Need serious opinion on BenQ XL2720Z

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Aug 18, 2014
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Update #2:

So after some tweaking and tinker around, i found another good preset that works quite nicely for me:
Brightness: 20
Contrast: 60
Gamma: 5
Color Temp: Normal
AMA: ON
Instant Mode: ON
Sharpness: 5.

Been playing TitanFall, Infamous First Light and Destiny with that preset and the games look gorgeous. Especially, First Light - goddamn that game is beautiful.

--x--

Update:

So I did go ahead and buy the monitor. I really like it. However:

- Yes, the colors are no where close to an IPS or even a good LED TV (which I used prior to purchasing this monitor). Often you will see something that doesn't quite fit your sight-memory and you will have to readjust.
- The bottom part of the screen is more washed out than the rest of the screen. I believe that's a TN-panel limitations. It can be mitigated with good lightning conditions, however.
- Yup, the text is pretty bad. Lol. Alright, it's not THAT bad but it's a quite worse than my 32" LED TV, which is weird because 32" should have worse text than a 27" on the same resolution right? Fuck, technology.

That said, I really like this monitor and I am glad I picked it up. Why:

- I mainly picked it up for gaming, and the screen's amazing response time and non-existent input lag is incredible. I am playing better because of it and it's not a coincidence. To give an example: I was pretty poor in TitanFall when I had the LED TV. My KD hovered around ~0.5 against players and I would often get frustrated by the lag and unfair kills. With the BenQ, my recent KD is 3.1 against players, and I have zoomed to level 41 from level 10 within days. I have been MVP for 6 games now, which is awesome for someone with my skill level.
- 120Hz/144Hz. Holy. Shit. Playing at 120fps is UNREAL. I am playing TitanFall on the lowest settings to achieve 120fps and the clarity and smoothness the monitor offers is simply mind blowing. There is no blur, no hiccup, just plain, clean action. My god, this is brilliant.
- S-Switch. What a beautiful little thing. I love it, makes navigating OSD so bloody easy.

Okay, now for some tips to all Google Searchers than have come here researching on the monitor (hey!):
- I found displaylag.com's settings and ICC profile the best option. http://www.displaylag.com/benq-xl2720z-review-144hz-gaming-monitor . Make sure you apply the ICC profile correctly.
- A good way to improve color and lessen the washed out image quality of the TN panel is by increasing 'Digital Vibrance' to 60% in Nvidia Control Panel > Adjust desktop color settings. This will make the colors pop a little, improves bottom screen wash out, and generally gives a slightly saturated picture. Beware that this may cause eyestrain, as it does to me.


Original post below:
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Hello guys!

I am looking to buy the BenQ XL2720Z very soon as it's the only monitor available in my region that fits my bill (literally too) in terms of ports, features and a panel fast enough for gaming. I am moving away from an awesome 32" Samsung UA32D6000 1080p TV which, while serves my purposes very well, has some input lag that's kinda annoying me at the moment, especially since I intend to dabble in Destiny + Halo + COD multiplayer this year.

Researching about the BenQ on the internet I have come across one major concern and that is the ppi not being high enough for general purpose use. For me, I am dumbfounded by this complaint - I use a 32" TV as a daily driver monitor and I have absolutely no problems reading text and everything is nice and crisp. I can't imagine BenQ being worse since it will be 5" smaller and monitors usually have better pixel density than TVs don't they? I sit about an arms length from my TV FYI (obviously with very dim settings so it doesn't make me blind).

Another concern I have read is poor colors. I have tons of TN panels at the office + the ASUS ROG 27" and I don't see what's the complaint about. The colors are bright and rich on those monitors. Can the BenQ be any worse than them?

I did research on IPS panels and I found two monitors to my liking: the Asus MX279H and the LG 27MP75HM. The Asus one has a ton of reviews with most of them saying the display has quite a bit of lag. There is no info on the LG one except a Russian review which measured the input lag at 4.2ms. Here it is: http:///1pXcg10

Any help will be appreciated!
 
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I went from a Catleap 1440p IPS to the XL2720Z, and I have not looked back. I can push 144FPS in the games I want to at this resolution, and after a few days the resolution did not bother me at all. The colors are excellent for a TN, and the clarity and responsiveness is worth the trade offs from IPS. I only game on this computer, so thats all my experience can help with.
 
I went from a Catleap 1440p IPS to the XL2720Z, and I have not looked back. I can push 144FPS in the games I want to at this resolution, and after a few days the resolution did not bother me at all. The colors are excellent for a TN, and the clarity and responsiveness is worth the trade offs from IPS. I only game on this computer, so thats all my experience can help with.

