Gaming settings for BENQ XL2720Z V005 Firmware

[Fir33]

I was searching competetive settings for this monitors but didn't find it
Could you please help ?
Im playing Overwatch using 1080p 144 hz

EDIT:
I just discovered Blur Reduction setting and passed UFO test very well but even with 100 brightness my screen isn't bright

[Chief Blur Buster]

The early Z-Series aren't very bright during Blur Reduction modes. The newer BenQ XL2546 is much brighter in blur reduction

The appropriate competitive settings vary quite a bit, buit if you need extra brightness, there's an FPS brightness boosting mode -- it wrecks the colors but brightens shadows quite a lot. That said, if you got the S-Switch (included with monitor) to switch between profiles -- to switch between advantages more quickly. Makes it easy to press a button to switch picture modes.

If brightness is more important than blur reduction for this monitor, you may also wish to turn off Blur Reduction.

[Fir33]

The early Z-Series aren't very bright during Blur Reduction modes. The newer BenQ XL2546 is much brighter in blur reduction

The appropriate competitive settings vary quite a bit, buit if you need extra brightness, there's an FPS brightness boosting mode -- it wrecks the colors but brightens shadows quite a lot. That said, if you got the S-Switch (included with monitor) to switch between profiles -- to switch between advantages more quickly. Makes it easy to press a button to switch picture modes.

If brightness is more important than blur reduction for this monitor, you may also wish to turn off Blur Reduction.

I think im fine with Blur Reduction + Strobe Utility .

Enemy model moves so great now <3

I guess i will go for Acer XB272 soon but i didn't find any competetive info about this monitor .

[Falkentyne]

144hz with blur reduction on one of these older monitors isn't very bright. You're getting 6.9ms strobe pulses (1/144) for a total pulse cycle, and changing the "on" period (Strobe Duty) to last longer causes other problems. And there is no way to improve the brightness at 144hz anymore. Also I would never recommend 144hz with blur reduction on any of the Z series original monitors that have the Mstar scaler, because crosstalk will cover almost HALF the screen with no way to reduce it.

For the XL2720Z, for the absolute brightest blur reduction, you need to make a custom resolution.
In ToastyX Custom Resolution Utility:
Automatic timings:
1920x1080
125hz

Then change to manual:
and change Vertical Total from 1146 (Default) to 1497.
The pixel clock should read 389.22.

Note: If you are using displayport, this is all that is required.
If you are using DVI, you need the ToastyX Pixel Clock patcher.

Then save and exit and restart the driver (restart64.exe), or reboot the computer.
Before restarting, please change the strobe phase to "000" in the service menu to avoid getting a black screen when you enable blur reduction.

Then, for 125hz, if you are using strobe phase=000, set the strobe duty to a comfortable value. Strobe duty 006 is 1.0ms of persistence with the custom resolution. I would not go above strobe duty 10 as it will just be far too bright.

For the lowest input lag, raise the strobe phase to 042. This is equal to a strobe duty of 006 or LOWER (higher values of strobe duty will be ignored). Going higher than strobe phase 047 will turn the backlight off (Strobe phase 048 will turn off the backlight), unless you disable blur reduction.

For FPS gaming, 125hz with the custom Vertical total 1497, strobe phase 042, strobe duty 006 (notice that 042+006= 048?) will give you low input lag and a decent brightness. If this is still too dark, use phase =041 and duty =007 (the total of duty+phase needs to add up to 048 (only applies to 125hz with custom VT). if you read my sticky post, that will explain why).

==============
why does this improve brightness?

125hz has a frame time of exactly 8ms. (120hz=8.3ms). So that's 125 refreshes per second. A strobe cycle here lasts for ONE refresh, which is 0.08ms (8ms divided by 100). A strobe cycle is defined as a backlight ON + backlight OFF cycle time length during each refresh period.

