The BenQ EW2420: Too good to be true?

DEEF · 2 Nov 2010 at 19:01

Thanks guys for this topic!
It made me buy the new BenQ BL2400PT. Just got it today and its absolutely great!

Btw. It has also semi gloss coating. Great ergonomics - pivot, ambient light sensor.
I was a fan of SAMSUNGS, until my last model got fked after 2.5 years ..backlight start twinkling when i turned pc on, so i have to heat it up, all was good after that, but comon.. Im done with SAMSUNGS! :mad:

This one is unbeatable for its price, hope it will last longer than 2.5 years

PCM2 · 2 Nov 2010 at 19:05

Glad you like it. I wouldn't launch a personal vendetta against Samsung for something that happens to many manufacturer's monitors. 2.5 years is quite a usual time for a heavily used CCFL-backlit monitor to last before things start going wrong - they generate a lot of heat. It could have been the same story no matter what the manufacturer is. You'll be pleased to know that the BL2400PT, being LED-backlit, has a greater 'life expectancy' if you want to look at it that way. Still plenty can go wrong as with any monitor (of any manufacturer) - but the backlight should last well. This has nothing to do with the fact it's BenQ though.

What was your previous Samsung, incidentally?

Trifid · 2 Nov 2010 at 19:18

Good to hear that the BL2400PT has the semi gloss coat as well, it will be a lot easier using the display port that it has fitted instead of HDMI.

DEEF · 2 Nov 2010 at 20:02

PCM2 said:
Glad you like it. I wouldn't launch a personal vendetta against Samsung for something that happens to many manufacturer's monitors. 2.5 years is quite a usual time for a heavily used CCFL-backlit monitor to last before things start going wrong - they generate a lot of heat. It could have been the same story no matter what the manufacturer is. You'll be pleased to know that the BL2400PT, being LED-backlit, has a greater 'life expectancy' if you want to look at it that way. Still plenty can go wrong as with any monitor (of any manufacturer) - but the backlight should last well. This has nothing to do with the fact it's BenQ though.

I don't think avg. 7 hours/day is heavy, otherwise you are absolutely right. But it unexpetedly hit my poor student's pocket very badly

So I have to ignore this brand, for at least one pc cycle

What was your previous Samsung, incidentally?

2232BW

topcaser · 2 Nov 2010 at 20:42

I have problems to find the right settings, especially the right color/gamma settings.

bigjimmyauk, when i use your settings, the lagom gamma test is at 2.5 or so!!??

wez1981 · 2 Nov 2010 at 22:24

Well it arrived today, very happy with it so far, but it is a LOT better than my old monitor. Struggling to get the settings just right though, i like the deep dark blacks with gamma on 2.4, but its a little too dark... need to find a happy median!

PCM2 · 2 Nov 2010 at 22:36

Yeah you do have to play around with the settings but it's very much worth it once you do. And every individual monitor is very different - I can assure you of that. This means if you try to copy somebody else's settings things will probably look quite wrong. One thing you could try doing is adjusting the colour temperature in the graphics card driver (I know you can do this in the ATI driver) to 6500k if it isn't there already. Again this will vary on individual panels and nothing I can say will help you as much as fiddling about will!

bigjimmyauk · 2 Nov 2010 at 22:55

PCM2 said:
Yeah you do have to play around with the settings but it's very much worth it once you do. And every individual monitor is very different - I can assure you of that. This means if you try to copy somebody else's settings things will probably look quite wrong. One thing you could try doing is adjusting the colour temperature in the graphics card driver (I know you can do this in the ATI driver) to 6500k if it isn't there already. Again this will vary on individual panels and nothing I can say will help you as much as fiddling about will!

My birthday friday and i'm thinking of buying a spyder 3 express for the laptops and my main pc

i know the express sets things to 6500k and 2.2 gamma is there any point me going for the pro or the elite. I do use photoshop on a lot of pictures but then on the other hand i only have a cheap sx400 epson printer.

Anyone with monitor calibration experience could help around now

wez1981 · 2 Nov 2010 at 23:06

Ok, after some playing around i have it just how i want it. Blacks are REALLY black, whites are nice and crisp white, and colours pop out without hurting the eyes too much. I always find using a windows explorer with white background a good point for making sure the white is "white" enough.

I had to use a combination of monitor settings and video driver settings to get the end result. Well worth it. very impressed.

