Bout to pull the trigger- BenQ XL2420T

Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. I just recently purchased the VG236HE for $259, and it's flawless. The one I got has zero backlight bleed and the image quality is outstanding. I was on the fence for the BenQ, though I like the fact the the Asus was a glossy screen. I'm curious to hear more feedback on this monitor though. I do not use my for my Asus to play 3D, I'm just using it for high quality 2D gaming.
 
Crazy Chuckster said:
Well whats the verdict on this monitor?
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Once you balance the colour and brightness to something reasonable about my only knock on mine is that it can sometimes feel a tiny bit washed out (blacks aren't deep enough, hard to find the right in between where colours don't look washed out, but don't look artificially saturated either). This is especially true in 3D mode if you *aren't* using 3D and glasses. You have to turn off 3Dvision in the control panel before starting a game or lightboost will take over. It's amazing in for 3D, but washes out 2D.

With these things in mind in 3D lightboost is amazing and the ghosting is improved more than I would have expected. 120hz is still butter smooth. I very much like 99% of what they have done with the physical aspects of the monitor and the menus. Not without fault but better than the tremendously bad interfaces of the majority of monitors.

Overall I'm happy with it. I'm keeping mine as my primary monitor. Be sure to hold out for the TX model if you don't already have glasses and/or want HDMI 3D for PS3, etc.
 
I would really like to see this side by side with the dell u2412...... See if there is any noticable ghosting and how different the color is.
 
Crazy Chuckster said:
I would really like to see this side by side with the dell u2412...... See if there is any noticable ghosting and how different the color is.
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I'd imagine the color would be different. However when I mentioned "ghosting" I was specifically talking about 3D shutter glasses ghosting where in high contrast scenes you can see part of the left image in the right eye because of pixel refresh limitations. I'm sure in terms of 2D ghosting the BenQ will blow any IPS display out of the water.
 
Kind of shocked at how few people have continued to comment on this monitor...imo it warrants quite a lot of hype as a potential new standard for 120hz screens.

bump for more reviews?
 
few cents here. I just got mine 3 days ago. Initial impressions are good. Zero backlight bleed. Zero dead pixels. AG coating is on par with my old dell 2407 I had. Quick refresh(who doesnt like 120hz?). Thin bezels. Stand is very nice. You can run portrait or landscape with the stand. Very nice! I like this enough to wait for the 700 series nvidia cards and will get 2 more and run surround on it.

Previous monitor I owned was HP zr30w. I also tried the Samsung s27a950, Asus Vg278h. I returned the samsung. Not a fan of the high gloss plus I had backlight bleed in lower right corner where the stand attaches. And no vesa mounting..!. Kept the asus one. Mine had no issues with backlight. I wish Benq had a 27" version of this monitor.
 
Thanks Drags.

Has anyone ponied up and bought the TFT Central review yet? Care to give a run down?

The prad.de review should be publicly available within the next 24 hours.
 
I don't like how the pcmonitors review seems to imply the AG coating is slightly aggressive, and that BENQ has a lesser AG available and didn't use it.
 
That article is nothing more than a paid advertising summary.

The reason to buy the Asus over the BenQ is for the glossy screen=better clarity and vibrancy of whites+light colours at the price of reflections and it is 100$ cheaper.
 
I'd argue that without lightboost the Asus isn't worth it, either wait for them to make a lightboost 23" or go with the BENQ
 
I want to buy a new 120Hz monitor in the next two weeks and I am considering this BenQ XL2420T and the Samsung S27A950D. Which is better screen/panel wise (picture quality, ghosting, input lag, backlight bleeding on average)? I don't care about other aspects of the monitors: stand, glossy/matte screen, OSD, side, pixel size etc. Thanks in advance!
 
NCX said:
The BenQ uses AG coating with a haze value of 25% vs 33% for LG's garbage. I believe the AG coating is the same as what Samsung uses on their TN panels and 10e said it was the same as his G245HQ.

The Overclockers UK thread has tons of user commentary
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18347688
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It's the same as the Acer GD235HZ anti-glare coating and less than the 23" and 24" LG panels.

I like the BenQ much more than the Acer though.
 
astonish said:
I'd argue that without lightboost the Asus isn't worth it, either wait for them to make a lightboost 23" or go with the BENQ
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Lightboost is primarily for 3D? If you're only going for the 2D 120hz though....
 
Well according to 3D Vision blog the Asus VG278h brightness with Nvidia Light Boost maxed is 160cdm/2 vs 85cdm/2 when disabled (I doubt he measured it properly since this is half of what it should be), which is less than the default brightness on the VG236H (225cdm/2 max 350cdm/2).

The max brightness 3D vision blog measured for the VG278H was 430cdm/2 while PC Monitors measured 370cdm/2 for the BenQ which is only a bit brighter than the non Light Boost monitors (350cdm/2) and comes off as more of a marketing gimmick.

