BenQ XL2730Z Firmware UPDATE

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Jun 8, 2015
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Just wanted to give everyone the great news that BenQ’s firmware update has fixed the OD issue when FS is enabled on the XL2730Z. Just got mine back today and was very obvious that the OD is working now since I have very sensitive eyes when before it was very blurry when moving around in 3d games but now it moves extremely FAST just like using blur reduction mode except that it is much brighter, sharper, and colors seem to be more vibrant compared to only blur reduction mode with FS Disabled…oh and I can finally enjoy tear free Free-Sync technology. This monitor is simply 10/10 now I my opinion. I love it.

With that being said my RMA experience with their support was TOP-NOTCH. The RMA was processed and accepted the very same day of my inquiry about the issue and a free FedEx label was issued to me without even asking. The panel was shipped back to me again the very next day after they marked my case as “resolved” and received in 2 business days.

I tried posting this in overclockers uk forum (how I found about this issue) but it appears they do not like Americans for some strange reason because almost a week passed and still can’t make a post pending admin approval.
 
Appreciate the news. Let us know if anything else stands out as positives or negatives for you.

I was using a BenQ before my jump to 21:9, and had no problems with it.
 
I sent mine off as well, same deal, 2 day free fedex, they recieved it today (monday, 6/8) we'll see how quick turnaround is.

I never had a problem with it before honestly, but may as well get it fixed.

The panel brightness on this screen is insane, I can't imagine how enabling Blur Reduction was ever a problem for the above poster. I think I could get a sunburn from mine. Even with Blur reduction mode I can't hardly stand more then 50% screen brightness, I normally keep it on 10% for day to day non, blur reduction mode.

It will be nice to have the issue "Fixed" but I do feel like you've exaggerated it a bit.
 
I never had a problem with it before honestly, but may as well get it fixed.

It will be nice to have the issue "Fixed" but I do feel like you've exaggerated it a bit.

you never had a problem with it? what you mean by that? your display's AMA was working with Freesync?

but I doubt it that it was working, hence why you too send it out.

he didn't exaggerate anything, I am sure he paid over $600 for the monitor that wasn't working as advertised, and now it works perfectly, I see no exaggeration.
 
Nah, my AMA did not work with freesync either. Despite it not working, it was still the best gaming monitor i'd ever used. Most reviews acknowledge the issue and the ones that actually gamed on it (i.e NOT TFT Central) summarily dismissed it as minor. I'm glad to have it working and fixed, and BENQ should have never shipped it broke. But none of this changes the fact that it's hardly noticeable difference. You'll see it on high contrast scenes and test that are designed to bring it out, but for 99% of gaming you'd never notice it anyways.

I tested the monitor thoughly, with frame rate locked GL Quake at 144 FPS with Motion Blur and AMA on, with freesync off, I also tested it with Freesync on and AMA/MOtion blur OFF. The experience was excellent either way, and I could hardly tell a difference. Slight edge going to AMA/Motion Blur Reduction in that setup, but it was GL Quake locked @ 144 FPS. For anything remotely modern, the Freesync experience was significantly better. Despite no overdrive.

Im glad to have it fixed but it's not this OMG transformative upgrade. More the kind of upgrade if someone snuck into your room and turned AMA OFF, you might noticed it 3 weeks later kinda thing.
 
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Guys can you please tell me if "SINGLE STROBE" is working at 60hz refresh rate or if there is an option for single strobe in the service menu?

Can you enable 60hz refresh rate and blur reduction and does the monitor flicker (like a CRT at 60hz) and it's actually SMOOTH? (make sure freesync is DISABLED).

you can enter the service menu by powering off, holding button #4 for 5 seconds and then pressing power+button 4.
 
Nah, my AMA did not work with freesync either. Despite it not working, it was still the best gaming monitor i'd ever used. Most reviews acknowledge the issue and the ones that actually gamed on it (i.e NOT TFT Central) summarily dismissed it as minor. I'm glad to have it working and fixed, and BENQ should have never shipped it broke. But none of this changes the fact that it's hardly noticeable difference. You'll see it on high contrast scenes and test that are designed to bring it out, but for 99% of gaming you'd never notice it anyways.

I tested the monitor thoughly, with frame rate locked GL Quake at 144 FPS with Motion Blur and AMA on, with freesync off, I also tested it with Freesync on and AMA/MOtion blur OFF. The experience was excellent either way, and I could hardly tell a difference. Slight edge going to AMA/Motion Blur Reduction in that setup, but it was GL Quake locked @ 144 FPS. For anything remotely modern, the Freesync experience was significantly better. Despite no overdrive.

Im glad to have it fixed but it's not this OMG transformative upgrade. More the kind of upgrade if someone snuck into your room and turned AMA OFF, you might noticed it 3 weeks later kinda thing.

