![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Official Acer [XB270HU] 27" 1440p 144Hz G-Sync IPS ULMB Monitor Thread
- Thread starter Vega
- Start date
I use a Swift as my main monitor on my home PC and would still agree that a glossy screen and light controlled room is better.
My first 120hz monitor was the old Asus VG236HE and was glossy. It was great. It's just too small.
Regarding the Acer that is the actual subject of the thread, man, I wish they'd just stop announcing products until they have a concrete completely nailed down release window. Preferably narrowed down to like a week.
Announcing things and then going ages without saying a word is just annoying.
It will have been extra special annoying given that this thing's likely to be just as supply constrained as the Swift was for a good while after it becomes available.
My first 120hz monitor was the old Asus VG236HE and was glossy. It was great. It's just too small.
Regarding the Acer that is the actual subject of the thread, man, I wish they'd just stop announcing products until they have a concrete completely nailed down release window. Preferably narrowed down to like a week.
Announcing things and then going ages without saying a word is just annoying.
It will have been extra special annoying given that this thing's likely to be just as supply constrained as the Swift was for a good while after it becomes available.
The reflections argument holds no truth anymore. Look for example at the new imacs, sony tv's or a galaxy tab s... all are glossy but the reflections on these devices reduced dramatically, to the point when you can notice them only on a completely black background.
As I said before, there's no fucking reason to use anti glare coating on the monitors that meant for entertainment purposes. And it's the cheapest way to considerably increase picture quality in every single way.
As I said before, there's no fucking reason to use anti glare coating on the monitors that meant for entertainment purposes. And it's the cheapest way to considerably increase picture quality in every single way.
Viper87227
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,017
I sort of disagree. A week ago I was all but ready to pull the trigger on a Swift. After coming across this, I've decided to wait and see what comes of it. Had this not been announced, I surely would have a Swift on the way right now. While I'm sure I would have been happy with it, if this ended up coming out a month later and is a better panel for the same price, I wouldn't be happy about it. With a monitor this expensive, I want to make sure I'm getting the best I can for the cash I'm dropping.
The same logic applies to Acer as a company. Getting their product announced sooner increases the likelyhood that people who are shopping around will wait instead of just jumping at the Swift, which is currently about the only worthwhile option for people who want a G-Sync panel better than 24" 1080p.
I mean, it's annoying waiting, but not knowing it exists doesn't make it come any sooner. It just makes us less informed and more likely to make a purchasing decision we may end up regretting.
Some glossy coatings are bad and probably what give people a bad opinion of them, for example super reflective glass or almost mirror coatings on some DELL etc... My experience of glossy coating is the NEC opticlear, Sony TV and Samsung TV and all of these coatings make the image quality literally about twice as good as matte and reflections are never a problem unless you are in direct sunlight or have a massive light behind you. WHY they keep releasing multimedia / gaming screens with matte coatings I have no idea.
5150Joker
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2005
- Messages
- 4,568
If I had to guess, it's probably because those premium glossy coatings cost a lot more.
But the "premium" monitors such as rog swift and this acer are not exactly cheap (actually they are the opposite of cheap)... they cost as much as my 40" sony TV and twice as much as my NEC monitor with glossy coating. I think it is laziness or poor market research.
in this thread we revive the glare argument again. pechendko has decided to throw his hat into the ring, inviting everyone to move into his bedroom. finally the rest of us will have no light to cause glare.
I for one welcome my new roommate. may our dark room be dark
Most gamers play in a dark or dim room I have no idea why they keep releasing matte screens... TV's all have glossy screens and it makes the blacks and colors much better than no glossy, I can understand for office screens but for gaming screens it is annoying to be honest because I want a glossy screen but there aren't any... There is literally ONE IPS screen with a glossy coating out currently (dell s2415h) and even that has an AG coating under the glossy coating!!!! I think the manufacturers use matte because it is easy and if you have no choice other than matte then you can either buy it or not buy a monitor which is what I have done for 7 years but I just want a new screen so I have no choice and will be forced to swap my nice opticlear coating for a matte coating 
Last edited:
I look at a new thunderbolt display every day at work and it's completely horrible even when I have the blinds shut tight. my glossy screened IPS reflects with a 60 watt cfl in the ceiling in my home office and still with that off and a tiny LED desk lamp slightly behind to the right of it.
glare is still an issue unless it's coated. glass and plastic can be spray coated with AG but I'm sure it's ridiculously expensive since my eye glasses are quite a bit more expensive with AG and those are just a few inches of lense.
I don't think that's a safe assumption.Most gamers play in a dark or dim room I have no idea why they keep releasing matte screens... TV's all have glossy screens and it makes the blacks and colors much better than no glossy, I can understand for office screens but for gaming screens it is annoying to be honest because I want a glossy screen but there aren't any... There is literally ONE IPS screen with a glossy coating out currently (dell s2415h) and even that has an AG coating under the glossy coating!!!! I think the manufacturers use matte because it is easy and if you have no choice other than matte then you can either buy it or not buy a monitor which is what I have done for 7 years but I just want a new screen so I have no choice and will be forced to swap my nice opticlear coating for a matte coating
Disregard what you read here and consider how many people in your immediate circle of friends actually game and use their computer in a completely dark room. I've been gaming for over 30 years and I'm the only one that I know of in my immediate circle of friends. Maybe one other person but not exclusively. LAN parties aren't conducted in blackness and neither are tournaments--at least I've never seen them done in complete darkness.
