Dell U2515H

[Pechendko]

To those who have bought this this monitor, how do you find the "factory calibrated" settings?
Do they correspond with the factory calibration report included in the package?


I was actually thinking of ordering it, after reading the review, but I'm afraid it may come with 2.1 gamma and 6900k color temp.

 

[PoisonJam2]

To those who have bought this this monitor, how do you find the "factory calibrated" settings?
Do they correspond with the factory calibration report included in the package?


I was actually thinking of ordering it, after reading the review, but I'm afraid it may come with 2.1 gamma and 6900k color temp.

I haven't hardware calibrated mine to compare, so impossible to say right now. However I will be doing this over the weekend so I'll post back when I do.

The way I see it though - you're either the type who owns/will buy a calibrator, in which case it's pretty irrelevant, or you're the type which won't, in which case the fact that it is pre-calibrated to a reasonable level compared with most other screens at this price level is just a really nice bonus.

The TFTC review illustrates how their sample compares out of the box vs hardware calibrated in great detail.

 

[Pechendko]

I haven't hardware calibrated mine to compare, so impossible to say right now. However I will be doing this over the weekend so I'll post back when I do.

The way I see it though - you're either the type who owns/will buy a calibrator, in which case it's pretty irrelevant, or you're the type which won't, in which case the fact that it is pre-calibrated to a reasonable level compared with most other screens at this price level is just a really nice bonus.

The TFTC review illustrates how their sample compares out of the box vs hardware calibrated in great detail.

Their u2515 was decent, but I've seen some other reviews for the other ultrasharp models and some of them even had the gamma of 2.4.

So I wonder, whether these calibration reports mean anything or not, or just fakes like the ones that came with that 1k$ samsung hardware lut monitor.

I'm actually planning to get a i1 with it, but what's the point if almost none of the games support gamma calibration in fullscreen mode.

 

[PoisonJam2]

Their u2515 was decent, but I've seen some other reviews for the other ultrasharp models and some of them even had the gamma of 2.4.

So I wonder, whether these calibration reports mean anything or not, or just fakes like the ones that came with that 1k$ samsung hardware lut monitor.

I'm actually planning to get a i1 with it, but what's the point if almost none of the games support gamma calibration in fullscreen mode.

Again, I'd refer you to the review. Simon at TFTC knows far more than I could ever give you insight into. It'd be pretty impressive to get those results by chance and I'd like to believe it was a special 'review sample', either.

Sample variance will always be an issue in all aspects of monitor production (factory calibration included). But at the risk of sounding repetitive, if you are going to calibrate it anyway, does it really matter?

 

[Pechendko]

Sample variance will always be an issue in all aspects of monitor production (factory calibration included).

I wonder, does Dell have a completely automated factory calibration process? If not I believe there shouldn't be any significant variance in gamma/color temp, at least not by 300k and 0.2-0.3 for gamma. But why am I seeing numbers from 2.1 to 2.4..

Like the calibration reports for the s27b970d, they all were completely the same


http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2414h.htm - 6404k

http://www.overclockers.ru/lab/5887...bzor_i_testirovanie_monitora_Dell_U2414H.html - 7075k
both are at 75 brightness 75 contrast and in the srgb "factory calibrated" mode.

Seems like a panel calibration lottery to me, considering you can't change the white point in srgb mode, if I get it right.


And yes it does matter because I'm going to play games on it that don't support gpu color correction in full screen mode as well as consoles. I'm so fucking tired of this display lottery bullshit, there's just nothing on the market that would satisfy me.

 

[PoisonJam2]

As I understand it your graphics card affects the result so the default profile will look different across PCs?

Might want to drop a post on the TFTC forums.

 

[Pechendko]

It shouldn't, the defaults in the gpu driver should be just flat.

 

[PoisonJam2]

Seems like a panel calibration lottery to me, considering you can't change the white point in srgb mode, if I get it right.

And yes it does matter because I'm going to play games on it that don't support gpu color correction in full screen mode as well as consoles. I'm so fucking tired of this display lottery bullshit, there's just nothing on the market that would satisfy me.

This is just my 2c...

but calibration for me is purely about trying to get true colours so that your print output matches what you see on your display. So dropping a few $$$ on a large printed canvas it is quite critical.

