I think I’d look at any units that either have calibration capability built in or support it. There’s a 24" Eizo (sp?) in the Calument Photo catalog that says it supports external calibration sensors with on-board software. Don’t know if it works, but the concept sounds great.
Art
Nick,
I’m not pointing a bad finger at Dell but did buy a 2407WFP model that was basically dead on arrival, not providing a display for more than a second or two. Rather than buy another, I researched more and found the BenQ FP241W as a new model in the market, and wound up buying it. Similar to the Dell in that it seems to be a very bright LCD panel, I calibrated it with no difficulty using a Monaco OptixXR colorimeter and EasyColor software. After a couple of narrow-gamut prints printed darker and with slightly less contrast than I expected from my Epson R1800 printer, I began to wonder if the BenQ monitor was the culprit. I’ve since decided not, although I did recalibrate via a different approach where I first adjusted the RGB controls plus Brightness and Contrast until I had a luminance measure of 102 nits (the original calibration yielded a luminance of 230 nits or so), which was on the same level as my calibrated Iiyama CRT. Both were within 1.5 nits of each other and about 5°K difference in temperature, and appeared visually identical in color rendition to me. The print I had a bit of trouble with was displayed very similarly on both monitors and looked pleasing for what I wanted, yet still printed a bit darker than desired, so I’ll attribute that to the media profile now, not the monitor. Having gone through this exercise, I feel rather confident the color reproduction on the BenQ LCD is accurate and the grayscale reproduction is also very good. So, I’ll offer up my vote for it. I purchased it through NewEgg and received it with with no bad pixels. Build quality seems very good. This BenQ offers an HDMI input should you have need for that, but I don’t.
Regards,
Daryl
Just to give Dell a fair shake, I love the two UltraSharps that I have.
Three year warranty makes it a pretty safe purchase, but you should stick to buying from the small business site. Support is much better.
Bob
Bob,
While off-topic a bit, do you know what the luminance is that you’re operating your UltraSharps at? And, assuming you do your own printing, do you have good print-to-screen matching? To achieve the 102 nit level that I got from my BenQ, I had to tune the Brightness down to 18 on its 0-100 scale, and contrast to 20. Those settings were also dependent upon the RGB settings I used to achieve a 6500°K white point, but I don’t recall what those settings were offhand.
Thanks,
Daryl
I just turn the key and it goes. <g>
I used the EyeOne to calibrate it and the color match is good for the times that I print to my old Epson 1520 with PressReady RIP.
Note: I never print from Photoshop. All of my printing is from InDesign. I’m comfortable enough with the color to run quick lasers most of the time from my Dell 3100 printer.
Bob
Hi,
Thats for the info – question though. What is a good Dot Pitch to be looking at? I’m told anything below .27 is going to be very good?
Also how does your BenQ rate with moving images – especially when there are for example a small bright moving over a large dark mass? Do you get any ghosting??
I need a monitor that won’t cost alot so looking at the 20-22" size and be able to work well for both colour print work and also animation and film production.
Until I start earning the pound here in the UK I have to watch my spending since i’m still on the aussie dollar which sux.
Any more help would be great. Cheers!
Regards,
Nick.
Hi mate,
Your two Dell UltraSharps – how do they go with fast moving objects? Specifically I mean small bright areas moving over large dark backgrounds …do you get ghosting??
How would you rate the monitors for graphic design work?
Cheers,
Nick.
Nick,
I haven’t any ghosting on my BenQ FP241W. It advertises a 16ms response time (6ms gray-to-gray) that sounded possibly slow for 24-inch monitor, but perhaps the GTG response is the critical factor that affects ghosting. I’m very happy with the monitor and really have no complaints. However, I would suggest you look at the NewEgg customer reviews of the BenQ (currently $769.99 USD), as some do mention issues such as poor text quality if used as VGA monitor, no standby mode using inputs other than DVI/VGA, etc. For my use however, I have no issues and it is connected via the DVI input.
