Samsung claims fastest 19 inch LCD refresh rate

Samsung Electronics has launched an LCD monitor which it claimed has the fastest refresh rate of any 19 inch screen in the world.

Its latest 913N model had a response rate of sub-8 milliseconds and would be available through channels in the last week of December for between $1000 and $1100.

Joe Serra, market development manager at Samsung Electronics, claimed eight milliseconds would fast become and default response time for all different sizes of TFT monitors. “This is critical -- moving forward whether you like it or not, it will become a default buying factor,” he said.

“We're looking at a new standard moving forward across all sizes -- my prediction is that we'll see that next year,” he added.

Serra said there were “only a couple of manufacturers” worldwide that could produce a monitor with this fast refresh rate. “At this stage it's just us and maybe (Taiwanese manufacturer) AU Optronics,” he said.

He predicted that Samsung would only hold the “world first” mantelpiece for the next eight weeks as other manufacturers would soon follow suit.

Previously, the default refresh rate in the TFT 19 inch market had been 25 milliseconds, but Serra said he had heard other vendors talking about monitors with 16 millisecond response times.

By next March, Samsung would follow up with 40 and 46 inch LCD TV monitors with eight millisecond refresh rates, Serra said.

The fast refresh rate had been achieve after “a lot of work on the liquid crystal side to make it behave in such a way to be able to achieve [the refresh rate],” he said. “There's been a lot of R&D in the background,” he added.

He said the faster rates proved LCD monitors are now a “force to be reckoned with when playing the fastest of computer games or watching a high speed car chase on a DVD.”

“Ghosting, blurring and jagged pixel effects are now a thing of the past,” he said.

He added: “We believe it's also an important differentiator in the corporate market. Features such as height adjustment and narrow bezel come standard now, so technology advancements like faster refresh rates will be what IT managers call for”.

Serra said he was expected massive growth in the 19 inch market next year predicting that 19 inch models would command a 40 percent market share of all TFTs sold.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics' planned to extend its next day replacement service for selected monitors to other products such as notebooks, printers and possibly DVD players, Serra said.

The service -- dubbed Samsung DigitAll Express -- was launched last month with the promise of next day replacement on selected Samsung monitors.
Under the swap out service, Samsung would replace faulty machines with new ones within a day, which it claimed was unique in the market.

The new 913N is covered under this program, Serra said. “This monitor is a big part of it because it's a 19 inch,” he said.