Achieva Shimian QH270| $400 IPS 2560x1440 Korean Monitor

xxeL said:
I am thinking about buying one of these cheap 27" 2560x1440-Monitors but I have concerns about the usability. I know that the low-res BIOS won't work, but what about games starting with a default setting of 1024*768 or something else low?
I've read somewhere that you can configure the driver somehow to scale the screen always to 2560x1440. Does this work?
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I enabled GPU scaling in CCC and Starcraft 2 and League of Legends had no problem starting at 1200p and letting me change settings in game.

I tried to test skyrim and the launcher gives you options to change things before you get in the game.

Also, the AC adapter works fine. The one I got from DCSamsungMall had a 100-220v adapter which took a standard computer three prong female computer cable. I pulled it out of my BenQ and put it right into the power brick on the Catleap, no problems.

Bios and everything works fine for me on a 7970. It was definitely worth it. If there are dead or stuck pixels, I can't see them at all. I looked at an all black screen and an all white one and didn't see anything.

Coming off of a BenQ 2400w, it's absolutely worth it and I really, really suggest it. I am baffled by how white these whites are and by how many dark things I just couldn't see. The pixels are also smaller on the 27in Korean monitors than they are on a 24in 1080p or 1200p screen, which makes everything really, really crisp.

I have noticed some IPS glow on dark screens, but compared to what I was using, it's awesome.
 
xxeL said:
I am thinking about buying one of these cheap 27" 2560x1440-Monitors but I have concerns about the usability. I know that the low-res BIOS won't work, but what about games starting with a default setting of 1024*768 or something else low?
I've read somewhere that you can configure the driver somehow to scale the screen always to 2560x1440. Does this work?
Click to expand...

I Got to the Bios just fine with my Shiman-Lite & my 6870 2gb video card. Also I haven't loaded a game yet that didnt display & none defaulted to 2560x1440
 
swatX said:
I would dispute the transaction immediately if you used paypal! Paypal has a time limit on the disputes so just be careful
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You also have the double protection of the credit card, some are better than others. And it's usually 90 days.

I'm still waiting for these monitors to reach their pricing bottom before taking the leap. :)
 
For some reason my GTX 260 runs extremely hot now that I started using his monitor. It apparently doesn't like to push 2560x1440 in games!
 
Baconstrip said:
For some reason my GTX 260 runs extremely hot now that I started using his monitor. It apparently doesn't like to push 2560x1440 in games!
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You've pretty much nailed it, your GTX 260 is definitely working harder, and it's become noticeable.
 
SJetski71 said:
You've pretty much nailed it, your GTX 260 is definitely working harder, and it's become noticeable.
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I was surprising, actually. I definitely expected framerate issues in gaming, but the jump to the higher resolution hasn't been -that- bad framerate wise. But temperature-wise, it's through the roof. I'm pushing 80C after heavy gaming, and that's without overclocking at all. Prior to the monitor it topped out at about 70 OC'ed.
 
Largely they are the same, and image quality should be essentially identical.

Shimian: lower price, lower stand (up to preference), brightness/power controls in the back (again preference).
Catleap: chance of ability to do more than 60Hz, adapter is rated 120V to 230V (not sure on this), buttons on the front.

I'm using the 230V-rated power brick that came with my Shimian and it runs nice and cool. I'm sure there's more differences but those are what I know. The Shimian seems to be basically the Hazro HZ27WC. Hopefully this helps!

Edit: Graphics cards not on the sellers' compatibility lists should work as long as they have dual-link DVI output. My 4770 drives this thing fine. ;)
 
Hi, today my QH270-IPSMS arrived, it's like the QH270-IPS but with HDMI and VGA plug and an OSD.
I have a problem with the resolution, my CCC on my notebook with HD5650 says that the maximum resolution of the display is 1920x1200 when I connect it with a HDMI-to-DVI cable to the display where the HDMI port is in my notebook. I've also tried other ways:
Notebook-HDMI --> HDMI to HDMI cable --> QH270 HDMI --> 1920x1080
MacMini-HDMI --> HDMI to HDMI cable --> QH270 HDMI --> 1920x1080
MacMini-DisplayPort --> DP to HDMI Adapter --> HDMI to HDMI cable --> QH270 HDMI --> 1920x1080
MacMini-HDMI --> HDMI to DVI cable --> QH270 HDMI --> 1920x1080
MacMini-DisplayPort --> DP to HDMI Adapter --> HDMI to DVI cable --> QH270 HDMI --> 1920x1080
MacMini-DisplayPort --> DP to HDMI Adapter --> HDMI to HDMI cable --> QH270 HDMI --> 1920x1080

The picture is always scaled up to fullscreen by the monitor.
I did not bought the cheaper QH270-IPS because I would had needed an expensive active DP-to-Dual-Link DVI Converter for my MacMini and I would not have been able to connect a HD DVB-S Receiver.

