BenQ BL3201PT 4K monitor

So would you rank that type of coating (the BenQ one) to be closer to being a matte or a glossy finish?

I would love to get my hands on HP 32 Spectre instead, but unfortunately that particular monitor line is not available where I am (nor any Korean brands, not even online merchants carry them)...
 
I don't have one because I play both console and PC games, and none of the existing monitors excel at both.



It's matte.
Are Acer B326HK and benq 3201pt same panels?
Acer is more cheaper than benq, do you think the Acer quality also is "cheaper"?
 
Are Acer B326HK and benq 3201pt same panels? Acer is more cheaper than benq, do you think the Acer quality also is "cheaper"?

The Acer uses a different scaler board which has high input lag (32ms), but it has marginally worse, but still good colour presets, and slightly better overdrive according to Be Hardware Germany since it suffers from less overshoot ghosting. They likely use the same AHVA panel, but this doesn't matter since each company can customize the panel and use different internal electronics.
 
The Acer uses a different scaler board which has high input lag (32ms), but it has marginally worse, but still good colour presets, and slightly better overdrive according to Be Hardware Germany since it suffers from less overshoot ghosting. They likely use the same AHVA panel, but this doesn't matter since each company can customize the panel and use different internal electronics.

Even thou I own BenQ 4K and the built and picture quality is exceptional I have also seen Aser B326HK and I can tell you, Acer seems better quality, even picture seems better
If I could go back I would have gotten Acer, but that's only my opinion :)
 
I been using this monitor for 4 months and even though I have had quite a few good monitors this is by far the best monitor I've ever had. No complains at all and it's great for gaming, both via PS4 and with my PC. I find both the Pixel Response and Input Lag quite remarkable. Now my QUESTION: I've been toying with the idea of going bigger, 40" bigger. I thought 32" was going to be very big for me but as Windows 10 now handles 4K resolution quite good it's been a pleasure working with this 32" monitor. As I also play with this monitor I'm thinking playing with a 40" could add to the immersion while being possible also to work with said 40". I'm aware that currently there are no 40" 4K IPS monitors (I'm not a fan of VA monitors) so I was thinking how about getting a 40" Samsung 4K TV. What I would like to know is if for gaming, that 40" TV would give me the same great results of my current Benq monitor? I'm not a hard core FPS competition gamer, I rather have a smooth and low blur display than a super precision display. I don't know if the 120-240mhz motion rate feature of the Samsung displays help in that matter. (My type of games: GTA V, racing games, etc).

Have any of you made the exercise of comparing both? Thanks for any input!
 
Last edited:
A few quick points to address your post...

As I also play with this monitor I'm thinking playing with a 40" could add to the immersion while being possible also to work with said 40".

Yes, it will greatly increase immersion!

insoc123 said:
I'm aware that currently there are no 40" 4K IPS monitors

Look up the Wasabi Mango UHD420.

insoc123 said:
(I'm not a fan of VA monitors) so I was thinking how about getting a 40" Samsung 4K TV.

Most of the Samsung 4K TVs use VA panels except for the JS7000 series I think. I don't think that I'd be a fan of IPS glow on a panel this large.

insoc123 said:
What I would like to know is if for gaming, that 40" TV would give me the same great results of my current Benq monitor? I'm not a hard core FPS competition gamer, I rather have a smooth and low blur display than a super precision display.

The Samsung Auto Motion Plus feature that you mention below definitely works to reduce blur at the expense of input lag. It sounds like this would be a worthwhile compromise for you.

insoc123 said:
I don't know if the 120-240mhz motion rate feature of the Samsung displays help in that matter.

Yes, very much so. It's not quite as butter smooth as a true 120Hz/144Hz gaming monitor, but it's definitely smoother than playing at 60Hz.
 
Please upload the pure white and gray color uniformity....
The LG 31mu97 has a terrible white uniformity(At pure white color that can see the red color display in the screen). I want to know how about this monitor.
 
Please upload the pure white and gray color uniformity....
The LG 31mu97 has a terrible white uniformity(At pure white color that can see the red color display in the screen). I want to know how about this monitor.

There have been vertical shadowy lines in all three of the ones I've had, though the severity of them varied from monitor to monitor.

Everything about this monitor is fantastic except for the quality control. One had dead pixels, one had large artifacts popping up in the top left of the screen, and all have this darkish bruise like area towards the bottom middle of the panel. Personally, I find all of this unacceptable for a monitor in this price range, but I'm sure the industry can justify it simply by virtue of this panel being 4k. It's rather sad.
 
