get a u2311 now or wait for BenQ XL2410

Oh thanks a lot crackerbear! I'll have another play with the settings in a bit, With the above see how it turns out. But the colours seem fine, So will just toy about with the brightness i think.
 
Got mine today too, final price turned out to be £186.

It's a Rev A01
Seem to have got lucky, no pixel problems, the tinting seems to be at a minimum and while watching blu-ray it's non-existant. Extremely impressed with the colours and the huge leap from my 19inch TN panel.

Default settings, just dropped the brightness down to 31.
 
How's the black levels for everyone on their U2311H?

I was under the impression they were meant to be pretty good, not to the degree of a VA panel obviously, but still reasonably good nevertheless. However on mine, particularly when I'm playing a game or watching a movie, the blacks don't seem dark enough.

For example, on Left 4 Dead 2, even with the brightness/gamma slider turned all the way down, I can still see the darkest "barely visible" line of text very easily. Like so:



I'm not the best photographer in the world and my camera is only basic and I'm also aware of exposure etc, but that image is fairly close to what I see. I've tried changing brightness and contrast settings but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

I only have a CRT (which has pretty bad black level crush) and an iMac (some sort of IPS, possibly S-IPS) to compare to, so I don't know if the blacks I'm seeing on the U2311H are just meant to be like that. The blacks on my iMac are much better, for example, when just viewing a completely black screen.

Also, here's an image of the blue tinting I see:



I'm not sure how well others can see that, but it's definitely there - left side cool blue, right side more warmer/yellow.

I also have very mild backlight bleed in the top right corner and on the left side, a small patch 2/3 of the way down. Completely unnoticeable though, unless you're really looking for it.
 
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crackerbear said:
How's the black levels for everyone on their U2311H?

I was under the impression they were meant to be pretty good, not to the levels of a VA panel obviously, but still reasonably good nevertheless. However on mine, particularly when I'm playing a game or watching a movie, the blacks don't seem dark enough.

For example, on Left 4 Dead 2, even with the brightness/gamma slider turned all the way down, I can still see the darkest "barely visible" line of text very easily. Like so:



I'm not the best photographer in the world and my camera is only basic and I'm also aware of exposure etc, but that image is fairly close to what I see. I've tried changing brightness and contrast settings but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.
Click to expand...

AFAIK this isn't to do with the panel - it looks like incorrect gamma setting.

The black background behind the text looks very black to me.

The problem is that the dark shades of grey are too light and this can be changed by modifying the gamma.

This can be done in windows or via your graphics card control panel.
 
rickh said:
AFAIK this isn't to do with the panel - it looks like incorrect gamma setting.

The black background behind the text looks very black to me.

The problem is that the dark shades of grey are too light and this can be changed by modifying the gamma.

This can be done in windows or via your graphics card control panel.
Click to expand...
I think that photo just isn't very indicative of what I actually see. If I view a completely black screen, it just seems a little bright, even with the brightness on the monitor set to 0. I've played around with my graphics card gamma and still no change either.



Again, it doesn't really come off well in photos, but I don't know if that's "normal".

Edit:- Yes, the gamma is also too high.
 
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crackerbear said:
I think that photo just isn't very indicative of what I actually see. If I view a completely black screen, it just seems a little bright, even with the brightness on the monitor set to 0. I've played around with my graphics card gamma and still no change either.



Again, it doesn't really come off well in photos, but I don't know if that's "normal".

Edit:- Yes, the gamma is also too high.
Click to expand...

Looks very normal to me - but my only IPS panel so far is an apple cinema display (I've just bought the u2311h to try from dell).

The blacks on the cinema display were pretty bad compared to the VA panel on the bl2400pt I had - but with its defects and ghosting I'd rather take the IPS panel any day.
 
well if PCM2 review say go buy the xl2410 we can sell in time for x-mas on ebay :P

And what the hell, it says its coming monday, yet it says it left tamowrth 4 hrs ago, hope its not going a round trip round UK
 
rickh said:
Looks very normal to me - but my only IPS panel so far is an apple cinema display (I've just bought the u2311h to try from dell).

The blacks on the cinema display were pretty bad compared to the VA panel on the bl2400pt I had - but with its defects and ghosting I'd rather take the IPS panel any day.
Click to expand...
Hmm, fair enough then. I'll try and fiddle with settings some more.

Edit:- Some comparison shots:

Dell U2311H (e-IPS):


20" iMac G5 (S-IPS maybe):


19" Iiyama HM903DT (CRT):


I cannot get black any darker on the Dell, in comparison to my iMac, it's quite brighter.

dogbertx said:
well if PCM2 review say go buy the xl2410 we can sell in time for x-mas on ebay :P

And what the hell, it says its coming monday, yet it says it left tamowrth 4 hrs ago, hope its not going a round trip round UK
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I'm probably going to be even more critical over the XL2410 if I ever got one :)

My Dell went to Barking, to Tamworth, then back the Barking again until it finally got delivered here.
 
