BENQ XL2720Z 27" of goodness :) [Version 2 firmware is good]

[benq_ripoff]

So you claim a 144Hz monitor w/ strobbing is producing more motion blur than a conventional 60Hz monitor...
And you're expecting anyone to take your review seriously?

This image was taken with an ordinary point-n-shoot camera (Canon A1200) in default settings. The ASUS 60Hz is on top (you can just make out its nameplate in the middle) and the BenQ @ 60Hz on the bottom (I changed to 60Hz to see if "double strobing" would help, and left it for the photo so that the camera would not capture 2 frames from BenQ and 1 from ASUS, which would obviously be unfair to the BenQ... believe me, it looks just as bad at 144Hz).

I cropped the image, added labels and put a black bar over my bookmarks. The picture is otherwise unmodified. It's a single photo of two monitors, not two separate photos pasted together. See if you can figure out which monitor is sharper.

Also, are you aware I publicized the BENQ bug on January 7th:

I am. You posted it under the title "BENQ XL2720Z bug in strobe timing. Fix coming." I read the post and saw that a firmware update would fix it, which is no big deal, except ... the firmware is not updateable by (or even available to) the average person. I missed this fine print. A more accurate title might be "BENQ XL2720Z bug in strobe timing. Current monitors unfixable without special hardware and limited-release firmware, BenQ unwilling to exchange."

In any case, the problem is definitely not limited to the bottom third of my screen. See photo above.

Also, I have now edited the 120Hz list to recommend waiting (since you may have missed that).

I just refreshed that page and I don't see your edit.

From official word, BENQ Blur Reduction is not broken according to BENQ customer support, so if your vendor accept returns, they are obligated to accept returns that are deemed not defective. Return the monitors and try to get store credit. (the issue with the buttons may affect things).

Also, I have heard that in certain cases, BENQ will accept direct monitor exchanges

I don't know how I'll convince the store that all three are defective. I mail-ordered them, too, so it's $100+ in shipping to return them. I'm not excited about direct exchange unless I see something to indicate that a replacement will perform any differently.

can you edit your forum profile

Sure, why not? I suppose giving BenQ a crack at fixing this is not going to hurt.

[Chief Blur Buster]

It's possible the server-side caches (CloudFlare CDN) takes several minutes to an hour, so refresh later if it isn't showing up yet.
This is what it says now:

*BENQ Z-Series has known issues with BENQ Blur Reduction in current shipping units.
New information will be posted when units are shipping with updated firmware.

From the shipping perspective, ugh. At this stage, it's a question of minimizing shipping cycles to get to the point of fixing the buttons AND the firmware, so you at least have improvements. Also, all strobe backlights have at least faint strobe crosstalk (including LightBoost, ULMB). And, as we know, yes, the strobe crosstalk is currently bad on Z-series initial firmware.

P.S. Stationary camera are good for capturing strobe crosstalk but are not as accurate representations of actual real-life tracking-based motion blur (you need moving camera to simulate moving eyes) in the way you notice taking a photo of 60Hz always cause the photo to look sharper (you can see alien clearly) than what you saw when tracking motion at 60Hz (you can't see alien clearly). Also, there is always more crosstalk at 120Hz on all 120Hz monitors than at 60Hz (less time for GtG relative to the length of the refresh cycle), so comparing 120Hz strobe-off versus 120Hz strobe-on. It's an unfortunate behavior, but obviously, the XL2720Z situation is not acceptable for a lot of us. If you have already seen a LightBoost or ULMB monitor, you still see the faint strobe crosstalk, but it's not distracting in real-world content, whereas it is distracting on the Z-series (except when recalibrated with new firmware).

I need to write an article on strobe crosstalk and how it relates to LightBoost, ULMB, BENQ Blur Reduction -- a small amount (e.g. 1% faint double image, roughly same intensity as 3D crosstalk) is normal and gets lost in visual noise of real life games (e.g. Quebec at http://www.testufo.com/photo shows it a lot less than the "Alien Invasion"), but the level found in the bugged BENQ XL2720Z is interferes with the motion clarity below the screen center.

Yes, yes, I know -- my reply isn't helping things much -- but at this stage, it's a waiting game for all of us.

[benq_ripoff]

From the shipping perspective, ugh. At this stage, it's a question of minimizing shipping cycles to get to the point of fixing the buttons AND the firmware, so you at least have improvements.

The buttons are almost a don't-care item for me. I'd take a new monitor if return shipping is paid for, of course, but it's sure not worth the price of return shipping to gamble on a replacement that could have who-knows-what problems.

Their QC is clearly in the toilet -- have you even heard of a monitor that won't enter powersave? I had CRTs in the 1990s that implemented this feature properly, and somehow BenQ cannot.

And, as we know, yes, the strobe crosstalk is currently bad on Z-series initial firmware.

the level found in the bugged BENQ XL2720Z is interferes with the motion clarity below the screen center.

That is putting it very very lightly. You are being way too kind to a company that has shown no interest in making a quality product. I can't even see this "bottom third" issue. The whole panel is equally bad. It's worse than a 60Hz panel that costs half as much!

Barring some miracle (like BenQ fires all of their engineers, replaces them with people who went to college, and then ships free replacements to their cheated customers) I'll be selling the middle monitor and replacing it with an ASUS. For the side monitors I'll just live with the crappiness because I can't afford to replace them all.