I am also disappointed of the Display because the screen is very dark and the colors are not as well as I expected. The screen is as bright as my notebook's display (Toshiba L650) and the white is a bit whiter (no blue tint). When you change the brightness using the OSD the backlight doesn't change, it just tints the colors to white or black.

The biggest problem is the low resolution. CCC states 1920x1200 as the maximum reported resolution by the display.
Do you have a trick for forcing somehow the bigger resolution? My hardware should support this and the Panel has clearly a bigger resolution that 1920x1200.
 
You can't do 2560x1440 over regular HDMI. You need to get a native Dual-Link DVI adapter.
 
With the VGA port of my notebook 2560x1440 is working. But I primarily want my MacMini to be connected to my new display. Don't be scared, I only need my MacMini for coding and some web surfing.

So I need the 99$ Apple converter? I could have bought the cheaper display if I wanted to use it only for computers.
 
SJetski71 said:
You've pretty much nailed it, your GTX 260 is definitely working harder, and it's become noticeable.
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Yeah, my SLI 260's bumped up in temps too. Gonna replace them soon I think with the 670 or a 7950 depending on performance and price comparisons. My #1 card is a 216 core, and it was always 73C during gaming before at 1920x1200...now its 80 to 83C while playing Skyrim or SWTOR.
 
xxeL said:
With the VGA port of my notebook 2560x1440 is working. But I primarily want my MacMini to be connected to my new display. Don't be scared, I only need my MacMini for coding and some web surfing.

So I need the 99$ Apple converter? I could have bought the cheaper display if I wanted to use it only for computers.
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You can get the adapter for about $50 on eBay (there's links earlier in this thread, I believe), but yes, you need an active mDP to DL DVI adapter if you want to use this display at full resolution on a Mac. Standard HDMI does not support 2560x1440.

EDIT: You could probably use a mDP to VGA adapter instead since yours has VGA and that resolution works on your notebook.
 
CEpeep said:
You can get the adapter for about $50 on eBay (there's links earlier in this thread, I believe), but yes, you need an active mDP to DL DVI adapter if you want to use this display at full resolution on a Mac. Standard HDMI does not support 2560x1440.

EDIT: You could probably use a mDP to VGA adapter instead since yours has VGA and that resolution works on your notebook.
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OK, I'll try out the mDP to VGA adapter first since it's much cheaper. Thanks!
 
xxeL said:
When you change the brightness using the OSD the backlight doesn't change, it just tints the colors to white or black.
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Why would you expect it to change your backlight? Brightness controls your black levels and where they clip. That's why people prefer displays that actually have a backlight control especially on an IPS screen where the backlight needs to be lowered to improve how low the black level will read.

This combined with the rest of your post makes me think you didn't bother to research at all prior to a purchase as everything in your post has been discussed in depth multiple times as well as in several different threads over at OCN. Even a majority of the auctions explicitly state that you have to use a dual link DVI output from a video card to use the monitor so I'm at a loss as to why anyone would expect to see anything higher than 1920x1080 over a HDMI signal without the use of an active dual link DVI adapter.

Incidentally, if you're getting 2560x1440 over a VGA signal it is likely just emulating that resolution. VGA will not support anything over 2048x1536 on even the most recent top tier video cards as that is its physical limit. In addition to that it's an analogue signal and there is no point in using one on a digital display.

I'm not trying to sound mean it's just that your post is yet another out of several where someone rushed into a purchase and had no idea what they were buying or how to make use of it. The fact that you're "disappointed" further reinforces that because it's probably a safe bet that you have no way to calibrate this display nor have you tried to load anyone else's calibration to see if the I/PQ improves. These displays require the use of an ICC profile and I'm going to go out on a limb and say even the more expensive ones with an OSD will need an ICC profile as well or at the minimum a proper calibration. The are only two reasons to have purchased one of the multi variants. The first reason would be to have the scaler built into the display which again points out a lack of research as the scalers only function is to make a resolution less than 2560x1440 take up the entire display rather than being mapped at 1:1 in the center and such a scaler is only useful when used in conjunction with a DVD/Blu-ray plater, video game console, etc. as any given video card is fully capable of scaling on it's own via it's control panel settings. The second reason would be to have the OSD and the additional setting buttons.


People rushing into purchases is exactly why retail is full of sub-par products rather than quality ones.
 
