The BenQ EW2420: Too good to be true?

The whole point in the DSR legislation is to allow you to test out and use the product as you would be able to in a good shop. If you aren't satisfied with the product for any reason at all or you simply change your mind (within 7 days) the retailer is required by law to offer you a full refund. If the product is faulty or not the retailer can not charge you a restocking fee, but they can make you cover the cost of sending an item back to them. They are also not allowed to insist that you return the product before issuing a refund, although often you will return it to them as quickly as you can.

The 7 day window is the time you have to voice your dissatisfaction and that you want to return a product. You don't have to actually return it within that time.

And there is some truth in what sunama is saying. BenQ aren't actually set to release the EW2420 OR XL2410T until January, full-scale. They seem to be testing the water at the moment.
 
The 2032BW isn't one of the most responsive 60Hz monitors I've used but it's still slightly better than the EW2420. If you have no problems with the 2032BW you will probably find the EW2420's responsiveness quite comfortable. I am very sensitive to monitor responsiveness (which helps me as a reviewer) but I don't find the EW2420 particularly troublesome as long as I'm not constantly focussing on the responsiveness and looking out for things. :)
 
It would depend entirely on how sensitive you are to the (lack of) responsiveness. You are right - the U2311H is more responsive. It also has greater colour accuracy. The EW2420 on the other hand has fantastic contrast, more uniform and bright looking whites and greater colour vibrancy. The latter point is helped not only by the contrast but also by the semi-gloss coating on the screen. From an entertainment perspective I prefer the EW2420 to the U2311H - with caveats. The response time is the only thing really letting it down and it's difficult to gague how you will find it without actually using it yourself. :)
 
It's the monitor to go for if you're aware of the 'variability' issues and are aware of your rights under DSR. The price on this week only makes up for that and you'll only know once you take the plunge. It's the same for any monitor really but this one is just that little bet special if you get a good unit. :) I happily use one alongside a high-end CRT and high-end LCD with LED backlight array so it has a lot to live up to. It's very impressive for the price to be honest.
 
It's because it's a term that is tied to digital projectors rather than monitors. It is not something that your EW2420 will suffer from unless it is faulty and it is not something I have ever noticed on a monitor of this pixel pitch. If you are noticing the individual pixels (which is possible) and your monitor isn't faulty you are too close to the screen and that is your fault, not the EW2420's. It is also possible that you have the gamma set up poorly and are noticing some kind of gradient or dithering issues.
 
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You can generally notice them if you look hard enough at certain colours (usually lighter colours such as white) from about 20-25cm from the screen if you have 'normal' near sight. I know because I've measured this with a number of other people for a project some time ago on screens of around this pixel pitch. I just measured it on my EW2420 and it's the same as any other screen.
 
Sounds like some serious cost cutting going on. From various experiences people have had HDMI has been nothing but trouble for a lot of monitors. To clarify how was everything connected up to your EW2420? PC to DVI and PS3 to HDMI or both through HDMI. Just wondering if this had someting to do with the image quality issues you were experiencing. I assume you tested audio with just one thing connected VIA HDMI, too.
 
That really is a shame. I'm afraid I don't really have anything I could advise as an alternative that is of a similar calibre but with better speakers. I know ViewSonic make some good quality TN panels such as the VX2450WM that feature integrated speakers. They are LED-backlit and designed to be pretty thin though so I am not sure the sound quality will be too hot. The Samsung FX2490HD I found had pretty good speakers and the monitor itself is very good. It retails at about £270 though and if you don't want the DVB-T tuner it's a waste. I wish I could be of more help but sound isn't really my area (even if it's coming from a monitor ;)) as you can probably tell.
 
That sounds like the sharpness, not the gamma. The gamma settings on most EW2420 are a little off anyway (on mine they were pretty close to stated values but it does vary). Unless you have a colorimeter I wouldn't worry too much about changing this from the default 2.2. Some people prefer slightly different values anyway, just have a play.
 
