Help Needed - Best Monitor for lagless console gaming

[Alexander]

Hey Guys,

Need some advice. My college buddies and I still regularly LAN Halo 1 on the original Xbox. We play on 20'' Trinitron CRTs that only support 480i. So we're looking for a LCD solution that supports 480p but also plays fast like a CRT.

First:
Do you guys know a good solution for this? I believe Xbox plays Halo 1 at 30fps and 60hz. We'll be connecting the xbox with VGA.

Second:
From the research I've done it looks like the BenQ monitors that support blur reduction v2 are my best bet.


I'm open to suggestions.

[Falkentyne]

Avoid the Benq monitors that support "blur reduction v2" The XL2730Z can NOT strobe lower than 120hz due to a firmware or design bug which Benq claims cannot be fixed. 60hz will "double strobe" at 120hz timings. Even 100hz uses 120hz timings, causing unplayable stutter lag.

The blur reduction "V1" monitors are the best for lagless console gaming. They can also do blur reduction at 60hz "Single Strobed" which is good for consoles,if you can handle the flicker.

The XL2411Z (cheap but no s-switch, slightly worse colors), XL2420Z (S-switch, model discontinued however, make sure it has V4 firmware; slightly better color defaults than the XL2411Z), XL2720Z (S-switch, better colors than the XL2411Z, much better overdrive via a bug exploit, if blur reduction is disabled (requires exploiting a bug), XL2430T (This is basically an XL2420Z with a more buggy firmware, gamer presets 1-2-3 are bugged, colors are ok in Standard mode as long as you don't change color vibrance, etc).

The XL2430T is basically a "blur reduction V1" monitor with redesigned OSD options, which are buggy. It has the same blur reduction capabilities as the XL2420Z/XL2411Z/XL2720.

[Alexander]

http://www.blurbusters.com/benq/strobe- ... ce=sidebar

The reason I thought v2 monitors was a good choice was because of this article. So you are saying v2 won't do any blue reduction at 60hz. Right?

[Falkentyne]

Ok I know what' you're confused about.

What you're reading about there are "firmware versions", aka the internal firmware versions of these monitors. When Chief Blur Buster wrote this guide, he lobbied Benq to release "V002" or "V2" firmwares for the old monitors, which allowed user adjustable strobe settings and an option to single strobe lower than 100hz refresh rate. The strobe utility was based on the V2 firmware, and the fact that the checkbox "enable custom strobe adjustments" was there, was to avoid a bug that existed in the firmware, which I won't go into. (it's in my sticky). Anyway, this bug was fixed in V003 firmware, but I don't even know if Chief was aware of what this bug actually was in depth, as he was more inactive by that time.

V004 firmware came out later, which fixed a critical bug with Displayport, that the older T series Lightboost monitors also suffered from. Without V4, displayport at >60hz was almost unusable. XL2720Z came with a V5 a few months later but there was no changlog.

Anyway, what you mentioned was "blur reduction V2 monitors"...this label was actually called "Version 2" by Benq, relating to "newer" monitors that were "upgraded" to have the blur reduction custom settings in the monitor OSD. In the "version 1" monitors, they were in the service menu instead. Please understand that the "blur reduction V2" monitors are NOT "firmware V2". Benq calls the XL2730Z 1440p monitor and the XL2430T "blur reduction V2" monitors.

[Alexander]

Okay Got it!

So the fw version does not matter. I just need an older monitor that uses the blur reduction version 1.

So any of these monitors should work for us, regardless of firmware.
XL2411Z
XL2720Z
XL2430T
XL2420Z

[Falkentyne]

Not exactly.
As long as you are not buying a 2 year old used monitor, any new monitor should come with the latest firmware, V004 on XL2411z, xl2420z, v005 on xl2720z, v006 on xl2430t.

You absolutely do not want a v001 firmware on any of them. And if they have the old v002 firmware, they won't have the AMA toggle improvement as that wasn't added until v003.

[sharknice]

Which VGA adapter are you using to connect the xboxes to the monitors? Some of them don't actually do true 480p and instead convert 480i.

And have you tried xbox 360s? Aside from the initial weapon loading hiccup it plays much smoother, and you can use HDMI for a flawless signal or a legitimate VGA adapter.

[Alexander]

Not exactly.
As long as you are not buying a 2 year old used monitor, any new monitor should come with the latest firmware, V004 on XL2411z, xl2420z, v005 on xl2720z, v006 on xl2430t.

You absolutely do not want a v001 firmware on any of them. And if they have the old v002 firmware, they won't have the AMA toggle improvement as that wasn't added until v003.

Gotcha, so FW v003 and up should be a good choice. But Blur reduction v1 monitors.

Which VGA adapter are you using to connect the xboxes to the monitors? Some of them don't actually do true 480p and instead convert 480i.

And have you tried xbox 360s? Aside from the initial weapon loading hiccup it plays much smoother, and you can use HDMI for a flawless signal or a legitimate VGA adapter.

I purchased a custom made VGA cable that is similar to the Frosty VGA cable. I've tested it and It supports 480p.

We have tried in the past to play on 360. No one is willing to LAN on them. There are a lot of other issues with the 360 because it emulates the OG xbox. As well we play a version of Halo 1 that was modded to for competitive LAN play. see: http://www.Halo1final.com

So we have to play on the original xbox to use this version.