Gateway XHD3000 - 30" Widescreen Extreme HD Display

Just a heads up before the full review.

There seems to be a manufacturing defect on all the current batch of XHD3000s.
You can only see this on a very light background, generally pure white. When you fill up your entire screen with white, from the center of the screen - about 3 inches diagonally to the top right, there is a light shadow that is a size of a dime. When you apply some pressure on the surrounding area with a clean cloth, it makes a darker imprint on the screen for a split second. The imprint looks as if an object, such as a flat rounded screw with a cross in the middle. It is as if there's something right behind the panel making contact with the panel itself.

This defect is on both my original and the replacement, exactly at the same location.
While such issue will go unnoticed by most individuals, certain people that will be working with graphics on this display will notice it - especially when using light colors.

I'm currently thinking hard about returning it for a full refund. But considering there aren't any other 30" monitors that offer what the XHD3000 does, it's a hard decision. Fortunately, the rep that I had originally placed the order with gave me a 30 day window for a refund (it's only 15 days normally).

This issue isn't something that's so horrible, but considering I'm somewhat of a perfectionist - it does definitely annoy me a bit.
 
Oh that sucks enyceexdanny, I wonder how the Gateway got "glowing" reviews. Similar in praise with their 24-inch which had a manufacturing defect of inverse ghosting. If you don't like it, I say return it and speak with someone higher in the chain so that they you received two with the same problem.

I wonder if *B* has the same problem, he hasn't mention anything since his two shots of the monitor and of the box.

:(
 
It's not an issue nearly as bad as inverse ghosting. This is generally only noticed when the whole screen is white, which is pretty rare.

Definitely takes some points off, but it's not too bad.
I have told a few people in the upper management departments at gateway regarding this issue. They took a note of it, but I doubt they will do any serious investigating until more people start complaining. Only God knows how long that will take.

I will explain everything in further detail in the review, which is coming pretty soon. (promise)
Hopefully I'll be able to take some shots of what I'm talking about, although I highly doubt it'll show on camera since it's so faint.
 
"it's not an issue nearly as bad as inverse ghosting." I have the 24" Gateway with the inverse ghosting and I can tell you that to me it is much worse. I would take the inverse ghosting over this problem any day.


Hi all I am new here. I started reading this forum to keep up with the XHD3000. I bought mine a couple days after it became available and it got here a couple of days ago. Everything worked fine until I turned on my home theater's subwoofer. A big circle with a philllips screw shape appeared on the screen at about the middle and off to the right. This circle comes and goes with the thumping of the bass. The bass isn't even loud and the sub is about 8 feet away from the screen. This is completely unacceptable and very noticeable. When I take the screen off the mount and hold it in my hand, the circle almost completely goes away. That tells me there is a defect in the mount support system in the back of the screen. It looks almost as if a bolt was just tightened a hair too tight or wasn't tightened enough which makes it press against the back of the lcd.

I own many Gateway products and have been pretty happy with them so far. That was until today when I had the misfortune of using their tech support for the first time. I called gateway and they refused to let me do a defective exchange because they claim what I am experiencing is not a screen defect. I explained to them that I tried two other screens in the same position as the 3000 and neither experienced this issue. They told me that because an outside product was causing the circle to appear on the screen that it must not be the fault of Gateway. Collecting my brain bits after my head exploded I told them I wanted to return it then. They tell me that I have to pay a 15% restocking fee because they will not declare my screen defective. So now I am stuck with a screen with a very obvious manufacturing defect that I paid full price for that Gateway will not replace. I can either return it and pay 15% or I can keep the screen and just never use my expensive subwoofer. Please do yourself a favor and steer faaaar clear of this monitor. Probably better to just steer clear of Gateway in general.


*UPDATE*

Since writing this, Gateway corporate contacted me about this posting and completely took care of the situation I had with the defect return. They waived the restocking fee and expressed a sincere concern that their pride and joy, the XHD3000, has a defect. The lady I spoke with seemed genuinely concerned that people are getting defective sets and that I had such a bad tech support expeience. After this call I would have to rate Gateway as favorable again, which is good as I have always liked doing business with them.