Playing games and watching movies, as long as the output looks good to the user, is it going to destroy their enjoyment of the game if the calibration is a little off? Don't get me wrong - I'm as anal about my AV and HiFi set-up as I am my computer setup, but there's not the same critical need for colours to match ink/real life so precisely. That's the thing here - it doesn't matter that much to the vast majority of users and would cost a lot more to get right just for the benefit of a tiny minority. And that's not Dell's market with this panel.

I'm not making excuses for Dell - and their real panel lottery back in the day when you didn't know whether you were going to get an IPS or TNT panel is well documented - but we're talking about a what is essentially budget panel here, so some degree of realistic expectations has to be maintained.

 

[Pechendko]

This is just my 2c...

but calibration for me is purely about trying to get true colours so that your print output matches what you see on your display. So dropping a few $$$ on a large printed canvas it is quite critical.

Playing games and watching movies, as long as the output looks good to the user, is it going to destroy their enjoyment of the game if the calibration is a little off? Don't get me wrong - I'm as anal about my AV and HiFi set-up as I am my computer setup, but there's not the same critical need for colours to match ink/real life so precisely. That's the thing here - it doesn't matter that much to the vast majority of users and would cost a lot more to get right just for the benefit of a tiny minority. And that's not Dell's market with this panel.

I'm not making excuses for Dell - and their real panel lottery back in the day when you didn't know whether you were going to get an IPS or TNT panel is well documented - but we're talking about a what is essentially budget panel here, so some degree of realistic expectations has to be maintained.

Actually, gamma has a huge impact on how the game looks, but most of the games only offer black levels slider instead of an actual gamma slider. I do appreciate seeing content as it was intended, regardless whether it's games or movies or photos. I don't believe it's all subjective with games, since most developers probably using calibrated monitors and spend so much on visuals these days.

For example, a lot of people complained how bf3 looked too blue with all these filters, but it actually was gorgeous on my calibrated (by eye) s27a950d, from this I can only guess that most of the gaming monitors were using really cold color temp back in 2011.

Regarding the budget dell monitors and expectations, well, if you look at their high end offerings, for example u3014: 6204k and 2.3 (2.37 in light shades) in srgb emulation mode. A $1k monitor couldn't be decently calibrated? Really? Maybe they just don't actually calibrate them manually (the same case as with that samsung) or have really crappy meters.

 

[mvalprckeneda]

Or you are a lunatic like me who calibrate their LCDs because the slightest differences in color make you insane.

 

[Jack_0Neill]

I received replacement monitor today because of bad USB in the first one. It is A01 instead of A00 made on week 2/2015, the first one was made on week 45/2014. The monitor is better than the first one, first one had slight backlight leakage on upper left corner, new one hasn't. Colors etc. are the same.
I always thought that using ICC profiles from TFT Central is not good idea, but results of using it with both of my monitors are very good.
Also I have found that in AMD catalyst "EDID" is off with this monitor, turning it on gives better picture.
After using it for 20 days I think this is wonderful monitor.
------- edit
New monitor is slightly brighter on the left side

 

[Makaveli6103]

Question about scaling with Nvidia GTX 970. It initially was turned on to Aspect ratio scaling. I turned it off but an am unsure what the difference is. I also read that GPU scaling can add input lag. Also there is a setting for GPU or display setting I am unsure of. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Has anyone used this with a new MacBook Pro? I've been thinking about getting a MBP to use with my U2515H, but only if I can use a scaled resolution equivelant to 2048x1152 -- which is what I have now with 125% scaling in Windows. I know 4k displays now offer scaling options, but I'm not sure if it is possible with this display.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Has anyone used this with a new MacBook Pro? I've been thinking about getting a MBP to use with my U2515H, but only if I can use a scaled resolution equivelant to 2048x1152 -- which is what I have now with 125% scaling in Windows. I know 4k displays now offer scaling options, but I'm not sure if it is possible with this display.

I borrowed a 2012 MacBook Pro today and was able to get HiDPI mode working with SwitchResX. It wouldn't let me use 2048x1152 (HiDPI), but I was able to use 1920x1080 (HiDPI), which looks great on this display. I assume that the new MBP will be able to use 2048x1152 (HiDPI) since it has a better GPU.

It's awesome that all apps scale properly on a Mac. I'm still curious if this is enabled out of the box on the current MacBook Pro.

 

[evilsofa]

Got mine in and was finally able to set it up today. Used the supplied DP->miniDP cable, plugging the DP end into my GTX 680 and the miniDP end into the U2515h's miniDP port. Result: "No DP cable" displayed on the monitor. Took me most of an hour to realize that I needed to set the monitor to miniDP input.

