Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

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nooz
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Joined: 13 Feb 2017, 02:47

Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by nooz » 13 Feb 2017, 02:59

Has anyone been able to get a higher VT at 180hz than 1570? Also, why would the crosstalk at this setting be so much better than all the other custom resolutions i've made?

I'm new to this so sorry if I sound dumb. I noticed something different about making custom resolutions at 180hz than other hz settings. With all the customs(120hz, 144hz, 200hz, 220hz) I've had no problem putting the VT at just under whatever the 600mhz cap is but not with 180hz. If I go higher than 1570ish@180hz which is a 576mhz pixel clock the resolution does not apply. This setting looks AMAZING with blur reduction on in the UFO test. Significantly better than every other custom resolutions I've set just under the 600mhz clock in terms of cross talk.

@20-25 intensity(v1 definitely works) 0 area 10 contrast 100 brightness ama high

Trip
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by Trip » 13 Feb 2017, 05:53

Ye there is something weird going on from 151hz to 180hz. You should try 150hz area 100 with 1900 vt looks great aswell.

r01d
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by r01d » 13 Feb 2017, 08:53

Trip wrote:
r01d wrote:So...?
I still don't know which Area/ intensity settings are preferable to minimize motion blur etc. e.g. best picture quality with lowest input. Thanks in advance
Nobody really knows at this point and there is no best setting for what you ask.
General logic dictates that the longer you let the pixels settle the better blur reduction works. So the higher your vertical total setting the better the image will look. The downside of that is there is a bandwidth limit of 600mhz. So if you would like high vertical total you have to sacrifice refresh rate. If you lower refresh rate you will have higher input latency. The area setting dictates when the scan should start. At 0 it will start right at the start of a frame at 100 it will start at the end. The goal is to get the middle part of the screen to look the cleanest since that is where you look at when gaming. If you use area 0 you will see a lot of cross talk after the end of the clear looking ufo on the top of the screen. That is part of the new frame while in transition. If you use area 100 you will see a lot of crosstalk before the clear looking ufo at the bottom of the screen. That cross talk is from the old frame before it.
The intensity is the amount of time the led's will stay on. High intensity controversially makes the led's stay on for a smaller amount of time then low intensity. If you use high intensity blur reduction will work better since the image will be clearer. Low intensity gives you a brighter screen. What you are asking is impossible to answer since it differs from what a person perceives as high input latency or bad blur reduction. Just experiment with the settings until you get a result you like. Btw the intensity setting works correctly in v1 firmware as well the effect is just more subtle to see then in previous monitors.
Kirayamato wrote:how do we enable benq blur reduction on the zowie xl2540?
Already mentioned but just hold down the 4th button from the left while powering on the monitor to get to the service menu where blur reduction is. 4+5 while powering on the monitor will bring you into the factory menu aside from OD-gain setting which does not stick after power cycling the monitor there is nothing interesting there to use though.
Big thanks for that reply.
So if I interpret this correctly, Ill have to experiment with that AREA value... Currently i use 240hz VT to the highest possible value under 600mhz and it runs very smooth, i put the intensity value at 25...hope that is good (i have no problems with the lower brightness).
Furthermore, is there a benefit in reducing the contrast to below 5? Ive read here somewhere that reducing the contrast to 0-5 will result in way less motion blur/crosstalk. Have you recognized anything about that on this monitor?

Trip
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by Trip » 13 Feb 2017, 17:54

r01d wrote:Big thanks for that reply.
So if I interpret this correctly, Ill have to experiment with that AREA value... Currently i use 240hz VT to the highest possible value under 600mhz and it runs very smooth, i put the intensity value at 25...hope that is good (i have no problems with the lower brightness).
Furthermore, is there a benefit in reducing the contrast to below 5? Ive read here somewhere that reducing the contrast to 0-5 will result in way less motion blur/crosstalk. Have you recognized anything about that on this monitor?
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&phot ... &height=-1

Use this test and put it in full screen so you have ufo's all over the screen. Then try to get a clear image with motion blur enabled. Depending on what you are trying to achieve you should adjust your settings accordingly. If you dont mind the crosstalk at the top or bottom and want low input latency with the middle looking clear. You could use the settings you use now with an area setting that lets you see the middle of the screen the clearest. If you want it to look good over the whole screen you have to sacrifice refresh rate to up the vertical total. At 150hz vertical total of 1900 and an area of 100 the whole screen should look very clear. But it does have more input latency then at 240hz. The contrast tweak helps in my case for the crosstalk at the top of the screen with a low area setting. But I dont think its worth the drawback having such a low contrast screen. The lower you put intensity the better blur reduction works but you have a lower screen brightness. This stuff is all personal though some people prefer low motion blur others prefer responsiveness and others prefer a bright screen.

