CRT Display Test	Test Notes and Observations
Geometry:	In this test where a square grid is projected onto the screen, the 957MB tested nearly perfect from top to bottom, and side to side. There was some slight bending a the top left corner however. In general, the flat face construction of this display helps ensure excellent dimensional stability.
Brightness and Contrast:	The 957MB showed nice contrast though 1%-9% white, as well as maintaining an excellent 100% white test block. The five point light test illustrated that the screen is indeed curved slightly at the outer edges.
HV Test:	Vertical trace lines remain stable throughout the three bar test, and during the full screen test there was no movement in the trace lines either. The 957MB passed the test well.
Colour:	The white test screen is bright and very consistent over the full screen area as are the blue and red. The green test screen was too yellow and not saturated enough which could cause some problems with colour representation.
Convergence:	White test grids were perfect. The purple test grid was perfect within the circle, but showed some slight loss of convergence at the upper right hand corner. The yellow test grid exhibited similar loss of convergence outside the grid circle, at the upper right hand corner. Finally, the aqua test grid appeared perfect, and the RGB test pattern displayed very nicely within the test grid circle as well.
Focus:	Test patterns were clear and well defined in all parts of the screen.
Resolution:	Resolution is best at the center of the screen. At each of the four corners, the test patterns were good, but not as clear as in the center.
Moire:	Some moire lines were visible on the vertical line test pattern at the outer edges of the screen. These lines were also visible on the checkerboards screen test.
Readability:	Text was represented well at all points on the screen. Where rounded tube CRT displays can cause some fuzzy characters at the far corners this was not evident with the Samsung 957MB at all. The screen, while not completely flat on the inner surface was still very good at representing text clearly over the entire real estate.

In the end I can safely say that the Samsung 957MB flat face CRT monitor has offered up a clear, and pleasant picture. The gentle curve on the inside of the display will separate it from "true" flat face displays by likes of LG, but really only on a marketing level.

In real world situations flat face CRT monitors are simply judged by how clear a picture they are able to produce - and the SyncMaster 957MB does that just superbly. The corners of the display have excellent readability, and from standard viewing distances the display does in fact appear flat regardless of its true dimensions. When compared side by side to an older curved screen CRT display the Samsung 957MB has several other benefits; including better handling of objects in the background which can reflect in the screen more noticeably with a curved surface, and in general with the quality of the image.

Armed with an ultra fine 0.20mm dot pitch, the invar shadow mask display is a pleasure to use. The 19" screen size is large enough for today's applications, and at 1280x1024 resolution gives you a wide stretch of screen real estate to work with. The Syncmaster 957MB will actually support resolutions of up to 1920x1440, but 1600x1200 is the recommended figure.

Features like Highlight and Magicbright may sound good as you shop through the store trying to decide between monitors, but in actuality they don't really offer that much to the end user. I don't see very many applications for the Highlight feature, though on the other hand I could see using the MagicBright to quickly bump up the brightness of the display for movie watching. Of course, one could just use the brightness setting to achieve the same result, but what fun is that?

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