BENQ/ASUS 120Hz+ Easy LightBoost hotkey app on AMD/nVidia! (Strobe backlight. Zero motion blur. Bett

broo · 4 Feb 2013 at 16:34

Did some more testing and basically ended up re-installing Windows 8 and now i can enable lighboost without a bsod. It appears to work based that the picture is darker and I have a crimson tint.

Saying this, and bearing in mind the horrible input lag based on what appeared to be vsync on I couldn't really tell the difference...disappointing.

Mark Rejhon · 4 Feb 2013 at 21:14

broo said:
Did some more testing and basically ended up re-installing Windows 8 and now i can enable lighboost without a bsod. It appears to work based that the picture is darker and I have a crimson tint.
Saying this, and bearing in mind the horrible input lag based on what appeared to be vsync on I couldn't really tell the difference...disappointing.

You can turn VSYNC OFF with LightBoost -- make sure you hit Control-T.
The crimson tint can be removed by adjusting your nVidia color settings (and also raising monitor Contrast to 65).

What game are you testing? Some games have a 60fps limiter, which ruins the zero motion blur effect. Also, you need a gaming mouse to take the best advantage of 120Hz, because jerky motion from non-gaming mice can be a bigger problem.

broo · 5 Feb 2013 at 10:21

Mark Rejhon said:
You can turn VSYNC OFF with LightBoost -- make sure you hit Control-T.
The crimson tint can be removed by adjusting your nVidia color settings (and also raising monitor Contrast to 65).

What game are you testing? Some games have a 60fps limiter, which ruins the zero motion blur effect. Also, you need a gaming mouse to take the best advantage of 120Hz, because jerky motion from non-gaming mice can be a bigger problem.

Yeah I couldn't figure out turning vsync off. Tested in some source engine games and had to use ctrl-T to disable the 3d effect. Even taking the laggy mouse into consideration I still couldn't really notice much of a difference in blur.

So how do I disable vsync and I'll give it another go to be sure?

Mark Rejhon · 7 Feb 2013 at 19:18

broo said:
Yeah I couldn't figure out turning vsync off. Tested in some source engine games and had to use ctrl-T to disable the 3d effect. Even taking the laggy mouse into consideration I still couldn't really notice much of a difference in blur.

So how do I disable vsync and I'll give it another go to be sure?

When using the INF and REG files, you can turn off the stereoscopic checkbox and the monitor will stay stuck in LightBoost mode at all times, VSYNC behaves normally (as if you weren't using LightBoost) and games will launch directly into 2D mode without going into stereoscopic mode. That said, it does become difficult to disable LightBoost until you uninstall the tweaks.

That said, not everyone is sensitive to motion blur. Some of us (like me and several others) very sensitive to motion blur on LCD.

Mark Rejhon · 7 Feb 2013 at 19:21

Good news!

Testimonials on HardForum/OCN shows that the ASUS VG248QE has the same great results as the BENQ XL2411T. It uses the same 1ms panel too.

Vega said:
(ASUS VG248QE)
Gaming on this monitor is a pleasure as far as motion clarity is concerned. As a FW900 aficionado, this monitor with the right settings can have just as clear of motion. While the FW900 does have superior image quality, you also have a smaller image (22.5" versus 24"). Using NVIDIA driver 313.96, enabling Lightboost has been a fairly painless experience (although as some others have found out there is a bug in which under certain circumstances your computer will start pausing and behaving extremely sluggishly when adjusting 3D settings). Interestingly enough, the monitor seems to like to stay "stuck" in LB mode, even after adjusting settings in the control panel. This is actually a boon for those of us that bought this monitor for 24/7 LB mode like myself.

Baxter299 said:
(ASUS VG248QE)
way to go vega enjoyed your review and pics ..thanks for taking the time .got my VG248QE last friday .replacing my fw900 witch is finally taking a rest in my closet .

