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

aPixelisaPixel said:
An NCIX employee claims on their forum that the panel manufacturer, AU Optronics, has stopped making the panel that Benq was using. Why AUO has (apparently) discontinued it is unknown.
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Hm, that's interesting.

Well, can you make any suggestions on other good 24" panels that are comparable to this one that was just (apparently) discontinued?
 
BenQ FP241w substitutes:

1. buy the VW and a VESA arm and cut the silver casing off!

2. consider the Planar px2411w (samsung S-PVA I believe), buy.com has it for $600.xx, and newegg has it for close to that. (has hdcp but no 1:1, warranty is 3 years for 3+ dead pixels - pays shipping both ways)

3. grab the last LG L245wp from provantage.com (I bought the 3rd last one last night) for $602 + shipping
http://www.provantage.com/lg-electro...n~7LGEL03X.htm
 
Alright - need a bit of help.

First day owning the BenQ FP241W and now I am seeing - in the bottom right hand of screen - a bunch of horizontal green lines. They are confined to a space that's about 4 inches wide and 8 inches tall.

It's a bunch of flickering green lines and it is driving me crazy! I don't know what's causing it. I've moved everything away from it in case it was interference, but that's not helping either.

It was a hassle to track this down and go pick it up. Wondering if I should exchange it for another of the same model or just bite the bullet and go with the Dell 2407.
 
razorOye.

Sorry to hear that. I would just return it because it is obviously broken (just hope you can reproduce the problem easily).
I'm pretty sure the store you bought it from can order another one from Benq Toronto. I say this because when I bought mine, the store (Markham are) had to order it but got it in the next day.
 
24lcd2008 said:
BenQ FP241w substitutes:

1. buy the VW and a VESA arm and cut the silver casing off!

2. consider the Planar px2411w (samsung S-PVA I believe), buy.com has it for $600.xx, and newegg has it for close to that. (has hdcp but no 1:1, warranty is 3 years for 3+ dead pixels - pays shipping both ways)

3. grab the last LG L245wp from provantage.com (I bought the 3rd last one last night) for $602 + shipping
http://www.provantage.com/lg-electro...n~7LGEL03X.htm
Click to expand...

Actually, that LG you mentioned was the one I was debating over getting (with the BenQ winning over my favor, slightly, just based on reviews). But, it seems BOTH were taken off newegg in the same week! It's crazy.

As it stands, I wouldn't want to cut any silver casing off, or buy any extra arms. I don't really trust Planar...as I don't really know the company well. The LG looks like the best option atm, but the supplier you gave (provantage), I've never heard of and will have to dig in to see if they are reputable.

I guess my question is: Are there any good 24" coming out in the near future (like, before March), or should I really just spring for this LG now?

I'm not in any particular rush, but definitely can't wait to own one. I'm only asking because I don't want to regret my decision if I buy this now and then find that BenQ (or someone else) puts out a great 24".

Thanks for your help so far. I really do appreciate it.

EDIT: After doing a bit more research, I've come across the LG L246WP-BN, which is just the newer model of the 245. The only difference I see is that the newer model has video component connectivity, but it's still a nice addition. It's going for 620 on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16824005099

This may just be the one I was looking for. Good reviews too.
 
gmypc said:
razorOye.

Sorry to hear that. I would just return it because it is obviously broken (just hope you can reproduce the problem easily).
I'm pretty sure the store you bought it from can order another one from Benq Toronto. I say this because when I bought mine, the store (Markham are) had to order it but got it in the next day.
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So you think I should order another then? Or go with another model?

Here's an image to show and yes, I was able to reproduce the problem this morning - all I had to do was turn it on.

I tried taking a picture as best I could - you can see the green lines - now just imagine them flashing on and off, constantly, different lines but always confined to the same area:

lines.jpg
 
RazorOye said:
So you think I should order another then? Or go with another model?

Here's an image to show and yes, I was able to reproduce the problem this morning - all I had to do was turn it on.

I tried taking a picture as best I could - you can see the green lines - now just imagine them flashing on and off, constantly, different lines but always confined to the same area:

lines.jpg
Click to expand...


Before returning the monitor, have you tried a different cable or different computer?

Some defect cable can have weird effect even DVI or HDMI ones.
 
RB30 said:
Before returning the monitor, have you tried a different cable or different computer?

Some defect cable can have weird effect even DVI or HDMI ones.
Click to expand...

Yes - it's a dual-monitor setup so I used the DVI cable from the other and am having the same problem.