The VX2450 (I assume you mean) has very good colour reproduction for a panel of its type. The main weakness of this 'TN' panel type, when it comes to colour reproduction, is variation across the screen. Whilst the EW2420 also suffers from this slightly it is a lot more significant on the VX2450. The 8-bit colour is also technically superior to the 6-bit + FRC (frame rate control, or dithering) of the VX2450 although the ViewSonic has quite a good algorithm for this. One area that the EW2420 trumps the VX2450, unquestionably, is contrast. This can make colours and blacks really stand out (especially when coupled with the semi-glossy coating on the screen).
 
Ghosting isn't a fault, it is a reality of a PVA monitor and to a lesser extent any LCD monitor. I can even notice overdrive trailing on most 120Hz LCD monitors with 2ms rated grey-to-grey. This is covered in depth in the review and this thread should you need something to look at. Obviously trying it out yourself is ideal. The inter-unit variability is indeed a significant issue with the EW2420 and that has been pointed out at many points in the thread and my website. There are many very happy users of the EW2420 and I hope you could be one of them. Needless to say if you are confident with your ability to return the product that is good.
 
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Sunama - ghosting isn't a fault. Fault implies something that shouldn't be there. It is a reality of the panel type and to a lesser extent any LCD monitor (as I said).

@Ubersturmfuhrer

Don't go looking for the faults. You just need to look at it on the kind of things you'll be doing with it. If you can't see any problems then it's fine. The serious faults (actual faults and not inherent issues - there is a difference) can be spotted easily.
 
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You have highlighted a very important point - how subjective responsiveness is. On a technical level, however, there are certain situations even the fastest TN panels will show signs of overdrive trailing - that's just part of how they work and how they reduce the grey to grey transition time. This is generally less noticeable but again comes down to subjectivity. Seeing noticeable trailing behind a mouse cursor, however, is quite a specific situation and would depend on the background colour behind the pointer. If you have had much experience with panels of this type (PVA) and understand the technicalities of that panel type you would know that the response time is slowest for high-contrast transitions.

For a TN panel they tend to apply more voltage here and although you may see some overdrive trailing it is not as severe as the 'black ghosting' you are referring to. For a TN panel this high-contrast transition occurs at a response time of up to 24ms (off the top of my head). For a VA panel there is a specific situation where certain colours that are a fair bit darker than the mouse cursor but not dark enough so that the 'black trail' blends in well can cause the aforementioned 'black ghosting'. The light blue parts of the Overclockers forums, for example, show this effect quite well. The dark blue not so much and the white space and blacks of the main website not very much. Thankfully the EW2420 has an overdrive algorithm to reduce the grey to grey transitions to much less noticeable values. Whilst you get the usual overdrive trailing it means that most transitions will appear relatively fast for a PVA panel. Again - this depends on exactly what you are doing and how sensitive you are to it. Generally if you aren't looking out for it you can filter it out quite easily and don't notice it.
 
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I can't help thinking those people have spent their time purely looking out for response time issues because they are aware that it is supposed to be the EW2420's achilles heel. I knew what to expect from my vast experience with VA panels and this was one of the better ones. I'm sure you recall I was close to sending the EW2420 back myself but once I stopped actively seeking responsiveness issues the good points drowned it out. If it is seemingly unbearable in a lot of situations then I suppose it is possible that some of them have faults with the overdrive function. Either way the variability in this panel is worrying enough for me to have stopped promoting it so heavily. I think it is a good idea for people to give it a chance though and no amount of reading about it can compare to actual experience with the monitor. If that initial experience is particularly bad I can completely sympathise with somebody not wanting to try another. :)
 
Not at all. I measured peak luminance on the EW2420 as 298 cd/m2 which is a lot brighter than you'd really want it to be. I have it set to '68' brightness and it's pretty bright - brighter than a lot of people would be comfortable with. It sounds like you might have a gamma issue on your EW2420. Try changing the gamma mode to 2.0 and 2.4 and comparing results to the default 2.2. It is possible to tweak this further on a software level using ICC profiles but some applications (games, movie players) will ignore or misinterpret these settings so it can be problematic. You could probably fiddle with the in-game gamma settings if you are having specific issues on particular titles, too. How have you got your EW2420 connected up and what else is connected up to it?
 
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