Romir said:
(ASUS VG248QE)
Thanks for the timely review Vega.
I went ahead and opened mine and WOW, it really does feel like my FW900. I haven't tried a game yet but it's down right eerie seeing 2d text move without going blurry.

grinder · 9 Feb 2013 at 01:52

been following this thread with avid interest, coming off the back of 4 years+ tearing my hair out trying to figure out why "all my problems started with flatscreens" (being an ex CRT user).

i'm interested to know if the lower 120hz PWM backlight frequency is still noticeable as flicker? I mean whats the point in switching to a xl2411t or w/e if the darn thing still has no phosphor or 'lit state' persistence (e.g. CRT/CCFL + max brightness)?

my LG W2363D, with 240hz backlight PWM, has the CCFL brightness maxed to 100 (+ contrast 0), and this has helped reduce the flicker but i'm loath to have a backlight flickering at 120hz when i can still notice the effect at 240hz. I've yet to test a LED monitor but given that many who own them complain of eye strain/headaches etc (due to the LED backlight switching on/off and hence instant dark to light and vice versa) i'm a tad dubious about the benefits here.

nvc · 9 Feb 2013 at 04:58

grinder said:
been following this thread with avid interest, coming off the back of 4 years+ tearing my hair out trying to figure out why "all my problems started with flatscreens" (being an ex CRT user).

i'm interested to know if the lower 120hz PWM backlight frequency is still noticeable as flicker? I mean whats the point in switching to a xl2411t or w/e if the darn thing still has no phosphor or 'lit state' persistence (e.g. CRT/CCFL + max brightness)?

my LG W2363D, with 240hz backlight PWM, has the CCFL brightness maxed to 100 (+ contrast 0), and this has helped reduce the flicker but i'm loath to have a backlight flickering at 120hz when i can still notice the effect at 240hz. I've yet to test a LED monitor but given that many who own them complain of eye strain/headaches etc (due to the LED backlight switching on/off and hence instant dark to light and vice versa) i'm a tad dubious about the benefits here.

Yes the flickering is very bad. The W2363D is still much better and the fact you have one when they are discontinued means you should hold onto it. Mark may be correct when he says the reduced trailing makes it appear like a CRT, but it doesn't alter the fact that it causes far more negative side effects that make it unusable for the majority of people.

immetjes · 12 Feb 2013 at 15:25

nvc said:
Yes the flickering is very bad. The W2363D is still much better and the fact you have one when they are discontinued means you should hold onto it. Mark may be correct when he says the reduced trailing makes it appear like a CRT, but it doesn't alter the fact that it causes far more negative side effects that make it unusable for the majority of people.

I have a XL2411T run it with Lightboost all the time and notice no flickering. None whatsoever. I waived my hand in front of the screen when clear white. I cannot see a strobe effect. But I'm sure Lightboost is on as it says 3D in the OSD and I can finalize the PixPerAn readability test up to level 25, which is impossible without lightboost. And I'm not immune to flickering as I sometimes see the Plasma flickering on my TX-P50G20.

I played BF3 continuously for 3 hours. No headache or eyestrain. Perhaps I'm lucky.

I like Lightboost but I don't like the colors when using it, they are really off. Not a problem in a FPS game, but with desktop use I rather shutdown Lightboost.

Trull · 19 Feb 2013 at 14:41

Is anyone working on making this work for AMD cards or has any clue how to do it? If so, how can we help?

Someone must know something. Would be nice if some info was shared. :-)

Suarez7 · 19 Feb 2013 at 15:07

Trull said:
Is anyone working on making this work for AMD cards or has any clue how to do it? If so, how can we help?

Someone must know something. Would be nice if some info was shared.

I doubt it will ever work on AMD cards in the near future.

Mark Rejhon · 21 Feb 2013 at 09:04

grinder said:
been following this thread with avid interest, coming off the back of 4 years+ tearing my hair out trying to figure out why "all my problems started with flatscreens" (being an ex CRT user).

Some people have reported more eyestrain with LightBoost, while other people reports less eyestrain with LightBoost. It really depends on the individual.

i'm interested to know if the lower 120hz PWM backlight frequency is still noticeable as flicker? I mean whats the point in switching to a xl2411t or w/e if the darn thing still has no phosphor or 'lit state' persistence (e.g. CRT/CCFL + max brightness)?

