Dell S199WFP review: input lag and deinterlacing using the piLagTesterPRO

This 19" 1440x900 PC monitor from 2009 uses a TN panel for fast response time/low lag, but has limited viewing angles. It has a glossy screen with vibrant colors, but plenty of reflections. It runs at up to 75z, and would be a fine (budget) gaming monitor.

Image quality

The set has no options to adjust cropping/scaling. There is mild aliasing outside the native resolution and no way to adjust the aspect ratio.

It has a glossy surface which gives very nice colors, but very visible reflections. Because it is a TN display the viewing angles are more limited than for most TVs or any IPS display

The display has VGA and DVI inputs. I tested DVI with a passive HDMI adapter. 

Input Lag Results

I used a piLagTesterPRO to measure input lag. This device sends a frame of video over HDMI and measures how long it takes to display it. This display does not have a game mode.

I report two kinds of values. 1st response measures how long it takes for the monitor to start responding (I use a 5% change in display brightness). This overly optimistic value doesn't tell how long it takes to see anything useful, but matches what other reviewers call input lag. full response is a more realistic measure of lag, and requires the display to reach 80% of full brightness. This combines both input lag and response time, and is closer to what you would actually experience in a game.

top bottom
Resolution 1st (average) full response 1st response full response scan out
480i 5.0 13.0 20.5 28.5 15.5
480p 4.5 12.5 19.8 27.8 15.3
720p 3.6 11.6 19.3 27.3 15.7
1080p 3.6 11.6 19.1 27.1 15.5
1440x900x60 3.5 11.5 19.4 27.4 15.9
1440x900x75 3.5 11.5 16.1 24.1 12.6

The recommended resolution and refresh rate for this display is 1440x900x75hz, and it really draws at that refresh rate, but it also supports 60hz just as well, properly syncing with the vertical refresh to produce constant, steady input lag, which is about 4ms across all modes. Even interlaced is the same speed, because it uses the lag-free bob deinterlacing method. Note that the monitor does not advertise interlaced support, so you have to force this mode, but it works just fine.

We can go beyond the standard TV modes above and test each mode the monitor reports that it can support. Since the lag at the top of the screen doesn't change any, this data is recorded from the bottom of the screen:

mode res/refresh bottom
1st response
variability
between frames 
dmt#361024p75Hz16.20.07ms
dmt#48900p75Hz 16.10.03ms
dmt#21864p75Hz16.30.15ms
dmt#11600p75Hz16.40.12ms
dmt#18768p75Hz16.40.17ms
dmt#6480p75Hz16.50.06ms
dmt#10600p72Hz16.90.21ms
dmt#5480p72Hz170.05ms
dmt#17768p70Hz17.30.16ms
dmt#351024p60Hz19.50.16ms
dmt#16768p60Hz19.60.15ms
dmt#47900p60Hz 19.40.03ms
dmt#85720p60Hz19.70.20ms
dmt#9600p60Hz19.80.14ms
dmt#4480p60Hz200.03ms
dmt#8600p56Hz210.11ms

As you can see faster refresh rates really do help overall lag. I also tried some unlisted 80hz modes but the monitor refused to sync to them.

Response time was about 8ms. It's fairly independent of the amount change between frames, but does have a overdrive artifact where it moves very quickly to about 80% of the final brightness, pauses a frame, and then jumps the rest of the way.

Results compared to other displays

To allow quick comparison between many displays I've summarized the results across all the displays I've personally tested with the piLagTester Pro. Min lag is the time to the first response, measured where the screen starts drawing (typically, the top); real lag is the time to the full response, measured where drawing finishes (usually the screen bottom), i.e. input lag + scan out + response time. Numbers in red denote average values that can vary by up to 8ms between power cycles.

This list is sorted by real lag for each display's native resolution and max refresh rate, which gives this 75hz display a leg up over a 60hz monitor.

