HP LP2475w, IPS 24" Official Thread! (Now Available from OcUK)

[CaptainCrash]

sigh... I just bought one of these on the strength of this thread and the long one at “H,” and now it’s sitting sadly in its box waiting to go back under the DSR.

The panel displays a definite left-right inconsistency, as mentioned in the H thread - approximately a third of the screen on the right-hand side is slightly darker than the rest, getting worse as you approach the edge. This is noticeable on any lightish background of a single continuous colour, although sometimes just barely. On all-white backgrounds or shades of grey, there’s also a visible colour difference - the dimmer right-hand area has a faint purplish cast, the rest is yellowish. Again, the effect is quite subtle, and may not bother some people at all, or even legitimately be classed as a “fault” in the context of a consumer-grade LCD panel. However, it was the very first thing I noticed after I plugged in the monitor and fired up Outlook full screen - having seen it the once, I can’t stop myself from constantly looking for it and, needless to say, I keep finding it (web forum pages in a maximised window are a particular source of irritation). I guess it would be a real showstopper for a graphics pro, as calibrating the panel properly in one area would make it hopelessly wrong elsewhere. It does seem to get a little better after the monitor has been on for a while and completely warmed up, but I can’t be sure, as by that time I’ll have been obsessively peering at the screen to the point of seeing things that may or may not actually be there.

Interestingly, I’ve experienced a small amount of “green snow” as described in the Hazro thread (although very minor in comparison), as well as the odd bit of “black snow” on green/blue backgrounds such as the default Vista wallpaper. This seemed to go away completely when I swapped the video card (an ATI HD2600XT) for an nVidia 8500GT, although I didn’t use the nVidia card for long enough to be completely sure. I wonder if it’s at least partly an issue with certain ATI cards, as I believe has been suggested elsewhere.

It's a great shame about the uneven backlight, panel variation or whatever it is, because where this monitor is good, it's very, very good. Maybe I just have unrealistic expectations at this price point, in which case I might just get a cheapo 24" TN panel purely for the desktop workspace, to tide me through until hopefully some better technology comes along at a reasonable cost.

 

[nightrhyme]

sigh... I just bought one of these on the strength of this thread and the long one at “H,” and now it’s sitting sadly in its box waiting to go back under the DSR.

The panel displays a definite left-right inconsistency, as mentioned in the H thread - approximately a third of the screen on the right-hand side is slightly darker than the rest, getting worse as you approach the edge. This is noticeable on any lightish background of a single continuous colour, although sometimes just barely. On all-white backgrounds or shades of grey, there’s also a visible colour difference - the dimmer right-hand area has a faint purplish cast, the rest is yellowish. Again, the effect is quite subtle, and may not bother some people at all, or even legitimately be classed as a “fault” in the context of a consumer-grade LCD panel. However, it was the very first thing I noticed after I plugged in the monitor and fired up Outlook full screen - having seen it the once, I can’t stop myself from constantly looking for it and, needless to say, I keep finding it (web forum pages in a maximised window are a particular source of irritation). I guess it would be a real showstopper for a graphics pro, as calibrating the panel properly in one area would make it hopelessly wrong elsewhere. It does seem to get a little better after the monitor has been on for a while and completely warmed up, but I can’t be sure, as by that time I’ll have been obsessively peering at the screen to the point of seeing things that may or may not actually be there.

Interestingly, I’ve experienced a small amount of “green snow” as described in the Hazro thread (although very minor in comparison), as well as the odd bit of “black snow” on green/blue backgrounds such as the default Vista wallpaper. This seemed to go away completely when I swapped the video card (an ATI HD2600XT) for an nVidia 8500GT, although I didn’t use the nVidia card for long enough to be completely sure. I wonder if it’s at least partly an issue with certain ATI cards, as I believe has been suggested elsewhere.

It's a great shame about the uneven backlight, panel variation or whatever it is, because where this monitor is good, it's very, very good. Maybe I just have unrealistic expectations at this price point, in which case I might just get a cheapo 24" TN panel purely for the desktop workspace, to tide me through until hopefully some better technology comes along at a reasonable cost.

