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

djphatic said:
Despite the problems, the monitor is excellent for photoshop and web surfing, though it is very bright and is something u have to get used to, u can turn the brightness down but if u turn it down too much then you start to lose some detail in colours.

The main price difference between the BenQ and the 22" models are the resolutions available, the BenQ and like most 24" support 1920x1200 which would allow u to display 1080 HD content at its native resolution and you will have much screen space to work with in photoshop.

In terms of gaming, it depends how you what to go about doing this. If its PC gaming then it is excellent, no ghosting and would look great at native res but you would need a hefty setup to get decent framerates at that resolution, but looks fine on lower resolutions. If its console gaming, this is where you would benefit from the firmware fix as it will display it correctly with no stretching. I have only tried Xbox360 on it and its great via VGA; though I havent tried any previous generation consoles on it.

Hope this helps.
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Pc gaming . So Im glad you posted this comment. Which is very helpful. Just want to make sure its worth the $900 since that is quite a bit of money. Since I do notice other monitors around like the samsung 206 and 226 22" that are half the price and seem to have amazing specs..

Like anyone else just looking for a good monitor. :)
 
Um... Well I just talked to my apartment people because I'm moving out soon, and they told me I had a big package ... 24" BENQ ... w00t! I'll unbox it later...
 
Thanks to this thread, I just ordered a BenQ FP241. $760 shipped minus $15 PayPal "instant rebate." It'll be my first LCD so I'm excited. Now to sell my 22" CRT.
 
Just got a big BenQ package delivered. I'll let it warm up a few hours and may install it tomorrow morning only as there's some hockey to watch this evening.:)
 
michaLcoughliN said:
Pc gaming . So Im glad you posted this comment. Which is very helpful. Just want to make sure its worth the $900 since that is quite a bit of money. Since I do notice other monitors around like the samsung 206 and 226 22" that are half the price and seem to have amazing specs..

Like anyone else just looking for a good monitor. :)
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Like I said earlier, I use it for PC gaming and it totally ROCKS ! :D
 
michaLcoughliN said:
Pc gaming . So Im glad you posted this comment. Which is very helpful. Just want to make sure its worth the $900 since that is quite a bit of money. Since I do notice other monitors around like the samsung 206 and 226 22" that are half the price and seem to have amazing specs..

Like anyone else just looking for a good monitor. :)
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Dont get my wrong the BenQ is an excellent monitor, but if cost is an issue id maybe consider the 22" if you arent interested in HD content and 24" size, as I can only imagine the 22" will be excellent for PC gaming as well. I havent read any reviews or know anything about the samsung monitors, but I from what I do know the 22" monitors have a different type of panel to the BenQ which i dont think are as good.

Not trying to put you off, but the extra money could be spent elsewhere if you arent interesed in the bigger size and higher resolution.
 
Monitor is unpacked and warming up for a few hours. Here are a few preliminary pics.



I thought it would look bigger. Maybe once it's on my desk at eye level, it will look big enough.
 
I have a little guilt with spending this much money on a 24", what got me thinking of upgrading from my 20" dell was the prospect of better numbers, namely refresh rates, and bumping up to a larger screen. It just seemed like looking at some 22" info, that those units were so-so, and I made the mistake of looking at the 24" threads for this and the Gateway. The Gateway interested me, until I started seeing all the complaints about it, so I switched to the Benq. It's a good chunk of change to drop, but the display sure does look good. I think the HDMI and 1080p, while I don't have a need for it at this moment, were sellers, I kinda wanted to future proof it.

I Had to OC my 7800 GTX though to maintain acceptable graphics in BF2 at 1920x1200. Hopefully I can hold out on moving up to an 8800 until late Summer, I'm hoping the GTX prices will have made a decent drop by then.
 
Any Suggestions on toning the brightness down a bit on the mostly white web pages? I have set the brightness to 50, and left all other settings to factory defaults. BTW this monitor is incredible, I had a 22" before this one, taking it back to Costco, The color is much better on this panel, and the viewing angles isn't even an issue anymore. I couldn't stand the viewing angles on the TN 22" panels.
 
deadsoulz said:
Any Suggestions on toning the brightness down a bit on the mostly white web pages?
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I got my panel yesterday and I used the "Color Gradient" test on CheckEMon
( http://www.ykwong.com/checkemon.html ) to find that the optimum Brightness setting
for my FP241w is 28. At 28 I can fully see every grayscale color. Interestingly, at 50
I can't see the full grayscale spectrum, which means the monitor ships in a non-optimal
setting. It also works out that a Brightness of 28 is fairly easy on the eyes.