There have been vertical shadowy lines in all three of the ones

Are you talk about the banding? But banding should appear in va panel. Such as benq 3200 and samsung s32d850t. Could you show the picture of the monitor vertical shadowy lines?
 
How is this display when scaling low resolutions. I don't have the Power to run modern games @4K (780ti) but I don't mind playing them at a lower res. Which works better on this unit, scaling lower rs to fit display or 1:1 pixel mapping?
 
How is this display when scaling low resolutions. I don't have the Power to run modern games @4K (780ti) but I don't mind playing them at a lower res. Which works better on this unit, scaling lower rs to fit display or 1:1 pixel mapping?

I have the BenQ BL3201PT for since just after the winter solstice (southern hemisphere) this year, and i normally run it at QHD-resolution (2560 by 1440) as i have DVI-D not DP 1.2: i find it without any blurring at this resolution compared to the native UHD of which i can only run at 30 Hz—i find the UHD gives me too much desktop anyway, albeit it is still readable with a few tweaks and my being a little closer. I’ve also run it at other resolutions with older games and i find no problem here; on older games where i find the height of the screen too much the 1:1 setting can be used then ’smart scaling’ to enlarge to a better size but not full height; and also the different screensizes work well —but not the 19s one at 5:4 which seems pointless and distorts— such as 23” 16:9, the correct 4:3 aspect-ratio being displayed.

My being usually around two to two and a half feet (60 to 75 cm) away depending on what i’m doing, i cannot see any pixelation, and even close in it is hard to see any. There is no backlightingbleed, and no dead or stuck pixels (where i bought it from has a three year dead or stuck pixel warranty), and at reasonable viewing-angles the IPS-glow i would think is about similar to an Eizo 27” graphics monitor, but not as low as the 24” Eizo. Haven‘t noticed any patch at bottom of screen either, nor banding (it’s not a VA).

Getting the occasional flash as others have reported, it doesn‘t have any obvious pattern to it, and i put up with it as otherwise the monitor is excellent for my use. Interestingly, i’ve never seen the flash while watching a fullscreen video, it being used also here as i don‘t bother with teevee.

I took a long time deciding on a new monitor, and spent a lot of lurking on this forum reading of others‘ experiences with LED-backlit monitors, where i am i probably couldn‘t return any monitor (except a Dell): all those for their experiences here i thank.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for report. That warranty is good, could you tell me where did you buy it?

I’m in New Zealand, and i bought it from Playtech in Auckland—i was lucky as i got it in a winter solstice sale at 9% off from NZ$1599 (i notice that it has gone up $100 since i bought mine); the prices here are probably horrendous compared to some places, especially Eizo, the EV2736W being NZ$2270, the CX271 being NZ$3822, and the CG277 being NZ$4980! :eek:

The date of manufacture is april 2015, and is Model ID BL3201-B, Revision 01-131-BA, thus i think that it could be the one with Freesync although i have no way of testing this.

My being rather cautious and going ‘round in circles, NCX’s independent review of the BenQ was a major help in getting me to buy it. :D
 
Just a question to any of you who own this monitor, speciflcally those who came from a higher contrast monitor, like a VA panel.

Do you miss the higher contrast of the VA panel you migrated from, or do you think the lack of IPS glow on this monitor will be more than sufficient to compensate for it?
 
I got this monitor now to complement my Swift, and here is my take on the monitor:

1. The glow is, for a change, comparable, if not better, than my Swift. Given my previous VX2770-SMH, it was a welcome relieve

2. This monitor, either by my glaring overlook, technical incompetence, or there is actually a difference between the PT and PH models, but I cannot get 4k @ 60hz working over HDMI, which is a kick in the groin because I also found out that I cannot use monitors across different cards with SLI, and my 970's only have 1 DP on each card. NOW I want to shoot whoever thought it was a good idea to have just 1 DP that 970.

3. After high hopes for 1080p scaling per NCX's review, I remain sorely disappointed that gaming at 1080p on this monitor actually looks worse than on my Swift, for some strange reason. So either 32" 1080p looks a lot worse than I thought it would be or GPU scaling truly suck. I have pretty much given up hope on ever gaming on two different resolutions on the same monitor.

All in all, I like the 4k-ness of this monitor, a lot of things look much sharper than on my Swift, but the SLI, HDMI and especially 1080p was a major letdown, but this is only temporary, my next GPU won't be making that mistake.

