HP ZR24w

Time to relate my experience with this thing. Which really, is "these things", I'm on my third. Bought it at NCIX, someone was asking about that recently, I have no complaints with the 0DP coverage thing so far, except that if you don't have a monitor already (my last one died) and you want cross shipping, they do charge you for it. This is understandable, it's just unnerving having over $1k on your CC bill from items which you are counting on being refunded. :)


Monitor #1 is the best I've gotten so far. 1 pixel has 2 dead subs (white shows as red, green and blue as black). Horizontal banding in greys is there, but I could not see it without a solid grey screen and alternately closing each eye to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Brightness, at setting 0 and from 3 feet away, is very painful without extensive room lighting. Backlight bleed exists, but is not noticeable unless staring at a blank, black screen. The colours are beautiful. Calibrated with a cheapish i1 Display LT, the gamma curve is way better than my (uncalibrated) 10yo CRT, if that means anything. I can now make out the details on black suede sneakers in an image, which was impossible before.

Monitor #2 was DOA. Same issue a few people have reported lately: after turning it on the picture comes on, but then "goes away" after 2-3 seconds. Seems like the panel and backlight are going into power saving mode, but the rest of the components don't know it - the status LED stays blue, indicating power on + active input signal. Once the display goes out, all buttons including Power are unresponsive/lagged so I couldn't manoeuvre through the OSD fast enough to reset factory defaults. I called HP to see if there was a button combo that would do it. Lesson: Don't call HP without the IVR shortcut that was pasted in this thread. After directing myself to "other business products", I spoke to someone who transfered me to desktop PCs or something. I answered the ridiculous questions and gave the rep my serial number for ~15 minutes while he tried to look up the monitor, which I did specify was of the business/performance line, etc etc. Only after this period, did he look it up on the website, and stated that it was a business monitor and that he would transfer me. I hung up, found the shortcut and called back, got the right person, he didn't have any idea what I was asking for, and suggested I open a warranty ticket. This call took less than 2 minutes, total.

Monitor #3 has no dead pixels, and does work. Unfortunately the backlight bleeding is atrocious. I know this could be mostly corrected by opening the casing and inserting shielding, but obviously that would void the warranty. Which on a fairly expensive new purchase seems like a bad idea (especially if it up and fails, like in some of the posts here).


As for blur, I would say the severity of the issue is 2 to 5 out of ten, and coming straight from a CRT I'm much more aware of it than most users. I've been playing Serious Sam HD, and it looks effing gorgeous. You really only notice the blur when you spin around at top speed - on a CRT, your surroundings stay solid (unless your system can't keep up). On the ZR24W, they turn to mud. Again, this is only while you're turning quickly. The instant you slow or stop your mouse hand it improves or goes away. This doesn't bother me except when I spend time examining it, but I do have a cheap surround headset, so I don't have to search very hard by eye for the enemies. You're almost always focused on a fixed point (target reticule), since that's generally the only point through which you can manipulate the game world. I'd expect racing games to play OK as well since you're focusing on the road ahead of your car, but I'll have to try Need For Speed (on CDROM!) or GRID. The worst example of the blurring is actually in apps. Scrolling through ebooks, webpages or spreadsheets is (compared to a CRT) awful, in that you can not read the text as it goes by. This is easily remedied by using Page Down instead, but depending on how much/little you like your mouse, you might not be so forgiving.

Text: Is good. Vista's Cleartype does make some colour combinations appear a little off-colour (red edges), but overall it's night and day compared to my CRT's own bleed. The dot pitch is actually a little small - having excellent vision and coming from a CRT (.24?) I would want it tighter. Because of the current brightness of this display forcing me backwards, I actually have to get closer at times to see details in some text. "5" vs "6" is difficult to make out in some fonts. This may improve once I play around with the Cleartype options though.

Scaling: All three units that I've seen are from the first stock (mfg April 2010), so the scaling options should be the same, which is terrible. Of note, there is a feature listed in the manual which does not seem to exist in the current firmware (says it will prompt you to choose settings for new/unrecognized input formats). As everyone else has mentioned, most upper resolutions allow ONLY Overscan, and some of them not even that. Maybe they'll fix this as some point, but I've given up on it. With a PS3 set to 1080p it appears to simply stretch the video to 16:10 - from the screen resize option in Square's Thexder Neo demo, it does not appear there is any cropping. Not ideal, but not as bad as it could be.