I want to do a more full review, but so far I can say that I am much happier with the
FP241w than I was with the Gateway FP2485W that I ended up returning. With very
minor tweaking (Brightness to 28 and that's it!) I was able to get a very nice balanced
image out of the FP241w.

I ordered from NCIX USA and received a unit with the 1:1 firmware upgrade.

Two problems:

It looks like I received a panel with a faulty backlight. :( The whole display flickers sometimes like a bad florescent light.

I have a Radeon 9800 Pro (AIW) and believe I have seen (just once) the
panel-flashing-black problem that others with this graphics card have reported.
 
Seemore said:
It looks like I received a panel with a faulty backlight. :( The whole display flickers sometimes like a bad florescent light.
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Yikes, that's scary. I'd be inclined to exchange it, if this is the case. What's NCIX's return policy like if the product is defective? If it's possible to send it back, I wouldn't take a chance with a bad backlight.
 
dennilfloss said:
Monitor is unpacked and warming up for a few hours. Here are a few preliminary pics.



I thought it would look bigger. Maybe once it's on my desk at eye level, it will look big enough.
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All I see in your pictures are the possible dangers to the monitor :(
 
peTeMelster said:
You're kidding right? There is a tremendous difference. It is literally the difference between blue and purple on my computer.
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Er, I took that to mean that he doesn't have that problem with VGA colors on his monitor, not that he can't see the difference in the picture you posted.

I'm a little confused about this supposed red tint problem on VGA you keep mentioning -- you seem to be implying that this affects all monitors, but I've only seen a single instance of this posted on this thread. Is there actually any evidence I'm missing on this to suggest that this is a widespread problem? A ton of people are using this with their Xbox 360's and I've yet to hear any major complaints...
 
peTeMelster said:
You're kidding right? There is a tremendous difference. It is literally the difference between blue and purple on my computer.
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It's good that my colourblindness gives me problems with red. I see a slight difference in the picture, but I wouldn't mind the vga picture if I didn't have a dvi picture right beside it that I can compare it to.
 
1:1 monitor exchange for Free!

hehehe... just got an email from BenQ that they will replace my current monitor with a new one (swap!!!) because I moaned that mine doesnt do 1:1 pixel mapping. No cost for me, only one phone call to UPS to pick up my old monitor ones i got my new one. Currently making double sure the one they send me has the 1:1 fix. any way to find out ones i receive my monitor.... my brother doesnt have his xbox yet and i am waiting for rev2.

Gotta love EU law!
 
bootstrap said:
Er, I took that to mean that he doesn't have that problem with VGA colors on his monitor, not that he can't see the difference in the picture you posted.

I'm a little confused about this supposed red tint problem on VGA you keep mentioning -- you seem to be implying that this affects all monitors, but I've only seen a single instance of this posted on this thread. Is there actually any evidence I'm missing on this to suggest that this is a widespread problem? A ton of people are using this with their Xbox 360's and I've yet to hear any major complaints...
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I think the problem, which I have is mainly due to repairtech messing up big style by replacing the mainboard instead of doing what they should have done. I also spoke with Flake, also a UK buyer who has dealt with repairtech and has a similar problem but not as extreme as mine, as they also replaced the mainboard.

I dont think it is a widespread problem and not related to BenQ, though I do admit that prior to sending my monitor away for the 1:1 fix the colours on VGA on xbox360 were slighty on the red side; but nothing extreme as pictured and barely noticable and could easily be tweaked and i imagine this is the case with most using xbox360 on this monitor.
 
Is the red tint issue only with VGA or is it noticable with DVI aswell? Im planning on buying this one for photoshop and 3d work.

Or... if anyone have tried it side by side with an Eizo FlexScan S2411W Id like to hear some what they think...
 
This is a repost. Can someone help. I can live without pictures but I can't seem to find out what happens to the picture size when viewed through s-video or composite (with 1:1)... is it stretched or is it a small picture in the middle with black bars on all sides, etc? THANKS


qtonic said:
I am interested in using the FP241W or WZ for occasional use as a display for TV (Tivo) through S-video input. I have heard the quality is pretty bad. That may not dissuade me though since I don't care much about TV quality in this case. I am curious though. I wonder if someone could post a picture of their FP241W using the composite or s-video input. Also, does it stretch to fill the screen or does the 1:1 mapping apply to all inputs. THANKS.

qtonic
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aylien said:
Is the red tint issue only with VGA or is it noticable with DVI aswell? Im planning on buying this one for photoshop and 3d work.

