Official BenQ FP241W Thread !!! Info, Pictures, Reviews

Turrican2 said:
I dont know if you guys know but, BenQ has a 7 day no dead pixel policy.
This is what they offer here is Australia anyway (on the FP series) , so if you are paying more for a no dead pixel warranty you are being ripped.

Would you guys return the monitor if it had one dead pixel in the lower right corner?
And has anyone found a dead pix on theirs yet? or am i the only one?
Im not sure if its worth all the hassle just for that.
It is a bit annoying though.

I have found that PC looks fantastic , but the 360 looks terrible in comparison.
I am hoping its just the stretch that is doing this as i wont be happy at all if the update doesnt make it sharper and less jagged.
Click to expand...

That's only BenQ Australia.
 
Oh well, it's only money. Made the jump and ordered from NCIX. It would have been a little cheaper to go to NE because of the free shipping at the moment, but in the long run, I have the zero-day policy at NCIX and if I paid for shipping to get the firmware upgrade after getting a unit from NE, that'd wipe out their price advantage anyway. Sigh, guess I have to clean up some desk clutter in the next few days.
 
jafro999 said:
I would just like to thank everyone on this thread for all of the information that they have provided. It has been [Bpriceless[/B] in making a decision and has probably saved me at least a thousand dollars and a trip through tech support hell.:) I have been lurking and following this thread since the beginning (dam its been a long time) and I have finally pulled the trigger. I ordered one from NCIX tonight with express shipping and no dead pixel warranty, (i am hoping it will arrive on wednesday/thursday), and I can't wait. After months of waiting, it looks like BenQ is finally sorting this mess out. I wish everyone who has or is having problems with the monitor the best of luck (I may be back looking for solutions, but I hope not;) ).
Anyway, I have noticed the lack of high quality pictures on this thread so far,(no offense to anyone who has posted pictures on this forum, like I said, it is because of those that I purchased this monitor) and I feel like I should contribute in some way. Once I get my monitor, I will be taking some pictures with my Canon 30D (An 8 Mgpxl DSLR-a good camera) for the common good. I hope it will help. If anyone has any requests for images, let me know.I have a 360,original xbox,PS2,Gamecube, (N64 just in case someone is curious:p ), I also have some 1080P movies (Gladiator,Goodfellas,Blackhawk Down) and some 720P movies on my pc,(Pulp Fiction,Fifth Element,The Untouchables)(make a request for a movie, I might have it) so I will be hooking that up with Gears:D . Can't wait!
Please, do not hesitate to, either pm me at this site with requests of items that havent had pictures taken of them yet.
Thanks again for everyone on this thread who has put in hours dealing with BenQ and tech support. Without the members in this forum, this fix would never have happened. Just goes to show that the power is still with the people. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Jaffro, since you have 30D, I assume you're serious about photography and use photoshop (or similar) to edit your pictures (maybe even DPP for RAW?). Anyway, could you satisfy the photographer in me and comment on whether you notice a color shift or contrast shift if you look at the screen offcenter (to see whether this particular P-MVA panel suffers from noticable color shifts relative to S-IPS panels). Also, are you going to calibrate or use the monitor pre-sets? Thanks.

Oh, and it's Friday, so where are the pics?!?! ;)
 
I really want to buy one of these, but they are a bit of a rip-off in the UK. £650 compared to only $750 (£400) in the US. I saw one for £380 in Japan over new years too (new year special price).

I emailed Benq about it and they said it would be more expensive in Europe due to sales tax (17.5% compared to 5% in Japan) and import duty (apparently a DVI connector means an extra 14%, plus even more because it's widescreen!)

It's no wonder the UK is a technological backwater. Being in Japan is like being in the future. We only just got iMode, for crying out loud. Only took us 7.5 years. No sign of street level satnav either.

Anyway, rant over. I may well pony up for one... but there is no info on the dead pixel policy on Benq UK's web site. eBuyer might be the route to go, from all accounts. I wonder if it might be worth waiting for the Z version, but chances are it will cost even more...
 
