Wednesday, November 17, 2010

AOC 2436vh LCD Monitor Review

I purchased a new Dell PC a few weeks ago which I don't want to review for a few more days. However I do want to review the AOC monitor I purchase at the same time. The AOC was a seperate purchased that did not come with the Dell.

The AOC monitor is a 24 inch wide screen, longer than wider. It seems like a nice display but the problem I have with it is the display size. Currently I have almost a 1 inch black border around the display which means I really have a 22 inch monitor and not a 24 inch which I purchased. A blank border as in no information is displayed, so is unusable.

I've tried using the soft keys on the display to correct the display problem, but either the monitor will not fill in the display or I can't figure out the correct key sequence.

AOC has a video [animated] help sequence showing the bottom sequence for a similar monitor, but I just couldn't follow it. To get to the soft screen buttons I need, I have to turn other functions off [I think]. But if I can't figure how to change the screen size in 20 minutes, than my opinion is they got it wrong. For what ever reason the AOC site does not have any help files out under the 2436vh selection.

Now I could have wrote a review out at Best Buy, maybe to help some one else thinking about buying this monitor, but I didn't want to create an account. Or I didn't want tons of e-mail from Best Buy for the rest of my life. There was a comment in their reviews section that mentioned the softkeys, but it was only one out of 5 reviews. There are also a few requests for help out on the web with the same border issue, but as usually there are no answers, just more comments.

I would not recommend buying the AOC 2436vh because I can't figure out how to adjust the screen size. If an electrical engineer can't figure out how to adjust the screen size I wouldn't expect a normal PC user to solve the problem either.

I'm using
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium.
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5770, with 1 GB GDDR5 video memory [HDMI connection]
Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 [which is recommended], Landscape

I also have another 18 inch monitor connected to the same video card [at a different resolution], but that shouldn't matter. I plan to replace the 18" also but not with an AOC monitor. I'm glad I only purchased one monitor with the computer. Maybe next week I'll go out and get a replacement monitor, after I do a bit more research. Also see Companies making PC Monitors.

At least I got a blog post out of this. I'll append an up-date when I get the next monitor. I'll look around for a factory reset also.

About three hours after I wrote this post I changed the monitor resolution and the display filled the screen. Now I had tried that before but only the next lower resolution which the monitor indicated was not support, while this last time I took it down one more notch. Two hours after I got the screen resolution right I received an e-mail from AOC asking if I had tried to reduce the screen resolution, which is good because I had only posted a question to their support a few hour before. Regardless, I still don't like how they do their soft screen controls.

So the reason why the 2436vh hdmi does not fill screen is because of the computer resolution setting. I'm using HDMI for this monitor, and all the seach phrases I've seen include the term HDMI [including searches finding this page].

The monitor defaults to the highest resolution the display will handle, which in turn leads to dead-space around the visible display. The highest resolution is 1920 x 1080. However the Resolution I'm using now is 1680 x 1050, but I'm also using a screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9. So I can't tell if it's a monitor issue, an aspect ratio issue or an HDMI issue.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Use the ATI Catalyst software. It's an HDMI problem, configure the display and go to scaling options.

DX5 said...

If you want the monitor to display correctly all it needs is a little tweaking lol

I'm sure you'll figure it out, remember it's bare bones basic the model you have. That's like buying a Ferrari designed by Fujitsu, might be the same spec but it's just not what you paid for is it because of the limitations of the hardware and how cheep they are to manufacture.

If you want help with some of the settings you may need just let me know on here I'll check every 2 days uptill the 15th Dec.

Leave me some form of way to contact you.

John P. said...

Did you ever figure this out? I just bought the same monitor on sale last week and have the same issue. The soft keys are useless - I can't seem to adjust the volume on the speakers with them, let alone adjust the h/v to fill up the entire screen area.

Leroy said...

12-28-10 Yes just change the resolution using Windows ~ using the control panel.

I just purchased another one a few days ago. Yea the controls on the monitor are pointless.