Thanks for NCX's review, despite some shortcoming of this monitor, I am still impressed with it, and a lot of the letdowns are not the monitor's fault, or at least I can solve it without changing monitor.

Oh, and 32" is a lot more different from 27" than I thought it would.
 
Has anyone noticed the occasional vertical color lines that appear for a split second when using the monitor normally? It happened only once a day before, but I find it happens at least 2 to 3 times a day now. It happens on the right or left side of the monitor randomly.

I know some people posted about this happening on the B326HK monitor (which uses the same panel) but not this one. Do I have a defective display?

I'm using the DP cable that came with my monitor, and using a 660 ti with the latest drivers that were released on December 24th (347.09). Using standard picture mode, and AMA set to high (which is the default setting, and usually what is recommended for BenQ monitors).

Nearing my deadline to return it, so wanted to get some feedback. Thanks!

Did you find a solution, I have the same issue too. Thank you
 
I used to have the occasional colour corruption issue (where it looks like there is a big colour blotch for a split second), and like you, happens only several times a day.

I used the Mini-DP to DP cable that came with the monitor, so changed to the DP cable that came with the Swift. While on that cable, I haven't seen such colour corruption at all. So it could be just the cable.

I have since switched back, but have not noticed the colour corruption again, but will try another cable once I get around to buying one.
 
I just got my BL3201PH last night and set it all up. Got rid of my dual monitor setup in favor of this single one. It's absolutely gorgeous. I was lucky that I got one that has:

1. No dead pixels
2. Virtually minimal to no backlight bleed
3. No banding issues
4. Excellent black point (when calibrated)
5. No ghost stains or anything else

The only thing it has is a uniformity issue (left side is brighter than right side), but it seems to be within tolerance from every single review I've seen. Also, I don't notice it unless I'm really looking for it, so I'm keeping it.

I did some Photoshop work on it last night. It was a dream. :D
 
Someone asked me about the dark, shadowy lines I mentioned observing on one of my BL3201PH/PT units a page or two back. I'm on my fourth unit now, and this one has the same issue as well. I'm not sure if it's normal or not, or if I'm nitpicking too hard. For a monitor in this price range, however, it's very difficult not to nitpick. Here's an image of a full gray background in MS Paint:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2d9qq76.jpg

Some of the lines have been boxed in blue.

Some other issues that I've had with this panel:

-Flashing squares appear on screen from time to time. They flicker onscreen no matter what you're doing. One appeared while I was playing a game and persisted onto the desktop. It went away 15 minutes or so after it appeared.

-Dead pixels. Two developed on me a few months into owning my previous unit (either that, or I didn't detect them from the outset. It's possible, but unlikely).

-Dark bruise towards the bottom middle of the panel, as others in this thread have mentioned.


I've owned a number of these now, I've exchanged quite a number of times. The issues seemed to be present on every panel I've had thus far.
 
Someone asked me about the dark, shadowy lines I mentioned observing on one of my BL3201PH/PT units a page or two back. I'm on my fourth unit now, and this one has the same issue as well. I'm not sure if it's normal or not, or if I'm nitpicking too hard. For a monitor in this price range, however, it's very difficult not to nitpick. Here's an image of a full gray background in MS Paint:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2d9qq76.jpg

Some of the lines have been boxed in blue.

Some other issues that I've had with this panel:

-Flashing squares appear on screen from time to time. They flicker onscreen no matter what you're doing. One appeared while I was playing a game and persisted onto the desktop. It went away 15 minutes or so after it appeared.

-Dead pixels. Two developed on me a few months into owning my previous unit (either that, or I didn't detect them from the outset. It's possible, but unlikely).

-Dark bruise towards the bottom middle of the panel, as others in this thread have mentioned.


I've owned a number of these now, I've exchanged quite a number of times. The issues seemed to be present on every panel I've had thus far.
Bad luck???
 
Extremely bad luck, must be. Unless others are having similar issues and simply haven't noticed it yet.

The lines have been on every unit I've received, as has the bruise at the bottom middle.
 
Extremely bad luck, must be. Unless others are having similar issues and simply haven't noticed it yet.

The lines have been on every unit I've received, as has the bruise at the bottom middle.

Continue exchange, until receive a good once.
Good luck.
 
Extremely bad luck, must be. Unless others are having similar issues and simply haven't noticed it yet.

The lines have been on every unit I've received, as has the bruise at the bottom middle.

Who are you doing these exchanges to/from? Amazon? Best Buy?
 