For those wondering how it compares in size to a 24" 1920x1200 monitor, the U2515h's screen is an inch shorter and two inches wider.

The GTX 680 did the 1:1 pixel mapping to 1920x1200 just like I wanted, so I finally have the perfect 18.75" display! I can switch between that and native 2560x1440 depending on the style of game or whatever else I'm using it for. Just know that in the Nvidia Control Panel, you need to first "Change resolution" to 1920x1200, then go to "Adjust desktop size and position", select "No Scaling" and "Perform scaling on GPU". If you want to scale to 1920x1080 instead, then you can use the Display scaling instead because the U2515h will do 16:9 scaling but I have no way of testing whether GPU scaling increases input lag.

 

[geok1ng]

That is a side effect of using LEDs: their light behavior is more uniform along the production line, hence ICC profiles become more "universal".

And thank you for informing us of this AMd detail.

Just ordered one, if i like it i plan to put 3 in portrait

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

I tried the settings from TFT Central, and on my display using the "Color Temp" preset at 6500K (without ICC profile) produces the exact same picture as their "Customer Color" settings with ICC profile. The "Custom Color" preset has gamma set too high, and their ICC profile fixes that. The "Color Temp" preset keeps gamma the same as the Standard preset, which is good, so the ICC profile isn't needed.

So, based on my observation, at least on my particular display, the "Color Temp" preset is better calibrated than the Standard preset.

 

[geok1ng]

T

The PPI adjustment was no problem at all.

What would you say to someone like me that is planning on using 3 of these in portrait?

You believe that the vertical dimension could lead to pain neck or is it within reasonable ergonomics?

can you comfortably read text at native resolution in portrait as well?

 

[Jack_0Neill]

I tried the settings from TFT Central, and on my display using the "Color Temp" preset at 6500K (without ICC profile) produces the exact same picture as their "Customer Color" settings with ICC profile. The "Custom Color" preset has gamma set too high, and their ICC profile fixes that. The "Color Temp" preset keeps gamma the same as the Standard preset, which is good, so the ICC profile isn't needed.

So, based on my observation, at least on my particular display, the "Color Temp" preset is better calibrated than the Standard preset.

I like 6500K most too, but it makes gray color is a little bit too pink/lilac on my display. TFT Central profile and settings fixed that for me.
Sorry for my English...

 

[m51s]

Received mine on Friday. Fonts look great, lot's of extra desktop space (coming from 21 4:3 monitor), gaming feels more immersive - overall I'm happy with it.

Unfortunately, there is some yellow tint on the left side.






Has anyone noticed something like this on their U2515H? Is it possible to get rid of this yellowish cast?

 

[geok1ng]

Received mine on Friday. Fonts look great,

Thank you for answering my doubts about fonts reading. anyone else want to share their opinion on how comfortable it is to read without DPI scaling?

 

[m51s]

Thank you for answering my doubts about fonts reading. anyone else want to share their opinion on how comfortable it is to read without DPI scaling?

Very subjective and depends a lot on the applications / sites. If you don't mind tiny fonts - it's OK. At 100% DPI system fonts look pleasantly sharp but they are tiny. For example letters in folder names in the task bar are about 1 mm tall. Same thing on this page.

I didn't like DPI scaling in Windows (8.1) - fonts are still more or less OK, but system icons and images in the browsers become somewhat blurry. So I keep it at 100%.

Reading MS Word or PDF documents at 100% definitely not comfortable - I use "ctrl+mouse wheel" scaling to increase text size. Some webpage are also hard to read without "ctrl+mouse wheel" scaling.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Thank you for answering my doubts about fonts reading. anyone else want to share their opinion on how comfortable it is to read without DPI scaling?

I prefer 125% scaling, but fonts are readable at 100%. It just depends on your preference. Of course with scaling you have to put up with software issues. I switched from Chrome to Opera because of scaling issues with Chrome.

 

[geok1ng]

mine just arrived. i can read 12pt fonts just fine, and 8pt fonts with some effort. even at 6pt font irt is possible to read. i do not require DPI scaling, even at 41yo and one eye almost beyond repair.

something is odd with dimensions however, as this monitor in portrait is taller than my Seiki 39"by about an inch, still 3 of these in portrait are really possible.
Dell sound bar also helps save desktop space.

