Need help finding the right monitor for me. Please and thank you!

[JNolan93]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum but have been reading on here for awhile. Instead of giving a long introduction, I just want to ask you guys for your help on finding the monitor that fits my needs the most! Okay, so here's my story.

I'm new to the gaming PC world, my brother-in-law built me one for Christmas. I started out using my TV as a display before I decided to go out and look for a monitor. I had no idea it was going to be this hard.

The thing I care about the most is color accuracy and deep blacks. I did very little research before deciding on the ASUS VN248H-P IPS monitor. Obviously this is where I learned about "IPS glow" it was so bad, it kinda made me feel like my eyes were crossing, and since I kept it for too long and couldn't return it, I had to sell it.

After doing more extensive research, including reading things on here. I thought that the BenQ EW2740L would be what I was looking for. VA panel, deep blacks, no glow, I heard it had good color accuracy. So I bought that and it was good for awhile, until I noticed the lack of color accuracy in different games, videos, websites, etc. I've been tinkering with both the display's settings and the settings in the AMD Catalyst Control Center. I still change things from time to time but I finally found an acceptable color for me but it's still not quite there. I know, I have high standards lol. I had to use the picture setting "M-Book" which delivers the most vibrant colors, problem is, the color is too deep and to vibrant so in the Catalyst Control Center I was able to adjust it to an better color level but it's still a little off. There's still a deeper tint in some colors.

Note: Neither of these monitors have been calibrated. I am looking for something that looks good right out of the box. Basically, I want something like my TV because that displays the colors that I want. If anyone is wondering my TV is the Sony KDL40R450A, that wasn't calibrated either but it still looks great. I know you could say "Well just game on your TV, but I'm looking for a desktop display for PC gaming/web browsing

To summarize, I would like very accurate colors and good black levels. Not a fan of the IPS panels because of the glow, if there is a VA panel that can offer this, that would be ideal. I'm not too concerned about response time or input lag. Budget is anywhere from $200 to $300. 24" or 27" display.

If nothing like what I want exists out there then I am fine with the BenQ EW2740L, I really do like the monitor, I just want to see if there is something better out there and I figured I would ask here since most of you know what you're talking about.

Sorry for the long post guys, and to anyone who took the time to read it I appreciate it a lot. I would also appreciate anyone's help. Thanks everyone!

Also, I've seen Samsung TVs that offer great colors, are their monitors the same?

 

[evilsofa]

You should try to work with what you have first; it's one of the better ones. I'm guessing you have brightness and contrast all out of whack. Many people try to run LCD monitors much too bright; on most models, anything over about 25% brightness is insanely bright, and some are best as low as 0%, though most monitor manufacturers seem to aim for normal brightness somewhere around 15% to 20%. Always keeping in mind the brightness of the room will affect the appropriate brightness of the monitor.

Looking at DEAD's review of your monitor (translated), they found good settings to be:

Brightness - 17;
Contrast - 75;
Color Temp. - User (83/91/98);
VividPixel - 0;
Trace Free - 20.

I would not use a video card's color settings, just set those back to neutral or off or unused or default (keeping notes on what you had before in case you decide to go back, of course).

Using a reviewer's calibrated settings on your own monitor won't result in perfect calibration but it might be a lot closer to what it's supposed to be than what you have now. It might not look like your TV; what you think is normal may not be anywhere near it. People get used to the darndest things and someone whose TV is set extremely blue might wonder why everybody else's TVs looks so awfully red.

 

[Ryun]

Agree with the above. Additionally, it doesn't sound like you really want color accuracy but color consistency between your sets. Unless your TV is truly calibrated that is.

I don't know that TV's specs off the top of my head so your two screens may never look alike. However, if you want them to look similar try hooking your PC up to the monitor and TV at the same time. Then adjust your color settings of the monitor until it matches as close as possible.

 

[JNolan93]

Thank you for the responses!

evilsofa - Thank you, yeah in doing my research I've compared the EW2740L to a bunch of other monitors, from other reviews to this forum's best VA monitors thread. The monitor seemed like the perfect one for me at the price. I did try the settings you posted but surprisingly it made the monitor display a bright blue tint. I've been messing with the brightness and contrast by going to different sites. Like I knew my monitor was too high because on Facebook there is a Gray and White layout but mine was all White so I knew to turn down those settings. I did end up going back to the settings I had before that combined the Macbook setting with AMD color corrections. I even made more changes to make it look better so I think I have color that I'm comfortable with! I only need this monitor for my PC but I know that if I wanted to hook a console up to it, I wouldn't have the best colors, which is fine.

Ryun - Yeah, I agree. There might not even be a monitor that offers the same image as my television. Like I said above, after some adjustments I found a color that I think I might be comfortable with. I'm not sure if I can hook up my monitor and TV to my PC at once because the monitor only has 2 HDMI ports and I think my PC only has one. Unless they sell a some kind adapter? I don't think my TV is calibrated unless Sony does it for you. I'm just going to watch the same YouTube videos on both displays to see how close they are.

Again, thank you guys for the responses. It's much appreciated!

 

[Ryun]

Yeah looks like that BenQ comes with 2 HDMI and 1 VGA maybe? At any rate if you have a DVI connector on your graphics card you can buy a DVI to HDMI cable from monoprice (or really any electronics store). Shouldn't be more than $5-10.