Sorry to hear that. Mine suffers from none of the decribed issues

 

[nightrhyme]

Yeah I will be popping in from time to time with recent findings

After two days with the monitor. What seems to bother me the most is this "dirty screen effect" I don't know how to decribe it. But I mean the way the screen looks dirty when viewing pure white fullscreen for instance.
The effect that glossy panels doesn't seem to suffer from..

 

[nightrhyme]

Wanted to illustrate the difference the ATI Controlpanel Saturation control makes:

100% saturation:

85% saturation:

100% saturation:

85% saturation:

 

[Ozzie Dave]

After two days with the monitor. What seems to bother me the most is this "dirty screen effect" I don't know how to decribe it. But I mean the way the screen looks dirty when viewing pure white fullscreen for instance.
The effect that glossy panels doesn't seem to suffer from..

Yep, screen door effect kinda thing. It bugged me initially after being used to my glossy NEC wgx2, but after a week I have sort of got used to it now. If the HP had been glossy screen it would be near perfect for me.

 

[nightrhyme]

Yep, screen door effect kinda thing. It bugged me initially after being used to my glossy NEC wgx2, but after a week I have sort of got used to it now. If the HP had been glossy screen it would be near perfect for me.

Yeah what a pitty Owned a 20wgx2 too..
But we all know what the choices are if we want glossy H-IPS

 

[martian_aphid]

get mine on monday, will post back with thoughts after that

 

[ecat]

I have mine now, been playing with it for the past 3 hours

Brief review / opinion so far : Stonkingly good monitor.

I'll go into detail later if time permits.

The reason for this post is to mention the dreaded issue of banding. Specifically the gradient / banding test at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php .

Using this test I see banding in the darker 1/3 of both gradients

Humm, strange.

Using the test at http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_gradient.htm I see no banding at all

Firing up Corel PhotoPaint, old sw but the best I have, I created my own gradient test:
sRGB Color Space, Anti-aliasing off : No banding
Lab Color Space, Anti-aliasing off : Very slight banding, to be expected I think ?

Stepping back to the Lagom test, I'm positive the banding I see using the HP is the same as the banding I used to see, and ignore, when using my Dell P1230 CRT. I'll dig the CRT out later and double check.

Close examination of the Lagom test, pixel by pixel using the color picker tool, reveals that not all bands of color/shade are the same width, no wonder it doesn't look smooth. In the drycreekphoto test image all bands are of equal width.

A flaw in the lagom test?

Any comments welcome.

 

[HighlandeR]

Hazro Vs HP

We need that thread

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

What happens to all these monitors that are returned under DSR , do the manufacturers/suppliers put them back in as refurbished stock or send them away to be fixed? , always me.

Just wouldn't like to get a monitor someone has returned ^^;

 

[ecat]

What happens to all these monitors that are returned under DSR , do the manufacturers/suppliers put them back in as refurbished stock or send them away to be fixed? , always me.

Just wouldn't like to get a monitor someone has returned ^^;

They are sold as B grade

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Ah thanks.....

 

[martian_aphid]

Hazro Vs HP

We need that thread

Thread already exists mate, though not sure how helpful it will be, if anything I have found info from both this thread as well as the hazro thread to be very informative and have on occassions put the two monitors head to head [see a few pages back for mrk's photos for example]

Here's the thread btw:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17905101

@ecat I imagine the curves of the gradient could have an effect upon how it is displayed by the monitor?

 

[nightrhyme]

So what are other owners thoughts on the HP's text representation ?

It's not that it isn't sharp. I can't seem to put my finger on what exactly is wrong. But something is off with the text. It's very straining on the eyes.
Have had other 24" 1920 x 1200 don't recall seeing a problem.

Also as I wrote earlier: I find the "screen door effect" more pronounced on this monitor than previous ones I have owned.
Don't know if it's just me

 

[aramando]

sigh... I just bought one of these on the strength of this thread and the long one at “H,” and now it’s sitting sadly in its box waiting to go back under the DSR.

