getting A new 144Hz monitor

[chandler]

Hi guys, Im pretty much new on BlurBusters, I only used this site to get to know my way around LightBoost while installing and getting it to work on my VG248QE, the thing is I'm pretty much had enough of it, he's giving me trouble recently and the eye strain is getting unbearable tbh. even the GLOSS shit has gotten on my nervs overtime.

I've looked into the 20G , found out I dont really need G-SYNC cuz I play mainly CS:GO.

my gfx card is a GTX 980, the two monitors which really got my eye are 30T and 11Z (20Z is pretty expensive and from what Ive already read it doesnt worth the extra few hundreds for some S-Panel & stuff.)

the thing is , Im really afraid of getting any Z-Series monitor cuz of the firmware issues, Im living in a location which buying a monitor from AMAZON isnt an option due to crazy shipping fees, So Ill have to just get a monitor here, and I cant check the firmware version before buying it and actually plugging in and checking it by myself.. Any ideas for me? should I just get the 30T? the price difference between the 30t and the 11z in my country is like 10$ .. so...
*but then again the Firmware issue

another important question is actually image quality and colours, Im speaking from a VG248QE lightboost 10% @120hz/ theater mode calibration (as mentioned via PCMONITORS.INFO/VG248QE) @ 144hz user's perspective ... are the collours better or worse than that? some say that the vg248qe is terribly washed out .. but I got used to that

[Falkentyne]

All of these 24" TN monitors use the exact same panel as the VG248QE. The only panel change is in some of the new Gsync monitors, like the PG248Q. This seems to use a true 8 bit panel and looks far better than your VG248QE, and has gsync and ULMB for blur reduction. If you have an Nvidia card, you can try that monitor.

The LG 24GM77 uses the old panel. Even though the LG looks miles better than your VG248, it's still the same panel.

Amd users can try the Viewsonic freesync 24" TN panel, with the review being on pcmonitors.info, but I forgot the name of it.

The Benq Z series monitors will have the newest firmwares by now. The XL2430T may not, and recent versions of the ones that have the panel glow when the monitor is powered off are still out there, even though Benq has fixed that flaw. The ONLY way you can guarantee a fixed unit is to buy the ZOWIE XL2430T, if you can find it.

BTW what firmware issues are you worried about? The AMA thing? yes that's annoying but easily dealt with. Its just harder to deal with it in the XL2411Z because there's no S-switch to quickly change profiles if ur trying to get "AMA low" to apply to blur reduction off.
The Zowie XL2430T already has good blur reduction on AMA calibration. The "bug" to get it to apply to blur reduction off seems to still work (by switching presets).

[chandler]

Im 99% sure we dont have the Zowie version here, and if not, should I not get the 30T then?

edit : and also , u really think that if I get one of the 2411Z right now it would be v2 +++ ?

[Falkentyne]

V3/V4 has been out for a year now. Unless you're buying a used monitor or a monitor that was buried in Siberia for a year.......

[chandler]

lol . but arent v3 and 4 newer ? I dont get it..

As far as I know, the 2411z's of this practicular store are 2015.. if Im not mistaken.. It says this model came in on November 2015 according to their website .. so no way of getting V1? (which is the faulty one.. v2 and after seem to be ok)

[Falkentyne]

V4 firmware for the XL2411Z has a date code of December 2014. You should be fine.
I still have the firmware file on my drive.
XL2411Z_V004_20141205_B7A5

V1 was at the end of 2013. Those aren't in circulation anymore.

[chandler]

also, I keep reading these threads about TONS of calibration on BenQ monitors, and ICC profiles and too much of messing around with the OSD and other settings, while with the VG248QE all I had to do was download toastyx utillity for strobelight and set 10% brightness @ 120hz and that is it.. how complicated it really is setting up the benq to show fine colors and visuals in general? and not look like dogshit outofthebox ?

[Falkentyne]

The VG248QE looks every bit as bad as the Benq out of the box, when both set to the same mode. After all, they are the same AU panel.
If you set the VG248QE to standard mode and the Benq to standard mode, they look identical.
The Benq ships in FPS1 mode by default, however.

I had two VG248QE's so I know how it works.
Yes I used lightboost on it. While it worked fine, it completely trashed the contrast and raised the color temp over 11K.
And the VG248 had no gamma settings, so you needed a different ICC profile for each refresh rate.

The only thing the VG248QE did better than the Benq was "Theater mode" which looked really nice (if a bit oversaturated) when using PCmonitors.info's settings.

[chandler]

thats exactly what I used with 144hz (non strobed no lightboost) the theater mode settings via pcmonitors.info.. and it was actually OK.

so the BenQ shouldnt be worse then? .. Im really thinking about getting that 11Z next week

[Falkentyne]

Benq is PWM free, VG248 isn't. But I care about blur reduction. I also don't have the 24" one. I have the XL2720Z.

The only thing "similar" to the Asus' theater mode on the Benq, is "Photo mode" and "Movie mode."
but the low level calibrations are different and you can't adjust low level calibrations.
Asus' theater mode made the yellows look really, really vibrant. While Benq's photo mode also has vibrant colors, the calibrations are different. Yellows don't look as vibrant for example, while browns look nice.
You also can't use blur reduction in this mode.

It's impossible to make standard mode look like photo mode (or even look like RTS mode) because there are low level adjustments you can't change. Just changing the RGB sliders aren't enough.

The default brightness and contrast are blindingly bright. The RGB values are set lower to stop white crush from the contrast being too high but it's still too high.
Best settings for Photo/movie (they're basically identical besides the RGB settings) mode are probably Brightness 20 (defaults to 100, blinding), contrast 45 (defaults to 71), RGB sliders raised to 100, 100, 92 or 100,98,96.

I'll say the yellows actually look worse in Movie/picture mode than standard mode, at the same RGB values. They look more orangeish.
the only way to make the yellows look "better" is to increase the saturation, but you don't have access to saturation settings except in HDMI.

There is a firmware "bug" you can exploit, but this does NOT work in standard mode. I know it works in FPS1, FPS2, and RTS mode, and if you save FPS1/Fps2/RTS to a gamer preset. I didn't test it in the movie/picture modes and my HDMI cable is in storage right now (because I don't have a place to live). But what you can do is this:

Hook up HDMI.
Use a mode that is NOT standard mode. Even though Saturation and Hue are adjustable in standard mode, the "bug" won't work when you switch out of HDMI.

Adjust the saturation until the yellows get VG248QE vibrant.
Save that setting into a gamer 1/2/3 preset.
Switch back to DVI.

Then activate the preset you saved.
The saturation setting you saved will be "recalled" and used over DVI even though it's greyed out.
This works for FPS1/FPS2/RTS and those modes saved into gamer 1/2/3 presets.

Trying to do this in standard mode doesn't work...it just ignores it when you switch back to DVI and uses the defaults.