RPGWiZaRD
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by RPGWiZaRD » 13 Feb 2017, 18:03

Any reason BenQ didn't enable Blur Reduction mode but why did they keep it in the service menu? I don't get it. No GSYNC or Blur Reduction made me totally ignore this monitor but with blur reduction (equals to ULMB right?) it slightly interests me.

If it can't cope with 240Hz, at least give us as high strobing possibility as it can achieve without horrifying crosstalk etc issues. That it could say only cope up to 180Hz decently is a non-issue for me, 180Hz strobing working decently would be a huge thing and very interesting compared to just the traditional 120 ULMB or BenQ Blur Reduction modes in other models. I just hope it's not that 240Hz or bust manufacturer mentality going here, thinking it will confuse people or people be like.... dafuq only 180Hz strobing.... it's not like that. You make it work with as fast as it can and people will be happy (at least I would be), if it would only cope with 180Hz without annoying artefacts, so be it, it won't make me any less interested.

Trip
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by Trip » 13 Feb 2017, 18:28

RPGWiZaRD wrote:Any reason BenQ didn't enable Blur Reduction mode but why did they keep it in the service menu? I don't get it. No GSYNC or Blur Reduction made me totally ignore this monitor but with blur reduction (equals to ULMB right?) it slightly interests me.

If it can't cope with 240Hz, at least give us as high strobing possibility as it can achieve without horrifying crosstalk etc issues. That it could say only cope up to 180Hz decently is a non-issue for me, 180Hz strobing working decently would be a huge thing and very interesting compared to just the traditional 120 ULMB or BenQ Blur Reduction modes in other models. I just hope it's not that 240Hz or bust manufacturer mentality going here, thinking it will confuse people or people be like.... dafuq only 180Hz strobing.... it's not like that. You make it work with as fast as it can and people will be happy (at least I would be), if it would only cope with 180Hz without annoying artefacts, so be it, it won't make me any less interested.
Well you can just takes a bit more effort and no presets. The thing is at around 180hz the vertical total setting has a cap which is not related to the pixel clock. At 150hz I can enable vt 1900 and stay below 600mhz pixel clock. But at 180hz the vertical total caps quite a bit lower. The nasty thing is I think somewhere from 150-180hz is the sweet spot to get blur reduction without artifacts over the whole screen. I believe another 240hz monitor will come out with 200hz ulmb mode. But I will be suprised if its artifact free since with this one part of the screen will have some crosstalk at 200hz and maxed vt. Unless they will use a higher pixel clock I dont see that happening.

r01d
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Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 10:23

Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by r01d » 14 Feb 2017, 07:31

Trip wrote:
RPGWiZaRD wrote:Any reason BenQ didn't enable Blur Reduction mode but why did they keep it in the service menu? I don't get it. No GSYNC or Blur Reduction made me totally ignore this monitor but with blur reduction (equals to ULMB right?) it slightly interests me.

If it can't cope with 240Hz, at least give us as high strobing possibility as it can achieve without horrifying crosstalk etc issues. That it could say only cope up to 180Hz decently is a non-issue for me, 180Hz strobing working decently would be a huge thing and very interesting compared to just the traditional 120 ULMB or BenQ Blur Reduction modes in other models. I just hope it's not that 240Hz or bust manufacturer mentality going here, thinking it will confuse people or people be like.... dafuq only 180Hz strobing.... it's not like that. You make it work with as fast as it can and people will be happy (at least I would be), if it would only cope with 180Hz without annoying artefacts, so be it, it won't make me any less interested.
Well you can just takes a bit more effort and no presets. The thing is at around 180hz the vertical total setting has a cap which is not related to the pixel clock. At 150hz I can enable vt 1900 and stay below 600mhz pixel clock. But at 180hz the vertical total caps quite a bit lower. The nasty thing is I think somewhere from 150-180hz is the sweet spot to get blur reduction without artifacts over the whole screen. I believe another 240hz monitor will come out with 200hz ulmb mode. But I will be suprised if its artifact free since with this one part of the screen will have some crosstalk at 200hz and maxed vt. Unless they will use a higher pixel clock I dont see that happening.
Could you share some of your settings for 200hz and 240hz ?
I cant get over 1492 VT (200hz) and 1329 VT (240hz) and i dont know what values at the other parameters to set. would be really great.

Additionally : is it possible to have this monitor do 1280x1080 without aspect ratio scaling (e.g. no scaling option on nvidia control screen) without having black bars or atleast minimize them a bit?

Madpacket
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by Madpacket » 16 Feb 2017, 13:09

Hello all,

Great forum here, lot's of useful information.

Few questions for anyone willing to help:

I'm looking at buying this BenQ monitor but a few things about the upcoming Asus PG258Q caught my attention. According to the TFT review It appears the PG258Q has excellent brightness even with blur reduction enabled. I'm aware the Asus monitor is limited to 144Hz with blur reduction enabled but do you think the extra brightness (and perhaps contrast?) is a better tradeoff vs. the BenQ with optimal blur reduction settings at around 180-200Hz?

