Which of these 27" 1440p options?

[strumpusplunket]

I personally wouldn't touch a PG278Q with a bargepole (or any other Asus monitor for that matter) I've had 3 die on me personally. But those TN panels used in it and the Dell, etc. do look very good for a TN (with a little calibration as out the box the gamma is poor). But you still don't have quite the depth of saturation in darker areas of certain colours especially red and orange, etc. as an IPS and there is still some change with viewing angle even though it isn't as bad as TNs as a whole which can be quite terrible for that.

From what I've heard those high refresh TNs used in the Asus and Dell, etc. are a spin off of AUO's AHVA (not to be confused with VA it is more of an IPS tech) development rather than coming from improving an existing TN technology so more like going at TN sideways so to speak.

So presumably it's the same panel as used in the Acer Predator XB271HUA? I've seen reports of colour banding with all of these monitors (the Dell, Asus and Acer), though. I don't know if there are any more - do BenQ make a 165Hz 1440p TN?

Some people seem to say you can fix it with changes to gamma, others say not.

I have some colour banding on my current TN as well (it's not too bad, but it's there) and I would like to get a display without it. It's one of the reasons I didn't include a TN monitor in my original set of options.

 

[Vevo]

From what I've heard those high refresh TNs used in the Asus and Dell, etc. are a spin off of AUO's AHVA (not to be confused with VA it is more of an IPS tech) development rather than coming from improving an existing TN technology so more like going at TN sideways so to speak. TRUE

 

[Rroff]

So presumably it's the same panel as used in the Acer Predator XB271HUA? I've seen reports of colour banding with all of these monitors (the Dell, Asus and Acer), though. I don't know if there are any more - do BenQ make a 165Hz 1440p TN?

Some people seem to say you can fix it with changes to gamma, others say not.

I have some colour banding on my current TN as well (it's not too bad, but it's there) and I would like to get a display without it. It's one of the reasons I didn't include a TN monitor in my original set of options.

In my experience the colour banding is really minimal and even less noticeable with the late 2017 onwards revisions. I pretty much don't notice it in day to day use aside from occasionally on the login screen or some parts of Steam when I've got the same image up side by side on the IPS monitor beside it. Some people might be more sensitive to it I dunno but I do a fair bit of image editing, etc. and it is rarely if ever a factor.

Gamma changes if anything tend to make it worse as mostly any change reduces the range of possible distinct colours but on the other hand do significantly improve the look of the monitor - with slight gamma tweaks superficially it is pretty close to the IPS alongside it (which is one of the better regarded IPS - Dell U2913WM) but closer inspection you can see for instance that the Origin logo has deeper saturation on the IPS than the TN.

 

[esoteric]

Watched another video which has great scenic shots which really blows IPS hype away. I thought the TN actually looked better, my mate and brother thought the TN looked better and I didn't tell them which was which and the guy in the video decided the black levels were marginal so he sent the IPS back and kept the TN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4FJmtU_D20

Have TN panels become so much better or what? I don't doubt IPS may have been better a few years ago and someone who bought IPS a few years ago and hasn't seen a TN since will probably keep saying IPS is way better but that doesn't seem the case these days and it's confirming what I've been seeing about these 8 bit TN panels.

 

[Rroff]

Have TN panels become so much better or what? I don't doubt IPS may have been better a few years ago and someone who bought IPS a few years ago and hasn't seen a TN since will probably keep saying IPS is way better but that doesn't seem the case these days and it's confirming what I've been seeing about these 8 bit TN panels.

IPS still has a significant advantage in terms of viewing angles - there is definitely gamma shift top to bottom even on these AUO TNs even if it is much less noticeable compared to the typical TN. It isn't put to shame alongside my IPS monitor but neither is it as good let alone better.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Thanks for the detailed replies and videos. I appreciate the input.

It has given me pause for thought for sure.

@Rroff, what do you mean when you say gamma tweaking? Is that in the OSD or in Windows or NVCP? And does it then hold in fullscreen apps and games?

It would also be nice to be able to guarantee a newer revision panel, but I guess there isn't really a way of doing that?

There's also only a £60 price difference between the S2716DG and the XG2703-GS right now, which doesn't make much difference either way.

Although, I did think I'd found the Dell for £318 on ******... for about 30 seconds before I realised it was (yet another) hacked seller scam. Brief flurry of excitement anyway.

 

[strumpusplunket]

So, a small update.

I spent my time on the train commuting yesterday reading up on monitors. I spent some time in particular exploring the rabbit holes of this thread, and this one (among a few others).

Now a lot of people there seem to be confusing source banding with monitor-induced banding, but there do seem to be genuine concerns with factory-calibrated gamma and the impacts that this (or attempts to correct it) can have on accentuating source-created banding on the Dell S2716DG. These threads also seem to indicate something of a panel lottery with this display - different revisions having different gamma levels, and even different levels and different colour reproduction within each panel revision. The fact that if you get a panel with poor gamma there's no option to correct it in the OSD is a bit off-putting, tbh.

