Got a Dell 2707WFP & a Viewsonic VX2835WM For Testing

I've done some more gaming on the Viewsonic and a friend has been playing on the Dell. He says the Dell is fine, but he's nowhere near as picky as I am. I'm going to try to play on both of them and I'll post what I notice. Right now the Viewsonic seems slightly faster to me with less ghosting.

One thing I have noticed that might be a deal breaker for me. The Viewsonic makes a hum (buzz, noise, humming, whatever you call it). It is very subtle. I didn't even notice it until I turned the backlight (contrast) down. Then I noticed that it would fade in and out. I had to stick my head next to my monitor to notice it. It would hum in about 1 second intervals. I could only find one other post on this anywhere on the net (it was a review at CircuitCity.com). I emailed Viewsonic and they were very nice. They had me call them. I talked to a tech who said, since you bought it from Costco.com just return it there and get a new one. It will be faster than the 3 weeks it will take us to fix it, but it shouldn't be doing that.

Has anyone else who has this monitor experienced a hum? If you're not sure, first make sure you room is very quiet. Turn on your PC and leave it on for about 20 minutes at least. Then turn the backlight down to 50% and stick your head next to it. See if you can hear it and please report back.

I find the hum really annoying. I can hear it faintly from about 3 feet away (the distance I normally sit). It almost sounds like a heartbeat or something weird like that. I will be sending the Viewsonic back based on this, but right now I like it better than the Dell and would like to keep it, so I'm trying to decide if I have a bum unit or if I order another one it will likely not have this problem.

Any ideas???
 
brems said:
I have had this monitor for about a month now and it has worked out well. I put it in with a Dell XPS to keep the grandkids off my regular equipment I use for work. This version of the monitor remembers the settings after it is shut off and restarted. There have not been any issues with ghosting or dealing with any of the games the youngsters are throwing at it. I use a HDMI switch to run between the computer, PS3 and the Directv receiver. Blue Ray disks look good. It does go to blue screen when the signal is shut off, but so does my Westy 24"-must be a trait of HDMI inputs.
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Can you check and see if it makes a huming sound in the way I described in the post above?
 
nice pics man - but its pretty obvious that ur camera cant reproduce the pictures as they are - still, for some reason, its nice to see some pics :D

I noticed in the "pic 2 series" that the green tree line behind the road aren't visible at all on the viewsonic - but i take it that its because of the camera - dark green colors are ofc visible on the viewsonic...

about the humming - I think u've just gotten a defect one... I havnt read any reviews saying anything about noise so im pretty sure that its not a general problem...

so, ur gonna keep te viewsonic then?
 
I found this brand new review of the viewsonic - and its pretty thorough aswell http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2175175,00.asp

it only gets a 6 out of ten - and i think thats mostly cause the guy reviewing it has the mindset that all monitors should be near perfect in image.... Im not of that mindset - i can hardly see the difference between my 3 year old lcd and my good old crt monitor... I still believe the two 27.5 monitors on the market are good buys...
 
m104 said:
nice pics man - but its pretty obvious that ur camera cant reproduce the pictures as they are - still, for some reason, its nice to see some pics :D

I noticed in the "pic 2 series" that the green tree line behind the road aren't visible at all on the viewsonic - but i take it that its because of the camera - dark green colors are ofc visible on the viewsonic...

about the humming - I think u've just gotten a defect one... I havnt read any reviews saying anything about noise so im pretty sure that its not a general problem...

so, ur gonna keep te viewsonic then?
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You're right about it not showing up in the pictures for the Viewsonic. It does show up on the monitor, but like everything else is darker than the Dell.

I'm not sure yet which one I'll keep. Here's the way I see it right now

Viewsonic
+price (saves me about $500)
+rich color
+faster response time (and yes it is just slightly noticeable).
-HDMI (the Viewsonic supports Micro$oft's sleazy HDMI (keep users from watching stuff) standard. I don't like supporting restrictive standards like this.
-Humming from the monitor (this could be a deal breaker if all of the Viewsonic's have this)


Dell
+color reproduction (it's more accurate).
+frame (Viewsonic monitor stand is butt-ugly and not as functional as the Dell. The Dell looks really nice).
-support (they've lied to me and tried to hide data on this monitor).
-monitor blinks during gameplay sometimes.

