Monitor quality control...is it actually getting worse? (Aorus rant)

Quality control of the construction of many monitors leaves a lot to be desired not just the panel - I've opened a few up in more recent years and it has been shocking in some cases - extremely low quality capacitors on premium lines, bunches of cables under tension around the corners with fairly sharp surfaces so eventually the cable will break or even cause a short circuit, bits just slapped in with a bit of silver tape so that after a few years they will come loose potentially causing problems with the functionality of the monitor, bits where they've obviously found a significant flaw in the design and had to improvise in the production units resulting in bits removed and a different bit glued in which doesn't fit the design, etc.

Not always the case but I've been shocked how not uncommon it is with monitors costing 100s or even into the 1000s.

Probably the same with TVs as well.
 
I really don't wonder, they are throwing the cheapest crap panels, fully loaded with dust/dirt/bad homogenity/pixel failures, into a monitor, why not pulling down the electronics and construction to get lower costs?

I've seen open AG353UCG, PG35VQ, X27 and X27P. The fans and heatsink of X27(P) were cheap builds. The rest looks for me ok, nothing you have to worry about.

Samsung monitors have ugly coil whine, so they are using very cheap voltage transformers.
 
Rroff said:
Quality control of the construction of many monitors leaves a lot to be desired not just the panel - I've opened a few up in more recent years and it has been shocking in some cases - extremely low quality capacitors on premium lines, bunches of cables under tension around the corners with fairly sharp surfaces so eventually the cable will break or even cause a short circuit, bits just slapped in with a bit of silver tape so that after a few years they will come loose potentially causing problems with the functionality of the monitor, bits where they've obviously found a significant flaw in the design and had to improvise in the production units resulting in bits removed and a different bit glued in which doesn't fit the design, etc.

Not always the case but I've been shocked how not uncommon it is with monitors costing 100s or even into the 1000s.

Probably the same with TVs as well.
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Years ago people took pride in what they created.

But today not so much. Companies are run by PR and marketing; CEOs are 100% focused on shareholder returns; few even care about the end-user any more. The engineer probably does his best with the constraints he's given, but they'll be overruled by the marketing guys and the accountants every time.

So none of what you said should surprise in the slightest. I often think that, despite being more technologically advanced than ever before, we don't half create some absolute rock-bottom quality crud. Deliberately. And I find that super depressing. The amount of sub-par goods we create deliberately, rather than building quality that lasts and exceeds expectations. Companies everywhere would prefer we lowered our expectations instead, and they're perfectly happy to help us do so...
 
Having real trouble getting a AW2721D now (maybe I should add lack of availability to my 'rant', as well as QC issues?). Long story short, everyone who says they have stock, actually doesn't. So, I'm back to considering other options again...

lugerfield said:
I would reccomened AW3821DW or Acer X34GS. Both excellent monitors if you got a good panel :).
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I can (at least for the moment) get the X34GS now. Do you have any idea if the overdrive mode gets greyed out (like some other Acer models) when using G-Sync/Freeysnc? Likewise, can you adjust overdrive when using the sRGB mode?

Also, is there a good overdrive mode for the entire refresh range?

LG 34GN850 is a shade cheaper, but the X34GS might be tempting, depending on the above. The 34GP950G has just appeared for pre-order...but the price is sadly just too high :(
 
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On X34GS the overdrive mode is changeable while using freesync/g-sync compatible aka adaptive sync. In srgb mode, among the color menu, you can change overdrive settings as well.

The overdrive mode normal is overshooting below 100 hz. It's common for most freesync monitors. I use this monitor only for high refresh games.

I think the 34GN850 has a slower older panel revision. I wouldn't buy it.

The G model will have fans. The 34GN950 will (very likely) making awful noises like 38GL950G.
 
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lugerfield said:
On X34GS the overdrive mode is changeable while using freesync/g-sync compatible aka adaptive sync. In srgb mode, among the color menu, you can change overdrive settings as well.

The overdrive mode normal is overshooting below 100 hz. It's common for most freesync monitors. I use this monitor only for high refresh games.

I think the 34GN850 has a slower older panel revision. I wouldn't buy it.

The G model will have fans. The 34GN950 will (very likely) making awful noises like 38GL950G.
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Thanks - that's helpful! I know you said you only use it for high refresh games...but any thoughts on what overdrive 'off' is like for under 100Hz gaming?

