Eizo FG2421 -- [Turbo240 is EIZO equivalent of lightboost]

[Chief Blur Buster]

I've also been testing an Eizo FG2421 here.

I really like it a lot for my games that can do triple-digit framerates.

I'll be posting a review, once the G-SYNC surge of news has settled down. My i1 Display Pro colorimeter was defective (warranty claim), so that was another reason I had to postpone the review. We also needed to cover the G-SYNC stuff, since NVIDIA sent us a G-SYNC monitor test out too!

P.S. If you already have an Eizo FG2421, here's a tip: Let the monitor warm up at least 30+ minutes after turning it on. Cold LCD's ghost more than warm LCD's, and VA panels respond MUCH faster. http://www.testufo.com/ghosting looks pretty after 30+ minutes. Gaming is stunning and far more colorful than LightBoost, if you absolutely love LightBoost, but hate the color quality.

[SS4]

This panel looks really good, and i do enjoy lightboost at time but hate the color degradation so i end up using plain 144hz mode more often. If this monitor wasnt so expensive i mightve gotten it but the price of the VG248QE was too good and it offers a lot as well

[Chief Blur Buster]

This panel looks really good, and i do enjoy lightboost at time but hate the color degradation so i end up using plain 144hz mode more often. If this monitor wasnt so expensive i mightve gotten it but the price of the VG248QE was too good and it offers a lot as well

This is true, the Eizo FG2421 is twice as expensive as the ASUS VG248QE. That said, Amazon has a sale on FG2421 right now for less than $600 if you are interested. Or, you could wait for the Blur Busters review of the FG2421!

[Black Octagon]

As comprehensive as TFTCentral's review was, I'm really looking forward to Mark's write-up about the low-persistence mode that Eizo is using.

[mkenyon]

Yeah, this is definitely on my wish list.

Can't wait to see the full write up Mark.

[masterotaku]

I have a few questions about this monitor. If I find your answers satisfactory, I might even buy this monitor today (or very soon)!

1- How long is the strobe length? Here you said that the strobe length is shorter than Lightboost:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1438195/eizo ... t_21091914
It's a post almost three weeks old, so I don't know if you have something different to say about that now. If that's true, I won't wait for the new BenQ monitors or G-Sync. At first I thought it would be similar to Lightboost at 100% brightness. If it's even better than Lightboost at 10%, I'll be amazed.

2- How does Turbo240 behave at different frequencies other than 120Hz? i.e., some games are forced at 60Hz. If 60Hz mode is strobed the same way , it would be the best option for emulators and games that force 60Hz. I also like to watch anime and films at frequencies multiple of 24Hz.

3- Does the monitor include a DVI / Display Port cable? I wouldn't like to receive the monitor and then have to buy the cable later.

4- The only european store I found it is in Amazon Spain (my country, luckily):
http://www.amazon.es/Eizo-FG2421-Monito ... escription
€499, fair price, but I don't know how long it will be available at that price (that's why I'm asking these questions now, and not waiting for the review). Well, the question comes now: amazon says the monitor is imported, what would I need to make it work here in Spain? I suppose it's imported from the USA. It says "Voltaje necesario:CA 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )", so I think I'll only need something like this, as the 50Hz electricity won't fry the monitor:


Thanks in advance for your answers .

[Chief Blur Buster]

I have a few questions about this monitor. If I find your answers satisfactory, I might even buy this monitor today (or very soon)!

1- How long is the strobe length? Here you said that the strobe length is shorter than Lightboost:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1438195/eizo ... t_21091914
It's a post almost three weeks old, so I don't know if you have something different to say about that now. If that's true, I won't wait for the new BenQ monitors or G-Sync. At first I thought it would be similar to Lightboost at 100% brightness. If it's even better than Lightboost at 10%, I'll be amazed.

Actually, after actually getting it, I found out the strobe length is just a bit under 2.3 milliseconds, which is better than LightBoost=100% but worse than LightBoost=10%. In addition, it has the minor pre-strobe (<0.5ms) between the bright strobes, which slightly affects motion clarity but not too substantially. I think they added this to reduce flicker (and advertising 240Hz) and they had to come up with a strobe algorithm for that. All in all, the improved color quality in many games can outweigh this all. I find FG2421 simply stunning for certain games, such as Bioshock Infinite, which is nicely and richly saturated on the monitor, but that's also because I now have a GeForce GTX Titan, which allows Bioshock Infinite to run capped-out 120fps@120Hz at nearly-Ultra settings (with minor tweaks to keep it capped-out at 120fps).

(You get the best strobe perfection when you have stroberate = framerate)

2- How does Turbo240 behave at different frequencies other than 120Hz? i.e., some games are forced at 60Hz. If 60Hz mode is strobed the same way , it would be the best option for emulators and games that force 60Hz. I also like to watch anime and films at frequencies multiple of 24Hz.

