Dell U2410

I just ordered my LCD last night and I'm hoping *fingers crossed* none of these issues are present. All of the information on these pages helped me make up my mind and has provided some serious tips so thanks to all those who have contributed!

I was wondering if there is a checklist for setting up your windows with this LCD? I've seen mention of downloading the latest ICM file but nothing on how to install it or make sure windows is using it properly.
 
PatK said:
Hmm. I assume you've checked all the other obvious stuff too, like the graphics card brightness/colour settings aren't messing with things, and its set to 32 bit quality etc?

It's very easy to get the U2410 to visibly band when you set any of the Hue controls in "Custom Color" mode much more than 1 or 2 steps above or below the default 50. Perhaps you could use that to your advantage by adjusting those to see what reduces banding, and that way you can actually maybe figure out where the screen's going wrong? EG not enough blue is being produced, or maybe too much green etc etc.

I'm not sure, once knowing that, if going into the factory menu and adjusting the colours could help rebalance things either. If you did go that far make sure you take a note of any settings before adjusting so you can set them back to those values if you're returning the screen to Dell.

Before going for a replacement I'd also try a different cable and input too.. EG if you're using DVI try using HDMI just to see if it makes any difference.

If opting for an exchange request a later pick up date for your current screen than the delivery date for the replacement. This way you are able to evaluate the replacement before returning your current screen. If the replacement is really bad you can simply refuse it. It'll also allow you to see whether the other screen has the same problem. If it does then I'd start to suspect something other than the U2410 being the cause. HTH :)
Click to expand...

In Windows yes. On OS X there are no options beyond resolution, refresh rate and the colour profile.

I've just tried adjusting all the settings in custom colour and none of them reduced banding. Some made no difference a lot of them made things much worse. Instead of banding it produced bright lines along the edges of the bands.

I'm currently using it with two different DVI cables on the two DVI ports. I've tried my AppleTV via component and the banding is far worse.

Guess I'll have to try the replacement game as you suggested. :|
 
ozu said:
Bought 1 with the recent coupons. Now I'll have to sell the 2405FPW and buy another U2410 strictly because I'm anal about matching dual monitors.
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Nothing anal about that. I sold my 2x 2405FPWs as well after I got my 2x U2410s. I'm so anal I bought an Egrotron stand because I can't stand having things even 1mm different in height! That plus using a tape measure to make sure each monitor is exactly the same distance from my eyes....it goes on and and on and on....LOL
 
Just got my U2410. It is Rev 01. No dead or stuck pixels everything seems fine. No backlight bleed at all and color uniformity seems spot on. It was made in Mexico in May so its brand new which is nice. Question, when gaming is their a big difference in input lag when using game mode as opposed to say ARGB? I like the look of ARGB the best and would like to use that even when gaming. But if their is a big input lag when using it I will switch between game mode and ARGB.
 
Greetings:
Just a p.s. to my last post.
I ordered the monitor on the same day I posted 5/26. It got here today and I'm presently using it.
Very satisfied. Colors are great in sRGB preset. I did have to turn the torch down to about 8 or I probably would have gotten a headache. Still might have to drop it to the bottom.
No banding that I can see.
I've read reviews that said that blacks were disapointing, but I don't see it.
I think a lot of thought went into designing the stand.
So far its a keeper.
Thanks again.
Scratch...
 
After looking more thoroughly I found 1 stuck green pixel in the top part of the screen :-( Is it even worth it to try and replace it? How does that work anyway, do you call Dell and tell them you have 1 stuck pixel and they send out a new one right away before you send the other one back?
 
tempting....

Is image quality (and text) as good as 2209WA? that's what I have now and the only way I'll upgrade is if quality is equal or better.
 
zod96 said:
After looking more thoroughly I found 1 stuck green pixel in the top part of the screen :-( Is it even worth it to try and replace it? How does that work anyway, do you call Dell and tell them you have 1 stuck pixel and they send out a new one right away before you send the other one back?
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If it's near the edge, and not obvious, my advice is live with it. IPS panels have 2 transistors per pixel, which means they are more prone to dead pixels than the cheaper TN panel based screens (because there's more transistors to go wrong). Once you get to large IPS sizes, like 24 inches + , the chances are pretty high you'll have 1 dead pixel (I'd guess somewhere between a 25 and 50% chance, but thats a guess - you'd need to see lots of screens to get the proper number).

