XL2720Z V4 firmware overdrive improvements

[Falkentyne]

Benq silently released version 4 firmware updates for their Z series monitors at the end of last year, but for some bizarre reason, with no marketing or mention of them anywhere. There were no change logs, no mention of fixes, and the firmware files are (still) not even downloadable on their website! They were only made available by people who dumped the firmware from the Ubuntu/Linux (non Mstar ISP) flash methods that are used to flash the firmware without needing a Mstar ISP unit (the monitor uses a Mstar 8556T scaler.

All of the Z series were improved by the V4 firmware update, but the update turns the XL2720Z into a completely -new- screen, as far as blur reduction quality is concerned. The fixes are so drastic that it's worth a review site actually doing a review update for the monitor, but it seems most or all of the sites don't have the monitor anymore.

For those people that do have the XL2720Z and are sitting on V2 firmware, I took some pictures with a camera I just bought (for this purpose) to show why flashing to V4 is worth the risk (and literally a 1% chance of bricking the monitor; people have even been able to reflash bricked monitors with this method) and maybe Benq will actually get around to marketing their V4 firmware. They could get so many more sales if people actually communicated.....

Ok before the pictures, please note that there was a V3 firmware update also, again with no change logs, except a benq message to a user saying that it 'fixed' profile issues and improved the game mode loader (e.g. Low blue light now is usable when saved to a gamer preset), but no one else tested V3 directly, so it is unknown whether the overdrive improvements were part of V3 or V4.

Here are the known changes from V2.

1) fix: random initial loss of signal when connected to displayport (V4 specific fix confirmed)
2) fix: profile fixes and updates. If using a previously saved gamer preset #1-3, Monitor will automatically recall and use the last saved preset settings instead of the last saved OSD settings, when the monitor is powered on. This only applies to the gamer presets.

3) fix: custom strobing adjustments now instantly work when single strobe is set to off, when blur reduction is toggled from off to on, at 100, 120 and 144 hz refresh rate. Unknown if this was a V3 or V4 fix. On V2, custom strobe settings were ignored and defaults used if single strobe were set to off, when blur reduction was toggled off to on at 100, 120 and 144 hz, however any change to brightness, strobe phase, strobe duty or single strobe (service menu) would instantly activate the custom strobe settings. It was interesting that just changing brightness would activate it. If single strobe were on, then custom settings took effect instantly always. This was a nice fix. It's unknown if XL2411Z or XL2420Z were affected by this issue. Now on v4, single strobe On is only needed for strobe adjustments under 100 hz refresh rate (e.g. custom resolutions with lower refresh rates or lower refresh rates with vertical total tweaking).

4) Massive changes to overdrive settings. (This would be worth a tftcentral review relook if they still owned the monitor). Pictures speak a thousand words, so i'll just let the camera do the talking here.

Ok first this is Premium AMA (hidden/toggle) on V4, which is about equal or equal to what V2 was at default on high.
(the default premium is even worse), since I don't have V2 anymore, this is a good place to start comparisons. This is what V2 looked like, more or less. It looks like benq took the V2 original settings and moved them here to the hidden premium toggle.

http://i.imgur.com/ObjKqFE.jpg


Ok this is the AMA high under normal settings on V4.
Contrast 43. Default new settings for V4.

http://i.imgur.com/q9jwDh4.jpg


Looks -much- better, right? The XL2730Z seems to look like this now.
*please note* lowering contrast with the default AMA settings does nothing to improve anything. It just gives many normal ghosting (especially black to white) transitions a white spectral appearance that is very ugly, making things much worse. TestUFO's alien invasion won't catch this, but other tests and the basic windows desktop catch it in spades. Contrast 43 is best for V4 default

Ok this is the new AMA high toggle, with contrast 43. You can toggle it by one of two ways: highlight AMA, press enter once, then press back or "exit" (pressing enter again seems to do nothing), or move up or down to off or premium then back to high.

