Got my HP LP3065 up and running...

masaville

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
401
I just upgraded from my HP 23" fp2305 to an LP3065, their new 30", and all I can say is wow. The 1000 to 1 contrast ratio combined with the 92% color gamut will knock your socks off. I instantly noticed the difference when I loaded games like NWN2 and Medieval Total War 2. Colors are vibrant and brilliant and blacks are very dark.

The monitor is constructed very well, similar to my last HP. It doesn't have that flimsy, cheap feel to it that you get with cheaper monitors (I've had Acer, LG, BenQ, etc. myself). It has a very nifty base/neck that allows you to simply snap the monitor into place. Once it's connected you can rotate it 45/30 horizontal/vertical I believe, or something alone those lines. Nevertheless, a nifty feature, but I don't know if I'd use it.

The good news is that with two 8800 GTXs in 2560x1600 can run games at super high frame rates, which is what I had hoped for. I had originally considered getting the Dell, but I'm glad I stuck with HP. This monitor is superb and the quality construction is worth the extra few bucks. Not a single dead pixel on arrival and worked beautifully right out of the box.

If you are considering this monitor and have any questions let me know.
 
Thanks for the review!!! I'm glad to hear about your great experience. Here's the main unanswered questions I have about the LP3065:

1. How do the colors compare to a CRT (supposed 92% vs 72% gamut)? Side-by-side analysis would be ideal. Perhaps shades of green illustrate the biggest difference.
2. Can you measure the input lag against a CRT? If you need help finding a stopwatch program, I can help find one.
3. Is DVD playback blurred, especially in darker scenes? I heard that the 3007WFP had problems with that.
 
Sure thing. I'll see what I can whip up tonight. Yes, I could use help finding a stopwatch program. Unfortunately I don't have a CRT to compare it to, only the hpf2304 LCD, which is a 500 to 1 contrast ratio, 72% gamut.
 
Could you post some pics? Maybe at different angles while playing a movie? Thanks.
 
Where did you buy it. How much? Any details on the retailer would love to hear. Making a buy myself soon and this one is leading my vote.
 
Got it from Bestbuy Business. Service was great. I'm from Vancouver, Canada so I had to drive down to Bellingham, WA to pick it up (not available here yet). Bestbuy was more than helpful in expediting a speedy delivery to their retail store and holding it for me there. I tried about 10 other e-tailers and they wouldn't give me the time of day. =/

$1675 US roughly plus applicable taxes and shipping. There is a $40 mail-in rebate if you purchase between Nov 1st and January 31st, 2007. I'll post some screens tonight as well as comments on the dvd playback.
 
Thanks so much for the info, masaville, much appreciated.

For buying, I highly recommend pricegrabber.com. I've seen it as low as $1520 shipped, after rebate. Now I think it's up to $1531 on CostCentral.
 
zzz said:
Thanks for the review!!! I'm glad to hear about your great experience. Here's the main unanswered questions I have about the LP3065:

1. How do the colors compare to a CRT (supposed 92% vs 72% gamut)? Side-by-side analysis would be ideal. Perhaps shades of green illustrate the biggest difference.
2. Can you measure the input lag against a CRT? If you need help finding a stopwatch program, I can help find one.
3. Is DVD playback blurred, especially in darker scenes? I heard that the 3007WFP had problems with that.
Masaville: I know you don't have a CRT, but if the 23" HP is S-IPS (if anyone knows what it is and can chime in that would be greatly appreciated) a side by side color comparison between it and the 3065 would be way cool. I believe it would answer the 72% vs 92% question fairly well if both are S-IPS panels.

Aside from that I am totally with ZZZ on questions about input lag and dvd playback blur (Matrix movies are a good benchmark for that as is that dreaded Underworld nonsense...)
 
ok i wanna see too this 'famous" 92% color gamut thingy, please much pics asap :)
 
Demigod's Owner said:
Masaville: I know you don't have a CRT, but if the 23" HP is S-IPS (if anyone knows what it is and can chime in that would be greatly appreciated) a side by side color comparison between it and the 3065 would be way cool. I believe it would answer the 72% vs 92% question fairly well if both are S-IPS panels.

