Think I'm Gonna Buy a BenQ XL2720Z

Everyone has had 100% success flashing to V4. Even the bricked bad flashes were reflashable.
The only problems in that thread are the following:

1) people who flashed the compressed RAR file after renaming the RAR file to a bin (oops).
2) people who flashed the 0 byted incorrect file without merging with the raw firmware file. They were able to recover and reflash after powering the monitor off for 5 minutes. :) This was actually a common problem. They forgot to merge the files with the 2nd command.
3) people who were unable to find the i2c address for the benq. That was usually when they attached it to DVI on the master PC. They fixed that by (for some reason, it worked?) installing the monitor INF driver file from the CD in windows.

if you read the last 2 pages in the Linux thread, someone who wasn't even good at English and who was massively confused, was able to flash with the Ubuntu method :)

if you use Linux just follow my instructions and you'll be fine
http://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=779&start=200

If you use the official Mstar ISP unit, use the V2 instructions on the main blur busters page :) That thread you were reading was for LINUX (Ubuntu). it was not for Mstar flashes. The mstar unit is the official firmware flasher for the hardware scaler in the monitor.

Ok, backlight bleed pictures:
no noticeable bleed.
Things get exaggerated if you are right next to the screen but if I go farther back, it looks great.
The glow on the sides is probably just color shift from being too close to the screen.

1) Blur reduction on @ 100 brightness.
Gsuvusc.jpg


2) blur reduction off @ 100 brightness, up close (trust me you don't want to use 100 brightness with BBR off. it's too bright).
That glow on the sides isn't backlight bleed. if I go across the room, the panel looks virtually perfect.
D0Ohq5n.jpg


3) BBR off @ 20 brightness (up close)
SDOrVyZ.jpg


4) BBR off at 100 brightness, across the room, zoomed in.
NO blacklight bleed at all :)
PAye52i.jpg
 
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Mine came with V4 since I requested it.

Btw, my settings:

Picture mode: FPS1
Brightness 25
Contrast 60
Black EQ 0
Color Temp User (R= 84, G= 82, B= 80)
AMA high
Instant Mode On
Sharpness 5
ICC profile

Blur reduction never felt right for me... looked more blurry with it on. Same for V4. Maybe I'm not turning on the new AMA mode properly?


I was told by BenQ that this amount of bleeding is normal. (I'm on monitor #2 from them; the first one had a little less bleeding, but one blue stuck pixel). Thoughts?

My backlight pics:
(I'm using doihaveadeadpixel.com)

C7secfu.jpg


4LoDWvS.jpg
 
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What refresh rate are you using?

Did you enable single strobe in the service menu/ (I gave the instructions a few posts ago :)
If single strobe is disabled, the monitor will double strobe under 100 hz.
Blur reduction works best with
1) vertical total 1500 tweak (lots of posts on how to do it with ToastyX CRU on the blur busters forums
2) refresh rate= frame rate with vsync on.
3) I don't see any direct backlight bleed on your monitor at all. looks fine to me. I just see small variations in backlight uniformity (not the same as backlight bleed); all monitors will have some variance on that.

If you do use blur reduction later, you can access a new improved AMA mode by toggling AMA high after blur reduction is already enabled (not before). Then set the contrast to 0 for a very very nice picture. (remember to use the VT 1500 tweak).
Any brightness or strobe value changes will reset this toggle instantly. This new AMA mode did not work on V2.
 
You got a link to the V4 XL2720Z firmware? I'll give it a go....
 
I just checked and looks like I lucked out and got Version 4 firmware from the factory. Glad to see that because I admit to being a little skeered to flash the firmware of my brand new $500 monitor. LOL!
 
I had no idea what the changes were in V4 when I flashed mine. I was just MASSIVELY bored and needed some excitement. I was scared and had never even seen a Linux shell before but I did it, and after some difficulty, it was successful and I tested it.

Best firmware update I've ever done., ever.
The difference in AMA at just the default setting is noticeable, especially on dragging windows around. And theres noticeable less overshoot in call of duty.

And when I use the new AMA mode with contrast 0 (if I can stand having 0 contrast).....sweet mother of God......
(remember that's retoggling AMA to high (either changing it or selecting it and pressing "back (menu), after blur reduction is already enabled. This requires setting contrast to 0-10).
 
