Dell UP2718Q 4K HDR - 384 dimming zones

Nexus18 · 29 May 2017 at 11:30

https://pcmonitors.info/dell/dell-up2718q-4k-hdr-model-with-384-dimming-zones/

Nice to see Dell jumping on the FALD tech. bandwagon as well now, FALD has been long overdue for LCD monitors!

$2000 price tag again though

And this is only 60HZ compared to Acer and Asus's 144HZ 4k FALD 27" gsync screens.... Plus no mention of sync tech. for the Dell either.... With there being DP 1.4, hopefully there will be freesync though.

But at least we are finally progressing forward with improved IQ again after so many years!

Hopefully LG, AOC and Samsung will join Dell, Acer and Asus with these panels/FALD tech or something else so as to get some "sensible" price wars going on...

LokiS · 29 May 2017 at 13:28

Someone has one of these over at overclock.net, he posted a video with the FALD lighting with the mouse on a black background along with the youtube bar and the light blooming is pretty horrible tbh, 27 inch seems just too small for dimming or fald to be effective. I can think of many scenarios were is would be obvious in games. Lemme find video.

These things should be 32inch, I'd be begging for one then.

TNA · 29 May 2017 at 17:01

LokiS said:

LOL! All that money and it looks like that? No thanks.

OLED is where it is at

Nexus18 · 29 May 2017 at 17:11

Oh dear.......

Not good at all! Seriously why the **** is the monitor industry so damn awful now?! (I know why, but still!)

I think this might just be the final straw for me and monitors now, just not feeling hopeful at all for anything now until OLED.

*goes to look at the c6 55" 4k HDR OLED TV again*

Hopefully this is just a bug and will be easily fixed or/and isolated to just the dell....

LokiS said:
27 inch seems just too small for dimming or fald to be effective.

See I thought that 384 zones for a 27" screen would have been amazing considering some 55"+ TVs only have that much and they look very good at least compared to the above anyway!)

EDIT:

I wonder if the above effects are down to the IPS panel, probably would have had way better results with VA, at least where the glow/halo'ing effect is of concern....

LokiS · 29 May 2017 at 20:26

Nexus18 said:
I wonder if the above effects are down to the IPS panel, probably would have had way better results with VA, at least where the glow/halo'ing effect is of concern....

I think we just need to keep our expectations in line, the end of the day FALD is still a backlight and on any dark image/content no matter how many zones you have light will bloom/halo around anything that ups the light, pretty much why OLED is superior in this regard and from what I last read they not bothering with FALD anymore as your in the OLED price range now anyway but that doesn't help us on monitors.

Its possible the light isn't dimming properly as it needs support or something but to me that will already be a failure as you need support to then effectively use it. I think dimming/fald works best on large screens as you have much more screen area that the picture will be appears more uniform were as a small screen it will be very obvious like the above video.

Nexus18 · 29 May 2017 at 20:51

LokiS said:
I think we just need to keep our expectations in line, the end of the day FALD is still a backlight and on any dark image/content no matter how many zones you have light will bloom/halo around anything that ups the light, pretty much why OLED is superior in this regard and from what I last read they not bothering with FALD anymore as your in the OLED price range now anyway but that doesn't help us on monitors.

Its possible the light isn't dimming properly as it needs support or something but to me that will already be a failure as you need support to then effectively use it. I think dimming/fald works best on large screens as you have much more screen area that the picture will be appears more uniform were as a small screen it will be very obvious like the above video.

Yup I was expecting there to be some halo'ing but I didn't think it would be anywhere as bad as that

Also, the delay for the zones to match what is going on the screen i.e. zones are still lit/bright even when the mouse cursor wasn't on that area :/ Assuming it's not a hardware/firmware bug, I wonder if it being this obvious is also largely down to it being used with IPS, afaik, all the TVs that have had FALD have had VA panels and certainly looked better than that dell.

