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

I'm going to phone BenQ US (which is the same number as BenQ Canada) on Monday evening to see if they know anything about a September 2007 firmware, but I honestly don't hold out much hope of them knowing it exists let alone saying they have it and can update existing older FP2421W units. Particularly since a few weeks ago they were adamant that no second firmware was coming (the 1:1, of course, being the first and only update here).
 
NCIX wont fully answer my question so far, but they said they do firmware upgrades for people who purchased from NCIX.

http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index....id=1489186&pagenumber=1&msgcount=13&subpage=1

They dont think or know of a newer firmer than the January 1:1 one, and don't mention a price or cost for the service if they could do it.

What I want to do is upgrade my WZ to the latest W firmware (if possible) and take it to NCIX in person. But I didnt buy from there so it's unlikely to happen.
 
I was about to buy the W or the WZ-model, but I just did a recheck of the pros and cons and there are a couple of things that made me me look for other options.

1. The "screen blackout issue". I know that other factors may be responsible for this, but there are enough of people having this problem. For me it is absolutely unacceptable for all monitors in all price ranges. For these expensive ones its just silly!

2. For gaming purposes they don't seem to do a good job of scaling to resolutions below native 1920*1200. Crysis, for example, is unplayable even on the 8800 GTX and buying two of these monstercards would cost a fortune just for gaming. You could ask why I bother about just one game, but the engine in Crysis(cry engine 2) is licensed to other developers (I think the Cry engine for Far Cry wasn't), so a lot of fantastic games using the really demanding engine will appear.

Even if gaming isn't what I mainly do with the Pc, I still play too much for me to have a monitor that demands me to use a very high res setting and therefore forcing me to buy either two GTX;es (right now I have an ATI X1950XT) or the upcoming double GPU Ati(which must cost a fortune when it is released in January, huh?).

So what to do, when I want to play in lower res and still use a widescreen lcd(the 100 kg monster that was the widescreen Sony 24 inch CRT is out of the question)?
Well I could opt for buying an lcd with some very good scaling hardware, and if it doesn't cost that much more than the W or WZ then I wouldn't have to pay a fortune for graphics hardware.

Checking around a bit I found that the "Eizo FlexScan S2431W" could be a good candidate. Yeah, it is expensive $1450 compared to $1100 for the Benq W and $1250 for the WZ (prices here in Sweden, the US dollar is really low now so it seems even more expensive than it is), but it does have some really good scaler hardware and it also is a better monitor when it comes to serious work in photoshop and everything else that isn't gaming or moviewatching(which it supposedly also is great at).
And I won't have the black screen problem. And, probably most importantly, because of the good scaler I won't have to buy into SLI-solutions where the total cost of the Benq and the grapchics hardware would easily skyrocket, while still not letting me be flexible with choosing the right resolution when I really want to play some games.

Don't get me wrong, I still think that the Benq W;s are great monitors and I urge you to convince me not to buy into this expensive Eizo monitor! I can afford it now, but if it doesn't bring anything more to the table, then I won't of course!
 
I've had 24 blackouts that each last the exact same amount of time (1 second) since August 15th to this day.

It's annoying, but not a deal breaker.

And what's wrong with the scaling on this monitor? It's really no different from any other scaler.

Moreover, get an Nvidia card and use its scaling instead if its such an issue to you.
 
infinite_loop said:
I was about to buy the W or the WZ-model, but I just did a recheck of the pros and cons and there are a couple of things that made me me look for other options.

1. The "screen blackout issue". I know that other factors may be responsible for this, but there are enough of people having this problem. For me it is absolutely unacceptable for all monitors in all price ranges. For these expensive ones its just silly!

2. For gaming purposes they don't seem to do a good job of scaling to resolutions below native 1920*1200. Crysis, for example, is unplayable even on the 8800 GTX and buying two of these monstercards would cost a fortune just for gaming. You could ask why I bother about just one game, but the engine in Crysis(cry engine 2) is licensed to other developers (I think the Cry engine for Far Cry wasn't), so a lot of fantastic games using the really demanding engine will appear.