[sketchdude]

G'Day All,

I ordered one of these monitors before being made aware of this blur reduction bug. I live in AU and emailed Benq AU and they stated they were not aware of this bug until I brought it to their attention 3 days ago!! WTF!! No where do I see an official statement from Benq in relation to this bug and another email to Benq has gone totally unanswered. Benq Australia have their bloody heads stuck in the sand and are obviously not interested at all in answering my questions or providing any support in relation to this matter. I would say that their whole attitude towards this problem is arrogant and ignorant to the extreme. My monitor has the manufacturing date of Nov 2013.

It would be safe to assume that every 2720Z and 2420Z in Australia ATM has this bug. Australia has the best consumer protection in the world and I am waiting with baited breath to see how Benq AU respond to this issue and if they don't they are going to in deep shit.

[LogicElite]

FYI, it's been 3 weeks that i'm waiting for shipment on alixxxxx. So don't waste your time on this one

First i have to know if the 2 tools i posted are LCD programmers and if it has any sence to buy one. (I'm an absolut noob programming displays, the one and only programmer i have is a DIAMEX all AVR (for ATMEL microcontrollers)) => so i would be really really gratefull if the Chief says anything to the 2 links.

I don't want to waste more money than necessary ... its bad enough that an 500 € Monitor needs this special care ^^

=> but at all I'm interested in programming the display and i love it like it is at the moment so the 50$ would be okay (playing a lot of CS GO with and without the blur reduction... not really see a diffrence (ingame) at the last 1/3 of the screen with it)

Oh yeah !! From aliexpress. The seller has shipped your order

Two days before the automatic cancellation of the order. (they still have 60 days for the item to be shipped).

[LogicElite]

Canada but it's not a problem

Sent from my SGH-M919V using Tapatalk

Cool! Take Justin Bieber back! But we're keeping Shania haha

BTW I have an nice article regarding your post enjoy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/winter ... final.html

[Chief Blur Buster]

http://cart100.com/product/5278188206/M ... grade_MSTA

I took a much closer look at this MSTAR ISP.
This circuit board is idential to the unit that I currently used to install the new firmware on my monitor. There is a high liklihood that if you had this unit and the firmware, you would be able to firmware upgrade your monitor. I cannot say for 100% certainity, but since the circuit board and ports are exactly same as in the photo at http://cart100.com/product/5278188206/MSTAR_LCD_development_tools_upgrade_MSTA --

Officially, BENQ will not officially support users upgrading their firmware.
Unofficially, send me a PM if you already have this programmer in your hands already, and I will see what I can do.

[kuschluk]

thank you. Thats an answer I wanted to hear XD

Bought it now. I will message you in 15 days . I'm a little bit scared that's why i need help. Don't want to damage a 500€ Monitor.

Some Questions:

1.Which Software we will need if we want to Flash it?
2. How we can minimize the chance to kill it ? Are we able to download the old firmware from it ?
3. Where to get the finall firmware if it is released ? For my reason the Monitor is already a quiet good gaming machine (and the first which doesnt need a book below it to be high enough) so i don't want to rush and doing mistakes.
4. If it was succesfully where can we Donate you XD (My first TFT in the 2000s had a pixel error and i had a 9 week horror with ACER (i lied and said it is complete defect, because one always on green Subpixel ( close to the center) was not enough to get a new one => so i was very happy to get a new one. But it was a NO GO for me in a new 350€ product.

Maybe you can understand me now that i dont want to give away an amazing & running monitor .


Thanks 4 all until now.

[Chief Blur Buster]

1.Which Software we will need if we want to Flash it?
2. How we can minimize the chance to kill it ? Are we able to download the old firmware from it ?
3. Where to get the finall firmware if it is released ? For my reason the Monitor is already a quiet good gaming machine (and the first which doesnt need a book below it to be high enough) so i don't want to rush and doing mistakes.
4. If it was succesfully where can we Donate you XD (My first TFT in the 2000s had a pixel error and i had a 9 week horror with ACER (i lied and said it is complete defect, because one always on green Subpixel ( close to the center) was not enough to get a new one => so i was very happy to get a new one. But it was a NO GO for me in a new 350€ product.

BENQ prefers that you return the monitor and get a replacement. If the original vendor is not willing to replace the monitor, there are some channels within BENQ where you can get the monitor replaced directly. But first, wait a little while longer.

That said, if you were to obtain the firmware from one of the several sources
1. The software is usually included with the flash upgrader (as BENQ sent it to me as well) but often found online as "MSTAR ISP Upgraded".
2. It is higher risk than average firmware upgrade.
3. Unofficially -- if you are one of the people who already bought the upgrader, send me a PM and I will see what I can do for you for you.
4. Blur Busters does accept contributions (including in kind) at http://www.blurbusters.com/contribute -- The best way is to shop through Blur Busters Amazon links!

Maybe you can understand me now that i dont want to give away an amazing & running monitor.

I understand that you really like your XL2720Z despite the bug, so you would probably be one of those people who will become even more pleased with the improved firmware. So for you, upon successful upgrade, you probably wouldn't desire downgrading to the previous firmware anyway!

[ADP]

I'm shocked !!!

I just ordered 3 of these monitors and did not know of the bug .....
It will not be solved with a firmware upgrade without having suitable equipment ?
Should I cancel my order?