BenQ new VW2420/EW2420 VA panel with LED backlight.

[bearbear]

Absolutely. VA panels have always been problematic in terms of dark-on-dark transitions and I am very curious to see if AUO/BenQ have made any progress in this regard, as well as in regular responsiveness. I know this was also a big deal with the Samsung 2380mx screens in the past.

My input lag test will be through the VGA port because I have a VGA splitter, so DVI/HDMI should be as good or better unless they are over processing these inputs vs. VGA.

I'll also see if I can get any higher refresh rates over DVI than normal 60hz with nVidia cards without frame skipping. I also bought a kill-a-watt to see what kind of power usage I see from this screen.

Very nice

There's a distinct lack of good reviews out there for the BenQ VA + LED panels, particularly ones with actual measured results, most seem to be just subjective feedback - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I have nothing to compare it to.

If you could post any photos or videos that would be grand, if it's not too much to ask

 

[tropiciel]

Ok. Received it on monday.

First I must say that I ordered the V2420 a month ago [TN] but being very unsatisfied I have sent it back. It had a problem with the upper 1/3 of the screen darkened (uniformly) and uneven displaying of an even picture (different but easy to confuse with a backlight issue).

I saw then the VA version and having already experience with that silly thin V-series construction I chose EW2420.
The construction of it is much better than in V-series which I suppose may be related with higher probability of backlight problems. The V's are so thin that I asume it's easier to shift something for about a 1mm during assembly and make the whole display one piece of cr**p ;-)
My point is that the thicker and more conventionally built EW2420 would lack of such backlight problems.

The EW series is VESA mount compatible (V-series isn't) so if somebody is unhappy he may make some upgrade with the stand. The stand of the Vseries is very bad too. Well, it's maybe nice-lookin' but very delicate and unstable. At the time of ordering the BL wasn't available and isn't still in Poland. It may be a bit pricier but I really didn't care about the BL-stand.
As I expected the EW is much more stable and rigid. The monitor is even better packed and secured than the Vseries. There was no DVI cable as I expected. Just the VGA one, USB, power and audio.

The USB-thing is well... even useful. I have a portable external drive which shouldn't be moved when turned on. So now I can put it behind the monitor and not worry about it. I doubt however that there's much more to do with it. My Logitech wireless mouse receiver works, but the mouse is less responsive and the moves are harsher.

Sound... it's very bad. Not only because of the speakers quality, but the electronics cut of the basses. Just like someone here noticed. I checked it with headphones. So don't expect anything else as mediocre sound. Rather useless.


Right... so as I was badly surprised with the V2420 I wanted here to check everything and searched right away for any kind of problems.
I noticed that the assembly work wasn't done perfectly. The screens boarders are shifted / moved to the left about 1mm, so the space between the plastic and the displays edge on the right is 2mm, but on the left 0mm :/ Eventually I decided not call it a problem.
Then I saw also immediately the ripple on the lower edge. It's not very disturbing, but it's present.
I would be happier without it but I am not so eager to send another monitor without good reason.


No bad pixels. Actually there was a time when I thought that pixels are the only worry of monitor buyers.
Backlight is even, with a small exception of very difficult display situation.
The uniformity of the LCD panel is good to. I can't say how good, because the last monitor I used besides of the 3 years old TN display on Lenovo N200, was an 8 years old ;-) 15'' Samsung that eventually stopped working xD last spring.
I had to look around and see what others have. So now I rather think it's about very good or perfect.

Now... I must say what I noticed. The monitor behaves perfectly during all typical tests in therms of the picture quality. White / Black / 3x Color and so on. Everything is uniform.
As I wanted to emphasize any potential drawbacks I checked also uniformity of the display on darker colors, because then the former V2420 monitor exhibited the worst behavior.
Some other person tried the same when having problems with "finger-like" shadows.
Anyway... I wonder if all (literally) displays will exhibit any kind of shades on a uniform picture filled with colors like...
H = i.e. 211
S = i.e. 50%
B = 10-20? % thats the brightness setting of the color in Photoshop all becomes a bit more noticeable

My EW2420 looks rather perfect on a typical test, but if I would like to I could find some blemishes on image quality. It would be interesting to see the high-end performing in such scenario like this one above. Because now I can't even tell if it's common or uncommon to see not that perfect image uniformity ;-)

So in terms of backlight bleed or shade/ uniformity of the panel etc. All looks perfect besides of that 1 situation. What made me certain that Benq does a good job was this ;-) :
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/content/dell_u2311h.htm#uniformity
If you want you can measure the brightness differences with any camera, even a compact one. You zoom in a bit putting the lens close to the corner and half-press the shutter button to measure light. Remember the numbers and compare with the center. The distance from the panel must be the same. I did it and after recalculation it's about 20% of difference in that specific dark situation. Full white or black doesn't show any difference with this DIY measurement.