So what you get back still has a decent sized chance that it'll still have a dead pixel, but instead it could be in the middle of the screen, or it could be pixel perfect but with some other annoying problem. Dell ignore their own quality guarantee and regularly send out screens with lit pixels (which their own warranty doesn't allow). As for dead pixels, their warranty actually allows for up to 6 dead pixels, which is pretty obscene. Fortunately, although 1 dead pixel isn't rare, 2 or more dead pixels does seem rare.

The Dell staff are supposed to refuse a swap for less than 6 dead pixels, but will accept a swap for just 1 lit pixel.. Lit pixel are the ones you can see on a black background. Not only would most consumers not know the difference, neither do Dells staff, which means you should be able to initiate an exchange for even 1 dead pixel. But, as said above, don't do it unless it's really really bugging you, since that's not without risk (of getting something worse) either..
 
zod96 said:
Question, when gaming is their a big difference in input lag when using game mode as opposed to say ARGB? I like the look of ARGB the best and would like to use that even when gaming. But if their is a big input lag when using it I will switch between game mode and ARGB.
Click to expand...
There is a fairly noticeable difference I think.

The good news is you can have your cake and eat it :) There is a way to run in Game Mode with Adobe colours. Simply go into Game Mode. Once there open the U2410 menu and move the yellow bar down so that Adobe RGB is highlited. Now DO NOT CONFIRM the change. Instead allow the menu to time out by itself. Voila - you are now in Game Mode with Adobe colours :) This will work for sRGB mode too :)

Remember, if you power off the screen, it may not remember the "trick". So always switch to game mode, then to whatever mode you want without confirming. HTH
 
PnoT said:
I was wondering if there is a checklist for setting up your windows with this LCD? I've seen mention of downloading the latest ICM file but nothing on how to install it or make sure windows is using it properly.
Click to expand...
Windows Settings
(Window 7, probably Vista, XP might be slightly different)
Control Panel / Display / Adjust clear Type Text - Set to your preferences for text. This will make a big difference.

The latest ICM file is now on Windows update. So if you install the drivers from the CD (so Windows can identify the monitor) Windows Update will then see you have a U2410 and should offer an optional download of the U2410 drivers. These contain the latest ICM file.

To activate it just go to control panel / color management, select the right device and tick "use my settings", then select add and add the ICM file here if it hasn't automatically been set. Now any Windows programs that are colour managed applications will use it (Some, like Firefox, use their own settings for this). Unfortunately the only Windows app that comes with colour management is the Photoviewer, but stuff like Photoshop will use these settings too.

Firefox can also use the ICM file. Go to about:config, type "gfx" in the filter box, set gfx.color_management.display_profile to point to your ICM path and file, then set gfx.color_management.mode to 1, which will translate all untagged images to sRGB images. Restart Freifox to take effect.

Remember the ICM file is only intended for usage in Wide Gamut modes - Don't let Windows use it if you intend to use sRGB or Adobe RGB mode or it will make colours look wrong in colour managed apps.


U2410 settings

The default contrast of 50 (or very slightly below) tends to work best. Sharpness 50 also produces the best results, so leave alone and use cleartype to adjust for text sharpness. Brightness.. adjust to taste but lower settings will make the U2410 burn less power and produce less heat. You can also turn the button beeps off if they annoy you :)

In Game Mode do Menu / Display Settings / And Set Dynamic contrast to off. All it practically does is randomly turn your brightness down when it thinks it sees dark content and it tends to be more of an annoyance than anything!

In Custom Color mode -
Gain - Tune the Gain settings by looking at a white background (a maximized folder Window even does the trick ) and try to get the white as neutral (neither too blue, green or red) whilst leaving the controls as close to 100 as possible. Don't try to make any other adjustments than looking at a white or light grey background here.

Offset - Helps with how easy it is to see dark shades. Try to stay as low as possible whilst using images like the Lagom.nl black level test to tune it so you can see the squares (fullscreen the image when doing this). Offset can also help if you see slightly too much red/green/blue in black and white greyscale photographs. This way you can adjust it so the greys are more neutral.