Even if gaming isn't what I mainly do with the Pc, I still play too much for me to have a monitor that demands me to use a very high res setting and therefore forcing me to buy either two GTX;es (right now I have an ATI X1950XT) or the upcoming double GPU Ati(which must cost a fortune when it is released in January, huh?).

So what to do, when I want to play in lower res and still use a widescreen lcd(the 100 kg monster that was the widescreen Sony 24 inch CRT is out of the question)?
Well I could opt for buying an lcd with some very good scaling hardware, and if it doesn't cost that much more than the W or WZ then I wouldn't have to pay a fortune for graphics hardware.

Checking around a bit I found that the "Eizo FlexScan S2431W" could be a good candidate. Yeah, it is expensive $1450 compared to $1100 for the Benq W and $1250 for the WZ (prices here in Sweden, the US dollar is really low now so it seems even more expensive than it is), but it does have some really good scaler hardware and it also is a better monitor when it comes to serious work in photoshop and everything else that isn't gaming or moviewatching(which it supposedly also is great at).
And I won't have the black screen problem. And, probably most importantly, because of the good scaler I won't have to buy into SLI-solutions where the total cost of the Benq and the grapchics hardware would easily skyrocket, while still not letting me be flexible with choosing the right resolution when I really want to play some games.

Don't get me wrong, I still thing that the Benq W;s are great monitors and I urge you to convince me not to buy into this expensive Eizo monitor! I can afford it now, but if it doesn't bring anything more to the table, then I won't of course!
Click to expand...

You could check Belinea 2485 according to this test:
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2007/review-belinea-2485-s1w-part12.html
it has really nice scalling abilities and should be similar to Benq with other things as it's MVA too.
Just remember no HDCP or HDMI for this beaty
 
Deusfaux said:
I've had 24 blackouts that each last the exact same amount of time (1 second) since August 15th to this day.

It's annoying, but not a deal breaker.

And what's wrong with the scaling on this monitor? It's really no different from any other scaler.

Moreover, get an Nvidia card and use its scaling instead if its such an issue to you.
Click to expand...

I'm probably going to get an Nvidia card anyway (the 8800 GTX), but when compared to them the Eizo did a better job at scaling. And, yes, scaling is an issue with most lcd;s, it's just a matter of choosing one which does it with the least amount of problems.

24? That's 24 too many blackouts. If that happens during a critical moment in a film or a game then that would be extremely annoying!
 
Michaelius said:
You could check Belinea 2485 according to this test:
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2007/review-belinea-2485-s1w-part12.html
it has really nice scalling abilities and should be similar to Benq with other things as it's MVA too.
Just remember no HDCP or HDMI for this beaty
Click to expand...

That looks very promising! And it doesn't cost a fortune for a 24 incher either...
Exactly what I need! Something that may be good at scaling in 16:10. The lack of 4:3-support doesn't matter, I still have a good 21 inch CRT (and lots of others too) for that purpose.

Thank you very much for the info and link!
 
I have Jan 2007 built WZ, and just bought a XBOX360 Halo 3 console (August 23 built) just like the original poster of this thread:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1231877

Unlike the original poster, I can't get 1920x1080 display properly 1:1 via HDMI.

DVI is working 1:1 after WIndows Live update on the XBOX360. I had to shut down and reboot XBOX360 in order for 1:1 to work properly. Otherwise, it would also show 4 black bars on the sides. For some reason, at 1920x1080 mode, FP241WZ shows "not preset mode" but info shows 1920x1080 60Hz.

Kind of weird right? Has anyone else got new XBOX360 with HDMI port and got 1920x1080p worling with older FP241W/WZ?
 
If this is a Nvidia only issue can anyone confirm if they are using any of the 8800 series and still experiencing these symptoms? I really don't want my hardware to choose what kinda gfx card it wants to run on.
 
MrCore64 said:
Found this clip of the blackout issue, looks very annoying!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UrVxtIxfu4

If this is a Nvidia only issue can anyone confirm if they are using any of the 8800 series and still experiencing these symptoms? I really don't want my hardware to choose what kinda gfx card it wants to run on.
Click to expand...


