HP ZR24W versus Dell U2311H

PCM2 · 23 Sep 2010 at 14:08

Not that I know of.

Duff-Man · 23 Sep 2010 at 17:00

vorticalspace said:
Duff-Man
I think the U2311H is sRGB only

Ah

Thanks for the correction. I was under the impression it was wide...

Sorry for any confusion.

PCM2 · 23 Sep 2010 at 17:07

I was initially too. Even thought it had an LED backlight too and wondered what magical wide gamut WLEDs they must have been using for the price. But alas; wishful thinking.

Troezar · 23 Sep 2010 at 19:53

PCM2 said:
Not that I know of.

Anything in the next six months? Monitor manufacturers seem bad at leaking info. They need to speak to the GPU guys!

PCM2 · 23 Sep 2010 at 23:18

I don't know of any - you're right, monitor manufacturers do keep things under wraps pretty well. I know of some LED-backlit monitors from LG and Hazro and I think NEC that are on the horizon but they will most likely not be wide-gamut due to currently limitations with WLED backlighting.

Duff-Man · 23 Sep 2010 at 23:59

PCM2 said:
I don't know of any - you're right, monitor manufacturers do keep things under wraps pretty well. I know of some LED-backlit monitors from LG and Hazro and I think NEC that are on the horizon but they will most likely not be wide-gamut due to currently limitations with WLED backlighting.

Just to add to this:

I would not touch Hazro with a ten foot bargepole.

They have ZERO customer support. Your product may come with a warranty, but it is meaningless. They have no direct means of contact (telephone), and they are not listed in the companies house database, so you can't find out any trading address for them. They don't even display their VAT number on their website.

Your only means of contact is via email or webnote, both of which they just outright ignore. I spent six weeks trying to return a screen to them, and got absolutely nowhere. In the end I phoned trading standards, and they told me that my only option was to try to go through the retailer.

Avoid Hazro at all costs. I don't care how good the screen they release is.

PCM2 · 24 Sep 2010 at 08:02

Thank godness I've never had to deal with them. Sounds appauling.

vorticalspace · 26 Sep 2010 at 21:16

Well...........
After much deliberation/soul searching etc

I'm going to go for the HP ZR24W
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-005-HP&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

Justification:-
1, I really want a 24"/1920 x 1200/IPS screen
2, Although nice, i'm not convinced that a wide colour gamut/HDMI ala Dell U2410 is worth an extra £120.
3, Also slightly concerned about Dell QC issues etc

As a general gaming, browsing, occasional photo editing screen, have I made the right choice.

Thanks for all your help

DanF · 27 Sep 2010 at 14:22

Yeah the zr24w is a really nice monitor when you have it calibrated, the default settings aren't the best. I'm with you on wide gaumet monitors and normal use. If you only do standard things then wide gaumet monitors can give horrific results, seriously off colours :s

vorticalspace · 27 Sep 2010 at 16:58

DanF said:
Yeah the zr24w is a really nice monitor when you have it calibrated, the default settings aren't the best. I'm with you on wide gaumet monitors and normal use. If you only do standard things then wide gaumet monitors can give horrific results, seriously off colours :s

Thats partly my concern (as well as the extra cost)
I don't have any calibration software other than W7's own utility.
It would appear that the ZR24W is pretty good out of the box subject to tweaking of brightness/contrast.

If i'm being really honest, I would like to experience gaming with a wider colour space but I just don't think it is worth an extra £120 or so.
I can put the extra towards by GPU upgrade (waiting until ATI launch 6xxx series, cheaper Nvidia)

As stated, the ZR24W seems to tick most of the boxes I need and after looking at various deals, it can be had for a little over £300 delivered which to my mind is good value.

Thanks

jpaul · 28 Sep 2010 at 14:18

Is zr24w 'scaler' problem now firmware fixed such that PS3 or blue-ray player image
at 1920x1080p will be kept at 16x9 (black bars beneath/above) as opposed
to scaled (=> no longer 1:1 pixel map) to 16x10 screen aspect ratio ?

vorticalspace · 28 Sep 2010 at 15:35

jpaul said:
Is zr24w 'scaler' problem now firmware fixed such that PS3 or blue-ray player image
at 1920x1080p will be kept at 16x9 (black bars beneath/above) as opposed
to scaled (=> no longer 1:1 pixel map) to 16x10 screen aspect ratio ?

Hi
Just done a quick google and seems that the problem is that 1080P/720P images are stretched, therefore incorrect aspect ratio with no black bars.

Not sure if this has been resolved although I would imagine that it might be possible with a firmware fix.

Not really a deal breaker for me as I will be just using it as a pure PC monitor.
I've come to the conclusion that for PS3/Blue Ray etc, its probably easier buying a cheap 32" LCD TV with tuner/HDMI.

Moeks · 29 Sep 2010 at 22:25

The Zr24W is certainly a good display, I'm using one now and have been for months. No complaints really, especially given the price, when I bought it, it was over £100 cheaper than the Dell and also has the 'advantage' of not being high gamut, at least I considered that an advantage and still do for now.

I have no idea about the scaling issue though, I only ever use mine at native resolution hooked upto a computer so it's not a feature I use. There is an option to alter the scalling in the OSD though under image Control > Custom Scalling, you can sellect Fill to Screen, Fill to Aspect Ratio or Overscan ...whether or not this works properly though I can't say.