Wasabi Mango Zen U400

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Celeryman

Limp Gawd
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Jan 16, 2003
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I was browsing around on ebay, and see that Wasabi Mango has another 40" monitor. They want about ~$200 less than the UHD400 that seems to be gaining popularity.

It is called the Zen U400: Ebay Link Here

Anybody know anything about this? Also looks to be some more Korean 40" monitors with similar specs popping up on ebay. DLT, Monix, .etc.

I think it would be awesome if we could crowdfund our favorite review sites to review these monitors. I wouldn't mind paying $5 for a quality review. I would love it if [H] would do it, but they may not want to. Rtings might, I don't know.
 
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looks like another 40" tv panel semi-marketed as a monitor so I'd expect the same input lag noted by reviewers on the UHD040, also explains why the wasabi units are priced about on par with 40" tvs
 
garin said:
looks like another 40" tv panel semi-marketed as a monitor so I'd expect the same input lag noted by reviewers on the UHD040, also explains why the wasabi units are priced about on par with 40" tvs
Click to expand...

As would I, however, I would like to have hard numbers (latency, response time, color accuracy, .etc) on these monitors. I think it would make peoples decisions a lot easier.
 
I saw the reference in my other thread about the Zen. Seems brand new. From a quick glimpse between the two listings, it looks like the Zen is missing DP, but has component inputs. The Zen listing also states IPS as a "feature" but then states it's a Samsung PVA panel. No mention of Freesync on the Zen either.

My quick and dirty guess is that the Zen is more akin to a television (with secondary monitor capabilities), while the non-Zen model is more of a "true" monitor panel. I'd be very curious to see input lag comparisons between the two panels as well. There has to be a larger difference for $160 than just Displayport and Freesync.
 
Also of note the U400 doesn't appear to be able to to do the 4 way pip, and claims 4 HDMI 2.0 vs the 2 2.0, 2 1.4. Otherwise it looks like the same panel as the UHD400, but I would be curious if it works well as a monitor.
 
Hello everyone,

I ordered a "perfect pixel" Zen U400 on Friday from eBay seller "storewithstory" and just got it in this morning. Haven't done any extensive testing yet, but just wanted to post my first impressions. First, it does indeed seem to be "perfect pixel" as I have not noticed any dead/stuck pixels, although I have not checked over it very closely yet. There does not seem to be any significant input lag. My last monitor was a CRT (a FW900 that went out a few weeks ago), so while I do notice some input lag on the Zen U400, it seems reasonably low for a LCD monitor/TV. I have the Zen U400 in PC mode running at 4k, 60hz, 4:4:4 chroma connected by an Ultra Clarity HDMI 2.0 mini to standard cable to my GTX 980. For anyone else who purchases one of these, just press right on the remote on the initial setup to put it in English. Also, it seems only English and Korean are available for the OSD.

I've watched a bit of 4k video on YouTube and played a few games on it, and overall I'm very pleased with the U400 so far. If you can go without the Displayport and Freesync, I think the U400 would be a good alternative to the UHD400, though I should note that I have not used a UHD400, so I cannot directly compare the two.
 
Do you have another display you could do an input lag comparison with? Run a timer on both and take a picture with fast shutter speed?
 
jthom127 said:
Hello everyone,

I ordered a "perfect pixel" Zen U400 on Friday from eBay seller "storewithstory" and just got it in this morning. Haven't done any extensive testing yet, but just wanted to post my first impressions. First, it does indeed seem to be "perfect pixel" as I have not noticed any dead/stuck pixels, although I have not checked over it very closely yet. There does not seem to be any significant input lag. My last monitor was a CRT (a FW900 that went out a few weeks ago), so while I do notice some input lag on the Zen U400, it seems reasonably low for a LCD monitor/TV. I have the Zen U400 in PC mode running at 4k, 60hz, 4:4:4 chroma connected by an Ultra Clarity HDMI 2.0 mini to standard cable to my GTX 980. For anyone else who purchases one of these, just press right on the remote on the initial setup to put it in English. Also, it seems only English and Korean are available for the OSD.

I've watched a bit of 4k video on YouTube and played a few games on it, and overall I'm very pleased with the U400 so far. If you can go without the Displayport and Freesync, I think the U400 would be a good alternative to the UHD400, though I should note that I have not used a UHD400, so I cannot directly compare the two.
Click to expand...

Very cool... I was hoping somebody would be the guinea pig! It seems it is a good value in comparison to the UHD 400, espescially for those of us with Nvidia cards. Looking forward to more impressions.
 