That's all I can think of, off the top of my head right now.
 
ye i hate that hdcp protection aswell - its only purpose is to make more money through licences :( - i wouldnt list it as a con though...

could u perhaps try to describe the viewing angles? im guessing that pictures from ur camera wont be worth much, so just tell me what u think :D
 
m104 said:
ye i hate that hdcp protection aswell - its only purpose is to make more money through licences :( - i wouldnt list it as a con though...

could u perhaps try to describe the viewing angles? im guessing that pictures from ur camera wont be worth much, so just tell me what u think :D
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Viewing angles are pretty poor on the Viewsonic. If you want to use it to watch movies you should sit in front of it. On the Dell they are better by far.
 
ye thats pretty much what i expected to hear.... its a viewsonic btw :D - not a toshiba... I think i know all i need to know now - thx for ur time and help whoster69 - uve been great :p
 
m104 said:
ye thats pretty much what i expected to hear.... its a viewsonic btw :D - not a toshiba... I think i know all i need to know now - thx for ur time and help whoster69 - uve been great :p
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D'OH! Guess I was too tried when I wrote that lol! Thanks for pointing it out. It's now fixed. :eek:
 
Well I took the Viewsonic back today due to the noise issues. I'll be ordering a second one though. After extensive testing today, I decided that if I can get the Viewsonic to work, it will be an acceptable solution for it's price point. I hooked both the Dell and the Viewsonic up to my ATI X1900XT video card and ran them with the same images/apps/games comparing them side by side. At first the Viewsonic was brighter and displayed less green than the Dell. The Dell looked more natural and realistic. After some tweaking I was able to make the Dell look as bright and it still displayed colors more accurately.

I then messed around with the various modes on the Viewsonic. In standard mode, the images always looked darker with some detail lost compared to the Dell. By putting it in Scenic mode, I was able to get most of the detail back (about 80%). On a few rare, dark pictures, it still displayed them with less detail than the Dell. Frankly, the Dell is a better monitor for accurate color representation.

Next I played some games. The seemed about comparable. I didn't have a way (or know how) to see if one was losing more frames than the other (if someone knows how to do this please let me know) but the games seemed to play about the same.

One other thing I noticed about the Dell that I *HATE* is every frigging time you turn it on, you have to watch a Dell advertisement (it spells Dell across the display for about 3 seconds). This gets DAMNED annoying after awhile. I don't know why the morons at Dell insist on forcing more useless ads like this down our throats. I may just get rid of the Dell for that reason alone...:mad:

Overall, the Dell is almost twice the price, coming in at about $1,100. The Viewsonic cost $650. For my needs I can't really justify the price of the Dell even though it is a better monitor, *IF* I can get the Viewsonic to run without a humming sound. For digital artists and people who really want and can afford the best, the Dell is your best bet all around.

I hope this helps some people. If you have any questions or have some experiences with these monitors please feel free to chime in with your opinions/experiences.
 
u could try testing response time with test tools like this one http://www.vanity.dk/tft/monitorTest_scale.html - there is a dropdown menu at the top of the screen - choose trailing. the difference in responsce time is often very noticeable when u have a test-app like this one, that has values u can reference to...

u could also try taking pictures with ur cam at the lowest possible "lens time" (or what its called - i dont remember)...

good choice keeping the viewsonic i thin (without having seen any of the monitors in rl) - most users dont need uber quality displays - me included...
 
m104 said:
u could try testing response time with test tools like this one http://www.vanity.dk/tft/monitorTest_scale.html - there is a dropdown menu at the top of the screen - choose trailing. the difference in responsce time is often very noticeable when u have a test-app like this one, that has values u can reference to...

u could also try taking pictures with ur cam at the lowest possible "lens time" (or what its called - i dont remember)...

good choice keeping the viewsonic i thin (without having seen any of the monitors in rl) - most users dont need uber quality displays - me included...
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Thanks m104. I'll check it out if I get the chance.

BAD NEWS! Costco.com is out of the Viewsonic 27.5"! :eek: I don't know if they will get more in stock or not. If anyone sees them back in stock at Costco, please let me know. I don't want to buy it elsewhere since I suspect the noise problem may be with all of these 27.5" Viewsonics and most places don't have the pricing/return policy Costco does (I even got my shipping cost back!). If anyone can find it at Costco, let me know and I'll buy it and run this test as well that you mentioned m104.
 
whoster69 said:
One other thing I noticed about the Dell that I *HATE* is every frigging time you turn it on, you have to watch a Dell advertisement (it spells Dell across the display for about 3 seconds). This gets DAMNED annoying after awhile. I don't know why the morons at Dell insist on forcing more useless ads like this down our throats. I may just get rid of the Dell for that reason alone...:mad:
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Maybe because you turn it off at the power point or remove the power completely. If you switch it off using the button on the front, you won't get the Dell logo.