So I think it's more accurate that gamers buying swifts or predators are niche and, of them, gamers using those monitors in an absolutely 100% light controlled or dark room is an even smaller slice of the buying public.
I did not mean 100% pitch black room, because IPS screens look terrible with no ambient light in the room... But at least in a room with dim lighting and not sat directly infront of a window or a bright light... I bet most buyers of these premium monitors would prefer a glossy one if they compared a matte and glossy next to each other, but oh well not much point ranting about it as it won't make any difference and they will still keep releasing matte screens
A matte and glossy option would be nice but they are in it to make money so that is unlikely.The Thunderbolt and Cinema Display have edge-to-edge glass placed (with a large gap) over top of a glossy panel. Left edge-to-edge glass vs glossy right (Sanyo HD2k picture). Better picture of e2eG vs. semi-glossy monitor (Nikon D5200).
Last edited:
The advantage I see in AG is being able to play in a well-lit environment and precisely not having to play in the dark on a low-contrast monitor. At least with the lights cranked and the brightness turned up the screen still looks fairly black. Hit a loading screen in the dark on a TN or IPS, and game over.
You don't have to though, with a good one you can play in any amount of lighting other than direct sunlight or a massive light directly behind you, unless you have a glass fronted screen or a bad glossy coating... With the good glossy like on sony TV's the blacks look as black as a plasma with some light in the room. Why they don't use those on gaming monitors I don't know as every good LCD TV has a glossy coating.
Probably panel makers who have a well-defined idea of what's a panel that goes into a "monitor" and what's a panel that goes into a "TV". "Gaming monitor" does seem like one category that is locked into AG. "Multimedia" monitors seem like they get the glossy treatment more often. Once again, preconceived notions. But they may be right... I'd rather have the AG than not. Plebs like me ruining it for good folks like you
.Ag looks quite horrible in a well lit environment too, it diffuses all the light completely ruining the contrast, it looks even worse than playing in a fully dark room.
Regardless of the coating type you need to light condition your room, because it has a huge impact on the picture quality, and if you do there's no need for ag.
My 50" Panasonic plasma is reflective, as well, but it's also a few years old.
With a TV manufacturers have a few thousand dollars to play with. A monitor is only a few hundred so adding on an extra hundred bucks for non-reflective glass probably makes it cost prohibitive. It would have turned the swift into a thousand dollar monitor, for example.
Is this predator going to be a suitable face, though? I thought it still has some undesirable traits but they're calling it a "light" AG coating.
does this monitor use PDC or is it just reflective with no matte?
I have a yamakasi ds270 and i like the PDC over my asus pb278 that has matte
also anyone verify what the new asus 120hz IPS with freesync will have for a AG coating?
Is the PDC really expensive to implement on a cheaper monitors?
I'm not sure how it affects black levels. But from what I've seen the new imac with PDC looked really gorgeous in stores I've visited recently. And despite the harsh lightening with multiple light sources, I couldn't spot any reflections that could be bothersome to anyone.
It's just ridiculous how with all these advancements in gaming monitors like achieving 120hz with an IPS panel, they just decide to negate a lot of benefits of a quality panel by placing it behind a thick matte film when there are great compromises like PDC or the true semi glossy.
I'm not sure how it affects black levels. But from what I've seen the new imac with PDC looked really gorgeous in stores I've visited recently. And despite the harsh lightening with multiple light sources, I couldn't spot any reflections that could be bothersome to anyone.
It's just ridiculous how with all these advancements in gaming monitors like achieving 120hz with an IPS panel, they just decide to negate a lot of benefits of a quality panel by placing it behind a thick matte film when there are great compromises like PDC or the true semi glossy.
compared to my DS270 i hate the asus AG coating
it sucks
will be returning it to amazon ,
in a few days. Great monitor for the money , however HDMI when calibrated you lose like 200 contrast ratio , when you calibrate over DVI i am getting 1000-1100 :1
plus they sent me one with dead pixels and bad backlight bleed on one corner and amazon CIS had a nerve to warn me about returns or i will be banned. I think the next few years i will be shopping at newegg or microcenter. Amazon is supposed to now be #1 for killing accounts now even though I have been with them for over 10 years.
