Soldato
Hi all,
I thought I would start a thread about this panel - since I bought one the other day
pic from anandtech
- First of all, the basics:
The ZR30W is a 30" S-IPS screen, with very wide colour gamut (rated at 99% of adobe RGB space, but measured at 111% by anandtech). The native resolution is 2560*1600 (almost double the number of pixels as 1080p). It has full 10-bit colour (1.07 billion colours). The panel finish is matt. It comes with a 3-year warranty with HP, which can be extended to 5 years for just £24. Connectivity is via dual-link DVI, or displayport.
As with all IPS panels it has extremely good viewing angles with no colour shift, but unlike many IPS panels it has very low input lag (~11ms). OcUK don't sell it (yet?) but it can be found for under £1050. Clearly this is a steep price for a screen, but very much at the low end of the range for 30" 2560*1600 screens (only the LG W3000H is cheaper, and this is a good 3 years old now).
For more details, check out anantech's review. They liked it
The ZR30w uses the same LG panel as the new Dell U3011, with the main difference being that the ZR30w is a "pure and simple" PC monitor at heart; it does not have the multitude of extra features and connectivity that would make it a good general multimedia display. For example, it does not have an HDMI connection, nor does it do 1:1 pixel mapping. It doesn't even have an OSD or an internal scaler. Of course, if you're using it as a PC monitor then none of this matters; Colour calibration, scaling, 1:1 pixel mapping are all be done via software. Plug in a PS3 or an external blu-ray player though, and you may encounter issues.
The screen is best compared to the Dell U3011 (I already mentioned that they use the same panel). The Dell is a very similar screen, but comes with all the "bells and whistles" that would make a good general purpose multimedia display (two HDMI connections, comprehensive OSD, internal scaling and 1:1 pixel mapping). The tradeoff for these extra goodies is a higher price ($400 higher RRP than the zr30w), and a higher input lag (27ms vs 11ms on the HP). It's reasonable to assume that the higher input lag owes to the presence of an internal scaler, which adds an extra layer of communication between the PC output and the display. No word on UK pricing for the Dell yet, but I would expect it to be around £1300 - £1350 at launch.
Both the Dell U3011 and the HP ZR30W come with a very similar dead-pixel guarantee: They both guarantee zero stuck "bright" subpixels, and zero full-pixel defects. Dell guarantee <5 dark subpixels, whereas HP guarantee <4.
- Now for my highly subjective opinion of the screen
I'm really quite impressed by this screen. I used to have a Hazro HZ30w, but this screen is definitely a step above that one. The panel came with no dead or stuck pixels (always luck of the draw), zero backlight bleed (at least that I can see), and most surprisingly, almost completely uniform brightness and colour. I really can't see any difference across the entire screen.
The range of colours is really fantastic... I can't say that the 10-bit colour makes too much difference, as I never noticed any real banding on an 8-bit screen, but the colour range is very impressive. I really like wide-gamut monitors, but if you're a standard-gamut purist then steer clear! 100%+ of adobe RGB space really is a thing to behold... Games and movies "pop out" quite spectacularly.
The screen is very responsive in games; I certainly haven't noticed any ghosting or input lag (and I'm really sensitive to input lag). For desktop work, like all 2560*1600 res screens it's very good - acres of screen real-estate. I also like the matt finish, but that's just down to taste I suppose (I know that a few of you prefer glossy).
Well, that's my impression of the screen. Perhaps I sound like I'm just singing the praises of the screen, and I guess I am since I'm very pleased with its performance, but lets face it - if you spend over £1000 on a panel then you damn well expect it to impress you I hope I have pointed out some of the potential drawbacks as well though; anyone looking for a general-purpose multimedia display should look elsewhere. Personally, I was after a top-notch PC monitor, and I have found one in the ZR30w. I have a separate TV for everything else multimedia related (which is bigger and cost a hell of a lot less than this beast by the way!).
One final word of caution; remember that gaming at 2560*1600 requires a fair amount of horsepower (you're pushing 98% more pixels than at 1920*1080). You will want to be looking at an ATI 5870 or a nvidia GTX480 to run the most demanding games fluidly. But, if you're considering dropping £1k on a screen and care at all about gaming, you probably have a card like this in mind anyway. Gaming at 2560*1600 is pretty spectacular though...
I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have on the panel. I can take pictures if you like, but I only have a fairly crappy phone camera, so don't expect works of art!
