What is the Future of BFI as a Feature?

[RonsonPL]

I agree but excluding the flicker part

I don't think BFI will ever become more than a niche feature. Some people are just too sensitive to flickering

I don't think that's a real problem.
120Hz single strobe is good enough for most. I think that people who can't stand 120Hz flicker, are a microscopic minority.

Stroging at 60Hz is a real problem, though. With 99% of console games not supporting any higher mode that is low persistence (strobing) friendly, and with even some PC game ports being capped at 60fps, it is a real problem.
Flicker doesn't have to be a problem though. This in my opinion just depends on the developer's choice. If they choose to not offer stable 120fps on consoles, or support for attainable 90fps (for the less allergic to flicker) to 120fps (good for most people) on PC, then that's their mistake. If this mistake creates the flicker issue as a result, as it forces people to torture themselves with 60Hz flicker, then it's still a dev's mistake problem, not flicker problem.

Also, people are lazy. For some people who say they cannot tolerate any flicker, using strobe modes on PC will be way more problematic if they spend most of the time outside of gaming. If you finish your game and start using a word editor with full screen white page, then yeah. Strobed mode will not have any benefit but the flicker will be tiresome even for people who don't see it.
Again. This is a problem of wrong approach. If there was any will and incentive to do so, there could be an automated mode coded into monitor's firmware or otherwise. If full screen of white page with text on it was detected, it could trigger the switch. And with that, I'm sure a lot of "I can't stand flicker" people would leave that already tiny group.

[HappyHubris]

So I did end up grabbing a S3422DWG on sale.

First thoughts:
-Response times are perceptibly better than my X34.
-I only notice black smearing with very high contrast strobing and scrolling light text on dark backgrounds. More present on strobing 100Hz vs 144Hz.
-Blacks feel deeper and much more consistent than on my IPS X34; no perceptible backlight bleed.
-Strobing performance seems inconsistent across games, and I need to test why. It's "pretty darn good except for some dark objects" (Witcher 3) to "oh god the trails" (Atomic Heart). This might be due to palettes/contrast, location of objects (cross-talk seems worse in the upper screen).
-Strobed brightness is perfectly fine, and I could not tell you it was strobing without opening up a game or watching a UFO test.
-I can't get HDR400 to do anything but wash out my content.
-Out-of-the-box colors feel a bit off, and I will rent a calibration device soon (though I have to figure out if the faux-HDR capabilities create a wrinkle).
-Switching between MPRT (strobing) and non-strobing requires multiple OSD inputs (FreeSync does not automatically turn on when MPRT is disabled).

Let me know if there are any tests or areas of interest you'd like me to explore.

[Chief Blur Buster]

-Strobing performance seems inconsistent across games, and I need to test why. It's "pretty darn good except for some dark objects" (Witcher 3) to "oh god the trails" (Atomic Heart). This might be due to palettes/contrast, location of objects (cross-talk seems worse in the upper screen).

That's correct;
- VA is temperature sensitive; warm up your screen for 60+ minutes especially in winter.
- Dark colors will have more smearing/strobe crosstalk than other colors;
- Strobe crosstalk can be worse at top and/or bottom.

I don't recommend bothering with HDR with most LCDs unless your display is an OLED or locally-dimmed.

[HappyHubris]

After more Atomic Heart testing, I would actually say that the strobing can look really good, with more detail:
-The middle of the screen is almost free of cross-talk; upper 25% has very noticeable cross-talk; lower 25% has middling cross-talk. A lot of the earlier game content I was looking at while testing AH was for example a face or dark text on a white sign in the upper 25%, skewing my perception.
-The game easily stays at 144Hz maxed out, which is a best-case scenario for strobing on this display.
-I turned off TAA for testing, and was chalking up AH's weird aliasing to strobing artifacts.
-Even in this "strong fit" scenario you can see slight strobing discoloration and slight "trailing", almost like viewing an old 3D movie in the theater with glasses.

Overall I would say that strobing on this display is viable if you temper your expectations and can drive 3440x1440 (or alternately 2560x1440) at a solid 144Hz in your target game of choice. Even without strobing, 144Hz motion fluidity is much crisper than what I was used to with the 100Hz X34, even though response times are theoretically similar. Unfortunately, there is no one-button toggle for MPRT mode. You can turn it off with minimal OSD button input (map FreeSync to a quick button and then turn it on, which removes MPRT), but turning MPRT on requires menu navigating (Main Menu->Gaming->Response Time). Thankfully, Dell has included a joystick, making these changes less painful.

(Let me know if this is the wrong thread/forum to discuss specific display results.)

[HappyHubris]

Also, people are lazy. For some people who say they cannot tolerate any flicker, using strobe modes on PC will be way more problematic if they spend most of the time outside of gaming. If you finish your game and start using a word editor with full screen white page, then yeah. Strobed mode will not have any benefit but the flicker will be tiresome even for people who don't see it.
Again. This is a problem of wrong approach. If there was any will and incentive to do so, there could be an automated mode coded into monitor's firmware or otherwise. If full screen of white page with text on it was detected, it could trigger the switch. And with that, I'm sure a lot of "I can't stand flicker" people would leave that already tiny group.

This is something that frustrated me back in 2017 and does so to this day. Please allow users to assign a single hardware button to toggle BFI, including any related settings that must be turned on and off like VRR, local dimming, HDR, etc.

Manually toggling multiple things each time in the OSD is not a fluid feature.

[RonsonPL]

Manually toggling multiple things each time in the OSD is not a fluid feature.

I've got it mapped to just one button on my good old Benq 2411Z, and I still often leave the low persistence mode ON after gaming. As I said. People are lazy
For me it's not a bothersome problem anyway. Especially if I use dark mode on most sites when web browsing

[HappyHubris]

Manually toggling multiple things each time in the OSD is not a fluid feature.

I've got it mapped to just one button on my good old Benq 2411Z, and I still often leave the low persistence mode ON after gaming. As I said. People are lazy
For me it's not a bothersome problem anyway. Especially if I use dark mode on most sites when web browsing

I need to turn strobing off when games can't keep a reliable refresh rate on my PC, as it starts to look horrible.

[HappyHubris]

A quick update if anyone googles this thread for the Dells3422dwg:

Diablo 4 is a great game for testing cross-talk, as:
-I can trivially maintain VSync 144 FPS without dips in test areas.
-It is easy to place the same object in different zones of the screen.
-You have full control of your motion relative to objects, due to the isometric view.

Testing results:
-Minimal cross-talk center screen.
-Low cross-talk bottom third of the screen.
-Noticeable cross-talk on the upper third of the screen.
-This is confirmed by putting the game in a window and playing using the lower 60% of the screen only, resulting in very good strobing.
-Cross-talk is not resolved by dropping to 140Hz, 120Hz, or 100Hz. Lower refresh rates just hurt response times.
-The game's dark areas demonstrate issues with MVA tech, with strobing on or off. Black objects definitely can show trails.

It's a shame, as "little window" play really shows what could be possible with a better backlight implementation. And it's glorious.

Overall I'm satisfied with the monitor as a modern budget option, though I would not recommend it as a perfect strobing platform.

Edit: After more testing I'm sticking to strobing for Diablo 4, as the top third cross-talk is more than offset by general strength of clarity. It's a shame that I can't squeeze out that top third cross-talk, though!

[RonsonPL]

About Diablo IV:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FuckTAA/commen ... orkaround/

[HappyHubris]

Interesting. I haven't noticed much TAA blur.