27"+ Gaming Monitors Immune to Backlight Bleed Unevenness?

WolfpupNX

Limp Gawd
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TL: DR Version - any great gaming monitors, 27" or bigger, that are fairly immune to backlight bleed unevenness problems, or is this a fact of life. Long version follows:

Hey all,

So in playing with Alien: Isolation, I notice some backlight bleed on my current monitor, a Dell U2713HM. Particularly in *really* dark scenes with an almost dark room, the bottom right quarter has a faint blue glow .

I've certainly seen, and had, much worse in other monitors. This is probably the best monitor I've owned - color and such is phenomenal; great brightness/uniformity otherwise, great viewing angles, and it looks great 99% of the time. It even has 90 degree swivel built right in the stand, which is rare for a 27". After about two years, besides a single dead pixel (not noticeable unless I look), this moderate amount of backlight bleed is my only real critique.

Is this something I should just learn to live with? I looked at a few other models, and it seems like backlight bleed is just an issue with monitors these days, especially IPS ones that have advantages in other areas. Not all of them have the same level of it, but regardless of brand, it seems very much like luck of the draw.

Is there any great monitor out there that's good for gaming, has great viewing angles and most of the features I currently have, but is immune (or close) to backlight bleed? Or is that just too much to ask for?

Thanks!
 
have you been turning down the brightness from out of the box setting? Every monitor out there is set at absurdly overbright levels to stand out on a store shelf showroom - which just brings out exaggerated ipsglow/backlight bleed for the wrong reasons
 
All monitors have this problem including gaming screens.

You might be better off with a VA TV with no input lag (if one exists).

The Eizo FG2421 has amazing contrasts and blacks but suffers from its own set of problems severe enough to avoid it.
 
You might be better off with a VA TV with no input lag (if one exists).
There are two Sony's of the same series, sporting VA panels, good scaling, and around 14ms of lag.

KDL-32W700B / KDL-32W705B - 32"
KDL-42W700B / KDL-42W705B - 42"

(Model number depends on the region where it's sold. None available in the US except as expensive imports)

In the realm of TV's there is currently no alternative. Seriously.
 
I don't know of any 27" monitors that don't have BLB. However, if you can settle for a 24", you can get a FW900 that can do up to 160Hz or 2400p without having any backlight issues at all (it's a CRT).
 
Hi all,

Thanks for the wonderful responses!

I'll play around with brightness tonight. I am running the default (75 brightness/75 contrast), so that's certainly something to investigate. I love how bright the screen is, but this is pretty distracting in games (only in a dark room in a really dark scene). Are there any suggested ranges to shoot for as far as brightness/contrast? I have a feeling this may help the problem, but I won't be able to test until tonight when it's dark.

Unfortunately, I'd rather not go back in size from 27" - bigger is an option, but not really smaller. 32" in a TV is a possibility...I'll think about it, but the TV idea isn't ideal because of the stand (no adjustability for height/no swivel to portrait/etc.), but it sounds like there's just no perfect option.

CRT is out too. I love the idea, but I just don't have room for it. But man, it's amazing that there still isn't a good solution to eliminate this issue in 2014.

Anyways, any other tips/suggestions welcome! I am looking into it all!
 
You could simply take an AMVA+ monitor to replace your Dell IPS.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1803228
Those are less prone to backlight bleed and usually have better uniformity.
Blacks are much deeper, viewing angles are almost as good as IPS, the only downsides are: a degree of black crush, and maybe less natural-looking colors for the critical viewer.
Also some pixel transitions are slower than IPS (typically the dark to bright tones) so people usually don't take those as gaming monitors.
But again that's for the trained eye, if for instance you just play consoles (60Hz stuff) then those are really more than okay.

The Iiyama ProLite XB2783HSU-B1 is the best if available in your area.
If not you could wait for the BenQ BL2700HT that's expected to be just as good (it should be out before the end of the year. Well, let's hope so).

Last point: those perform better (lag, response, colors) than the Sony TVs I mentioned, and are cheaper.
 
Using a reasonable brightness setting for dark room use is the best option since 75 (almost 200cdm/2) is ridiculous. Turn the brightness down and go do something else for 15 minutes, come back and enjoy seeing black in dark scenes instead of grey. Putting a lamp with a nice 1600 lumen Daylight/6500k CFL light (Philips) behind the monitor is also a good idea.
 
Thanks all.

So I just played around and turned Brightness down from 75 to 20. This much improved the situation (still there, but not nearly as distracting), and I definitely have inkier blacks and a less washed out look. I'm still not quite used to colors not looking as bright or vivid, however, but that may simply take time. (It is easier on the eyes).

A few questions:
- Is 20 a good brightness? How do I know what to aim for?
- Should I leave Contrast at the default of 75?

I'm also considering your suggestions for alternative monitors, though I do still like this one. In addition to those listed, I've been wondering about ASUS RoG Swift PG278Q. I realize it's unavailable right now and also a TN, but I like the idea of GSYNC and the support for 3D/higher refreshes...so I don't know. Would its uniformity be better than IPS (at a straight on viewing angle), or is it unlikely to make a difference?

Again, thanks for all the help!
 
@NCX, I see the document you linked to suggested a calibrated brightness of 35, so I may give that a try.

EDIT: That was for Custom Color mode - reread and found other calibration info; see below for my results.
 
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Okay, so after reviewing the document about my monitor that @NCX very kindly posted from TFT Central more carefully (which was FANTASTIC), I tried out sRGB mode (pre-factory calibrated) at 41 brightness/75 contrast, the setting they calibrated their unit in sRGB at, and I have to say I'm pretty happy! (He also calibrated Custom Color at a slightly lower brightness of 35, but I'm assuming sRGB is better in my case than Custom Color mode, as the monitor came factory calibrated to sRGB...and his custom numbers would apply only to his specific monitor I'm guessing?)

Everything is looking pretty good and bright enough, it's quite a bit easier on the eyes now, blacks are better in gaming, and it's helped with the clouding/IPS glow problem quite a bit! I'm not going to say it's gone in the game, but it's substantially less noticeable, and the game actually looks quite a bit better in general (as you said it would). ^.^

If you think I should consider a different brightness or contrast setting, please let me know, but seeing the numbers they got for their calibration helped.

Still considering that ASUS RoG Swift TN when it becomes available for the other features (GSYNC, 3D, high refresh rate, possibly less glow), so any feedback on if that would be a worthy upgrade down the line when it's available is still welcome, but I feel like I can enjoy Alien: Isolation better now!

Thanks again for all the EXCELLENT help!
 
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