A new problem has arisen - twice now, in the last couple of minutes, the monitor has turned off - gone completely black - for 3-4 seconds - and then come back on.

I am really, really apprehensive about getting another one of these guys. The text resolution issue, the green bars, the flickering on and off.

And I was so smitten with it the first few hours :(
 
RazorOye said:
Yes - it's a dual-monitor setup so I used the DVI cable from the other and am having the same problem.

A new problem has arisen - twice now, in the last couple of minutes, the monitor has turned off - gone completely black - for 3-4 seconds - and then come back on.

I am really, really apprehensive about getting another one of these guys. The text resolution issue, the green bars, the flickering on and off.

And I was so smitten with it the first few hours :(
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Sounds like the blackout problem the early ones had. You sure yours is the updated one? If it is im having second thoughts on looking into the Benq.
 
It is a September 2007 model. Or so the information sticker on the side of the box indicates, above all of the barcodes.
 
Zetherin said:
Actually, that LG you mentioned was the one I was debating over getting (with the BenQ winning over my favor, slightly, just based on reviews). But, it seems BOTH were taken off newegg in the same week! It's crazy.

As it stands, I wouldn't want to cut any silver casing off, or buy any extra arms. I don't really trust Planar...as I don't really know the company well. The LG looks like the best option atm, but the supplier you gave (provantage), I've never heard of and will have to dig in to see if they are reputable.

I guess my question is: Are there any good 24" coming out in the near future (like, before March), or should I really just spring for this LG now?

I'm not in any particular rush, but definitely can't wait to own one. I'm only asking because I don't want to regret my decision if I buy this now and then find that BenQ (or someone else) puts out a great 24".

Thanks for your help so far. I really do appreciate it.

EDIT: After doing a bit more research, I've come across the LG L246WP-BN, which is just the newer model of the 245. The only difference I see is that the newer model has video component connectivity, but it's still a nice addition. It's going for 620 on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16824005099

This may just be the one I was looking for. Good reviews too.
Click to expand...

245 and 246 models are basically the same, 245 was meant for online retailers, 246 for brick and morter so they couldn't price match (or so I've been told)

While provantage has pretty good ratings, I'd also go with newegg (if I didn't live in NJ and be forced to pay sales tax)
 
also, my suspicion is that *if* any new models come out it will be quite a while before they are in the price bracket of the models I was considering.
 
Well, I returned the item for a full refund.

The store had none in stock and they had been backordered.

I decided it wasn't worth it to take the chance again on this monitor. And it's a shame because I love it and so many people in this thread seem overwhelmingly satisfied. I decided to just wait for a while and decide what I will do.

Thankfully, they were able to reproduce the problem in their office - but had no idea what the problem was caused by.

The text resolution bugged me too much to take a change on another of the same model. He seemed pretty confident about getting another model in, but that if it showed the same problem I would have to deal with BenQ. I decided to just wait and roll with a smaller dual monitor set up.
 
I have a quick question - does anyone have a problem with their sharpness setting when using the component input on the FP241W?

Basically, changing the sharpness by one in whichever direction makes a visible difference to the image, but then if I try to change it any more in either direction or back to its original position, the image stays the same. But if I swap to a different input, and then back to component, the image looks like it's back to its original position (before I changed anything), regardless of the actual sharpness setting in the menu.

So it seems like I can't get the five different "grades" of sharpness through component, even though it works perfectly through DVI. I get one grade when I switch to component from something else, and another when I change the sharpness setting one "grade" away from wherever it happens to be when I switch, but nothing else. It's hard to explain, but does anyone else have this issue or a solution?
 
24lcd2008 said:
245 and 246 models are basically the same, 245 was meant for online retailers, 246 for brick and morter so they couldn't price match (or so I've been told)

While provantage has pretty good ratings, I'd also go with newegg (if I didn't live in NJ and be forced to pay sales tax)
Click to expand...

Well, they're both on online retailers...so obviously your information may not be correct.

I live in PA, but may order from NJ. Screw the sales tax.

Regardless, this looks like the best option so far.
 
RazorOye said:
Well, I returned the item for a full refund.

The store had none in stock and they had been backordered.

I decided it wasn't worth it to take the chance again on this monitor. And it's a shame because I love it and so many people in this thread seem overwhelmingly satisfied. I decided to just wait for a while and decide what I will do.

Thankfully, they were able to reproduce the problem in their office - but had no idea what the problem was caused by.