VGA input: The VGA support is crap. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before. Having no DP output, I was planning to use VGA for my PC and HDMI->DVI for the PS3. This would be a) Free and b) mean that the annoying network-like "qualities" of DP would be avoided. What I didn't expect, was that the monitor seems to have issues finding the proper clock timings with the included calibration image. It's easy to set them manually, however EVERY time the monitor changes resolutions or refresh rates, it runs the eye-spasm-inducing Auto-Adjust sequence (and plasters the "Auto-Adjust in Progress" message on your screen). Expect this 3-4 times during bootup, when loading/exiting games, etc. Finally, HP's included cable is what I would consider "short", which is to say "too short for my setup", so I could not use it. None of the VGA cables I had lying around would net me a 1920x1200 output. I think the best I could get was 1920x1080 on the desktop, and Serious Sam wouldn't let me go past 1360x768 even though Vista was set higher. On these lower resolutions with GPU centred timings (i.e. no scaling) there was very visible colour "bleed", but this could have been the cable, as I mentioned I couldn't get my PC close enough to the desk to try the provided one. Not that a difference of 2' should make much difference, assuming the same build quality. Anyway DVI shows no such artifacts.

The Overdrive feature, I have it turned on. I don't find it has any effect on still screens' PQ (it shouldn't anyway), but I do find it visibly sharpens up the mud a bit when whipping around an FPS.
 
I've posted about this before, but never really got much of a response.

My first zr24w didn't have any dead pixels, banding issues, or severe blacklight bleeding, but even after calibration at 100 contrast, I found the black levels to be unsatisfactory. After reading the tftcentral review, I was expecting something closer to a 700:1 contrast ratio. Instead I got something like 266:1. .45cd/m^2 blacks at 120cd/m^2. At 80 contrast I was getting something like .60cd/m^2. In comparison, my Dell 2007wfp gets about .50cd/m^2.

My second zr24w arrived last week and I finally was able to set it all up a couple days ago. Unfortunately I've gotten the same results. The display doesn't look bad or anything, it's just that I was expecting more of an upgrade from the old 2007wfp, especially after reading the tftcentral review. Am I just getting shitty panels, or is there a problem with my colorimeter (a spyder2pro)? At this point, I'm thinking I'll just spend less money and get a decent 24" TN panel.
 
@AndeeG, if you can point me to a free/trial calibration suite that gives you an actual readout, I'll tell you what these ones are like.
 
@AndeeG, if you can point me to a free/trial calibration suite that gives you an actual readout, I'll tell you what these ones are like.

So I take it from your previous post that you do have a colorimeter? I'm surprised that it doesn't give you a black point at all. Unfortunately, I know very little about calibration hardware and software, so I don't know of any free software that could help you out. I just used the program that came with my spyder2pro.
 
Yeah, i installed the Spyder software before I chose a colorimeter, it is nice in that it gives you actual figures. The hardware quality of the Display 2 is supposedly a bit more consistent, but with the LT version software all you get is "Calibration Completed!".
 
I know it's been mentioned a couple of times here, but I'm wondering if it's an actual defect with the monitor, or this is just how this monitor's colors are. I'm coming from an MVA monitor, so the colors on it were pretty nice, but no matter how I calibrate the ZR24w, I still have this slightly bluish tint. I've tried all the suggested settings on this thread, but the colors all seem to have a dash of blue in it, unless I turn blue all the way down to the point the colors start becoming yellow and off. Don't get me wrong, it's not an exaggerated bluish tint in anyway, but it's enough to be able to notice something is off with the colors. Any suggestions?
 
@AndeeG, if you can point me to a free/trial calibration suite that gives you an actual readout, I'll tell you what these ones are like.

BasicColour was one that was mentioned in this thread. Personaly I like HCFR at http://www.homecinema-fr.com/colorimetre/index_en.php

It will work with your i1D and is freeware I use it myself for calibrating my front projection setup but it can be used on monitors also I've read. I use my included Colormunki software for my monitor so I can't provide any help with using it for monitors.
 
Hi guys,

I thought I'd update everyone on my situation posted on page 110.

I have now been through three HP ZR24w monitors. The second replacement had a pea-sized dot on the center of the screen that was tinted red. When I say "tinted" red I mean it is bright red on a black or dark background. It was even visible on a light background and was DEFINITELY not a reflection.. Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures of this monitor and shipped it back ASAP. It also had a stuck pixel or two but I could have lived with that. the pixel density on this thing makes a single stuck pixel practically unnoticeable unless your face is pressed up against the thing.