One from Newegg, two from Amazon, and the most recent from BenQ RMA. None have been free of the previously mentioned defects.
 
One from Newegg, two from Amazon, and the most recent from BenQ RMA. None have been free of the previously mentioned defects.

Wow. That's incredibly bad luck.

I actually did return my first for an exchange through Amazon. The second one, which I'm using now, pretty much resolved all the problems I had with the first. I just tried checking my screen to see if it has the same problems yours has, and it doesn't.
 
Has anyone noticed the occasional vertical color lines that appear for a split second when using the monitor normally? It happened only once a day before, but I find it happens at least 2 to 3 times a day now. It happens on the right or left side of the monitor randomly.

I have a Crossover 324K and I thought I have been seeing these very transient artifacts too (vertical blue lines, or screen flash or a rectangular window). The artifact is just so brief that I doubt any of us can get a good picture of it easily. I have changed the DP cable and still getting this....

I am switching over to the HDMI 2.0 and will see if still getting this. My gfx card is a gtx 960 btw...

Please post your video card. I am wondering if this is a problem that's related to a card or card manufacturer or not. also as I said, I am switching to HDMI 2.0 to see if it will happen. I know on the benq there's no hdmi 2.0 so you can only get 30hz but maybe someone can also switch over and see if that artifact still comes.
 
Last edited:
Hello

I've had this monitor for over 6 months and I've had this issue since the purchase:

Same as some people mentioned, I also get sprit second lines and artifacts. They appear roughly 2-3 times a day. At first I thought the problem is with the cable supplied with the monitor and I bought this one as a replacement:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accell-B142C-010B-DisplayPort-Latching-Cable/dp/B0098HVXVQ/

Some of the reviews for this cable say it solved the artifacts problem. That is not my case unfortunately, I still get artifacts even though I pay them little mind.

"No signal detected" issue happens sometimes as well but it is rather rare.

The worse part can be seen in photo and video:

Code:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2782785/benq.jpg
Code:
https://vid.me/DgVo
BQ:
Code:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2782785/benq.mov

This happens roughly 2x a month (it happened 3 times in a single day yesterday, first time it happened so many times). I can switch to a different input when this happens (i tried having a macbook connected to the hdmi input. I tried restarting my PC but the problem persists. I have to turn the monitor off and on, only then does the problem disappear.
This bothers me more as I'm unsure if the monitor is failing.

I don't have an opportunity to test the monitor on a different PC under the same set of conditions - 4k resolution at 60Hz. Any ideas/recommendations? Has anyone encountered a similar issue?

The monitor is brilliant outside of these problems but I'm getting nervous when it acts this way.

BenQ BL3201PT - i7 3770k, GTX 680 (GV-N680D5-2GD-B), GA-Z77X-UD5H, Windows 10
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Please post your video card. I am wondering if this is a problem that's related to a card or card manufacturer or not. also as I said, I am switching to HDMI 2.0 to see if it will happen. I know on the benq there's no hdmi 2.0 so you can only get 30hz but maybe someone can also switch over and see if that artifact still comes.

MSI GTX 980 Ti here. I have those flashes too. Nothing to bother me though, because it happens so fast.


Never got that before, and I've had mine for a month now.
 
From what I heard from a well informed person, theres only one AHVA IPS 32 inch panel: AUO - model M320QAN01. And this is found in both the Crossover 324K and the Benq BL3201. :(

So it looks like we are doomed to this artifact pretty much ;(. At least y'all don't have to deal with the crazy 45ms input lag on my Crossover :(.

I guess after all these time, 4K is still not quite mainstream without defect ;(
 
Hopefully this issue doesn't exist in the new Acer XB321HK... seems like it uses the same panel.
 
Did you or anyone else check to see what the largest Freesync range is with this monitor? Thanks.

I just ordered this monitor earlier this evening. I'm planning to try this once I get my hands on it. I'll be sure to report back.
 
I just ordered this monitor earlier this evening. I'm planning to try this once I get my hands on it. I'll be sure to report back.

An update: I have received the monitor and been experimenting with the freesync range modification. I have not been able to achieve any consistent results. I am unsure if this is user error or simply the monitor not having any room on the scalar.
My experience with 30 hz lower range was the monitor blacked out and did not function in any 3D applications. At 35 and up the monitor functions however flickering is experiences on various elements. Maybe someone with experience performing this modification can chime in?
 
Wow. That's incredibly bad luck.