Or... if anyone have tried it side by side with an Eizo FlexScan S2411W Id like to hear some what they think...
Click to expand...

its not an issue with mine at all, the only time i see any kind of red saturation increase is when gaming, thats it, and its only on a few select games.
not sure why this is, but if its only in a few games and not all it seems like a color profile issue with the games.

with correct color calibration this monitor is very suitable for use with photoshop, as i think i'm the pickiest SOB here when it comes to color correctness. :D Just make sure to calibrate it, the difference was pretty evident from the factory settings to the calibrated settings, in a good way.
I still think that a CRT has a better picture, but this monitor is no slouch, or i wouldnt even bother with it.
 
aylien said:
Is the red tint issue only with VGA or is it noticable with DVI aswell?
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VGA only and as said previously its not a common problem, it would be very unlikely that you would get this problem from a new monitor (i.e. not tampered with from repair people)
 
thx for the replies....

Dunan: What calibrationtools can you recommed? I got a budget of ~300$ for a cc-device.
 
will have it by the end of the week :D...

by the way there's a sale right now on NCIX it's 858$ with cheaper shipping!
 
MrPatate said:
will have it by the end of the week :D...

by the way there's a sale right now on NCIX it's 858$ with cheaper shipping!
Click to expand...

When I ordered my FP241W I thought about going through NCIX. With the recent shipping issues I have seen it didn't seem to be my best option (I needed the monitor in under 8 days, guaranteed, no hassles or issues, for a LAN party.) That is probably the ONLY reason I went with Newegg (which, coincidentally, I won a Newegg.com Baseball Cap at the LAN Party.)

I even had the FP241W (w/ firmware upgrade) in my cart with double boxing, had the shipping calculated and all punched in.... I just couldn't get over the possible time delay. If the monitor had shown up on the 9th day after ordering I would have been SOL.... nobody at home to sign for it and I would've been on vacation for the entire weekend. Leaving it at UPS wasn't an option, and leaving it in front of my apartment door wasn't an option either... the end result is I ordered from Newegg, it shipped 2 hours later and I received it less than 2 days later.

I WANTED to save money, but time constraints made that impossible. With all that said, however, I thoroughly enjoy the monitor and am still playing with it to make it "better" (read: screwing it up to the point where my warped mind will enjoy it.)

202276
 
Tytalus said:
When I ordered my FP241W I thought about going through NCIX. With the recent shipping issues I have seen it didn't seem to be my best option (I needed the monitor in under 8 days, guaranteed, no hassles or issues, for a LAN party.) That is probably the ONLY reason I went with Newegg (which, coincidentally, I won a Newegg.com Baseball Cap at the LAN Party.)

I even had the FP241W (w/ firmware upgrade) in my cart with double boxing, had the shipping calculated and all punched in.... I just couldn't get over the possible time delay. If the monitor had shown up on the 9th day after ordering I would have been SOL.... nobody at home to sign for it and I would've been on vacation for the entire weekend. Leaving it at UPS wasn't an option, and leaving it in front of my apartment door wasn't an option either... the end result is I ordered from Newegg, it shipped 2 hours later and I received it less than 2 days later.

I WANTED to save money, but time constraints made that impossible. With all that said, however, I thoroughly enjoy the monitor and am still playing with it to make it "better" (read: screwing it up to the point where my warped mind will enjoy it.)

202276
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Did your monitor from newegg.com come with the 1:1 firmware upgrade? The last I read they were not shipping monitors with 1:1.
 
I was waiting for the WZ, but the ETA kept on getting pushed back. I finally caved and got it from NCIX with the pixel insurance. Hopefully I don't have problems with paypal. I just want to test out the PS3 and WII on it.
 
Cactrot said:
I was waiting for the WZ, but the ETA kept on getting pushed back. I finally caved and got it from NCIX with the pixel insurance. Hopefully I don't have problems with paypal. I just want to test out the PS3 and WII on it.
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Would you post some pictures of the monitor with PS3? 1080p and 720p shots would be great, thanks!
 
Sure no problem. I'm just hoping theres no problems with paypal. I have the component cables for WII ready and the HDMI for PS3 ready. I also have the Creative DDTS-100 ready for gaming.
 
Quite impressed with the monitor so far. Had to bring the brightness down quite a bit in ATI Control Panel so that I could leave it at 30 on the monitor. Left the contrast at 50 and did not alter the colours. They look good enough to me.

Dead pixel buddy showed one dead pixel near the left edge when in green mode.