Hi All,
I have had a little trouble with my order from NCIX and I am starting to lose my patience. (Partially becuase of how fast newegg usally ships stuff and partially because it is such a dam good monitor, and I hate waiting.:) ) Anyway, I placed the order Monday night. There were problems with the paypal address not matching up with my billing address, which was my fault, not theirs. So i fixed the problem on wednesday afternoon. They still have not shipped it out, and it looks like I will not get it until next week.Argh. Anyway, to the poster above, i would be happy to look for any color or contrast shifting. Also to the note on calibration, I have wanted to for a long time, I just have not gotten around to purchasing a calibrator and actually doing it. If you have any you would recomend I am all ears. :) Also if you could give me a bad example of a S_IPS panel so that i know exactly what to look for, that would be fantastic.
I wish I was taking pics right now, but I guess i have waited almost a year for a new monitor, whats a couple more days. Argh.
Have a good weekend all,
jafro999
 
from the pickiest LCD buying person i know, me. just cause i really dont care for LCD's (sig) :p

well i got mine the other day from newegg, and finally had a chance to hook it up/check it out.
i have to say i'm impressed, the colors are REALLY good. The blacks are OK i guess, but i'm hardcore picky about them. it'll have to do. i like it better than any other LCD i've used, including the dell 2407. the colors are way ahead of the dell and are not oversaturated. i'm picking up a spyder today so i can calibrate the colors to use with photoshop,. it looks like it should be OK to using in photoshop and is in line color wise with the CRT (HP 7217A) sitting next to it.
i'm not using a direct DVI input, using AGP as the picture looks smoother and not so "in your face".

brightness is over the top, i had to turn it down a bunch.

no dead pixels *wipes brow*

i dont THINK it has the firmware update. i'm not sure exactly where to check this but i would assume it would be in the panel options, and i didnt see anything there that pertains to 1:1 mapping. its not a deal breaker, i kept everything to send to benq just in case.

more reviews to come !!!!!! :cool:
 
higgy said:
What's the date on the box Dunan?
Click to expand...

i didnt look yet, is that where it says when it was made?

it was late when i finally got it connected, i haven't even opened up the manuals in the plastic yet, that'll be later today. :)
 
Can anyone with the recent 1:1 firmware upgrade speak about the quality of Xbox 360 1080p gaming content? I'm trying to determine the best monitor for my needs. I was considering the 24" Gateway but now it looks like it is between the BenQ and the Dell 2707.
 
higgy said:
Hey Turrican2, here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_pixel at the bottom there is an animated GIF file that might be worth a try to fix your dead pixel. Anyone ever tried it?
Click to expand...

Hey man yeh thanks, i tried it for a little while but it didnt work.
I actually think its a "stuck" pixel ..but not to sure.
I am going to keep this one as the pixel is in a hard to see spot i can live with it.

Going to send it off for the update on monday, so i hope it improves the image to the level of the pc!!
 
rub lcd in a circle WHILE pattern is running over spot....

Turrican2 said:
Hey man yeh thanks, i tried it for a little while but it didnt work.
I actually think its a "stuck" pixel ..but not to sure.
I am going to keep this one as the pixel is in a hard to see spot i can live with it.

Going to send it off for the update on monday, so i hope it improves the image to the level of the pc!!
Click to expand...
 
Yes i did that but to no avail.

And i definatley dont want to make things worse! knowing my luck id probably cause more
defect pixels :(
 
jafro999 said:
Hi All,
I have had a little trouble with my order from NCIX and I am starting to lose my patience. (Partially becuase of how fast newegg usally ships stuff and partially because it is such a dam good monitor, and I hate waiting.:) ) Anyway, I placed the order Monday night. There were problems with the paypal address not matching up with my billing address, which was my fault, not theirs. So i fixed the problem on wednesday afternoon. They still have not shipped it out, and it looks like I will not get it until next week.Argh. Anyway, to the poster above, i would be happy to look for any color or contrast shifting. Also to the note on calibration, I have wanted to for a long time, I just have not gotten around to purchasing a calibrator and actually doing it. If you have any you would recomend I am all ears. :) Also if you could give me a bad example of a S_IPS panel so that i know exactly what to look for, that would be fantastic.
I wish I was taking pics right now, but I guess i have waited almost a year for a new monitor, whats a couple more days. Argh.
Have a good weekend all,
jafro999
Click to expand...
hehe, good things come to those that wait...or something like that. Look forward to hearing your impressions.