I actually did return my first for an exchange through Amazon. The second one, which I'm using now, pretty much resolved all the problems I had with the first. I just tried checking my screen to see if it has the same problems yours has, and it doesn't.

Every panel that I've received has had poor white/gray uniformity. They've all had the "bruise" at the bottom middle of the screen as others have mentioned in the previous pages of this thread, and they've all had the shadowy lines. Basically, they suffer from the "dirty screen effect". I've noticed that most large panels suffer from this to some degree (I noticed the same thing on a 50" panel the other day, there were shadowy lines running vertically down the panel as they do on the BL3201PH), but I felt like the issue wouldn't be present in a $1000 4k computer monitor. I can sometimes ignore it if I try hard enough, but it's very annoying with moving imagery, as the darker areas stay darker while other areas of the screen do not.

As for screen flickering and other graphical defects, I just submitted my previous panel for RMA last week due to some fairly horrible defects. Feast your eyes:

29fdsav.jpg



It seems the BL3201PH is marred with plenty of problems in general. Nothing on the level of, say, the awful QC of the most recent 144Hz IPS 1440p gaming monitors, but there's some nasty stuff going on here.
 
Panel came back with a new controller board today. Fixed nothing.

I've had around five of these now, so I feel comfortable in saying the following:

-The intermittent graphical glitches that others have mentioned in this thread are a model-wide issue. Exchanging does nothing to alleviate the problem, even if it may appear so at first. When you buy this model, you should expect to
encounter random screen flickering and on-screen glitches from time to time. My Viewsonic VP2770 did the same thing. Unless someone can verify that this is an issue that can be remedied with more powerful graphics hardware, I'm at the point of believing without a doubt that a BL3201PH/PT cannot be had without this defect.

-Nearly all BL3201PH/PT will have a dark, bruise-like blemish at the bottom of the screen. Move the Windows taskbar and drag an empty Notepad window into that area, or load up a full white screen to verify.

-Most BL3201PHs suffer from the dirty screen effect. All five of mine have had this issue. It may, however, be a bit more difficult to notice unless you hunt it out. I notice it easily on darker shades of gray, pure white backgrounds, and moving imagery. I wouldn't say that the panel has poor white uniformity overall, but my VP2770 did not suffer from this issue.
 
My BenQ has a dark, straight line going down the middle of the screen. It's not obviously apparent but if you stare at the web and documents all day it is noticeable. I have also gotten one or two random split second artifacts similar to the images in this thread, covering up to half the screen for a flash and then disappearing. One time a small, maybe .5"x.5" perfect square artifact of random pixel noise (static) showed up in the middle of the screen, which disappeared upon reboot of the computer, making me wonder if this stuff is totally monitor based or something wrong with the monitor and associated graphics hardware/drivers.

It's sad that such an expensive monitor has these issues, because otherwise this thing is a great monitor. I'm not going to return it unless it gets much worse, the above i can deal with. I feel like if I try to exchange it or buy something else, I don't have great odds of anything better either, it seems this is simply the state of the monitor industry these days for LCD panels. Which is sort of ridiculous but c'est la vie.
 
My BenQ has a dark, straight line going down the middle of the screen. It's not obviously apparent but if you stare at the web and documents all day it is noticeable. I have also gotten one or two random split second artifacts similar to the images in this thread, covering up to half the screen for a flash and then disappearing. One time a small, maybe .5"x.5" perfect square artifact of random pixel noise (static) showed up in the middle of the screen, which disappeared upon reboot of the computer, making me wonder if this stuff is totally monitor based or something wrong with the monitor and associated graphics hardware/drivers.

It's sad that such an expensive monitor has these issues, because otherwise this thing is a great monitor. I'm not going to return it unless it gets much worse, the above i can deal with. I feel like if I try to exchange it or buy something else, I don't have great odds of anything better either, it seems this is simply the state of the monitor industry these days for LCD panels. Which is sort of ridiculous but c'est la vie.


I looked into it a bit more just now, and I'm fairly certain what we're experiencing here is the same banding effect found on the BL3200PT. In addition, the same problem is found on the Acer B326HK, which I suspect uses the same panel. I have horizontal and vertical banding that becomes apparent on white and/or gray backgrounds.
 
The line/band flash artifacts affect all monitors using this panel. I have a crossover 324K with this same panel and it usually happens once or twice a day for me... At least I only paid 550$ for mine. There is unfortunately not too many of these 32 in 4K OEM so everyone is affected no matter what brand name monitor they buy
 
Back
Top