Hue - Don't go below 48 or above 52 with Hue or you'll introduce banding. The way Dell implemented things means it'll do more harm than good. Can be used for very subtle colour changes but not anything more. Go to it after saturation, not before.

Saturation - Custom Color mode is a wide gamut mode, so you might want to tone down the reds in particular, and that's what saturation is good for. An ICM file and colour managed apps are supposed to remove the need for adjustments here, and turning down the values starts to mess with the accuracy of the ICM file. But, if you don't want to bother with an ICM file, you can tweak the intensity of colours here nicely. The Red and Magenta controls tend to have the most impact, but adjust to taste.

As an aside it appears impossible to solely use the manual controls in the U2410's Custom mode to achieve a gamma of 2.2. It tends to be somewhere around 2.0 or just above. The average user won't care, but it would probably bug those who do, and it'd have been nice for Dell to allow greater fine tuning in this mode to be able to achieve things like that :)

See the game mode tip above too.. HTH :)
 
Called Dell they are sending out a brand new U2410 to me overnight :) That makes me happy. So we'll see how this one is. Although the one I have now is pretty much perfect except for the green stuck pixel, which BTW is in the middle of the screen and I notice it everytime..
 
Really awesome screen, but why arent there much response to the Dell U2711 threads ? It's just as good but double the price for extra 3" lol :x
 
Because its about $600 more. And for the price you could buy 2 U2410's for the price of 1 2711
 
chiggah said:
Really awesome screen, but why arent there much response to the Dell U2711 threads ? It's just as good but double the price for extra 3" lol :x
Click to expand...

Probably because there are less issues with the panel. This thread blew up because of the tinting problem that was seen early on. Then it relaxed alittle.

The U2711 is amazing though but for the money I personally prefer the U2410 , if you waited for a good deal you could get 3 panels for nearly the price of one U2711 as you stated.
 
I can comment on the u2711. The only reason I didn't purchase the u2410 was because I had the opportunity to grab the u2711 for the same price. A 27" LCD is great but the obvious downside is the smaller pixel pitch. It may sound ridiculous, but when you're constantly trying to focus your eyes (20/20 vision here) on text and word documents, sometimes a higher resolution is a problem. Plus, nothing runs native at 2560x1440. So I am envious that the u2410 has a more standardized resolution.
 
PatK said:
Windows Settings
(Window 7, probably Vista, XP might be slightly different)
Control Panel / Display / Adjust clear Type Text - Set to your preferences for text. This will make a big difference.

The latest ICM file is now on Windows update. So if you install the drivers from the CD (so Windows can identify the monitor) Windows Update will then see you have a U2410 and should offer an optional download of the U2410 drivers. These contain the latest ICM file.

To activate it just go to control panel / color management, select the right device and tick "use my settings", then select add and add the ICM file here if it hasn't automatically been set. Now any Windows programs that are colour managed applications will use it (Some, like Firefox, use their own settings for this). Unfortunately the only Windows app that comes with colour management is the Photoviewer, but stuff like Photoshop will use these settings too.

Firefox can also use the ICM file. Go to about:config, type "gfx" in the filter box, set gfx.color_management.display_profile to point to your ICM path and file, then set gfx.color_management.mode to 1, which will translate all untagged images to sRGB images. Restart Freifox to take effect.

Remember the ICM file is only intended for usage in Wide Gamut modes - Don't let Windows use it if you intend to use sRGB or Adobe RGB mode or it will make colours look wrong in colour managed apps.


U2410 settings

The default contrast of 50 (or very slightly below) tends to work best. Sharpness 50 also produces the best results, so leave alone and use cleartype to adjust for text sharpness. Brightness.. adjust to taste but lower settings will make the U2410 burn less power and produce less heat. You can also turn the button beeps off if they annoy you :)

In Game Mode do Menu / Display Settings / And Set Dynamic contrast to off. All it practically does is randomly turn your brightness down when it thinks it sees dark content and it tends to be more of an annoyance than anything!