*UPDATE 2*

The person from corporate didn't do anything except clear my restocking fee. This was not doing me any favors because there should have never been one to begin with. What corporate did do was fail to actually schedule my return pick-up which they said they were taking care of. I waited around and finally called fedex to see what the problem was and they said they had no record of there ever being a pick-up scheduled for me. So after another hour on the phone with Gateway I got a new pick-up date. This was the last ball they were alowed to drop with me. The set hasn't arrived back at Gateway yet, but as much as they have screwed with me I would be suprised if I ever get refunded for this DEFECTIVE set. I have had to fight tooth and nail with them to get this far on a set I paid full price for. I'm glad others have had a good expreience with them but they have lost me as a customer for life.
 
I have been debating hard between Dell 2707wfp and Gateway xhd3000 for some time now, and I was almost sure that I wanted to get an xhd3000. Now, I am not so sure anymore seeing this defect issue constantly brought up, especially considering xhd3000 costs almost twice as much as 2707wfp. I understand I might never get a monitor that I will be completely content with, and yet this kind of manufacturing shortcoming at that price is really disappointing.

Anyhow, I was more curious on the actual performance of the xhd3000. Are the upscaling and all really that praise-worthy as some reviews suggest? I was mainly hoping to use the monitor for pc and ps3. How about the screw or whatever showing up? How noticeable is it during daily usage and gaming?

Oh, lastly, I really look forward to and appreciate all the reviews you guys are providing.
 
I have to say that the upscaling is beautiful. My 360 and PC look great on it. But the defect and Gateway's customer service are unacceptable. The circle defect is so bad sometimes that I'm worried about it cracking the back of the screen. I only saw it at first when my subwoofer was on but now I see it faintly with any solid background other than black. Also, mine came with terrible backlight uniformity. There is backlight bleed all around the edges and a perfect oval of black right in the middle when movie credits play. Your money is better spent elsewhere.
 
DustinFrazier said:
But the defect and Gateway's customer service are unacceptable. The circle defect is so bad sometimes that I'm worried about it cracking the back of the screen. I only saw it at first when my subwoofer was on but now I see it faintly with any solid background other than black. Also, mine came with terrible backlight uniformity. There is backlight bleed all around the edges and a perfect oval of black right in the middle when movie credits play. Your money is better spent elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I doubt Gateway will ever ackowledge the round object on screen as a defect, but I imagine you'll be able to get a full refund if you push. Phone them back, be polite & ask to speak to the senior customer service manager - re state what is wrong (poor uniformity & round mark) and ask for a full refund, or a replacement if you think you can live with the round mark assuming you get an otherwise uniform screen. (If it was me I'd just push for the refund & wait until a more reliable brand releases a 30" with an internal scaler)

Assuming Gateway just continue to tell you that the screen isn't defective & is according to specification - insist they tell you exactly which published specification & where on the product description it says the screen will have abnormal round marks or black images will be shown as patchy grey blotches.

If you have a justifiable reason to be unhappy with the quality & are unable to get a satisfactory resolution from customer services, get in touch with your local consumer protection bodies. I'm assuming you're in the US so the first port of call is the FTC website http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm Also check the consumer law for your state and possibly the state you bought the goods from. All goods have to be as described, fit for purpose, of merchantable quality & free of minor/cosmetic defects.

Restocking fees do seem to be legal in many (all?) states, but that should only apply if you are returning something simply because you changed your mind about it.
 
Can somebody post a picture of this screw-like artifact so that we can get a better idea how severe it is and what it looks like?
 
I'll try to get a picture of it taken over the weekend if i can. But I'm not sure if it'll actually show up... Mine isn't too noticeable.

From my experience, Gateway's customer service has been pretty great. Only issue was the fact that the pro unit was sold to MPC, so I had to get bounced around a few times.