The text resolution bugged me too much to take a change on another of the same model. He seemed pretty confident about getting another model in, but that if it showed the same problem I would have to deal with BenQ. I decided to just wait and roll with a smaller dual monitor set up.
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Sorry to hear that. Hope you find an equivalent. Actually, I almost bought the dell 3008 during the Christmas sale. I still have the actual flyer from dell.ca that priced it at $1299 (Canadian). I thought it was a misprint - the 3008 just barely been released so I called the 1 800 number and the sales rep told me that it was the 3008 but would be a Jan delivery date. Should have gotten that in writing and just sell the thing on ebay. Oh well...

btw, what do you mean by text resolution?
 
I recently bought an FP241W at Memory Express; as far as I know it is one of the last remaining monitors. The first one I received had a single dead pixel at the top right corner of the screen so I got another one (presumably the last one according to the product page although you can still add it to your cart despite the out of stock indicators) cross-shipped to me. The second one was flawless! :D Both monitors were built in September 2007. I've seen several posts/reports from this thread as well as other places that have stated that this monitor uses a P-MVA panel or an A-MVA panel (the latest batches, anyway), which is correct?

I'd have to say that this is the best monitor I have used so far. I've seen many 24" LCD monitors with TN and VA panels (although I haven't seen that NEC 2490 monitor with the H-IPS panel) and the FP241W absolutely blows them away in nearly every aspect. The image quality is superb; blacks and colors are well-represented. There is no ghosting at all while I am playing games or watching movies and the brightness definitely helps when there is a lot of lighting in any scene (especially HDR). The monitor shipped with the 1:1 pixel mapping and overscan fixes so my Xbox 360 looks excellent using component.
 
Wow sorry to hear a the last few owners have had bad luck with quality issues.

I would say to those who are looking at this monitor to pick up even the defective units if possible.

Well those that have only a couple dead pixels or something, because there aren't any monitors like this out there and I'm disappointed that they're discontinuing it, because now there won't be any more people who will be able to enjoy such breath taking visuals.

Buy the open box units if you can, because dead pixels are fixable, kinda.

As for the blackout issues, it's videocard related, and I posted a cheap fix a couple pages back.

My coworker bought a 7300Gt and his blackout issues went away. You can get a low-level 7300GT for like 30 dollars these days.

So go for it!

Cheers,
Mike

Oh off-topic, but I'm loving my new HTPC in the livingroom based on a Gigabyte GA-MA96GM-S2H motherboard and AMD 5000+ X2 cpu. :D
 
Actually in North America, FP241VW are still available, but I don't know if they are the same firmware as in Asia which have overscan option.

Like NCIX is ordering 270+ units of FP241VW arriving within a week (well according to its realtime stock checker, 120 units Vancouver, 150 units Toronto, ETA Jan 28)

So if you like FP241 series, hold off buying open boxes a bit and see if the new VW arrivals are June 07 or later build (seems to have overscan option).

NCIX removed the dead pixel guarantee on FP241VW, probably because they don't have stock at the moment. Wait until they put back the dead pixel guarantee before you order them.
 
I got a FP241W recently from Amazon.com. They are now not available there.

It replaces a Dell 2407WFP-HC which had a dead pixel and the ANNOYING overdrive ghosting problem. I play a very old flight sim called Fighters Anthology, in non native resolution, and the problem was very pronounced with certain color combinations in the game. Returned the Dell as part of their limited time return program for people annoyed with the problem.

The Benq has a single dead pixel near the center, upper right. Its hard to notice as it is the size of a piece of dust, but it is annoying to know it is there. I have also detected slight amounts of "Dell overdrive style" ghosting in Fighters Anthology, same circumstances as on the Dell, and a similar effect (i.e. on a green background, a gray object will have a tiny dark gray trail behind it). The effect is hard to spot and tolerable on the Benq.

My monitor is a Sept. 2007 model with the 1:1 option in the menu, but it appears that this option does not work on DVI-D mode? If I change screen resolution to non-native, the monitor only displays in ASPECT mode. If I change to 1:1 or full it flashes the screen as if it is trying to redraw the display, but remains in aspect mode. Now, if I had to choose a mode to be stuck with, aspect mode is the best IMO when in non native resolution. But it would be nice to have 1:1 and full as options in DVI-D. When using VGA or composite (the only other sources I have tried so far), all options work fine.

I have had so far no problems with the screen turning off. But, I am kind of annoyed by the height of the monitor at its lowest position. Due to my desk layout it is kind of high for my preferences (I'm used to having the monitor low compared to other people I think.) For this reason and the dead pixel, and the lower price, I am considering getting the FP241VW. What are other people's thoughts on this?

