The BenQ EW2420: Too good to be true?

[THE DOC]

yes thats right
but i thought you advised me to get the B2430L. instead its a better screen

what about sharpness and contrast compaired to the 2407

thanks for all your help by the way

 

[PCM2]

Sorry for the confusion... I just didn't really switch on to the fact you were using a 2407WFP - the responsiveness of the EW2420 is similar. The reason I recommended the B2430L is because you mentioned you would be playing games such as CoD Black Ops - personally I wouldn't be comfortable playing that kind of title on a *VA panel but that's just me. Whichever way you look at it -

- The EW2420 has better contrast than the 2407WFP and B2430L

- The EW2420 has better colour reproduction than the B2430L and is perhaps closer to the 2407WFP (the latter being broad gamut but the semi-gloss screen on the EW2420 seems to bring things a bit closer visually)

- The EW2420 has better responsiveness than the 2407WFP but the B2430L is better than either of these:

Dell 2407WFP

BenQ EW2420

The first image if from the TFT Central review with the 'worst case' 2407WFP responsiveness on the right. The second image is one captured from my EW2420 for the worst case scenario. Despite the images looking different due to the size and colour differences (different camera, different monitor etc.) the responsiveness based on this test is comparable if not in the EW2420's favour.

 

[Trifid]

Many thanks for the picture PCM2. If that is the worst case I think I will be more than happy with it's performance.

If you could answer one last question, what are the borders like on the monitor? Are they as chunky as the Benq site makes them look? Could you measure them?

Thanks.

 

[PCM2]

The side bezels are 22.5mm each (so under 1 inch). Top one is 23mm and the bottom one is about 30mm including the roller thingy at the bottom (through lack of a better term).

 

[rickh]

You mentioned semi-glossy coating.

How thick is the AG layer?
Is it noticeable?

 

[PCM2]

How thick:? I have no idea. All I know is that it seems to be an excellent compromise between the two coating types.

 

[bigjimmyauk]

Sorry for the confusion... I just didn't really switch on to the fact you were using a 2407WFP - the responsiveness of the EW2420 is similar. The reason I recommended the B2430L is because you mentioned you would be playing games such as CoD Black Ops - personally I wouldn't be comfortable playing that kind of title on a *VA panel but that's just me. Whichever way you look at it -

- The EW2420 has better contrast than the 2407WFP and B2430L

- The EW2420 has better colour reproduction than the B2430L and is perhaps closer to the 2407WFP (the latter being broad gamut but the semi-gloss screen on the EW2420 seems to bring things a bit closer visually)

- The EW2420 has comparable if not slightly better responsiveness than the 2407WFP but the B2430L is better than either of these:

Dell 2407WFP

BenQ EW2420

The first image if from the TFT Central review with the 'worst case' 2407WFP responsiveness on the right. The second image is one captured from my EW2420 for the worst case scenario. Despite the images looking different due to the size and colour differences (different camera, different monitor etc.) the responsiveness based on this test is comparable if not in the EW2420's favour.

whats the name of that test?

 

[crackerbear]

whats the name of that test?

PixPerAn (Pixel Performance Analyser). You can download it here:

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/testsoftware/pixperan.html

 

[bigjimmyauk]

Do you think going from this clicky to the new BenQ would actually feel like a downgrade

 

[PCM2]

In terms of what? Responsiveness? Yes. In terms of everything else, as covered in this thread, it would be a large upgrade. Is that monitor still working so you could test PixPerAn or not?

 

[bigjimmyauk]

In terms of what? Responsiveness? Yes. In terms of everything else, as covered in this thread, it would be a large upgrade. Is that monitor still working so you could test PixPerAn or not?

yeah i just looked at the program but haven't got a clue what's going on with it or how to use it.

If you tell me what to do i'll glady test it

only thing i dislike about this monitor is blacks are far to grey for my liking so dark games feel a bit weird.and text at 1920x1080 is too small and is quite a strain on the old eyes.