My third monitor arrived today. I have set them up side by side, just as the last. The horizontal "Banding" and patches of light across the screen are still present but almost completely unnoticeable now. Remember, this is on a dark gray solid color or dark area, NOT black. It is most visible when visiting a site with a gray background such as penny arcade.

http://i28.tinypic.com/11c8p3m.jpg

My new ZR24W on the Right, the old on the Left. bands are slightly exaggerated here, with the new one not noticeable under normal operating conditions.

Surprisingly, the old monitor handles light gray better. I am not sure if anyone is going to notice it in this picture, but the new monitor has a uniformity issue/backlight issue creating an "orange peel" effect, or a large splotch encompassing the entire right half of the screen. this is pretty minor and I'm hardly complaining, but I'm still curious as to what is causing it. it certainly doesn't look as "Clean" as the the first monitor when viewing a light gray solid color. Here is a comparison pic, if anyone can spot it...

http://i30.tinypic.com/jgrvpy.jpg

Neither monitor is calibrated yet, I'm awaiting my colorometer. My first monitor is warmer than the newer monitor. Neither have issues with backlight bleed on a black screen whatsoever. Black levels are currently acceptable to me as well.

Anyways I hope that helps some people having some of the same issues. In the end, I am satisfied with my new arrival, as it is a $400 panel. Expecting perfection is like expecting to win the lottery in this price range. The first one just bothers me and catches my eye when browsing dark pages and I will soon ship it back. Though...I'm starting to not want to.
 
Yep, dark grays appear to be a weakness for this monitor. The only time I've noticed ghosting with overdrive turned on is with fast moving objects on top of a dark gray background.
 
Hi guys,

I thought I'd update everyone on my situation posted on page 110.

I have now been through three HP ZR24w monitors. The second replacement had a pea-sized dot on the center of the screen that was tinted red. When I say "tinted" red I mean it is bright red on a black or dark background. It was even visible on a light background and was DEFINITELY not a reflection.. Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures of this monitor and shipped it back ASAP. It also had a stuck pixel or two but I could have lived with that. the pixel density on this thing makes a single stuck pixel practically unnoticeable unless your face is pressed up against the thing.

My third monitor arrived today. I have set them up side by side, just as the last. The horizontal "Banding" and patches of light across the screen are still present but almost completely unnoticeable now. Remember, this is on a dark gray solid color or dark area, NOT black. It is most visible when visiting a site with a gray background such as penny arcade.

http://i28.tinypic.com/11c8p3m.jpg

My new ZR24W on the Right, the old on the Left. bands are slightly exaggerated here, with the new one not noticeable under normal operating conditions.

Surprisingly, the old monitor handles light gray better. I am not sure if anyone is going to notice it in this picture, but the new monitor has a uniformity issue/backlight issue creating an "orange peel" effect, or a large splotch encompassing the entire right half of the screen. this is pretty minor and I'm hardly complaining, but I'm still curious as to what is causing it. it certainly doesn't look as "Clean" as the the first monitor when viewing a light gray solid color. Here is a comparison pic, if anyone can spot it...

http://i30.tinypic.com/jgrvpy.jpg

Neither monitor is calibrated yet, I'm awaiting my colorometer. My first monitor is warmer than the newer monitor. Neither have issues with backlight bleed on a black screen whatsoever. Black levels are currently acceptable to me as well.

Anyways I hope that helps some people having some of the same issues. In the end, I am satisfied with my new arrival, as it is a $400 panel. Expecting perfection is like expecting to win the lottery in this price range. The first one just bothers me and catches my eye when browsing dark pages and I will soon ship it back. Though...I'm starting to not want to.

Did you have any issues with a bluish tint over your colors? And I don't mean an exaggerated blue, but enough to interfere with whites/greys. Also, when you exchange through HP, do they send you a new monitor? I think I might have to get an exchange.
 
Did you have any issues with a bluish tint over your colors? And I don't mean an exaggerated blue, but enough to interfere with whites/greys. Also, when you exchange through HP, do they send you a new monitor? I think I might have to get an exchange.

