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Sparky86912
n00b
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2016
- Messages
- 1
Hi HF I recently bought the monitor discussed in this thread, well the 27MB85Z variant that has the Thunderbolt input and Adobe RGB support, as that was the best value model available in the UK - paid £400 and bought from laptopsdirect.co.uk
Unfortunately I'm not as happy as I thought I would be with the monitor and was hoping to get some advice on what to do - this thread has been very helpful so far in getting real-world info on the monitor.
I wanted an IPS 1440p monitor to go with my new desktop and I came down to a decision between the LG and the Asus PB278QR. The Asus initially looked great but I was discouraged by some reviews that said colour accuracy was severely reduced when unlocking the user mode to use different settings than the default colour profiles, and when using the Displayport input. Combining this with some of the extra features of the LG - Adobe RGB support, dedicated external calibrator connection, gamma adjustment and USB3 ports I bought the LG as it was only £40 more than the Asus.
First problem I noticed with the LG is what appears to be a high frequency flicker across the whole screen, which is more pronounced when it is displaying lighter colours. It's not an occasional flicker, almost like the visual equivalent of a buzz. As I understand it PWM would be the most likely thing that would cause this what with PWM working by cycling the backlight on and off at a high frequency to achieve different levels of brightness. LG advertise this monitor - both the B and Z variants - as having a 'Flicker safe' feature that 'reduces flicker levels almost to zero'. Find it interesting it says 'almost' here. Despite saying that it doesn't say whether PWM is used or not on the product page on LG's website, and I did contact LG to ask them, the customer service rep that replied said she'd looked at the technical data but it didn't say whether PWM was used or not. I would have thought it wouldn't use PWM considering the 'Flicker safe' claim made but I did read a review of the same model by Prad which I understand is a respectable source, and this review states that PWM is used by this monitor, they even measured the frequency at a certain brightness level. Here is the link, can be translated into English: http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2015/test-lg-27mb85z-b-teil12.html
It seems disappointing that a high-end monitor advertised as 'Flicker safe' uses a technique that is commonly known to cause a flickerering sensation that whilst isn't perceived by everyone, is certainly something I can see on the monitor and it strains my eyes. I wonder if any forum members have experienced this or have tested the monitor in any way for PWM?
The Asus PB278QR product page on the Asus website also advertises a similar flicker reduction feature, but here they specifically state that monitor uses 'DC backlight dimming' which must not be PWM. So far I am considering returning the LG and seeing if the retailer will swap it for the Asus model which they also sell. I'm just wondering how much of a downgrade that will be, considering the LG seemed better specced.
The other issue I have with the LG is that the top left quadrant of the screen has a distinct yellow tint to it. If I'm looking at a document / web page with a largely white background the rest of the screen shows this as a cool white whilst this top left part of the screen shows it as a yellow-ish white. This is present at all brightness levels in all of the colour profiles / modes. I'm wondering if this may be caused by backlight bleed?
The only other things to mention are that out of the box, text seemed very blurred with the monitor but this thread quickly provided the answer to that - bump the sharpness up from the default 5 to 6 or 7. Also, compared to my previous monitor - a 1080p AOC l2769VM which whilst having an IPS screen is not exactly a pro model - in the default Custom mode the LG's colour appeared signifcantly warmer whilst in sRGB mode it seemed significantly cooler and looked washed out. I'm using the AOC as a secondary monitor so it's easy to directly compare to the LG sitting next to it. I know sRGB mode is meant to have the best accuracy, it's just a shame that I had to fiddle with the colour temperature in Custom mode to get the colours looking as pleasant as my far more basic & cheaper AOC monitor, not to mention the sharpness. All these things are disappointing with a monitor that seems to be so highly rated and is certainly not cheap.
So all in all I'm trying to decide if replacing the LG with the Asus PB278QR is my best option. I know there will be certain features I will lose but I'm not a professional so Adobe RGB mode won't be a loss to me. The yellow tint I experience on the top left of the screen may be something that can be fixed by LG but if it is PWM that is causing the flickering, that's not something that can be fixed being inherent in the design.
