So,
let´s start the 1980i review. A german translation will follow asap.
First I have to tell you the following: the 1980i is a beta TFT which was shipped from japan to me. Thanks to the german Zoll and the shop in japan which made it possible that the device is now on my desk at home.
I will try to give you a turn-around picture about the TFT - compared to the NEC 1880.
My request to you: please don´t poast until i finished the test. I´m at work and will write in my breaks.
First, the technical specifications:
In the carton was only an handbook about the 1960i, they muddled the carton. The guy from the shop gave me the informations that the device has a responsetime from 16ms and a contrast by 400:1. Maybe I´ll get a fay tonight with more details.
Some more details by the shop:
Brightness: 250:1
Viewingangle: 180°
19" IPS Panel
In the carton should be: digital and analog cable, power supply cable, CD, handbook.
Let´s go to the outward appearance:
The frame is classically NEC. It´s quit small and stillistic black; to be mentioned: the black is a little bit darker than the one from the NEC 1880. My frame has a small productioerror on the upper right side, there is a small gap between the front and back frame.
The LED is really bright, too bright in my opinion. During work on a black screen, you can see the LED shinning on (!) the screen at the corner. During using Word, I have the LED always in my viewing-angel. Against the 1880: the 1880 LED is really not so bright.
The rack is again clasically NEC. It seems to be strong enough for a 22"screen 
But i like it that way. The mechanics are working fine and you don´t need a lot of force to move it. It remembers me on the "new" 1880 rack, maybe it´s the one.
Negative: The Pivot-function makes a scratchy noise. Rememebers me on a dentist... Pro for the 1880.
The buttons are working fine, but I have the feeling that they are quit cheap and the action point is not 100% where it should be. Only matters if you use them all the time. The 1880 is better here again.
Conclusion: The 1980 is a weighty TFT, not perfect for LAN Players in m.o.
The inside or how a CRT blushs 
Birghtness: wow. The 1980 is really one of the most bright TFTs I ever saw. At 100% brightness you will need some sun-glasses or you get blind, promissed. You can regulate the brightness quit fine. Very nice.
The luminosity is good, but not perfect. To the upper left and right side it´s getting a bit darker. Good to see on white and black backgrounds. When you work with office-products it´s not seeable. But in games like Quake Arena it´s seeable. I checked if there are some screws which are don to tight, but that is not the problem.
The colours: the colours look really great. They remember me on a MVA Panel. The red is full of live and not wanly as the red of some TN-Panels. Compared to the NEC 1880 it´s much more friendly and clearer.
Other colours are similiar to the 1880, good but not perfect as at Eizo devices.
Black. Hmmm. First I have to mention that I hate grewly blacks, so I´m quit illiberaly. The black of the 1880 is ok, but not perfect. It´s too bright, you know that all out of my statements. I hoped that NEC learned out of this and made a TFT with a darker black. What I see is a bit darker then the 1880 but it´s still not perfect. Watching movies is possible but the margins are not deep black, they are a mix out of black and dark grew. Please don´t missunderstand me, the black is good for a TFT but not perfect.
So we are at theme "Movies": Watching movies is simply fun. The colours are good, streaks - where are the streaks - cannot be found, haziness are quit rare. Akte-X, Sex and the City, Matrix 1 and 2, reuters Stock-Tv, Lord of the rings, Versus are no problem and really good to watch. Compared to the 1880: no difference can be seen. I watched Terminator 3 (what a shit movie) today. Here are some differences between the 1880 and the 1980i. The red of the TX suit looks more like a darker brown on the 1980i!. I checked the scene on the TV, where it is a brown/red but not only brown. Small (-) for the 1980i. On the 1880 we have a too bright red, just for your information.
A friend of mine checked the 1980i with some grafic-layouts, he was of the opinion that the colours are ok, but sometimes a little bit too strong or a little bit to weak. As a pro grafic user, he would buy the Eizo 795.
Viewing-range: the viewing-angle is to the right and left great. It´s wider as the one by the 1880 and nearly similiar to the good old FSC X19. What does that mean: i have the 1980i on my right side, looking straight to the 1880 and I can see over my right shoulder nearly perfect colours. If I change the 1880 and 1980i position, the colours of the 1880 turning pale. A big (+) for the 1980i! The upper and lower viewing-range are for a 1,96m guy like me good. I can sit and humbling around like I want, the picutre stays good in shape. Better again as the viewing-angle of the 1880.
Interpolation: The interpolation is in my opinion behind the modern techniques that can be found in other devices. After a change of resolution you get a black screen for some seconds and wild blinking of the LED and the OSD. Sometimes the picture doesn´t come back and you to power off the TFT and turn it on again. And I couldn´t get a picture under the resolution of 640*480. The 1:1 picture seems a litte bit warped.
The 1880 doesn´t show that problem.
Crystal-Effect: YES (without words). In m.o. it has the crystal-effekt. I don´t know why, but large areas of one colour glimmer a bit. I want to check that.. Trust me
Gaming: You all know that I´m not a player. Only Warcraft one time a week and maybe Fifa Soccer. I bought some games just for this test. So let´s go.
Warcraft 3 (++): No Problem, no streaks can be found. Really good to play.
Fifa Soccer 2004 (++): On the NEC 1880 you can see sometimes some small streaks during a pass. Same at the 1980i, no differences here. Just the green looks a bit better during the game. Soon the picture stands still: 1980i green is similliar to the 1880 green. You can play the game without any problems, promissed.
Quake 3 (+): Only one (+) cause of the black problem mentioned above. No streaks in the game.
Halflife (++): I can do what I want, no streaks. One time I saw one but don´t know why or how it came.
Spellforce (++): Colours are great, no streaks, I cannot imagine that a CRT can produce such a nice picture
Animine-Game (++): The TFT-Killer I brought with me from japan, don´t know how to translate the name :D. The picutre can be compared to the ACER AL1731m but it´s a bit better in m.o. Sometimes the blood on the sword shows some streaks, but that´s it. Never saw it that perfect.
Unreal Tournement (++): I had sometimes the feeling that the game will jump out of the TFT. Really perfect for people who likes that kind of games.
Make a conclusion: The 1980i is one of the best, maybe it´s the best, TFT I ever saw. Games and office are no problem on this device. Games can be played perfect, office tools are looking good in normal-view or with pivot. Some negatives points can be found above, of course: no TFT is perfect. The crystal effect is a big minus in my opinion and the lumini problem too. 2nd is maybe cause of the fact that I have a store test-device. I will not judge about that right now.
The price for me was around 1000Euros now (incl. shipping, zoll etc.). As a player I would buy it for that price. It has some small advantages against the 481 and the 1880. My new ranking for player devices under 20" but over 17": 1980i, 1880 (old version), Iiyama 481.
As a pur office user: no, there you can buy the Hansol H950 for 560Euros. Hard but true.
Tomorrow a friend of mine, the new owner, will test the device. He is a big fan of computer games. If he wants to add something, you will find it in this poast.
If anyone wants the games I tested, send me a PM. I bought them only for the test. They are not registered!
