HP Z30i

I'm interested in this too. One encouraging factor (ironically) is that their stated grey-grey response time is 8ms, slightly slower than the U3014's 6ms. (The Lenovo Lt3053P is also 6ms.) Both the Dell and the Lenovo achieve their response times with massive overdrive, which results in significant overshoot ('ghosting') in some scenarios. I haven't seen the z30i, by my hope is that by aiming for a more realistic number they've avoided that problem.

PRAD is going to be reviewing the z30i "soon", but I don't know exactly when.
 
Assume that this is the RGB (or BG?) LED-backlit replacement for the ZR30w? And if so, should we expect it to continue the tradition of full color support without input lag, unlike the Dells?
 
All new AH-IPS 30" are GB-LED back-lit. GB-LED back-lit displays have more glow vs. CCFL 30" and standard gamut W-LED 27" S-IPS & PLS. I can't find anything about an sRGB mode in the available PDF's so gamers and movie watchers who appreciate art design and color accuracy should get a standard gamut 27" if the Z30i actually does lack an sRGB mode.

Expect a 20ms-ish delay like the 3014 & LT3053P since the Z30i is a multi-input monitor.
 
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All new AH-IPS 30" are GB-LED back-lit. GB-LED back-lit displays have more glow vs. CCFL 30" and standard gamut W-LED 27" S-IPS & PLS. I can't find anything about an sRGB mode in the available PDF's so gamers and movie watchers who appreciate art design and color accuracy should get a standard gamut 27" if the Z30i actually does lack an sRGB mode.

Expect a 20ms-ish delay like the 3014 & LT3053P since the Z30i is a multi-input monitor.

This seems to at least imply an sRBG mode:
...get 100% coverage of sRGB color spaces and 100% coverage of Adobe RGB color spaces from IPS Gen 2 panels
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/product_pdfs/HP_Z30i_DS.pdf

Also given that u3014 and I believe LT3053p both have sRGB modes, I doubt HP's version would be without one. But yes, a confirmation would be nice.
 
Just a side note (in case it doesn't have sRGB mode) - if you have access to some colorimeter device, you can create an .icc profile and use it with Media Player Classic, which for now is the only color managed video player I can think of. The movies will look right and not oversaturated. I know it's not a perfect solution (only 1 player, so you don't really have a choice if you don't like Media Player Classic), but it works. No solution for the games though.
 
Just a side note (in case it doesn't have sRGB mode) - if you have access to some colorimeter device, you can create an .icc profile and use it with Media Player Classic, which for now is the only color managed video player I can think of. The movies will look right and not oversaturated. I know it's not a perfect solution (only 1 player, so you don't really have a choice if you don't like Media Player Classic), but it works. No solution for the games though.

MadVR probably supports 10-bit monitors for video playback.
 
I just got my Z30i, and I'll be doing a halfassed review later tonight.

First Impressions: Oh my, this is beautiful. And Huge.
 
I'm somewhat interested but for $1300 the damn thing better be near perfect if not totally perfect. Looking forward to your impressions, Eschertias. :)
 
A bit of backstory, my normal setup was 2x 24" HP LP2475w monitors. The panels are between 1 and 3 years old. Both panels were calibrated to the 6500K/120 cd/m^2 standard using my old Blue Eye Pro Proof Edition Colorimiter and software package.

So first impressions:
  • It's big. I thought my 24s were good sized, the 30" blows it away.
  • Excellent fit and finish. The stand is nice, the monitor is a matte finish anti-glare and flat black bezel
  • No dead pixels, no back-light leakage during normal use, one small flake of manufacturing crud between the LCD and back-light that was removed via the gentle tapping trick
  • Games play fine, movies play fine and look amazing, and I need a new video card to play games on this beast
  • OSD is the same as on my other displays, so lots of options there
  • Did I mention huge?

Bezel is right at 1" thick, looks just fine compared to the 24s, slightly darker shade of actual black, instead of the dark slate grey on the 24s.