What's next... ah, the settings.
I decided to go for gamma 2.0 , contrast 50 (100 when watching movies probably), brightness 25 for now.
I loaded some other person ICC and on this basis I tweaked it further in Adobe Gamma accordingly to have gamma of every color in the right 2.2 position on Lagom ( www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gamma_calibration.php ).
After that I changed in-monitor color for User Settings = R100, G96, B92 ... which is based on NCXs review.
I use Dsub connection so sharpening is on max. value = 5 [it is a must to correct the non-digital signal which gets some noise during computer-to-monitor transfer etc.]


And yeah, it has some 'black-crush' effect. To not be able to see the brighter corners you will have to sit at the distance of at least 1.5 or 2 meters.
Speaking of angles when viewing movies (at night), the view is near perfect when watching between -20* and +20* (assuming that 0* means perpendicular). Further... it's still between watchable and very nice, depending on the scene type. Haven't sorted it out yet, what exactly would work best for movie watching. I'm thinking about Contrast 100 and brightness 25 or around 60 as some reviewers suggest.
The EW hasn't got the ability to turn the Dynamic Contrast in standard or any other mode that's not horribly oversaturated. Funny, because in the V2420 I thought I was able to turn it on in Standard mode. The degree of oversaturation seems also a bit worse than V2420. I guess they've put the electronics from the TN versions without configuring it more properly to the new VA panel.


I am not worried about speed, so didn't test the responsiveness to much. I don't see differences here between my notebook TN display and this is enough for me...


Weird... that brighter left end of the display...
In Lagom viewing angle test it shows a gamma shift. So... it's not a backlight bleed problem or anything else but a viewing angle one?
Strange, because it's just on 1 side. As if there would be something in the display slightly misaligned. Anyway... I guess I will live with that. I feel lucky enough to have a decent monitor at all... it seems a bit of a lottery with these things. I wish they made monitors like digital cameras. You buy them, and they're OK or NOT OK.
Not 98.4% OK, or 93.3% or 99,1% ;P

I guess in the next 8 years they or the market will solve that finally ;D
Se next time I will get perfect one ;>


Good luck guys, although I hope you won't need it while hunting for some decent display ;-)


PS. I know it didn't help you probably (there are already pro-like reviews) but it sums some things up, maybe from a bit different perspective ;-)

 

[Danga]

That was actually very helpful tropiciel, thanks for the review.

Out of those two, I was thinking about going with the VW instead of the EW because the former seems nicer in pictures being very thin and I don't need any of the extra stuff the EW come with anyway but you do make a good point about whether or not they can achieve as good uniformity on the thinner model. Being edge lit I'd guess it doesn't make much of a difference but you never know.

However this:

I noticed that the assembly work wasn't done perfectly. The screens boarders are shifted / moved to the left about 1mm, so the space between the plastic and the displays edge on the right is 2mm, but on the left 0mm

and especially this:

And yeah, it has some 'black-crush' effect. To not be able to see the brighter corners you will have to sit at the distance of at least 1.5 or 2 meters.

sounds bad. My previous LCD also had an off centered panel which always annoyed me even though it obviously doesn't affect the picture quality.

As I suspected, the bright corners are due to the viewing angles (and possibly backlight bleeding too). Great, now VA panels are having glow issues too As for the gamma shift being more noticeable on one side, apparently it's not uncommon, I've seen some IPS vs PVA comparison pictures where the PVA panel clearly had more shift on the left side even though all the pictures were shot from the center.

Not that excited about these screens anymore to be honest. Aside from very deep blacks, whose usefulness is questionable considering you have to sit so far away to get uniform low black level, these monitors seem to be worse in almost every aspect compared to my old PVA

 

[bearbear]

Then I saw also immediately the ripple on the lower edge. It's not very disturbing, but it's present.

You're the 4th person I've seen mentioning the LED ripple/wave defect and considering there's probably only a few dozen people who have even given feedback on the monitor, that's a pretty bad ratio.

This monitor sounds good, but the quality control at BenQ seems non existent.

 

[tropiciel]

[Danga]
Saying about those 1.5-2m I should mention that it naturally depends on the content.
I checked it one more and this distance is for nonperceivable differences on na fully black screen.
Otherwise when I go for the Lagom viewing angle test it seems to be no noticeable gamma shift within 1m, so a normal / typical viewer distance.

