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[Positive review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 23 Apr 2014, 04:36
by winnoe
Hi all,

I'm a long time lurker and a first time poster from Singapore.

I had a business trip to Taiwan planned so I decided on 2 Benq XL2420z for my 780ti SLI set up.
Singapore sells them at USD 550 / USD 710 for the 24 and 27 respectively, and also earliest the stocks would arrive is mid May with firmware V1.

I paid USD 700 for 2 x XL2420z (what a steal!) and had them shipped from the IT Megamall to my hotel room for free.

No one could understand what a Mstar ISP upgrade tool was, and truth be told my Mandarin Chinese was too sh!tty that I couldn't translate it well either.

Fast forward 6 days later and I am back in Singapore with my dual XL2420z monitors. Turned them on in a dark room, and instantly blinded by the Twin Suns of Tatooine. Turned on blur reduction and it looked like I was looking at Titanfall through a misty window - washed out colors. I paid USD 700 for this??? My 5 year old hp2207w at 5ms 250m contrast 60hz looked 10 times better.

Disappointed, I put on my Raybans and started checking on the Mstar ISP upgrader. Cart100 is nice, but damn it's expensive, and I need to "add funds" into the account? (and be charged a commission for doing that?).

Always on the lookout for a bargain, I turned to Asia's bargain store (http://www.taobao.com). I found the Mstar ISP upgrade tool (type it in English) and had it shipped here. I believe it only costs 280 Yuan (USD 44?) and they accept Visa + MasterCard.

Fast forward again 6 days later and I am upgrading both monitors, and then spend 2hrs calibrating the screens/color properly.

Wow...

Thanks Chief, your coding has made my money worth spending. I had bought 2 facial tanning devices but after your program and following some color profiles, I have finally managed to get them working well.

I have to say, Oh Em Eff Gee. The buttery smoothness at decent colors is completely out of this world.
I had endured 6 days of smooth 256k color screens and 6 days of retina searing clarity - but I am a true believer of now of 144hz gaming.

TLDR Version: 144hz iz da shiz. You can also buy the Mstar ISP from Taobao, and the monitors direct from the factory (if you have friends in Taipei City, Taiwan).

Re: [Review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 23 Apr 2014, 09:45
by Chief Blur Buster
winnoe wrote:Thanks Chief, your coding has made my money worth spending. I had bought 2 facial tanning devices but after your program and following some color profiles, I have finally managed to get them working well.
Thanks for the compliment -- and thank you for posting your review here in these forums for others to read!
I am glad you are very happy with your XL2420Z's with Blur Busters Strobe Utility.

Do you mind if I ask you which color profiles you are using? The ones that came on the CD, or the ones downloaded from a site (e.g. pcmonitors.info)

Re: [Positive review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 23 Apr 2014, 13:03
by LogicElite
winnoe wrote:Disappointed, I put on my Raybans and started checking on the Mstar ISP upgrader. Cart100 is nice, but damn it's expensive, and I need to "add funds" into the account? (and be charged a commission for doing that?).
I liked that quote! Hoping you were wearing true RayBans and not those from cart100 :P cause i'm not sure your eyes were fully protected hehe.

Now you can enjoy true motion..true gaming :) you can't go back now.

Re: [Review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 24 Apr 2014, 02:07
by winnoe
Chief Blur Buster wrote:
winnoe wrote:Thanks Chief, your coding has made my money worth spending. I had bought 2 facial tanning devices but after your program and following some color profiles, I have finally managed to get them working well.
Thanks for the compliment -- and thank you for posting your review here in these forums for others to read!
I am glad you are very happy with your XL2420Z's with Blur Busters Strobe Utility.

Do you mind if I ask you which color profiles you are using? The ones that came on the CD, or the ones downloaded from a site (e.g. pcmonitors.info)
Hey Chief.

I used the color profiles on the CD, but I noticed that in a dark room where I game my white T-shirt had a distinctly "pinkish" tone (even though my Google.com page is all white. Then I used PCmonitors.info color settings, but correct me if I'm wrong but those were meant for xl2411t? I had to tweak the RBG a couple of points from their recommended settings to get them right. Also, maybe viewing angle might be at play here because my off-centre screen needed less blues to be similar to my main gaming screen (even with 2 monitors I game on 1 only).

Re: [Positive review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 24 Apr 2014, 02:12
by winnoe
LogicElite wrote:
winnoe wrote:Disappointed, I put on my Raybans and started checking on the Mstar ISP upgrader. Cart100 is nice, but damn it's expensive, and I need to "add funds" into the account? (and be charged a commission for doing that?).
I liked that quote! Hoping you were wearing true RayBans and not those from cart100 :P cause i'm not sure your eyes were fully protected hehe.

Now you can enjoy true motion..true gaming :) you can't go back now.
Yes, real Raybans! I am currently gaming on 120mhz ... the fluidity is something that cannot be captured properly on youtube - only with your own eyes.

Never knew my Steel Series 1000mhz polling rate mouse was supposed to be so buttery smooth too! No more glowing trails!

Re: [Positive review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 27 Apr 2014, 05:27
by Gymnae
winnoe wrote:Hi all,
Always on the lookout for a bargain, I turned to Asia's bargain store (http://www.taobao.com). I found the Mstar ISP upgrade tool (type it in English) and had it shipped here. I believe it only costs 280 Yuan (USD 44?) and they accept Visa + MasterCard.
That taobao option looks interesting. Do you know if shipping to Europe is also possible?
I don't have access to an LPT equiped machine, so the self-built cables are not an option and 50 EUR for a single usage is a little steep.

I see quite seom MSTAR ISP von taobao, but they all look different. Don't want to jump on the wrong option.

Cheers

Re: [Positive review] Benq XL2420Z + MSTAR

Posted: 09 Jun 2014, 04:12
by ukuzi_sao
Hey winnoe,

Do you happen to make the MSTAR ISP available? I recently bought a XL series as well and would like to upgrade it to V2.

By the way, I am in Singapore as well :)