Monitor is almost exactly 27" wide on the outside edge, 17 5/8" tall, and with the stand, I have the top edge sitting right at 24" off my desk. Perfect eye height for a taller dude like me. Now I have to sit up straight to read the top, and can't slouch as much.

Stand is rock solid, and uses the standard HP Tip/Click system with the metal fingers sticking up and a retention button to keep it locked in place. I mounted it without even needing to see the thing, it was pretty simple.

It has a built in USB 3.0 port, which I currently have my mouse plugged into. Works fine, hub is powered and full speed, so you can run pretty much any USB device from it.

It calibrated down to <2 dE with my color puck, and I can split a picture between the 30 and either of the 24s and have the colors and brightness look pretty much identical. I haven't done a full uniformity test because my software is shit, but I can't see any really obvious banding or gradients.

If you liked the HP LP2475w, this is the 30" version of the same monitor. It's perfect. HP's business warranty is also top notch, it comes with a 3 year Next Business Day warranty standard, which includes advanced replacement. Twice I've had HP dudes knock on my door with a new display because the old one was getting a bit dim. No questions asked, no grief given, here is your new one, thanks for the old one, sign here please. I actually sprung for the warranty extension, so I have a full 5 years of "it broke take it back and gimme a new one".

I'd take pictures, but my setup isn't super conducive to pictures I'd be willing to share with the internet.


Edit: I found the report button on my software, here is the calibration results:
SaNPAoi.jpg

Lowest I've ever seen on a monitor. Settings for this calibration are as follows:
Brightness: 60
Contrast: 93
Red: 225
Green: 200
Blue: 240
 
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If you are not using the Z30i's sRGB mode (does it have one?) then the delta E doesn't matter since you are using the wrong color space for consumer media and over-saturating everything.

You can check for overshoot here. AMA Premium=overshoot example.
 
The HP Display assistant allows you to set colorspace modes and send the preset to the monitor, there does not appear to be an sRGB mode built into the monitor.
 
Thanks for your mini-review. I like the Z30i and am seriously thinking about getting one to replace my aging 3008WFP. I work with huge documents, so a 30" 1600p monitor in portrait mode is a real luxury.
 
If you are not using the Z30i's sRGB mode (does it have one?) then the delta E doesn't matter since you are using the wrong color space for consumer media and over-saturating everything.

Not entirely true if you use color managed software. After you calibrate the display and create a profile, you can use that profile with color managed software, such as firefox for browsing, windows photo viewer for pictures and MPC-HC (and there are probably others too, as Panmaster mentioned MadVR) fo videos. The correct colors will be displayed. There will be no over-saturation of red and green, no pink skin on people...

PS: For now Firefox can only manage matrix based profiles.
 
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Not entirely true if you use color managed software.

I know, but I doubt 99% of 30" owners do, 95% of which are likely unaware they own a wide gamut display :D Going to research the Display Assistant, wonder how it works with HDMI (consoles).
 
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The HP Display assistant allows you to set colorspace modes and send the preset to the monitor, there does not appear to be an sRGB mode built into the monitor.

Yo! Done lurked around here for a minute, but I created an account specifically for this thread - I'm about to pull the trigger on a new high-end rig, and the monitor is the last component in question.

I really, really want most of the properties of a 30"; pixel size, 16:10, IPS colors and angles, but it seems most of them suffer from terrible ghosting issues, amiright?

I'd love to know two things about this monitor: can the HP Display Assistant be used to simulate a standard gamut colorspace, and does it have problems with ghosting and overshoot?

If it can be configured for decent sRGB and can do motion better than the u3014, I'd buy this in a heartbeat.

Otherwise... I'll just have to take NCX's recommendation and grab a Viewsonic VP2770, I guess. But I'd much rather a 30", for productivity and awesomeness. ; ) Oh, and thanks for your time!
 
The only way to really combat ghosting effectively is to use Lightboost- and for that, you can kiss your colors goodbye.

More important than ghosting, though, is input lag- and we haven't heard just exactly what it's like on this HP yet. The Dell is just worse than average, unless you use their half-assed 'gaming' mode. Well, that might actually work, but hey.