As a side note, only one of the normal sized displayports works as input, the other, i suppose, is for daisy chaining monitors. I am trying to test with CRU if it is possible to run 2560x1440 using the HDMI port, as it defaulted to 2048x1152.

 

[Nicholars]

Anyone played games on this without anti aliasing? Do you even need it at that PPI?

 

[m51s]

Anyone played games on this without anti aliasing? Do you even need it at that PPI?

I've just tried running HL2 and GTAIV with and without AA. Jaggies are not as obvious as at 1080p, but they are still there. I would still prefer gaming with AA whenever possible.

 

[Nicholars]

I've just tried running HL2 and GTAIV with and without AA. Jaggies are not as obvious as at 1080p, but they are still there. I would still prefer gaming with AA whenever possible.

Probably on flat surfaces they are still there but better on other types... How is the screen in general for gaming? Also what is the IPS glow like?

 

[m51s]

Probably on flat surfaces they are still there but better on other types... How is the screen in general for gaming? Also what is the IPS glow like?

My old Nec 2190Uxi had a glow free IPS panel, so at first the amount of glow and the way it actully looks on U2515h was a nasty suprise for me (even though I heard a lot about IPS glow on new monitors). I would say it's somewhat annoying at default brightness (50). However lowering brightness helps a lot - at brightness below 15 it's nothing to worry about. I'm now typing this in a completely dark room with my desktop background set to solid black and there is almost no glow - I can't see any (brightness at 10)

As for gaming it's definetly faster than my old Nec IPS, and thanks to it being much wider (my Nec was 4:3) gaming feels more immersive. Colors look vibrant. Judging by response time measurements from TFT central it should be as good as any recent 60 Hz IPS in terms of speed.

 

[geok1ng]

Not sure if anyone asked before: this monitor does not overclock.
at 72Hz it is already skipping frames.
it comes calibrated from the factory. my unit has an even better factory result than the review unit from TFT central, and at least on lagoon tests, i have not detect anything remotely wrong with it: gamma levels are very close to 2.2; all squares visible in both black levels and white levels tests, all blocks visible in all colors in contrast test as well. As long as you don't need more than sRGB, you can buy this one and start working out of box.

edit: i had lowered brightness on the OSD menu to 20%, which is closer to 120cd/m²

 

[Nicholars]

My old Nec 2190Uxi had a glow free IPS panel, so at first the amount of glow and the way it actully looks on U2515h was a nasty suprise for me (even though I heard a lot about IPS glow on new monitors). I would say it's somewhat annoying at default brightness (50). However lowering brightness helps a lot - at brightness below 15 it's nothing to worry about. I'm now typing this in a completely dark room with my desktop background set to solid black and there is almost no glow - I can't see any (brightness at 10)

As for gaming it's definetly faster than my old Nec IPS, and thanks to it being much wider (my Nec was 4:3) gaming feels more immersive. Colors look vibrant. Judging by response time measurements from TFT central it should be as good as any recent 60 Hz IPS in terms of speed.

I use 100-150cdm2 brightness, what is it like on a black screen at 15-30 brightness? looks like the pictures I saw of bad IPS glow on 2515 (which was glowing over a normal image with no black) were probably at high brightness then, thanks for info I might try this screen as it is very cheap and only 2" smaller than the 27" screens, also has the best contrast out of any IPS screen.. Don't know if I should get the U2415H or the U2515H.

 

[meraki1990]

I use 100-150cdm2 brightness, what is it like on a black screen at 15-30 brightness? looks like the pictures I saw of bad IPS glow on 2515 (which was glowing over a normal image with no black) were probably at high brightness then, thanks for info I might try this screen as it is very cheap and only 2" smaller than the 27" screens, also has the best contrast out of any IPS screen.. Don't know if I should get the U2415H or the U2515H.

I feel that the U2515H is much better in every single way than the U2415H personally.

 

[Nicholars]

I feel that the U2515H is much better in every single way than the U2415H personally.

Have you owned both? Do they have the same amount of glow? Prob will get the u2515h and upgrade to a 980 to power the 1440 res... Hopefully I will not be returning it due to IPS glow!

 

[evilsofa]

TFTCentral recommended Brightness 20, Contrast 50 and that looks really good on mine. I may not be a reliable witness for white glow because I don't see it on my Benq BL2411 or either of my NEC 20WMGX2 monitors.