The panel displays a definite left-right inconsistency, as mentioned in the H thread - approximately a third of the screen on the right-hand side is slightly darker than the rest, getting worse as you approach the edge. This is noticeable on any lightish background of a single continuous colour, although sometimes just barely. On all-white backgrounds or shades of grey, there’s also a visible colour difference - the dimmer right-hand area has a faint purplish cast, the rest is yellowish. Again, the effect is quite subtle, and may not bother some people at all, or even legitimately be classed as a “fault” in the context of a consumer-grade LCD panel. However, it was the very first thing I noticed after I plugged in the monitor and fired up Outlook full screen - having seen it the once, I can’t stop myself from constantly looking for it and, needless to say, I keep finding it (web forum pages in a maximised window are a particular source of irritation). I guess it would be a real showstopper for a graphics pro, as calibrating the panel properly in one area would make it hopelessly wrong elsewhere. It does seem to get a little better after the monitor has been on for a while and completely warmed up, but I can’t be sure, as by that time I’ll have been obsessively peering at the screen to the point of seeing things that may or may not actually be there.

...

It's a great shame about the uneven backlight, panel variation or whatever it is, because where this monitor is good, it's very, very good. Maybe I just have unrealistic expectations at this price point, in which case I might just get a cheapo 24" TN panel purely for the desktop workspace, to tide me through until hopefully some better technology comes along at a reasonable cost.

I'm not sure whether I'm glad I saw this post or not. I was very happy indeed with my 2-day old LP2475w until I read this and realised mine has the same problem with a slight colour temperature gradient from left to right. I'd say the right hand 3rd of the screen has a slightly higher colour temp, giving it a pinkish tinge, sometimes looking purplish according to content. (And sometimes not visible, to be fair).

I showed it to my housemate who couldn't see anything wrong with it, so this isn't something that is going to bother everyone, but it also makes me question it when people out there say theirs doesn't suffer from it (which is important when I try to decide whether it is worth the risk of returning it as faulty and getting a replacement). I did see some screenshots on hardforum.com which show a very slight brightness difference, and I think that image #5 shows some of the slight colour temp. difference, but either those photos just don't show it up quite so well, or his screen is a bit better than mine.

Personally, I don't think I can live with it; I'm leaning 75% towards sending it back, either to risk a replacement or to return myself to the hell of trying to choose an alternative!

I should add that I haven't noticed any of the other problems some people have reported; not with difficult-to-read text, nor "pink sparkles", or anything else whatsover with the exception of a slight darkening at the bottom edge of my taskbar when viewed with my eyes level with the centre of the screen (i.e. from slightly above as in normal everyday use), but this doesn't bother me.

 

[BananaDunka]

I can confirm text on the HP is not as deep and crisp as the Hazro for example. The BenQ FP241W was better than the HP in this regard as well but the Dell 2408WFP was the worst of the worst.

 

[nightrhyme]

I can confirm text on the HP is not as deep and crisp as the Hazro for example. The BenQ FP241W was better than the HP in this regard as well but the Dell 2408WFP was the worst of the worst.

Thanx for your insight mrk
This is actually my biggest concerne with this monitor. But then again, knowing me, I'll probably find more bugs in the comming days. This LCD buying circus is driving me mad. I sincerely doubt I will ever find a monitor I can live with

aramando: Anything I can do to test for you ?

 

[CaptainCrash]

So what are other owners thoughts on the HP's text representation ?

It's not that it isn't sharp. I can't seem to put my finger on what exactly is wrong. But something is off with the text. It's very straining on the eyes.
Have had other 24" 1920 x 1200 don't recall seeing a problem.

I know exactly what you mean - I didn't mention it in my first post as I didn't want it to seem too much of a whingefest, but the text quality was actually worse than my old 17" TN panel I set up next to it for comparison (ClearType enabled on both).