You have 15 days from purchase to return it for a full refund.
In my case, the rep even gave me 15 extra days to sleep on it.


P.s. Regarding the up-scaling. Well when you're upscaling via other inputs (hdmi, component) it's superb. But for PC, it's not. I've tried to run a few games at native resolution, and my 8800ultra can't seem to handle it.
So I change the resolution setting in the game to 1920x1200 (or any other) and the upscaling just looks horrible in my opinion. I'm pretty sure it's better than most other monitor's upscaling processor. But I expected so much better.
The degrade in quality is just like when you transform an image on Photoshop to the same degree.
 
enyceexdanny said:
P.s. Regarding the up-scaling. Well when you're upscaling via other inputs (hdmi, component) it's superb. But for PC, it's not. I've tried to run a few games at native resolution, and my 8800ultra can't seem to handle it.
So I change the resolution setting in the game to 1920x1200 (or any other) and the upscaling just looks horrible in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Can you try a DVI-HDMI cable & see if the scaling is different? Maybe the Realta processing isn't used on the DVI and/or VGA inputs?


enyceexdanny said:
I'm currently thinking hard about returning it for a full refund. But considering there aren't any other 30" monitors that offer what the XHD3000 does, it's a hard decision.
Click to expand...

I guess you could consider the Eizo 30" but that will be another $600-$800 and won't have the component inputs. Screen uniformity will probably be very good & overall image quality will be better, but if it's like the other EIZO displays 2.5 frames input lag will be inevitable.
 
Yup, overall this screen is mediocre at best. It is definitely not the savior of 30" lcds that some reviewers are touting it as. It has a few good points, the hdmi and component upscaling, and for me at the native res from my pc my 8800ultras were able to do fine. But there are just so many little things that gnaw on me about it that it is hard to see those good things sometimes. I definitely don't feel it is a $1700 screen when I'm watching it.

Thanks IanM for the advice.
 
I believe the realta processor is used on dvi. But I'll try to get an adapter soon to test it out.

Although as Dustin said, it's not a savior of 30" lcds - but overall it is the best so far. If it wasn't for that little manufacturing defect, I'd be very happy with it.
 
Any opinions about how this compares to the Dell 30". I know it doesn't offer the inputs of the Gateway, but as far a image quality, input lag...etc.? I thought the 8800GTX would be able to handle games at native...suxors!

Thanks,

EK2K
 
eklock2000 said:
Any opinions about how this compares to the Dell 30". I know it doesn't offer the inputs of the Gateway, but as far a image quality, input lag...etc.? I thought the 8800GTX would be able to handle games at native...suxors!
Click to expand...
I guess it depends on individual tolerance levels, but barring all but the newest games or games with all IQ settings enabled, a 8800GTX/Ultra should be able to handle the native resolution of 2560x1600. Although they did not bench the most recent games, most of the reviews I looked at have demonstrated adequate performance with this resolution. Again, it might be a subjective opinion since some people need to have a constant 60FPS or greater, whereas others wouldn't mind if a game occasionally drops below that threshold. It would also depend on the game in question.
 
Image quality compared to the other 30" (other than eizo and apple) seems to be better. Although the color accuracy and gamut isn't as large as the HC models.

And regarding running games at native resolution. Most older games will run fine at native with the settings maxed out. But new games such as Bioshock doesn't seem to run as well on 2560x1600 on ultras. Yeah, it's definitely somewhat playable. And yes, as APOLLO has said it is a subjective opinion depending on the individual. I for one, don't need constant 60+ frames per second - but I can't tolerate it going below 40. For Bioshock, it definitely drops down below that - and feels a bit jerky overall.

I just hope the new high end G9X series can handle the native with IQ maxed. Which I doubt. I think the generation after it will be able to on the current new games. But by the time the new generations of gpus are released, there will be games that require much more than they offer to run it at such high resolutions.