I haven't researched colorimeters in a little over a year, so not sure what's best anymore. My colorimeter has been discontinued (bought out by another company).
 
Dunan said:
from the pickiest LCD buying person i know, me. just cause i really dont care for LCD's (sig) :p

well i got mine the other day from newegg, and finally had a chance to hook it up/check it out.
i have to say i'm impressed, the colors are REALLY good. The blacks are OK i guess, but i'm hardcore picky about them. it'll have to do. i like it better than any other LCD i've used, including the dell 2407. the colors are way ahead of the dell and are not oversaturated. i'm picking up a spyder today so i can calibrate the colors to use with photoshop,. it looks like it should be OK to using in photoshop and is in line color wise with the CRT (HP 7217A) sitting next to it.
i'm not using a direct DVI input, using AGP as the picture looks smoother and not so "in your face".

brightness is over the top, i had to turn it down a bunch.

(snip)

more reviews to come !!!!!! :cool:
Click to expand...
Thanks. Look forward to your calibration results and whether turning down the brightness ruins the calibration or not.
 
I have a 2407WFP and FP241W side-by-side, used in Portrait mode for software development. Clear text is a hard requirement.

The 2407WFP was made in Mexico in January 2007. The FP241W was made in China in November 2007 (received this week from EggHead). The 241 does not have the 1:1 update.

Both monitors have virtually identical performance in DVI mode. However, only one of my machines has DVI, so I am stuck with VGA for a while.

Using the same laptop and VGA cable in full 1920x1200, black text on a white background is as crisp as you can get on the Dell - in fact, VGA on the Dell and DVI on the BenQ are virtually equivalent in quality. On the BenQ in VGA mode, however, there is enough smearing to make me wish I had gotten the Dell instead. (I got the BenQ based on the great reviews here and the anticipated need for the HDMI port and full HDCP support in a few years.) [EDIT: This may be caused by the laptop putting out a signal too far from what the BenQ expects, which means it may not be the monitor's problem; see subsequent post for details.]

(Before everyone runs off and uses this as a reason to ditch their BenQ for a Dell, let me state that unless you have a great impedance match between the PC output and the VGA cable, and between the VGA cable and the panel input, you will see some text smearing due to reflections in the cable. For example, I hooked a Macbook Pro to the Dell through the same VGA cable and the Macbook's DVI to VGA adapter, and the smearing that resulted was pretty bad.)

It is entirely possible that the issue here is that the BenQ's VGA input has a slightly different impedance than the Dell's, but I have little experience in matching VGA cables to VGA outputs and inputs, other than the swapping of cables that I was doing while investigating this, so this is merely an untested hypothesis. [EDIT: Or, it is caused by something like an inadequate sync signal from the PC; see subsequent post]

I have browsed this forum but am unable to read all of the thousands of posts here. My searches did not reveal much about this issue. Can anyone confirm what I am seeing here, and can anyone else tell me whether or not the 1:1 firmware update also includes an improvement in VGA text quality? (I have a funny feeling that, in fact, this is an impedance issue in the analog input circuitry and cannot be fixed without a major hardware modification.)
 
I personally use DVI mainly for desktop usage and text is crystal clear; though I did hook it up via VGA the other day to try something out and noticed that the text was not as clear than on DVI. I was using the VGA cable supplied with the monitor from BenQ.

Ive mainly used the VGA port for use with my xbox 360; obviously not as demanding compared to desktop use for clear text, but output has been fine for it.

Perhaps it is an issue related to the input on the monitor, rather than the cable, though it would be interesting to find out whether clear text can be achieved by a different VGA cable.
 
I think I may be closer to discovering the cause of my text quality problem with the FP241W. It may have been my own doing.