I thought I would start a thread about this panel - since I bought one the other day
pic from anandtech
- First of all, the basics:
The ZR30W is a 30" S-IPS screen, with very wide colour gamut (rated at 99% of adobe RGB space, but measured at 111% by anandtech). The native resolution is 2560*1600 (almost double the number of pixels as 1080p). It has full 10-bit colour (1.07 billion colours). The panel finish is matt. It comes with a 3-year warranty with HP, which can be extended to 5 years for just £24. Connectivity is via dual-link DVI, or displayport.
As with all IPS panels it has extremely good viewing angles with no colour shift, but unlike many IPS panels it has very low input lag (~11ms). OcUK don't sell it (yet?) but it can be found for under £1050. Clearly this is a steep price for a screen, but very much at the low end of the range for 30" 2560*1600 screens (only the LG W3000H is cheaper, and this is a good 3 years old now).
For more details, check out anantech's review. They liked it
The ZR30w uses the same LG panel as the new Dell U3011, with the main difference being that the ZR30w is a "pure and simple" PC monitor at heart; it does not have the multitude of extra features and connectivity that would make it a good general multimedia display. For example, it does not have an HDMI connection, nor does it do 1:1 pixel mapping. It doesn't even have an OSD or an internal scaler. Of course, if you're using it as a PC monitor then none of this matters; Colour calibration, scaling, 1:1 pixel mapping are all be done via software. Plug in a PS3 or an external blu-ray player though, and you may encounter issues.
The screen is best compared to the Dell U3011 (I already mentioned that they use the same panel). The Dell is a very similar screen, but comes with all the "bells and whistles" that would make a good general purpose multimedia display (two HDMI connections, comprehensive OSD, internal scaling and 1:1 pixel mapping). The tradeoff for these extra goodies is a higher price ($400 higher RRP than the zr30w), and a higher input lag (27ms vs 11ms on the HP). It's reasonable to assume that the higher input lag owes to the presence of an internal scaler, which adds an extra layer of communication between the PC output and the display. No word on UK pricing for the Dell yet, but I would expect it to be around £1300 - £1350 at launch.
Both the Dell U3011 and the HP ZR30W come with a very similar dead-pixel guarantee: They both guarantee zero stuck "bright" subpixels, and zero full-pixel defects. Dell guarantee <5 dark subpixels, whereas HP guarantee <4.
- Now for my highly subjective opinion of the screen
I'm really quite impressed by this screen. I used to have a Hazro HZ30w, but this screen is definitely a step above that one. The panel came with no dead or stuck pixels (always luck of the draw), zero backlight bleed (at least that I can see), and most surprisingly, almost completely uniform brightness and colour. I really can't see any difference across the entire screen.
The range of colours is really fantastic... I can't say that the 10-bit colour makes too much difference, as I never noticed any real banding on an 8-bit screen, but the colour range is very impressive. I really like wide-gamut monitors, but if you're a standard-gamut purist then steer clear! 100%+ of adobe RGB space really is a thing to behold... Games and movies "pop out" quite spectacularly.
The screen is very responsive in games; I certainly haven't noticed any ghosting or input lag (and I'm really sensitive to input lag). For desktop work, like all 2560*1600 res screens it's very good - acres of screen real-estate. I also like the matt finish, but that's just down to taste I suppose (I know that a few of you prefer glossy).
Well, that's my impression of the screen. Perhaps I sound like I'm just singing the praises of the screen, and I guess I am since I'm very pleased with its performance, but lets face it - if you spend over £1000 on a panel then you damn well expect it to impress you
I hope I have pointed out some of the potential drawbacks as well though; anyone looking for a general-purpose multimedia display should look elsewhere. Personally, I was after a top-notch PC monitor, and I have found one in the ZR30w. I have a separate TV for everything else multimedia related (which is bigger and cost a hell of a lot less than this beast by the way!).One final word of caution; remember that gaming at 2560*1600 requires a fair amount of horsepower (you're pushing 98% more pixels than at 1920*1080). You will want to be looking at an ATI 5870 or a nvidia GTX480 to run the most demanding games fluidly. But, if you're considering dropping £1k on a screen and care at all about gaming, you probably have a card like this in mind anyway. Gaming at 2560*1600 is pretty spectacular though...
I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have on the panel. I can take pictures if you like, but I only have a fairly crappy phone camera, so don't expect works of art!
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