I'm still trying to decide if I should return this for a refund and get a 24" and a seperate 30"+ lcd tv. It'll be hard to go back to anything smaller than 30" for work after using this for a couple of days.

I think I'm going to get back into console gaming, since this monitor should be able to handle that much better. >_> Xbox360 or PS3 is the question now... hmm.
 
enyceexdanny said:
Image quality compared to the other 30" (other than eizo and apple) seems to be better. Although the color accuracy and gamut isn't as large as the HC models.
Click to expand...
The ACD has better IQ?? I have a 1st gen ACD, and one of the reasons I'm looking into the Gateway is for superior IQ. The ACD has poor contrast ratio in the neighborhood of 300:1. The colors are very rich, but I have no idea how it might compare to 'pro' monitors used by many graphic artists.

I don't care all that much about response time which is supposedly another downside to the ACD, since most of the newer 30" displays are hardly distinguishable in this area, but contrast ratio/black levels is extremely important to me. Even more than color accuracy or gamut.
 
Is there any device whether pci internal or usb external that I can hook up to my hp 3065 that can accept directtv signals like this gateway monster can?
It doesn't have to be perfect but any product ideas along these lines might help me. :(
 
I meant in terms of pure color accuracy. And I was comparing it to the latest 30" acd.
Regarding the contrast ration/black levels, you would definitely be happy with the Gateway.

On a side note, the light shadow on the screen seems to have gotten much less noticeable.

Not sure if it's because I just calibrated my monitor, or due to changing my HD settop box to HDMI (which I doubt).


APOLLO said:
The ACD has better IQ?? I have a 1st gen ACD, and one of the reasons I'm looking into the Gateway is for superior IQ. The ACD has poor contrast ratio in the neighborhood of 300:1. The colors are very rich, but I have no idea how it might compare to 'pro' monitors used by many graphic artists.

I don't care all that much about response time which is supposedly another downside to the ACD, since most of the newer 30" displays are hardly distinguishable in this area, but contrast ratio/black levels is extremely important to me. Even more than color accuracy or gamut.
Click to expand...
 
StalkerZERO said:
Is there any device whether pci internal or usb external that I can hook up to my hp 3065 that can accept directtv signals like this gateway monster can?
It doesn't have to be perfect but any product ideas along these lines might help me. :(
Click to expand...

The problem is that the monitor doesn't have its own image processor. You can use a TV tuner I guess to feed the signal through.

But I'm no expert when it comes to that. Never owned a TV tuner in my life. heh =/
 
Then we are talking about an add-in card then that can feed in a signal and also process it. But question is which one? Gawd I'm jealous of th gateway! :(
 
The XHD3000 does have awesome black levels. I will give it that. Probably the best I have seen in a non-pro monitor.
 
^ QFT


The defect seemed to have almost went away. I can't even see it actually. Before when I shook the monitor a little I could see the imprint. But for some reason, I shake it and it's not there..
That's really odd.... hmmm
 
enyceexdanny said:
^ QFT


The defect seemed to have almost went away. I can't even see it actually. Before when I shook the monitor a little I could see the imprint. But for some reason, I shake it and it's not there..
That's really odd.... hmmm
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should put some sub woofers next to it! ;) Just kidding. Didn't I hear that lcd monitor has a "burn-in" period, before it gets to its normal stage? Don't know. Keep us posted enyceexdanny.
 
enyceexdanny said:
Just a heads up before the full review.

There seems to be a manufacturing defect on all the current batch of XHD3000s.
You can only see this on a very light background, generally pure white. When you fill up your entire screen with white, from the center of the screen - about 3 inches diagonally to the top right, there is a light shadow that is a size of a dime. When you apply some pressure on the surrounding area with a clean cloth, it makes a darker imprint on the screen for a split second. The imprint looks as if an object, such as a flat rounded screw with a cross in the middle. It is as if there's something right behind the panel making contact with the panel itself.