I am using a Toshiba M100 laptop to drive the 2407WFP. Now the Toshiba uses an Intel chipset and driver that supports no widescreen modes and no portrait modes. After scratching my head I discovered a car PC enthusiasts website that described software that could add modes (they run touchscreen panels at 768x480 or something nutty like that. Alas, the Intel chip was one of few not supported. But someone mentioned that a driver for an embedded version of the intel chip did work. I could not find this driver but I did find a developer's kit on the Intel website that let me basically create a new set of drivers. This is a total kludge but does get my desired 1200x1920 portrait on the second display. It is such a kludge that when I boot with this display disconnected, I get a BSOD and have to boot into safe mode and revert back to the old drivers if I want to use it standalone. (Yes, it is time for a new laptop.)

Anyhow, tonight I was doing more side-by-side comparisons (1080i component from an over-the-air HDTV box is detailed but grainy and jaggeddy on the 2407WFP, while on the FP241P it is much smoother but some detail is lost. Basically six of one, half dozen of the other.) Anyhow, I tried out the VGA connection again. The Dell auto-synced up to the Toshiba beautifully, no problems, but the BenQ only got pretty close and the text was not as sharp, just as in my last post.

For giggles I hooked up the Macbook through the DVI to VGA adapter to the Dell and hit Auto-sync. The text pretty darn good but there was still a little of what looked like cable reflections. Finally I disconnected the Macbook from the Dell and hooked it up to the BenQ expecting things to be much worse. I was shocked to get an image in VGA ***as good as DVI*** and certainly a little bit better quality than the Dell when driven this way.

My guess is that the BenQ is not able to sync up to my hacked Toshiba laptop but is able to sync up to the Mac very well. My theory is that the BenQ and Dell may use the same panel (not sure about this, but it is what others have reported, and they do look the same) but they appear to use different chipsets (based on the different quality of the component inputs) And it is possible that these chipsets behave differently with different computers.

My Dell is actually a work-purchased computer and the BenQ is the home machine. My last test will be to find another PC with VGA output capable of detecting and driving these monitors, and repeat the test with both monitors. I half suspect I'll find they both look equally great in VGA mode. At that point I'll get my second BenQ to have a matched set.
 
Hello All,

For those planning on ordering from NCIX, be prepared for a little lag in shipping. I ordered the BenQ on 1/19 (to be shipped to NYC) and the panel hasn't arrived yet. This is with express shipping too. :eek:

I was stuck at the "processing order successful" phase for 3 days, and they shipped only after I wrote a small e-mail to support. I believe another poster on this forum went through the same thing.

I guess I'm spoiled with speedy shipping from the egg.

Just wanted to give folks planning on NCIX orders a heads up.
 
I have tried Acer 2423W - good colors, but text is not as good and it was really hurting my eyes after 30-60 min. of browsing plus horrible back light in the left top corner. I returned it where I got it from FutureShop.
At work I am using HP LP2465 with the same laptop. It's a great 24" LCD for office work, awesome colors, crisp text and four USB ports. One problem is that it has only DVI inputs, for VGA you have to use converter and as a result my laptop doesn't recognize resolution and it has to be forced using video card drivers, ATI in my case, every time I am hooking laptop into it.
Now BenQ FP241W, I am using it at home with the same laptop. Using 3' CablesToGo VGA "gold" cable. VGA mode. Must say that FP241W is as good as 24" LCD can be. Text and colors are way better than on HP LP2465. No dead pixels, uniform colors. BenQ support pre-set modes for text (standard), photo, movie and so on. This is great feature for me as most of the time I keep contrast/brightness low for text and switching to photo just takes one click.
Based on my experience from this group (Acer 2423W, HP LP2465 and FP241W), BenQ is a clear winner.
 
