BenQ EW2420 A-MVA 3,000:1 ANSI Contrast LED Monitor Review

NCX

Supreme [H]ardness
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Hosted on WCG as it's my internet haven and one can view all the pretty pictures without clicking on links:

 
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Good job, NCX

I'm hoping to post my evaluation of the EV2333W fairly soon, as I have decided to keep it. It may take some time as there is a lot of detail to report about.

Ben.
 
A question regarding the response time. The pixar pan test image shows the F2380MX to perform better, but you rate the Benq higher still? Does the Benq have less weaknesses for certain color transitions?

The F2380MX still seems like the better monitor, though it maybe a variance in the camera shots, but it seems to show less detail and is less washed out comparatively. If only it were slightly faster, maybe hopefully Samsung puts out a new version with overdrive.
 
Thanks for the review.

That's disappointing about the backlight bleed. Hopefully the replacement will be better. If not for the backlight bleed I probably would have ordered this monitor and put up the the other deficiencies due to the cheap price, but now I'll wait to see how your replacement turns out.

Can you elaborate on "black tinge blue resulting in poor shadow detail"? Is it just in the corners due to the backlight bleed or throughout the full panel? Are you saying that the very dark greys like around 250/250/250 (rgb) are showing up with blue bias something like 250/250/240 throughout the panel?
 
A question regarding the response time. The pixar pan test image shows the F2380MX to perform better, but you rate the Benq higher still? Does the Benq have less weaknesses for certain color transitions?

Yes.

Thanks for the review.

That's disappointing about the backlight bleed. Hopefully the replacement will be better. If not for the backlight bleed I probably would have ordered this monitor and put up the the other deficiencies due to the cheap price, but now I'll wait to see how your replacement turns out.

Can you elaborate on "black tinge blue resulting in poor shadow detail"? Is it just in the corners due to the backlight bleed or throughout the full panel? Are you saying that the very dark greys like around 250/250/250 (rgb) are showing up with blue bias something like 250/250/240 throughout the panel?

The corners, the top/bottom of the screen and about 1.5-2inches of the left side of the panel are all tinged blue. This is where the poor shadow detail comes in. These parts of the screen can't properly display dark content which just result looking very blue-ish and washed out, most of the detail becomes obscured. The center of the screen itself is fine when looking at all the color gradient charts from Lagom. If I move the window over to the left side of the screen specifically the blu bias shows up, it's a problem caused by the uneven backlighting (LED) not the actual color accuracy which is very good. Bright Images are essentially indistinguishable on both panels.
 
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Thanks for the comprehensive review NCX.

I'm a little wary of the overdrive trailing since I play a fair amount of first person games (such as Left 4 Dead 2) and whilst you say in your review it's not particularly noticeable, it does put me in a quandary.

I like and want the deep blacks and high contrast of the BenQ for say watching films, but the trailing would annoy me. I was going to go for a Samsung P2450H as per this thread, but now I'm not so sure.

I don't know if you've used a similar Samung TN monitor or not, but after testing the Benq, which do you think would be better considering I play a lot of fast moving games?
 
Thanks for the review. I was looking at this monitor even if it didn't meet all my requirements. It's a shame you don't care about viewing angles so you didn't do any tests for us who do :) I was told TN will be fine if I sit in front of it and it was terrible for me coming from a PVA monitor so I had to return it. Going by what you mentioned about it in comparison with the Samsung F2380MX, the viewing angles of the BenQ don't seem to be very good then.
 
First, NCX, thank you for a very impressive and in-depth analysis for the EW2420 :)
I hope with the backlight bleeding that it was perhaps that model in particular. Perhaps it was a bad unit, because I was hoping the EW2420 would not have backlight bleeding, however, by your pictures it seems it goes almost unnoticable. But of course it is magnified in dark viewing conditions, correct?

I believe the viewing angles on the EW2420 should be relatively good. NCX did not test the monitor on it's viewing angles as he mentioned it wasn't of his concern. Being PVA based, it should have relatively great viewing angles compared to TN panels.
 
NCX can you please check how is the scaler compared to say F2380? What scaling modes does the EW2420 have?
 

The backlight uniformity very noticeable with most dark content.

While the viewing angles aren't up to par with the MX which are better then a very good SPVA screen, they are still good, and still better then a TN panel.

People shouldn't be so conscerned whith the veiwing angles as the image quality is leaps and bounds above those any other panel type (other then C-PVA) can produce (assuming my unit is the exception for backlight uniformity as others don't seem to have this problem). Only full on Glossy panels can hold their own, but noticeably are lacking when side by side.

@Mer1

I will compare the resolution scaling today.

I think I will attempt to compare viewing angles in my video review which will be going up tonight. I will include the resolution scaling and ergonmics as well.
 
I think I will attempt to compare viewing angles in my video review which will be going up tonight. I will include the resolution scaling and ergonmics as well.
Does your video review including ghosting or trailing testing (particularly in games)? I don't know if a camcorder can pick up those issues, but I'll be interested to see.
 
NCX said:
"I don't care about viewing angles so don't expect any real information regarding them. I sit in front of my monitors and don't shift my head side to side or try and view it from 45 degrees off angle and complain."