Thanks for the reply!

So you have no problems with the monitor for general purpose use like browsing, reading, writing, etc? Is the text fuzzy as some claim it to be?

As for colors, what settings did you use?
 
I have a 2720Z and a 2720T. both are great and the text isnt fuzzy anywhere at all. Both look better in terms of picture quality than my dell 3011 monitor, especially the 2720z. The blur reduction is really awesome for gaming. Benq makes great panels all around, i haven't had a bad thing to say about them since trying em out.

Viewing angles are only an issue at REALLY sharp angles (mostly vertical as well).
 
I don't think I will ever get rid of my original NEC 2490 Wuxi with ATW polarizer, that is the problem I am facing right now.

I tried pretty much all 120-144hz displays and it was like looking some old tech from the 90's.

only thing I liked was smoother action in games with these TN panels with high refresh rate but in terms of colors, viewing angles, accuracy, etc it is really bad.

maybe I need to wait for true and high quality 120/144hz IPS panels to come out.
 
I don't think I will ever get rid of my original NEC 2490 Wuxi with ATW polarizer with anything, that is the problem I am facing right now.

I tried pretty much all 120-144hz displays and it was like looking some old tech from the 90's.

only thing I liked was smoother action in games with these TN panels with high refresh rate but in terms of colors, viewing angles, accuracy, etc it is really bad.

maybe I need to wait 1ms, 144hz IPS panel?
I believe LG recently just announced a 144hz 24" gaming monitor. Since it's LG, I'm expecting it to be an IPS panel.
 
I believe LG recently just announced a 144hz 24" gaming monitor. Since it's LG, I'm expecting it to be an IPS panel.

Cant imagine them coming out with a 144hz IPS panel...

There has been no sign of the tech developing to that level yet. If it was there... we'd know about it. Everyone on this forum would be losing it.
 
Cant imagine them coming out with a 144hz IPS panel...

There has been no sign of the tech developing to that level yet. If it was there... we'd know about it. Everyone on this forum would be losing it.
I don't think there is much room for improvement as far as pixel response time goes with the IPS matrix. 120Hz already pushes it too far, in my opinion. There would be far too much ghosting at 144Hz to make it worth it.
 
The BenQ XL2702Z is a great monitor for gaming and general computer work. The color for a TN panel is top notch.

I have two Dell 27" IPS panels at work and honestly the BenQ colors are just about the same to me. Viewing angles are not great but since I sit in front of my PC when using it this is a mute point.

Gaming is unreal on this monitor, no lag at all every thing looks crisp and clean.
 
I believe LG recently just announced a 144hz 24" gaming monitor. Since it's LG, I'm expecting it to be an IPS panel.

That would be a game changer if it happens. I'll be surprised if it does.


I'm in TroyX's shoes all the way.
 
The BenQ XL2702Z is a great monitor for gaming and general computer work. The color for a TN panel is top notch.

I have two Dell 27" IPS panels at work and honestly the BenQ colors are just about the same to me. Viewing angles are not great but since I sit in front of my PC when using it this is a moot point.

Gaming is unreal on this monitor, no lag at all every thing looks crisp and clean.

FTFY. Sorry, pet peeve.
 
The BenQ XL2702Z is a great monitor for gaming and general computer work. The color for a TN panel is top notch.

I have two Dell 27" IPS panels at work and honestly the BenQ colors are just about the same to me. Viewing angles are not great but since I sit in front of my PC when using it this is a mute point.

Gaming is unreal on this monitor, no lag at all every thing looks crisp and clean.

I have a 2720Z and a 2720T. both are great and the text isnt fuzzy anywhere at all. Both look better in terms of picture quality than my dell 3011 monitor, especially the 2720z. The blur reduction is really awesome for gaming. Benq makes great panels all around, i haven't had a bad thing to say about them since trying em out.

Viewing angles are only an issue at REALLY sharp angles (mostly vertical as well).

Thanks guys! This is pretty much all I wanted to hear.

I am reading that the default color calibration are a bit off - what settings are you guys using?
 
The only other consideration may be: Wait for G-Sync versions?
 
Thanks guys! This is pretty much all I wanted to hear.

I am reading that the default color calibration are a bit off - what settings are you guys using?
I usually start with TFT Central's settings if they have a review. Which they do for the XL2720z. All they did in this case was turn down the brightness and blue colour level.
 
After having the XL2411Z for a while, I can say I have a little bit of mixed feelings.