There is also something that shows exactly in the center when looking at a black screen, like the tiniest pin prick of light. If I remove my bifocals and get 3-4" from it to look (I am very nearsighted but that comes in handy at times), I see that it is not on a pixel but between pixels and only about one fifth the size of a pixel. Don't know if that is a fault but I am not particularly in the mood to return the monitor just for those. Afterall, it did not take me long to unsee the wires in my Diamondtron CRT.

The colours are very vibrant and I am getting used to the extra workspace. Top of the monitor feels just as warm as my CRT did. I expected less heat somehow but that is my first LCD so I had no idea. One major disappointment is that the fonts and objects look quite smaller at 1920x1200 than they looked at 1152x864 on my 19" CRT. I adjusted the web fonts acordingly but some Windows texts have remained small and I found no way to alter them in Appearance- Advance.

I'll get used to that eventually.

There is a little greying laterally due to the viewing angles and my mind seems to notice it more on the right side than on the left for some reason, even though I am looking dead centre at the monitor.

Overall, I am happy with my purchase.:)

I tried to take pics but have no tripod and my camera did not get the colours right. I'll try again when it's daytime.
 
I started out at 50 on the brightness, but my eyeballs beat me up and made me change it to 30.
 
dacalo07 said:
Would you post some pictures of the monitor with PS3? 1080p and 720p shots would be great, thanks!
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i'll post some too ;)

By the way, really stupid question, but what's the best way to find dead or stuck pixels? It's my first LCD and i'm anxious to check that part out to be sure everything is fine... A complete white page would do it?

I see some people talking about calibration tools, do i really need them to have a great display or i can just follow my guts and have the "same" result?
 
Look up Dead Pixel Buddy. It's a tiny program that fills your screen with one colour at a time. Sometimes dead/stuck pixels only show up under certain colours.
 
Ordered from Newegg Thursday 2/8, and received the monitor today. It was shipped from NJ, and was built Nov2006 w/out the 1:1 upgrade. I was expecting that, but still kind of hoped for a Dec model.

So what do I need to do to get the firmware upgrade? From the looks of the thread I will have to pay for shipping if there isn't a service center nearby, correct? Has anyone had luck getting them to pay for any of the shipping?

The good news: I love this monitor. I couldn't find any dead pixels with Dead Pixel Buddy, the Lord of the Rings DVD looked great, and backlight bleed is unnoticeable so far. The stand surprised me a great deal, as it much sturdier and better looking than the pictures lead me to believe. While it isn't strictly fair to compare a BenQ connected via DVI in my room to a Gateway FPD2485W set up in whatever crappy configuration BestBuy, CircuitCity, and CostCo uses, I certainly give the edge to the BenQ.
 
I've had my monitor for almost two weeks now and I'm having the occasional signal loss, you know the screen goes black for a second and then the image comes back.

I know it has been discussed that using a DVI cable other than the supplied one would solve the problem, and I am using a cable I purchased before I got the monitor, it's a generic one so I'm wondering how good quality of a cable do I need?

btw, the signal loss happened to me once using hdmi so this has me thinking it's the monitors fault.
 
Cactrot said:
I was waiting for the WZ, but the ETA kept on getting pushed back. I finally caved and got it from NCIX with the pixel insurance. Hopefully I don't have problems with paypal. I just want to test out the PS3 and WII on it.
Click to expand...

How do yo plan to play sound from the consoles? It's not a big issue for me, but since the benq has no sound input/output options and there seem to be no headphone jacks on the PS3, it would seem that you need a seperate receiver to decode the digital sound from the PS3 and you will lose the option to decode Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD, which to my knowledge will only be sent over the HDMI interface by the PS3.
 
DeaffyMan said:
How do yo plan to play sound from the consoles? It's not a big issue for me, but since the benq has no sound input/output options and there seem to be no headphone jacks on the PS3, it would seem that you need a seperate receiver to decode the digital sound from the PS3 and you will lose the option to decode Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD, which to my knowledge will only be sent over the HDMI interface by the PS3.
Click to expand...

I'm not an audio pro, but I thought the optical output could handle the digital-audio-ness.
 
pacho said:
I've had my monitor for almost two weeks now and I'm having the occasional signal loss, you know the screen goes black for a second and then the image comes back.

I know it has been discussed that using a DVI cable other than the supplied one would solve the problem, and I am using a cable I purchased before I got the monitor, it's a generic one so I'm wondering how good quality of a cable do I need?

btw, the signal loss happened to me once using hdmi so this has me thinking it's the monitors fault.
Click to expand...

Same here. Using an expensive DVI cabel!
 
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