the colors and would have to fiddle with it.

I am typing to you 10+ hours later after fiddling with it to get it the way I want or should have it. First thing is I am running 2 x GT KO 7900 Geforce cards SLI setup. I don't know if that's relevant to MagicTune working (or in my case not working) or not. I installed/uninstalled every single download they had of MagicTune. No luck with MagicTune. I read the posts that suggested turning off background processes and start up programs. I did that, but I may have neglected one final try at that. I digress. I gave up on MagicTune. At this point I had hosed my contrast/brightness all to hell with my Nvidia Control Panel messing around (I did not see the restore default link at the top right... doh). So with terrible black desktop and distorted colors at this point I was feeling discouraged.

I was actually trying to pull up the hidden status menu that tells you what monitor you're dealing with. I don't know what any of you experienced, but my manual monitor controls would not allow me to change brightness/contrast and some color calibrations. I am assuming this would be due to MagicTune somehow, but I'm not sure. I was getting somewhat freaked out thinking that if I can't change it on the monitor and I can't calibrate it with software I'm f*xx0red. I think after I hosed everything up and uninstalled MagicTune for the umpteenth time I managed to be able to change brightness/contrast which you need to bring up hidden menu.

I found out later I had an A panel if I am to believe a post from someone who claims to know the difference between the last digits of CLA vs. CAA. Anyhow, after reading a very lengthy article (one of many) someone broke down an in depth analysis of how MagicTune works and how NATURAL COLOR works and they mentioned OSD as well. The reason Natural Color is in caps is because the article said it was possibly better than MagicTune albeit somewhat comparable. When MagicTune doesn't work you don't have too many options aside from (in my case Nvidia) and your monitor manually (if it works). That for someone like me is very hard. Knowing where to stop with color changes all manually is a bit daunting.

After all my messing around I used a combination of only Natural Color (which has you squint your eyes and get red, green & blue to a very specific contrast) & the manual monitor functions. I also read up on some of the features of the monitor like MagicColor which can add various kinds of vibrancy to the monitor. I believe although i could make changes with Nvidia Control Panel in my case I didn't use it because I switched back to defaults after hosing it up.

You're probably wondering what the end result of all this crap is.. It's gorgeous! The black is black as the abyss and the colors are yummy. One guy was describing the different "MagicColor" on board OSD settings None, Demo, Full & Intelligent. You have to play with them to see for yourself. The guy who posted about it said Full was too intense and made colors seem to bleed and that intelligent was less intense, but ultimately if you wanted everything set up in a very specific way to not use them. BS. There are differences between them, but in my case I find Full to be my setting of choice. Colors just pop at you crisply but no bleed whatsoever. Clarity is there in full.

I didn't follow someone else's guide on how to calibrate a certain way I just figured it out. I believe I have it where I want it. I suppose someone could come along and show me how much clearer I could make it, but I'd be surprised. It's very very nice. And if the post I read about which panel is which is correct I have A. I love it. Just food for thought in rambling I stayed up all night fashion.

My new 226Bw is also refurbished and my warranty is up in about 2-3 months. I can't complain though I had my Syncmaster 204B for nearly 3 years and just got a tiny row of dead pixels but otherwise the monitor was working great. This is an awesome exchange as long as it holds up. I absolutely love it. Just get your hands dirty and figure it out. I'm sure there may be bad monitors, but I imagine most of these can just be calibrated like mine was. Good luck!