If I look between my Dell UP2414Q and then the Benq, the Dell obliterates it in terms of color quality. The Dell has better perceived contrast, while the Benq looks a little bit washed out. The Dell, even when upscaling 1080p, has more detail. The Dell is more naturally looking in games, movies, photos, etc.

The Benq has lack of motion blur going for it - however, you really do need a game that can push the framerate to take advantage. Playing old FPS games and platformers is definitely great on it.

I have the Benq using the Standard preset - the FPS and RTS gaming presets are just AWFUL - everything is washed out with terrible color reproduction. These were supposedly "designed" by professional gamers - which basically tells me gamers don't care about image quality at all. :(

The Benq is pretty hard to tweak - I can't seem to get the perceived contrast to a level similar to the Dell's (which itself has difficulty approaching 850:1 contrast ratio from the reviews I read).

Also, I have to be careful to keep the center of the benq just above my eye level - for some reason, if my eyes are higher than this the image gets washed out. Hurray for TN panels.

So, essentially, if you are playing a fast competitive game, the Benq is worth it. If you are a casual gamer who wants to enjoy the visuals, you might be happier with an IPS monitor. Or...do what I did, and get both! :)
 
^ The FPS / RTS presets are tuned by professional gamers. I tend to quite often watch CS:GO e-sports pro gaming matches and the there they always tend to use the latest BenQ models (the Z-series right now) and you can see when they zoom in the picture these players tend to like a washed out low contrast look so it helps them to see stuff in the shadows so that all shadows are brighter than they should be due to low contrast and Black-level equalizer settings used.

So those presets aren't even meant to be accurate. I couldn't personally stand such look. ;p BenQ monitors always needs manual adjustments for best results if you're in for accuracy (the presets are among the worst of the monitor manufacturers). If you are experienced at interpreting color balance then it should be quite easy to get a better result with custom settings.
 
From what I have picked up around the internet, the 27" versions of the BenQ 144hz monitors have much better colours than the 24" versions. The Z series especially. I can't back this up with real world experience though.

I think if your an endearing IPS user, switching back to a TN is going to be a hard pill to swallow. I have found this in my experience and even though the games are smooth I have yearned for that depth of colour to return to my viewing experience.

I am hoping that the Asus PG278Q is going to be a game changer in this department. At least compared to cheaper IPS panels.
 
RPGWiZaRD, yep I understand why they made those presets to look so awful. And it's TERRIBLE that this is the default preset when you first unbox the monitor. If you're not a "pro" gamer you might be tempted to return the monitor because it looks defective. :)

It doesn't help that the Dell UP2414Q, with all its faults in its firmware, is one of the best looking IPS displays I've ever seen - rivalling the excellent quality of the ipad3 display.
 
Where is the link for the 24" 144hz LG? I can't find anything on the net about it.
 
Where is the link for the 24" 144hz LG? I can't find anything on the net about it.
LG 24GM77. It was recently announced with the 21:9 1440p (34UC97) curved display, so it kind of got masked by that hype. Upon further examination, I'm expecting it to be a TN Panel. Sorry, I didn't know LG made TN Monitors.
 
Huh - that review shows the input lag is very good with the XL2720Z. Keep in mind that there is no standardized testing of input lag used by all reviewers.
 
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Huh - that review shows the input lag is very good with the XL2720Z. Keep in mind that there is no standardized testing of input lag used by reviewers.

It showed the input lag at the middle of the panel was 10ms which is the same as they measured for my LG 27" 1080p IPS. Not saying it's not good but if input lag is a concern and you're buying for console gaming which makes anything over 60 Hz moot, why go with a TN panel?
 
The only thing this monitor has over the others is the backlight strobing. With the V2 firmware I believe it can be set up so that it will work at 60hz. Assuming you can stand the 60 hz flicker, that is! :)

I do know that the XL2411Z can use backlight strobing at 60 hz, using the blurbuster utility. It's supposed to save the settings to the monitor, so you can attach a console to it. The 2720 hopefully has the same feature.

Although, for a game like Destiny, you probably don't need blur reduction anyways - the game isn't as twitch unlike others IMHO.
 
Doesn't the blur reduction add quite a bit of additional input lag as well as lowers the monitors brightness?
 
With the 1350 vertical pixel trick @ 120 hz (on a PC only though) the brightness is actually very good - on my XL2411Z this appears to be 2 to 4 times brighter than using the default 120 hz timings. The input lag is about 8 ms at 120 hz (even a regular LCD will have up to 8 ms at 120 hz at the bottom of the screen) with blur reduction on, as the backlight is off until the entire image is ready, versus being 5 ms or so at the top, and 8 ms at the bottom.

