ASUS PB278Q 1440p IPS (PLS Panel)

I have no dark stripe, you can online order to avoid Out of Stock probs, and hey.... with $300.00 I can order almost order another graphics card...
 
^^ You have a dark stripe, every single LG 27" LED panel has it, whether you notice it or not is a different story. The one I got had it, the display one in store had it too, even the Apple Displays have it. Plus the lower contrast ratio, stand etc. all have to be considered. The ASUS should be $500-550 with its improvements though not $700 as the build is inferior to HP/Dell.
 
Last edited:
Meowth said:
wat^
Click to expand...

I thought it was pretty clear.

Anyways, I called Asus and asked them if it uses PWM or if it's something wrong with the one I've got. They said they don't know and suggested I try a different cable. :\

I may just send it back. I set up an RMA with Newegg, but I just don't even know.

I mean, if it's PWM, that's fine. But Asus going, "I dunno. Maybe?"... Come on.
 
Last edited:
soldierblue said:
If someone else can check and confirm I'd appreciate it. I don't see how this could be a defect in the one I've got, but still.
Click to expand...

Looks like PWM to me, but it's hard to be certain since so many other things can come into play when recording video. I assume you've read the TFTCentral article since you linked to the images? Have you tried any of the techniques listed to reduce the flickering?

soldierblue said:
Huh, why would brightness seemingly effect the appearance of ghosting?
Click to expand...

(Visible) ghosting might be reduced if the PWM uses a very short duty cycle, since the LCD will not be illuminated while the colors are transitioning. This of course assumes the backlight frequency is synchronized to the refresh frequency, which most displays are not, but it might still give some ghosting improvement at the expense of more flickering.
 
Mr.Pixel said:
Looks like PWM to me, but it's hard to be certain since so many other things can come into play when recording video. I assume you've read the TFTCentral article since you linked to the images? Have you tried any of the techniques listed to reduce the flickering?
Click to expand...

What I see with my eyes is the same effect that I'm seeing in the video. I think that's what's happening in-game.

As I watch the ghosting as I move, I see | | | | | rather than |||||||||. If that makes sense.
 
soldierblue said:
What I see with my eyes is the same effect that I'm seeing in the video. I think that's what's happening in-game.

As I watch the ghosting as I move, I see | | | | | rather than |||||||||. If that makes sense.
Click to expand...

I'd try turning the display to max brightness, then lowering it back down using your video card driver controls. If this helps then it's the backlight flickering causing problems.
 
NCX said:
You should look into getting a newer Samsung S27A850D since it does not use PWM. Overclocker.ru just reviewed a newer model and they fixed the gamma as well as improved the contrast so it's now on par with the U2713 and PB278Q.

http://www.overclockers.ru/lab/5002...i_testirovanie_monitora_Samsung_S27A850D.html
Click to expand...

I'm liable to take a replacement from Newegg just for the sake of convenience. But I guess I could try an 850.

http://i.imgur.com/1Cl0P.jpg < So do you think that's average, above average, or below average? Part of it is I think I just need to put my expectations in line. I look at that and I think it's bad, but maybe it's not.
 
White screens always look like shit in pictures like that, I would have to see it myself to judge. Ony my Samsung S27A850D I measured the colour temperature across the entire display

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i432/240hzTeslaStorm/Samsung S27A850D/uniformity.png

Yours looks like the right side is too blue (7000k temp) and the left is too warm, which is bad, but does it really look that different in real life?. If you had a colorimeter, you could calibrate it and measure the temperature across the entire display. Since you seem to be really picky you should get an i1 display pro.

I'm trying to sell my Samsung so I can review the Asus, PM if interested.
 
NCX said:
White screens always look like shit in pictures like that, I would have to see it myself to judge. Ony my Samsung S27A850D I measured the colour temperature across the entire display.

...

Yours looks like the right side is too blue (7000k temp) and the left is too warm, which is bad, but does it really look that different in real life?. If you had a colorimeter, you could calibrate it and measure the temperature across the entire display. Since you seem to be really picky you should get an i1 display pro.
Click to expand...

It really does look like that to my eyes. Though perhaps slightly more reddish on the left than that picture lets on. With a colorimeter like that, is it possible to calibrate part of the panel to compensate or are you still stuck with making adjustments over the whole panel?
 
Definately exchange it since it is that obvious.

When calibrating the RGB levels are being adjusted across the entire display, so the temperature might even out, but I would still exchange it and get a colorimeter.
 
It sucks that this is the normal, deviation of 500-600k is clearly visible to the human eye.

My S27B970D had less of this but had stuck pixels and that awful glass front (I think Apple started this bad trend). The AG on this and the U2713HM is perfect, that the way it should be.

Glass panels created reflections in all but the completely dark rooms.