Took two because I couldn't seem to get it perfect.
Pic#1:
http://i.imgur.com/aunM90Q.jpg


Pic#2:
http://i.imgur.com/N6PFHqJ.jpg


This new toggle is undocumented and did not work in V2 (in V2 it just intensified the overshoot). It seems to remove all of the inverse/overshoot by lowering the overdrive intensity, at the cost of more normal ghosting. Despite big improvements on testUFO, the increase in normal ghosting on sharp image transitions actually makes this a worse overall setting than the default untoggled one. But now there's some nice magic with this new setting. watch!

New AMA high with contrast set to 0. There is no 'spectral' ghosting drawback now!
#1:

http://i.imgur.com/zuDfOar.jpg

#2:
http://i.imgur.com/VAxNalP.jpg

#3:
http://i.imgur.com/KqUmsYv.jpg


This screenshot(s) does not do the quality improvement full justice.
If you test black to white transitions in windows, from contrast 43 to 0, you will see that (around the center of the screen) there is literally zero ghosting. It's very similar to the untoggled default with contrast 43, on white to black (which is good also), but without any inverse ghosting Just lackluster contrast. This looks better than Lightboost mode, folks.

Yes this is at contrast 0, but this amount of overdrive quality seems to exceed anything on even the new Gsync/Freesync boards! Someone will have to do a reduced contrast test to compare. Note: any changes to strobe phase, strobe duty, single strobe or brightness value will reset the hidden overdrive toggle back to defaults. Contrast and Gamma will not reset it, though.

With a Vertical Total 1500 tweak, the default settings should be good for most users. The toggle with reduced contrast would probably be best for 2D side scrolling games, where inverse ghosting would show itself much more than 3D FPS games.

*edit*
XL2411Z and XL2420Z were given similar overdrive improvements like XL2720Z also, but it's only accessible by the AMA toggle; the defaults seem the same as V2; this is still unconfirmed (as of yet) on the XL2420Z but may be the same as the tested XL2411Z (tested by masterotaku). Since the 24" and 27" screens differ quite a bit, the 24" screens do not need reduced contrast to use the toggle. However they are lacking the 'extra' setting of the XL2720Z (the toggle with contrast 0 that is really incredible). The XL2411Z seems to benefit more from 60 hz (single strobe on) with its toggle, than 120hz.

[masterotaku]

this is still unconfirmed (as of yet) on the XL2420Z but may be the same as the tested XL2411Z (tested by masterotaku).

The XL2420Z is tested now by me . It looks the same as the XL2411Z. Today, I upgraded the XL2420Z of one of my friends. And just as my XL2411Z, it benefits more at 60Hz.

So, the monitor that benefited the most from this upgrade is the XL2720Z.

[Falkentyne]

Is there any benefit at all, of using the default AMA on the 2420Z, as opposed to the toggle?
The toggle on xl2720Z needs contrast 0 for best results.

But on your xl2411Z, if you are at 120hz, for example, does your toggle make things worse?
full black to white transitions? Test ufo? (I mean, with default contrast of 43-50).
It sounds like your toggle is a win win, but I hope 120-144 hz will still look decent....

[masterotaku]

Is there any benefit at all, of using the default AMA on the 2420Z, as opposed to the toggle?
The toggle on xl2720Z needs contrast 0 for best results.

But on your xl2411Z, if you are at 120hz, for example, does your toggle make things worse?
full black to white transitions? Test ufo? (I mean, with default contrast of 43-50).
It sounds like your toggle is a win win, but I hope 120-144 hz will still look decent....

No drawbacks. It ranges from a bit better at high refresh rates to noticeably better at low refresh rates. The normal AMA High is too strong and this trick doesn't make it go to the other side (ghosting instead of inverse ghosting). It's just better in all situations.

