ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Series!

Adjusting BENQ Blur Reduction and DyAc (Dynamic Acceleration) including Blur Busters Strobe Utility. Supports most BenQ/Zowie Z-Series monitors (XL2411, XL2420, XL2720, XL2735, XL2540, XL2546)
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ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Series!

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Mar 2014, 19:11

UPDATE:
Blur Busters Strobe Utility is now RELEASED!
http://www.blurbusters.com/strobe-utility/


BENQ Version 2 Firmware supports Blur Buster Strobe Utility:
http://gaming.benq.com/media/news/revie ... ification/

Announcing the Blur Busters Strobe Utility for BENQ Z-Series monitors!
This Utility was released March 16, 2014 for XL2420Z, XL2720Z and XL2411Z.
UPDATE: Utility updated April 29, 2017 for Zowie XL2420, XL2720 and XL2411.

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This utility fixes more than 90% of the strobe crosstalk problem (double-image effect) during BENQ Blur Reduction. See before & after photos. It requires this utility to fix.

The utility provides a huge range of persistence adjustability for BENQ Z-Series monitors similiar to LightBoost 10% vs 50% vs 100%, including the ability to go dimmer than LightBoost=10% (plus ultra sharp motion!) or brighter than LightBoost=100%.

Good news is updated firmware is already shipping (Confirmed by BENQ Taiwan). So you may already have a fixed unit, but needs this utility to fix! Early shipping units (e.g. first units shipped from NCIX) will not be compatible with this utility.
The December 2013 firmware represents the fixed firmware, but that it has been taking several months for the channel to fill with these monitors.

Apparently -- I just found out that the picture on many shipping fixed monitors are indistinguishable from the non-fixed monitors. They left the strobe timing unmodified BUT the strobe timing is now adjustable (by external utility), and this is where Blur Busters Strobe Utility. So you MIGHT already have a fixed monitor. We're working hard to release this utility ASAP as a solution to all of you BENQ owners, to try and be able to adjust the strobe timing without needing to return the monitor. However, it will not work on the first units shipped -- those still need a firmware upgrade. But hang tight, you will get to download this utility -- and it actually fixes >90%+ of your BENQ Blur Reduction problem (most easily noticed during max framerate -- e.g. 120fps@120Hz).

_______________________________

UPDATE:
Blur Busters Strobe Utility is now released!
http://www.blurbusters.com/strobe-utility/
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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Mar 2014, 19:12

And yes, emulator lovers and console lovers, this enables 60Hz strobing (very painfully flickery -- not good for your eyes) -- but if you can tolerate it, now you can initialize it and then play your console games strobed (CRT style) as well as play your emulators.

If you're used to other 120Hz TN monitors, such as XL2420T or XL2720T or VG248QE, then you already know what to expect in picture quality (better than LightBoost but not nearly as good as IPS). Brightness suffers a lot in BENQ Blur Reduction strobed mode (just like LightBoost strobing often makes the picture darker), but the Strobe Utility will help you adjust your preferred brightness-versus-motion-blur tradeoff.
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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by toffeln » 03 Mar 2014, 19:20

Since I've recently received BenQ XL2411Z and still got the possibility of returning the unit I'm wondering if there is there any confirmed way to check if I got one of the early shipping units or not?(For example; Mfg Date, S/N or Rev). Would greatly appreciate any information into the matter!

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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by srsbsns » 03 Mar 2014, 20:53

Does BenQ consider making the strobe timing adjustable a fix or will there be a built in option? Nothing wrong with using your utility :D

I have November 26 firmware. Close to December but not sure if its close enough for the utility to work.

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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Mar 2014, 21:49

srsbsns wrote:Does BenQ consider making the strobe timing adjustable a fix or will there be a built in option? Nothing wrong with using your utility :D
I have November 26 firmware. Close to December but not sure if its close enough for the utility to work.
Not yet known. I will try to find out.
toffeln wrote:Since I've recently received BenQ XL2411Z and still got the possibility of returning the unit I'm wondering if there is there any confirmed way to check if I got one of the early shipping units or not?(For example; Mfg Date, S/N or Rev). Would greatly appreciate any information into the matter!
I am attempting to find out.
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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by erkston » 03 Mar 2014, 22:30

So if I am understanding this correctly:

- The strobe mistiming still exists between the top and bottom areas of the screen, and has existed for all versions of the z-series monitors (including those being manufactured currently)

-The mistiming will not be fixed via firmware upgrade by BENQ at any point and is seen as operating correctly.

-The Blur Busters Strobe Utility can force later/earlier strobes to alleviate the symptoms of the mistiming, though the whole panel will still not strobe at the same time due to the firmware "bug". So it does not "fix" the issue of the strobe not firing consistently top to bottom , but adjusting the strobe timing (and persistence) can help give more consistent results across the panel (perhaps adding slight double-image effect to the top area while making the bottom more clear).

Please correct me if any of that is wrong, just trying to get the full picture.

Would it be possible for you to take a picture of testufo after using the new utility? I am eager to see the difference it makes.