My new ZR24w is cooler/ has more of a blue coloration overall, but this is nothing a colorometer cannot fix. I thought I noticed the right side of the screen being slightly tinted but decided in the end that I was looking too hard and seeing something that wasn't really there.. The only way I can see this is because both monitors are side by side. The new monitor has an orange peel effect/backlight splotch across the screen when viewing a single solid light color. Considering the price of these panels and the technology they use I'd say this is acceptable.
 
Might as well post my impressions of mine. Absolutely love it. I'm coming from a 19" TN, so this is a huge step up, and I am incredibly happy with it. There are only two things I have found with it, which are minor and I can live with. No dead pixels, thankfully.

Mine does take a minute or two to 'warm up'. I have my old 19" screen right next to this one, and from off to a pure white screen, the ZR is darker and more dull for about 2-3 minutes until it warms up and looks correct. Perfectly fine, just something I noticed.

The other issue is oddly viewing angles. With the monitor sitting on my desk, if I stand up and look down at the screen, it seems to cloud over to a milky white on dark images. I simply raised the height and tilted the screen slightly back so that it looks fine from my typical viewing angle sitting at my desk.

I was thinking of trying to exchange it for that odd foggy glow, but it's an issue I'm okay with since I don't really use it much from a standing position, and stuck or dead pixels annoy me more than a tint issue.
 
Has anybody successfully connected this monitor to a blu-ray player? If so, how. I realise the monitor doesn't have an HDMI input but wondered if there was any other way. I've attempted to connect via a HDMI to DVI adapter and also a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter but neither of these methods worked. HDMI to DVI came back with an error on the monitor "Input Signal Out of Range. Change settings to 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz" and the DP to HDMI simply didn't detect any signal.

Sorry, just to go back to this point. Has anybody set up their blu-ray player to this monitor via either HDMI > DVI or HDMI > DP. HP have told me, and I quote:

"As per the information we have received from our Global Competency Centre, your unit was not designed to work with the Blu-Ray player. We do not support 3rd party equipment, therefore, we cannot advise you on which model Blu-Ray player will be working properly."
 
I too would like to know what kind of success people have had going from an HDMI source into the DP port on the monitor. Currently waiting for monoprice to get 10ft HDMI->DP cables in stock

I know that HDMI to DVI is not an issue at all.
 
I really want to love this monitor, but it won't let me. I wish there was an affordable alternative out there.
 
Hi All,

I have been looking at this monitor for a while the price tag does make it very appealing however I have been concerned about the issued rasied in the last few posts.

so does this seel like a fault with the whole line DP/Bleed/Ghosting or are they isolated incidents ?

Cheers

J
 
Okay, so I'm on my fourth (or fifth replacement). And, I have to say, this new panel is gorgeous. No backlight bleeding, two dead pixels, and no banding. The only major issue is a slight full panel blue tint. It, however, looks much better than the pink or green tint. I'm pretty happy with the monitor after two months of replacements, it was definitely worth the $400 entry fee. I also have to say, that on this new panel, the black levels are pretty close to my PVA Dell 2407WFP.

I also just realized that moving up to a 27" or a 30" would be a poor decision. SimCity 4 supports a maximum of 1920x1200 (yeah, I'm a pretty hardcore gamer). I'd never be able to see a blu-ray at the gorgeous pixel pitch that this 24" has. Finally, I'd have to dump even more money into a new graphics card for the occasional "srs bsns" gaming I do (275 GTX to 5870).
 
@Baenwort: Thanks for the tip about HCFR, but I'm having a heck of a time figuring it out. The english manual is decent in terms of grammar and most spelling, but it feels like a lot of the actual content/context was lost in translation. I have some questions about it as I don't have time to check out the forums/etc, if anyone can answer then please, it would be appreciated.

1. Am I correct in thinking there is no automatic calibration/profiling function, and that the program simply reads the display's current output variables?
2. How do you select the colour channel for the "Unique Free Measure" function??? I've seen it do red, blue, and black, but it will only test one colour per application instance and there is no obvious way of choosing which one you want!


@greencode: Are you able to change the BD-player's settings before connecting it to the ZR24W? If so, try a different resolution, make sure it's set to progressive output, etc. As I mentioned in post #2202 the PS3 presented no problems, granted it is not a standalone BD-player... Unless it's a hardware incompatibility (it happens more often than it should with HDMI) then it should work. Connecting to the DisplayPort socket requires an active conversion box (currently ~$100 or more), you can't just plug in a cable with two different connectors on it.