Best advice? Wait, and do more research. The GPU scene is pretty messed up too, what with more impending releases and price drops, disruptive technologies, and most of the cards not actually having enough RAM for the games coming out this year- yet alone the ones coming out in 2014 :).
 
I've been playing Borderlands 2 for the past 2 days on this thing, plus BF3 and TF2, and I don't notice anything different compared to my 24s, even during side by side testing. Both behave about the same, which is on the lower end of average for an IPS panel. about 20ms. Without some very fancy cameras, and some kind of CRT device, I can't do a full test, but I can play FPS games without the 'drunken soldier' effect that comes from 3-7 frame latency between keypress and screen update.

I haven't noticed any ghosting, or overshoot that's bad enough to comment on. If you really work at it with a high contrast screen, it can show up as a faint halo if you look real close on a high speed camera shot, but it's not enough for me to notice without looking carefully.

I'll verify the colorspace and gamut simulation with my color puck tomorrow.
 
No disrespect intended towards Eschertias but hopefully we'll see more people buying this monitor and get a broader spectrum of testing and opinions. The more info the better. :D
 
Best advice? Wait, and do more research. The GPU scene is pretty messed up too, what with more impending releases and price drops, disruptive technologies, and most of the cards not actually having enough RAM for the games coming out this year- yet alone the ones coming out in 2014 :).

I hear that. G-Sync is really intriguing, OLED is creeping up, but I've had my heart set on a major pixel count upgrade for some time, and it'll probably take a long time for tech like that to trickle into the market at large panel sizes. I'm still rocking a $120 22" CTL-brand monitor (Who? Exactly. :p), a 9600GT, and an E8200 Core 2 Duo, sooo... it's time. ;)

I've been playing Borderlands 2 for the past 2 days on this thing, plus BF3 and TF2, and I don't notice anything different compared to my 24s, even during side by side testing. Both behave about the same, which is on the lower end of average for an IPS panel. about 20ms. Without some very fancy cameras, and some kind of CRT device, I can't do a full test, but I can play FPS games without the 'drunken soldier' effect that comes from 3-7 frame latency between keypress and screen update.

I haven't noticed any ghosting, or overshoot that's bad enough to comment on. If you really work at it with a high contrast screen, it can show up as a faint halo if you look real close on a high speed camera shot, but it's not enough for me to notice without looking carefully.

I'll verify the colorspace and gamut simulation with my color puck tomorrow.

Sound really promising, man, thanks! Accurate standard gamut is pretty important, unfortunately - little point in blowing that much cash on a high-quality display if colors can't be accurate, so here's hoping.

No disrespect intended towards Eschertias but hopefully we'll see more people buying this monitor and get a broader spectrum of testing and opinions. The more info the better. :D

Total agreement, but so far, he seems to be the only person in the world who owns one of these, so I'm really glad he's taking the time to share! ;)
 
No disrespect intended towards Eschertias but hopefully we'll see more people buying this monitor and get a broader spectrum of testing and opinions. The more info the better. :D

Ha, no worries. If I really felt like spending the weekend with my color puck and some other reviews, I could do a pretty detailed look at it, but I'm too busy actually using it.

I basically went out on a limb with this one and bought it with no reviews anywhere. And it was worth it.


Also, there is NO sRGB mode on this display. the only way to limit the colorspace is through software.
 
Refer to Page 17 of the Display Assitant PDF...supposed to take 10 minutes of color corrections to limit the color space to sRGB. Users wanting to use a blu-ray player or console will be stuck with the native, wide gamut.

Speaking purely out of self-interest, since I don't game on consoles or have a Blu-Ray player, this is delicious news. If the sRGB approximation is accurate, it just pulls this that much closer to a purchase.

C'mon Eschertias, tell me what I want to hear, lol. :D
 
Speaking purely out of self-interest, since I don't game on consoles or have a Blu-Ray player, this is delicious news. If the sRGB approximation is accurate, it just pulls this that much closer to a purchase.

