NEC LCD2490WUXi still the best thing since sliced bread?

N

netchris

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 17, 2006
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PVA shift kills me (at least on the cpva eizo fs2311), TN kills me (goes without saying), and IPS glow kills me.

I've got IPS right now (2007wfp and ea231wmi) but I want to upgrade and the only thing that has everything I'm looking for is IPS with A-TW.

I know about the LP2480zx and /maybe/ I could live with the wide gamut, but then I hear it gets dithering if you don't have a full 30bit pipeline.

Basically.. Is the LCD2490WUXi my only option? Why oh why did they ever stop making these :(
 
63jax said:
good luck finding one with ATW polarizer...
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Therein lies the rub.

You can get lucky on Ebay or Amazon Z-shops and other outlets every so often but it's a real wild card crapshoot.

Wanna know why?

Because owners of this like myself aren't parting ways with them. ;)

There's just nothing else out there that I see or coming on the horizon that's even remotely tempted me to make a move.
 
The only current screens with the A-TW polarizer are the HP LP2480ZX and LG W2420R.

The current set of NEC (PA-series) and Eizo (ColorEdge) screens don't have it any more.

Those with the A-TW enabled screens, whether 2490 or 2690 aren't willing to give them up because even though they don't have class-leading black levels, the A-TW polarizer completely compensates for that.

Sad because the other by-product of the A-TW polarizer is that the anti-glare noise/grain/dirt/sparkle effect is almost completely gone.
 
Gah, what I figured >_<. I actually saw a WUXi on ebay a while back for ~7-800.. currently kicking myself for not having bought it at the time.

I must admit part of the reason I made this thread was to reach the post limit for 'For Sale/Trade' so I can "WTB 2490WUXi" (funny I've been here years and read the forum for longer but I guess I just haven't posted much).

I'm also trying to see if I can get eBay to notify me when search results for "2490wuxi" change.

I'm on an all-out campaign to get one (or two ;)) of these things. Tired of endless research that always leads me to this same conclusion :p.
 
I bought a second, used unit off ebay a month ago with less than 1800 hours on it for under $500. Such a nice monitor.
 
I love my 2490UXi and I am running mine until it stops working.

That will be a sad day because IMO there is nothing that matches the characteristics and I expect nothing will when it finally dies.

I used to see refurbs and now I think I should have tried to get one and store it for when my first one dies...
 
netchris said:
I know about the LP2480zx and /maybe/ I could live with the wide gamut, but then I hear it gets dithering if you don't have a full 30bit pipeline.

Basically.. Is the LCD2490WUXi my only option? Why oh why did they ever stop making these :(
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Dithering would occur if the pixel only has 256 states and any knowledge about the two remaining bits (8 vs. 10) exists to optically be able to create the desired shade of color. If you only feed it with 8 bits, i'd assume that you'd only see mild banding - but it depends on how HP has implemented this.

For sRGB and 1920x1200, it is your only option, yes. You might want to consider LCD2190UXi or the first versions of the LCD2090UXis, if 4:3 is fine and sRGB is a requirement.

When mine dies (which hopefuly won't be any time soon) i'll replace the backlights, since these are likely the first to die. I hope that the inverters will keep on working, or the step-up transformer can be clearly identified and replaced. This ought to be fairly easy, as this is a true backlight behind the diffuser sheet and not edgemounted.
 
hardBBQ said:
I bought a second, used unit off ebay a month ago with less than 1800 hours on it for under $500. Such a nice monitor.
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gah! that very well may have been the one i was looking at. was it the listing where someone asked a question to confirm the model? (that it was in fact WUXi and not WUXi2)

I was between the ebay NEC and an Eizo FS2331 from buy.com..ended up going with the Eizo so I could return if I didn't like what a bought..well needless to say i returned it haha :eek:
 
tk-don said:
Dithering would occur if the pixel only has 256 states and any knowledge about the two remaining bits (8 vs. 10) exists to optically be able to create the desired shade of color. If you only feed it with 8 bits, i'd assume that you'd only see mild banding - but it depends on how HP has implemented this.