Apologies for the long post! Would appreciate any input from other owners of this monitor that have had it longer than me - I've had mine for a week - to see if there's anything I can do to fix these issues, or how it would compare to the Asus. Cheers!
Unfortunately I'm not as happy as I thought I would be with the monitor and was hoping to get some advice on what to do - this thread has been very helpful so far in getting real-world info on the monitor.
I wanted an IPS 1440p monitor to go with my new desktop and I came down to a decision between the LG and the Asus PB278QR. The Asus initially looked great but I was discouraged by some reviews that said colour accuracy was severely reduced when unlocking the user mode to use different settings than the default colour profiles, and when using the Displayport input. Combining this with some of the extra features of the LG - Adobe RGB support, dedicated external calibrator connection, gamma adjustment and USB3 ports I bought the LG as it was only £40 more than the Asus.
First problem I noticed with the LG is what appears to be a high frequency flicker across the whole screen, which is more pronounced when it is displaying lighter colours. It's not an occasional flicker, almost like the visual equivalent of a buzz. As I understand it PWM would be the most likely thing that would cause this what with PWM working by cycling the backlight on and off at a high frequency to achieve different levels of brightness. LG advertise this monitor - both the B and Z variants - as having a 'Flicker safe' feature that 'reduces flicker levels almost to zero'. Find it interesting it says 'almost' here. Despite saying that it doesn't say whether PWM is used or not on the product page on LG's website, and I did contact LG to ask them, the customer service rep that replied said she'd looked at the technical data but it didn't say whether PWM was used or not. I would have thought it wouldn't use PWM considering the 'Flicker safe' claim made but I did read a review of the same model by Prad which I understand is a respectable source, and this review states that PWM is used by this monitor, they even measured the frequency at a certain brightness level. Here is the link, can be translated into English: http://www.prad.de/new/monitore/test/2015/test-lg-27mb85z-b-teil12.html
It seems disappointing that a high-end monitor advertised as 'Flicker safe' uses a technique that is commonly known to cause a flickerering sensation that whilst isn't perceived by everyone, is certainly something I can see on the monitor and it strains my eyes. I wonder if any forum members have experienced this or have tested the monitor in any way for PWM?
The Asus PB278QR product page on the Asus website also advertises a similar flicker reduction feature, but here they specifically state that monitor uses 'DC backlight dimming' which must not be PWM. So far I am considering returning the LG and seeing if the retailer will swap it for the Asus model which they also sell. I'm just wondering how much of a downgrade that will be, considering the LG seemed better specced.
The other issue I have with the LG is that the top left quadrant of the screen has a distinct yellow tint to it. If I'm looking at a document / web page with a largely white background the rest of the screen shows this as a cool white whilst this top left part of the screen shows it as a yellow-ish white. This is present at all brightness levels in all of the colour profiles / modes. I'm wondering if this may be caused by backlight bleed?
The only other things to mention are that out of the box, text seemed very blurred with the monitor but this thread quickly provided the answer to that - bump the sharpness up from the default 5 to 6 or 7. Also, compared to my previous monitor - a 1080p AOC l2769VM which whilst having an IPS screen is not exactly a pro model - in the default Custom mode the LG's colour appeared signifcantly warmer whilst in sRGB mode it seemed significantly cooler and looked washed out. I'm using the AOC as a secondary monitor so it's easy to directly compare to the LG sitting next to it. I know sRGB mode is meant to have the best accuracy, it's just a shame that I had to fiddle with the colour temperature in Custom mode to get the colours looking as pleasant as my far more basic & cheaper AOC monitor, not to mention the sharpness. All these things are disappointing with a monitor that seems to be so highly rated and is certainly not cheap.
So all in all I'm trying to decide if replacing the LG with the Asus PB278QR is my best option. I know there will be certain features I will lose but I'm not a professional so Adobe RGB mode won't be a loss to me. The yellow tint I experience on the top left of the screen may be something that can be fixed by LG but if it is PWM that is causing the flickering, that's not something that can be fixed being inherent in the design.
Apologies for the long post! Would appreciate any input from other owners of this monitor that have had it longer than me - I've had mine for a week - to see if there's anything I can do to fix these issues, or how it would compare to the Asus. Cheers!