In Custom Color mode -
Gain - Tune the Gain settings by looking at a white background (a maximized folder Window even does the trick ) and try to get the white as neutral (neither too blue, green or red) whilst leaving the controls as close to 100 as possible. Don't try to make any other adjustments than looking at a white or light grey background here.

Offset - Helps with how easy it is to see dark shades. Try to stay as low as possible whilst using images like the Lagom.nl black level test to tune it so you can see the squares (fullscreen the image when doing this). Offset can also help if you see slightly too much red/green/blue in black and white greyscale photographs. This way you can adjust it so the greys are more neutral.

Hue - Don't go below 48 or above 52 with Hue or you'll introduce banding. The way Dell implemented things means it'll do more harm than good. Can be used for very subtle colour changes but not anything more. Go to it after saturation, not before.

Saturation - Custom Color mode is a wide gamut mode, so you might want to tone down the reds in particular, and that's what saturation is good for. An ICM file and colour managed apps are supposed to remove the need for adjustments here, and turning down the values starts to mess with the accuracy of the ICM file. But, if you don't want to bother with an ICM file, you can tweak the intensity of colours here nicely. The Red and Magenta controls tend to have the most impact, but adjust to taste.

As an aside it appears impossible to solely use the manual controls in the U2410's Custom mode to achieve a gamma of 2.2. It tends to be somewhere around 2.0 or just above. The average user won't care, but it would probably bug those who do, and it'd have been nice for Dell to allow greater fine tuning in this mode to be able to achieve things like that :)

See the game mode tip above too.. HTH :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for breaking down all the options and tweaks!!

I'll be mainly using it for surfing the web and gaming so I should probably skip using the ICM file correct? I do some photoshop and video editing so is it pretty easy to switch from the wide gamut back to normal?

I also heard you can do game mode and sRGB at the same time so I'll give that a shot.
 
Anyone look into cards with 2x DisplayPort outputs? Looking for something decent priced...not into games. Would like something quiet. Thanks!
 
In Custom Color mode -
Gain - Tune the Gain settings by looking at a white background (a maximized folder Window even does the trick ) and try to get the white as neutral (neither too blue, green or red) whilst leaving the controls as close to 100 as possible. Don't try to make any other adjustments than looking at a white or light grey background here.
Click to expand...
The custom color mode has severe linearity problems. I would strongly recommend to use an other mode.

Best regards

Denis
 
PnoT said:
I'll be mainly using it for surfing the web and gaming so I should probably skip using the ICM file correct?
Click to expand...
Yep, unless you wanted to do something like leave it permanently in gaming mode. In which case you could actually use the ICM file inside Firefox and the colours would look reasonably ok. Without that, as you'll see, they will "glow" :)

Btw be careful of the fact that the driver *may* automatically enable the ICM when you install it (so you'd have to go into the colour management settings in the control panel to stop it). It might not do that (I don't remember!) but something to keep in mind.

I do some photoshop and video editing so is it pretty easy to switch from the wide gamut back to normal?
Click to expand...
Yep. A couple of button presses and it instantly changes, unless it's a mode like Game Mode where you wait a few seconds (maybe 5) to change to that since it's reconfiguring some internal settings for better a response time.

I also heard you can do game mode and sRGB at the same time so I'll give that a shot.
Click to expand...
Yep, great for games that really need sRGB. Keep in mind just as many games actually tend to benefit from the "cartoon colour" look Game Mode gives them as well :D
 
Sailor_Moon said:
The custom color mode has severe linearity problems. I would strongly recommend to use an other mode.
Click to expand...
Yep.. Further down in my comments I did say it seems impossible to manually adjust it to a 2.2 curve using the controls. The controls Dell provides seem very limited and, worse, are unable to correct things! If you have a hardware device for calibrating then you'd be better off avoiding it. However, if you're just an average end user who's never going to own such a device (and doesn't care if their gamma is 2.2 ;) ), then I don't see huge harm in using Custom Mode if someone's not quite happy with the colours in either sRGB or Adobe mode. But you're right that Dell did something to mess it up somehow? :confused: :(
 
However, if you're just an average end user who's never going to own such a device (and doesn't care if their gamma is 2.2 ), then I don't see huge harm in using Custom Mode
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Have a look at the problems we had shown here (Link). The gradation in this mode is an other problem. If the gradation would be the only negative aspect and you could live with a Gamma of ~2.0 in unmanaged applications you could calibrate it with this target (is is quite stable) to loose fewer colors in these applications. The CMM would ensure the right gradation in managed applications.