 

[PCM2]

Haha. Yeah blacks on this thing really are excellent (as they often are on Vertical Alignment panels). If you go on 'Streaky Pictures' by pressing F6 it should have a car moving along at the fastest 'tempo' (16 I believe). If you take a picture of that with a camera at the highest ISO (actually 200-400 should be fine) that should do the trick. It's difficult to see the extent of the trailing just by looking so the camera bit really helps.

 

[bigjimmyauk]

Haha. Yeah blacks on this thing really are excellent (as they often are on Vertical Alignment panels). If you go on 'Streaky Pictures' by pressing F6 it should have a car moving along at the fastest 'tempo' (16 I believe). If you take a picture of that with a camera at the highest ISO (actually 200-400 should be fine) that should do the trick. It's difficult to see the extent of the trailing just by looking so the camera bit really helps.

Ok just tried and tbh it looks pretty much identical to the benq picture you did almost 1 full wheel width dragging behind.

you know the more and more i talk about this and read stuff the more i'm noticing my mouse dragging around the desktop leaving a trail behind it

 

[PCM2]

Oh dear... Yeah half of the problem with this responsiveness malarky is that once you've noticed it you keep on looking for it obsessively. The PixPerAn car chase test doesn't necessarily capture this but lighter objects (especially white) moving against a darker background can leave 'black ghosting' that is usually not found on a TN panel. I think this can best be explained by an example - using a thermal sight in Armed Assault 2: Operation Arrowhead and moving the mouse at a fast pace towards the right:

You can see it (ghostly figure on left) has displaced impressively far from the actual image (white man on right). If the mouse is moved more slowly then it doesn't displace as far but it's still there.

If you move your mouse at a moderate pace against the dark blue background of overclockers as you type a post do you notice a strange black ghost image or just white-grey trails?

 

[bigjimmyauk]

Oh dear... Yeah half of the problem with this responsiveness malarky is that once you've noticed it you keep on looking for it obsessively. The PixPerAn car chase test doesn't necessarily capture this but lighter objects (especially white) moving against a darker background can leave 'black ghosting' that is usually not found on a TN panel. I think this can best be explained by an example - using a thermal sight in Armed Assault 2: Operation Arrowhead and moving the mouse at a fast pace towards the left or right:

You can see it (ghostly figure on left) has displaced impressively far from the actual image (white man on right). If the mouse is moved more slowly then it doesn't displace as far but it's still there.

If you move your mouse at a moderate pace against the dark blue background of overclockers as you type a post do you notice a strange black ghost image or just white-grey trails?

i actually see the white of the mouse from it's previous positions. it's probably about half the width of the mouse pointer flowing behind.

i like that test with the guy you did and the vision mode, is there anything online i can try which is like that?

your a real great help by the way

*edit* the faster i go with the mouse the more prominent the trail becomes fading from white to the blue overclockers background in milliseconds (but now still very noticable lol)

 

[PCM2]

I think there are some things on PixPerAn like white or light blocks moving against a darker background - obviously a black background is no good as there will be no 'black ghosting' on that. It sounds from your mouse cursor test as if you are experiencing a typical trailing I'd expect from a 60Hz TN LCD. The problem with the 'dark trails' is that they are more noticeable than a trail of the same colour as the actual object. This is why I find the responsiveness of this monitor generally worse on night-time maps. Dirt 2 for example looks absolutely fine during the day but at night you get those very noticeable dark smeary trails.

 

[crackerbear]

i like that test with the guy you did and the vision mode, is there anything online i can try which is like that?

You could try the ghosting test at Lagom: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/response_time.php#response_time_adv

To use it, click on one of the buttons at the top, i.e. [64 | 192]

It's very similar to the PixPerAn car test though, except it uses various shades of black, grey and white.

BTW PCM2, was that black ghost image taken from the BenQ?

 

[PCM2]

Yes it was - incidentally it seems to be an artifact of the 'AMA' (response time compensation) mode. If I turn the 'AMA' mode off then the trail is a smokey blend of the two colours moving against one another and it's actually a lot worse. Very odd.

 

[crackerbear]

Yes it was.

Ack, that would be so off putting. Though I guess like you say, unless you're always looking out for it, you probably won't notice it all the time.

 

[PCM2]

You should try some of the RTC-less C-PVA Samsungs like the F2380. It turns gaming into a drugs trip.