Hazro 24" S-IPS, micro review + chat

BananaDunka · 18 Apr 2008 at 00:00

Oh I also did a ghosting/response time test for those interested similar to how Baddass does it on TFTcentral, I noticed a dark shadow behind movement of the car though, anyone know what this is? It only seems to be on darker backgrounds like the blue there with a light coloured moving object, I notice it on the mouse cursor too now that I know it's there!

Best case:

Worst case:

Shot at 1/1000sec iso1600 f2.8

Looking at tftcentral review: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hazro_hz24w.htm you can see my panel has more of the black ghost effect than the one reviewed - possible issue ?

philjohn · 18 Apr 2008 at 00:51

Could it be the overdrive?

edit: About the scaling, just remembered that on my original board there was one res that it did that "squashed up" business you've seen above. Totally forgot! The Hazro gent left the replacement board in (as they were all ostensibly the same revision - 3.2)

You should let them know about the issue as that would just be a simple firmware flash I would imagine - they're being so pro-active about getting these issues sorted they could maybe have them looked at simultaneously.

BananaDunka · 18 Apr 2008 at 01:03

Ah that may point to some good news fingers crossed

I've emailed them with a link to this thread and a bit more info so hopefully these issues can be sorted out !

So basically there are 3 issues that I'd like to get resolved with Hazro's help

1: The DPMS issue (confirmed Vista via DVI issue)
2: The resolutions issue (possibly again Vista related ?)
3: The black ghosting which is more evident on my screen than the one reviewed on tftcentral, thsi is the motion effect I'm seeing in games and now that I know it's there I just cannot get it out of my mind!

philjohn · 18 Apr 2008 at 10:51

Here's my pixperan results, very similar. One thing to note is the image with the dark shadow left is actually a split second before the next image fires (you can see the speech bubble has started to draw) so this will be an absolute worst-case scenario. It's definitely going to be an overdrive thing, making the pixel shoot down to dark and then back up to light blue. How much of that is handled in the panel electronics and how much in the logic board I don't know.

To be honest I haven't noticed anything untowards whilst playing, but I'm not really an avid gamer (a couple of hours or so a week) so YMMV. Wasn't pixperan designed to be an extreme test anyway though, not something you'd typically see in real life applications?

BananaDunka · 18 Apr 2008 at 16:53

I've defo noticed it in games, motion in Assassins Creed and TF2 is definately different as mentioned earlier on in the thread, not in a bad way but in a strange way! different to the Dell 2007WFP for example - still finding it hard to get used to!

I have decided though to wait until the Vista issues are fixed with the new revision of HZ24W before re-ordering one again!

RandomTom · 18 Apr 2008 at 17:04

I've been quoted £450 delivered to my door for this monitor, and I would be using it with Mac OSX, are the problems you're having firmware or hardware issues do you think?

BananaDunka · 18 Apr 2008 at 17:18

I think it's a combination of firmware and hardware, they told me on the phone that they just came out of a meeting and have had to mark the screens as not Vista compatible until further notice as they need to contact the board maker but since they are not UK based it could take some time. - Hence my decision to now just return this HZ24W and wait until it is revised with the Vista fixes in place and then re-order accordingly.

RandomTom · 18 Apr 2008 at 17:52

That's fair enough, unfortunately looks like it's just time to play the waiting game then, I might hold out 'til June/July.

Hxc · 18 Apr 2008 at 18:07

By far the best looking monitor I've ever seen. HDCP compat puts me off but in all honesty I don't expect I'd be using it a lot. Very tempting.

Robert · 18 Apr 2008 at 18:08

Mrk - are you using some kind of app to make your task bar/theme even more transparent than windows allows?

Adrianr · 18 Apr 2008 at 18:21

Robert said:
Mrk - are you using some kind of app to make your task bar/theme even more transparent than windows allows?

Heh, i was thinking that. I actually went and put something really bright on my desktop to see if mine was the same with something colourful behind it. Couldn't seem to get it looking like that though!

Well a mini-thread that's ended in it being returned! Shame, it looked excellent. Hope you get a fully working one when it's sorted

philjohn · 18 Apr 2008 at 18:48

Just got the email detailing the requirement for a new firmware. I've opted to keep mine as I can always just run it over VGA until then. I don't want to get another monitor in the interim and to be honest the PQ on anything else would bug me after being spoiled with S-IPS.

They also offered a downgrade to the 23" which means that one may not have this problem.

As far as using it with a mac goes, original era mac mini's would be a no-go as that also displays the same issue over DVI (this is the Power PC mac minis with the ATI Radeon chips in them - years old). As for mac pros etc. and leopard I don't know, YMMV.

Tombo · 18 Apr 2008 at 18:54

I found that 1:1 mapping didn't work properly for lower resolutions in the default aspect ratio using DVI on my monitor and it only works properly with VGA, maybe the Hazro has this problem also.

smilertoo · 18 Apr 2008 at 19:29

Have they mentioned any offer of getting the FW fixed under warranty when its sorted?

BananaDunka · 18 Apr 2008 at 19:33

If it's a firmware fix then they'll do the swapout they said but it seems more likely to be a board issue which is made in taiwan by another company and they have no clear indication on how long it could take to revise to a newer board that does not have Vista issues which was the main reason for me wanting to return this screen and re-order when it's all sorted out in a new version!

Kendo Nagasaki · 18 Apr 2008 at 19:47

I made an enquiry about purchasing the Hazro 24" using their online form last night but as yet i've had no response - how long does it usually take for them to make contact?

Sorry to hear that the screen isn't quite up to your requirements mrk, its as shame.

Taking all the issues aside, is the picture quality and general use top notch?

smilertoo · 18 Apr 2008 at 21:01

I got a reply late next day.

Gibbo · 18 Apr 2008 at 21:23

Hi there

We've had a meeting with Hazro today and the news is good, they want to use OcUK as a means of selling their monitors as unfortunately they are not really setup for dealing with end-users. I hope to have the monitors available for pre-order this weekend with stock due next week.

We shall be stocking the 23", 24", 26" and 30" in both black and silver colours.

Our pricing looks set to be very good but as already mentioned the 24" model does seem to have increased in price.

Needless to say after using the 23" and 26" model today I am very impressed with the picture quality and viewing angles, nothing comes close to the construction quality apart from the BenQ FP241VW.

HighlandeR · 18 Apr 2008 at 21:51

Excellent

Now we just need this new firmware.... cant we get some hazro dood to fix it on his lunch break and slip him a tenner surely.

Gibbo · 18 Apr 2008 at 22:19

HighlandeR said:
Excellent

Now we just need this new firmware.... cant we get some hazro dood to fix it on his lunch break and slip him a tenner surely.

Hi there

This is why they are gonna stop dealing with end-users for selling products so they can focus more on improving the product and manufacturing more and leave OcUK to do the selling for them.

They are aware of certain issues and are endeavouring to resolve them. They do seem particular proud of their 30" model and I can see why and the price OcUK has been given is shocking and we predict the 30" will be an absolute flyer as we can sell it cheaper than any other 30" model we get and yet the quality is up there with the NEC!