Those complaining about white glow know to turn down the brightness and are not suffering the 16-235 "video drivers think it's a TV" issue, right?

 

[evilsofa]

Has anyone tried gaming on this and is the PPI high enough that you do not need anti aliasing at all?

While higher PPI helps, even 4K monitors don't remove the need for AA. This interesting thread notes several things:

"4K is pretty much 'free' MSAA which is somewhere between 2x and 4x in effectiveness."
"4K with 2xMSAA looks better than 1080p with 8XMSAA which introduces some significant blur."
"The current theory is that we won't need antialiasing and it will fully fool our eyes once we hit a vertical resolution somewhere around 12000p @ 24 inches."

12000p at 24" works out to around 1000 PPI. This monitor is 117 PPI, the 24" 4K monitors are 183 PPI, and some of the latest smartphones are hitting 400-500 PPI. Nobody's talking about displays greater than 8K.

 

[DanFandango]

Hi, would you guys be able to test something for me?

On my 2515H when the monitor is displaying PC resolutions the gamma level is correct at 0-255 but when it displays 'TV' resolutions like 1920x1080 the gamma switches to 16-235.

I have full RGB selected in the nvidia drivers for both programs and video. I'd like to know if it's a bug with the monitor as it would explain why my PS4's gamma is too bright even when set to full range.

EDIT: I've tested with several games and using monitor calibration images.

 

[geok1ng]

I believe there is a place on the OSD menu where you select the color space. It Defaults to RGB when connected to a PC using displayport, not sure how about the HDMI port default behavior.

 

[Nicholars]

TFTCentral recommended Brightness 20, Contrast 50 and that looks really good on mine. I may not be a reliable witness for white glow because I don't see it on my Benq BL2411 or either of my NEC 20WMGX2 monitors.

Those complaining about white glow know to turn down the brightness and are not suffering the 16-235 "video drivers think it's a TV" issue, right?

We have the same monitor... Can you do me a favor and look at the 20WGX2 and Dell U2515H at a similar brightness (about 120cdm2) on a black screen, move your head about a bit and see how much white glow there is on both of them? Or take a picture that would be extremely helpful! I have a 20WGX2 and I can see some white glow on it (it has red / white glow). But compared to another monitor I tried a couple of years ago (A HP 24" screen) the white glow on the 20WGX2 is not bad, the HP monitor I tried (and returned) the white glow was very bad. If the U2515 and 20WGX2 have similar white glow I could live with that... Sorry for all the posts about white glow but I find it annoying on any game that has dark bits and was the reason I returned the last monitor I bought (the HP24").

 

[Nicholars]

While higher PPI helps, even 4K monitors don't remove the need for AA. This interesting thread notes several things:

"4K is pretty much 'free' MSAA which is somewhere between 2x and 4x in effectiveness."
"4K with 2xMSAA looks better than 1080p with 8XMSAA which introduces some significant blur."
"The current theory is that we won't need antialiasing and it will fully fool our eyes once we hit a vertical resolution somewhere around 12000p @ 24 inches."

12000p at 24" works out to around 1000 PPI. This monitor is 117 PPI, the 24" 4K monitors are 183 PPI, and some of the latest smartphones are hitting 400-500 PPI. Nobody's talking about displays greater than 8K.

I guess the aliasing on things like trees etc. at 117ppi is no bad but you would still get aliasing on flat surfaces like stairs etc.. The U2515H is similar PPI to a 4k 37" screen. My current screen is 1680x1050 20.1" which is 98PPI and it looks sharp to me but 24" 1080p screens are on the edge of looking too low res.

 

[geok1ng]

The best color i can use to scribe IPS glow is purple not white or yellow. it goes weaker at lower brightness settings. the only IPS panel i can compare is the ACD 30" which has even more IPS glow and some degree of backlight bleeding, which i can't detect on the 2515h. this is indeed a surprise considering the (in)fame Dell's IPS have on this department.

 

[Nicholars]

What is that grid on the screen? Horizontal and vertical lines / squares....It says this in the TFTcentral review : "There were some very slight cross-hatching patterns visible on the coating if you looked very closely, but nothing to the extent of what some people find problematic on the U2713HM model." Is that what that grid texture is? Or is that the pixels because the image is zoomed?

That tint looks quite bad, try changing the color temp preset, gamma etc. or change the RGB levels (lower green and red and leave blue at 100) use it for approx 100 hours and if the tint is still there I would return it.