Its strobe is fixed at 120Hz (excluding the faint pre-strobe), so it double strobes at 60Hz, so it doesn't look as good at 60Hz as it does at 120Hz. A better option is to use 120Hz strobing, and use software based black-frame insertion (e.g. http://www.testufo.com/blackframes ) with emulators -- certain emulators including MAME and WinUAE plus one other -- now support software-based black frame insertion to simulate 60Hz strobing out of 120Hz strobing. Very creative and good solution. Eizo FG2421's strobing works perfectly for that and actually looks really good. it appears superior to LightBoost for emulator 60Hz black-frame insertion, since there's less LCD inversion artifacts (checkerboard artifact), the type found at http://www.testufo.com/inversion

3- Does the monitor include a DVI / Display Port cable? I wouldn't like to receive the monitor and then have to buy the cable later.

It came with a DVI cable, but I'd recommend getting a cheap Monoprice DL-DVI / DPI cable right away regardless of which monitor you plan to get. Their cables are often vastly superior to what the monitors come with, anyway, as I've run into a problem with one included cable with my BENQ XL2411T (DL-DVI behaved single-link DVI).

4- The only european store I found it is in Amazon Spain (my country, luckily):
http://www.amazon.es/Eizo-FG2421-Monito ... escription
€499, fair price, but I don't know how long it will be available at that price (that's why I'm asking these questions now, and not waiting for the review). Well, the question comes now: amazon says the monitor is imported, what would I need to make it work here in Spain? I suppose it's imported from the USA. It says "Voltaje necesario:CA 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )", so I think I'll only need something like this, as the 50Hz electricity won't fry the monitor:

It's universal voltage, so not a problem to use that adaptor.

Be noted that the monitor has greyscale uniformity quirks (VA panel) during very dark colors, but this does get much less pronounced after the monitor warms up a bit. This isn't an issue for me, however. IPS has the IPS glow issue, TN has viewing angle issue, and VA has the gamma-nonuniformities in the dark colors -- a "pick-your-poison" quirk effect. I presume you're already familiar with IPS versus TN versus VA panel technologies. Strobe-backlight 120Hz is only available in TN and VA formats at this time...

If you buy from Amazon, make sure you use:
http://www.amazon.es/Eizo-FG2421-Monito ... foforum-20 .... This is the Amazon Spain link that automatically supports Blur Busters! (It's up to you, of course -- you can buy from elsewhere -- just providing you the choice to support Blur Busters, if you wish!).

Thanks in advance for your answers .

You're welcome!
If you wish to wait for G-SYNC, it will have superior stutter/tear-elimination over FG2421, but being a TN panel in the first model of G-SYNC monitors, you will have the TN issues (viewing angle problems, color quality), and the strobing on TN panels will be only one-fifth to one-tenth as contrasty (e.g. 500:1 versus 5,000:1) as Eizo FG2421's Turbo240. So your choice essentially becomes, do you want colorful/contrasty strobing and nice desktop (with the VA quirks), or do you want supreme stutter/tearing elimination (with the TN quirks)?

[flood]

Is it possible to hack this monitor so that it actually does 240hz?

[masterotaku]

Actually, after actually getting it, I found out the strobe length is just a bit under 2.3 milliseconds, which is better than LightBoost=100% but worse than LightBoost=100%. In addition, it has the minor pre-strobe (<0.5ms) between the bright strobes, which slightly affects motion clarity but not too substantially. I think they added this to reduce flicker (and advertising 240Hz) and they had to come up with a strobe algorithm for that. All in all, the improved color quality in many games can outweigh this all. I find FG2421 simply stunning for certain games, such as Bioshock Infinite, which is nicely and richly saturated on the monitor, but that's also because I now have a GeForce GTX Titan, which allows Bioshock Infinite to run capped-out 120fps@120Hz at nearly-Ultra settings (with minor tweaks to keep it capped-out at 120fps).

I think you meant something different there, but I understood anyway . I think I'll wait for some time. 2.3 ms (same miliseconds as 100Hz Lightboost at 50% brightness) seems too long for me. Even if it's only a bit of blurring, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it, like a dead pixel in the center of the screen (you can't stop looking at that ). If that number could be halved via firmware, and the pre-strobe eliminated... it would be almost perfect. Besides that, 120Hz is the only real good frequency for that monitor. I would be "forced" to play at 120fps.
I currently play at 75Hz (thanks to ToastyX CRU) on my ASUS VW246H, bought in 2009. I notice the difference in motion blur compared to 60Hz. Most of the games I play reach 75fps easily, but 120fps would be more difficult. And that's when the new BenQ XL????Z monitors come into play, as their strobe mode ranges from 75Hz to 144Hz. Now I have to ask you: what can you tell us about that strobe mode? Does it avoid the bad colors, contrast and brightness of Lightboost? Is the strobe length customizable, or at least equal/shorter than Lightboost?
I would probably play at 75Hz for recent games, like BF3 and modded Skyrim, and at 144Hz for older games.
In my opinion:
- Bad colors/contrast + short strobe ~ Good colors/contrast + long strobe (different compromises).
- Normal TN colors/contrast + short strobe > Good colors/contrast + long strobe.
- Good colors/contrast + short strobe >>>>> everything else.

As you can see, my preference is motion clarity. My brother is currently using an old CRT monitor, 800x600@85Hz. Whenever I see him using that, I tell him "Go to testufo.com, NOW!".