In my case it seems there is no typical glow issue just that weird gamma shift that makes only some content look a bit brighter on that left side. (About 20% of the width).
And... it's not actually that left side shifts more, but is constantly shifted in relation to the rest of the display.
Eventually I like it that way rather than having uneven backlight or some typical nonuniformity in the panel.


[bear^2] ;d
You are right. I noticed it too. It was easier for me to decide, because I wouldn't choose anything pricier or from the older technology. This suited me best. I just had to hold the thumbs for a not a really bad one to be shipped ;-) Time was important for me too. I needed another display to enlarge my workspace and it had no sense waiting next 3 months until the market evolves a bit more.
I was thinking about IIyama and Samsung too, but Samsung was a bit smaller with no LED, and IIyama had no VA model.
Anyway... my next exchange won't happen very soon, so I even think that at that time it might be a 30'' IPS (?) lacking of any serious issues.



One more thing. I discarded some changes in gamma calibration, because tuning all 3 colors for the same gamma level created bluish blacks / dark colors. To solve that I had to turn the blue gamma a lot higher, though the White Gamma and the rest of it still is properly tuned. Quite funny.
I wish I had a colorimeter / calibration device. They're even not that expensive (the cheapest ones), but for now it's a bit too unnecessary.

 

[alexdaniilidis]

Really sad to hear about the quality control issues on this monitor. I was going to buy a Dell U2311H but decided not to because of all the quality control issues (backlight bleed etc) that are mentioned in this forum.

Unfortunately right now I cannot afford to buy (yet another) EIZO. But even if I had the money, I wouldn't like to watch the design of the Foris FS2331 everyday. I find it appalling. So the next best thing would be the EV2333, that doesn't have HDMI and is still expensive.

So I was really looking forward to these VA - LED panels from BenQ. I need a screen for my laptop (Toshiba satelite 15.6"), which has, side aside, arguably, the worst TN panel I have ever seen in my life.

The laptop also has an HDMI output so I was going to buy the EW2420 to make use of that, although I recently found out that using an HDMI to DVI cable is a reliable solution (if anyone has experience to the contrary, please come forward). But the stand is plain terrible, especially if you are used to a fully adjustable stand.

So, I am now considering the BL2400PT, both for the stand and the lack of glossy-ness. It can be found in The Netherlands for 210Euro, which seems a very reasonable price for this monitor. I just can't understand why BenQ decided to use the USB hud only on the EW2420 and not on the BL2400PT. Also, why DisplayPort? Who uses that aside mac's?? Why not an HDMI port on every new monitor? I really don't get that. Anyway....

One would expect that the "World's First *VA LED monitor" would by now received some (if not many) professional reviews. No mention of deltaE yet on these monitors. Even though I don't quite need a professional IPS panel and cannot afford it also, I do do some work on photography so color accuracy is important to me. I know PRAD have a BL2400PT in the lab, but their new policy of paying for the reviews is off-putting.

P.S. Why is everyone complaining about the response time? This is not a monitor for gaming. There are great TN panels for that. When LCD started, all gamers started buying fast response monitors, that led to the prevalence of TN panels on the market, while the other technologies (*VA and IPS) remained expensive and unapproachable. There should be no reason for complain as TN panels are by far the ones with the highest model versions and number out there. A *VA monitor is not meant for that. In this light, where are the color critical reviews????

 

[bearbear]

So, I am now considering the BL2400PT, both for the stand and the lack of glossy-ness. It can be found in The Netherlands for 210Euro, which seems a very reasonable price for this monitor. I just can't understand why BenQ decided to use the USB hud only on the EW2420 and not on the BL2400PT. Also, why DisplayPort? Who uses that aside mac's?? Why not an HDMI port on every new monitor? I really don't get that. Anyway....

The BL2400PT screen is still slightly glossy, it apparently has a more aggressive AG coating than the VW2420H or EW2420, but it's still slightly reflective nevertheless.

People who use EYEfinity setups with multiple monitors use DisplayPort. HDMI is used more in leisure devices (consoles, DVD/Blu-Ray players) and so given the BL2400PT is marketed towards "business" use, I can somewhat see why they've chosen to forgo the HDMI ports in favour of DisplayPort. Conversely, the EW2420 is marketed towards home use and so has 2x HDMI ports.

 

[alexdaniilidis]

@bearbear : I was not aware of the fact that DisplayPort had such a function. In that case it makes perfect sense. But why not include an HDMI port also, would it be that more expensive? How about the USB ports though? Wouldn't it be nice to keep them on this model too like the Dells?