As I mentioned before in another thread, that is not blackout problem in the video. If you notice there is a trianglular warning sign in the middle of screen. Something wrong with the guy's system somewhere. The real blackout problem only appears rarely and no triangular warning sign.

My FP241WZ has experienced blackouts with Macbook (Intel video chipet), and once with nVidia 7800GT. Currently I hook up to 8800 Ultra 24/7 and so far no blackout for a month now.
 
infinite_loop said:
That looks very promising! And it doesn't cost a fortune for a 24 incher either...
Exactly what I need! Something that may be good at scaling in 16:10. The lack of 4:3-support doesn't matter, I still have a good 21 inch CRT (and lots of others too) for that purpose.

Thank you very much for the info and link!
Click to expand...

Hopefully I'll buy mine at Thursday and can share first hand opinions then ;)
 
Hey guys, long time reader (over 5 years) first time poster.

This site helped me make the decision to purchase my current BenQ FP202W V1 and I'm loving it still, but it's time to grow up. :)

I placed an order online at NCIX the other night. I decided to bite the bullet and spend my whole paycheck on a damn monitor haha. 675 after taxes and shipping, not bad considering what kind of monitor this beauty is.

I put in a note to NCIX's Richmond, BC headquarters since Branana got his from there and it has the overscan fix and 1:1. Keith from the store emailed me back and said he'd hold one for me, but I'm in Toronto, so I can't just walk into the store.

I had to email him back telling him that I had already placed the order and that I put a note in on the order (which you can do during checkout for details on the order) that I wanted the Sept07 version of the BenQ FP241W.

Hopefully all goes well, I bought the heavy duty box, and insurance, and 30day dead pixel thing, which all cost me 87 dollars extra, jeez, but I guess it's worth the peace of mind since it's such a big purchase.

Anyways wish me luck on my end that I get a good unit. I'm expecting it near weeks end, so Thursday, Friday-ish?

I'm going to primarily use it for my computer, (E6420 @ 3.5GHz, Asus P5N-E SLI, 4GB OCZ Titanium EPP @ 875MHz DDR, eVGA 8800GTS 640MB @ 650/1500/999), and for my Xbox360 no HDMI port.

I wasn't considering this monitor until I read about the overscan fix coming to our shores and that component works just fine.

No one has reported VGA yet, but I guess I can give it a shot later on in the week.

Cheers,
Mike
 
Excellent thread... really makes me want to get this monitor for myself for xmas. Are there any really good anywhere (no refurbished copies please) ?
 
I just wanna add I went and compared the component input and component2hdmi2dvi input on the same xbox360 for a Sept 07 FP241W, and the component input actually looks better in terms of contrast and colours, that's saying a lot for a computer monitor.
 
Hey Shampoo,

If you get the September 2007 version you should be able to use 1:1 with no overscan on component with an older 360 as well as over HDMI with a newer one (if you have an HDMI model), so you would not need to use VGA. Not sure if the 1920x1080 mode in VGA from the 360 has been fixed yet.

But, keep in mind that if you are connecting a computer via VGA, both 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 are properly sync'd at 1:1 so you have that option as well.

Enjoy your purchase.

10e
 
Thanks 10e.

Branana that's good to know.

I guess that VGA cable I bought was a waste of money after all haha.

Only got a few months use out of it.

I can't wait to see how the 360 will look on this puppy. Glad to hear component works better than the other connections and isn't messed up since my 360 only has component and vga as connectivity options.

I'm drooling at the quality of the screen you got branana. I'm hoping mine is just as nice and hoping dead pixels are absent.

Still crossing my fingers day to day just hoping things go as smoothly as they did with my fp202w v1 purchase over a year ago.

--Mike
 
Well, I've just spoken to a very friendly tech at BenQ and let him know about the Sept 2007 FP241W releases in Canada which have the newer overscan firmware. Unfortunately, he said that there is still definitely no other firmware here for us aside from the 1:1 one, and that he wouldn't know where the other ones are coming from unless they're from overseas. I'm figuring that NCIX aren't patching these and that they're arriving pre-firmwared from the manufacturer. I'm going to try to contact NCIX today as well, but since I bought mine from them almost 10 months ago, I don't see that they'll be able to do anything since I doubt they'd offer to swap mine out after so long. Plus, remember, when they last performed the firmware updates, BenQ directly provided NCIX the needed parts to do so, likely a replacement board. If they've been given no such parts and official instruction this time around, I wouldn't think anyone could request a firmware upgrade from them this time.
 