Apart from the severe nonlinearity (no matrix profile will be able to represent the display colorimetrically) and not ideal gradation, the grey axis is less neutral in this mode (see the DeltaC in the link). But already the first point is an absolute no go for virtually every use - whether you want to calibrate the display or not. The input signal is "twisted".

Best regards

Denis
 
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I seem to be having a problem the active color profile with this monitor. I've loaded up TFTCentral's ICC profile for the U2410 but it doesn't change anything.

When I'm in Photoshop, I can cycle through the installed color profiles and the differences between them are easily noticeable. However, when I cycle through color profiles in the Windows Color Management, nothing happens. This leaves me to my question: do I have to enable color management somewhere else?
 
However, when I cycle through color profiles in the Windows Color Management, nothing happens.
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Desktop and OS are not color managed. Just assign the display profile to your display. The advanced options (second picture in the linked posting) affect only applications that are using the CMM of windows.

http://www.prad.de/board/monitore/h...-ich-unter-win-7-genau-einstellen/#post350979

I've loaded up TFTCentral's ICC profile for the U2410 but it doesn't change anything.
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I wouldn't use this profile because it was created with a colorimeter without necessary correction (the DELL U2410 has a WCG-CCFL backlight). You will at least end up with an quite far "off" whitepoint (not only in terms of CCT but also away from the black body curve what you don't want) and unnecessary "faulty" corrections through the graphic card LUT. Apart from that is is always quite critcal to use other profiles (think only of display drifts, deviations in factory calibration,...).

Best regards

Denis
 
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Sailor_Moon said:
Have a look at the problems we had shown here (Link). The gradation in this mode is an other problem. If the gradation would be the only negative aspect and you could live with a Gamma of ~2.0 in unmanaged applications you could calibrate it with this target (is is quite stable) to loose fewer colors in these applications. The CMM would ensure the right gradation in managed applications.

Apart from the severe nonlinearity (no matrix profile will be able to represent the display colorimetrically) and not ideal gradation, the grey axis is less neutral in this mode (see the DeltaC in the link). But already the first point is an absolute no go for virtually every use - whether you want to calibrate the display or not. The input signal is "twisted".
Click to expand...

As I said, I've noticed this mode has issues too, and I don't recommend people calibrate their screen using it. However my comments are to be taken in the context that most people (who will buy a U2410) don't own, and will never own, a hardware colour calibration device. So any "calibrating" that does happen will be done by their eyes :) When this is the case the only mode which provides any real controls at all is Custom Mode. So, if they're not happy with either sRGB or Adobe mode, Custom Mode is their only option.

Yep, they get a mode where you can't adjust the Hue values below 48 or above 52 without introducing visible banding, so there's very limited control of colours, and where their gamma will be closer to 2.0. But, in this trade off, they get manual control of colour saturation, manual whitepoint control with gain, and offset will allow them some control of tuning greys as well as how visible darker values are.

When used like this, in this context, I don't see any problem with Custom Mode at all. But you'd think, with a 12 bit LUT and FRC, this sort of mode could've been implemented a lot better. I think it is clear Innolux / Dell badly messed up something in Custom Mode, and this will matter a lot to some people. For others, though, it is their only way of gaining any control of the screen to adjust it to their preferences. As such it's "better than nothing", but it's a shame that clearly some sort of mistake was made by Dell and their partners, like Innolux, when implementing this mode on the U2410. Maybe they could fix it by A02? :)
 
So any "calibrating" that does happen will be done by their eyes
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If one can live with that "twisting" (can lead to quite odd effects) he can of course use this mode. The problem is that the negative effects of the nonlinearity affects non calibrated usage too. I would reccomend to use standard mode and the service menu to get access to the RGB Gain controls. The much better neutrality is also an advantage that is usefull especially if not calibrated. Downside: The gradation is even more off in standard mode but it is "consistent". In the custom color mode you can make no predictions in this regard about anything outside the primary colors.