As for the coating, you are right, it is still slightly glossy. But I was mostly talking about the glossy-ness of the frame. Because of that glossy-ness you can see reflections of the image on the frame of the monitor which I find distracting and annoying.

 

[bearbear]

Really, I have no idea. I guess BenQ is just trying to cut the cost down of their business model or maybe they didn't want their own products competing with each other. If the BL2400PT had a HDMI and DisplayPort as well as a USB hub, everyone would buy it over the EW2420 because it also has a better stand.

I also hate the screen/bezel reflection, but unfortunately companies seem to think a glossy bezel makes a monitor look good without thinking about how it's actually annoying in use (i.e. dust magnet).

 

[joeshmoe]

I think there has been lots of open debate about the EW2420/VW2420, which worries me as it seems like there has been lots of mixed feelings regarding this monitor. From the units I have been able to get my hands on, they seem great and live up to the expectations I had for them. For those who were let down unfortunately either got a bad unit, or they had expectations that surpassed the monitor's abilities that perhaps was due to hyping from websites and other forum users.

Regarding response time, as we all know, this is a VA panel so response times are not going to be as fast as TN panels. However, it can be faster when comparing to IPS panels. Not all, but some.

Viewing angles should be close to IPS but not quite there.

Color production and quality was more than what I expected. BenQ promised true 3000:1 contrast ratio and they delivered it! The monitor really has deep blacks and great color contrast, may not be as great as a high end IPS panel, but for it's price point, even IPS panels can't beat it. Give me a comparison of one low end e-IPS panels that has 3000:1 contrast ratio or could sit side by side to the BenQ and give the same effect?

BenQ wanted to bridge this monitor as a gap between users who wanted great color production and contrast ratio, without paying the high prices of a S-IPS or H-IPS. This monitor wasn't meant for FPS gaming, but I would like to see the effects of the image quality on strategy games such as Starcraft2.

Look, at the end of the we really need to remember... you're paying under $300 for a monitor that is true 24 inch display, LED backlit, great color contrast, better viewing angles than TN panel, 2 HDMI ports + DVI + VGA, on board USB ports, a good sturdy stand, a decent design. This monitor is good, it's not U2711 good, but that's comparing to a whole 'nother level. For value, this is really a great pick.

 

[miomao]

Viewing angles should be close to IPS but not quite there.

I think we need a clarification here...

Viewing angle of these BenQ is, in one word, "problematic".
The problem is all in the dark tones representation.
The dark tones are exposed also to slight horizontal viewing angle variations.
This is the reason why you can't completely correct dark tones with calibration.
(I have not explained well here, sorry)

I read someone say:
"All VA panels are like this..."

This is not a complete truth.
I have an Eizo S2431W with S-PVA panel and it's much better on dark tones.
But even an older Samsung 970P (regular PVA, not Super) can be less problematic.

Yes, IPS panels are "generally" better that VA in viewing angle.
This is another matter...


P.S.
The response time issue is similar.
All VA panels are bad on dark tones transition... without the overdrive.
The Eizo S2431W is a monitor you can safely use for moderate gaming.
And I'm not referring to Tetris or Pacman.
My brother are using it with all recent 3D games.

 

[Danga]

Hey miomao, do you still own the Samsung 970P? I have a monitor with the exact same panel but different design (193P+) and was wondering how do these BenQ panels perform in comparison to the old 19" PVA.

You say the viewing angles are worse on the Benq. That's not good. They are alright on my 193P+ but it's a small, square panel. The EW2420 being so much wider and having more gamma shift could be a problem. I guess it has to do with MVA panels simply being inferior to PVA in this regard.

How about the black levels and motion handling? I know the BenQ has a close to 3000:1 contrast ratio but I have no idea what it's like on the 193P+. Response time isn't much of a concern to me but still I'd like to know whether it's better or worse compared to the Samsung. Thanks.

 

[miomao]

Hello Danga, you have an historical LCD.

First of all, I must say that the 24 inch diagonal with 16:9 aspect ratio is very good.
I hope that there will be more monitors like this.

Black level is also very good... but not yet perfect in the dark room (this applies to EW2420).
Declared contrast ratio is honest.
The eyeone2 says it's more than 2500:1.

The response time, unfortunately, is not good.
You can activate the AMA function.
This significantly reduces ghosting on critical colors transitions (mainly dark tones).
But it causes noticeable reverse ghosting (!)