You're right - the 34GN850 uses a panel one generation older. Although it sounds as though the 'fast' overdrive mode (at least according to Rtings and Hardware Unboxed) on the LG is pretty good across the entire refresh range. That said the 34GN850 tops out at 160Hz (compared to 180Hz on the X34GS). So, the range is a bit smaller, anyway.

Yeah, I did figure the 34GP950G would have fans. G-Sync ultimate, though - so, that's pretty nice. Pre-order price has now dropped...but it's nearly £520 more than the 34GN850! And isn't exactly miles better according to Rtings - so it looks way overpriced.
 
The 34GN850 is overshooting as well below 144 hz @ overdrive setting fast. So i wouldn't assume it as better.

The review for you:

https://www.techspot.com/review/2071-lg-34gn850/

If you turn off the overdrive the overshoot is gone. No overdrive = 0 overshoot.

LG fans are unacceptable. They paining your ears. The quietest Lg ultimate monitor with a fan is the AW3821DW. All others are unenjoyable.
 
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lugerfield said:
The 34GN850 is overshooting as well below 144 hz @ overdrive setting fast. So i wouldn't assume it as better.

The review for you:

https://www.techspot.com/review/2071-lg-34gn850/

If you turn off the overdrive the overshoot is gone. No overdrive = 0 overshoot.

LG fans are unacceptable. They paining your ears. The quietest Lg ultimate monitor with a fan is the AW3821DW. All others are unenjoyable.
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Well, the 'fast' overdrive being "pretty good" across the entire range on the 34GN850, may have been an exaggeration on my part. 'Usuable' may have been more accurate ;)

Thanks for the info, though - I have a X34GS on order now :) £799 + £12 for next day shipping, so fingers crossed this 'is the one' haha.

I was actually looking at the AW3821DW last night. Looks awesome! But £1299 was way more than I wanted to drop (basically twice my original budget), and 38" is also a bit big.
 
My X34GS has better uniformity, color and contrast and higher refresh rate as my AW3821DW. I will keep the AW3821DW because of variable overdrive and the lose of money and maybe im gaming some time below 100 hz :D. I'm not about to say the X34GS is unuseable, but the overshoot behaviour across the g-sync range of AW3821DW is better.

I got the X34GS at release for 850 Euros. So no money lose if i sell it. I won't sell a nearly perfect AW3821DW for 300 - 400 Euros below my buying price to a greedy buyer who is not deserving my selection, calibration and my time. I wouldn't sell anything of my hard selected very good panels. But i need one place for PG32UQX.

As you see it's very hard to decide between 2 of the best displays the market is offering for daily use without hdr. Even for me who has a very keen sense for selecting the best.
 
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I may as well mention some of my experience regarding quality control and I also think monitors are MUCH worse now than even just 5 years ago. 10 or so years ago, the build was a lot better on most. I think too many manufacturers are going for this "slim" effect and compromising too many things. I've only had one monitor that was a good one that has the display flush with what surrounds the screen rather than protruding boarders. That was a Dell S2415H and that was SOO good for the price. It is also the only glossy monitor that has been on sale with a VESA mount in years. I can't find any now.

Anyway, aside from that, I bought 3 pretty expensive monitors separately, and returned them simply because I was disappointed with the quality of them for the price.

I first got a Dell U2518D and the backlight bleed was horrendous. I really think it was related to the fact that it had no chunky boarders around the edge, and all of the leaking backlight was where it had pressure on it in transport. (the supposedly protective pads at each corner) It also seemed really bad at the bottom with loads of brown patches visible on dark colours. For well over £300, I thought that was unacceptable and returned it.

I then got a Philips 258B6QEB. This had no obvious backlight bleed, but awful colour shift from one side of the monitor to the other. Very warm on the right and cool on the left. Effectively making white documents look like you had vastly changed the colour temperature as you go across the screen. The monitor was powered by a AC to DC convertor, but despite this, when the monitor was on, it emitted a really irritating buzz. Maybe too high pitched for that average to hear, but was so irritating that I had to return it.

