Asus VG236H LCD Monitors

The Asus VG236H is a 23-inch monitor with a 120Hz refresh rate and is compatible with the Nvidia 3D Vision Kit. The monitor includes a host of ergonomic adjustment options as well as HDMI and DVI connections. At $340 (without the 3D Vision kit; $500 with it), the Asus is not a terribly expensive investment prospect for a monitor, especially with the features it includes. However, if you spend $30 less, you can get the Samsung PX2370, which is a better performing monitor with some really useful onscreen display options. A green tint problem hampers the VG236H. While you can make adjustments to marginalize the issue, it takes effort to do so, and even then, the monitor's performance isn't perfect. If ergo options as well as 120Hz refresh rate are important to you, the VG236H should fit your needs nicely and at a price most people can live with.

Design and features

The 23-inch Asus VG236H has an extremely glossy, reflective piano black front chassis with a plain matte covering the back. The monitor's screen is also very glossy with mirrorlike reflectance. The monitor includes a typical-looking circular foot stand, which is 9.75 inches in diameter. While the stand provides the monitor with adequate stability, if you knock the monitor, the stand makes a loud clicking sound as the plastic and metal on its bottom grind together.
The monitor includes a five-degree back tilt, panel swiveling, and height adjustment; however, it doesn't have a pivot adjustment. The stand leaves 2.6 inches from the bottom of the bezel to the desktop when adjusted to its lowest height and 6.8-inches when at its highest position. The bezel is 0.75 inch wide and the panel is 1.25 inch deep at its most narrow and 2.5 inches at its thickest, when you take the monitor's ventilation system and connecting options into account.
The VG236H has HDMI, DVI, and component connection options. Asus locates the connections on the back of the display, on the right side, facing downward. The capability to adjust the height of the panel makes them fairly easy to access. The monitor's onscreen display button array includes five buttons in the lower right-hand corner of the bezel. Each button is suitably wide and provides a tactile click when pushed.
The array consists of a Menu button, an Up and Down button, a Source button, and a preset cycle button. The monitor's Up and Down buttons also doubles as the Brightness and Contrast shortcuts. Navigating the OSD is simple, although it took us a few minutes to get accustom to using Menu as the "Enter" button. The VG236H's preset modes include Standard, Theater, Game, Night View, and Scenery. Each preset changes the color temperature and brightness of the display with the intent of them being appropriate to the task at hand. Its additional color preset options include Cool, Normal, Warm, SRGB, and User Mode; the latter letting you change the RGB values individually. Finally, the "Skin Tone" option includes a Reddish, Bluish, and Normal setting.

Design highlights:

Connectivity: HDMI, DVI, Component
Ergonomic options: 5 degree back tilt, Screen height adjustment, Swivel
Resolution: 1,920x1,080 pixels
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Audio: n/a
VESA support: Yes


Feature highlights:

Included video cables? DVI
Backlight: CCFL
Panel Type: TN
Screen film: Glossy
Pixel-response rate: 2ms
Number of presets: 5
Overdrive: No
Picture options: Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, and Saturation
Color controls: Cool, Normal, Warm, sRGB, Reddish, Bluish
Gamma control: No
Additional features: 120Hz refresh rate and Nvidia 3D Vision compatible

Performance
Editors' note: As our test system does not include an Nvidia GPU, we did not test the monitor with the 3D Vision Kit. For an earlier review of the Kit, check out its review.
We tested the Asus VG236H through its DVI input, connected to a Windows Vista PC. The display posted a composite score of 83 on CNET Labs' DisplayMate-based performance tests, which is more than a few points lower than the Samsung PX2370's score of 97. The VG236H's most glaring problem is its color accuracy, particularly its propensity to coat the screen in a green tint. Depending on the preset used, the green tint diminished only slightly and could always be easily seen no matter which color temperature or skin tone setting used. However, by accessing the RGB values and adjusting the green to 85, we were able to diminish the amount of green tint onscreen to a point where it was not distracting. At that setting, the green was unobtrusive; however, you'll have to adjust the red to about 94 to keep white from having a pinkish look.
In our Black Level test, the VG236H crushed very dark grays to the point that a level four gray--which is four levels above true black--was the darkest color the monitor could display other than true black. This indicates the monitor has a higher than optimal black level. In the Dark Screen test, we saw very apparent clouding on the top and bottom edges of the screen, much more so than on the PX2370.

Text

With text, the monitor had no color problems displaying black text on a white background. We were able to see fonts clearly down to a 6.8-point size.

Movies

We tested the Asus VG236H using the Blu-ray version of "Avatar." As in our DisplayMate tests, there was an apparent green tint problem in the Theater preset. The problem didn't go away when switching to other presets; however, we were able to diminish the amount of green in the picture by adjusting the red and green values downward. Also, the monitor didn't display dark details, such as braids in the hair of the Na'vi during a nighttime scene.