This is explained here: http://www.displaylag.com/the-lag-tester-a-new-standard/

But yes, if you're using a console or device that cannot use custom resolutions for the trick above then you'll get a frame of input lag with the blur reduction. At 60 hz, that is 16 ms of input lag, plus maybe 5 ms on top of that. This appears to be acceptable to most (pro?) gamers.

If you don't want input lag use a CRT (uh - well, if the game isn't using VSYNC and/or triple buffering that is). :)
 
The input lag on the XL2720Z doesn't look like anything special considering it's a TN panel.

http://www.displaylag.com/benq-xl2720z-review-144hz-gaming-monitor/

I have an LG 27EA63V which they measured at the same 10ms input lag but it's an IPS panel with better PQ. Granted the LG is only 60Hz but anything above that isn't going to benefit you for console gaming.

Well, so does the Asus MX279H. In fact, the monitor is measured to have the lowest input lag among all of the monitors the website has tested, however almost all of the reviews point out the mediocre response time and slightly high input lag of the display. That's what has me stumped.

TFT has measured the input lag of the XL2720Z with Instant Mode on to 3.2ms.
 
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I have one of these sitting in front of me since this morning and its the first 120Hz monitor I have seen that does not look like total dog shit. Colours are decent, though content with a lot of whites looks a little bit washed out compared to my EV2336W but overall its good. Colours not that much different compared to my Eizo to the naked eye and it has better uniformity around the edges and less backlight bleed.

Its still a TN so limitations still apply like vertical gamma shift even when your sat in font of it.

Input lag; I would not even worry about it. My old monitor has 0.7ms and this feels no different to that.

Oh and the pixels look like bricks compared to the smaller Eizo :D

I had to try one before my PG278Q gets delivered. Its half the cost, easier for my video card to drive and does not have an overclocked G-Sync module to worry about. No doubt i'll probably forget about that once I have it sitting on my desk :)
 
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Well ive been smashing through my Steam library with this thing all day and I am massively impressed with it. Games look so much better on this than my Eizo, it does really well with greys where normally TN's have let me down. I should have listened to the reviews and ordered this thing earlier.

I am seriously considering cancelling my PG278Q order.
 
Thanks for images and comments Dcode!

I am mostly decided on this monitor. Off to sell my TV and see if I can find a good price on the BenQ!

I have used the PG278Q and I must admit the display is quite something (although the viewing angles weren't so hot at all - even when sitting in the middle the bottom edges would appear darker). But it's way over priced and has few ports to really be considered nothing more than a tech showcase.
 
The only other consideration may be: Wait for G-Sync versions?

Let me take another shot at this. Do we know how close other G-sync monitors are from BenQ, Asus, and the others in this marketplace? That would be my only point of hesitation on buying a monitor like this *right now.*
 
24GM77 seems interesting. more info will be announced at IFA 2014.

but supposedly it will have

A refresh rate of 144 Hz
Dynamic action sync mode supposedly drastically cuts input lag
Black stabilizer for consistent blacks
And motion 240, which helps minimize motion blur


sounds good, but how all this works in real world... who knows?
 
24GM77 seems interesting. more info will be announced at IFA 2014.

but supposedly it will have

A refresh rate of 144 Hz
Dynamic action sync mode supposedly drastically cuts input lag
Black stabilizer for consistent blacks
And motion 240, which helps minimize motion blur


sounds good, but how all this works in real world... who knows?

Only 24" though.
 
So I did indeed get the monitor. Quite liking it so far and tweaking it to my liking. Using 120Hz on Windows is absolutely weird and incredible at the same time. The mouse cursor just glides. Can't wait to download some games that can run at 120fps so I can try the fancy Hz-es.

@Dcode - can you share your monitor settings? Since I don't have a calibration software, I relying entirely on settings I can find in reviews. I found one from PCmonitor.info (of the 24" variant of the monitor) and displaylag.com which are quite nice. I am wiling to try any other combinations to see what I like.

Thanks!
 
Give UT99 a try - it's incredible at 144 hz! (Don't forget to get the 3rd party DirectX10 or DirectX9 renderers, and framelimit them to 144 hz).
 
I'm not as interested in the 24GM77 now.. seems like its just a TN panel. I thought it was going to be ips. oh well.
 
Added my thoughts about the monitor in the OP + some tips for new/potential buyers.

I tried asking users on this forum for their settings but not a single one of them responded. What a disappointment.
 
oldmanyoung, do you know if the vertical pixel count trick works? I can get more than double the brightness @ 120 hz if I use 1350 (and a tweak in some other value to get the monitor to accept it) on my XL2411Z.
 
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