Hi All,
To the above poster about NCIX and their shipping lag. I do agree that they may take a little longer to ship the monitor, but they do have better customer service.
I ordered on 1-22-07
I had issues with addresses not syncing with the paypal billing address and shipping address. They notified me tuesday night. This is part of the fraud prevention program, so I can't blame them for doing their job.
I corrected the paypal issues wednesday and after a call to customer service, the order phase moved to order processing wednesday night. I assumed they would ship it out thursday, but I guess it is taking longer to upgrade the monitors than we thought. (I think there is probably another reason, but I can't figure it out.) I also requested a price match on their website of about 30$ and they did that overnight back into my paypal account. That may have delayed it a day. I am not sure.
Friday - I waited all day until about 5pm to see it it would go into the shipping phase, but i did not. So I called up their customer service line, got through immedietly (which is amazingly nice, not waiting in a phone que for once:) ) I spoke to a well informed customer service rep. who new about the BenQ problems and said it was taking them longer than they thought to upgrade the monitors, but he said that he would try to get it shipped out later that night. With less than an hour left in the business week, he got it shipped out. The order status is now in the shipping phase, so i should be either getting it monday or tuesday, and at the latest wednesday. :)
So, NCIX, may be slower than Newegg, but their customer service has always been helpful and prompt, and if you want the firmware upgrade for sure, this is the only show in town. NCIX means well, I think you just have to keep them on the ball. Keep calling and emailing them, they will get it done. Good luck to everyone and I'll be back next week with pictures. :)
 
jafro999 said:
Hi All,
To the above poster about NCIX and their shipping lag. I do agree that they may take a little longer to ship the monitor, but they do have better customer service.
I ordered on 1-22-07
I had issues with addresses not syncing with the paypal billing address and shipping address. They notified me tuesday night. This is part of the fraud prevention program, so I can't blame them for doing their job.
I corrected the paypal issues wednesday and after a call to customer service, the order phase moved to order processing wednesday night. I assumed they would ship it out thursday, but I guess it is taking longer to upgrade the monitors than we thought. (I think there is probably another reason, but I can't figure it out.) I also requested a price match on their website of about 30$ and they did that overnight back into my paypal account. That may have delayed it a day. I am not sure.
Friday - I waited all day until about 5pm to see it it would go into the shipping phase, but i did not. So I called up their customer service line, got through immedietly (which is amazingly nice, not waiting in a phone que for once:) ) I spoke to a well informed customer service rep. who new about the BenQ problems and said it was taking them longer than they thought to upgrade the monitors, but he said that he would try to get it shipped out later that night. With less than an hour left in the business week, he got it shipped out. The order status is now in the shipping phase, so i should be either getting it monday or tuesday, and at the latest wednesday. :)
So, NCIX, may be slower than Newegg, but their customer service has always been helpful and prompt, and if you want the firmware upgrade for sure, this is the only show in town. NCIX means well, I think you just have to keep them on the ball. Keep calling and emailing them, they will get it done. Good luck to everyone and I'll be back next week with pictures. :)
Click to expand...

I also ordered from NCIX, the morning of 1/23/07 and it was shipped out the same day, i guess it was a lucky thing that my paypal stuff was in order. You said you requested a price match and was refunded $30 dollars....what is a price match and how did you go about requesting it from the website?
 
Hi All,
In regards to the price match I requested from NCIX. What had occured was a price reduction on the monitor after I had ordered it, but due to the fact that hey hadn't shipped it out yet, i asked for a refund of the difference and they sent it to me overnight.
1-22 Ordered, price was 762.19
1-24or25 they dropped the price on the monitor to something around 732 or about 30$ less than what i paid.
So i created a support ticket asking for a price reduction.
https://secure.ncix.com/customercare/#terms, check out that link, at the bottom where it says disclaimer and terms of service, it will say prices. Read that and it will tell you everything you need to know. Any more questions, just ask or pm me, I would be happy to answer.
 
Does NCIX.com match competitors’ pricing?

Although it is not always possible to match the prices offered by our competitors, we would like the opportunity to win your business. At the bottom of the checkout page, there is a Price Match button. Clicking this will allow you to enter competitive pricing, and the source for the price (which must be included). Unfortunately, Price Match is only offered to our Canadian customers at this time.

Prices considered for Price Match must be IN STOCK and available as a NEW item at a retail business or a web based store, with full e-commerce functionality, a valid SSL certificate and credit card verification. Exact items, model numbers and part numbers must match to qualify for Price Match requests. Most computer products are sold as Retail, OEM or Promotional products, and while they are often similar products, we cannot match prices on items with different packaging.

Prices submitted for Price Match must be from a Canadian retailer and must be in Canadian funds. No foreign retailer Price Match requests or currency conversion equivalents will be accepted. Price Match requests will be rejected for any competitor’s prices that appear to be a misprint, typographic error, fraudulent price or misrepresentation of a product.