I'm mainly curious from an image contrast / brightness perspective. I understand input latency and less flickering would favour the higher refresh rate BenQ but I'm not sure how much the BenQ brightness and contrast suffers with blur enabled at optimal settings (i.e low crosstalk, or major tearing)?

For reference I mostly play QuakeLive but just started getting into Overwatch. I can drive these games over the refresh rate limits of these new screens. I don't really care about even frame delivery with Freesync or Gsync as these are 6 bit 1080P TN panels, to me they're all about competitive gaming and I'm seeking the best panel for this. I'll stick to my other monitors for IQ / casual gaming.

For reference I currently own a 27" Asus MG279Q and while the image quality is excellent I find the pixel response too slow for fast paced games like QuakeLive. The blur is starting to drive me nuts even at 144Hz with overdrive enabled etc. I recently tried out a 144Hz 27" MSI Quantum Dot VA panel (made by Samsung but with no blur reduction capabilities) and found the higher contrast ratio made it easier to spot and track enemies. I think the importance of a good contrast ratio for competitive gaming is often overlooked. The screen had some flaws (dead pixels, major BLB and the pixel size at 1080P / 27" kind of bothered me after a while) so I ultimately sent it back. I also have an FW900 but due to size / weight reasons it sadly gets little use.

I understand it's all about tradeoffs, but I would think a panel with the lowest input lag, best implementation of blur reduction, and proper brightness / contrast ratio should be prioritised for competitive gaming.

Any input here would be appreciated!

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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 17 Feb 2017, 13:29

Long winded answer: "Does XL2540 or XL2720 have less lag during blur reduction?"
I suspect XL2540 can have less lag, but "it depends" on whether NVIDIA ULMB correctly works with large vertical totals.

For blur reduction, the best way to combine eSports (lag reducing) & Blur Reduction (lag increasing) you want to find the correct special sauce -- (1) NVIDIA's ULMB, or (2) BENQ Blur Reduction AND you also want a monitor capable of large Vertical Total support. The use of large Vertical Totals helps reduce input lag of specific refresh rates (with or without strobing), which can compensate for the increased lag of blur reduction (typically 1/2 of a frame extra lag)

This doesn't matter if you're using the highest refresh rate (which requires reduced totals), but blur reduction strobing usually requires a lower refresh rate than the monitor's maximum. For example, several 240Hz monitor only supports strobing up to 144Hz. In this particular instance, you want a monitor that can accept a large Vertical Total, to help deliver the refresh cycles faster from the computer to the monitor.

A monitor that can embed a 1920x1080 signal at the very top edge of a ~1920x2000 signal (e.g. VT2200) means the first 1080 lines will be delivered from the computer to the display twice as fast (4ms less input lag for bottom edge of screen, while staying at the same 120Hz refresh rate). So you've got a faster actual display scanout and a longer pause between refresh cycles (before the next scanout). This benefits strobing in two ways (1) lower latency, and (2) clearer motion, because you've given more time for LCD GtG transitions to finish before flashing a fully-refreshed refresh cycle (example of a blur reduction strobe backlight: http://www.blurbusters.com/lightboost/video ... All of them, including ULMB, works in essentially the same way).

Blur reduction can add extra input lag (because you're waiting for a display to finish refreshing in total darkness, before flashing the whole screen) but there are many tricks to reduce input lag of blur reduction -- including the large vertical total trick. I have not extensively tested blur reduction of the new XL2540's to make any comments about it yet. That said, of the previous generation (144Hz, not 240Hz), the most flexibly-adjustable blur reduction monitor is the BENQ/Zowie monitors (XL2411, XL2420, XL2720).

Ideally, NVIDIA's ULMB should be large vertical total compatible, but it isn't always. (ULMB does automatic strobe phase adjustment on its own, so there's no need to adjust timing of strobe -- but ULMB should still benefit from Large Vertical Totals)

As I have not tested XL2540 yet, I'm not at a position to say if XL2540 has lower-lag strobing than XL2720Z. But if ULMB works perfectly during large vertical totals (and adjusts strobe phase to compensate for faster scanout), ULMB should automatically have less latency during large vertical totals. This will need to be tested-for.

But if done well, if you deliver a 120Hz refresh cycle in just 1/240sec (double-size vertical total), you can reduce the input lag penalty of strobing from an average of 1/2 frame to a mere average of ~1/4 frame (2ms penalty). This reduction of "LightBoost lag" to a scant mere 2ms can actually make strobing sufficiently eSports-friendly to some people, if the competitive advantages of blur reduction more than makes up for the 2ms extra lag. More testing will be needed...
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LTHB
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Re: Presenting the ZOWIE XL2540 240Hz

Post by LTHB » 17 Feb 2017, 13:39

I'm using blur reduction at 240 hz in Overwatch, the cross talk doesn't bother me ingame.
My question is how much input lag penalty do i get with an area setting of 10 ?

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