Well contrary to my better judgement :D I am going to order one of these. All 24" monitors have issues, some more than others. Anyway, I am in the UK, has anyone bought one recently in the UK? What was the date of manufacture and place you got it from please? I am trying to source a supplier who has new stock. Morecomputers has the message about new firmware but I think they mean the January update.
Thanks in advance.
 
I think I may get one of these as well....with the 20% off Paypall offer and $30 off sale from Newegg it'll be under $600! That seems like a pretty sweet deal for this monitor!
 
Would this monitor be a good choice for someone like me who needs it for graphic design and occasionally DVD watching?

The video card I have is what came with my cpu, a Radeon X1300 Series card.

I'm looking for some advice on a monitor that will be a good investment for people who primarly use them for design work.
 
Alright, I just got wind that the 20% Paypal offer is over due to high demand (geez, it was supposed to be good into December!), but the monitor is still on sale at www.newegg.com for $639.99+shipping. I also found out that the 20% offer was only good up to $50 at most for each Paypal account, which would have put it at about $610 shipped. Still not a bad deal, and I have yet to find anything else that competes with this monitor (unless it's uber expensive)!
 
Michaelius said:
Hopefully I'll buy mine at Thursday and can share first hand opinions then ;)
Click to expand...
Acutally I checked it out a little bit more and ordered one(Sunday). Comparasion side by side with the Benq did it for me. In my opinion it is as good or better in most aspects. And that for less money..
Here's a comparasion at digitalversus:
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=48&mo1=141&p1=1562&ma2=47&mo2=231&p2=2152&ph=8
(In step 3 you can change the things that are compared)

(For others reading this post : The monitor I will buy instead of the Benq is the Beliea 2485 S1W, reason being all problems with blackouts and firmware in the Benq and also the fact that the Belinea is cheaper and probably at least as good)

If I get mine before thursday I will post my impressions. But that will have to be in another thread....
 
Deusfaux said:
I've had 24 blackouts that each last the exact same amount of time (1 second) since August 15th to this day.
Click to expand...

OK, this is weird. I've also been experiencing these 1 second blackouts. They happen so fast that I just think nothing of them. I just though it's the DVI-D port recalibrating the monitor or something weird like that.

It's happened a few times since I've gotten the monitor.

It's not really an issue for me, but now that I'm aware that I'm not the only one. I'll keep an eye on it.

Has it become a problem for anyone else?

Do people perhaps think it could be a low quality DVI cable?
 
I have not noticed the blackouts using my Wii through VGA or XBox 360 through Component.

Only my PC through DVI-D.
 
Has anyone experienced the blackout problem after connecting the PC through DVI -> HDMI and the Xbox360 with HDMI -> DVI?
 
negitoro7 said:
Has anyone experienced the blackout problem after connecting the PC through DVI -> HDMI and the Xbox360 with HDMI -> DVI?
Click to expand...


Just blackout once with PC DVI -> HDMI FP241WZ using nVidia 7800GT at 1920x1080p res.

0 blackout with PC DVI->DVI using 8800 Ultra.

0 blackout with PC DVI->HDMI switch->DVI using 8800 Ultra.
 
S-video blacked out on me once. This Sept 07 monitor doesn't have the blackout problem. The older BenQ I returned, (pre-Jan 07, no 1:1 or aspect) did blackoutt a lot after 30 min of use on OS 10.5 using ATI card.
 
I own a Benq FP241VW. Shortly after purchasing it, it began to blackout a few times per day. I purchased a 10-foot Belkin dual-link DVI cable [Note: the regular version not the expensive PureAV] and now the only time it occasionally blacks out is when I first login to Windows - I think it's the ATI drivers causing that because I have seen it happen on my old Viewsonic. Also, try to keep the DVI cable away from power cables.