No way. From day one I sensed something was off with FS enabled on this monitor then a few days later the problem was discovered that the OD was not functioning the way it is suppose to. Sadly for me, even during desktop use I felt there was significant amount of motion blur when moving icons/windows around the screen. Once I disabled FS by enabling motion blur option moving around icons/windows was like that of a CRT...absolutely ZERO lag/motion. Thankfully, I now can enjoy all of these benefits with FS enabled and use the monitor at its full potential.

I honestly believe this is truly the best TN panel on the market right now...also touching on all of the basis in build quality as well - just plain solid.
 
I sent mine off as well, same deal, 2 day free fedex, they recieved it today (monday, 6/8) we'll see how quick turnaround is.

I never had a problem with it before honestly, but may as well get it fixed.

The panel brightness on this screen is insane, I can't imagine how enabling Blur Reduction was ever a problem for the above poster. I think I could get a sunburn from mine. Even with Blur reduction mode I can't hardly stand more then 50% screen brightness, I normally keep it on 10% for day to day non, blur reduction mode.

It will be nice to have the issue "Fixed" but I do feel like you've exaggerated it a bit.

Are you sure we are talking about the same monitor? hehe
10% brightness with motion blur and still bright for day to day?
Who's exaggerating now?
 
10% is my daily freesync brightness. 50% for blur reduction, although the various intensities ofblur reduction do change brightness levels my intensity is on defaults
 
Are you sure we are talking about the same monitor? hehe
10% brightness with motion blur and still bright for day to day?
Who's exaggerating now?

He said 10% in NON blur reduction (e.g. sample and hold) mode.
That's not unreasonable.
The XL2720Z is also too bright if you go past 20% brightness in blur reduction OFF mode (like he said).
 
10% is my daily freesync brightness. 50% for blur reduction, although the various intensities ofblur reduction do change brightness levels my intensity is on defaults

Set the brightness to 100% for blur reduction mode.
Then lower the "Brightness" by raising (or lowering) the INTENSITY value in the OSD.
Lowering the persistence setting (which the intensity value controls) will decrease the brightness in a much better way, by ALSO improving the amount of blur reduction. Try it. But I'm not sure if intensity 1 is the lowest brightness or intensity 25 (it was changed from the xl2720z).

This was called "Strobe duty" in the older Z series blur reduction monitors. You could go down to strobe duty 001, which was 0.167 ms (!!!) persistence--SMOOTHER than even the best CRT. Just to compare, Lightboost 10% on lightboost monitors was 1.4ms persistence at 120hz refresh rate, and 1.88ms persistence at 100hz.
And trust me...the lowest intensity (or the highest...I'm not sure how it works on the blur reduction 2.0 monitors, but I think the highest intensity value is dimmest brightness and most blur reduction (which is basically opposite of the older Z series; they just inverted the values), but 0.167ms persistence is going to be far too dim for you even at 100% brightness :) So use intensity to change brightness and leave the OSD at 100% brightness.

You have an S-switch, so toggling between presets is just a button press....


So that's the way to go. 100% brightness then adjust 'intensity' for blur reduction.
 
Set the brightness to 100% for blur reduction mode.
Then lower the "Brightness" by raising (or lowering) the INTENSITY value in the OSD.
Lowering the persistence setting (which the intensity value controls) will decrease the brightness in a much better way, by ALSO improving the amount of blur reduction. Try it. But I'm not sure if intensity 1 is the lowest brightness or intensity 25 (it was changed from the xl2720z).

This was called "Strobe duty" in the older Z series blur reduction monitors. You could go down to strobe duty 001, which was 0.167 ms (!!!) persistence--SMOOTHER than even the best CRT. Just to compare, Lightboost 10% on lightboost monitors was 1.4ms persistence at 120hz refresh rate, and 1.88ms persistence at 100hz.
And trust me...the lowest intensity (or the highest...I'm not sure how it works on the blur reduction 2.0 monitors, but I think the highest intensity value is dimmest brightness and most blur reduction (which is basically opposite of the older Z series; they just inverted the values), but 0.167ms persistence is going to be far too dim for you even at 100% brightness :) So use intensity to change brightness and leave the OSD at 100% brightness.

You have an S-switch, so toggling between presets is just a button press....


So that's the way to go. 100% brightness then adjust 'intensity' for blur reduction.

Before the fix I had mine just like you said...100% brightness and used intensity to make it even more bright. It was just too dim for me and I prefer bright/sharp panels so even setting the intensity to 1 was still kind of dark for me. This is why I almost shipped this monitor back for a refund since I couldn't enjoy it with FS enabled with OD being broken. So glad I waited. I should also note that the firmware may have also recalibrated something else and not just the OD issue. Maybe its a placebo effect but the colors just seem a lot more vibrant. The red/blues are like popping out of the screen. Can't believe it's TN panel.
 
Thank you.

Can someone please test if 100 hz and 60hz blur reduction is working now?
In the original firmware, 100hz strobed at 120hz pulses causing a very stuttering and ugly image (unusuable). And 60hz also strobed at 120hz (double strobe) making blur reduction useless at 60hz. (the single strobe setting to force single strobe at 60hz was missing from the service menu).

can someone kindly test 60 and 100hz blur reduction and see if its fully completely smooth now? (60hz should have backlight flicker just like a 60 hz CRT).
 
