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up vote 9 down vote favorite

I just bought a 1080p 22" Samsung Syncmaster 2333HD (connected via HDMI) and the picture and video quality is great but the text quality is absolutely horrible. This monitor has a built in HD TV tuner.

Even as I type now all the text in this text box as well as in the browser toolbar and start menu, etc looks weird - like it all has a white outline around it that makes it jagged and hard to read. It hurts my eyes just to look at it.

I am running my PC in the suggested native resolution of 1920x1080, so what's the problem?

Is this one of the unavoidable downsides of using a HD monitor? Is there a solution to the problem?

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Is this an HDTV you're using as a monitor? If so, what model is it? – Michael Todd May 30 '10 at 3:35
3  
To follow up on Michael's comment, if they are HDTVs they you need to turn off deblocking and disabling the "sharp" filter on your TV. My Sony had a sharpening filter that destroyed the font smoothing effect applied to text and made it look bad. – ta.speot.is May 30 '10 at 5:07
3  
Samsung? Throw it out. >.> | Try calibrating Win 7's Cleartype. | Also if there is a HDMI on the Display, use THAT. If not, use DVI. But please do NOT use VGA(d-sub). – Shiki May 30 '10 at 7:15
@Shiki I am using HDMI though I don't think I am rich enough to through away the monitor just yet. – Laura May 30 '10 at 14:20
A screenshot would help, I think. – Sasha Chedygov Dec 20 '10 at 4:58

7 Answers

up vote 8 down vote

Just set up a Samsung B2330HD on a HP DV7 laptop with an HDMI out. Text looked bad until I went in and LOWERED the sharpness from 55 to 10. Text looks much better now.

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Thank you! My new Samsung TV that I use for my game pc when from horrible to awesome with lowered sharpness! – alkemann Aug 5 '12 at 15:54
1  
Sharpness and other 'enhancement' features should be shut off entirely so the screen only shows what the graphics card is sending it, and no extra data it invents. – mikebabcock Oct 2 '12 at 3:08
up vote 7 down vote

I'm using Samsung P2370HD on HDMI connection. The text was really bad when I first started using the HDMI connection (R6850HD), Even lowering the sharpness doesn't make it as it should be. After one day of googling, I found the solution is very simple and that is you just need to rename the HDMI connection name to PC from your Monitor Setup. You can do it from your Samsung remote controller as following:

  1. Press the "Source" button.
  2. Highlight the HDMI input.
  3. Press "Tools" -> Edit Name -> And then simply using the scrolling (up & down keys on ur remote), select "PC" or "DVI PC" for your HDMI. And voila you have crystal clear text just as on DVI.

But remember that if you select DVI PC, you will not get sound through HDMI cable. Select "PC" and you will have both sound & video, and clear text.

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up vote 7 down vote

Is your PC running Windows XP? If so, do you have ClearType turned on? Does it look fine on a normal monitor?

On Windows XP, ClearType is off by default.

On Windows 7 and Vista, ClearType is turned on by default.

You can also try the Microsoft ClearType Tuner

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I checked and cleartype is enabled. – Laura May 30 '10 at 6:30
@Laura - Have you tried to turn ClearType off to see if that's an improvement? – Nifle May 30 '10 at 9:24
@Nifle Yes but it makes it worse. – Laura May 30 '10 at 14:19
Try out the VGA or DVI outputs on another regular monitor, see if the problem is still there. That way you can rule out the PC and video card, and it will narrow the issue down to the monitor and it's setting. – sunpech May 30 '10 at 14:57
up vote 2 down vote

I have a Samsung SyncMaster B2330 connected via HDMI. The font issue had been driving me nuts. After fiddling with the controls, I achieved the most impact by changing the "PC/AV Mode" from "AV" to "PC".

Menu > Setup & Reset > PC/AV Mode > PC

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up vote 1 down vote

Try setting the MagicBright setting to Internet or Text.

Also, turn ClearType back on if you left it off and tune it with the online tuner (or the powertoy).

Finally, from the manual for your monitor:

Q: Image is not clear. Picture is blurred.
A: Run Frequency Coarse and Fine tuning.
A: Turn on again after removing all accessories(video extension cable, etc.)
A: Set resolution and frequency to the recommended ranges.
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up vote 1 down vote

I also experienced jagged text with a Samsung B2230HD. I was able to get decent video as follows:

  • With remote, hit Menu
  • Picture > (hit the right arrow)
  • Backlight 12
  • Brightness 50
  • Sharpness 0 (* important)
  • Color 50
  • Advanced > (a submenu of Picture)
  • Black tone off
  • Color Space auto
  • Edge Ehancement off
  • < to Picture menu
  • Picture Options > (a submenu of Picture)
  • Color tone cool
  • Size Screen Fit (* important; fixes loss of pixels on right edge due to overscan)
  • < to Picture menu
  • return

This is with an HP laptop running ubuntu 11.10, but I expect similar results for other hardware/OSes.

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up vote 1 down vote

Had the same problem - I had used the monitor over DVI for a year or so when I got a new video card and wanted to switch to HDMI. Suddenly text looked like garbage.

The solution - go into "setup" and turn on power-saving. You'll notice the image gets darker, several of the HDMI options will be greyed out, but the text is crystal clear again. Then go in picture settings and adjust the brightness/backlight/contract levels and you'll be set.

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