BL3200PT - banding issue

Hey guys,

Just took delivery of a new BenQ BL3200PT screen. It looks lovely on my desk, but...

Multiple (maybe 7-8) vertical bands where colours are slightly dimmed are showing up. Mostly focussed on the right side of the screen but a couple down the left too.

Dragging a (white) folder around the desktop shows them up pretty clearly, and they're visible in games/videos whenever the scene is fairly bright. Feels like I'm staring through a dirty window and it's already driving me mental. I just want to scrub the darn thing with windowlene!

Going to assume that this is not 'working as intended' and return it. Is it likely that a replacement wouldn't have this problem? I'd like to imagine I've just been unlucky with the panel lottery - anyone able to confirm that it's a "some panels do, some don't" thing and that it's worth trying again?

Thanks for any advice!

*edit* Photo of the sort of thing I'm looking at. Not great quality, but you can still see two pretty prominent bands on it

*edit edit* Ironically you need a decent screen to actually see the banding in the photo... Shows up clear on 100% sRGB monitors, almost invisible on crappy laptop screens like I'm using atm.

How high do you have your brightness set? Also can you tell me the manufacturing date of your monitor (it's on the back)?

As I said in in your previous thread, VA panels do suffer from certain degree of banding/contrast shift but if you can notice it in games or while dragging a white window around the desktop then something's not quite right.

I believe my screen also has this but TBH I couldn't notice anything distracting even when looking at a grey background at 100% brightness (that's how I checked the panel when I got it) and I certainly can't see anything in games or while fiddling with the desktop.

TBH, I can see the two bands in your picture on my BL3200 but they're rather minor. Maybe they look a lot worse in person.

Anyways, the rule of thumb is if you don't have to look for the issue to find it, then RMA it without hesitation.

About 80% brightness. December 2014, if I remember right. The banding is more noticeable in person than the camera showed up, and mostly comes down from the top where the picture looks like it's biased to the bottom.

I didn't have to hunt to find them at all, just fired up Minecraft and bosh, there they were across the sky.

After that it was easy to spot when dragging windows around the desktop and playing Kerbal Space Program. Basically any light/white area, particularly grey or sky blue. Interestingly it's imperceptible when playing a dark game like XCOM, but I can't have a screen that's only good for one game...

RMA it is alas :<

Wow, 80% is pretty high. I stay within 20-25% range

I'll try a bit of GTAV at 80% brightess and look for any signs of banding. If there is any, the sky should make it pretty obvious.

My monitor is from March 2015, so you might want to ask your seller to send you one with a 2015 manufacture date just to be on the safe side.

Cheers and good luck!

Seller is OCUK, kind of expected their stock to be fresher I must admit :S

And it's really not that bright, or at least, my unit isn't... Be careful looking for banding - you can't un-see it if it's there!

Checked GTAV for a bit and there wasn't any noticeable banding, neither at 20% nor at 80%. I know you can't unsee it, but I was fairly confident there wouldn't be any since I've already scrutinised the screen I think I would've spotted it pretty quicky if it was something major.

Mine's rather bright at 80%, my eyes wouldn't be able to cope for prolonged periods of time. I'm sticking with 20-25%, that's also what one of the reviews suggested but it depeds on the user.

Anyways, if it's OCUK, then I'm fairly confident they'll get you a 2015 one if you contact them

Amatsubu said:

Anyways, if it's OCUK, then I'm fairly confident they'll get you a 2015 one if you contact them

Click to expand...

Already asked for an RMA... they've suggested I contact BenQ about a warranty replacement Not the answer I would have expected from our boys... O_o

Apologies OCUK, I don't want to get into a squabble, but the purchase isn't complete until there's a unit on my desk that I consider to be working as intended.

eddiew said:

Already asked for an RMA... they've suggested I contact BenQ about a warranty replacement Not the answer I would have expected from our boys... O_o

Apologies OCUK, I don't want to get into a squabble, but the purchase isn't complete until there's a unit on my desk that I consider to be working as intended.

Click to expand...

Well, that's not what I expected to hear... If the unit isn't working as intended, and it clearly isn't since noticeable banding is nowhere to be found on the feature list, then it's their job to provide you with a working one and not ask you to deal with BenQ yourself.

It'd be great to contact someone higher up in OCUK, I'm sure they'll sort you.

Actually they've just got back to me again, willing to sort out replace or refund - maybe someone just needed coffee and a smoke

Slightly off topic but relevant, how is the input lag on this monitor, specifically when using it for PC gaming?

I was really tempted to get this at one point but I'm sure I'd read that the input lag made it a poor choice for gaming (note: normal gaming, not competitive FPS gaming!) which just brought back memories of when I got a 27" Dell several years back, but returned it due to the delay.

Tropicocity said:

Slightly off topic but relevant, how is the input lag on this monitor, specifically when using it for PC gaming?

Click to expand...

Tbh, I'm not sure how I would even perceive input lag as a thing... I tried it with XCOM, Minecraft and Kerbal Space Program, which felt exactly like they do on my trusty old 24" from 2008.

Which may mean there's no lag, that my old monitor also lags, that these are games that simply don't show it, or that I'm too much of a slow old duffer to notice it anyway. Sorry, that's a really bad answer I know, but I don't play any kind of twitch reaction games - because I have no twitch reactions

Amatsubu suggested earlier in the thread that he uses it for GTAV, if that's more your flavour?

In all respects other than the banding issue, this monitor was lovely. On the assumption that a replacement won't have the same problem, it'll be absolutely fine for my purposes.

Tropicocity said:

Slightly off topic but relevant, how is the input lag on this monitor, specifically when using it for PC gaming?

I was really tempted to get this at one point but I'm sure I'd read that the input lag made it a poor choice for gaming (note: normal gaming, not competitive FPS gaming!) which just brought back memories of when I got a 27" Dell several years back, but returned it due to the delay.

Click to expand...

I use this monitor for music production, movies, writing documents and occasional gaming sesions.

The input lag is virtually unnoticeable, especially on a 60hz panel. If you're not a competitive FPS player then I'm sure you'll be more than happy. I tried Dirt Rally, GTA V, Phantom Pain and others on this thing and they all feel very close, if not exactly the same, as on my previous monitor, which was a quite fast TN LG with ****** colours.

If I'm not mistaken, there's a bloke who plays competitive CS on this thing and he said he could use it quite comfortably.

Of course it's not the fastest panel out there but if I can play something Dirt Rally/Project CARS comfortably and have to "look for" input lag instead of feeling it, then I guess it's pretty damn minor.

irritatingly the price just went back up

I also got the same monitor, very happy with it. I play BF4 regularly with no problem and also managed to overclock it to 75hz with no frame skipping.

75hz at what resolution?

at 2560x1440