AOC e2228swdn 22-Inch Class LED-Lit Monitor, Full HD 1080p, 5ms, 20M:1 DCR, VGA/DVI, VESA, Narrow Bezel

Out of the box this monitor is terrible looking. Images are blurry, text is fragmented, and colors are drab and washed out. I considered returning them (I purchased 2 of them) immediately as I’ve never had to ‘setup’ a monitor before. After reading over some other customer reviews and online forum posts I tweaked a few settings and remarkably, the picture is outstanding now!

I have an ATI video card and these are the steps I took to achieve a superior picture:

1. In AMD Catalyst Control Center navigate to ‘My Digital Flat-Panels’ > ‘Scaling Options’
2. Set the Scaling options to ‘0%’ Overscan (dial is set to the right-most postion)
3. In the monitor settings (on the monitor) navigate to ‘Picture Boost’
4. Set ‘Bright Frame’ to ‘On’
5. Set ‘Frame Size’ to ‘100’
6. Set ‘Brightness’ to ’24’
7. Set ‘Contrast’ to ’36’

While you are doing this you might be tempted to play around with the settings; don’t do that. Apply the above settings and then walk away from the monitor for a few minutes. When you come back you should immediately notice the fantastic picture quality.

If you are curious how I arrived at these settings, feel free to conduct the Lagom LCD monitor calibration yourself (http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/) but fair warning, it is an extremely time-consuming and painfully tedious exercise in frustration; particularly with how difficult it is to change settings on this display (poor button placement).

If you are concerned about the gaming performance of this monitor, here is a you-tube video of my daughter playing a game using this monitor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpU6vAr-lFw

Update: 2014-12-14
I would like to iterate a point which I neglected in my initial assessment; if you can afford a better monitor or are not dedicated enough to endure the hassle involved in configuring your monitor, then I recommend you do not purchase this product. For example, the ASUS PB278Q monitor requires no frustrating calibration and out-performs this AOC model in every conceivable way (it’s sharper, its brighter, it employs a much higher resolution, and its professionally calibrated out of the box). Of course, the ASUS range costs anywhere from 0-0 each where you can usually pick up 2 of these AOC displays for around 0.

If your goal is a large new 1080p display at a spectacularly low cost, then the AOC is [or can be] a great investment –just don’t expect too much out of it.

Can’t beat the price!!! Comes with VGA, CD, and power cable. Didn’t need them. I just swapped it out with the same cables from my old monitor and hit the power button. This monitor is nice looking, thin, and takes up very little desk space. No tools required for attaching pedestal. Has built in threaded inserts for mounting otherwise…

I spent a long time tweaking the monitor settings. At first the monitors (I have two of them) seemed like they had a light haze over them. No matter how long I played with the color and brightness/contrast I could not get rid of that annoying haziness. Then I discovered the "Picture Boost" options. Set the Picture Boost to encompass the entire screen. I then set the Brightness to 24 and the Contrast to 36. This makes the monitors look OK compared to my third monitor (prior to this they looked hazy and washed out). If i adjust the brightness above 30 it starts to look hazy again. I don’t know why they don’t just make the monitor look good by default with the Picture Boost, pretty annoying. It looks OK now, prior to finding that I was going to return them.