Best regards

Denis
 
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PatK said:
U2410 settings

In Game Mode do Menu / Display Settings / And Set Dynamic contrast to off. All it practically does is randomly turn your brightness down when it thinks it sees dark content and it tends to be more of an annoyance than anything!
Click to expand...

im always in Game Mode and this auto dimm crap was pissing me off! lol. and i couldnt find how to turn it off. thanks you sir!
 
zerodepth said:
Does anyone know how the warranty will work if I purchase it from a seller through ebay? Thanks.
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I would not count on it. Play it safe....sign up for a business account, get a Dell rep and have them quote the U2410 for you. It will save you headaches down the road. $50 now is not worth it later.
 
I got my monitor in and thankfully I've got no dead pixels and there's no tinting going on either. I did a quick calibration and came up with this which seems to be pretty good.

afterstandardmode.jpg
 
I've got some backlight bleed in the bottom left and right corners of my U2410. Is this the norm on these monitors?
 
Most of these monitors are shit mate. As long as the panels are developed by LG your most likely going to get fucked over buying these monitors.

what a shame as nearly all IPS panel are made by LG. terrible QC from LG.
 
zod96 said:
I've got some backlight bleed in the bottom left and right corners of my U2410. Is this the norm on these monitors?
Click to expand...

I've had this LCD for two days now and I can tell there is significant bleed bottom left and some on the right. I have also noticed that looking at the screen from an angle makes the entire LCD look glowing white... is that normal?
 
PnoT said:
I've had this LCD for two days now and I can tell there is significant bleed bottom left and some on the right. I have also noticed that looking at the screen from an angle makes the entire LCD look glowing white... is that normal?
Click to expand...

zod96 said:
Mine does the exact same thing...
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This is nothing abnormal , its just what IPS panels do. Only A-TW polarizers can cure this problem (mostly) but there are currently no panels in production that use this anymore.

Its one of the downsides of IPS panels. You'll get use to it after awhile , it use to be far worse with older more expensive IPS panels so believe it or not , you're getting the improved version. Just try to adjust the monitor in a position where it seems less bright in each corner and in time it'll be second nature.
 
Godmachine said:
This is nothing abnormal , its just what IPS panels do. Only A-TW polarizers can cure this problem (mostly) but there are currently no panels in production that use this anymore.

Its one of the downsides of IPS panels. You'll get use to it after awhile , it use to be far worse with older more expensive IPS panels so believe it or not , you're getting the improved version. Just try to adjust the monitor in a position where it seems less bright in each corner and in time it'll be second nature.
Click to expand...

An improvement? i dont have such issues on my 2005fpw
 
I am confused about the wide gamut, standard gamut color situation. If I have no need for wide gamut, and use a regular video card and standard web browser, no Adobe photoshop, is there a good way to set up the u2410 and get the right colors and a good picture? some comments and articles suggest this will be nothing but trouble.
Thanks
homer_at
 
Godmachine said:
This is nothing abnormal , its just what IPS panels do. Only A-TW polarizers can cure this problem (mostly) but there are currently no panels in production that use this anymore.

Its one of the downsides of IPS panels. You'll get use to it after awhile , it use to be far worse with older more expensive IPS panels so believe it or not , you're getting the improved version. Just try to adjust the monitor in a position where it seems less bright in each corner and in time it'll be second nature.
Click to expand...

The 'white glow' is hardly limited to IPS. PVA suffers the very same issue off angle. Presumably TN does but the viewing angles are so bad everything shifts so radically one doesn't notice white over the yellow and other colours everything shifts to and from.

homer_at said:
I am confused about the wide gamut, standard gamut color situation. If I have no need for wide gamut, and use a regular video card and standard web browser, no Adobe photoshop, is there a good way to set up the u2410 and get the right colors and a good picture? some comments and articles suggest this will be nothing but trouble.
Thanks
homer_at
Click to expand...

OSD > Menu > Colour Settings:
Mode Selection: Graphics
Preset Modes: sRGB

Make sure you don't have any wide gamut colour profiles applied in your OS's display settings. On OS X it will default to the u2410 profile which is wide gamut and not for the sRGB preset.
 
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