Aside from that I am totally with ZZZ on questions about input lag and dvd playback blur (Matrix movies are a good benchmark for that as is that dreaded Underworld nonsense...)

Just setting them up now, will post some shortly.
 
MaxiS said:
ok i wanna see too this 'famous" 92% color gamut thingy, please much pics asap :)
I hope you realize your monitor can still only display 72%, so pics won't help you.
 
First off, DVD playback. I watched a few DVDs on it, including Matrix, and I don't see any lag from what I can tell. I tried it with one of the later chapters in the Matrix where they tear up the lobby and there's a lot of fast paced action and it appears pretty flawless.

I just tried the intense opening battle scene in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. Zero lag. Flawless playback in full screen.

Didn't notice any blurred playback at all in dark scenes.

Image quality appears better than my 32" LCD TV sitting next to it, somewhat sharper. Does image quality on the PC have anything to do with the software I use for playback, or is it controlled by the vid card/monitor? I'm using Nero Showtime 2 for DVD playback on the PC.

Screenies coming next.
 
Sec....I'm just messing with the uploads.

2304 -
3065 - (site is resizing image)


2304 -
3065 - (site is resizing image)
 
The most noticable color difference is the greens and reds, from what I can see on my end. When I compare them side by side they are much more vibrant on the 3065. I really need to upload the full 2560x1600 image so you can see for yourself, but image shack appears to resize.
 
masaville said:
What does that program do?
It's a stopwatch program you can use to measure input lag. This person also used it.

First you connect two monitors to the same video card and mirror your desktop to display on both screens. A DVI splitter could do the job, or I'm sure there's a way to connect to both video card ports and tell your OS to display the same thing on each monitor. Then start the stopwatch program and take a picture of the screen with your camera. If it's a CRT vs LCD, you'll likely see 10-50ms of lag on the LCD.

You uploaded some pics, but I don't see the point of screenshots. All that shows is what the video card is sending! It's pretty hard to show us the color difference, since your camera filters and messes up the image pretty badly, and then all of our displays are only 72% gamut anyway, so that's another filter. But your comments on the greens and reds are great to hear, and just what I expected.
 
The images don't do the monitor justice. When I compare identical screens side by side on the same monitor I can really see the difference. Colors are very, very vibrant on this monitor.
 
I think that's the wrong way of showing what your monitor look like or what the images look like on your monitor. Are you capturing the image with Prt Scr(print to screen) or a capturing the images through you game? You need a decent digital camera if you have one.
 
Masaville: Thank you for your input. I am really liking what I hear so far.

The dvd playback, especially in the dark scenes not being messed up is a definite positive for me.

When you say you are looking at the two screens side by side, you are talking about the 23" HP and the 30" HP right? Can anyone here confirm that the 23" HP is also S-IPS. Because if it is, then based on what Masaville is saying about the Reds and Greens, I am returning the 3007FPW, and waiting for the HC to be released before buying anything. (I am curious how much it will cost compared to the HP unit, thats the reason for the wait). (yes I know its supposed to retail for $1,599, but there is almost certainly going to be discounts. The 3007FPW launched for $2,199 but had a 15% sale on it almost immediately.

Btw, photographing the stopwatch program can be a bit tricky, but don't lose heart, if HP hit that nail right on the head also, I most certainly know where my $1,500 is going. And I am sure it will help bunch of others to make up their minds also.

PS. anyone know what the input lag is on the 23" HP compared to a CRT?
 
VE2007 said:
Is there any ghosting in fast shooting games?
thanks

No ghosting at all. Last night I ran Call of Duty 2, Dark Messiah, and a few others and it was superb. I'm running on a pair of 8800 GTXs so I don't know if that makes a difference.