There are cases inwhich people have replaced the cables but that has not fixed their problem. It could be a defective monitor or it could be a problem with the settings on Nvidia's drivers. You'd have to install a third party program like Powerstrip and see if you can figure out what it is.

BTW, when playing around with the cables on your Benq, make sure all devices are shutdown. Don't treat your monitor like a USB plug-and-play device.
 
Hey,
Yes your blackout prior to windows loading is an ATI thing. That's one thing I really hate about ATI graphics cards, I have one in my laptop (x700).

About DVI cables. I recently bought one for my setup because it was so cheap, I'm guessing I got a good deal? Belkin PureAV from NCIX it was on sale for 19.99, from 79.99 or something so plus shipping I paid about 30 bucks.

I was thinking cables are cables, when it comes to DVI cables, of course according to cable thickness, so one cable would be the same as another regardless of name brand given the same thickness.

Correct me if I'm wrong, since these are digital signals we're talking about and not VGA analog signals that really required thick highquality cables.

Sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for my FP241W and the look on my father's face when he sees it arrive at the door since I didn't tell him I bought one with the paycheck from my new IT job.

Hahaha.
 
Blackout issue info :

I own a FP241W since Dec. 2006 and I've been really pleased with it since I'm only using it for my computer. Zero dead pixels till now.

I've seen the blackout issue several times, but it's always been during the first minute of bootup, mostly when I start a windowed game (wow in this case). During gameplay or DVD playback, I never saw it.
I know it seems like a power issue, since it's when the comp. just started and I launch a 3d game... but my power supply is a Seasonic S12 500 ...

Two weeks ago bought a 8800GT and I don't have blackouts anymore !!! :D
(I had an ATI x800pro and changing the cable to a Hi-quality one didn't change a thing)

Someday I'll try and ask my local retailer to flash that new Sept. 2007 firmware...

Cheers
 
10e said:
Hey Shampoo,

If you get the September 2007 version you should be able to use 1:1 with no overscan on component with an older 360 as well as over HDMI with a newer one (if you have an HDMI model), so you would not need to use VGA. Not sure if the 1920x1080 mode in VGA from the 360 has been fixed yet.

But, keep in mind that if you are connecting a computer via VGA, both 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 are properly sync'd at 1:1 so you have that option as well.

Enjoy your purchase.

10e
Click to expand...

Good news guys!

I just came back from my cousin's place next door. He just purchased a FP241W from NCIX 3 days ago, and he didn't even know that he got the lastest firmware version. I asked him to show me the box, and indeed, it is Sep 2007 manufactored. He was still playing COD4 his original XBOX 360 via VGA on Full screen mode. I changed the mode to 1:1 and as expected, it only has black bars top and bottom only. So VGA 1:1 fix for XBOX 360 has been confirmed.
 
Sweet so it's fully fixed and working as per their product description!!!

I'll be checking the quality difference between the VGA and Component inputs on the monitor when I get mine on, hopefully, friday. If I have to wait until monday or tuesday of next week I'll be devistated. Not being able to play with it all weekend, then not being able to play with it too much mid-week because of school and work.

Grrr.

This is awesome news. When did he buy it from NCIX? Remember I ordered mine on Saturday of this past week.

Cheers,
Mike
 
So I guess the next question is, can we send these to Benq in So-Cal to get them updated? I'm not in a hurry since I only use the display with my computer and it's great for that, but at some point I may need to use it as a temp TV display.
 
bitgod said:
So I guess the next question is, can we send these to Benq in So-Cal to get them updated?
Click to expand...

Nope. As of yesterday they still say that they have no firmware since the 1:1 and won't be getting anymore for the unit. So I've pretty much completely given up on BenQ doing anything for us here. Just left a post on the NCIX forums about it, saying it'd be silly to have to rebuy the monitor as the only way to get a firmware update that obviously NCIX's new stock has:

Sept 2007 FP241W release has overscan firmware
 
NCIX has told me they no longer have the ability to do firmware updates for this monitor.

Even if they did, they'd need the firmware from BenQ, who is currently unaware or denying the existence of a firmware newer than the 1:1 update.

BenQ will not update a W if you send it to them for firmware update if you already have 1:1 (even if missing overscan).
 
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