At 125hz, by default (without a custom vertical total value), the amount of time the backlight is ON during a strobe cycle (during each refresh) is going to be equal to 0.08 x Strobe_Duty_VALUE. So with a strobe duty of 6, the backlight will be on for just .48ms, and OFF for the remaining time (8ms - .48ms= 7.52ms). That' still quite dim. With a strobe duty of 30, that's 8 x 30=2.4ms, with an off period of 5.6ms. that's obviously MUCH brighter--TOO bright, but you're going to get a blurry image, and some other undesirable issues (crosstalk moving down the screen from the top).

With a custom vertical total of 1497, which exceeds the default VT, the "on" period changes to a cycle based on 60hz.
Meaning the on cycle is now going to change to .167ms (16.7 divided by 100), x Strobe_duty_value. instead of 0.08 x strobe duty value. .167 is a larger value than 0.08, so the backlight is going to be on longer, even though the TOTAL DURATION of the strobe pulse is still going to be 8ms. So in this case, with the custom VT. strobe duty 006 is going to be .167ms x 6 = 1ms backlight ON time. 1ms is TWICE As bright as .48ms, as you can see.

The backlight OFF time is going to be 7ms (8ms =1ms). Thus you get a brighter screen.

Why does this happen when changing the VT?

Benq claimed that this was due to a "bug" when I asked them about this in email. I suspected long ago it had to do with how they reverse engineered Lightboost on the old V1 firmwares and then added custom adjustments to V2 firmware. I know Chief still doesn't believe me, but me and Masterotaku did a lot of work with this (I love you Chief). But basically, when the Vertical Total exceeds the default for a certain refresh rate, by more than a small margain, the firmware 'reverts' to the 60hz strobe timings (based on .167ms). This is the "simple" version of why using a Vertical total "Tweak" makes the monitor brighter.

I know what you're thinking.

"well, if this is the case, what if you did NOT use a VT tweak at 125hz, and simply used a strobe duty of 12 instead (.08 x 12 = 1ms)?
YES that WOULD ALSO WORK and give you the SAME BRIGHTNESS (Yes it would), however there would be MUCH MUCH more strobe crosstalk (thick ugly double image band) on the screen, than if you used the VT tweak VT 1497), with Strobe Duty 006 and Strobe Phase 000. The main point of the VT tweak is to reduce crosstalk significantly. The secondary effect is increased brightness.

The newer Benq monitors probably made substantial improvements to backlight voltage during strobing. I don't have one..I am still using my XL2720Z.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Benq claimed that this was due to a "bug" when I asked them about this in email. I suspected long ago it had to do with how they reverse engineered Lightboost on the old V1 firmwares and then added custom adjustments to V2 firmware. I know Chief still doesn't believe me, but me and Masterotaku did a lot of work with this (I love you Chief). But basically, when the Vertical Total exceeds the default for a certain refresh rate, by more than a small margain, the firmware 'reverts' to the 60hz strobe timings (based on .167ms). This is the "simple" version of why using a Vertical total "Tweak" makes the monitor brighter.

I never said I didn't believe you
BenQ is correct, but both (A) and (B) are both simultaneously true

(A) VT1350 activated a beneficial (but risky) bug. It boosted brightness, as you say.
This is what BenQ answered to Falkentyne & me about. No disagreement.

(B) VT1350 has a genuine non-bug purpose; of creating more time for LCD GtG, as explained in reducing strobe crosstalk.
BenQ originally was unaware of this, did not confirm this, but I have confirmed via high speed video

There are still benefits (B) even when (A) was fixed.

And (B) is generic. Large Vertical totals also reduced strobe crosstalk on certain other brands than BenQ/Zowie (e.g. Zisworks 4K120).

Large Vertical Total also mathematically creates more time between refresh cycles on other monitors than BenQ/Zowie too -- large vertical totals was successfully also done in the new Zisworks 4K120 display, to reduce strobe crosstalk of its open-source strobe backlight. This is just simple generic math, and the law of physics of a Large Vertical Total, combined with synchronous scanout (Instant Mode type LCD refreshing techniques).