If you're considering running this monitor in 2560x1600, I can tell you that a pair of GTXs can run everything I've tried at unbelievable frame rates. 60-80 fps on average in COD2 with everything on. 50-60 fps on average in NWN2. Minimum of 60 fps in Dark Messiah (I had vert sync on). It's safe to say that we can finally game at breakneck speeds in 2560x1600......at least for a month or two. =P
 
Demigod's Owner said:
Masaville: Thank you for your input. I am really liking what I hear so far.

The dvd playback, especially in the dark scenes not being messed up is a definite positive for me.

When you say you are looking at the two screens side by side, you are talking about the 23" HP and the 30" HP right? Can anyone here confirm that the 23" HP is also S-IPS. Because if it is, then based on what Masaville is saying about the Reds and Greens, I am returning the 3007FPW, and waiting for the HC to be released before buying anything. (I am curious how much it will cost compared to the HP unit, thats the reason for the wait). (yes I know its supposed to retail for $1,599, but there is almost certainly going to be discounts. The 3007FPW launched for $2,199 but had a 15% sale on it almost immediately.

Btw, photographing the stopwatch program can be a bit tricky, but don't lose heart, if HP hit that nail right on the head also, I most certainly know where my $1,500 is going. And I am sure it will help bunch of others to make up their minds also.

PS. anyone know what the input lag is on the 23" HP compared to a CRT?

Yes, I'm talking about the 23" HP and 30" side by side. Not too sure if it's S-IPS, so hopefully someone will know.

Did you just buy the 3007FPW? I haven't seen the Dell in person myself so I can't really comment on it at this point. The only monitors I have had for comparison are the Acer 22" Wide, LG1952TX (1400:1 contrast and 1600:1), BenQ 937s, the HP2304 23", and a few others. What I can say without a doubt is that the colors on these new 92% gamut monitors appear much more vibrant, so much so that I immediately noticed it.

When I put this monitor next to my fp2304 and loaded the same image I noticed that the greens appeared a bit 'washed out' on the 2304. Not bad by any means, but certainly not in line with the 3065. Green was the most obvious color that caught my eye, but overall, colors appeared to be that much better. Reds, oranges, etc. On the flipside, I haven't directly compared it to any other monitors at this point, but having been through so many LCDs I can definitely say colors look kick ass.

I'm sure there will be some discounts soon. I just missed the one they had about a month ago which was $150 off. I think it was a Bestbuy promo.
 
ASIA911 said:
I think that's the wrong way of showing what your monitor look like or what the images look like on your monitor. Are you capturing the image with Prt Scr(print to screen) or a capturing the images through you game? You need a decent digital camera if you have one.

Yes, I was capturing with print screen. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do a proper comparison. I do have a 7 megapixel digital camera. Should I be using that?
 
Demigod's Owner said:
Masaville: Thank you for your input. I am really liking what I hear so far.

The dvd playback, especially in the dark scenes not being messed up is a definite positive for me.

When you say you are looking at the two screens side by side, you are talking about the 23" HP and the 30" HP right? Can anyone here confirm that the 23" HP is also S-IPS. Because if it is, then based on what Masaville is saying about the Reds and Greens, I am returning the 3007FPW, and waiting for the HC to be released before buying anything. (I am curious how much it will cost compared to the HP unit, thats the reason for the wait). (yes I know its supposed to retail for $1,599, but there is almost certainly going to be discounts. The 3007FPW launched for $2,199 but had a 15% sale on it almost immediately.

Btw, photographing the stopwatch program can be a bit tricky, but don't lose heart, if HP hit that nail right on the head also, I most certainly know where my $1,500 is going. And I am sure it will help bunch of others to make up their minds also.

PS. anyone know what the input lag is on the 23" HP compared to a CRT?

By the way, what's wrong with the 3007FPW?
 
masaville said:
Yes, I was capturing with print screen. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do a proper comparison. I do have a 7 megapixel digital camera. Should I be using that?