Okay, trying to hang with you here:

Firmware updated -
BenQ_V4.png



Verified -
Verified430.jpg




Now just trying to follow you with all the adjustments you have made post update. Only adjustment I have made post update is toggling AMA. (Does blur reduction need to be on to see the affect here?)

I am where you were a few months ago...getting there.... :)
 
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Yeah. the hidden AMA setting requires you to turn on blur reduction FIRST, then toggle AMA high.

There's a premium toggle too but the premium toggle was the V2 default AMA high.

Please note 1 thing about the toggle.
If you go to AMA, and highlight "High" if its already selected, and then press ENTER, the selection marker will move back to the options with nothing being toggled.
But if you press "back" instead of enter, for some reason, the toggle takes effect. That could be a weird bug, idk. Also if you move the selection to a different AMA setting, it instantly gets applied right away even if you don't press enter.

Also if you move to a new AMA and then press "back" without pressing enter to select it, the one that it went "back" to gets re-toggled. I guess it does speed things up, huh?

Use this website to test the inverse ghosting when you toggle.
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&photo=alien-invasion.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=-1

Use a different picture selection (like Eiffel Tower or another one) to test the effect of lowering contrast to 0.

Do NOT use contrast 0 if you don't use the AMA toggle.....things get white spectral ugly. (the spectral ghosting affects sharp black to white transitions).
 
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Thanks for the assistance. Seems like the "toggle" is holding true for me in the presets. But to be honest, I am not seeing that much difference between it having "high" selected, then I move to another selection. I see a change! But moving it back to high, it looks no different being back on high than what is was before I toggled it to something else and then back again (actually selecting premium, then selecting high again).

Either way, "high" looks nice in AMA with blur reduction on. Setting to 0 contrast helps, but it gets pretty dark to look at. So I am back up to the default 50 contrast.

I am excited though that this seems to fix the DP issue where the PC would have a fit if you turn the monitor off and back on while having the PC on, connected via DP.
 
Are you using the testufo alien invasion test?
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&photo=alien-invasion.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=-1

Try just selecting high and press back (instead of enter).
The ufo overshoot (inverse) ghosting should change to normal ghosting. (I took photos of it on the last page). Then lowering the contrast should remove all of the normal ghosting that was added, leaving only a very faint residue.

The main point of the AMA high toggle is to remove the inverse ghosting that appars on light to dark transitions.
the easiest way to see the toggle is not to switch AMA to off/premium then back to high, as that causes two toggles to happen. Instead, it's best to toggle "in place" by doing this:

1) go to AMA
2) press enter ONCE so the AMA high is highlighted.
3) press BACK (menu), do NOT press enter again (pressing enter again does not toggle! maybe this is what you missed. For some reason, pressing enter on an already selected item functions as a cancel)

By doing this, you will instantly go from MBR/high (motion blur reduction/high) to MBR+AMA high.

You are correct that the toggle doesn't do 'much' in normal usage, and is pretty worthless in 3d games.
Its best for 2D MMORPG's and 2D side scrollers with a lot of light to dark transitions (Yellow on cyan, white on brown, etc, show inverse ghosting, aka "overshoot"). The test UFO alien invasion test is the best example of that (yellow UFOs on the blue background).
 
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Well thank you for going into the level of detail you have. Not just for myself, but for everyone else! (much appreciated) - Hope we haven't hijacked this thread too long ;)
 
So I think Im sticking with these settings. They give the best performance on the test screens Ive used and it looks good to me. Its a smidge too bright but I can live with it.

Brightness = 70
Contrast = 45
Low Blue Light = 0
Blur Reduction = Off
Color Temp = Normal (no matter what settings I tried, Normal always looked slightly better)
AMA = High
Instant Mode = On
Sharpness = 6
Gamma = 5

Looks really good in Borderlands 2 and Batman Origins which are the only 2 games Ive really played on it so far. Internet looks great as well. But yeah think Ill be living with these settings for now. Still extremely happy with this beauty. Picture quality is very good despite not being high end IPS/VA level its as good as any TN Id wager. There are a couple places where I can see pixels if I look for them so Im gonna have to agree that 1080 isnt ideal for 27" but its only in certain spots and its no anywhere near enough to bother me.
 
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