DX5 said...

It all depends on how you want to set the settings. I have a different model I use mine with my PS3/Xbox and Laptop. It will remember the configuration but its auto detect/config is terrible. as for the sound I can't help you with that. If you want it set up on the computer then I can give you some tips. depending on which graphics card you use

Leroy said...

12-28-2010

Just so you guys know, these comments are moderated so there may be some delay until they show up. Double posting the comment does not help.

~ I get an e-mail about the comment on a blog posting, than I publish it or delete it; But it has to wait until I read the e-mail.

Leroy said...

12-28-10 I should also indicate that I never used the set-up CD. Or the USB cable that came with the monitor, which I assume is only to make the monitor a near-by USB hub?

Also of note is that this monitor does not ship with an HDMI cable. So I'm only using VGA on one of the monitors until I order an HDMI cable.

My video card has two HDMI ports and two DVI ports, while the monitor has one HDMI port and one VGA port.

DX5 said...

I use my VGA cable because it's more flexible in terms of configuration and a hell of a lot easier.

I don't use windows to configure my monitor because it can't do everything to get it smack bang on I use (nVidia Control Panel). Don't forget if you use the VGA cable sound can not travel through that. Unlike the HDMI cable.

Leroy said...

12-28-10 I just used windows, I'm not one to really spend a lot of time setting this stuff up ~ working my web-site is more of the point.

Spending the least amount of time getting the hardware working. I assume I have a setup for my video card, but never used it.
Graphics card; ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5.

This monitor does ship with a small audio cable that could be used along with the VGA cable.

Tim said...

I was wondering if you figured out your monitor yet. I bought the same one a few days ago and was having the same problem. I have windows xp pro. when I changed the refresh rate to 120 hertz that filled the whole screen for me. I am not sure about win 7 though but I assume it would be the same.

Leroy said...

1-3-11 Yea I figured it out the same day, but I changed the resolution in windows not the refresh rate. I use 1440 x 900

Anonymous said...

Just resolved this issue today.

- Download ATI's CCC from their website
- Run it
- Under Desktops and Displays, right click on your monitor icon in the bottom right corner (above "Basic...")
- Select Configure
- Under the Scaling Options tab, throw it to 0 (far right)

Should be good to go.

Anonymous said...

Anyone figure out how to adjust the volume?

Anonymous said...

To adjust the volume using the keys on the monitor: Press the down arrow. The volume indicator (slider) appears. Press the menu key. The volume indicator changes color to green. Press up arrow to increase, and down arrow to decrease volume. Press menu key when finished.

Anonymous said...

can you bypass the volume control from a game system to some speakers?

Unknown said...

I had the same problem as this guy when i first got mine messed around with it don't really remember how i got it working i screwed around with it tell i got it right. Anyone know what the sound icon looks like lol i cant figure out how to turn down the speakers on monitor so annoying.

Unknown said...

Thank you - setting it down 2 notches rather than 1 makes it fill up the screen. But, I dislike the idea that I bought a monitor this big to see more, and then I have to set the resolution down. IfI can't get it back to max resolution I may be taking it back to the stores for a refund.

I am currently trying to get CCC to work correctly. When I right-click and start it, it just never comes on the screen.

And yes, the hardware monitor controls are useless. You have to watch the little animated video clips and transcribe the keystrokes. Really? C'mon folks.

Anonymous said...

there is software to control monitor settings - (i-menu) in `drivers' on included cd.

Leroy said...

6/16/2011
I just want to add that after seven months these monitors are still working great. It's always good to know that what ever product you purchase still works after some length of time. Product reviews are always great, but serve little purpose if they are all made within weeks of using the product.

I run a web site, so I use the AOC 2436 monitors each and every day, for many hour each day. I have had no problems and have made no adjustment to either monitor I use, after the first setup of course.

Anonymous said...

Just want to thank anonymous for the speaker advice. Spot on,I have cancelled the men in white coats now.

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