Depending on your review on the Acer Gsync or the new ASUS 120hz panels i might even buy another korean monitor with more inputs
i dont know yet .Althogh i really want 120hz bad now since i play some FPS. I think it might be awhile before we see grade A- panels on ebay that do 120hz native without overclocking
@NCX: have you looked at any displays where the glass with the PDC is optically bonded to the lcd panel?
i don't think it's correct to assume that ar/pdc coatings automatically imply worse perceived black levels. the fact is that the coating does reduce reflections without introducing haze; it's why these coatings are applied to camera lenses, optical equipment, eyeglasses, etc...
the bottom line is that if a display has an ar/pdc coating on only half of it, the other half will have worse actual black levels in a room with ambient light.
now as to why you perceive your displays with the coating to have worse black levels than those without, there are many possibilities:
-simply more ips glow due to variations in panel quality
-lack of, or poor optical bonding resulting in haze
-fewer bezel reflections -> screen stands out more
-tinted reflections from the coating are more saturated
-fewer screen reflections makes the lcd's black level more obvious
...
Last edited:
Probably not since almost all of the 1440p AH-IPS Korean monitors released in 2013 & 2014 use it.
Yes. This image is another example of contrast being a meaningless measurement without considering the coating and bezel colour.
guess which is which?
Are you cherry picking a specific spot which looks different in order to argue something? Obviously certain areas will look different due to the varying screen uniformity (the Crossover suffers from obvious bleed) and coatings.
Looking at the video of the ASUS MG279Q it looks more like a "semi glossy" coating, but it might be a "light AG" the same as the acer, Not sure it is hard to tell from a blurry youtube video. Maybe NCX or similar could confirm what it is by looking at the video when the screen goes to black is that a "semi glossy" or the same as the Acer I don't know the difference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1deIQjp4M0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1deIQjp4M0
Last edited:
i just picked a spot which didn't have ips glow/bleed and didn't have your/the cameraman's reflection in it. if you repeat this with other spots you'll find more or less the same.
what i'm saying is that the pdc does not make "blacks look grey", at least not directly in this case. the reason that monitor appears to have worse black levels in that picture is due to the black bezels (which pdc makes even darker) and the ips glow near the edges, which affects our perception of the black level near the center as the glow fades smoothly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornsweet_illusion
elvn
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- May 5, 2006
- Messages
- 5,303
At least there is an easy fix for black bezels. It's called hobby tape (or artist tape,stencil tape) from a craft store. It's not the same as masking tape because it is acid free and I think it is more "paper-y". You can find it from 1", 1/2", 1/8" down to 1/16" width (or mark it with a pencil and straight edge and cut it with a razor knife). Ncx has done this on a monitor before (pic). If you wanted a different color than what is available you could probably buy the plain colored one and color it with marker (and let it dry). Could have an ink bleed danger vs monitor heat or environment conditions using marker though so do that or any of this at your own risk.
Last edited:
Amazon only warns like this when you have returned way to many I know I got an email like that over a year ago. Yet I just returned a monitor and no email nothing. Some forget they like any other are not to rent.. or just buy to test...
I guess way to many is me having over 746 orders Since 2005 with only a few big ticket items for return this past year.
A computer program triggers the automatic warning. Well its not like i was buying it to test or rent. Maybe the indian foreigner i had on the phone could not comprehend what i mean when the unit was defective , even though he insisted to offer me a 15% discount getting the montior for now 360 no tax. After owning it though i will just return it and not want to deal with Asus right now until the new 120hz model is released. I have read in the amazon reviews people sending this monitor back several times to get a monitor with no dead pixels.
I mean come on Asus your quality control must suck . I purchased two korean monitors perfect pixel with no dead or stuck pixels all the way from korea and they are fine to this day. Very disappointed how amazon treats customers now and will be closing my account for a good 6months to a year and starting over. Its all over the net Amazon seller accounts/ consumer accounts being banned indefinitely. I plan on closing the account before this occurs. They can keep my video/music on demand crap i got for free.
Recently an article was released about how stores are now banning people
#1 Amazon
#2 Best Buy
#3 Lowes
#4 Saks 5th ave
cant remember the rest but if this continues then they should revise their stupid return policies .. To this day Amazon CIS who does not take phone calls and send out generic emails cannot explain the reasoning or a mathematical equation to the the warning letter. Personally they can kiss my ass now since i told them who would want to shop at your store knowing the fact that you could be banned at any time now for a return even if the product is defective or you just plain werent satisfied with it.,
At least there is an easy fix for black bezels. It's called hobby tape (or artist tape,stencil tape) from a craft store. It's not the same as masking tape because it is acid free and I think it is more "paper-y". You can find it from 1", 1/2", 1/8" down to 1/16" width (or mark it with a pencil and straight edge and cut it with a razor knife). Ncx has done this on a monitor before (pic). If you wanted a different color than what is available you could probably buy the plain colored one and color it with marker (and let it dry). Could have an ink bleed danger vs monitor heat or environment conditions using marker though so do that or any of this at your own risk.
or just go in a dark room and use bias lighting
Not yet, I expect ~$799.
Yes I actually find it really annoying.... They release these new screens but then they put a shitty coating on it.... All they need to do is add a TW polarizer and a glossy or semi glossy coating and the monitor would be 10x better. Why can't they just put a TW polarizer and a good coating on the screens... They must be able to see that white glow looks terrible on the screens so why don't they fix it. £700 is not exactly a budget screen they could do that. Also the price is disgusting for an IPS screen.