Capturing with a good digital camera is a better and proper way for others to see the different between monitors. Lets say that you turn your monitor Brightness and Contrast and turn it all the way to darkness or brightness and use the print to screen option. Let say that you capture the print to screen of this website. What print to screen does is that it will captured that image exactly what it look like through your video card setting and NOT what you or your monitor see.

Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to say. Thanks for the input on the monitor response time and it look pretty promising with ghosting.
 
Masa, I'd also be very interested to hear if you can get old games to display in a "best-fit w/o stretching" mode, where they'd fill the screen top-to-bottom, and have black bars on each side, maintaining 4:3. Maybe you can load up Diablo, Starcraft, or some other fixed-resolution game and see if that works.

First try using your video card's "fixed aspect ratio scaling" option, and if that doesn't work, you could try the PowerStrip solution. Thanks.
 
masaville said:
By the way, what's wrong with the 3007FPW?
I don't know, I bought it because it was on sale, but then I realized I would be dropping $1,250 (with everything) for a second best 30" when the, arguably, best was $1,500. Felt kinda silly, so I am returning it without even taking it out of the box.

You can say its a side effect of my slickdeals attitude also (buy first, think about it later...then return it.)
 
Demigod's Owner said:
I don't know, I bought it because it was on sale, but then I realized I would be dropping $1,250 (with everything) for a second best 30" when the, arguably, best was $1,500. Felt kinda silly, so I am returning it without even taking it out of the box.

You can say its a side effect of my slickdeals attitude also (buy first, think about it later...then return it.)

LOL....you sound like me. I almost bought the 3007WFP myself.. After looking long and hard I felt I wanted that 92% gamut and 1000 to 1 contrast ratio and felt it was worth the extra $$$ as HP makes a good product. I heard Dell is coming out with that new 3007WFP though to compete with the 3065, but I elected to go with the 3065 because it's readily available. The 3 yr on-site warranty they offer doesn't hurt either.

I'll post some photos tonight.
 
zzz said:
Masa, I'd also be very interested to hear if you can get old games to display in a "best-fit w/o stretching" mode, where they'd fill the screen top-to-bottom, and have black bars on each side, maintaining 4:3. Maybe you can load up Diablo, Starcraft, or some other fixed-resolution game and see if that works.

First try using your video card's "fixed aspect ratio scaling" option, and if that doesn't work, you could try the PowerStrip solution. Thanks.

Don't have any old titles kicking around anymore....tossed them out. I'll see if I can find a demo to download.
 
masaville said:
Don't have any old titles kicking around anymore....tossed them out. I'll see if I can find a demo to download.
Heh, tossed em out huh. I play a lot of them still. I need to play through Red Alert again one of these days. Here's the Diablo (50MB) and Starcraft (28MB) demos.
 
Here's a pic of the monitor


And one more


Left side has 4 USB ports tucked away, but easy to get at. USB cable plugs from back into PC. 3 DVI connectors as well.

I'm really sucking at taking decent pics, which is why I can't seem to get any photos in focus of games without glare, etc. - still trying. The above images do not reflect the colors I see so I wouldn't use them as a comparison.

-edit-
Okay, after many tries my photography stills are lacking. The photos I'm taking don't reflect the quality of the colors I see and would be a disappointment ot anyone viewing them. Take my word for it, the colors are simply superb. Hopefully you'll get to see one up close!! I'm very, very picky when it comes to image quality, colors, etc. and the 3065 continues to wow me with it's brilliance. If you're thinking of buying it, I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.
 
zzz said:
Masa, I'd also be very interested to hear if you can get old games to display in a "best-fit w/o stretching" mode, where they'd fill the screen top-to-bottom, and have black bars on each side, maintaining 4:3. Maybe you can load up Diablo, Starcraft, or some other fixed-resolution game and see if that works.

First try using your video card's "fixed aspect ratio scaling" option, and if that doesn't work, you could try the PowerStrip solution. Thanks.

Both work, fixed aspect and NV scaling. Haven't seen Diablo in years. Reminded me of some late nights, heh.
 
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