I think i've removed the power or turned it off at the power point about a grand total of 4 or 5 times in my 6 months of owning this monitor.
 
kimnkk said:
Maybe because you turn it off at the power point or remove the power completely. If you switch it off using the button on the front, you won't get the Dell logo.

I think i've removed the power or turned it off at the power point about a grand total of 4 or 5 times in my 6 months of owning this monitor.
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I do use an external source to turn it on and off with. I've done that for years. Ever since I had to pay about $150 to get a $5 on/off switch replaced on a monitor. Now I use an external that costs about $20. Pretty stupid of Dell to set it up this way.

Thank you for letting me know. :)
 
I just got my second VX2835VM from Costco. The first few days it had the noise problem. Whenever I would turn down the brightness it would go from a constant hum to a on/off hum. Then suddenly it disappeared just as I was getting ready to unplug it and send it back! :p

So, I'm doing some further testing. If anyone has any requests/questions feel free to post them. I should have the monitor at least through Friday (Sept. 28th).
 
What's either Monitor like for reading Text, is it too bright can you enlarge the Text to a reasonable level, let's face it we do use our Monitor to read sometimes don' we, we can't all be playing games 24/7?.:rolleyes:

Hear in the UK the Viewsonic Retails for £601.56, that's $1,216.47 USD, ouch, ouch and double ouch
 
whoster69 said:
I just got my second VX2835VM from Costco. The first few days it had the noise problem. Whenever I would turn down the brightness it would go from a constant hum to a on/off hum. Then suddenly it disappeared just as I was getting ready to unplug it and send it back! :p

So, I'm doing some further testing. If anyone has any requests/questions feel free to post them. I should have the monitor at least through Friday (Sept. 28th).
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Perhaps the pulsing of the hum was really a beat frequency of the backlight with some other fixed tone in the background. If dialing down the contrast changes the frequency of the backlight, it might have been brought close in pitch with some other background noise and then 'appeared' to pulse. Just speculating.
 
I've read in some user reviews that the hum issue can b solved by just turning down the volume of the speakers - if ur not using them ofc - can u confirm this?

to pitbull46: U should try buying the Hanns-G 27.5" from germany - its basicly the same panel just another manufacturer, and then its cheap - it cost me just 350£ (3800 DKK) and thatts including shipment! I havnt recieved it yet but I should within the next month. If u have the money I dont think u'll b sorry - its a bargain in europe for sure.
 
whoster69 said:
I
So, I'm doing some further testing. If anyone has any requests/questions feel free to post them. I should have the monitor at least through Friday (Sept. 28th).
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Hi Whoster69.
I'm mainly concerned about the vertical viewing angles, however, I would be using this type of LCD strictly for my PC/me....so I don't really care if the V viewing angles wash out at x degrees, all I'm concerned with is whether you think that the screen is uniform when you're sitting dead on{IOW, as you would typically use your PC}.....?

Thanks for your review:)
 
What about the Samsung 275T? It's a little cheaper than the Dell, probably because of the stand.
 
FWIW, I have a revision A01 Dell 2707WFP and it is near flawless. No ghosting, tearing, and the color reproduction looks awesome once calibrated (it was a little too bright and washed out directly out of the box). There is no hum, very nice backlighting, and I was lucky to not get any dead pixels. Reading text on it is fine- not too big and not too small. Seriously, people bitch left and right about the .30 pixel pitch, it really is not noticeable.

Also, I dont know if it's because I have an A01, but there is no Dell BIOS splash screen- my motherboard BIOS screen loads immediately and the PC boots.

I got it for $850 brand new sealed off Ebay, with full 3 year transferrable warranty.

I would highly recommend this monitor- it is sweet for gaming especially. :D
 
ditto what mj said, I don't get the "dell" splash screen either...as soon as I boot up, i get my motherboard bios screen as well
 
Got my 2707wfp yesterday (rev A01) and I don't have any Dell bios splash screen. I play FPS games (CS:S, CoD4, BF series) all at native resolution and all settings maxed. Some people might be mistaking their weak video card performance for input lag. Lag has less to do with the way your display goes from sharp to grainy back to sharp when moving around in FPS games, more to do with when you click your mouse to fire your monitor shows you firing simultaneously. At 1920x1200 and max settings I get198 max/60 min FPS in CS:S. There is a slight difference in lag since I'm coming from a 19" (non-wide) Sony, but I think thats from the huge difference in res (1280x1024 to 1920x1200).
 
Nice to read all these positive reviews of the 2707. I've narrowed my choices to the Samsung 305T or Dell 2707WFP. I'm just waiting on the specs of the 2708 before I make a decision.
 
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