This defect is on both my original and the replacement, exactly at the same location.
While such issue will go unnoticed by most individuals, certain people that will be working with graphics on this display will notice it - especially when using light colors.

I'm currently thinking hard about returning it for a full refund. But considering there aren't any other 30" monitors that offer what the XHD3000 does, it's a hard decision. Fortunately, the rep that I had originally placed the order with gave me a 30 day window for a refund (it's only 15 days normally).

This issue isn't something that's so horrible, but considering I'm somewhat of a perfectionist - it does definitely annoy me a bit.
Click to expand...

that sucks for you. im sorry you spend your entire day staring at a white screen. just dont forget, 99.99% of people are not as unfortunate as you, so at least thats something to be happy about, right? pls also enlighten us on this "shacking" technique, sounds like fun.
 
Tim-in-CA said:
Hey Guys,


  • Resolution: 2560x1600
  • HD Video Support: 1600P Quad-HD
  • Video Inputs: Dual-link and Single-link DVI, VGA, HDMI, Component, S-Video, Composite
  • Device Support: All PC and CE devices
  • Video Processor: HQV
  • Brightness: 400 nits
  • Contrast: 1000:1
  • Response Time: 6 MS
  • Remote Control: Universal plus IR Blaster
  • Audio Support: Fully Integrated
  • Audio Outputs: Analog, Coaxial and SPDIF
  • Speakers: 8 Driver High-Performance Sound System (included)
  • Audio Inputs: One each for DVI, VGA, Component, Composite, S-Video
  • Retail Price: $1,699
Click to expand...

6 MS gray to gray means 9 MS, that sux for the ammount of money u gotta pay, especially for fast paced games
 
Even if mine didn't have a defect I would still return it because the extreme input lag. Since I can't have it anywhere near my subwoofer, I brought it to my office and plugged it into my multi-monitor setup. I had it sitting next to my 24" gateway, my 20" samsung, and my dell and the XHD3000 takes much longer to react to my mouse than all the others. When I scrolled a web page the XHD would start to scroll just as the other monitors were finishing. I think this is due to image processing that the others don't have to do, except for the 24". For me this is no good as I wanted this for gaming.

On a positive note, I watched an episode of roots in standard def and the upscaling made it appear nearly as good as if it were HD. I honestly can't get over how well this thing upscales and how good it scales less than native desktop resolutions.

I had to change my desktop background from a dark image to something brighter because the backlight bleed is so bad that it is completely distracting. The only part where there is no bleed is a small 5 or 6 inch oval at the center of the screen which is perfectly black.
 
DustinFrazier said:
Even if mine didn't have a defect I would still return it because the extreme input lag. Since I can't have it anywhere near my subwoofer, I brought it to my office and plugged it into my multi-monitor setup. I had it sitting next to my 24" gateway, my 20" samsung, and my dell and the XHD3000 takes much longer to react to my mouse than all the others. When I scrolled a web page the XHD would start to scroll just as the other monitors were finishing. I think this is due to image processing that the others don't have to do, except for the 24". For me this is no good as I wanted this for gaming.

I had to change my desktop background from a dark image to something brighter because the backlight bleed is so bad that it is completely distracting. The only part where there is no bleed is a small 5 or 6 inch oval at the center of the screen which is perfectly black.
Click to expand...
Looks like you have a bad monitor. Some of the problems you mentioned have only been reported by you so far. Definitely return it for the display lag alone. That's unacceptable and nearly unusable.
 
I haven't noticed any input lag on mine. o.o
And the monitor if fine for fast paced games. Can't notice much of ghosting at all.
 
Hello again. I hope everyone is well. Apollo you mentioned I should return the screen. I am. It is being picked up Tuesday. As to me having issues no one else seems to have, either I have the worst screen of the whole lot or I may be overly critical. Others probably aren't so critical. But it is hard not to see the flaws I mentioned when the XHD is sitting next to a few other monitors that don't exhibit any of my XHD's faults. I would love nothing more than to keep this screen as it is exactly what I have been wanting. I'll just have to wait for gateway's next revision, or for Dell or HP to bring their version out with a 92% color gamut. But my god, the blacks are perfect! lol


BTW, if anyone is interested in seeing any of these issues, I can post a video here. I have never posted a video to a forum so just let me know what a good video hosting sight is.
 
