24" 120hz monitor with good colours?

Armadillo

Armadillo

Armadillo

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So, I'm looking to change my monitor, I tried last year, but in the end couldn't settle on anything, I'm hoping that there is something to suit me now. So, I mostly like to play fast paced games, fps, arcade racing games and so on.

So from looking around, apparently to get the smooth motion clarity, I need 120Hz + lightboost or 120Hz+G-sync as it comes with ulmb?

But looking, they are all TN panels and a lot of people seem to complain about the colour being terrible. The couple of TN panels I've seen personally, don't look great, but I'm hoping not all TN panels are made equal.

Monitor I'll be coming from, and to what it will be compared to is a diamond pro crt.

So something out there for me yet?, or we still stuck with, fast response or good colours, but not both? As I'm getting kind of fed up with this beast, but TN colours scare me (a lot to spend, only to not like it) and most say you will notice the blur on ips coming from a crt or 120hz monitor :(.

Two monitors is not an option.
 
Yes, now I want a monitor upgrade, I've also started to realise that the perfect monitor just doesn't exist.

I've been mulling over the pros and cons of various solutions, and am pinging around like a pinball in favouring first one then another.

I really want a 25"-27" super-wide 1080p 120Hz monitor with g-sync and blur-free pixel response that also has 1000:1+ contrast, deep blacks and a full colour gamut.

Of course these isn't one.

One minute I favour the idea of a super-wide like the LG Flatrons, being convinced by the arguments of their backers that the extra width and colour fidelity outweighs anything you lose in motion blur reduction. Then I nod sagely at the words of wisdom from those who passionately opine that 120Hz+ is by far the most impactful feature you can have from a monitor for gaming, and that g-sync is the icing on a gloriously smooth gaming cake.

I have what I consider to be a very good TN panel (albeit only 22", 1680x1050 and 60Hz) so I know they exist, but I've seen enough of them also to know they are exceedingly rare, and there do appear to be marked trade-offs in terms of colour, greyscale tracking, contrast and uniformity for all of the current 120Hz+ displays.

You pays yer money, I guess...

I'm currently leaning towards the AOC G2460PG as an affordable g-sync monitor with middling-to-decent colour, greys, contrast and gamma. But this morning I was convinced the LG Flatron 29UM65-P 29" Super-Wide was the way to gaming nirvana. And I'd also spent some time over the weekend thinking the reasonably fast response on the Samsung S24D390HL combined with its IPS-like colours could be the best solution...
 
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So I managed to try an lcd out with one of my favourite games today.

Monitor in question was a BenQ G2222HDL. TN panel, but the colours did seem better than others I've looked at. Also didn't notice any input lag.

Big problem though, was the blur on fast motion. Looking around, I know it's an older monitor, but it seems a lot of people were using them for gaming, so is that level of blur pretty standard for a 60Hz lcd?

I simply can't live with that, so if that's the level of blur i can expect from any 60hz screen, then i guess it's tn+g-sync/ulmb for me.
 
strumpusplunket said:
I'm currently leaning towards the AOC G2460PG as an affordable g-sync monitor with middling-to-decent colour, greys, contrast and gamma. But this morning I was convinced the LG Flatron 29UM65-P 29" Super-Wide was the way to gaming nirvana. And I'd also spent some time over the weekend thinking the reasonably fast response on the Samsung S24D390HL combined with its IPS-like colours could be the best solution...
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I have been using a 120hz s27a950d samsung for 2 years now and sure i love the fast and smooth gameplay it gives but the colors, OMFG, they are horrible even though its been said to be a pretty good quality TN color wise. I switched to an AOC 29 inch 21:9 monitor(dirt cheap compared to other 21:9 monitors) and while i wish it was 120hz i must say its awwsome for gaming. Colors are fantastic in comparison and together with the Vsync trick found here actually delivers a solid experience. Mine OCs to 72hz and the best thing is it has the lowest input lag of all the 21:9 monitors ive been able to find including the LGs, its so low actually its even giving some of the gaming TN panels a run for their money, a measly 2ms which is impressive considering its offering VGA(D-SUB), DVI,HDMI and DP inputs and all sorts of PiP and PBP modes. Look here for a review of the AOC q2963Pm.