So, if you need a monitor for web, office and "moderate" multimedia... the EW2420 can satisfy you.
Price is very good also.

If you need a monitor also for advanced multimedia and some sRGB graphic applications... take a good E-IPS panel monitor without thinking.
It worth every Euro/Dollar in addition.
This means Nec EA231WMi (or the new 232), Dell U2311H, etc.

 

[DG25]

Any videos with the ghosting effect available? I can't figure from your comments how bad it is and if i could find it acceptable.

 

[topcaser]

Miomao,

What is advanced multimedia for you?

 

[miomao]

Any videos with the ghosting effect available? I can't figure from your comments how bad it is and if i could find it acceptable.

How much it's bad is secondary.
...and it's very hard to judge a monitor from videos and photos.
The important thing is what you do with your PC.

You are an occasional video watcher?
YouTube videos... sometimes DVD movies...
The benq can be enough.

Do you like to watch DVD movies, make your own videos, etc.?
Do you want to make graphic works?
Get the IPS (Nec EA231/232...).

Do you want to make also moderate gaming?
Get the IPS+overdrive (Dell U2311H).

If you still have any doubts... get the IPS.
It's a better "all arounder" than the BenQs.

Miomao,

What is advanced multimedia for you?

My english is poor... so I always try to be short.
For "andvanced multimedia" I want to mean...
Not occasional video/DVD watching.
Video editing.
etc.

 

[Danga]

Hello Danga, you have an historical LCD.

First of all, I must say that the 24 inch diagonal with 16:9 aspect ratio is very good.
I hope that there will be more monitors like this.

Black level is also very good... but not yet perfect in the dark room (this applies to EW2420).
Declared contrast ratio is honest.
The eyeone2 says it's more than 2500:1.

The response time, unfortunately, is not good.
You can activate the AMA function.
This significantly reduces ghosting on critical colors transitions (mainly dark tones).
But it causes noticeable reverse ghosting (!)

So, if you need a monitor for web, office and "moderate" multimedia... the EW2420 can satisfy you.
Price is very good also.

If you need a monitor also for advanced multimedia and some sRGB graphic applications... take a good E-IPS panel monitor without thinking.
It worth every Euro/Dollar in addition.
This means Nec EA231WMi (or the new 232), Dell U2311H, etc.

Thanks for your answer.

So basically, the panel itself is slow so they had to set up overdrive quite aggressively which results in inverse ghosting. I've seen this effect on another VA monitor and I think it's just as bad as ghosting/blurring of a slow panel.

I need a monitor for work, web browsing and occasional gaming. I won't be doing any color critical work but I want a reasonably uniform image. I was told a TN will be fine if I sit in front of it so I bought one and couldn't believe how bad the viewing angle was. That's what worries me the most about the EW2420. I don't want to have too much color shifting when viewing head on.

Seems like these BenQ displays were indeed too good to be true. Guess I'll have to go with the Dell U2311H or HPZR24w as nothing better will be coming out for some time.

 

[NCX]

I have taken pictures of the response time and described the ghosting/streaking charactersistics here vs to other VA panels if you have not read it yet

 

[alexdaniilidis]

@joeshmoe
well there are no IPS panel with such high contrast...I think the highest one I have seen is on the Dell U2311H and Nec ea231wmi and it is around 1000:1

So for recap the strong points are
TN: speed
IPS: color and viewing angles
*VA: contrast and color (depending on the model of course)

This series of monitors from BenQ would be a great deal if the quality control was decent. I will still wait for a review from one of the specialized sites and then decide whether or not to buy the BL2400PT. Like the Dell U2311H, the problem is not on the design or the price. A low price shouldn't mean that you have to get less than what it is supposed to be. You know the restrictions of each design. The problem is that they don't deliver what they claim. If the Dell didn't have bleeding and/or tinting issues it would be a great choice. The same goes for the BenQ VA+LED family. The rest I can live with. Also the price difference in the Netherlands between the Dell and BenQ is 100 euros which is not negligible for this price range.

Hopefully the deltaE values of the BenQ will justify the gamble for the price...

 

[10e]

I picked it up on Friday, but I had to take care of my wife due to some medical stuff, so I only now just opened it up. No outstanding defects that I can see (BLB, dead/stuck pixels).

Other than being distinctly cold in color quality and in need of some calibration, it's not a bad screen for $250.00 Canadian that I paid for it.

Also, seriously who puts a screen in torch mode from the factory? 100 brightness? Wow.

It seems like off-angle, the blacks lighten a bit, but not nearly the mirror-like quality of a Dell 2209WA or the newer Dell eIPS based screens.