But yeah, OLED can't come soon enough.

eddiew · 29 May 2017 at 22:56

Once again my hopes for a better monitor are dashed... Waiting for OLED, tbh :/

peahead · 30 May 2017 at 19:53

IPS FALD tvs failed to live up to hype so i cant see a pc monitor performing any better.. most manufacturers dropped IPS panels in favour of VA.

What we need is a big push on OLED monitors

Nexus18 · 30 May 2017 at 19:59

peahead said:
IPS FALD tvs failed to live up to hype so i cant see a pc monitor performing any better.. most manufacturers dropped IPS panels in favour of VA.

What we need is a big push on OLED monitors

Also seems to be happening with monitors now too, pretty much every recent new 21.9 screen has been VA instead of IPS. I'm guessing the sheer amount of returns etc. etc. has pushed manufacturers into dropping IPS for a more reliable/less defect technology, hopefully this will mean less people returning their monitors due to back light bleed and as a result, gibbo/ocuk etc. will be able to reduce the price again since they won't have to worry about CCR restocking fees as much....

eddiew · 31 May 2017 at 10:59

To be fair, I've had some duff VA panels too... can suffer from a 'dirty screen' effect with weird dim patches :/

titaniumx3 · 31 May 2017 at 14:01

I'm not sure why people are surprised with this blooming effect of local dimming. You only have 384 leds covering over 8 million pixels. Just having 1 pixel turn on, will have thousands of pixels around it have the backlight bleed effect. I'm guessing it looks ok with movies, but for anything else it's going to look like a mess. You'd need a heck of a lot more LEDs to mitigate the issue and by then you may aswell go OLED.

Sadly I don't think the OLED burn-in/degradation issue will ever be fully resolved, which will make it unfeasible for mainstream use on desktops. I'm not going to spend thousands on a screen that will inevitably develop screen burn pretty fast under normal desktop usage. I think something true quantum dot displays will be our best hope right now.

shanomacadaemia · 31 May 2017 at 15:32

I use my OLED TV as a monitor almost exclusively, for the better part of a year now too.

It has some issues with IR (in cases of extreme colour saturation over contrasting backgrounds) but these resolve themselves in seconds. Absolutely zero problems with burn-in. TN/IPS/VA panels all can exhibit burn-in too, if you leave a static image there for a long time (a lot shorter than you think too).

Burn-in is not something to be fearful of, unless you have no clue how to prevent it. I've owned plasmas too and have avoided it every time. This bug-bear/FUD was cooked up in the early days of these technologies, usually gleaned from white papers which referenced versions of these technologies that never made it on to store shelves.

My LG set uses pixel orbiting that prevents this issue, while the recently released Dell OLED has a high frequency, strobing refresh which also combats the issue (and has the added side-effect of improving motion resolution massively). OLED monitors will be the enthusiast standard in due course, but expect this to be about 3-5 years down the road and expect to pay >£1000 for one, even at 24". The manufacturing process simply isn't there yet for high volume mainstream level OLED, which would help subsidise the low-volume, enthusiast monitor market.

Nexus18 · 31 May 2017 at 16:21

Yup burn in is pretty much a non issue now, the 2016+ OLED TVs are superb, only time it "might" be an issue is when you play a game for hours on end or watch sky news etc. non stop.... and even then the built in software/tweaks/repair system will remove any noticeable amounts.

And as said, the dell oled monitor is holding up very well with regards to no burn in.

TNA · 31 May 2017 at 16:30

People made a big deal with burn in for plasma also, but it is not permanent. Not had any on my LG 1080P plasma TV which I have had for many years and I use it to play games also sometimes. All you get is a ghost image of an icon or whatever that was on the image for ages once it changes. But then that ghosting image goes away really quickly once something else is playing there. Also you really need to go out of your way to see these things, if you are busy enjoying the content you are viewing, it won't be an issue.

It is a price I am happy to pay for superior image quality personally. As long as it is not permanent burn in, it really does not bother me.

Ayahuasca · 10 Aug 2017 at 09:03