Even many monitor engineers are unaware of the beneficial accidental effects of user-initiated Large Vertical Totals -- basically the trick of using a CRU to create a non-standard extra-large blanking interval, to create more time for LCD GtG pixel response to settle between refresh cycles, for cleaner strobe backlight operation. Some monitor manufacturers have generally been completely unaware that end users have had control over this on certain monitors. When monitor manufacturers began adding instant modes (real time scanouts, GPU cable scanout becoming synchronous to panel scanout), and was CRU-compatible, it automatically meant Large Vertical Totals was a successful mathematical user-controllable solution to creating a longer blanking interval to create cleaner strobing. By working hard to reduce lag in a CRU-flexible computer monitor by adding instant modes (and also, thanks to FreeSync using variable blanking intervals) -- modern LCD panels have become more and more compatible with large vertical totals -- and unwittingly, that is a feature that improves strobing, unbeknownst to many manufacturers at the time when they built their first-ever strobe backlight.

Large Vertical Totals are a generic mathematical trick that works successfully to reduce strobe crosstalk on any generic instant-scanout panels that has a strobing mode -- it is not a BenQ/Zowie specific phenomenon.

For example, ~VT2200 successfully works at 1080p120Hz (basically, a 1080p mode with 240Hz timings) on the Zisworks 4K120 panel. That's not a BenQ/Zowie panel, and it mathematically worked to reduce strobe crosstalk in exactly the same way. Basically, load the 1080p240 mode, get its VT, switch to 1080p120, modify its VT to exactly double what you saw during 240Hz, and then apply the new custom resolution. Done. Worked. Strobe crosstalk greatly reduced. This was because it mathematically created a fast 4.1ms scanout + 4.1ms pause between refresh cycles. This produces much cleaner strobing, as the 1ms GtG more easily fits in the 4.1ms blanking interval (longer VSYNC pause) between refresh cycles. Also quite important, since the Zisworks panel does not have overdrive.

Falkentyne, can you tell me where I didn't believe you? I believe it boils down to a misunderstanding of (A) versus (B) which are completely independent of each other, and simultaneous independent advantages.

[Falkentyne]

It was over a year ago and it wasn't exactly like that
I don't even remember much anymore. I think it was just me saying that "the reason brightness increases is because using a VT tweak changes the strobe pulse widths to 16.7ms pulse widths, making the backlight ON time extended to 0.167ms x (point of strobe duty) instead of (refresh rate persistence divided by 100 x strobe duty). I pretty much eyeballed the screen brightness with 120hz as a baseline (e.g. 120hz + VT 1500 tweak (16.7ms strobe pulse widths)= strobe duty 006=1.0ms persistence, 120hz default(8.3ms pulse widths)=strobe duty 012=1.0ms persistence; brightness was the same.

[Chief Blur Buster]

It's worded differently thanks to new developments, but the intended meaning was the same -- BenQ was focussing on (A) and I was ocussing on (B)

Today, (A) is fixed and no longer applicable but (B) remains.
And today, (B) has been successfully tested and proven as a generic trick on multiple LCD panels now.

Also, separately backlight-boosting during strobing is occuring more officially in different models of monitors. To brighten strobe backlights, manufacturers are using backlight voltage boosting tricks (Also becoming more ruggedized, more officially, no tricks needed, more safely -- and without Large Vertical Total tricks) in certain displays. For example, the Acer XB252Q does it now in ULMB mode. Jorim also measured almost 300 nits with the Acer XB252Q too. So does the XL2546 too (officially and by default, no tweaks needed). 300 nits strobed is a good deal of brighter than a fixed XL2720Z.

Anybody who wants the brightest strobe backlights today -- should go with the 240Hz monitors -- the 144Hz ULMB modes in 240Hz monitors are the brightest I've seen (of the NVIDIA ULMB brand) and the BenQ XL2546 is reportedly the brightest (of the BenQ/Zowie DyAc brand)

Either way, all good!