Looked at in isolation, text seemed razor-sharp and it was hard to imagine how it could be improved, but dragging a window from the HP onto the 17" would often make it seem to kind of snap into focus (the text in the ATI Catalyst control panel was a particularly good example). Very strange. I guess it's something to do with the way the panel handles ClearType, but disabling it made it look like a dog's breakfast, so not really an option. Reducing red and green in the OSD helped a bit, but only once you got to the point where the image quality was useless for anything else.

It wouldn't by itself put me off buying the monitor, although it might if I were staring at spreadsheets or programming code all day long.

I should mention that I found general image quality for photos absolutely drop-dead gorgeous - yes, colours were oversaturated out of the box, but I was expecting that, and they were tamed acceptably with a little (well, OK, a lot) of fiddling with the OSD and video card drivers. I'm not by any means a pro photographer, and bang-on colour accuracy isn't *that* essential to me - mainly I just want it to look nice, and it achieved that in spades, even though some of the reds and greens were always obviously “wrong” regardless of what I did with the controls (I'll leave it to those with more knowledge to fully debate the wide-gamut pros and cons). Skin tones in particular were rendered beautifully, with subtleties I hadn't seen before (stop sniggering at the back, it’s not what you think), and no sign of the pasty artificiality that’s plagued all the other LCD monitors I’ve used to date.

All of which makes the one niggle I couldn't live with all the more annoying... I might chance getting another one in the hope it'll be from a different manufacturing batch, and the colour/brightness gradient is at least less obvious. Otherwise there's no IPS alternative at this price point (wouldn't touch the Hazros with a ten-foot bargepole, at least until they finish designing them)...

 

[nightrhyme]

I know exactly what you mean - I didn't mention it in my first post as I didn't want it to seem too much of a whingefest, but the text quality was actually worse than my old 17" TN panel I set up next to it for comparison (ClearType enabled on both).

Looked at in isolation, text seemed razor-sharp and it was hard to imagine how it could be improved, but dragging a window from the HP onto the 17" would often make it seem to kind of snap into focus (the text in the ATI Catalyst control panel was a particularly good example). Very strange. I guess it's something to do with the way the panel handles ClearType, but disabling it made it look like a dog's breakfast, so not really an option. Reducing red and green in the OSD helped a bit, but only once you got to the point where the image quality was useless for anything else.

It wouldn't by itself put me off buying the monitor, although it might if I were staring at spreadsheets or programming code all day long.

I should mention that I found general image quality for photos absolutely drop-dead gorgeous - yes, colours were oversaturated out of the box, but I was expecting that, and they were tamed acceptably with a little (well, OK, a lot) of fiddling with the OSD and video card drivers. I'm not by any means a pro photographer, and bang-on colour accuracy isn't *that* essential to me - mainly I just want it to look nice, and it achieved that in spades, even though some of the reds and greens were always obviously “wrong” regardless of what I did with the controls (I'll leave it to those with more knowledge to fully debate the wide-gamut pros and cons). Skin tones in particular were rendered beautifully, with subtleties I hadn't seen before (stop sniggering at the back, it’s not what you think), and no sign of the pasty artificiality that’s plagued all the other LCD monitors I’ve used to date.

All of which makes the one niggle I couldn't live with all the more annoying... I might chance getting another one in the hope it'll be from a different manufacturing batch, and the colour/brightness gradient is at least less obvious. Otherwise there's no IPS alternative at this price point (wouldn't touch the Hazros with a ten-foot bargepole, at least until they finish designing them)...

Damn was hoping for someone to tell me it actually wasn't that bad
Yeah wouldn't touch the Hazro either.
So where do we go from here mate ?
I need 24" 1920 x 1200, H-ips

 

[philjohn]

Damn was hoping for someone to tell me it actually wasn't that bad
Yeah wouldn't touch the Hazro either.
So where do we go from here mate ?
I need 24" 1920 x 1200, H-ips

It could be that as cleartype "spreads the energy" of lit sub-pixels across several around it, leading to various different colour shades being used, you may be seeing the effect of wide-gamut saturation toying with things. Have you tried using the ClearType tuner applet to dial in some decent settings? I've not seen any problems with text at all though, looks the same as it did on the Hazro.