@AndeeG: Here are what I've been able to gather from the two monitors on hand, calibrated with an i1 display colorimeter and Eye-One Match 3, using HCFR software to read final values. Note some of them have more information, due to being completed after I figured out some additional functions in HCFR. The best black depth I've gotten is about 0.14cd/m^2 (!), but judging by the other values I would not say this is highly accurate. It is however, apparent that there are major output differences between the two panels:

Monitor 1 Run 1
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 175/91/94 0/100
Contrast: 778:1
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 13.8/9.2/7.2/7.8/11.3/7.4
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 69.9/14.8/4.0/1.0/0.4/1.6/0.6/0.6/0.3/0.3/0.7

Monitor 1 Run 2
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 175/91/94 0/100
Contrast/Black/White Luminance: 771:1/0.14/111.74
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 17.6/8.8/7.3/9.5/11.3/9.4
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 71.9/13.3/3.5/1.4/1.1/1.7/0.2/0.6/0.3/0.4/2.9

Monitor 1 Run 3
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 152/95/101 0/100
Contrast/Black/White Luminance: 782:1/0.15/119.11
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 15.0/9.8/7.7/6.6/12.2/6.9
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 73.1/12.2/3.2/1.2/0.6/0.2/0.8/0.5/0.6/0.7/0.5

Monitor 2 Run 1
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 145/120/117 0/100
Contrast: 679:1
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 4.0/2.6/9.4/6.4/5.4/7.2
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 69.1/13.4/3.5/2.2/0.9/0.2/0.9/0.8/0.2/1.0/0.8

Monitor 2 - Run 1
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 145/120/117 0/100
Contrast: 679:1
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 4.0/2.6/9.4/6.4/5.4/7.2
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 69.1/13.4/3.5/2.2/0.9/0.2/0.9/0.8/0.2/1.0/0.8

Monitor 2 - Run 2
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 145/120/117 0/100
Contrast/Black/White Luminance: 639:1/0.21/138.19
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 13.7/8.3/6.7/6.2/10.5/5.2
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 67.4/14.2/3.4/2.0/0.6/0.3/0.8/0.8/1.0/1.4/0.3

Monitor 2 - Run 3 (Finally got it near 120cd/m2)
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 138/95/98 0/100
Contrast/Black/White Luminance: 571:1/0.21/118.66
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 14.0/8.4/6.6/5.7/10.4/5.1
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%): 67.7/14.8/3.4/1.4/1.0/0.3/1.5/1.0/0.6/0.3/0.7

Monitor 2 - Run 4
OSD RGB/Brightness/Contrast: 123/83/87 0/100
Contrast/Black/White Luminance: 554:1/0.19/107.82
Colour dE (R/G/B/Y/C/M): 13.4/8.8/6.9/6.3/10.8/4.9
Gray dE (0%-100% delta 10%):71.0/18.0/4.3/2.4/1.5/1.4/1.1/0.7/0.7/0.5/0.7

General observations: Aside from the obvious failure to profile either unit well with the i1 LT and software, it seems there are some rather large differences in the output circuits - or the panels' reaction to their controls. On both monitors, raising or lowering the green control lowers and raises the red and blue outputs, with red changing about half as much as blue. On monitor 1, however, raising or lowering red causes a fairly equal, but opposite change in blue output. Monitor 2 does not exhibit this behavior, and changes to red have a more even effect on the blue and the green readings. Monitor 1 also has a cyclical output wave, the colour output shifts over about 45 seconds, then resets to the "first" value and start again. This could be the backlight power circuits, but whatever the cause it makes it very difficult to dial in the colour balance. On both units the RGB controls also seem very abruptly segmented - changes to a given colour's output level are almost immeasurable (with the i1) until the next major "notch" is reached. Once a balanced setting is found, you can adjust the white level fairly accurately by keeping the same ratio of R to G to B, however you must keep them (especially the blue level) between the "notches" to get it even. Otherwise a change of one numerical value will suddenly make a colour jump wildly and throw off the balance completely. Both monitors seem to have a very poor accuracy in the low grays as many people have commented, but I can't say for sure whether the pronounced dE devations are from the display, or the quality of my colorimeter.
 
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Yep, dark grays appear to be a weakness for this monitor. The only time I've noticed ghosting with overdrive turned on is with fast moving objects on top of a dark gray background.

Turn Overdrive off, you don't need it.
 