Now if Samsung came up with a new version of this with better color homogeneity and an A-TW polarizer for around $600-700 that would be great. One can hope.
 
This was sill better than the 2711 I had.

It looked sorta like this tint-wise (rough, I know):

DdQyB.png
 
I am using this for a few days/months before returning or selling it since 1440p is addictive....only the nec 271w makes sense guys we are wasting our time.
 
.. this lcd use an 8 or 6 bit panel ?

for photography use is better than the u2711 ?
 
Lkdog said:
How does one get or know know they would be getting a newer hardware revision?
How would this differ in real life from yours that you have?
Click to expand...

There is no way to know if you have a new unit unless you own a reference display (a display you know for a fact to have accurate gamma) to compare to or a colorimeter. A few recent buyers reported their 850D's don't have lots light bleeding like they did at launch.

The newer Samsung S27A850T's (only available in a few countries like Australia) which were reviewed by places like Cnet Australia also have similar performance to =DEAD='s unit, because of these improvements I think it is probable that Samsung improved the 850D's performance this year. LG also does this with IPS panels which is people commonly ask on forums about the revision number of certain IPS (usually Dells).

=DEAD='s (overlocker.ru reviewer) review unit is from September 2012 while mine is from September 2011.

=DEAD='s has more neutral (accurate, around 2.2 with gamma setting 2) default gamma while older units consistently have slightly more punchy colours, but also very minor black crush.

=DEAD='s unit also has slightly higher contrast (100:1 difference or 0.01cdm/2 black) than mine, but such a small difference not noticeable in "real life."

seb87 said:
.. this lcd use an 8 or 6 bit panel ?

for photography use is better than the u2711 ?
Click to expand...

8 bit and the U2711 is inferior unless you need a wide gamut display and don't care that the U2711 uses an excessively grainy matte coating. If you don't know what a wide gamut display is, don't buy a U2711.
 
Last edited:
This monitor looks less and less as a good monitor :-(

At first all i was waiting for, was a professional review with detailed look at performance and flaws.

but now i think its better to wait for REV2 if such should ever turn up.

- PWM backlight
- BLB problems
- Uniformity problems

The only really good alternative on the market is the Dell U2711, which isn't being produced anymore :confused:
 
After playing several games and watching Netflix on this thing for the past week I don't have any noticeable issues.
Is my panel uniform? I dunno put it looks perfectly fine while playing a game. Maybe if I stare at an all white background for an hour I'll see something. If it looks fine during normal use who gives a fuck?
I cant see any flickering either, regardless of the brightness level. I've had it at 35% and it seems fine.

Maybe I'm not picky or my screen doesn't have issues, but for me this monitor is fantastic.
 
Rokh said:
After playing several games and watching Netflix on this thing for the past week I don't have any noticeable issues.
Is my panel uniform? I dunno put it looks perfectly fine while playing a game. Maybe if I stare at an all white background for an hour I'll see something. If it looks fine during normal use who gives a fuck?
I cant see any flickering either, regardless of the brightness level. I've had it at 35% and it seems fine.

Maybe I'm not picky or my screen doesn't have issues, but for me this monitor is fantastic.
Click to expand...

That is all that matters then. :D
Seems like such a luck of the draw with all of these newer high def units.
 
I don't see flickering itself, I just see the side effects of it. I mean, and as for uniformity, I consider web browsing normal usage. So yeah, I do end up 'staring' at a screen that's predominately a light shade for an hour plus at a time.
 
I think screen color uniformity is something that many reviews leave out, only focusing on the
brightness and deltaE uniformity which does not directly correlate to color temp uniformity.

Given my experiences with PLS/IPS panels including the S27B970D, all LED IPS/PLS panels are 5-10% warmer on the left than on the right. I've had 3 ZR2440Ws and while my current one has the least glow, they all the left side somewhat warmer than the left.
 
After playing with this more, I've definitely been noticing side-effects of PWM, though only insofar as I'm turning on a horizontal axis during gameplay with vertical color/brightness variations. The motion blur combined with trees in JC2 for example make it very obvious to my eye. It is less noticeable without motion blur, and that shouldnt' be on during competitive gaming anyway. I've not gone through real BF3 action yet to get a proper feel for its effects during a high-intensity workout. I might further experiment with alcohol to see just how much a few brewskies can slow perception so that the PWM afterimages aren't perceptible. In the name of science, of course.

There is an overscan setting (forgot what it's called in the OSD--and I'm not at home right now--smartscan, something like that) that exacerbates the issue with some pretty heavy overshoot. By default it's at 60 or 80 (increments by 20) and I had to turn that off completely. Worth messing with if anyone hasn't yet.