Well, at 60Hz, just the two bottom rows of UFOs show a very slight amount of ghosting, which is smaller than the quantity of inverse ghosting without the toggle. Lowering contrast takes care of it anyway. In fact, I'd say that lowering contrast usually solves normal ghosting, but it has almost no effect on inverse ghosting.

[urut]

So masterotaku when i've got xl2411z with v4 firmware now, is better to play fps games with 144hz with this toggled ama (highlight ama and back) instead of normal ama?

[masterotaku]

So masterotaku when i've got xl2411z with v4 firmware now, is better to play fps games with 144hz with this toggled ama (highlight ama and back) instead of normal ama?

Yes, but I wouldn't play at 144Hz because of the crosstalk. Another refresh rate (up to 130Hz or almost there) with the VT tweak is much better.

[urut]

What is crosstalk ? For VT trick i must use BBR or not?

[error-id10t]

I feel like I'm missing something, how are you guys using 60hz or basically anything lower than 80? I've mentioned few times that it's ubearable for me, the strobing effect (vibration) is crazy. Is there a setting I'm or something?

[Falkentyne]

What is crosstalk ? For VT trick i must use BBR or not?

Urut, I explained to you what crosstalk was in the other thread. Do you remember? I explained it in the Linux thread.
I'll copy and paste exactly what I wrote.

You asked about the "double ufo's at the bottom of the screen, remember ? that' crosstalk. Here's the post I wrote.
---------------


Yes, because you are not using a vertical total tweak. That's normal.
if you want those UFO's to not appear as doubles on the bottom, you need a Vertical total 1500 tweak.

I'm bored so I'll try to explain the reason why.

Ok, a monitor usually completes a vertical blanking period interval, in about 0.5 milliseconds. This is average for current gaming TN monitors.

HOWEVER...the PIXELS themselves are unable to complete a full transition (on to off to on again fully being in a new voltage state) in 0.5 ms!! Even the fastest TN panels do not have grey to grey pixel transition speed this fast! At best case, you may get 1 ms. On average it may be anywhere from 2 to 6 ms.

So the monitor 'strobe' sync finishes and the vertical blank finishes BEFORE the pixels are ready for it !
The panel updates top to bottom. So it's the bottom that is going to be "behind."

guess where the double UFOs' are? :)

So.......
the default "vertical total" on these 1080p screens is 1125 lines.

by increasing the vertical total from 1125 to 1500, you 'extend' the vertical blanking interval, because NOW, there is a LARGER VERTICAL TOTAL to blank! (vertical total isn't pixel panel size. it's complicated. However they are related in a strange way. The scaler actually gets confused by the presence of a VT tweak and thinks the horizontal is 1280. The SCALER, not the screen itself, don't worry about this at all now).

Anyway...the vertical blanking period is made longer by the increase in VT.
So the blanking interval goes from 0.5 miliiseconds to around 4 milliseconds!

TADA!
Now the screen has MORE time to complete MOST pixel transitions!
End result:
Bottom looks MUCH better. Now you only see the 'beginning' of the double UFO stuff instead of ALL of it.

Must use Nvidia or AMD pixel clock patcher (ToastyX) for this.

You can use horizontal total 2200 for VT 1500 at 100 hz.
best to use HT 2080 for VT 1500 at 120 hz. Maybe with a very good DVI cable you can use 2200 but maybe swimming pixels because of too high DVI clock.

144 hz: can NOT use ANY vertical total tweaks. 144 hz is not standard refresh rate. It already uses "reduced" blank just to not go out of range. (it's basically an overclock).

[urut]

Idk its placebo or not, when i upgraded from V1 to V4 i see clear diffrence without using BBR, when i playing non-strobed 144hz (like in V1, i change it sometimes to bbr ) my game is more smooth and i've got better colors (i clearly see that lol) its about v1 to v4 upgrade or its only a placebo? I feel my games better (i didn't read anywhere v4 or v3 or v2 whatever are better in color or smooth vs v1) ;d