For those of you wanting to get a Catleap that overclocks, it looks like the guys over at OCN, one of the ebay sellers, and the manufacturer were able to reach an agreement to do a production run of the 2B variant. The pricing. specifications, and availability have not been disclosed yet. Details can be found here.
 
Racer_J said:
Why would you expect it to change your backlight?
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Agree with a separate backlight control being preferable. However, some past "brightness" controls have adjusted the backlight, at least in part. This is not the case with these monitors?
 
Racer_J said:
Why would you expect it to change your backlight? Brightness controls your black levels and where they clip. That's why people prefer displays that actually have a backlight control especially on an IPS screen where the backlight needs to be lowered to improve how low the black level will read.
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I thought it was standard and I would like a brighter screen because behind my screen are windows which is not an optimal configuration.

Racer_J said:
This combined with the rest of your post makes me think you didn't bother to research at all prior to a purchase as everything in your post has been discussed in depth multiple times as well as in several different threads over at OCN. Even a majority of the auctions explicitly state that you have to use a dual link DVI output from a video card to use the monitor so I'm at a loss as to why anyone would expect to see anything higher than 1920x1080 over a HDMI signal without the use of an active dual link DVI adapter.
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1920x1200 is higher that 1920x1080 and it works over HDMI.

Racer_J said:
Incidentally, if you're getting 2560x1440 over a VGA signal it is likely just emulating that resolution. VGA will not support anything over 2048x1536 on even the most recent top tier video cards as that is its physical limit. In addition to that it's an analogue signal and there is no point in using one on a digital display.
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I don't know why it works but it works perfectly without any shadows, lines, echoes or other losses. I can clearly see that it is at the default resolution of the display. Can you explain this?

Racer_J said:
I'm not trying to sound mean it's just that your post is yet another out of several where someone rushed into a purchase and had no idea what they were buying or how to make use of it. The fact that you're "disappointed" further reinforces that because it's probably a safe bet that you have no way to calibrate this display nor have you tried to load anyone else's calibration to see if the I/PQ improves. These displays require the use of an ICC profile and I'm going to go out on a limb and say even the more expensive ones with an OSD will need an ICC profile as well or at the minimum a proper calibration. The are only two reasons to have purchased one of the multi variants. The first reason would be to have the scaler built into the display which again points out a lack of research as the scalers only function is to make a resolution less than 2560x1440 take up the entire display rather than being mapped at 1:1 in the center and such a scaler is only useful when used in conjunction with a DVD/Blu-ray plater, video game console, etc. as any given video card is fully capable of scaling on it's own via it's control panel settings. The second reason would be to have the OSD and the additional setting buttons.
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I can connect my FullHD Sat TV Receiver and I can connect older PCs to this screen.

Racer_J said:
People rushing into purchases is exactly why retail is full of sub-par products rather than quality ones.
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Even with the scaler this screen is really cheap because I would have paid at least the double amount for any other screen with this resolution here.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it. That's not ironical!
 
SH1 said:
Agree with a separate backlight control being preferable. However, some past "brightness" controls have adjusted the backlight, at least in part. This is not the case with these monitors?
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Not that I am aware of but, I stopped reading about the calibration process a while back. I know people were adjusting their nits but, I believe it was via the ICC profile/video card control panel. I'm under the impression "xxeL" wound up with a "very dark screen" from lowering the brightness in an attempt to change the backlight level which resulted in black crush rather than the backlight adjustment much older monitors made via the brightness setting.
 
Racer_J said:
I'm under the impression "xxeL" wound up with a "very dark screen" from lowering the brightness in an attempt to change the backlight level which resulted in black crush rather than the backlight adjustment much older monitors made via the brightness setting.
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When I set it to brighter I can't see the difference between this white text-field and the grey border where you post board messages, either quick reply or advanced.
 
xxeL said:
I don't know why it works but it works perfectly without any shadows, lines, echoes or other losses. I can clearly see that it is at the default resolution of the display. Can you explain this?
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I have only seen this happen once but, it wasn't at that resolution. It was at some 5:4 2xxx resolution on a Samsung 930b (1280x1024 native) used with an integrated Intel GPU. It also showed no signs of the typical interpolation but in that case, it was clearly emulating the resolution as the native resolution of the monitor was substantially lower. The Intel GPU just happened to be exceptional at the emulation for whatever reason. It's possible that your laptop might be just as good at emulating a higher resolution. I'm not shocked you didn't have to create the 2560x1440 resolution though as I didn't have to create the 2xxx resolution on the integrated Intel GPU. It was already in the resolution drop down box and it had something to do with the Intel GPU or its driver as discrete video cards cap the 930b at 1280x1024 unless a custom resolution is used which results in severe I/PQ degredation. Interpolation/emulation is not Nvidia's cup of tea though.

