Is there a 27" 8-bit color monitor with 178-178 viewing angles?

[Yoshinat0r]

I have been searching for quite a while but can't seem to find this monitor. All I am looking for is a 27" monitor that is NOT wide gamut color, and has 178-178 viewing angles. Basically it means TN is out of the question. The reason I don't want wide gamut color is because I kept reading that the 10-bit color support made applications that only use 8-bit color look weird (over-saturated colors). Now I know that IPS monitors have those perfect viewing angles, but almost every single one has the 10-bit color. Not only that, but most IPS monitors at that size go up to 2500x1400 resolution and are around $1000.00! My budget is about $650. I am really amazed how difficult it is for me to find just a simple monitor as this. I cannot believe so many people accept those piles of trash TN panels. The viewing angles and the color on them are just awful, I don't care how well they claim to make them.

 

[MagicPants]

The new hp zr2740w is just that. Mine cost $700 shipped.

The only real issue with it is that it has a very matte finish. It doesn't bother me, but I notice it, when I've never noticed a matte finish on a monitor before.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

It actually says it's up to 1.07 billion colors, which means it has wide gamut color. Also the price is pretty steep, but thanks for pointing it out. I have actually just recently found a monitor that is just what I've been looking for

http://shop.benq.us/ProductDetail.aspx?id=326

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014246

It is actually $100 cheaper on newegg, I am definitely planning on ordering it!

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Also, 10-bit support does not mean wide gamut. 10-bit means it supports 10-bit transfers from the video card to the monitor, but the gamut depends on the quality of the light source, the efficiency of the liquid crystal, and the quality of the color filters.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

Also, 10-bit support does not mean wide gamut. 10-bit means it supports 10-bit transfers from the video card to the monitor, but the gamut depends on the quality of the light source, the efficiency of the liquid crystal, and the quality of the color filters.

Ok, well I am only going by things I have read online. I have read in many places that 10-bit color monitors tend to look over-saturated when running applications that are not color managed. I am not sure how and when this actually applies, or if it is even as bad as people say it is, but it is something I don't want to end up dealing with. Just to clear something up, I am not going to be using this for professional graphic design and such, I just want a monitor that is big and has much better color reproduction and viewing angles than a TN screen.

 

[MagicPants]

10 bit has nothing to do with gamut. You are confusing the two. If it did, it would be 4 times as saturated as an 8 bit panel.

First the zr2740w is actually 8 bit with frame rate control for the other 2 bits (like what they do on tn panels.)

Secondly the zr2740w is very much regular gamut. I have it sitting right next to my u3011, which is wide gamut, and can see the difference.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

Ah ok, so the zr2740w essentially sort of "fakes" the extra 2 bits of color? The whole 10-bit color and wide gamut is quite confusing to me. Regardless, it is still about $300 more than the benq that I was looking at. Do you really think I'll see a quality difference between the benq and the hp?

 

[MagicPants]

The benq, looks like a good monitor BTW. There are a few differences:

1) The Benq is 1920x1080, while the HP is 2560x1440. This means the HP has a higher pixel density, which has obvious advantages. However, text will be easier to read on the benq, and it will be easier to get a high frame rate in games.

2) The Benq is a VA panel, the HP is IPS. The benq will have deeper blacks and better contrast, but the HP will have better color reproduction, and smoother gradients.

The Benq looks like a great monitor, the only advice I'd give you is to turn on anti-aliasing in games (4x at least) to help counter it's somewhat low pixel density. I had a monitor very much like the Benq (a planar px2611) and I loved it.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

Best answer selected by Yoshinat0r.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

Well turns out I actually hate the benQ monitor after trying to game with it. It ghosts unbelievably bad. Unless this is something different, but basically everything blurs terribly when I pan the camera in a first person game. Way more than any other other monitor I have used at 60 Hz. And some areas do really weird things. Like in one scene in the game there was a bright orange moon in the night sky, and when I pan the camera over the moon, the edges of the moon leave behind a reddish trail. It just looks terrible.