Thanks for all your hard work on this issue :]

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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Mar 2014, 22:41

erkston wrote:- The strobe mistiming still exists between the top and bottom areas of the screen, and has existed for all versions of the z-series monitors (including those being manufactured currently)
-The mistiming will not be fixed via firmware upgrade by BENQ at any point and is seen as operating correctly.
-The Blur Busters Strobe Utility can force later/earlier strobes to alleviate the symptoms of the mistiming, though the whole panel will still not strobe at the same time due to the firmware "bug". So it does not "fix" the issue of the strobe not firing consistently top to bottom , but adjusting the strobe timing (and persistence) can help give more consistent results across the panel (perhaps adding slight double-image effect to the top area while making the bottom more clear).
Strobe crosstalk affects all strobe backlights including LightBoost
All strobe backlights have strobe crosstalk relating to the asymmetric equivalence between LCD scanout (finite top-to-bottom refreshing) and strobe backlight flash (all at once). The unavoidable asymmetry means the bottom edge of screen have fresher LCD transitions with less GtG time than the top edge. Both LightBoost and ULMB has more strobe crosstalk at the bottom edges too, if you do the TestUFO Alien Invasion test on a LightBoost monitor.

Fix brings it from "worse than lightboost" to "equal/better than LightBoost"
What this utility does is turn Z-series from "much worse than LightBoost" into "roughly equivalent to LightBoost with some bonuses". For sensitive eyes like me, it turns from "unplayable" to "playable". Much like some people can't see tearing, while other people really hate tearing. And some people can't see stutters, but others really hate stutters.

Strobe crosstalk must stay away from screen center
What is extremely important that the center of the screen (e.g. where the player is often looking at and needs best reaction time) must be as artifact-free and crosstalk-free as possible. During gaming, the strobe crosstalk is no longer noticeable since the faint strobe crosstalk is now lost in the visual clutter of most videogame imagery. Once strobe crosstalk falls approximately 5%-ish (faint 5% ghost or territory thereabouts), it ceases to be distracting. The big problem of the Z-series is the full-intensity crosstalk (50%-50% ghosting, two double-strength images) near the center of the screen, just below the center of the screen.
erkston wrote:Would it be possible for you to take a picture of testufo after using the new utility? I am eager to see the difference it makes.
See above. I already posted links, but here they are: before & after. View these images in full screen mode. LightBoost and ULMB is roughly similiar to the "after" photo.
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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by erkston » 03 Mar 2014, 22:54

Somehow missed those images, thanks for posting them again and for all the other info! I never thought I would learn so much while trying to buy a monitor :D Off to make my purchase!

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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Mar 2014, 23:00

erkston wrote:Somehow missed those images, thanks for posting them again and for all the other info! I never thought I would learn so much while trying to buy a monitor :D Off to make my purchase!
Remember -- if you buy a Z-series, you *might* wish to wait a little bit because you might get an unfixable Z-series monitor. There's still a lot of those in the channel, and we need to run the beta test of the Strobe Utility first.

For those interested in motion blur reduction strobe backlights, the details can matter a whole deal. The best possible motion fluidity occurs during framerates matching stroberates (for motion fluidity nuts like me and others at Blur Busters):

People who are interested in what strobe rates are available
...this is because best motion clarity occurs at frame rate matching strobe rate
LightBoost = strobe rate of 100Hz or 120Hz
ULMB = strobe rate of 85Hz, 100Hz nad 120Hz
Turbo240 = strobe rate of 105Hz through 122Hz
BENQ Blur Reduction = strobe rate of 60Hz through 144Hz (via utility on new firmware)

People who are interested in persistence
...this is because lower persistence has less motion blur, if you are super-sensitive to persistence even on CRT and lightboost
LightBoost = adjustable 1.4ms to 2.4ms persistence
ULMB = 2ms persistence
Turbo240 = 2ms persistence
BENQ Blur Reduction = adjustable 0.5ms to 4.0ms persistence (via utility on new firmware)

People who are interested in color quality
...this is because of the TN versus VA versus IPS "color quality versus motion quality" debate.
LightBoost = TN and low color quality
ULMB = TN, but better color compared to LightBoost
BENQ Blur Reduction = TN, but better color compared to LightBoost
Turbo240 = BEST color quality (non-TN strobing!)

To see monitors of various different strobe technologies, see the Official 120Hz Monitors List.
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Re: ANNOUNCED: Blur Busters Strobe Utility -- for BENQ Z-Ser

Post by masterotaku » 04 Mar 2014, 04:00

Chief Blur Buster wrote:
toffeln wrote:Since I've recently received BenQ XL2411Z and still got the possibility of returning the unit I'm wondering if there is there any confirmed way to check if I got one of the early shipping units or not?(For example; Mfg Date, S/N or Rev). Would greatly appreciate any information into the matter!
I am attempting to find out.
I'm interested in this as well. Being the newest Z monitor (it was released around a week ago), the chance of having the new firmware by default should be very high, right?

Besides, strobing at 60Hz is very appealing, for emulators that aren't included in Retroarch and games like Skyrim or other ones that force 60Hz (my eyes may complain, but my mind will be happy). And the strobe length won't be linked to the frequency :D .
CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K @ 4.9GHz
GPU: Gainward Phoenix 1080 GLH
RAM: GSkill Ripjaws Z 3866MHz CL19
Motherboard: Gigabyte Gaming M5 Z270
Monitor: Asus PG278QR

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