For sRGB and 1920x1200, it is your only option, yes. You might want to consider LCD2190UXi or the first versions of the LCD2090UXis, if 4:3 is fine and sRGB is a requirement.

When mine dies (which hopefuly won't be any time soon) i'll replace the backlights, since these are likely the first to die. I hope that the inverters will keep on working, or the step-up transformer can be clearly identified and replaced. This ought to be fairly easy, as this is a true backlight behind the diffuser sheet and not edgemounted.
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LP2480zx *is* pretty cool looking since it's got RGB LEDs and i hear the sRGB mode isn't half bad (maybe the color space is *actually* changed with the R,G,B diodes rather than doing some magic/emulation with the LCD's subpixels) but i /do/ remember reading somewhere (i think this forum even) about dithering, a firmware update which gave different dithering, and aside from both of those..temporal dithering as well.

I recall someone attributing the aforementioned to not having a full 30bit pipeline to the monitor (gfx card must support, as well as software must support) and it was suggested to try hooking up a PS3 which the guy said *does* have 30bit output.
 
maybe the color space is *actually* changed with the R,G,B diodes rather than doing some magic/emulation with the LCD's subpixels
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No. But this is in principle no limitation for the accuracy of a flexible color space emulation like for example implemented trhough NEC PA and Eizo CG displays.

but i /do/ remember reading somewhere (i think this forum even) about dithering,
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Yes. There were quite visible spatial effects.

The only current screens with the A-TW polarizer are the HP LP2480ZX and LG W2420R.
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... and the Quato IP240ex LED (hopefully with a working color space emulation soon). Basically all screens with the LM240WU5-SLA1.

Best regards

Denis
 
10e said:
The only current screens with the A-TW polarizer are the HP LP2480ZX and LG W2420R.

The current set of NEC (PA-series) and Eizo (ColorEdge) screens don't have it any more.

Those with the A-TW enabled screens, whether 2490 or 2690 aren't willing to give them up because even though they don't have class-leading black levels, the A-TW polarizer completely compensates for that.

Sad because the other by-product of the A-TW polarizer is that the anti-glare noise/grain/dirt/sparkle effect is almost completely gone.
Click to expand...
As a display owner with anti-glare coating, and no traces of sparkling or grit, I always felt puzzled whenever I saw some people posting that their anti-glare coatings was responsible for a displeasing grit or sparkle. Now I found out the reason why, thanks for that information.

Without realizing it I had the good luck to purchase one of the last " NEC 2690 WUXI" and it was standard to have an A-TW polarizer. Later NEC changed the line to the 2690 WUXI (2) which had no polarizer. The 2490 WUXI - although two inches smaller than mine - still holds the advantage over the 2690 by not over saturating the sRGG. Still, I won't give up this 16:10 2690 with the A-TW polarizer.
 
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netchris said:
gah! that very well may have been the one i was looking at. was it the listing where someone asked a question to confirm the model? (that it was in fact WUXi and not WUXi2)
Click to expand...

I did ask such a question, and the final auction amount was $458. I bid in the last few seconds, and was annoyed that someone else had made a large proxy bid with minutes to go because that gave an inexperienced 'nibbler' the chance to keep bidding up the price. :)

Because of the existence of these nibblers, I think in most cases it's best to bid by sniping with the maximum price you're willing to pay PLUS a few dollars and cents more, because you wouldn't want to lose by a tiny amount over your max that you probably would've been willing to pay.

Anyway, I hope you find a good monitor. It might be helpful to search google and limit the results to the last day or week. I've found a few items across different sites/forums that way. Good luck!
 
My 2690 stays untill it dies, they really are that good. People do a double take when they walk past my computer and see my wallpapers.
 
Sailor_Moon said:
... and the Quato IP240ex LED (hopefully with a working color space emulation soon). Basically all screens with the LM240WU5-SLA1.

Best regards

Denis
Click to expand...

Unfortunately neither the Quato or LG are available in Canada, and the HP is $2000.00 here.