My first one was horrible. The backlight was totally uneven and that circular defect off to the center of the screen was very evident. The replacement seems to be much better. Backlight is almost even, no dead pixels and that area off to the center seems much better also.

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow, and write up a review. Hopefully I'll have the time to do so.
 
DustinFrazier said:
Hello again. I hope everyone is well. Apollo you mentioned I should return the screen. I am. It is being picked up Tuesday. As to me having issues no one else seems to have, either I have the worst screen of the whole lot or I may be overly critical. Others probably aren't so critical. But it is hard not to see the flaws I mentioned when the XHD is sitting next to a few other monitors that don't exhibit any of my XHD's faults. I would love nothing more than to keep this screen as it is exactly what I have been wanting. I'll just have to wait for gateway's next revision, or for Dell or HP to bring their version out with a 92% color gamut. But my god, the blacks are perfect! lol
Click to expand...
Hi. I was mainly referring to the display lag, which is very unusual to say the least. The backlight bleeding varies between units, even of the same model. At least that's the impression I have after reading through many threads on specific display models, especially Gateways. Gateway is not known for quality control or consistency, unfortunately. I'm not implying that a consumer can't be satisfied with Gateway displays. I am using a FDP2185W as a secondary display and despite all its flaws and a problematic pixel or two, I don't think I could have made a better choice at the time of purchase.

Maybe you don't need to wait for a superior revision/model. You might have received an unusually defective unit and most if not all of the imperfections/defects may simply be eliminated with a new unit replacement. Just a thought. :)
 
I just tried looking for that circle/screw with a white screen and I couldn't see it so maybe I got a good screen. I just still dont know if I want to keep it though because the price is hard to justify.
 
There is a dime sized defect on all the current XHD3000 batches. As I've mentioned before, most people won't even notice it, but it is there. It seems that it comes and goes. And it only appears on very light background, generally pure white. When the monitor vibrates, due to a subwoofer nearby and/or when the attached speaker bar is on loud - you'll see the defective area pulse. Also, it seems more easily seen when the display has been on for a prolonged period of time - due to the head buildup I guess.

*B* try to vibrate the monitor gently. You'll see it.
 
It's way too bad about the imprint. I'm waiting for tales of Gateway correcting the problem.

I'm curious how well that HQV handles composite 480i.

If anyone owns this monitor and a NES/SNES/Genesis, could they please try one out? I think it's one of the cleanest tests for deinterlacing.

A lack of combing and absolute pixel perfection would be incredible!
 
Hey all users and former users of XHD3000, do you have any more pics / user opinions on the monitor? I am leaning toward purchasing this one this week... although some debates linger on inside my head...
 
channy0305 said:
Hey all users and former users of XHD3000, do you have any more pics / user opinions on the monitor? I am leaning toward purchasing this one this week... although some debates linger on inside my head...
Click to expand...

i'm with you there. lots of chat, but haven't seen many photos of the monitor in the thread...even from the people that have one...seems to be no place to get a real look-see unless one orders direct from Gateway. Looks like several will be buying sight unseen?
 
zentech said:
i'm with you there. lots of chat, but haven't seen many photos of the monitor in the thread...even from the people that have one...seems to be no place to get a real look-see unless one orders direct from Gateway. Looks like several will be buying sight unseen?
Click to expand...

Well, I assume they are all busy and all, working and playing with the shiny baby monster. Still appreciate all their insights so far: I would have been totally wracked upon seeing some screw shadowing up on the screen had I not been informed of... Nevertheless, some hesitations still go on because, as you point out, I don't get to see a lot of real images of this monitor...
 
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