Otherwise the black levels are very good. It does remind me of a refined version of my old fave the BenQ FP241W/VW screen that I fondly remember...but without the dithering. Still noticeable VA shift especially with the gray background of this forum.

I have some work stuff tying me up the beginning of the week, but I will put the screen through its' paces later this week.

I always include pictures. Videos maybe, but highly doubtful.

Very nice

There's a distinct lack of good reviews out there for the BenQ VA + LED panels, particularly ones with actual measured results, most seem to be just subjective feedback - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I have nothing to compare it to.

If you could post any photos or videos that would be grand, if it's not too much to ask

 

[bearbear]

I have some work stuff tying me up the beginning of the week, but I will put the screen through its' paces later this week.

I always include pictures. Videos maybe, but highly doubtful.

Thanks for the update

A couple of things you might want to check for are dark smears and any LED rippling defects which a few people complained about, as seen here: http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9650/56945934.jpg

However from the sounds of it, you appear to have got a decent unit so you probably don't have those problems.

 

[miomao]

I have taken pictures of the response time and described the ghosting/streaking charactersistics here vs to other VA panels if you have not read it yet

Everyone can see you did a great job...
But, if I can make a modest and personal note...
If you give 7.8/10 to an "unbalanced" monitor like this...
You should give 11/10 to P-IPS or S-PVA monitors.


ehm... and "ergonomics" how can be a plus?
The ew2420 base can only tilt.
The menu navigation, objectively, is not the easiest I've seen.

 

[10e]

I definitely don't have the smearing problem. I use a "cherry picked" test to expose backlight "holes" (where the backlight dark spots appear) and even with this test I see very, very little of that. I open a new white screen in FireFox or Internet Exploder and quickly move it horizontally on the screen back and forth. Most screens I've used were far worse on this test.

I do seem to have a bit of the ripple at the bottom though. It almost looks like a "reflection" of the LEDs at the bottom of the screen. It stretches for around 2/3 of the bottom. It's faint but it's there on lighter colors.

I'm kind of surprised at this. I expected a bit better out of AUO/BenQ. I've owned/seen 6 other BenQ units and never have seen this before.

Thanks for the update

A couple of things you might want to check for are dark smears and any LED rippling defects which a few people complained about, as seen here: http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9650/56945934.jpg

However from the sounds of it, you appear to have got a decent unit so you probably don't have those problems.

 

[NCX]

Everyone can see you did a great job...
But, if I can make a modest and personal note...
If you give 7.8/10 to an "unbalanced" monitor like this...
You should give 11/10 to P-IPS or S-PVA monitors.


ehm... and "ergonomics" how can be a plus?
The ew2420 base can only tilt.
The menu navigation, objectively, is not the easiest I've seen.

It gets a slightly highe "B" rating due to the outstanding contrast ratio, good gaming performance and low input lag, which is brought down by the back light bleed and default color accuracy.

A P-IPS would get a 5-7 due to the most likely medicore contrast ratio which governs the overall image quality. It could have the best screen uniformity in the world but at 600:1 it would stil look awfull.

I included connectivity/USB ports/price into Ergonomics, hence the high score. The OSD was fine, it's no Samsung OSD but it's definately better then Acer/LG/ViewSonic OSD's in terms of navigation and options.

 

[miomao]

It gets a slightly highe "B" rating due to the outstanding contrast ratio, good gaming performance and low input lag, which is brought down by the back light bleed and default color accuracy.

A P-IPS would get a 5-7 due to the most likely medicore contrast ratio which governs the overall image quality. It could have the best screen uniformity in the world but at 600:1 it would stil look awfull.

I included connectivity/USB ports/price into Ergonomics, hence the high score. The OSD was fine, it's no Samsung OSD but it's definately better then Acer/LG/ViewSonic OSD's in terms of navigation and options.

Good gaming performance?
You can't see any reverse ghosting with AMA on?

Even high-end monitors can have bad default color accuracy.
The real question is... how good are colors after user corrections.
Do you think this monitor shows good dark tones after calibration?
You don't see any trace of banding in the gray scale?

5-7 to P-IPS panels... ok...


I respect your work and opinion... but, personally, I've a different view...
I hope there is soon a professional review (X-Bits, Prad, TFT Central) with instrumental measurements.

 

[bearbear]

I hope there is soon a professional review (X-Bits, Prad, TFT Central) with instrumental measurements.

From what I can tell, Prad is going to do a review on the BL2400PT, but I have no idea when that will come out and also it's likely you'll have to pay to read it.