C'mon Eschertias, tell me what I want to hear, lol. :D

Sadly my shitbox color puck isn't supported by pretty much anything but the software it came with. There are a lot of 3rd party programs that could calibrate it down to sRGB by playing with the color sliders and making a fancy 3D LUT for the system to render through, but I can't actually use any of them because my puck is a turd.

Chances are pretty to very good that you can get a standard sRGB gamut out of this one, sine similar things work for any high gamut display that lets you adjust RGB values individually. Hell if I can prove it without dropping another $700 on an X-1 Display Pro.
 
Yeah... my Spyder 3 Pro isn't set up for LED panels, so it might not do too well on this one- but it does work on my ZR30w, at least :).
 
Refer to Page 17 of the Display Assitant PDF...supposed to take 10 minutes of color corrections to limit the color space to sRGB. Users wanting to use a blu-ray player or console will be stuck with the native, wide gamut.

Do you still have one on the way? Looking forward to confirmation on this and the overshoot.

Also, some more general questions. Are there any spectrometers/colorometers with software that can write LUTs to be used by Display Assistant directly (kind of how you can automatically load a LUT directly onto NEC monitors with their packaged tool)? Since I don't have anything yet, it would make sense to buy something that avoids unnecessary manual work, right? Second, can multiple calibrations can be stored with the Display Assistant? (ie can you store both an sRGB and an aRGB LUT, and switch between them?) Does it (or color profiling software) also manage loading of the matching icc profile when you switch? Or would you have to switch LUT and icc profile in two separate steps to switch between sRGB and aRGB?

Thanks in advance to those more knowledgeable than me!
 
HP's PR department was supposed to contact+confirm the shipping+loan details by mid last week, nothing yet. Can only tell you to refer to the PDF I linked which I have not checked thoroughly. Doubt the Display Assistants is even remotely as advanced as the NEC PA302W's which costs 1000$ more, especially since the Z30i supposed to replace the ZR30W. Those wanting to switch between a & sRGB should get the NEC PA272W with the Spectraview Kit for 1500$.
 
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Sadly my shitbox color puck isn't supported by pretty much anything but the software it came with. There are a lot of 3rd party programs that could calibrate it down to sRGB by playing with the color sliders and making a fancy 3D LUT for the system to render through, but I can't actually use any of them because my puck is a turd.

Chances are pretty to very good that you can get a standard sRGB gamut out of this one, sine similar things work for any high gamut display that lets you adjust RGB values individually. Hell if I can prove it without dropping another $700 on an X-1 Display Pro.

Eschertias, I was wondering if we could trouble you for a usage impressions update? Nothing in-depth or time consuming, maybe just a thumbs up or down after a couple more weeks of use? Actually, I do have a specific question - are you approximating an sRGB colorspace, and if so, how's it working for ya'? Thanks for your time!

NCX, also really looking forward to a formal review!
 
Had it since Sunday, there is no sRGB mode or way to limit the gamut with the HP Display Assitant software. Once the Video Overdrive is enabled the pixel response times are faster than my BenQ BL2710PT and it only suffers from a miniscule amount of overshoot ghosting which I could barely get to show up my test programs. The Z30i is the fastest non TN I have used. Lag=20ms/1 frame-ish which is normal. It offers proper scaling modes for 16:9 content. It has the same semi-glossy coating is the same as the other GB-LED back-lit monitors.

IMO the far higher degree of IPS glow kills the size advantage. GB-LED back-lit panels glow more vs. standard gamut LED and from my viewing distance of 60-75cm the glow takes up around 15% of the bottom right portion of the screen. Needed to get around 5ft+ away to not see the glow vs. 2.5ft for a 27." It can cover 100% of both the aRGB & sRGB color space once calibrated but it suffers from gradient banding before and after calibration which is normal for displays without 10-16 bit Look Up Tables. Since I don't want to sit 5ft+ away from my monitor I don't think it is suitable for movies or games with dark scenes. I'll start my own review thread soon.
 
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