Anyway, I'm not disputing that you are getting the 2560x1440 resolution over VGA. I'm just stating I think it's doing it via emulation/interploation.


xxeL said:
Even with the scaler this screen is really cheap because I would have paid at least the double amount for any other screen with this resolution here.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it. That's not ironical!
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That last line was a generalization about the current state of retail and everything offered in it. It wasn't meant to be about the Korean monitors which are a "good deal" compared to domestic offerings depending on what one's budget and needs are. It was more of a commentary on the general populace being happy with edge lit displays (both TVs and monitors) that show signs of clouding, flashlighting, and backlight bleed and never realizing these are defects. Granted, no LCD is impervious to backlight bleed but it is far more common on edge lit LED.
 
xxeL said:
When I set it to brighter I can't see the difference between this white text-field and the grey border where you post board messages, either quick reply or advanced.
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That's because those are white levels/saturation which are controlled by contrast. Gamma and backlight will also affect them just like they affect the black levels and colour. Try looking at the Lagom and Vanity.dk pages so you can see what is changing and what isn't. There are times when contrast and brightness are labeled "inappropriately' on a display and can control things that they technically shouldn't. IIRC, that tends to be more of an issue involving TVs than monitors.
 
The resolution is not interpolated, I can clearly see that a one-pixel line is only covering one row of pixels. The line is black on white and I checked it with a magnifier to be sure that I don't post shit.

Most people don't think about image quality because they just don't care much.

EDIT: My passive HDMI to VGA cable does not work with this display and my PCs.
 
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Racer_J said:
Incidentally, if you're getting 2560x1440 over a VGA signal it is likely just emulating that resolution. VGA will not support anything over 2048x1536 on even the most recent top tier video cards as that is its physical limit. In addition to that it's an analogue signal and there is no point in using one on a digital display.
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Can't a VGA connection drive 2048x1536 @75hz?
 
These monitors are such a steal!

Just amazing how much monitor you can get for $400 these days.
 
VGA can do 2048×1536px (QXGA) @85 Hz (388 MHz) according to wiki so that's way more bandwidth than 2560x1440@60hz. And that's just a standard resolution so it can probably do even more than that given the right hardware, possibly with custom timings.
 
Has anyone gone from a 37 inch Westy to one of these 27 inchers? Im interested, but fear that it's to much of an adjustment. Just curious what some of you think about this. Also, is it confirmed that Nvidia 480 gpus will work with these monitors? They are not listed on the ebay list as a compatible gpu.
 
So if anyone remembers my post from a few days back, Bigclothcraft sent me a monitor with a lot of blemishes even though it was supposed to be a "pixel perfect" screen. Although it took a few days, he finally got back to me and today he refunded me 100 dollars. We agreed this would be the simplest route because it would cost 100 to ship it back anyways and waste a lot of both of our time. I revised my feedback because he has been very good with communication and has left me much happier than I was before.
 
homerandabe69 said:
So if anyone remembers my post from a few days back, Bigclothcraft sent me a monitor with a lot of blemishes even though it was supposed to be a "pixel perfect" screen. Although it took a few days, he finally got back to me and today he refunded me 100 dollars. We agreed this would be the simplest route because it would cost 100 to ship it back anyways and waste a lot of both of our time. I revised my feedback because he has been very good with communication and has left me much happier than I was before.
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Why would you purchase a "zero dead pixel" monitor? I asked bigclothcraft about his "zero dead pixel" on the Catleap monitor, and he answered:

Dear xxxx,

Hello
Yamakasi inspect perfect pixel with program.
And I am not checking it again.

If there is a deal pixel in monitor, I will issue partial refund to buyer.
Thanks

- bigclothcraft

From my understanding, the seller is just trying to make a profit from anyone who get a zero dead pixel panel. First of all I highly doubt any manufacturer would sort their stock monitors with a "program". If they did however, there should be 0% to get a panel with a single dead pixel since they are all tested before boxed and sealed. Btw, do you really believe a company like Yamakasi would inspect all their monitors? If Dell. Samsung or LG couldn't implement the process why would Yamakasi do such a labor intensive job?

In addition, a regular catleap will cost $345 and a "Zero Dead Pixel" catleap is priced at $429.70. If I get a $100 refund due to a dead pixel, I'm still paying $329.70 to purchase this monitor. On the other hand, if the seller win the lottery and there are no dead pixel he makes an additional $84.7 off your purchase!!! What I'm saying is that the seller is just shipping you any monitor and hoping it's a perfect panel, if it isn't no biggy he is just making less profit and very less compare to what he gain!
 