@greencode: Are you able to change the BD-player's settings before connecting it to the ZR24W? If so, try a different resolution, make sure it's set to progressive output, etc. As I mentioned in post #2202 the PS3 presented no problems, granted it is not a standalone BD-player... Unless it's a hardware incompatibility (it happens more often than it should with HDMI) then it should work. Connecting to the DisplayPort socket requires an active conversion box (currently ~$100 or more), you can't just plug in a cable with two different connectors on it.

Thanks again for this. I've tried absolutely everything. I'm going to borrow a friend's LG blu-ray player and see whether that has the same issue. I'll report back soon...
 
Turn Overdrive off, you don't need it.
Maybe not, but going by the experience I've had these things are pretty variable in quality/performance. It does seem to work/help more on one unit than the other. That being said, I have found a few RTC artifacts in static images lately, this one is the most repeatable. Watch the edges of this icon (works "better" on a large gray-ish background):

ZR24W-RTC-artifacts.gif


Thanks again for this. I've tried absolutely everything. I'm going to borrow a friend's LG blu-ray player and see whether that has the same issue. I'll report back soon...
Good luck, if you don't have another HDMI display at home, you might want to bring your BRD unit along and change its default output settings on their TV. :)
 
A week ago I bought a ZR24w to replace my old Samsung 226BW, but the black level on my unit seem to be really bad. I like to work in emacs in fullscreen mode on black background and working on my new monitor just makes me cry.

Contrast is set to 80 and brightness to 25.
Here is a picture I made in a dark room with linux console running:
2e49jf4.jpg


The colors are great, but who needs them when I'm working in a black text editor.
Should I return my unit and get a replacement?
 
That does look pretty bad spitz, but that's based on what my display is showing me. :) If you don't feel like exchanging it, you could always try changing emacs' colour theme.

For comparison, these are the two displays I've used:

ZR24W-1-blb0-100.jpg
ZR24W-2-blb0-100.jpg


Both are shot in a completely dark room but for the "daylight" fluorescent behind the screen - the colours are off in the second photo but the luminance is fairly close. The first monitor has more bleed overall, but with a much lower intesity. The second one is much better in three corners, but the bezel is depressing the panel pretty hard on the bottom left - it's really bright. This shot with brightness at 100 shows it a little better:

ZR24W-2-blb100-100.jpg


I was tempted to fix it myself, but a three year warranty is probably a bad thing to throw away.
 
When sitting about 2 meter (~6 feet) away from the monitor the bleeding is not visible, but I really don't think that the ZR24w in general should be worse than my 4 year old Samsung.
Actually, under normal lighting I'd say my unit is comparable to one on the first picture.

I'll try exchanging it and if it doesn't help I'll contact HP directly.
 
Honest question - how the heck are people's white levels so incredible at zero brightness? If I lower my brightness to zero, the monitor looks absolutely terrible.
 
Yay, pulled the trigger and placed order from Amazon today! This will be my very first IPS, as I've used TN displays all my life. Hope this lives up to my expectations. Will post impressions when this arrives. :)
 
@Baenwort: Thanks for the tip about HCFR, but I'm having a heck of a time figuring it out. The english manual is decent in terms of grammar and most spelling, but it feels like a lot of the actual content/context was lost in translation. I have some questions about it as I don't have time to check out the forums/etc, if anyone can answer then please, it would be appreciated.

1. Am I correct in thinking there is no automatic calibration/profiling function, and that the program simply reads the display's current output variables?
2. How do you select the colour channel for the "Unique Free Measure" function??? I've seen it do red, blue, and black, but it will only test one colour per application instance and there is no obvious way of choosing which one you want!

1.You are sort of correct. I've never used a automatic profiling function but I know there is suppose to be a way to generate .ICC profiles with it. I've only used it for Home Theater calibration which uses the current output variables as projectors and TVs do not have automatic settings at the price level I purchase.