A better option is to use 120Hz strobing, and use software based black-frame insertion (e.g. http://www.testufo.com/blackframes ) with emulators -- certain emulators including MAME and WinUAE plus one other -- now support software-based black frame insertion to simulate 60Hz strobing out of 120Hz strobing. Very creative and good solution. Eizo FG2421's strobing works perfectly for that and actually looks really good. it appears superior to LightBoost for emulator 60Hz black-frame insertion, since there's less LCD inversion artifacts (checkerboard artifact), the type found at http://www.testufo.com/inversion

IIRC, there was a glitch involving Lightboost and 3D Vision that made the screen strobe at 60Hz. Has ToastyX considered adding that function to his program (maybe it's difficult)?
Also, a program that could insert black frames in Windows, affecting everything (including games) would be a great idea (but probably impossible ), because most emulator creators don't care/want to support a black frame insertion feature.

Well, whatever I buy, be it EIZO or BenQ, I'll pass you the amazon links (if I buy through amazon) and then you'll give me new links so I can support you and your awesome website. I've learned a lot thanks to you .

tl;dr: I'll probably wait to see how the new BenQ monitors behave, because they'll have more frequency options and probably better motion blur reduction.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Actually, after actually getting it, I found out the strobe length is just a bit under 2.3 milliseconds, which is better than LightBoost=100% but worse than LightBoost=100%.

Whoops. Fixed. I meant "which is better than LightBoost=100% but worse than LightBoost=10%".

If that number could be halved via firmware, and the pre-strobe eliminated... it would be almost perfect.

Besides that, 120Hz is the only real good frequency for that monitor. I would be "forced" to play at 120fps.

I'll inform EIZO about these two items, once I've published the review. They're always improving the monitors, at least for future monitors. This is just the world's first consumer desktop 120Hz VA monitor...

And that's when the new BenQ XL????Z monitors come into play, as their strobe mode ranges from 75Hz to 144Hz. Now I have to ask you: what can you tell us about that strobe mode? Does it avoid the bad colors, contrast and brightness of Lightboost? Is the strobe length customizable, or at least equal/shorter than Lightboost?

I'll have to answer those questions after I get the new firmware update from BENQ with several improvements. I've got a beta XL2720Z sitting here and I would rather not mention details that doesn't apply to the monitor that will hit the stores.

- Bad colors/contrast + short strobe ~ Good colors/contrast + long strobe (different compromises).
Normal TN colors/contrast + short strobe > Good colors/contrast + long strobe.
- Good colors/contrast + short strobe >>>>> everything else.

There's an additional, fourth clear consideration
(though some people prefer it the other way):

Bad colors/contrast + less ghosting < Good colors/contrast + more ghosting

This actually occurs between different models of LightBoost monitors.
One of the reasons is that this is because strobe backlight monitors need to compress their gamut to produce some overdrive bounce margin, so they can do overdrive quicker and more cleanly in total darkness, before the strobe. If you eliminate overshoot space below black and above white, you will get increased ghosting. The ASUS VG278H is able to eliminate its overdrive margin at Contrast=94%, so can get about 1000:1 contrast ratio in LightBoost mode -- twice the contrast ratio of the VG248QE. I actually preferred the slight extra ghosting to get double contrast.

However, the ASUS VG248QE doesn't let you do this. For example it bumps up the black level a LOT (unfixable) in LightBoost mode, to create this overdrive margin to eliminate ghosting (double image effect) in LightBoost mode. Its on-screen contrast adjustment clips colors instead of letting it "eat" into the overdrive safety margin.

IIRC, there was a glitch involving Lightboost and 3D Vision that made the screen strobe at 60Hz. Has ToastyX considered adding that function to his program (maybe it's difficult)? Also, a program that could insert black frames in Windows, affecting everything (including games) would be a great idea (but probably impossible ), because most emulator creators don't care/want to support a black frame insertion feature.

The glitch - I've never been able to reproduce it since. It seems driver specific.
The black frame app - I've suggested the idea already to ToastyX.

I believe it's certainly technically doable (at least for windowed-mode games, or games that can run borderless window mode). A very simple app, Always On Top, alternately displaying clear (see-through) and opaque (black frame), with the main challenge being on time for all the VSYNC's. It'd need to run perfectly at all times even while a CPU-hungry game is running. So I thimk you'd need to run it at realtime-league system priority (Admin mode, most critical priority level) to make sure it always inserts the black frame at all the correct VSYNC's even when the games consumes lots of CPU; which can interfere; and introduce errors/flicker in the black frames.

Well, whatever I buy, be it EIZO or BenQ, I'll pass you the amazon links (if I buy through amazon) and then you'll give me new links so I can support you and your awesome website. I've learned a lot thanks to you .

Actually, you can use any Amazon link located on Blur Busters -- and then go to a different Amazon page from there. It'll work, as long as you entered Amazon via Blur Busters, all the way up until checkout.

tl;dr: I'll probably wait to see how the new BenQ monitors behave, because they'll have more frequency options and probably better motion blur reduction.

Keep tuned. It's been an over-busy month behind the scenes for limited resources!