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loapp38 said:
Why would you purchase a "zero dead pixel" monitor? I asked bigclothcraft about his "zero dead pixel" on the Catleap monitor, and he answered:

Dear xxxx,

Hello
Yamakasi inspect perfect pixel with program.
And I am not checking it again.

If there is a deal pixel in monitor, I will issue partial refund to buyer.
Thanks

- bigclothcraft

From my understanding, the seller is just trying to make a profit from anyone who get a zero dead pixel panel. First of all I highly doubt any manufacturer would sort their stock monitors with a "program". If they did however, there should be 0% to get a panel with a single dead pixel since they are all tested before boxed and sealed. Btw, do you really believe a company like Yamakasi would inspect all their monitors? If Dell. Samsung or LG couldn't implement the process why would Yamakasi do such a labor intensive job?

In addition, a regular catleap will cost $345 and a "Zero Dead Pixel" catleap is priced at $429.70. If I get a $100 refund due to a dead pixel, I'm still paying $329.70 to purchase this monitor. On the other hand, if the seller win the lottery and there are no dead pixel he makes an additional $84.7 off your purchase!!! What I'm saying is that the seller is just shipping you any monitor and hoping it's a perfect panel, if it isn't no biggy he is just making less profit and very less compare to what he gain!
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What your missing is that he didnt get a Catleap. he got a Davi. I cant find it listed for Bigclothcraft now so i am not sure what he paid, but I dont believe that it was offered with & without the perfect pixel.
 
bastage said:
What your missing is that he didnt get a Catleap. he got a Davi. I cant find it listed for Bigclothcraft now so i am not sure what he paid, but I dont believe that it was offered with & without the perfect pixel.
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The last time I saw them (or rather bothered to look) they were around $370 to $390 and there weren't multiple listings from each seller (eg. pixel perfect versions vs ones without that designation). Each seller (bigclothcraft and coolguys) only had a single auction listing. I don't recall if either of them were listed as pixel perfect but clearly the one from bigclothcraft was given that homerandabe69 got a refund of $100 which is far more than the typical $60 pixel perfect fee that is "offered". Assuming homerandabe69 didn't pay any additional fee for the pixel perfect "guarantee", I'm guessing they wound up paying around $260 to $290 barring any additional haggling/duties/taxes/VAT/etc.
 
Racer_J said:
The last time I saw them (or rather bothered to look) they were around $370 to $390 and there weren't multiple listings from each seller (eg. pixel perfect versions vs ones without that designation). Each seller (bigclothcraft and coolguys) only had a single auction listing. I don't recall if either of them were listed as pixel perfect but clearly the one from bigclothcraft was given that homerandabe69 got a refund of $100 which is far more than the typical $60 pixel perfect fee that is "offered". Assuming homerandabe69 didn't pay any additional fee for the pixel perfect "guarantee", I'm guessing they wound up paying around $260 to $290 barring any additional haggling/duties/taxes/VAT/etc.
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Yea I think that was about 380 shipped (not sure though) so yeah with 100 off I am guessing 280 shipped for it which is a hell of a price as long as the pixels arent anything absurd.
 
bastage said:
Yea I think that was about 380 shipped (not sure though) so yeah with 100 off I am guessing 280 shipped for it which is a hell of a price as long as the pixels arent anything absurd.
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It was http://www.ebay.ca/itm/140734676776 $429.98 shipped, but I'm not here to argue about the price.

Anyway, what I'm trying to point out is there are no point to buy a "perfect pixel" monitor. To me, if there were a dead pixel in a "perfect pixel" monitor I would consider it to be a false advertising and demand a full exchange. The logic should be If I am willing to pay extra for a "perfect pixel" I shouldn't be happy to settle for a refund and a faulty panel. If I'm satisfy with a faulty panel, why would I be willing to pay extra and to play a gambling game with the seller if I can get it cheaper in the first place?

People who are purchasing the Korean monitor should always bare in mind there are risk involve in their purchase. Buyer shouldn't make the decision to purchase just because the seller add a "perfect pixel" on their banner. I would agree that even for the price of $429.98 a 27" ips is still a good deal, but what make me piss off is the mind game the seller is paying around!
 
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Even at $100 off, $330 shipped for a Davi with dead/stuck pixels doesn't sound like a good deal. I only paid $301 for my Shimian and it arrived in perfect condition. When you have the same chance of getting a lemon regardless of the "perfect pixel guarantee" it just makes more sense to buy the cheapest one possible.
 
Guys rule of thumb , If its too good to be true .. it very likely is.

Just use common sense , these companies are in Korea and can pretty much dictate terms as they see fit.
 
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