NEC 2490WUXi - The Full Story

You are a lucky guy. I got my 2490WUXi last monday here in Germany and it produces noise which I can hear in 1m distance in front of the panel


Btw: Anybody know where to get the plastic hood in Germany?

 

Excellent review! Much appreciated albovin! This just gets better for 2490WUXi owners!

 

How exactly is the hood attached to the display?

 

It is clipped on in 5 places. You can see the clips at the bottom of the side panels and see part of one in the top corner (rear view photo) in those photos.

 

I heart this was an issue when importing a US 2490WUXi to Europe and attaching it to a 120v to 220v converter

I was still waiting for someone to report if the "real EU version" has the same issue...

You just confirmed to me that it does have this issue... unfortunatly...

I will not pay tripple the price for a noisy monitor... For that price it must be "perfect"

still a nice review though

 

So no screws or sticky tape is required, right? That sounds good. Now I need to find a shop that has it in stock and which can ship internationally ...

 

I agree with you on that. But there was at least one guy here on the forum from Europe who didn't had this noise problem (on his 2690 or 2490).

Let's see if my replacement will have the same problem. If it has I think I'll let it "repair" by NEC.

Obviously they don't even have new replacements in stock at the moment Today they just wrote me that they need to order one from their headquarters (wherever this is).

 

Thanks for all the info, I wasn't even aware of the advanced menu.
Maybe now I can fix those little details that kept annoying me:

1. Aspect stretching keeps switching to "Fill" when I want it to be "Aspect" as default
2. "Black" bars are not black but gray
3. Auto-switching input (I'd rather it stay on the current input even if the signal is lost)

 

For this you don't need the advanced menu. Just remember that this isn't a global option but a per-resolution setting. So you need to set it up for each resolution. Of course the display will remember all the settings ...

 

No screws, no tape.

 

Dunno about the first two (never had it change settings on its own, but remember each input has its own settings) but for 3 the standard menu has an option called "VIDEO DETECT" that you should set to "NON".

 

Alright. Thanks!

 

I'm from the EU and had a June '08 Model Rev. 2D imported last summer.
The unit has a built-in 120V/220V converter. Noise is only noticeable when listening from above, from where I hardly use the display

 

Here's just a thought that I think you could do, you could just insert your part 2 in your first post, in this way people wouldn't need to scroll down, they might miss your part 2

 

The oversaturated color problem with wide color gamut displays can be fixed just by having an ATI card and Catalyst Control Panel. The Color Correction Saturation control works very well for this problem. I had this problem with the Dell 3007, Planar PX2611, Doublesight 263 and tried everything including the Spyder 3 calibrator. Nothing worked. Part of the problem was the Nvidia control panel which although has a Saturation control would not reduce the saturation enough even when set to zero.
The ATI Catalyst saturation control is excellent. Saturation can be adjusted to zero color if desired. I am very happy with my wide color gamut monitors now

 

Very good "review".

 

Well I have to disagree. While it might not make for perfect color accuracy the ATI Catalyst Saturation adjustment does take care of the oversaturation problem with wide gamut monitors.

I have spent a lot of time and experimenting with different monitors on this. I could never get the colors adjusted when I had a Nvidia based card. I tried the Spyder 2 and 3 but no luck. This is with a long list of monitors to include the Dell 2407HC, DS263, Benq 241W, Planar PX2611, Dell 3007WFP-HC and just recently HP w2558HC which is the only TN panel of the bunch. I could not get the colors adjusted with any of these monitors until I switched over to ATI. It takes care of the oversaturation problem completely. At this point I am very happy with how the PQ looks.

Another example is with the Dell Studio 17 notebook computer I have with the RGB LED display. People that ordered this notebook with the Intel based video were complaining about oversaturation and PQ because they lacked the saturation control. I have the ATI card and with the Saturation turned down to about 50 I have no problems and the picture is excellent.

 

solaris54 - give it up. Slight desaturation does not convert a WG panel into an sRGB panel. It may make the panel acceptable for you but it does not perform magic conversion into sRGB.

Personally I like both my WG panel and my sRBG panel! In fact I was thinking to get a second 30" WG but now summer is here, and that dude pumps out some heat... lol

 

Well just imagine 2 Dell 3007s and a 50" Plasma TV in a room during a California summer

 

Yes ill use it as universal screen i guess will have to spent alot of money
thanks for your kind help

 

Great review!

Although I think you forgot to mention HP LP2480zx. In Czechia it is only about 25% more expensive than 2690v2. Would I not be already used to 25.5" screen, I'd strongly consider to replace my 2690 with this HP beauty Alhough there are some minor issues I also don't like in 2480zx.