Supersnake said:
As a display owner with anti-glare coating, and no traces of sparkling or grit, I always felt puzzled whenever I saw some people posting that their anti-glare coatings was responsible for a displeasing grit or sparkle. Now I found out the reason why, thanks for that information.

Without realizing it I had the good luck to purchase one of the last " NEC 2690 WUXI" and it was standard to have an A-TW polarizer. Later NEC changed the line to the 2690 WUXI (2) which had no polarizer. The 2490 WUXI - although two inches smaller than mine - still holds the advantage over the 2690 by not over saturating the sRGG. Still, I won't give up this 16:10 2690 with the A-TW polarizer.
Click to expand...

Yes I wish I had invested in the 2490 instead due to sRGB color space (and the 2690 having such a HORRIBLE sRGB mode), but my naivety caused me to think that color management in Windows would improve with Windows 7. Either way, my LCD2690WUXi-BK is back on my desk after a brief hiatus.

I happily sit and stare at pictures on it for no reason other than because my eyes are compelled to do so.

Solstice said:
My 2690 stays untill it dies, they really are that good. People do a double take when they walk past my computer and see my wallpapers.
Click to expand...

Yep. I'm willing to sell any of my screens except for my 2690. Total agreement.
 
The only answer anyone can give you if he's completely honest is: yes, the NEC LCD2490WUXi is still the best. There's nothing out there on the consumer market that comes close to it. Save yourself the bother and don't even try to find a decent display, I'm on this travel for 2 years now and it's hopeless. If you really need a display at the moment, get a crappy cheap cPVA panel, all "high end" panels are either way worse or as bad as that. That's the sad truth.

I would love to buy a NEC LCD2490WUXi from ebay, but they are just impossible to find.
 
10e said:
Yes I wish I had invested in the 2490 instead due to sRGB color space (and the 2690 having such a HORRIBLE sRGB mode), but my naivety caused me to think that color management in Windows would improve with Windows 7.
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I too am running Windows 7, however I notice that my web pages are finally displaying reds without cartoony orangy hues - or at the very least, less of it. I suspect that it may be because IE and Firefox are performing better color management with ICC profiles.
 
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Although I would love to see one of the beauties, I'm glad I'm not that picky about my screen. I love the looks of my Asus TN panel and won't change it until it dies or I find space for a bigger screen.

I'll keep my eyes open for you OP.
 
i got a 2690 for 450 bucks 30 months ago
i got 10k hours on it now.. spectra view is great.
 
Only if "backlit" = "local dimming" else NEC's still has the polarizer.

I really would like to see local dimming in computer monitors, but the smallest thing i've seen w/ that is 50" lol.
 
netchris said:
Only if "backlit" = "local dimming" else NEC's still has the polarizer.

I really would like to see local dimming in computer monitors, but the smallest thing i've seen w/ that is 50" lol.
Click to expand...

I would very much like to see that tech in computer monitors as well.

Tried out the original 40" Samsung local dimming TV as a computer monitor. Didn't end up keeping it, because of some issues of practicality in my own situation, but in terms of picture quality it did strike me as the real deal, and for the last several years not much has...
 
My 10% commission can be sent to.... Haha I'm glad to help, very happy you were able to pick it up.
 
I snagged a PA271W off Amazon for $800... I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was despite the AG issue.
 
BoredSysAdm said:
Speaking of Nec IPS screens - please forgive me this little plug :p
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1633927
It's still available, may or may not have " A-TW polarizer" (I don't know), but it's hell of a deal for a great monitor. pm me offers if anyone interested
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I believe the 2090UXi was the only 4:3 NEC with A-TW. There used to be this link on Google that listed all monitors with A-TW when I searched something like "monitors with a-tw polarizer" but it doesn't show up in search results anymore -_-
 
Does the 3090wqxi have an A-TW polarizer? Would really like something with the 2560 horizontal resolution, but don't want terrible sparkle effects from the AG coating either.

Also does anyone know if the 20WMGX2 has a polarizer? I think it does since the screen becomes completely black if I look at it through those 3d glasses from the theater (I think i had to hold the glasses backwards to get the screen to "disappear")
 
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