The only thing I seem to have noticed, but cannot attribute it directly to the monitor and question if it is more a dual-monitor setup issue with my nVidia 7600GT card, is related to a resume-from-standby condition. What I feel I’m seeing is that once the monitor goes to standby, it does not appear as bright when awakened. I’ve not used LCD monitors enough to notice if there is a "warm-up time" required before they are again at normal brightness, but that may be the case with this one. However, as the nVidia cards don’t support dual LUTs, I wonder if that somehow factors into the equation. The reason I say that is because if I launch a Gretag Display Profile utility I’ve got to quickly toggle the monitor profile to another profile and back to the desired one, that seems to wake up the screen to what seems the more proper brightness, contrast, and color. Meanwhile, my CRT doesn’t appear affected in this way. It is hard to say what the culprit is for certain, and sometimes I even wonder if it is my eyes playing tricks on me, fooled as I watch the display change while toggling the profiles. I don’t really fault the BenQ monitor here, and still strongly recommend it.
Regards,
Daryl
I don’t do video work and I don’t do gaming.
I’m quite pleased with those monitors for straight up graphic design.
Bob
Thanks Daryl!
I will be looking at a dual DVI config as I will want to use the displays on my QUADROFX card. I’ve head so many good things about BenQ so looking at what you descibed at the mo. Even then for the quality of the display easily from my perspective out weights the light/dark issue you seem to be experienecing.
Out of interest have you tried reloading a fresh OS?
I can see how it would be annoying and please keep me posted if you find the solution – I’m planning to purchase a display in the next 3-5weeks!
Cheers mate.
Nick.
Thanks Rob,
I’m not so interested in Games. I’m looking for something that can help support both 2d (colour management) and 3d (motion gfx) work and I didn’t realise that I would have so much trouble trying to get something that works well with both.
On a completely separate topic: Do you remember some months ago (well into last year) I posted a query on some odd PDF issues I was having with RGB/CMYK inconsistencies coming out of InDesign (it was posted on the InDesign Forum)!?
Your name was very familiar when you replied to this monitor thread and I couldn’t work out form where. Anyway, I never got to thank you for your help there – I was able to solve the issue and get the client their project just in time.
Cheers for the help mate!
Nick.
Nick,
This monitor is basically being used with a fresh O/S, as I bought it for a system I just built late last year, so I doubt that’s a factor. Coming in this morning to sit down and check e-mail as well as the forum here, the screen seemed pretty normal upon waking up, so maybe my eyes are just fooling me at times…not unheard of. In any case, I don’t consider the light/dark "issue" such an issue as to bother since I know a profile toggle will take care of it if need be.
Regards,
Daryl
Most LCD monitors do need a bit of a warmup interval; the fluorescent tubes providing illumination start out at a lower light level and then stabilize at a normal level after a few minutes.
Thanks Michael. I thought I had heard something about that before but hadn’t tried researching for info.
Daryl
Daryl,
Are you sure about the whole nVidia and dual LUT thing?
I’m running two completely different model CRT’s on an nVidia 5200 (one on the VGA, and one on the DVI/VGA with an adapter). I have the windows color management applet, which clearly adjust each monitor seperately on startup.
I do have to fake out the Colorvision software by calibrating each monitor seperately as the "main" monitor. But then I ditch the Colovirsion LUT loader, and assign the profiles through the windows color applet. Seems to work fine for me.
Hi Tim, <br><br>The only part I’m sure about, if to trust what I’ve read elsewhere, is that nVidia cards do not have dual LUTs. But, what I said in regard to the issue I observed with my BenQ monitor seeming dark after awakening from a standby state was only speculation of being due to the nVidial card. I know in one case, after a recent recalibration, I found I had mistakenly left Monaco’s gamma loader in the startup menu along with Windows Color. That was obviously my mistake, and I fixed it soon enough. But, I’m still trying to pay attention to the monitor to determine if the resume-from-standby thing is just a matter of allowing it sufficient time to warm up. This morning, when I first sat down at my PC and woke the monitor I didn’t notice the problem, so I’m a little puzzled about my past observations. For now, I’m assuming I’m the problem, not the monitor or the card. <br><br>With Monaco’s software and calibrating my CRT and LCD, I use the same approach as you, for what it’s worth. <br><br>Daryl
<blockquote><tt>The only part I’m sure about, if to trust what I’ve read elsewhere, is that nVidia cards do not have dual LUTs. </tt></blockquote><br><br>I don’t really understand the technical aspects of it – whether the ability to support two LUT’s is a software or hardware issue, or both. But my monitors are DEFINITELY NOT the same white point before windows color kicks in, and afterwords they render color pretty darn close to each other(at least to my eye, and with the exception of each monitor’s limitation in contrast and luminance). <br><br>I’ll have to do some research on this. Unfortunately the ATI chipsets are buggy with some of my 3D apps. <br><br>FYI – my computer tech told me to switch off all power-saving settings in Windows. I can’t remember exactly why, but it seems to piss off Windows when monitors and hard-drives take a nap. Maybe that’s a wive’s tale too…but then again maybe your color settings don’t like it.