So while it will have more blur than a fast TN if your the type that plays with motion blur in games you can just turn that off and it actually sorta balances itself out that way. Im so use to it now that it doesnt bother me anymore and the action on screen is pretty fluid/smooth thanks to that low input lag.

Should be noted that i have also tried the LG 34UM65 and while the huge screen certainly will increase your epeen i just couldnt stand its gaming performance (the input lag could have been better and most likely to the sheer size of it, felt crosseyed after 10m of bf4) but the picture quality was pretty darn good.
 
Hmm, that does look a nice monitor, actually. Is it easy/safe/reliable to OC to 72Hz? Can it be pushed any further?

I still can't decide over the trade-off between colours and respsiveness/blur reduction. If the colours and contrast on the G2460PG are as acceptable as some reviews I've read recently indicate that could be the one... but then again, 21:9 super-wide, overclockable refresh, IPS colours and decent blur reduction...

Somehow feels that in 2014 we shouldn't be so constrained in these choices, and monitor tech feels a bit disappointing in comparison to the advances made elsewhere in the computing experience over the last decade.
 
None of the 120hz (TN) screens have amazing colours. It's a trade off, you either have fast response and refresh rates, or better colour accuracy.

Some monitors will overclock, but that causes other issues like ghosting and other artifacts.
 
:(.

Anything coming that will fix this? (response, colours and blur free?)

Ancient CRT tech can do it.
Plasma can do it, but for some reason they never got scaled down :(
OLED has been "next year" forever.

Just seems a bit silly, that lcd has been around and mainstream for years now, and they still don't fix this issue :( or if it's unfixable at least offer an alternative tech, even at a premium.
 
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Armadillo said:
:(.

Anything coming that will fix this? (response, colours and blur free?)

Ancient CRT tech can do it.
Plasma can do it, but for some reason they never got scaled down :(
OLED has been "next year" forever.

Just seems a bit silly, that lcd has been around and mainstream for years now, and they still don't fix this issue :( or if it's unfixable at least offer an alternative tech, even at a premium.
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The reason plasma never got scaled down is physics. The pressures would be too high if you make the pixels (gas filled chambers) any smaller. I am totally with you in waiting for what seems like an age for OLED monitors to crop up - my signature sort of suggests that I'm a fan right? ;)

There is a 144Hz AHVA (IPS-type) panel coming but that's 27" and it remains to be seen how responsive it is in practice. If it is popular and shows that that panel type is useful at such refresh rates then it may be scaled down to 24" as well. But it's a waiting and guessing game at this stage.
 
Armadillo, I totally understand where you are coming from with this having tried pretty much all of the 120/144hz monitors that have ever come out. For some reason the 24" variants in the past 3 years do seem to have very very washed out/poor colours and nomatter how many people say you can calibrate it, I'm far from convinced :p

Ironically, the first 3 LCD 120hz screens (original 2 samsung/viewsonic 22" 120hz screens, and the LG W2363D a year later) didn't really have this issue.

Of course they were TN based and therefore very poor colours/viewing angles compared to IPS etc, but they didn't have that totally "washed out" feel to them at all really.

If I was you, I'd be trying to find a 2nd hand (auction site) LG W2363D monitor. They tend to go for very low amounts and they are truly great allrounders still, with very "reasonable" colours.

Its very odd with the 24" 120hz/144hz colour issues, because I've had several 27" 120hz/144hz monitors and they simply don't suffer from these same issues at all.
 
