NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX 24" widescreen

Subjective Image Quality Analysis

While the objective image quality analysis can pick up some of the finer discrepancies in image quality and is therefore an invaluable tool in analysing the quality of a display, what really matters is how the monitor performs in more general—albeit more subjective—scenarios.

Examples of these include writing word documents, reading text (on the Internet for example), photo editing and image manipulation, video playback (both HD and SD) and of course gaming. We put NEC's LCD24WMCX through its paces in all of these tasks to find out how it worked as a display during general use.

Text is sharp and crisp and there were no problems to report on that front – there are text and Internet presets available and these may be of use to you if you're working in a darker environment in particular.

Following a recent visit to Taroko National Park near to Hualien in Taiwan, it seemed fitting to test the LCD24WMCX out using the hundreds of photos I took of the beautiful landscapes. With these, we found that the colours were very vivid as long as they remained in the mid ranges – once you hit the higher or lower ends of the scale, parts of the scenery lost a little depth.


Image rendition wasn't bad and in isolation, you would think that the quality is very high – there were no really obvious problems with the image quality. Indeed, editing the photos didn't highlight any dealbreaking issues either – sure, there were some differences here and there, but nothing that anyone would complain about.

In fact, it wasn't until we started editing photos for this particular review that we found some problems. The greyscale gradient test showed some banding problems and these were further exposed with our flash lighting cast across the display's black bezel and panel. We again saw a slight green tinge on the gradients hinting at compression problems and we also saw some banding as well. In addition, shadows that were subtle but definitely there didn't really give that impression on the LCD24WMCX.

Movie playback was vivid and looked good in both HD and SD resolutions – there were certainly no complaints on that front. That said, if you're sitting quite a way from the screen, you may encounter viewing angle issues that are caused by the panel technology – it shouldn't be a massive problem, but it's one that should be pointed out. And, although there is a movie DV mode preset, we found that the best experience was had with our manually adjusted settings – it provided a more realistic range of colours.

Next was gaming and this was again fantastic – crisp and sharp objects combined with vivid colours made gaming very pleasurable on the NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX. We played a range of titles—both very bright and very dark—and found that for the most part things were fine. The blacks in Prey were a little lacking, but there weren't any huge problems in that particular title. Meanwhile, the colours in Burnout: Paradise were stunning – the display really came into its own in this title.

Conclusions

On the whole then, the NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX has its share of problems with precise editing of photos taken in a photo studio, but it was never intended for that usage model – NEC has a whole host of displays that deliver colour accuracy far and above this particular screen. And for most usage models—especially gaming and movie playback in particular—the LCD24WMCX will be more than adequate.

Given its price point, it's quite an attractive proposition, but you must be aware of the drawbacks of the panel technology used. From our experience, it's one of the better 24-inch TN+Film displays on the market so it represents reasonably good value for money for those on a tight budget.

Simply put, if you're looking for a relatively cheap 1,920 x 1,200 monitor with lots of inputs to use for gaming, movie playback, Internet browsing and a bit of light image editing, the NEC AccuSync LCD24WMCX is definitely a tempting option. What it isn't though is a screen targeted at those looking for a very colour-accurate display and, if you fall into that camp, there are better PVA or MVA units on the market that will suit your needs.

• Features
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• 7/10

• Image Quality
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• 7/10

• Value
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• 8/10

• Overall
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• 7/10

What do these scores mean?