Tim, <br><br>I too observe both my monitors match quite well after startup and Windows Color kicking in with the appropriate profiles. The issue with my BenQ LCD was independent of that and probably is just a question of the monitor waking and warming up fully from standby. <br><br>In lieu of having true dual-LUT support from the graphics card, I don’t know where or how Windows Color loads the two monitor profiles, but it does work and that’s all that matters. I believe I’ve read that Windows Vista is able to do this natively. <br><br>As for turning off the power settings, I’ve never had problems from utilizing them and I prefer to do so since I leave my PCs on 24/7. I do switch off the CRT however and could do the same with the LCD. The PC itself I don’t turn off, so I can access it remotely if needed. <br><br>Daryl
Nick,
That CRT should work fine as I recall. We had several such IBM monitors in our office and I had one that I’d work with in Photoshop, that I’m pretty sure was the P220P…that sounds familiar at least. As a Trinitron CRT, it did indeed have overall good color and sharpness, but all of ours seemed to really age and get to a point where little could be done to provide a good white. What I particularly remember was that I’d find my eyes getting tired when the whites were dull enough that there was not nearly as much contrast with black text as should be for easy reading. All in all however, a CRT like this in good condition, with full control over the screen settings, should work well as an affordable monitor solution.
Daryl
Hi Daryl,
Thanks for getting back to me. That is the one thing i’m afraid of (especially being 22" as well) – I was unsure with it’s age and the potential issues you raised and the strain on my eyes. I’ve also been looking at a Dell (22" P1130) which looks pretty much the same in spec but went for IBM simply over case design. I’m really after the best for my buck so quality before case.
Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Regards,
Nick.
Nick,
"Familiar"…but not quite correct. Just call me lysdexic. 😉 I just went around to the desks in our office to see who might still have an IBM monitor. Several of us, myself included, have NEC CRTs which also are showing their age with gray whites. In comparison to the NEC LCD adjacent my CRT, you’d think my CRT doesn’t even know what white is. I may simply be getting spoiled by the contrast of LCD monitors. In any case, what I found in our office is not the IBM P220P, but rather P202s and P275s. Some look good still, others don’t. I don’t know their ages but I’m guessing most are at least 5 years old.
Honestly, I’ve been rather suprised at how many CRTs we’ve had in our office that went bad in terms of their adjustable brightness/contrast ranges. In comparison to my old Iiyama 450 at home, which is a shadow mask CRT that I bought in 1998, all of these aperture-grill CRTs in our office are noticeably worse in their white points. I wonder if perhaps aperture grill tubes (Trinitron, Diamontron) don’t last as long as shadow mask tubes? I’d not expect that to be true necessarily, so maybe it is more the fact that the office CRTs are running 6-10 hours/day while my Iiyama is perhaps 1/3 that amount on average. My Iiyama is starting to show distortions at the top left corner that I can’t eliminate, so it too may be nearing the end of its useful life.
Daryl
Daryl,
Do your CRTs have a "renew"/"image restoration" hidden in the menus? If so, triggering that massive surge may be able to bring them back a lot closer to new. It looks and sounds like a degauss, only about an order of magnitude stronger, when it is triggered. I’ve revived mine twice with it.
In my Sony G400, the command is under OPTIONS.
Bill
Bill,
I don’t see any such feature on our monitors here. The NEC CRT I’ve got has none, but at least it does have a "Super Bright" mode to kick up the whites…perhaps just a change of the white point to 9300K.
Nope, I think the old monitors are just that…old.
Daryl