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I'm likely to be more critical of the XL2410 too. Don't expect a simple 'go out and buy' conclusion :D.

@cracker

I don't really know if what you are experiencing is 'normal' as it just doesn't come out right on photographs (annoying, I know). One thing about E-IPS panels is that they are designed to maximise light throughput so that cheaper, less powerful backlights can be used. This can adversely affect black levels and cause very noticeable 'IPS Glow'. The U2211H I tested didn't have perfect black levels but they were pretty good. From what I understand that was yet again a case of a very good unit. I wish I could see yours in person to give some proper advice. :D
 
Hey, you got a good Benq 2410PT, did you not?

My understanding is that if you get a good one, then its great. However, if you get a bad one (which there is a good chance), then you will be involved in a lot of hassle (RMA'ing etc).
 
PCM2 said:
@cracker

I don't really know if what you are experiencing is 'normal' as it just doesn't come out right on photographs (annoying, I know). One thing about E-IPS panels is that they are designed to maximise light throughput so that cheaper, less powerful backlights can be used. This can adversely affect black levels and cause very noticeable 'IPS Glow'. The U2211H I tested didn't have perfect black levels but they were pretty good. From what I understand that was yet again a case of a very good unit. I wish I could see yours in person to give some proper advice. :D
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It's definitely not IPS glow that I'm seeing, although this Dell does exhibit glow more than my iMac. It's just the blacks, when looking at them on their own (i.e completely black screen or very dark scene in a game/movie), just don't seem that dark because the backlight is slightly too bright. If I view a black square surround by white for example, the blacks are totally fine, I guess because my eyes are compensating for the massive contrast difference. Also I should stress, this is in a darkened room with the lights off (how I like to watch films), so the bright blacks are far more noticeable.

I need to get my hands on a hardware calibrator somehow to measure what I'm seeing isn't just me being picky. How much is it to deliver to Newcastle? ;)
 
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You should stick some ambient backlighting behind the monitor as it'll a) improve perceived contrast b) reduce eye strain in a dark room c) all without creating any glare on the screen.

I've done this with my TV to good effect. There's a few ways to do it - LED kits, fluro tube lights with some gaffer tape to limit the spread - but the basic gist is to just create a nice even glow around the back of the screen, kinda like the Philips Ambilight TVs. Any other colour than 6500k white is 'bad' for colour critical stuff though since it changes your perception a bit, so if you get an LED kit bare than in mind if calibrate your monitor but want the pretty colours cycling. It also looks funky!
 
Somnambulist said:
You should stick some ambient backlighting behind the monitor as it'll a) improve perceived contrast b) reduce eye strain in a dark room c) all without creating any glare on the screen.

I've done this with my TV to good effect. There's a few ways to do it - LED kits, fluro tube lights with some gaffer tape to limit the spread - but the basic gist is to just create a nice even glow around the back of the screen, kinda like the Philips Ambilight TVs. Any other colour than 6500k white is 'bad' for colour critical stuff though since it changes your perception a bit, so if you get an LED kit bare than in mind if calibrate your monitor but want the pretty colours cycling. It also looks funky!
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Interesting idea, but I don't think I can be bothered to set all that up. I'll just live with what I've got.

Thanks for the input though :)
 
If you got the LED lights it's as simple as just sticking them to the back of the monitor with the supplied sticky pads and plugging them. They come with a remote. For a 23" monitor you'd just want 3x15", or maybe 4 if you had the monitor on a mount.The next size up is 24" which is probably too long for the Dell.

If you google 'ambient led energy', or look in "Argoose" for 'Atollo white' you get premium and budget options, accordingly.
 
I think you're underestimating how lazy I am ;)

But really, I'll probably get used to it soon so there's no real need to the lights. Unless of course I don't, then maybe I'll consider them.
 
But but but the perceived contrast improvements!

It's okay I'm not going to use them either... yet. I still have a UV light above my head and a load of corny blacklight posters/wallhangings in my desk/cupboard to brighten things up at night. I'm not a kid really...
 
Got it today,( Ao1, oct 2010, czech republic made) settings where okay, just made brightness and contrast to 85 and custom RGB.
Extra setting using black electric tape ofc to cover the power button. :) standard on all mointors.

only prob is a small fraction of a degree, the monitor goes to the right.

small problem, but trying to think how to solve it with sticky tape? maybe the having this portrait mode is more trouble than its it worth.
 
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