" Serious light bleeding - All monitors may have light bleeding so we check "serious" light bleeding" , but no indication as to what they consider "serious", hmm

eta: also this claims to be a samsung pva panel, couldn't one just buy a local tv with the same panel for the same results and avoid shipping to/from Korea?
 
rhansen5_99 said:
jthom127 could you verify that all 4 hdmi ports are 2.0? I am seriously tempted :) Also how does you 980 gtx do in 4k, playable?
Click to expand...

Just checked, and was able to get 4k, 60hz, 4:4:4 out of all four ports, so they are all 2.0. I haven't played any really demanding games yet, but I know the single 980 is definitely not adequate for recent games at 4k on high settings and 60 fps. I was playing some Xcom 2 earlier at nearly max settings and it was fairly smooth, but definitely below 60 fps. I'm mainly into racing sims and rFactor 2 and Automobilista ran well, but they aren't too demanding graphically. Dirt played well at medium settings. Will probably upgrade to a 1080 or whatever AMD has coming out at some point.
 
"This is PERFECT Pixel Monitor.
In our rule, this monitor may have 0-1 dead pixels."
I don't think they know what that word means -_-
 
jthom127 - hi, I'm a little interested about this display.

I'm currently testing Philips BDM4350UC, and it seems to be quite OK other than it has moderate or possibly worse burn in problem, 15 minutes and I get slight ghosting from static windows (UI elements that stay put like IM and software I work with), 25 minutes and burn in can be seen against darker grey backgrounds, which I unfortunately have in many software I use.

So - have you noticed any burn in or have you tested your monitor for burn in effect when static content stays on screen for 15-30 minutes ?
 
That Philips is a complete pile of crap -- terrible uniformity, mediocre contrast, just a bad panel all around. I didn't even know about the image persistence and I've been suggesting people avoid it for quite a while. This just gives me another reason to say no when it comes up.
 
BubbleBob said:
jthom127 - hi, I'm a little interested about this display.

I'm currently testing Philips BDM4350UC, and it seems to be quite OK other than it has moderate or possibly worse burn in problem, 15 minutes and I get slight ghosting from static windows (UI elements that stay put like IM and software I work with), 25 minutes and burn in can be seen against darker grey backgrounds, which I unfortunately have in many software I use.

So - have you noticed any burn in or have you tested your monitor for burn in effect when static content stays on screen for 15-30 minutes ?
Click to expand...

I have not noticed any burn-in. I have had the display on for several hours with the Windows task bar on the entire time, and I did not see any burn-in or image retention after switching to a full-screen application.
 
Hi again, jthom127 and to anyone else who might have this or another PVA / VA panel monitor / TV-monitor.

I'm a bit curious about viewing angles, I have many times been reading that VA panels have bad viewing angles. I've only used IPS panels.

There is talk about discoloration and issues with dark shadow colors near corners when viewing image from normal viewing position (center).

Is this noticeable in Wasabi Mango or other current PVA panels?

Is it bothering you in normal use, or only on some flat color test images and so on or not at all?

Just asking as I'm still considering alternatives to Philips 43" I'm testing currently.
 
BubbleBob said:
Hi again, jthom127 and to anyone else who might have this or another PVA / VA panel monitor / TV-monitor.

I'm a bit curious about viewing angles, I have many times been reading that VA panels have bad viewing angles. I've only used IPS panels.

There is talk about discoloration and issues with dark shadow colors near corners when viewing image from normal viewing position (center).

Is this noticeable in Wasabi Mango or other current PVA panels?

Is it bothering you in normal use, or only on some flat color test images and so on or not at all?

Just asking as I'm still considering alternatives to Philips 43" I'm testing currently.
Click to expand...

Looking at it straight on from about 25-30 inches away, the corners appear a bit darker, but this is only noticeable to me with solid color images. In normal use, it is not noticeable at all. Even with the solid color test images, it is fairly minor and does not bother me. Regarding the viewing angle, it seems to me that at around 30 or so degrees, the colors start to look noticeably off, so it might not be a good option for wide-angle viewing.

My only real complaint about it is that there seems to be some judder when playing 24fps video, even when the display is set at 24hz. I noticed that Rtings noted this in reviews of some lower-end Samsung displays, so perhaps that isn't a surprise given that the Zen is a Samsung VA panel. I'm using JRiver Media Center to play videos, but I'll try hooking up a bluray player when I have time to see whether I get judder with it.
 
garin said:
looks like another 40" tv panel semi-marketed as a monitor so I'd expect the same input lag noted by reviewers on the UHD040, also explains why the wasabi units are priced about on par with 40" tvs
Click to expand...
Hey, I've just had two people use my UDH400 for some gaming and they never noticed any lag whatsoever. As I recall, only one guy noticed lag and he was running at 30Hz or some other problem. So far, the UHD400 has been stellar.
 