People shouldn't be so conscerned whith the veiwing angles as the image quality is leaps and bounds above those any other panel type (other then C-PVA) can produce (assuming my unit is the exception for backlight uniformity as others don't seem to have this problem).
The trouble is, if there's much horizontal gamma shift (common in *VA panels), it can be visible even if you're sat perfectly still squarely in front of the monitor, because you'll always be viewing the sides of the screen at an angle relative to the center.

It's not so much an issue for gaming or viewing movies at a distance, but it can sometimes be a real problem for photo-editing.
 
The trouble is, if there's much horizontal gamma shift (common in *VA panels), it can be visible even if you're sat perfectly still squarely in front of the monitor, because you'll always be viewing the sides of the screen at an angle relative to the center.

It's not so much an issue for gaming or viewing movies at a distance, but it can sometimes be a real problem for photo-editing.
Yes, this was exactly my problem with the TN that I bought but it was much more pronounced from top to bottom even if the screen was fairly short in height. At first I thought I had a faulty unit with uneven backlight. As it turns out, all TN panels look like that.

I'm happy with the viewing angles of my PVA but it's not a widescreen monitor. If this BenQ has significantly more color shift at angles it could be a problem considering the panel is very wide. Looking forward to the video review :)
 
@Mer1

I will compare the resolution scaling today.

I think I will attempt to compare viewing angles in my video review which will be going up tonight. I will include the resolution scaling and ergonmics as well.

Thanks, I'm particularly interested in how they both handle 720p. On my 24WMGX3 800(&960)x600 and 720p are the only resolutions that look good upscaled.
 
NCX can you please check how is the scaler compared to say F2380? What scaling modes does the EW2420 have?

It has the same scaling options as the F2380. I went through all the resolutions from 800x600 to 1920x1080p and they perform identically. You should be fine running 800x600 once the BenQ's sharpness is set to 4.

Good work dude. Looks like a pass.

Not at all.

The BenQ spanks every single other monitor out there except the C-PVA panels in terms of Contrast performance. Motion is good and the thing is a steal @256$.

Default colors suck but they are easily fixed in the OSD.

I got a bad unit and wanted to reflect that in the review, people on other forums don't seem to have any backlight bleed.
 
I got a bad unit and wanted to reflect that in the review, people on other forums don't seem to have any backlight bleed.
Will you be doing another review or amending your original review with your replacement monitor?
 
Will you be doing another review or amending your original review with your replacement monitor?

I'm probably just going to get a refund and wait for the Eizo Foris FS2311, sure its most likely going to be nearly 3x the price, but at this point I'm kind of sick of always getting flawed products with the lower priced LCD's.

Plus it will give me something else to test.
 
Im looking for a Monitor for Blu-Rays and Casual PS3-Gaming with a good image quality. Would you advice the Benq EW2420 to me?

When do you expect the FS3211 to come out?
 
Im looking for a Monitor for Blu-Rays and Casual PS3-Gaming with a good image quality. Would you advice the Benq EW2420 to me?

When do you expect the FS3211 to come out?

Yes, just make sure you can exchange it.

The Foris is out in Canada, I ordered one last night, costs 590$. I don't mind paying nearly 3x as much for perfect motion and screen uniformity. If you have the $$$ go for the Eizo as it comes with accurate color presents, perfect motion and equally deep blacks.
 
Do I need extra tools ($$$) in order to calibrate the Benq?
Good image quality and color accuracy is really important to me. :/

I think I would spend the money for the foris, but unfortunately I live in europe, so its hard to get (saying importing it from canada is the only way).
 
Do I need extra tools ($$$) in order to calibrate the Benq?
Good image quality and color accuracy is really important to me. :/

I think I would spend the money for the foris, but unfortunately I live in europe, so its hard to get (saying importing it from canada is the only way).

Its all ready out in Europe for 396 pounds on their site. The BenQs color presents suck and it would cost around the same as the Eizo to get a good colorimeter with the BenQ. You might as well just get the better monitor (eizo) as it comes with very accurate presents.

You can try my BenQ settings as they should give you fairly accurate color, but in your case the Eizo would be a better purchase.
 
Im sorry, I wasnt able to find it on neither the uk-website, nor on the german one.
Which site are you referring to?
 
Robbery you could find the BenQ EW2420 on Oyyy and Ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/240230
http://www.oyyy.co.uk/product.php/128195/24in-led-1920x1080-16-9-8ms

The EW2420 is a great monitor, however, if you want a slightly cheaper version you could get the VW2420H:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/246109

The main obvious difference between the EW and the VW versions is the exterior design, the VW is substantially thinner than the EW; however the EW is mountable onto a wall, while the VW isn't. The VW also has HDMI with the VW2420H (however, the VW2420 doesn't). The VW also carries all the internal specs as the EW (3000:1 true contrast ratio, 8 bit color, 8ms gtg, LED backlit).

The main spec. difference is that the EW has 2 HDMI ports, while the VW will only come with one, and the EW has 4 USB ports while the VW doesn't have any.

I'm not sure which online German websites carry these monitors, but I hope the two I provided you (Oyyy, Ebuyer) prove useful.
 
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