Motion-blur-optimized PWM can have very different behavior on the eye than dimming-optimized PWM. People who are used to CRT, and are comfortable with 120 Hz CRT flicker, sometimes find LightBoost have no extra eyestrain (because it's easier to track moving objects, just like on a CRT). Vega and others on HardForum have posted as such -- Vega on HardForum reports that he got no eyestrain with motion-blur-optimized 120 Hz PWM, while he got eyestrain with 360 Hz dimming-based PWM. It was rather interesting reading...

But it depends on the person. You might get more eyestrain. You might notice no difference. You have to try it out for yourself. Worse comes to worse, you can just turn off LightBoost, or at least when you exit the videogame and go back to the Windows desktop. Also I should point out: The XL2411T is still an excellent 120 Hz monitor, with extremely small input lag, with no PWM flicker when you use 100% brightness and disable LightBoost. So XL2411T is still an excellent gaming monitor, even without LightBoost; the LightBoost is a bonus.

Jeps · 21 Feb 2013 at 15:26

This is an interesting thread. Do you think its worth me upgrading from an alienware AW2310 to a benq 11t for the lightboost goodness?

Mark Rejhon · 21 Feb 2013 at 19:07

Jeps said:
This is an interesting thread. Do you think its worth me upgrading from an alienware AW2310 to a benq 11t for the lightboost goodness?

Probably, but depends on how sensitive you are to motion blur. If you can still see motion blur even at 120 Hz. (CRT 60fps@60Hz is still clearer motion than regular LCD 120fps@120Hz).

AW2310, being a sample-and-hold LCD, would have frames continuously displayed for 8.33 milliseconds. The BENQ XL2411T can flash the backlight for as short as 1.4 milliseconds. This means that you can get about 6x less motion blur on a BENQ XL2411T with LightBoost, than with your AW2310.

Be warned, color quality does degrade a little bit during LightBoost, but most this is fixable through display re-calibration while LightBoost is enabled.

J.D · 25 Feb 2013 at 05:45

Hi Mark. Very interesting read and I'm interested as a CRT gamer. I hope you could help me with a few things?. Does this work on the Asus VG278HE?. I was going to buy one tomorrow but after seeing this and the price of the BenQ XL2411T, I'm persuaded to save myself £160 for three inch less viewing space but zero input lag. I had the VG278H but I didn't like 3D plus there was bad backlight bleeding so I sent it back for a refund. I was going to buy the VG278HE as it's 144Hz but I see the BenQ XL2411T is 144Hz too.

If it can be done on the Asus, what monitor do you recommend I buy?. If it can't be done on the Asus then I should have my monitor on Wednesday

.

Mark Rejhon · 25 Feb 2013 at 22:55

J.D said:
Hi Mark. Very interesting read and I'm interested as a CRT gamer. I hope you could help me with a few things?. Does this work on the Asus VG278HE?. I was going to buy one tomorrow but after seeing this and the price of the BenQ XL2411T, I'm persuaded to save myself £160 for three inch less viewing space but zero input lag. I had the VG278H but I didn't like 3D plus there was bad backlight bleeding so I sent it back for a refund. I was going to buy the VG278HE as it's 144Hz but I see the BenQ XL2411T is 144Hz too.

There is far less motion blur with LightBoost 120 Hz than with non-LightBoost 144 Hz. (Same reason why long-time CRT users have said CRT 60fps@60Hz or 75fps@75Hz is clearer than LCD 120fps@120Hz)

Yes, it works on VG278HE, but the VG278H has less artifacts from the OCN user reports I've seen so far, although not everyone notices. Some said VG278H does have better color than XL2411T but the difference disappears if you do a careful picture re-calibration (takes quite some time). There's far less "ghost afterimage" effect on the XL2411T than the VG278HE, but you may or may not notice. Many 120 Hz monitors have so-so backlight bleeding.

Sorry I have not made your decision simpler!

Jeps · 26 Feb 2013 at 14:16

Well i decided to take the plunge and took delivery of a benq XL2411T on saturday. Its a decent monitor and i haven't noticed any major backlight bleeding which is a bonus as i was worried about that. Out of the box the colours were terrible and became even worse with the lightboost hack so calibration is required. Luckily i have a spyder3 pro which sorted it out although the colours are still not as good as my alienware AW2310. Blacks do seem darker on the benq though which is nice.

