Panel homogeneity issue on Eizo?!

[M|X]

Hello all!

I bought Eizo Foris FS2332 for 177 euros (220 usd) and at first everything seemed fine. Colors are very crisp and natural when adjusted correctly (naked eye calibration atm. ). The AG coating is excellent, semi-glossy. Very nice to look at. No harsh matte texture or super glossy reflections. I think it is quite well balanced coating.

Black levels are OK (fairly typical IPS). Backlight bleeding is very very mild. It only gets visible when adjusting brighness near the maximun levels (in black room). Had to take some long exposure (15-25s) shots to catch the bleeding on the camera. No ghosting, no afterimages, very responsive and clean looking overdrive when gaming. I am very sensitive for input lag and I cannot perceive any on this monitor!

But now for the problem. Looks like panel brightness is varying on top part of the screen when compared to bottom half of the screen. The problem is especially visible with light shades of colors and with pure white. Its almost like gradient from grey to white (from top to the bottom). Also there is a faint area where panel looks darker than the rest of it.

Here are some test pictures of white rectangle with grey strip at the top. The color difference is very clear between top and bottom rectangles.

White color variance. Compare the the shades between top and bottom rectangles. The vertical rectangle looks almost like gradient from gray to white (a bit more visible to naked eye).


Clear color difference between top and the bottom of the screen.


And again. Its visible to the naked eye and apparently for the camera too.


Full screen image with light gray background. You can see the very faint darker areas on the top of the screen. Actually at the first glance the panel uniformity doesnt look too bad but I think its quite clear for naked eye.



So what do you think? Is this acceptable at all or am I overreacting?
Did I get faulty (or weak) unit perhaps?
I must admit I am quite OCD (or critical) about the quality of my stuff so perhaps I am not objective about the severity of the problem. Heck, most of my friends said they didnt even notice it until I mentioned the problem.

I have had this screen for a week and the backlight has been online for ~25 hours now. Should I try to return it or try to deal with Eizo warranty?

I really like this monitor but this "little hiccup" is annoying. Especially because I bought it with photo editing in my mind (and of course occasional gaming). I am just wondering if I am being too "perfectionist" and over exaggerating the problem.

ps. Will take better pictures soon. Any picture requests concerning this monitor?

 

[Whoisthisreally]

Keep it. This is typical for LCD and there is minimal colour disuniformity.

 

[tommye]

The FS2332 is an entertainment monitor, that just so happens can be fairly adequate at basic photo editing, so I'm not sure what you're expecting from the monitor. You got this monitor for photo editing, complain about the uniformity, yet you calibrated the monitor with your eye?

My FS2332 has the same problems if I run it through lagom.nl but I'm not bothered by it nor do I expect the results to be flawless. I don't think I've ever seen a consumer-grade IPS monitor without these problems.

 

[dowant120hz]

well... its clearly visible
but seems alright for the price you paid
should you eventually decide to sell it you should also get higher-than-average price due people thinking eizo is good

 

[M|X]

The FS2332 is an entertainment monitor, that just so happens can be fairly adequate at basic photo editing, so I'm not sure what you're expecting from the monitor.

It also marketed for photo / video editing even though it clearly leans towards gaming (low input lag, good pixel respone and very clean overdrive).
I expected that this monitor would have better color homogeneity than my 20" cheapo TN-panel display or my 4 years old Philips 42" TV.
Well.. at least this monitor has clearly superior colors and better contrast compared to my other displays. I think this is what I need: http://www.eizo.com/na/support/glossary/d/due/

You got this monitor for photo editing, complain about the uniformity, yet you calibrated the monitor with your eye?

Not purely for photo editing. Also for occasional gaming (Strategy, realistic FPS games).
I am not professional photographer and looking at the reviews on this monitor it should be more than adequate for amateur photo editing.
Calibrator is on the way (it should have been shipped with monitor but it wasnt). But I cannot see how proper calibrating would help with panel homogeneity.

well... its clearly visible
but seems alright for the price you paid
should you eventually decide to sell it you should also get higher-than-average price due people thinking eizo is good

Well thats true.. Eizo got me too. I really expected better quality control from Eizo. This is consumer level display but Eizo as "premium" manufacturer should not get sloppy with quality control.
The price I paid for this monitor for more than fair I think. Perhaps I will try to keep and look if I can get used to it.

Still waiting for perfect allaround monitor for a reasonable price: 16:10, IPS / VA (>10bit), Fully adjustable stand, low input lag, well implemented overdrive etc.

 

[tommye]

Again, this is clearly not Eizo's high end professional monitors. If you bought their ColorEdge or high end FlexScan monitors then you'd have a case but this is clearly a home entertainment monitor that is compatible with their calibrator software.

I'm not sure what quality control has to do with this problem since I'm pretty sure Samsung (who provides the panels) doesn't check panels for uniformity problems. Again this isn't a high end Flexscan or ColorEdge so what are you expecting? Also, its fairly common for flaws to occur with "high" end LCDs. Just ask anyone with an IPS panel and the amount of trouble they have when dealing with this type of shit - even those with Dell U2410s and NECs.