I did not know that about Blur Reduction, thanks for the tip Falk, i'll give it a try when i get mine back. I'll also help you with testing strobe modes if you still havent figured it out. I'm still waiting for mine to come back. They've had it since monday, and i've not got any word back yet on shipping/eta. Was hoping they'd ship it out today so I could have it for the weekend, but doesn't look like that's going to happen. Will have to wait till next week.
 
Well, BENQ's had mine since monday, and still no word back, I went ahead and sent them an email for an update, was hoping turn around time would be faster then this. :(
 
Is the XL2730Z safe to purchase on Newegg/Amazon? I'd think that they'd carry the V002 by now.
 
Good news, BENQ updated my monitor and sent it out the next day, which was Tuesday, I have received it today, and I will be testing it out soon.

Very fast (1 day) turnaround on BENQ's part, they just did not update me on shipping.
 
Thank you.

Can someone please test if 100 hz and 60hz blur reduction is working now?
In the original firmware, 100hz strobed at 120hz pulses causing a very stuttering and ugly image (unusuable). And 60hz also strobed at 120hz (double strobe) making blur reduction useless at 60hz. (the single strobe setting to force single strobe at 60hz was missing from the service menu).

can someone kindly test 60 and 100hz blur reduction and see if its fully completely smooth now? (60hz should have backlight flicker just like a 60 hz CRT).

I just tested this for you even though I would never keep such settings (why would YOU?) when 144hz is available and works great with BR or FS.

Sadly, anything below 120hz moving icons/windows in 2d/desktop usage moves kind of choppy and not smooth at all so I am not sure what that means to you.

If you are planning to use it for consoles then you should get the model BenQ has designed for that. I honestly have no complaints with this monitor. After the firmware fix it's perfect for me.
 
Thanks.
Yeah that proves they didn't fix single strobe yet.
The firmware is fully capable of it. They simply didn't ADD the options back when they switched scalers (from Mstar 8556T to Realtek).

And it isn't about consoles.
It's about being able to single strobe at 1 hz increments from 60 to 144 hz. I can get the XL2720Z to single strobe at 91hz (custom refresh rate) for call of duty advanced warfare 91 fps lock, for vsync on 91 hz/91 fps, for example.
Changing from the XL2720Z to the XL2730Z would be a serious downgrade for me, since I like to keep FPS=refresh rate so I play a lot of games at lower than 120hz.

I could live with there not being an option to single strobe at lower than 100hz,
But it not being able to strobe correctly at 100hz is a SERIOUS bug. People are sending their monitors to Benq yet they cant fix a SIMPLE strobe bug? That's ridiculous.

The older Z series automatically single strobed at 100 to 144 hz at all times (the single strobe on/off setting was basically ignored/invalid for these refresh rates), and double strobed lower than 100hz. The "single strobe" setting was for refresh rates LOWER than 100hz to enable single strobe with strobe duty/phase adjustments also, since otherwise it would double strobe (like that unsmooth image you got at 60hz, it was strobing at 120hz rates at 60hz, thus strobing every other frame).

But the 100hz strobe is a major sync bug. It's like it's strobing at partial intervals (120hz rates), a lot like using a 125 hz polling rate mouse at 100hz desktop refresh rate...looks just like that...
 
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After reading this post, I requested an RMA and sent my unit in too. The label they sent was Fedex Ground though (took a week because I'm in GA). It arrived yesterday. I just called and its shipping out today. Hopefully its not coming back Fedex Ground. That'll be 2 weeks without a monitor. :-(
 
Ugh. Not looking forward to having to send my monitor back. I don't even know if I still have the box anymore. And I use my PC daily.
 
Does anyone have the device that flashes the firmware that is willing to loan it out for me to flash my monitor?

I saw some other forums were doing it, but I would prefer to stay [h].
 
The xl2730z firmware has not been dumped and is not downloadable. Where did you hear that it was?

Even if someone did manage to extract the firmware, there is no known flasher for the realtek module, as this scaler has not been used in previous monitors.
 
Do we know if the XL2730Z units currently being sold from places like Amazon & Best Buy already have the firmware update installed? How can we verify it if we purchase one?
 
Do we know if the XL2730Z units currently being sold from places like Amazon & Best Buy already have the firmware update installed? How can we verify it if we purchase one?

Amazon does. I bought one from them in July and it came with v002 firmware.
 
Do we know if the XL2730Z units currently being sold from places like Amazon & Best Buy already have the firmware update installed? How can we verify it if we purchase one?

I just got one from Amazon that came from BenQ, August build. It's V2.
 
How are the colors on this thing compared to my BenQ XL2411Z ??

I would get another BenQ if the colors were better then my 24" XL....
 
It's an 8-bit panel so it will be quite a bit better.
 
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