You really don't need any more than 300cdm/2 for 3D because the blacks become quite grey and uneven back-lighting is very obvious.

I would argue that Light boost is irrelevant with the VG278H due to it's low native contrast (800:1), when pushing out anything over 300cdm/2 blacks will be solid grey. Also 3D Vision blog even recommends turning down the contrast in 3D mode to reduce the brightness and cross-talk.

So what is the real advantage of Light Boost? Well from what I have read there is no advantage since you need to reduce the brightness. The newer models having less cross-talk is a result of improved response times, not higher brightness.
 
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This is going to sound terrible, but really measured brightness means next to nothing to me comparing 3D lightboost vs not. The effect really needs to be seen in person. AFAIK lightboost is all about having the LEDs send off an extra bright pulse at a critical time in sync with the shutters, its not about a continual level of brightness (note that you can't perceive the pulse). Having spent time with 4 3D vision monitors (2 lightboost, 2 not) I can confidently say the difference is huge for 3D picture quality. With the non-lightboost the dark details are very diminished, its hard to see your keyboard, and though it could be me it was more strenuous on my eyes. Lightboost 3D looks almost the same as the 2D quality of the monitor. Even with lightboost turned all the way down the difference is more than just "a bit brighter" it's a difference in how much detail can be seen in the scene, how colours get perceived, etc.

That being said it is only a 3D thing. If you just want 120hz 2D I'd almost go against the lightboost as the monitors in general seem to have the brightness cranked too high. Go with the monitor that has the best colour in that case. Before lightboost came out I would say the Asus 23" is the best monitor for both 2D and 3D *if* you could deal with the glossy finish. I sit in front of a window at home and its the only thing that kept it from being my first 3D vision monitor...

For the lightboost monitors I give a slight nod to the Asus, but it is expensive. Then BENQ (my 2nd 3D vision home monitor) is good as well once you get the settings right.

[edit] In other words NCX's above post is likely 100% accurate, but my experience putting a couple hundred hours into 3D gaming on various monitors has me 100% convinced lightboost is the only way to go if 3D gaming is the driving point of the purchase decision. 3D vision is a give and take, the monitors that give the best 3D experience definitely don't have the best color and have some other issues that aren't a big deal for 2D monitors (example glossy reflections can be off putting in 3D). If you are going to do as much gaming as you can in 3D IMO you should get lightboost.
 
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HellfireX said:
...I also tried the Samsung s27a950...I returned the samsung. Not a fan of the high gloss plus I had backlight bleed in lower right corner where the stand attaches...
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The backlight bleed doesn't bother me too much, but I have a love/hate relationship w/ the glossy finish. It's fantastic for gaming, but drives me nuts when browsing. Where did you order the BenQ? My only real concern is the LED backlight...

"The LED backlight in the XL2420T is PWM controlled, which means that short periods of darkness are set for luminance settings of less than 100 percent. At 140 cd/m² at the workspace, we measured a rather low switching frequency of just 180 Hz. Since the maximum luminance is not very high, it is not necessary to reduce much and therefore, the duty cycle is fortunately very high at 71 percent. Nonetheless, we cannot exclude the possibility that sensitive users may notice an irritating backlight flicker in this model."

That's from the Prad.de review.


DaFox said:
Thanks Drags.

Has anyone ponied up and bought the TFT Central review yet? Care to give a run down?
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I tried to order it through Chrome, Firefox, and IE, but kept getting an error.
 
Yeah, they confirmed the greater chance of seeing flicker as well. This pretty much ruins LED panels for me. :(
 
Going by the pcmonitors review...
http://www.pcmonitors.org/monitor-reviews/benq-xl2420t


Much of what I'm about to ask has already been addressed in that review, but I'd like some more opinions to help confirm it all.

How is the picture quality on this? Supposedly the contrast ratio and color accuracy are garbage in every one of the presets, but it can be fixed. I'd like to hear some more opinions on this.

Which modes (if any) allow you to adjust the saturation?

Are there any issues with the monitor's overdrive technology? That review shows a dark overdrive trail which looks pretty pronounced to me, but he goes on to say it's not that bad.
 
HellfireX said:
...I also tried the Samsung s27a950. I returned the samsung. Not a fan of the high gloss plus I had backlight bleed in lower right corner where the stand attaches. And no vesa mounting..!
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Would really love to hear your thoughts comparing the Sammy w/ the BenQ. Also, did you notice any eye strain/fatigue between the two? Believe it or not, I can see the flicker on the Samsung below 100% brightness. I'm a bit concerned as the BenQ supposedly has a lower hz for the PWM's. :/
 
TX can be had for $479.99 shipped after using promo code: ESEA$20T

That's the SKU1000376 w/ 3D Vision 2 Glasses included.
 
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