Does anyone happen to know exactly which panel this is? It should be available as a samsung TV too right, unless there would there be some hardware difference between it and just buying the same as a TV locally.
 
garin said:
Does anyone happen to know exactly which panel this is? It should be available as a samsung TV too right, unless there would there be some hardware difference between it and just buying the same as a TV locally.
Click to expand...

In all likelihood, big hardware differences. For example, I don't think this has a tuner or any of the image "enhancement" going on that you'd find in a purpose-built television. Hence relatively low input lag.
 
I wonder if it would be worth buying one of these to replace a TV, I don't care about tuners, it's only hooked up to a PS4 and Android TV box.
 
silent-circuit said:
In all likelihood, big hardware differences. For example, I don't think this has a tuner or any of the image "enhancement" going on that you'd find in a purpose-built television. Hence relatively low input lag.
Click to expand...

The Zen actually has a TV tuner. I just hooked it up to an antenna earlier to test.
 
New to the forum. Been thinking about getting either the Zen U400, UHD400 or the new Samsung UN40KU7000. Any first impression on the Zen and what everyone else think of these 3 choices?
 
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Ray21 said:
New to the forum. Been thinking about getting either the Zen U400, UHD400 or the new Samsung UN40KU7000. Any first impression on the Zen and what everyone else think of these 3 choices?
Click to expand...

Can't speak to the Zen, but I'm very happy with my UHD400. Wasabi Mango UHD400 40" 4k Display

As I mentioned a bit earlier, the Zen and the UHD400 seem very similar. For lack of better terminology, to me the Zen seems more like a "television", while the UHD400 seems more like a "monitor". Sorry, but I don't have any experience with the Samsung.
 
I was very close to considering getting the UHD400, and now I find out about this much cheaper option. What's the catch?
 
jthom127 said:
My only real complaint about it is that there seems to be some judder when playing 24fps video, even when the display is set at 24hz. I noticed that Rtings noted this in reviews of some lower-end Samsung displays, so perhaps that isn't a surprise given that the Zen is a Samsung VA panel. I'm using JRiver Media Center to play videos, but I'll try hooking up a bluray player when I have time to see whether I get judder with it.
Click to expand...
Did you try the Blu-ray player yet? Playing 24fps movies is very important to me as if I get a 4K monitor I plan for it to double up as a movie watching screen.
 
WhopperMcZinger said:
Did you try the Blu-ray player yet? Playing 24fps movies is very important to me as if I get a 4K monitor I plan for it to double up as a movie watching screen.
Click to expand...

Just hooked up my PS4 to it and tried out a few blurays. Fortunately, there was no judder at 24hz.

In Windows, I still get judder when the display is set at 24hz, but I got around that issue by turning on 'smooth motion' in JRiver's settings and leaving the display at 60hz.
 
DooLocsta said:
Will it run at other resolutions like 1080P or 1440 and look semi decent?
Click to expand...

I've ran several games on it at 1080p, and it looks very good. Maybe not quite as sharp as on a native 1080p display, but still very good. Haven't tried anything at 1440 yet.
 
Got my U400 today. Unfortunately my tale is a sad one. When I first plugged it up to my 980ti it wouldn't display anything, but was definitely sensing signal. I could see the menu screens and "No Signal" when I unplugged the cable. So I plugged my Dell 3415W back into the DisplayPort and it came up.

In nVidia control panel the U400 was identifying as a 289K. I set it to 4k30Hz and it finally started showing my desktop. Now mind you I've used these HDMI cables and this video card with three different 4k60Hz screens already. They're good. I tried another cable anyways. I could set it to 4k60Hz after first setting 30Hz but it would keep going black again after 5 seconds or so. And if I unplugged my Dell from the Displayport then the U400 would go black again.

Then, messing with the menus, the overlay corrupted. Totally froze up, then the screen went static purple, then black again but with a LOUD whine from the display. So I pulled the plug and I guess I have the joy of experiencing a return.
 
I found out that it seems HDMI 2.0 isnt good enough to do 4K@60Hz with both 10bit colour and 4:4:4 at the same time. At 4K@60Hz you must choose one or the other it seems. http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-25967117716530/5x1-hdmi-switcher-with-hdmi-2-0-8.gif

Apparently DisplayPort 1.2 can do both at once, so could this be one of the catches for it being so much cheaper than the UHD400? Or does 10bit colour and 4:4:4 not really matter much? Are those features worth a few hundred bucks more?
 
rhansen5_99 said:
Also of note the U400 doesn't appear to be able to to do the 4 way pip, and claims 4 HDMI 2.0 vs the 2 2.0, 2 1.4. Otherwise it looks like the same panel as the UHD400, but I would be curious if it works well as a monitor.
Click to expand...