For reference...

Monitor settings
--> Brightness 30
--> Contrast 85
--> Sharpness 4
--> Gamma 2.2
--> AMA 'On'
--> Color (Red) 82
--> Color (Green) 75
--> Color (Blue) 75

Video Driver Settings (NVidia Control Panel)
--> Brightness 55%
--> Contrast 60%
--> Gamma 0.98
--> Digital Vibrance 53%

Hope this helps others with their settings...

bigjimmyauk · 2 Nov 2010 at 23:10

wez1981 said:
ok, after some playing around i have it JUST how i want it. Blacks are REALLY black, whites are nice and crisp white, and colours pop out without hurting the eyes!

I had to use a combination of monitor settings and video driver settings to get the end result. Well worth it. very impressed.

please share the settings i would also like to give them a try

i'm still fiddling around with it every day tring to get a happy medium

crackerbear · 2 Nov 2010 at 23:38

Seems like every person who's got one of these panels has to do a ton of calibration, the factory settings are poor for everyone.

PCM2 · 2 Nov 2010 at 23:55

They were really good for me actually. Just had to adjust the brightness and contrast and it was perfect for my needs. I think I got very lucky by getting a well colour-balanced unit though. The review should be completed in the next few days.

NCX · 3 Nov 2010 at 01:07

Deleted my Youtube video with both the BenQ and Samsung in clone mode due to Nvidia disabling the color profiles so they look quite different. My camera cant handle a lot of lighting changes in scenes, the video had a ton of blooming during the movie play back comparison.

While in clone mode I did measure Input lag using a high shutter speed. The BenQ was always 1-2ms behind the Samsung (6-7ms) meaning lag is around 9-10ms at all times.

topcaser · 3 Nov 2010 at 04:26

PCM2,

Iam using an ATI graphics card. Have you teamed the graphics card driver settings?

Trifid · 3 Nov 2010 at 07:13

bigjimmyauk said:
My birthday friday and i'm thinking of buying a spyder 3 express for the laptops and my main pc

i know the express sets things to 6500k and 2.2 gamma is there any point me going for the pro or the elite.

Anyone with monitor calibration experience could help around now

I have none but am very interested in the answer to this. It might be worth creating a new thread in the photography section.

PCM2 · 3 Nov 2010 at 09:01

topcaser said:
PCM2,

Iam using an ATI graphics card. Have you teamed the graphics card driver settings?

As I said, defaults were very good - nothing needed to be changed in the graphics card driver. If it makes a difference I am using the new Catalyst 10.10s. They may change the default colour temperature value to 6600K for the graphics card (which it is set to and works very well indeed at) but I have no idea how true this is. I haven't tested any other graphics driver on this monitor.

rickh · 3 Nov 2010 at 16:48

There seems to be a supply issue.

Not very impressed with this retailer for letting me know 4 days after I placed the order (half of the first word of the shops name is a wooly animal).

Dear Customer,

Unfortunately the item you have ordered, has gone out of stock. We do not have any ETA for this item. Please advice if you wish to have a refund or change it with another one. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Dear Customer,

Benq was supposed to supply us with this product but there has been a delay. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused. Please advice.

Thank You,

craigdabbs · 3 Nov 2010 at 17:10

rickh said:
There seems to be a supply issue.

Not very impressed with this retailer for letting me know 4 days after I placed the order (half of the first word of the shops name is a wooly animal).

I just chased up on my order to see if they have dispatched it or not, after some time on hold they come back and tell me that they have none in stock and wont be getting any untill the 11th nov. Seems everywhere is sold out atm.

Shame really as i think i will purchase another monitor now, any recommendations ? Ideally something with a bit more pixels

1920*1200

PCM2 · 3 Nov 2010 at 17:31

Unless you are intending to use it extensively for colour-critical work you should wait to be honest. Unless you can stretch your budget to a Dell U2410 (or possibly an HP ZR24w, being the less preferable alternative) then you will have done yourself a disservce. The 11th of November isn't really too far away. The full EW2420 should be published tomorrow.

craigdabbs · 3 Nov 2010 at 17:49

mainly use for web browsing and a few games, not shooters tho. Any idead what the http://www.iiyama.com/gb_en/products/prolite-e2607ws-1/
extra screen real estate on wow would be handy