As verification of competitors' pricing is done manually, allow up to an additional 1-3 business days for Price Match processing.

Please note that many competitors' quoted prices include a 2-3% cash discount, when their customers are paying by cash or certified check. In such cases, if we can match a competitors' price, the cash discount will be added back to the matched price.
 
no, that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about pricematching NCIX to NCIX. At the FAQ click on the last option that says
Detailed Terms and Conditions of Sale(The fine print)
and find the section that says this

Prices

Prices shown on the NCIX.com's site do not include shipping and handling. Neither do not the prices include taxes unless otherwise noted. All prices are in Canadian dollars. The price charged for an order will be the price in effect at the time the order is made. Nonetheless, if the price drops before shipment and you notify NCIX.com of the lower price before the product is shipped, in which case (and in that case only) the price charged will be the lower price.

This is what i did. It was 860 when ordered, dropped to 830 a day later, emailed csr, he refunded me the difference via paypal.
 
Jafro,

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from, but my Paypal stuff was definately in order, as the order was successfully paid the day after I made my order. My order sat around until I wrote them on the 1/23 and then it arrived at the US border at 1/25. I'm just mentioning to other forum members that you may have to give them a little nudge.

Then again, the awesome confirmed firmware update may be taking them some time to do as well. I'm patient and I didn't really want to get too "pro-active" by calling and writing, but 3-4 days of non activity was bugging me.

They shipped literally after a half day from when I wrote them and responded with the shipping code.
 
Yea, I completely agree with you Flexion, one doesnt want to be rude, but one does want their monitor:). i would just advise other forum members to keep an eye on the status page and keep NCIX on the ball. I hope you get your monitor soon Flexion.
 
So people who received their Benq's from NCIX recently, have they all had the 1:1 mapping firmware? Any issues on that front?

How about people who get theirs from Newegg in the past week (or later - for people reading backwards in the thread)? Any luck with Newegg and 1:1?
 
apparently extrapolation look really bad on this monitor, so let's say I want the best framerate for a game and I lower the res to 1680x1050, Is it really ugly or very difficult to tell from 1900x1200 ??

And if using 1:1 pixel ratio in 1680x1050, will I get the same size as a 22" monitor or smaller ?

thanks
 
I have found if you run the monitor on anything but its native rez then it can look a bit "fuzzy"
as is the case with most high def displays.
I did a few tests with some games running them in native then a step lower and so on , and found that to be the case.

Thats why i am banking on the "update" to make the 360 look alot better than it does now.

I have decided to return my monitor however due to the dead/stuck pixel and try my luck with another one.

This screen is just too damn beautiful even to have one pixel faulty let alone the price payed!

One thing is for sure...that when you go this big and widescreen there is no going back :)
 
I just ordered an FP241WZ. They were still out of stock. Has anyone in the US actually received one of these yet?
 
Manon66 said:
And if using 1:1 pixel ratio in 1680x1050, will I get the same size as a 22" monitor or smaller ?thanks
Click to expand...
The pixel pitch on the 24 inch is 0.27mm, while the pixel pitch on a 22 inch is 0.282mm -- so if you're using 1:1 mode, the image on the BenQ will be slightly smaller, though I'm not sure whether the difference would be noticeable.

higgy said:
I just ordered an FP241WZ. They were still out of stock. Has anyone in the US actually received one of these yet?
Click to expand...
I've been checking this every once in a while, and I honestly don't believe any US retailer has ever received any stock for this monitor. They've all been out of stock the second the monitor was listed and to the best of my knowledge this has never changed. Amazon still says "ships in 8 to 10 days" but it's said that for a month or so now.

I'd contact the store you ordered from and inquire as to whether they actually have any idea when this monitor will be shipping -- if not, I'd be inclined to cancel and wait. When stock of the fp241w was starting to reach many online stores, the price dropped nearly $50 overnight, so you might actually end up paying more by ordering now even though you won't receive the monitor any sooner.
 
I think the Benq has a AU Optronics P-MVA panel, which is different from the Dell, Manon66.
 
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