I have read that VA panels have ghosting issues but I really didn't think it was that bad. It ghosts so much it hurts my eyes. I am not sure if IPS panels have the same issues, but if they don't, I am definitely returning this one and buying the zr2740w.

 

[MagicPants]

Be careful with the zr2740w. Its high response time makes it blur more than most panels. It's a smooth, almost pleasant blur, but there's still a blur. I just bought one, and I have mixed feelings about it (though I think I'll end up liking it).

The dell u2711 will have a lot less blur, but it's much more expensive and it has more input lag.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

So the dell has less blur but higher input lag? What is really the difference between the two? I thought response time was the same thing as input lag.

 

[MagicPants]

The dell uses more RTC (response time correction.) While I'm not sure the HP uses any at all.

Normally, an LCD panel changes from black to white at the same speed it changes from black to grey (or grey to grey). With RTC, in order to go from black to grey, it tries to change from black to white and then time it just right to stop on the shade it wanted. Thus speeding up the response time.

But to use RTC, a panel has to buffer one frame ahead (thus increasing input lag.) And then compare the current frame to the buffered frame to try to "overshoot" the next frame just right.

When it overshoots too far, you get a trailing shadow. The red blur you're seeing on the Benq is either a result of over aggressive RTC, or it's just that the red sub pixels take longer to change than the blue and green.

The zr2740w uses very little RTC, so it doesn't have to buffer frames and thus it's input lag is very low. But this also gives it a hint of motion blur, but just a hint, and I only see it if I am looking for it (and there is also no strange coloration to the blur).

Most people won't see it because you don't see detail in motion very well anyway. But it's the sort of thing that might bother a pro gamer.

A lot of games offer much stronger motion blur as a feature.

A TN panel with a response time of 2ms COULD have a only 1/7th the blur of the zr2740w's 14ms response time. The dell u2711 has a response time of 8ms. So it's blur will be about half as much as the HP.

Keep in mind that the quotes response time is "best case" a 2ms Gray to Gray TN panel might really take around 12 ms to go from black to white, while a 14 ms IPS panel might take around 20ms to do the same. So, the difference in response times tend to be exaggerated.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

Wow decisions decisions lol The HP is sounding like a perfect monitor for me at a perfect price, but I really just have major doubts now about the motion blur. The BenQ had a lot of that, and it really really bothered me in games, though if the HP doesn't have that sort of color trailing I may not be bothered nearly as much.

My previous monitor was a dell 2407wfp that uses a S-PVA panel. It had excellent viewing angles and color reproduction, and it seemed to be responsive enough in gaming. The problem was its size, I really don't like 24", it is just too small to me. But that panel seemed to be the best of all worlds, it was just the perfect balance of quality and speed. I could search for a 27" S-PVA, but they seem to be just as much as the IPS monitors, and if this HP monitor doesn't have THAT bad motion blurring, I might be able to just live with it. But the only way I can know is really to just buy it and try it I guess.

 

[MagicPants]

I'm right there with you. I just want something bigger than 24"

As for the blur on the zr2740w. I only really notice it when I try dragging a window of text around on the desktop (and try reading the text at the same time). When I was playing Skyrim last night, I didn't notice it at all.

 

[Yoshinat0r]

One other quick question: does the zr2740w have a really noticeable white glow on blacks? I have never used an IPS but it seems there is a big problem with them showing a white glow when viewing the monitor from an angle. I'm a little worried about watching certain movies with my friends on this thing.

 

[MagicPants]

A little, but not any worse than any other IPS monitor. If you're worried about viewing from an angle, TN's color shift is far more distracting imho.

It shows up when an image is pure black, but not when it is just really dark.

IPS tends to bring up the near blacks, meaning you'll see dark details you wouldn't on VA or TN. This is great in games, but can look bad if the source is highly compressed (like in some movies).