On the other hand the smoothness that comes with the lightboost hack is amazing and easily makes up for the colour issue. Overall i'm very pleased

J.D · 27 Feb 2013 at 01:12

Mark Rejhon said:
There is far less motion blur with LightBoost 120 Hz than with non-LightBoost 144 Hz. (Same reason why long-time CRT users have said CRT 60fps@60Hz or 75fps@75Hz is clearer than LCD 120fps@120Hz)

Yes, it works on VG278HE, but the VG278H has less artifacts from the OCN user reports I've seen so far, although not everyone notices. Some said VG278H does have better color than XL2411T but the difference disappears if you do a careful picture re-calibration (takes quite some time). There's far less "ghost afterimage" effect on the XL2411T than the VG278HE, but you may or may not notice. Many 120 Hz monitors have so-so backlight bleeding.

Sorry I have not made your decision simpler!

Thank you for the reply Mark. I appreciate your input.

Yes, the colours on the Asus are really good out of the box but I have chess patience (sometimes) so I should be able to calibrate the XL2411T without anger issues

.

The BenQ will be here tomorrow so I'll have fun getting to see this in action. The motion blurring in movement did put me off slightly in BattleField 3 when using the VG278H but it was a vast improvement over the 19" Viewsonic G90f+ CRT I'm using for viewing area that I was still happy. If I can get that back on my BenQ then I'll be blown away.

As Jeps is happy with his amount of backlight bleeding then I'll hold hope

. Thanks again.

Jeps said:
Well i decided to take the plunge and took delivery of a benq XL2411T on saturday. Its a decent monitor and i haven't noticed any major backlight bleeding which is a bonus as i was worried about that. Out of the box the colours were terrible and became even worse with the lightboost hack so calibration is required. Luckily i have a spyder3 pro which sorted it out although the colours are still not as good as my alienware AW2310. Blacks do seem darker on the benq though which is nice.

On the other hand the smoothness that comes with the lightboost hack is amazing and easily makes up for the colour issue. Overall i'm very pleased

Mine arrives tomorrow. I hope I can get a decent colour on the first day as I'm eagerly waiting to try BF3 without that motion blur @ 120hz on a bigger screen. You've made me happier with my purchase, thank you for your post.

Mark Rejhon · 4 Mar 2013 at 19:53

J.D said:
Mine arrives tomorrow. I hope I can get a decent colour on the first day as I'm eagerly waiting to try BF3 without that motion blur @ 120hz on a bigger screen. You've made me happier with my purchase, thank you for your post.

I am curious: Is your brand new XL2411T is to your satisfaction?

Mark Rejhon · 21 Mar 2013 at 17:45

TFTCentral.co.uk Test: LightBoost greatly outperforms scanning backlights (CRT sharp motion on 120 Hz LCDs)

Check this out:

TFTCentral.co.uk has tested LightBoost with their equipment and found
LightBoost outperforms all past scanning backlights they have ever tested,
including the old BENQ AMA-Z and Samsung MPA from 2006.

Check out TFTCentral's Motion Blur Reduction Backlights article!

Supported LightBoost monitors are:
Acer HN274HB
Asus VG248QE
Asus VG278H
Asus VG278HE
BenQ XL2411T
BenQ XL2420T
BenQ XL2420TX
BenQ XL2720T

(The popular BENQ XL2411T is available on overclockers.co.uk's website)

PCM2 · 21 Mar 2013 at 21:01

Very interesting reading (thanks Baddass and Mark). It is great to see that things have come on since the early scanning backlights that TFT Central tested a while ago. I've also been conducting my own testing and like Baddass was initially quite sceptical about the level of improvement one could expect. It really does make a difference and although there is sound scientific basis why it should - seeing is believing.

I would also be quite interested to see some PixPerAn type shots from other monitors. It seems that the TraceFree is forced onto a high level on the VG278HE which does cause some artifcating during the 'on phase'. Obviously this on phase is extremely short so the eye doesn't really 'see' this as a problem. Even so I have observed some interesting reduction in overdrive trailing on the S27A750D and some LightBoost monitors even during the PixPerAn captures.

Thanks again for the great read.