 

I'd raise you one 350W projector on an 80" screen for heat production also in a California summer, but that would take the thread off topic...

So here's an on-topic post: 2490 vs 3090 black level at an angle. 2490 is ridiculously good. Yes, the 2490 is on...

 

That monitor looks rather close to the edge of the desk there, lol.

 

Yeah I really detest the foot on the 3090. I'd love to hack a notch into that frisbee. The 2490 has a semi-sane foot, though I wish the screen could swivel independently of the foot even if just a little. Trust me the CoG of the 3090 is very much over the desk. Everything is positioned such that the monitors are nearly touching the wall anyways (yeah we actually think about the effects of earthquakes in California). They aren't going anywhere unless the big one hits...

My plan is to build a custom raised 6-8" platform plat like I have on my older setup, so that my kb and mouse don't bump into them.

 

This monitor seems amazing for most uses but is it also sufficient for gaming?

 

It is sufficient for gaming for most people (including my own TF2 gaming). Hardcore gamers can save a single frame of input lag with a different LCD monitor though.

 

Damn,where i live the 2490 SV is not avaible only the 2690-SV or 2490 regular model.
What i want to know is what model should i get i heard 2490 is better monitor cause
its not wide gamut,but they only offer the non sv version what would you guys get?

2690SV vs 2490??

Are the wide gamut issues so bad ? what monitor is better for watching movies
games, mostly general use? will the time of use make the regular version 2490 (non calibrated) inferior to 2690-SV i'm talking about year or so of using as universal screen.
Does the sv kit reduce the wide gamut issues ?

thanks in advance.

 

Calibration of any kind does not remove wide gamut issues. Calibration DOES NOT change the gamut displayed. It just makes sure that colours displayed on screen (in colour aware software) are correct.

For a general purpose screen the 2490 would be better as there are no issues with wide gamut. It should come reasonably well calibrated out of the box. Video players are not colour managed so wide gamut screen are not so good for video content. I have a 2690 and have tweaked the hue and saturation controls in my video settings to reduce the appearance of the oversaturation that occurs. It isn't as good a correction as proper colour management would do but is OK.

Then again you might like the oversaturation that wide gamut screens give. It might be a good idea to see in person what happens before you make your decision.

As you mention that the 2490 SV is not available where you live but the 2490 regular is I am guessing that you are in Europe somwhere. The 2490 was only released in Europe earlier this year and the Spectraview version has recently been officially announced by NEC Europe. The Spectraview version should start appearing soon. In the UK it is already available from Colour Confidence and Native Digital.

 

Alright , after reading that fantastic write up , I'm buying one. That has to be one of if not the best in the price range.. period. I'm gonna buy it next week when I get my bonus in.


Man I'm excited , I don't really mind a single frame of lag for gaming .. doubt I would really notice and I'm not playing any CS tournaments anytime soon.

I'm just sick of every LCD I try having so many issues and all I want is as close to CRT like image (save for the total black production) as I can get without having to invest in a 100+ pound 24 inch CRT.

 

Thanks for the info Mlewis,its hard to make decision we are talking about monitor
which i'm gonna use long time also not cheap at all.Thanks for clearing some things
guess i could pass w/o the sv kit.

 

Hello, Mr Albovin. Your reviews and posts are very appreciated. According to your advices, I bought a NEC 2690WUXi because the 2490 was not sold on Europe yet. Because of too many quality issues with this monitor, and after 4 refunds and calls to the service center, I had to sell it to another person. Then, I bought the 2490 on Spain (not SV version) and I'm very happy with it, but I have one issue:

I see on gray backgrounds waves at the left side running from bottom to top. These waves also appeared on my old 2690 and the technical service replied me that "it was a problem of your home. Verify plugs, electric appliances and other products may generate electric interferences to your monitor". This was not true, because I tested the same monitor on another house and issues remained. Now, my 2490 shows these waves, but with this model, waves are more subtle (they are more passable). I don't know if this issue is a "feature" common to all 2490/2690 european models or whatever. I have a NEC 20WGX2 Pro too and waves don't appear at all.

Can you help me? Is this a common issue due to H-IPS pixel structure perhaps? I don't think my model is defective, too much coincidence with 2 different models... Note that waves are shown on the left side only, where the power supply is located...

Thanks and regards

PS: Waves are more visible wIth middle gray (RGB 128,128,128).

 

This NEC 2490WUXi seems to be a monitor that I could accept but it's a bit pricy for me and I don't think they are sold in Sweden...
Good reviews albovin