Problems with BenQ G2420HDBL

[doveman]

I very much agree with your estimation of the affordable OLED monitor arriving. Things seem to be picking up pace now and if I'm optimistic I would say that it could be slightly earlier than 5 years time that OLED hits the (almost fully) affordable mainstream.

Can't really take credit for that estimation to be honest, that's just what I read on the page linked from your website

I haven't used the G2420HDBL myself and you shouldn't look too much into response rates, but it may be that the 5ms G2G response rate of the BenQ and your dad's Acer is holding them back. It's difficult to say because most people won't have a problem with this, but a 120Hz monitor with 2/3ms response rate may be better for you. I'm not sure how you'd test this out though.

It could be that. I'm thinking of returning the Benq and checking out the 22" Viewsonic VX2268WM, which might only be a non-LED 1680x1050 panel, but is 120hz and 3ms, so might suit me better. It's £70 more than I paid for the Benq, but I'd rather pay the extra for a screen I could use comfortably rather than staring at something that just annoys me every day, although I'm in no rush so I might wait for a 120hz, 3ms LED at a decent price.

As for IPS panels. The issue you have with 'shimmering' would be even more noticeable on any IPS panel. I personally find them acceptable for gaming, but simply not the best option. You will notice that the colour shift you mentioned earlier will be eliminated, which is a plus... When people speak of the "flaws" of the HP ZR24W they are most likely talking about the weak contrast performance and poor black levels. The U2410 is known to be a little hit and miss as some panels have some colour uniformity issues that you really wouldn't expect from an IPS panel - but these may have been cleared up with new screen revisions.

Well if the 'shimmering' is worse with IPS panels I definitely wouldn't like them even if the colour problem is gone. I still haven't really been able to find anywhere discussing this colour problem. If I search on 'colour shift' I just get pages talking about how the colour varies with the viewing angle, which is not the same thing at all.

I think I also find that black text in particular seems to look somewhat faint and less clear (although maybe more sharp) on the LCD, and it just looks darker and more solid, which makes it easier for me to read, on my CRT. If IPS panels are similar in this respect, and also suffer from the 'shimmering', I really don't understand how people use them for text-based work on a regular basis.

You never see these problems on the monitors/laptops they use on 24. Are they special government issue, secret tech ones

 

[doveman]

Got to say the problems mentioned by the OP are so rare and only happen under particular circumstances, as not to be a concern for me.
My games are getting a new lease of life with this display, which I'm finding utterly superb.
Replaying Mass Effect at full 1920 x 1080, for example, is a visual treat, something I never thought as much when using my CRT.
This monitor has no backlight bleed what so ever, no ghosting, no discernible lag (and I'm picky about things like that).
Highly recommended, especially at the cracking price I got it for.

I wouldn't say that 'shimmering' text which happens every time I scroll a webpage or a document or drag an explorer box around with the contents visible, colours appearing where they shouldn't be when scrolling images, or strobing when scrolling stripy pictures could be described as rare.

I agree that this monitor does look awesome with games though. I haven't got a very good GPU but what testing I've been able to do does look amazing. It's just that I do a lot of reading, more than gaming at least until I get a decent graphics card, so I need a monitor that's good with text as well as games and this one just doesn't fit the bill for me.

 

[doveman]

I think I also find that black text in particular seems to look somewhat faint and less clear (although maybe more sharp) on the LCD, and it just looks darker and more solid, which makes it easier for me to read, on my CRT. If IPS panels are similar in this respect, and also suffer from the 'shimmering', I really don't understand how people use them for text-based work on a regular basis.

Having now switched back to my CRT, I can say that black text on the LCD with Cleartype enabled, looked like text on the CRT does with Cleartype disabled, IE weak and hard to read.

Not sure what that means, but there it is!

 

[Kelt]

Having now switched back to my CRT, I can say that black text on the LCD with Cleartype enabled, looked like text on the CRT does with Cleartype disabled, IE weak and hard to read.

Not sure what that means, but there it is!

Have you tried putting sharpness down to it's lowest setting? I'm looking at black text now (eco mode, sharpness 1) and it's super sharp and clear.

 

[PCM2]

Also use the Windows 7 calibrator (if you have Win 7) which will let you adjust how fonts are displayed using ClearType and based on your preferences. Generally LCD panels are better for text due to superior sharpness, but if the monitor has a poor black level due to excessive backlight bleeding that offsets this advantage somewhat.

 

[doveman]

I did try adjusting the sharpness but found that on 1 or 2 it was just too blurry/smudged, which is not at all how black text looks on my CRT.

I'm running XP, so wouldn't have been able to try the Win7 calibrator anyway, but I've arranged to send the monitor back now and I'll just have to put up with my CRT (pretty hard though, having it right in my face after using an LCD nicely back against the wall!) until I can check out a 120hz LCD.

 

[PCM2]

I'm sure I've read people suffering from bad performance on XP with the BenQ on these forums. Can anybody dig up the posts related to this? Somebody said after installing Windows 7 the monitor was a lot better on the desktop.

 

[Kelt]

I'm sure I've read people suffering from bad performance on XP with the BenQ on these forums. Can anybody dig up the posts related to this? Somebody said after installing Windows 7 the monitor was a lot better on the desktop.

I'm transitioning from XP to Win 7, not noticed any difference, stunning in either OS.

 

[jflat]

XP fine for me on the hdbl...

 

[chockimon]

Is there a difference between graphics cards when it comes to the display. I've got the BenQ G2420 HDBL LCD monitor and I've been using it with a GTX 260 and it was perfect. Now I've upgraded to a Asus GTX 560 Ti Top and now it looks as though the screen is shimmering or shaking ever slightly and my eyes have been hurting ever since I made the switch. Anyone know of a fix and maybe some test I can try to test for screen shaking.