[Positive review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

[winnoe]

Hi all,

I'm a long time lurker and a first time poster from Singapore.

I had a business trip to Taiwan planned so I decided on 2 Benq XL2420z for my 780ti SLI set up.
Singapore sells them at USD 550 / USD 710 for the 24 and 27 respectively, and also earliest the stocks would arrive is mid May with firmware V1.

I paid USD 700 for 2 x XL2420z (what a steal!) and had them shipped from the IT Megamall to my hotel room for free.

No one could understand what a Mstar ISP upgrade tool was, and truth be told my Mandarin Chinese was too sh!tty that I couldn't translate it well either.

Fast forward 6 days later and I am back in Singapore with my dual XL2420z monitors. Turned them on in a dark room, and instantly blinded by the Twin Suns of Tatooine. Turned on blur reduction and it looked like I was looking at Titanfall through a misty window - washed out colors. I paid USD 700 for this??? My 5 year old hp2207w at 5ms 250m contrast 60hz looked 10 times better.

Disappointed, I put on my Raybans and started checking on the Mstar ISP upgrader. Cart100 is nice, but damn it's expensive, and I need to "add funds" into the account? (and be charged a commission for doing that?).

Always on the lookout for a bargain, I turned to Asia's bargain store (http://www.taobao.com). I found the Mstar ISP upgrade tool (type it in English) and had it shipped here. I believe it only costs 280 Yuan (USD 44?) and they accept Visa + MasterCard.

Fast forward again 6 days later and I am upgrading both monitors, and then spend 2hrs calibrating the screens/color properly.

Wow...

Thanks Chief, your coding has made my money worth spending. I had bought 2 facial tanning devices but after your program and following some color profiles, I have finally managed to get them working well.

I have to say, Oh Em Eff Gee. The buttery smoothness at decent colors is completely out of this world.
I had endured 6 days of smooth 256k color screens and 6 days of retina searing clarity - but I am a true believer of now of 144hz gaming.

TLDR Version: 144hz iz da shiz. You can also buy the Mstar ISP from Taobao, and the monitors direct from the factory (if you have friends in Taipei City, Taiwan).

[Chief Blur Buster]

Thanks Chief, your coding has made my money worth spending. I had bought 2 facial tanning devices but after your program and following some color profiles, I have finally managed to get them working well.

Thanks for the compliment -- and thank you for posting your review here in these forums for others to read!
I am glad you are very happy with your XL2420Z's with Blur Busters Strobe Utility.

Do you mind if I ask you which color profiles you are using? The ones that came on the CD, or the ones downloaded from a site (e.g. pcmonitors.info)

[LogicElite]

Disappointed, I put on my Raybans and started checking on the Mstar ISP upgrader. Cart100 is nice, but damn it's expensive, and I need to "add funds" into the account? (and be charged a commission for doing that?).

I liked that quote! Hoping you were wearing true RayBans and not those from cart100 cause i'm not sure your eyes were fully protected hehe.

Now you can enjoy true motion..true gaming you can't go back now.

[winnoe]

Thanks Chief, your coding has made my money worth spending. I had bought 2 facial tanning devices but after your program and following some color profiles, I have finally managed to get them working well.

Thanks for the compliment -- and thank you for posting your review here in these forums for others to read!
I am glad you are very happy with your XL2420Z's with Blur Busters Strobe Utility.

Do you mind if I ask you which color profiles you are using? The ones that came on the CD, or the ones downloaded from a site (e.g. pcmonitors.info)

Hey Chief.

I used the color profiles on the CD, but I noticed that in a dark room where I game my white T-shirt had a distinctly "pinkish" tone (even though my Google.com page is all white. Then I used PCmonitors.info color settings, but correct me if I'm wrong but those were meant for xl2411t? I had to tweak the RBG a couple of points from their recommended settings to get them right. Also, maybe viewing angle might be at play here because my off-centre screen needed less blues to be similar to my main gaming screen (even with 2 monitors I game on 1 only).

[winnoe]

Disappointed, I put on my Raybans and started checking on the Mstar ISP upgrader. Cart100 is nice, but damn it's expensive, and I need to "add funds" into the account? (and be charged a commission for doing that?).

I liked that quote! Hoping you were wearing true RayBans and not those from cart100 cause i'm not sure your eyes were fully protected hehe.

Now you can enjoy true motion..true gaming you can't go back now.

Yes, real Raybans! I am currently gaming on 120mhz ... the fluidity is something that cannot be captured properly on youtube - only with your own eyes.

Never knew my Steel Series 1000mhz polling rate mouse was supposed to be so buttery smooth too! No more glowing trails!

[Gymnae]

Hi all,
Always on the lookout for a bargain, I turned to Asia's bargain store (http://www.taobao.com). I found the Mstar ISP upgrade tool (type it in English) and had it shipped here. I believe it only costs 280 Yuan (USD 44?) and they accept Visa + MasterCard.

That taobao option looks interesting. Do you know if shipping to Europe is also possible?
I don't have access to an LPT equiped machine, so the self-built cables are not an option and 50 EUR for a single usage is a little steep.

I see quite seom MSTAR ISP von taobao, but they all look different. Don't want to jump on the wrong option.

Cheers

[ukuzi_sao]

Hey winnoe,

Do you happen to make the MSTAR ISP available? I recently bought a XL series as well and would like to upgrade it to V2.

By the way, I am in Singapore as well