I then bought a BenQ PD2500Q. This had an issue that may have just been more down to me being fussy that something unacceptable, but the colour rendering was atrocious given it was claiming to be very accurate. Everything looked way too saturated no matter what I did in the OSD. Things that were bright just seemed so intense that they were a distraction, and it didn't seem to be a brightness issue, more contrast or something else. If there where a whole load of bright things together, it was very hard to distinguish different shades. It also seemed to have some colour shift towards the right of the monitor. For example, dark blue looked fine at the left and the centre, but lost virtually all of it's depth and became grey on the far right side. It also seemed to have a really thin coat over the display as any slight pressure on the screen even from cleaning left noticeable streaks of backlight bleed, which I found really bizzare. Given I never touch the screen (i point with the mouse if i need to show someone something), I hate to think how many damaged spots this screen would get from all those fingers! Any pressure seemed to allow some of the backlight to come through, until you tried to evenly pressure it all out again. This was really irritating, as well as the colours, so I returned it.


I then gave up with expensive monitors and bought a Philips 243V7QDAB for just £69. Amusingly, it has none of the colour shift from one side of the monitor to the other, but still very bad backlight bleed, and the colours are not great either. Dark shades are hard to tell apart from each other and it all ends up looking rather dark. but the fact is, it was cheap and far better value than the other 3. I want a monitor like the first Dell I mentioned which went faulty after about 4 years. But I just feel I won't be able to find a decent one now. Backlight bleed seems to be far more common on screens that don't have protruding boarders. I would rather get a bulky, dated looking screen that actually is well built and has a good panel inside!


All this said, although some have been returned, I have purchased 7 monitors over the past 10 years, and it was only the first one that had a single dead pixel. All the others were fine. My faulty dell after some years started getting stuck sub pixels, but what was odd about that is that if I stopped using it for a month, they wouldn't return until i had used it for another few weeks. They seemed to keep recovering then going stuck again.


I'm trying to put up with my cheap monitor for now, but that is because I don't believe things are built well enough at the moment to risk going for an expensive display. If monitors over £200 have noticeable backlight bleed or colourshift while my old dell didn't (which was £104), I just can't accept that.


Moan over for now! Hope it was appropriate for the thread.
 
The monitors are expensive by price but the panel is cheap by cost and quality :D. Most 16:9 27" wqhd 144 hz ips panels are costing arround 100 Euros as spare parts from a reseller, so no discounts. The monitors getting on sale for 400 - 900 Euros. The price is really no indicator for quality.

The quality is mostly a matter of used hardware. So the component supplier's qc is the key.

None of the normal consumer brands has a quality control regarding the panel quality. Even settings which are responsible for colors, response times, adaptive sync, bfi, gamma etc. are messed up. Most monitor hardware engineers are dilettante.

I purchased hundreds of monitors. From 400 - 3500 Euro each. I know all quality issues and properties by heart.
 
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lugerfield said:
The monitors are expensive by price but the panel is cheap by cost and quality :D. Most 16:9 27" wqhd 144 hz ips panels are costing arround 100 Euros as spare parts from a reseller, so no discounts. The monitors getting on sale for 400 - 900 Euros. The price is really no indicator for quality.

The quality is mostly a matter of used hardware. So the component supplier's qc is the key.

None of the normal consumer brands has a quality control regarding the panel quality. Even settings which are responsible for colors, response times, adaptive sync, bfi, gamma etc. are messed up. Most monitor hardware engineers are dilettante.

I purchased hundreds of monitors. From 400 - 3500 Euro each. I know all quality issues and properties by heart.
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What do you think of the 48" LG C1 OLED? I'm happy with mine but does it really get bright enough for true HDR?
 
I would definitely say no. The PG32UQX is worlds brighter. But the oled contrast ratio without heavy blooming is producing overall best image quality in dark to medium bright scenes at the moment.

The PG32UQX is much, much better in bright scene performance. Never seen such bright, beautiful colors. It's very close to real life.

You can't have all in one unit. So i have 4. PG32UQX, G1, C1, AW3821DW.
 
I will only ever buy Eizo ColorEdge CG monitors. Even in an office environment (non media) I get Eizo's for the staff as they are perfect out of the box with no uniformity, backlight bleed or pixel problems and they are so pleasant for colleagues to work on all day.

Made in Japan and each panel is hand tested and calibrated, plus you get a 5yr warranty.

I have just purchased a CG2730 for my partner as her company provided Dell Ultrasharp was so bad uniformity wise.

This is a report you get with each monitor:-
IMG-0286.jpg
 
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Danger Bri said:
It can be done. I’m impressed!
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Yes and it's an incredible monitor. A black screen is all perfect with 0 black video signal. No glow on the edges no matter where you look. It did cost £1500 at the time when I got mine in 2018. Even the monitor housing is built very well.
 
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