2. To quote from the HCFR forum(Don't be afraid to ask questions in English. Everyone is very helpful and many know english).
Alternatively, HCFR has it's own pattern generator built in. It can either run in automatic mode, or semi-, or manual mode, as I think of them, in all cases for "generator" select "view images" then...

auto: for taking a full set of grayscales, or primaries, etc... when you ask HCFR to take a series of measurements, it will automatically display the pattern it wants when it wants it.
semi: view->test colors brings up a color picker. pick the color you want to measure. then select "unique free measure" HCFR will display the pattern, take the measurement, and return previous screen when done.
manual: after selecting the color as above, select "continuous measures" HCFR will display the pattern, and continuously take measurements until you tell it to stop...
This is also a good basic guide if you have other questions: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029594
 
After hours of reading about the "bleeding" problem of ZR24w I think I (as TN Panel user) was mixing the backlight bleeding and IPS glowing. The picture I posted was taken from about 1 meter. After stepping 3 meters back and I see no more uneven light bleeding or such. I guess I have to live with the IPS glowing and not use 100% black backgrounds at 1920x1200.
Currently I don't want to take the risk and exchange my unit, which doesn't have any dead pixels and doesn't make any noise. There are some guys out there who even got panels with stuck pixels or color lines.
As always, you get what you pay for.
 
@spitz: I'm now wondering whether the corner shine could be caused by backlight bleeding messing with the polarization layer(s) in front of the LCDs.

1. Pressure on the panel from uneven mounting or from being depressed by the bezel would slightly alter the viewing angle of a given edge - making the IPS glow more visible. The panel mounting points are usually at the corners, so this would account for them being the "problem" areas. But these are, of course, also causes of backlight bleed.

2. The glow/shine IS there. In your picture you can see the screen's left side is white/yellow, and the right is blue/purple. You can also see this in my pictures, and in the uniformity section of tftcentral's review (where I believe Simon stated that his test unit showed no no apparent issue from tinting or colour shifting, as opposed to saying there was no tinting or colour shifting). The 35-point luminance test that he does says the bottom left corner was actually darker than the desired/calibrated luminance, yet it's the brightest/shiniest in all of our pictures. This would then point to it being shine/glow.

3. However, the backlight level seems to be somewhat linked with shine visibility... In the images I shewed above of 0% vs. 100% brightness, it doesn't seem to stay proportionally the same. The top left corner has almost no bleed/shine at 0%, but at 100% it seems to have increased in luminance far more than the others. Granted that the photo is not taken at Exactly The Same Angle, it should still be more linear/uniform, IMO.
 
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Update on my ZR24w. I have had it for about 3 weeks now, and the one glaring issue that I had, a stuck pixel, has now become unstuck. I just noticed yesterday that there was no longer a tiny pixel that didn't match the othes around it. :)

So now my only issue is the "glow" and black levels, but I came over from a CRT so some disappointment is to be expected in that regard...
 
Hi,

I got yesterday Hp zr24w monitor and there was someting on pixels picture below


Click picture you get orginal size picture.

It does not look like dead pixel.
 
from my experience, backlight bleeding tends to lessen overtime, after 2 weeks of use it will be reduced but im pretty sure you cant return after two weeks right? sometimes the way these things are manufactured make the screen squeezed tightly to the backlight causing this to happen but it will loosen after use. and you shouldnt compare with pics because you guys are using different cameras with different settings on them.
 
@logman: from HP's Pixel Policy: A different type of defect caused by microscopic contaminants within the manufacturing process can also be found. Contamination results in a dark "stain" covering one or several sub-pixels. They are not pixel or sub-pixel defects per say. No contamination is allowed under HP policy.

There have been a few reports of this on the ZR24W, but it seems like it is covered under warranty.
 
So, my ZR24w from Amazon finally came in a couple of days ago. From what I can tell, no dead pixels anywhere and no defects of any kind, so I'm happy with that. What I am disappointed in, however, is that visually, I don't really see much of any difference between this and my old HP 22" TN glossy monitor. As this is my very first IPS monitor, I was expecting a big jump, but I'm just not seeing it. I placed both the tn and ips monitors side by side, and visually, I just really didn't see much of any difference.

Also, I'm not very impressed with the text clarity on this monitor. The text sharpness is better on my old tn monitor. It just isn't razor sharp. I've tried tweaking the sharpness setting and cleartype settings, but the text just seems off. Anyone have any suggestions on how to improve the clarity of the text?

Gaming on this monitor, surprisingly, is fine, at least for me anyway. Colors are vibrant and I haven't really noticed any ghosting or anything. At this point, I may just end up selling this monitor and spend the extra dough to get something really nice, like the Dell U2711. Text clarity is super important to me, and going by what others have said on this forum, this may be the monitor to get for me.
 
For PC games, there's no reason not to take the ZR24W. If you're planning to hook up a console, a 16:10 monitor without broken scaling, or a 16:9 monitor like the u2311h, would probably give you a better experience.
 
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