As for the uniformity/warm up issues discussed, I do not see that at all. I don't have a colorimeter but if there is any variation from initial brightness/uniformity at power-on to 15+ minutes of use, it's either nonexistent or subtle/gradual enough to be unnoticeable. Maybe that would be an issue to someone working at a professional graphics level, but they should be using a different monitor anyway.

I also haven't noticed any difference in warmth between halves of the screen, even while having annoyingly white web pages open in the middle. The difference must be minuscule at 25-30 brightness levels, but I also haven't looked for it.

Still, with PWM rearing its head, the jury has gone back into deliberation. I'd much rather see heavy smearing than four or five enemy clones during a spin in a frantic run and gun scenario.
 
Are you guys certain this uses PWM? None of the other screens using PLS tech use it so far, and the price on this isn't all that cheap either.
 
PWM or not doesent have much to do with cost. Well, maybe in the case of PCB mass manufacturing. That is its cheaper for them to use 'the usual' but the tech in general isnt more expensive. The main reason is conformance; 'stick to what we know'. The Viewsonic is more likely to be using PCB from the same source as Samsung does while Asus make their own or use another supplier.

PWM is not cool for ergonomics. On the other hand the chance of these monitors being able to go above 60hz with custom timings are pretty high since Asus monitors usually do. Anyone tried that yet?
 
^ Will try that later and post, to my surprise I was able to hook it up to my work Dell 6420 laptop using HDMI and run native res @ 44Hz using custom timings, though I already have ordered a cheap docking station off fleabay to use DP and setup my ZR2440W as the second screen.

1440p is great to work in :) Hopefully the performance will go up and prices down within the next couple of years as this will be the new '1200p/1080p'.
 
I'm not certain it's using PWM but I don't know how else to reliably explain what I'm experiencing and what soldierblue demonstrated.

Either:
1. My brain is processing too slowly to keep up with the faster pixel response of this display, especially compared to my old one, thereby causing me to see after-images during fast movement. (This scenario would make me sad.)
2. It's due to my lower-than-normal brightness levels, further increasing the dark-state time of the pixels during PWM cycles and making discrete after-images more visible during frames.

Tonight I'll try increasing the monitor brightness and lowering it to sane levels from software to see if the effect I'm seeing changes or diminishes. So much for that 80,000,000:1 contrast ratio! :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Just logged in from work and using my LA2405WG HP display which is one the best TN panels (we had a $300 max budget last year per person for monitors and this was the only 16:10 panel available at the time from an 'approved' vendor) and the change in pixel pitch from 1440p momentarily caused me to think the resolution was set lower than 1920x1200 :)
 
Last edited:
DiabloRojo said:
I'm not certain it's using PWM but I don't know how else to reliably explain what I'm experiencing and what bluesoldier demonstrated.

Either:
1. My brain is processing too slowly to keep up with the faster pixel response of this display, especially compared to my old one, thereby causing me to see after-images during fast movement. (This scenario would make me sad.)
2. It's due to my lower-than-normal brightness levels, further increasing the dark-state time of the pixels during PWM cycles and making discrete after-images more visible during frames.

Tonight I'll try increasing the monitor brightness and lowering it to sane levels from software to see if the effect I'm seeing changes or diminishes. So much for that 80,000,000:1 contrast ratio! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I saw. It'll go away if its like mine was.
 
PWM confirmed. I did the vertical line test, used my phone cam on 'action' mode (best I could do for a high shutter speed).

@20 brightness
@100 brightness

damnit.

*Edit: Sorry soldierblue not bluesoldier :eek:
 
Last edited:
Has anyone that just got the PB278Q seen a Samsung s27B970 to compare it to? These are only $200 apart in aus and I am unsure which way to go.
 
ThrillSeeker said:
What the hell is pwm? I don't see anything on my monitor. I have it on 25% brightness
Click to expand...
TFT Central's explanation of Pulse Width Modulation

Basically, the LED backlighting turns on and off rapidly to simulate lower brightness rather than actually lowering voltage to the LEDs. The lower the brightness, the longer the backlight is off. So there are side effects, notably being (potentially) visible flicker at low brightness and images become "fractured" or "jittery" during sufficiently fast movement.
 
Last edited:
Rothius said:
Has anyone that just got the PB278Q seen a Samsung s27B970 to compare it to? These are only $200 apart in aus and I am unsure which way to go.
Click to expand...

I had the SB27B970 for a day or so , its a bit more uniform than the Asus with no edge bleed, but the its very very reflective due to glass and is more susceptible to stuck pixels (mine had 2), plus the glass is just a sheet on top so people have gotten dust and debris in front of the screen. Screen also wobbles a bit as the attachment to the stand is quite small, despite the stand itself being quite robust.

On this PWM thing, I am not sure but I have no issues with mine at 35 brightness. The glow on the samsung seemed worse than the Asus though for some reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top