I don't know if any of our OcUK monitor gurus can shed more light on this?

I did just get wind of a new Viewsonic TN monitor - the XG2760 (review here). As this is brand new I have some hopes it will surpass the now ageing Dell and Acer TNs. I don't see any availability in the UK for it yet, though, nor any indication of a likely date for it to hit our shelves.

I did also hear (whether correctly or not I don't know) that Viewsonic were releasing this to replace the XG2703-GS due to ongoing QC issues with the AUO panel it uses, which is not encouraging for the IPS G-sync displays I was looking at.

Argh, why does this have to be so difficult?! Speccing parts for three whole new PC builds at the same time was an absolute breeze by comparison. I'm almost at the point of just giving up and putting up with my old 24" 1080p panel, tbh.

 

[esoteric]

mmm sounds like a gamble. That banding does look really bad. Looking at the unity engine logo through my monitor a Samsung SA350, a very old 24" TN panel released in 2011, at my regular viewing distance of 2.6ft I only see banding on the outer edges. If I go face to panel I can see it in the middle too and it's like looking down a tunnel.

TN and IPS have this though it's inescapable but that Dell does seem like an usual case. Consider the Asus 27 PG278QR instead. It's the one I'm interested before I knew of the Dell banding issues.

Further more I didn't know what colour banding was until yesterday. Never seen it in real world usage scenario's, so I wonder how bad that Dell really is while in motion.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Yeah, this new display research has certainly been a learning experience!

I'm now also looking at the HP Omen 27. Looks like it uses the same panel as the S2716DG and can be had for the same price. It seems to come with better gamma, but I see lots of reports of issues with brightness, black levels and washed-out image quality. Not sure how much of that can potentially be calibrated out. Need to look into it a bit more, but I guess that's another option on the table.

 

[SmokeKingGun]

I've taken a risk on cheap black Friday deal, £230 for 1440p 1ms response 144hz monitor, with AMD freesync. Have Nvidia 1080 so freesync didn't really matter. It doesn't support HDR which I did want and doesn't support gsync which again wanted to try.

Its not a well known brand and has a horrible unadjustable stand ( slightly tilts forward\back) no VESA mounting holes. but hopeing will get lucky, it has got pretty good reviews, but couldn't find anywhere what input lag was but all reviews said actual panel good for gaming.

Not sure can say name as think it is a competitors "in-house" brand.

Guess it's ok to post full spec

• 27 inch

• 2560 * 1440 resolution

• 144hz

• 1ms response time

• Free-Sync support

• Contrast Ratio: 1000:1

• Brightness 350 cd/m2

• 7mm top and side bezel, 15mm bottom bezel

• Dot pitch: 233.1 (per triad)

• Power consumption 27W

• Standby power consumption <0.5W

• Viewing area 596.74 x 445.66 mm

• Viewing angle H: 178 deg V: 178 deg

• Displayport and HDMI cable included

 

[esoteric]

Yeah, this new display research has certainly been a learning experience!

I'm now also looking at the HP Omen 27. Looks like it uses the same panel as the S2716DG and can be had for the same price. It seems to come with better gamma, but I see lots of reports of issues with brightness, black levels and washed-out image quality. Not sure how much of that can potentially be calibrated out. Need to look into it a bit more, but I guess that's another option on the table.

I went to PC earth today, they had no gaming screens on display so I didn't check specific models but I was looking at Dell, Acer, HP, Philips and Samsung. It was a mixed bag of results and I would guess these panels on display were at factory settings. There were IPS and TN panels with crazy banding on them and I remember the IPS panel was Dell and TN was Philips. However I could only see the banding on 1 static imagine, when in motion I could not see any banding on any monitor.

One monitor really stood out and it was a Dell S2719DM. This one didn't have the banding like the rest and really looked smooth from the distance I was, about 4ft. It was IPS and the colour difference to the TN panels were so slight.

 

[Reppyboyo]

I've taken a risk on cheap black Friday deal *snip*

Thanks for pointing this out, added to my short list.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Doesn't look too bad that one for the money. Contrast is quite poor by the looks of it, but quite decent in other areas.

Not good enough for me to go through the hassle of switching to AMD graphics for Freesync I don't think, but if I already had an AMD card I'd seriously consider it at that price.

 

[fewfe3]

I've taken a risk on cheap black Friday deal,

I was looking at getting this as it is near enough what I want. However the lack of VESA on it has put me off.
If you are going to put a crappy stand on a monitor at least put VESA mounting holes on it. Surely it cant cost that much to do this.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Ooookay. Bit of a surprise here. After going around the houses for bloody ages, then narrowing it down to the options in my first post here, then being convinced to look at 27" TN screens, I ended up just grabbing an X34P for £639 in an early Black Friday deal.

Gulp! That is the biggest impulse buy I think I've ever made! I'm all aflutter.

I hope I've made the right choice, but for that price reduction I had to grab it as it was less than £100 more than the 27" 1440p's I was looking at.

It's all @Piotr Kozak's fault for mentioning the availability of this price in the LG thread!!