Superjoe: sorry to read about your experience. good luck bro.

jthom127 : could you please shoot some pictures and post them? :) :)

I wonder:

1: Does the really Mango Zen U400 have the same panel as the UHD400?
2: PWM issues? See here.
3: Does the U400 have a matte or glossy surface?
 
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Superjoe said:
Got my U400 today. Unfortunately my tale is a sad one. When I first plugged it up to my 980ti it wouldn't display anything, but was definitely sensing signal. I could see the menu screens and "No Signal" when I unplugged the cable. So I plugged my Dell 3415W back into the DisplayPort and it came up.

In nVidia control panel the U400 was identifying as a 289K. I set it to 4k30Hz and it finally started showing my desktop. Now mind you I've used these HDMI cables and this video card with three different 4k60Hz screens already. They're good. I tried another cable anyways. I could set it to 4k60Hz after first setting 30Hz but it would keep going black again after 5 seconds or so. And if I unplugged my Dell from the Displayport then the U400 would go black again.

Then, messing with the menus, the overlay corrupted. Totally froze up, then the screen went static purple, then black again but with a LOUD whine from the display. So I pulled the plug and I guess I have the joy of experiencing a return.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, hope the return process goes smoothly.

iBurgerr said:
Superjoe: sorry to read about your experience. good luck bro.

jthom127 : could you please shoot some pictures and post them? :) :)

I wonder:

1: Does the really Mango Zen U400 have the same panel as the UHD400?
2: PWM issues? See here.
3: Does the U400 have a matte or glossy surface?
Click to expand...

Here's a link to a few pics I took:

1. Not sure if they are the same, but they are both Samsung VA panels from what I have read.
2. Haven't noticed any PWM issues. It seems to be flicker-free. If there is some way to test this I can try to do it.
3. I would say it's semi-glossy. I can see my reflection a bit when the screen is dark and other lights are on in the room, but not nearly as clearly as I would on a glossy display.
 
jthom127:

Thanks!

These are the first highres pictures I have seen online of the U400. Thanks for uploading them. :) About PWM, there is apparently a test you can do. (here) But the easiest way to see if there is PWM, is to reduce the brightness a lot and see if your screen starts flickering. (see video for example, the left monitor starts flickering).

jthom127 : Do you think the glossy is so bad that running two or three of these monitors, in a multi monitor setup, would be an issue? I'm worried that you start too see a lot of reflections if you look at the monitors from an angle.
 
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iBurgerr said:
jthom127:

Thanks!

These are the first highres pictures I have seen online of the U400. Thanks for uploading them. :) About PWM, there is apparently a test you can do. (here) But the easiest way to see if there is PWM, is to reduce the brightness a lot and see if your screen starts flickering. (see video for example, the left monitor starts flickering).

jthom127 : Do you think the glossy is so bad that running two or three of these monitors, in a multi monitor setup, would be an issue? I'm worried that you start too see a lot of reflections if you look at the monitors from an angle.
Click to expand...

Just did the PWM test with the brightness lowered and could not detect any flickering.

As to your second question, I do not think the gloss level would be a problem on a multi-monitor setup, but I'm not certain. This is my only standalone monitor at the moment, but to try to get an idea of how a multi-monitor setup would look, I placed my laptop just beside the Zen, angled it at about 45 degrees, and with the laptop displaying a brighter screen and the Zen displaying darker colors, there were not any noticeable reflections on the Zen while looking at it straight on about 3 feet from it. Looking toward the Zen at 30 degree angle or so, I did see some reflection from the laptop's screen, though it was not too noticeable.
 
jthom127 said:
Sorry to hear that, hope the return process goes smoothly.



Here's a link to a few pics I took:

1. Not sure if they are the same, but they are both Samsung VA panels from what I have read.
2. Haven't noticed any PWM issues. It seems to be flicker-free. If there is some way to test this I can try to do it.
3. I would say it's semi-glossy. I can see my reflection a bit when the screen is dark and other lights are on in the room, but not nearly as clearly as I would on a glossy display.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the pics. Question, I see you have HDMI mode on PC Mode, what exactly does that mean and what are the other options? Does that mean if you plugged some other devices like a Blu-ray player or PlayStation in the other ports, would you need to change it to TV Mode and then back again?
 
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WhopperMcZinger said:
Thanks for the pics. Question, I see you have HDMI mode on PC Mode, what exactly does that mean and what are the other options? Does that mean if you plugged some other devices like a Blu-ray player or PlayStation in the other ports, would you need to change it to TV Mode and then back again?
Click to expand...

Other than using it for my PC, I've only briefly connected a PS4 to it to test bluray playback, but I would keep it in PC mode for any device. In TV mode it always overscans slightly regardless of the other settings.

Also, just for reference, the 'DLC' setting controls dynamic contrast, and the 3DNR is digital noise reductions (I think), which I have since turned off.
 
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