 

[luisito]

I do seem to have a bit of the ripple at the bottom though. It almost looks like a "reflection" of the LEDs at the bottom of the screen. It stretches for around 2/3 of the bottom. It's faint but it's there on lighter colors.

Everybody sees this, and i think maybe it's because there is only led's at this part of the screen (as i read somewhere, edge led doesn't always mean "all-4-edges" led). So this is, sadly, a trait of this monitor.

Not that i care too much, anyway. You know it's there but most of the time doesn't show, and when it does, it's subtle

I know that its not perfect, but for a monitor that cost a little bit more than two of the cheapest and smallest TN monitors available here, and with this size and all, it's a no brainer (if you don't need/can_pay_for better quality, that is)

(nope, i don't work for benq )

 

[bearbear]

Everybody sees this, and i think maybe it's because there is only led's at this part of the screen (as i read somewhere, edge led doesn't always mean "all-4-edges" led). So this is, sadly, a trait of this monitor.

Not everyone sees it and it's not a trait, it's definitely a defect. It's just that so many people have seen it that you think it's a trait.

Look here, specifically post 32 and 33, they do not have the problem.

 

[10e]

My opinion is that this is a manufacturing flaw.

Honestly I've seen edge-lit TVs that do not show this characteristic, and it's too bad because otherwise I actually like the screen, especially that I paid $250.00 Canadian for it (plus taxes). I'm going to see if I can exchange it for a unit without this problem.

It doesn't show up on dark colors, just brighter colors, but it still shouldn't be there.

If it doesn't bother you, and it's not a problem, that's fine, but I consider it an issue. If I can't get it exchanged with the retailer I'll contact BenQ Canada or U.S.

Whatever I find out, I'll post here.

EDIT: I've contacted the BenQ marketing lady with the info concerning the LED ripple at the bottom of the screen on the EW2420 I have and she's going to contact her technical department internally to see what's going on. Hopefully they can take care of this.

Everybody sees this, and i think maybe it's because there is only led's at this part of the screen (as i read somewhere, edge led doesn't always mean "all-4-edges" led). So this is, sadly, a trait of this monitor.

Not that i care too much, anyway. You know it's there but most of the time doesn't show, and when it does, it's subtle

I know that its not perfect, but for a monitor that cost a little bit more than two of the cheapest and smallest TN monitors available here, and with this size and all, it's a no brainer (if you don't need/can_pay_for better quality, that is)

(nope, i don't work for benq )

 

[topcaser]

Hopefully they can take care of this.

IMO, there wont happen anything.

 

[joeshmoe]

@miomao, why would you consider viewing angles "problematic" on the EW2420

So it seems like some users are getting bad ghosting with the EW2420... but with AMA, are ghosting issues eliminated? Just to get one thing clear, except for FPS games that require low response times, games like SC2, or WOW work fine with everyone else right? Because I saw no ghosting what so ever when I was using my friend's... That's why I'm quite confused at the moment. And I was testing it out for a good two to three hours...

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

I can't find either one of these for sale in the U.S. and the Benq website here only has TN panels listed. Is this a Canada/EU only product?

 

[joeshmoe]

It seems like you can purchase off the BenQ website, but I would wait... it says "pre-order" not sure why.... And the price seems incorrect... wasn't the EW2420 selling for $250 Canadian dollars in Canada?!

Maybe they haven't stocked in the US... which is odd... not sure how their distribution chain works..
Anyway, the BenQ site was the only place I found it, but like I said... I would wait since it's at $350.... which is ridiculous...

Here is the BenQ Website:
http://shop.benq.us/ProductCategory.aspx?id=39&name=23.5 - 24" LCD Display

Not sure if you can order from these Canadian websites since I haven't tried, but if you can... they're selling at around $250 Canadian dollars.... US to Canadian is pretty much 1 to 1 at the moment... US being a bit higher in value...

Anyway, worth mentioning:
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10690MN7546&vpn=EW2420&manufacture=BENQ
http://www.directdial.com/EW2420.html
http://++++.com/products/index.php?sku=55964&vpn=EW2420&manufacture=BenQ

 

[Kikou]

Hi all,

Here are my impressions on the BL2400PT. I received it this morning. I have no measuring equipment, but a good eye and Lagom tests.


The good:

- Construction, pivots, design are all fine for me.

- Coating: the semi-gloss coating on this screen is really perfect in my opinion: it makes a cleaner brighter image than matte coating, but still prevents most reflections. (I hate full-gloss screens because I already have a mirror in my bathroom.)