DisplayYear made (TV?)Native Resnative min lagnative real lag480i real lag480p real lag720p real lag1080p real lagnative response timenative scan out
Dell E198FPb20081024p2.720.439.035.05.0012.70
Samsung 2494sw20111080p2.822.726.526.526.58.0013.30
Vizio VO370M20101080p2.523.683.049.047.024.35.4715.67
Dell S199WFP2009900p3.624.228.527.827.327.18.0012.60
LG W1953T2010768p2.625.628.728.710.0013.00
Dell U2410 (game)20101080p4.026.262.228.326.526.56.0016.20
TCL 40S32520211080p6.527.360.629.027.927.76.0014.83
TCL 49s40320184k6.130.276.830.930.330.78.0016.13
AOC/Envision G19LWK2010900p3.131.239.538.738.437.815.5012.60
Dell E2211H20141080p3.033.634.734.534.133.815.0015.57
Panasonic TH-58PE75U2008720p28.034.034.034.034.034.06.000.00
Dell 1907FPc20081024p3.034.035.934.815.0016.00
Panasonic TH-42PX75U2008720p28.034.034.034.034.034.06.000.00
Panasonic TH-50PZ80U2008720p28.034.034.034.034.034.06.000.00
Corprit D157 (hdmi)20211080p3.134.534.934.834.633.916.2515.13
Samsung S27C23020141080p2.936.036.636.136.118.1014.97
Vizio E470VL (vga)20111080p22.039.039.039.039.09.008.00
Samsung LN32D4032012720p20.941.258.942.440.740.75.5014.83
TCL50s42320214k14.042.075.042.042.042.013.0015.00
Dell U2410 (sRGB)20101080p20.542.862.445.043.143.16.1316.13
ACER AT326520121080p19.543.862.745.343.843.88.0016.27
sony XBR 43X800D20174k24.544.346.546.044.644.75.0014.83
Element elst5016s20171080p21.445.163.546.445.145.38.0015.73
RCA L40FHD4120101080p20.346.665.048.047.046.09.6816.63
Sony 40VL130 (game)20081080p22.847.366.349.047.347.39.0815.43
Polaroid FLM-373B2007720p28.049.082.049.049.049.07.0014.00
Philips 42PFL3603D/F720091080p29.050.084.050.050.050.05.0016.00
Sony KDL-40V300020081080p22.250.168.450.650.549.811.0016.93
LG 42LC2D2006720p28.350.654.650.850.46.3015.95
GPX TDE3245W2016720p28.051.0102.051.051.051.08.0015.00
Sony KDL-46EX40020101080p28.052.087.052.052.052.08.0016.00
Toshiba 40L2200U20141080p30.056.074.056.056.056.010.0016.00
Vizio E261VA2012720p19.359.061.160.459.258.925.0014.67
Emprex HD 32022007720p27.066.0126.051.050.062.024.0015.00
Samsung LN32B3602010720p37.660.062.161.860.560.18.0014.40
Vizio VO22L FHDTV10A2008720p28.061.094.061.061.061.018.0015.00
Vizio E261VA2007720p28.062.095.062.062.062.018.0016.00
Samsung P2570HD20101080p37.062.062.062.062.062.010.0015.00
Sharp LC-C3234U2009720p33.064.683.666.664.615.0016.60
Samsung LN46B61020121080p53.066.082.066.066.066.05.008.00
LG 42PT35020121080p63.567.785.968.967.767.74.200.00
Mitsubishi LT-4614420081080p51.068.075.068.068.068.09.008.00
Toshiba 46L5200U20131080p55.071.089.076.071.074.08.008.00
Sony 40S20L12007720p48.472.090.172.973.49.6014.00
Samsung LN46C63020121080p54.572.190.790.388.572.310.007.63
SANYO DP507492010720p67.075.0103.094.079.075.07.001.00
Samsung HP-T425420111080p69.775.794.176.075.75.001.00
LG 47LW6500-UA20121080p66.680.7149.7149.081.780.92.2711.83
Vizio E470VL (hdmi)20111080p69.086.0128.095.095.086.09.008.00
Vizio xvt4735v20111080p67.688.688.889.288.688.69.0012.00

This display is quite near the top, helped out by the higher refresh rate. Though in fact all TN displays I have tested are quite competitive.  Any TN computer monitor is going to have pretty good lag, even if it's from 2009. And any computer monitor is going to beat the pants of a TV. 

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