If you suffered from a numerous dead pixels or horrendous backlight bleeding (which seemed to be a problem with Samsung's PLS monitors), I'd be supporting you. But this problem, as unfortunate as it is, is something that occurs with just about every monitor I've seen since the dawn of time.

I expected that this monitor would have better color homogeneity than my 20" cheapo TN-panel display or my 4 years old Philips 42" TV.

You expected incorrectly.

 

[M|X]

Again, this is clearly not Eizo's high end professional monitors. If you bought their ColorEdge or high end FlexScan monitors then you'd have a case but this is clearly a home entertainment monitor that is compatible with their calibrator software.

I'm not sure what quality control has to do with this problem since I'm pretty sure Samsung (who provides the panels) doesn't check panels for uniformity problems. Again this isn't a high end Flexscan or ColorEdge so what are you expecting? Also, its fairly common for flaws to occur with "high" end LCDs. Just ask anyone with an IPS panel and the amount of trouble they have when dealing with this type of shit - even those with Dell U2410s and NECs.

If you suffered from a numerous dead pixels or horrendous backlight bleeding (which seemed to be a problem with Samsung's PLS monitors), I'd be supporting you. But this problem, as unfortunate as it is, is something that occurs with just about every monitor I've seen since the dawn of time.



You expected incorrectly.

Apparently I am a victim of bullshit marketing and slow (almost non-existent) progress of LCD technology. Very disappointing. I am one of those people who sticked with CRT monitor until it was basically too worn out be usable and I couldnt find good replacement anymore.

Now I am struggling with annoying defects of LCD technology. So.. same old story again.

 

[Zorlag]

You are correct in that technically LCD displays have not gotten that much better in last few years, only cheaper and lighter. Some quality improvements like ATW-polarizers have even been removed from use.

Only 120mhz TN is a new kid in town. Rumours are circling of IPS and MVA/PVA 120mhz as well but haven`t seen any on market yet.

Still, it is nice to be able to get a 27-inch AMVA for under 300 euros. Just have to hope you win from panel lottery and get a "non-bleeder".

 

[albovin]

Eizo got me too. I really expected better quality control from Eizo. This is consumer level display but Eizo as "premium" manufacturer should not get sloppy with quality control.
The price I paid for this monitor for more than fair I think. Perhaps I will try to keep and look if I can get used to it.

Still waiting for perfect allaround monitor for a reasonable price: 16:10, IPS / VA (>10bit), Fully adjustable stand, low input lag, well implemented overdrive etc.

Eizo has "premium" prices, not quality.

Have you heard about "color tint"?
Guess what monitor introduced this term into common use?
Yes. Eizo on WG PVA.

The only effective quality control is our eyes when we buy a monitor.

 

[M|X]

Eizo has "premium" prices, not quality.

I think its quite safe to say that mid and high-end Flexscans are Radiforces are premium screens with tighter quality control. Apparently they also utilize DOA which is designed to minimize panel homogeneity problems.
Eizo also has good warranty policy for all their screen.

The only effective quality control is our eyes when we buy a monitor.

Yeah, true. Unfortunately it basically means that you must buy monitor a and RMA it as soon as possible if you are not pleased. And thats not always possible.. I noticed the problem after ~10-15 hours on backlight and 14 day return policy wasnt possible anymore
Also most of the shops are reluctant to open brand new packaging just for visual inspection.

 

[Whoisthisreally]

It isn't a problem if it took you 15 hours to notice. The panel used in your monitor is rated for 25% luminance deviation. I've used a Dell screen for the same price as yours and the disuniformity was immediately noticeable and became a ground for rejection.

On any monitor without hardware uniformity you would find the same thing.

 

[M|X]

It isn't a problem if it took you 15 hours to notice. The panel used in your monitor is rated for 25% luminance deviation. I've used a Dell screen for the same price as yours and the disuniformity was immediately noticeable and became a ground for rejection.

On any monitor without hardware uniformity you would find the same thing.

More like it got visible after ~15 hours. Not that it was there when I started using it.

I inspected the screen very carefully for dead pixels and defects when I fired it up. I Couldnt find any distractring defects.. just some slightly darker areas on the some corners and slightly brighter at the bottom right corner which is acceptable and barely unnoticeable.

Then 15 hours later the darker are on the top half of the screen gets "clearly" visible. For "clearly" I mean that every light colored image looks like mild gradient from top to the bottom. The effect is worse at right side of screen because the darker patch is bigger there and the bottom right corner is brighter than the rest of the screen. By naked eye the color deivation is closer to 10%.

The panel used in your monitor is rated for 25% luminance deviation

Where did you get that info and what panel it is exactly? There are rumours about PLS panel but Eizo has "confirmed" that it is IPS panel. Panel lottery?!

 

[Sailor_Moon]

Panel lottery?!

No. Always a PLS panel for EV2335 and FS2332.

Best regards

Denis