- Black level is outstanding

- Contrast is great (brightness set to 26)

- Gradients are smooth (contrast must be kept at max 50, otherwise light greys become white)


The average:

- Viewing angles are good enough for me. It's better than TN panels and some VA panels, but lower than IPS and some VA panels.

- Gamma seems close to 2.2, but in my subjective opinion, there seems to be some gamma non-linearity: at the darker end of the spectrum, too much brightness difference between black and dark greys, such as 10% grey.

- Color: colors seem a bit too cold, but channels can be corrected individually through the OSD. However, the color temperature is overall a bit colder on the lower half of the screen than the top half.

- The OSD menu is ok, but the adjustment buttons are a real pain, because they are hidden below the lower bezel of the screen. Moreover the button labels are barely visible. They are just embossed, not printed in color, which makes it very difficlut to know which button to press. Still I haven't put this in the "bad", since the OSD menu is accessed rarely once set correctly.

The bad:

- LED uniformity: this is where the problem lies with this monitor.
First, there is a 1cm strip at the bottom of the screen where I can see small led ripple effect, as noted by others before. This defect is visible on light colors and this area is more yellowish than the rest of the screen. Secondly, the overall light uniformity is not very good with light colors, although black uniformity is fine.

Here is a photo of the screen showing uniformity on grey, with contrast set as perceived by my eyes on the real screen:

and the same picture with very exagerated contrast, to see the light distribution:

Conclusion, for now:

I'm not sure yet if I will keep this screen. I will use it for a day and see if the bad uniformity bothers me or if I get used to it.


p.s. I don't do gaming, so I haven't tested lag or speed issues.

 

[Drags]

out of interest those images you posted, are they simply a photo of the screen showing a light grey background, and then the same image altered within photoshop or similar to exaggerate contrast?

 

[Kikou]

out of interest those images you posted, are they simply a photo of the screen showing a light grey background, and then the same image altered within photoshop or similar to exaggerate contrast?

That's right: same picture as the one above, but with its histogram stretched in photoshop. This is just to show how the led light is distributed on the panel.
In reality, the differences in luminosity are not too distracting, except for the lower edge "ripples".

 

[malware]

Kikou can you share the full settings you are using ? Right now I'm at:
Brightness: 26
Contrast: 40
Color: Custom R/G/B 80
Automatic brightness and ECO mode are turned off

To be honest I'm not very satisfied with the whites using the above settings. Please share yours? Also it will be good if other owners share their settings.

 

[10e]

So I just had BenQ U.S. ship me one VW2420 and an EW2420.

I will check them sometime this week, maybe tonight to see if they both have this yellowed ripple LED reflection at the bottom. If the EW2420 does not have it, I will note batch dates to see if they differ from the one that I bought.

Afterwards I will run them through the ringer and see how they hold up.


If it weren't for this LED reflection/bottom ripple issue, I'd be pretty happy with the screen. As it stands (for the one I purchased) I'll be contacting the re-seller to see what I can do.

 

[psyside]

It gets a slightly highe "B" rating due to the outstanding contrast ratio, good gaming performance and low input lag, which is brought down by the back light bleed and default color accuracy.

A P-IPS would get a 5-7 due to the most likely medicore contrast ratio which governs the overall image quality. It could have the best screen uniformity in the world but at 600:1 it would stil look awfull.

I included connectivity/USB ports/price into Ergonomics, hence the high score. The OSD was fine, it's no Samsung OSD but it's definately better then Acer/LG/ViewSonic OSD's in terms of navigation and options.

Sorry for being harsh, but this is complete crap, yea the monitor is great for the price but no MVA/PVA monitor can have outstanding contrast due to the very well known issues.

So in short, even 500:1 contrast on IPS screen will look alot better then overrated 1000:1 on PVA/MVA panel aka black crush/shadow detail issues all over, which are impossible to avoid proven many times by now. Your review looks good overall but i'm totally confused how can someone have decent knowledge about monitors, and yet saying something so wrong..It's ridiculous.

 

[Kikou]

Here are my settings:

Picture Mode: Standard
Brightness: 26 (I may adjust this depending on ambient light)
Contrast: 49
Sharpness 3
Gamma: 2.2
Color: User Mode
Red: 94
Green: 92
Blue: 89
AMA: OFF (for now)
Dynamic Contrast: OFF
Eye Protect: OFF
Eco Sensor: OFF

My settings may not be the best nor adapted to your screen, because each screen and each person is different.
Also, color temperature and saturation is very difficult to set by eye, and I don't have calibration gear.