Thanks.
 
1:1 should work with DVI-D mode. What are you hooking up to?

If you are annoyed by the height of monitor then you should be aware that FP241VW is not height adjustable.
 
I had one pixel which at first appeared to be dead, but upon closer analysis I discovered that it was a stuck pixel. I simply placed an eye glass cleaning cloth over the area where the stuck pixel was and gave it one light tap with the tip of my index finger. This fixed the stuck pixel and it hasn't reproduced itself since. If you have not tried this method yet, I definitely recommend it, unless you're 100% certain that it's a dead pixel. GL.
 
arkali106 said:
But, I am kind of annoyed by the height of the monitor at its lowest position. Due to my desk layout it is kind of high for my preferences (I'm used to having the monitor low compared to other people I think.) For this reason and the dead pixel, and the lower price, I am considering getting the FP241VW. What are other people's thoughts on this?Thanks.
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I'm with you. I like the monitor lower than most. Wish it could 'hit the deck', like some Dell or Samsung models can. I'm thinking of getting a VESA stand. But for the moment, some quick wood-butchery has lowered my desk by 5" or so. However, it's an ugly desk now. :eek:

I suggest you get a VESA stand for the 241W. 1 dead pixel is still better than 1 stuck pixel. Or get the FP241VW and a VESA stand, like this: http://www.buy.com/prod/Ergotron-LX-Desk-Mount-LCD-Arm-Black/q/loc/111/201981104.html
 
Ok, mine was manufactured in April 07, yet I have the 1:1 mode in my settings under DVI? How do I know what firmware it has? Can someone explain to me how I can 'test' it for issues, to see if it has been firmware updated, as I only bought it brand new in the UK a couple of weeks ago??

I can't see any noticeable dead pixels, no black outs(via my 8800GTS) or see any problem at all with it. In fact, Crysis looks blummin marvelous on it via DVI and my Xbox 360 games look great via VGA. :D

I just want to make sure it's an OK version, while i'm still in the 28 days purchase period... Thanks.
 
just wanted to ask from those who have been using this monitor.

how good is tect and 2D clarity?

I need to setup a machine that will be used strictly for complex spreadsheets, Word and Internet.

Thanks!
 
Cliff Couser said:
just wanted to ask from those who have been using this monitor.

how good is tect and 2D clarity?

I need to setup a machine that will be used strictly for complex spreadsheets, Word and Internet.

Thanks!
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Good. Not smashing, but good. I recommend a sub $300 TN for that purpose if budget is a concern.
 
wow I can't believe that this moniter is still so kick ass.

When are the led backlight lcd's coming out?
 
What if BenQ's FP241W successor is OLED 24" 1440p with 3 HDMI, VGA and 2 sets of component and HDMI audio pass through for $499 ?

Drool.
 
I figure this won't work but I'll ask here before I try this myself. For certain games it would be fantastic if my monitor or graphics card to take a very high resolution and downscale it to 1920x1200. If I were to get powerstrip and force a high resolution and set this monitor to Full would it downsize the image? I mean it will stretch the image if the res is smaller so I don't see any reason it shouldn't be able to shrink it.
 
My Benq 241W had a dead pixel. The company I bought it from had no dead pixel coverage that I bought, so I sent the monitor back. They are offering me a Benq 241VW as a replacement. Should I take that one or just ask them to send my 241W out to be repaired? I'm concerned about the HDMI input on the VW, as I was going to buy a high end HD DVD player to connect to the monitor (I already have a PS3, so no need for blu-ray). Thanks in advance for all your replies.
 
You can't "repair" a dead pixel. There is no guarantee your VW will NOT have a dead pixel. You probably should call to get your "W" back or get full refund.
 
aem said:
I figure this won't work but I'll ask here before I try this myself. For certain games it would be fantastic if my monitor or graphics card to take a very high resolution and downscale it to 1920x1200. If I were to get powerstrip and force a high resolution and set this monitor to Full would it downsize the image? I mean it will stretch the image if the res is smaller so I don't see any reason it shouldn't be able to shrink it.
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Isn't that what antialiasing is?
 
The point is I need to be able to see more. Its a soccer game and the more you can see of the field the easier it is to make passes. Even 1920x1200 doesn't really let you see enough.
 
Upping the resolution of a game usually doesn't allow you to see more. For balance reasons.

The only game I know that has this was Age of Empires II, and that was because the game was entirely 2D.
 
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