PCM2 said:
The reason plasma never got scaled down is physics. The pressures would be too high if you make the pixels (gas filled chambers) any smaller. I am totally with you in waiting for what seems like an age for OLED monitors to crop up - my signature sort of suggests that I'm a fan right? ;)

There is a 144Hz AHVA (IPS-type) panel coming but that's 27" and it remains to be seen how responsive it is in practice. If it is popular and shows that that panel type is useful at such refresh rates then it may be scaled down to 24" as well. But it's a waiting and guessing game at this stage.
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If it's good and works and doesn't get scaled down, I would clear my desk for it. 24 is just the most convenient for me without rearranging everything.

On subject of plasmas, I didn't know that was the reason. Could they not have just dropped the res. So same size pixles, just less of them, so smaller monitor. I would have been more than happy with a 1280x720 or even a 1680x1050 plasma monitor, over lcd.



bobert50 said:
Armadillo, I totally understand where you are coming from with this having tried pretty much all of the 120/144hz monitors that have ever come out. For some reason the 24" variants in the past 3 years do seem to have very very washed out/poor colours and nomatter how many people say you can calibrate it, I'm far from convinced :p

Ironically, the first 3 LCD 120hz screens (original 2 samsung/viewsonic 22" 120hz screens, and the LG W2363D a year later) didn't really have this issue.

Of course they were TN based and therefore very poor colours/viewing angles compared to IPS etc, but they didn't have that totally "washed out" feel to them at all really.

If I was you, I'd be trying to find a 2nd hand (auction site) LG W2363D monitor. They tend to go for very low amounts and they are truly great allrounders still, with very "reasonable" colours.

Its very odd with the 24" 120hz/144hz colour issues, because I've had several 27" 120hz/144hz monitors and they simply don't suffer from these same issues at all.
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I will look into those. At least 2nd hand will be fairly cheap and I can dump it if something better comes along without feeling bad about it :D.

This is one of the problems. No where to test and see for myself. Have so many people saying colour is fine when calibrated, then others saying, nope, all bad, no matter what, and ips all the way :(.

ShakeNBake said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-024-AO&groupid=17&catid=510
or
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-007-AO&groupid=17&catid=510

(no g-sync on these particular models however, but they are <£200!)

AOC 144Hz have very good colour quality imo (for a 144Hz TN panel)
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I'm not too fussed about G-sync. Motion blur is far more annoying to me than tearing, and blur reduction+g-sync don't seem to go together :(.


I still don't understand why LCD doesn't seem to have moved on much. Years ago it was TN panel for fast response or ips for colours (generally speaking) and it's still the same now :confused:. About the only thing new seems to be g-sync and back light strobing I guess.

Even the full array local dimming screens seem to be in short supply/non-existent. It just seems like they've gone, well current solutions are good enough, and just stopped doing anything.
 
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Armadillo said:
If it's good and works and doesn't get scaled down, I would clear my desk for it. 24 is just the most convenient for me without rearranging everything.

On subject of plasmas, I didn't know that was the reason. Could they not have just dropped the res. So same size pixles, just less of them, so smaller monitor. I would have been more than happy with a 1280x720 or even a 1680x1050 plasma monitor, over lcd.
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It isn't just the resolution, although that would be a key issue in the current market. It's also that plasma technology does not work well if you're sitting close to it. The pixels are relatively large gas-filled chambers. You can see the 'burning' gas flickering away when you're close. Furthermore they emit a lot of heat which isn't pleasant when you're close to them. They just wouldn't be marketable as a monitor technology which is why we haven't seen them. I know it's a shame.
 
ShakeNBake said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-024-AO&groupid=17&catid=510
or
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-007-AO&groupid=17&catid=510

(no g-sync on these particular models however, but they are <£200!)

AOC 144Hz have very good colour quality imo (for a 144Hz TN panel)
Click to expand...

I'm currently in the market for a new monitor as well.

I've been looking at these but on another retail site the reviews said go with the Benq monitor. I currently have a TN (Samsung 226BW) panel monitor so I probably will not notice the colour difference as much but I still want one with good colour, so would anyone recommend the Benq XL2411Z over the AOC?
 
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