Benq FP241W (Now available from OcUK!!!!!)

Associate
Joined
16 Jul 2004
Posts
470
Location
London/UK
ubern00b said:
HDMI output from pc is beneficial from the point of view that HDMI can carry a private flag bit, necessary for the future (and spending this much money on a monitor for me, means its going to last me quite a few years).
You mean ICT flag ? Naaah, I vote that ICT flag is already "dead" ;) If they want to exchange all non-HDCP purchased "HD" units in last 4 years or so for "free" I may start to believe again :rolleyes: By the way DVI can carry ICT flag - no problem.

Quite a few years of technology "peace" is really relative,when we consider how rapidly everything is changing around us. It's dream come true. For the perfect (and large) multimedia/multifunction display panel, capable to handle everything you throw in ... I would say wait a year or so until things settle down. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I have.

ubern00b said:
In terms of the x360 or whatever, 720p/1080i/1080p output would be upscaled and since the source is widescreen there isnt much of a problem there.
How do you mean source is "widescreen" ? Aspect ratio is one thing and upscaling is not strictly defined by this. You see, upscaling (or video source interpolation) is not just something which is there for granted. Implementation differs from manufacturer to manufacturer directly resulting in the final picture quality. More importantly, sometimes display device doesn't have to care about this! If all processing is done on the media player level (or A/V receiver itself), display device will receive nice, clean and already upscaled and aspect ratio fixed video stream. You just have to be sure that your can support the number of pixels requested. Anyhow, that's not important now.

ubern00b said:
The problem tho is that this screen is 16:10 and not 16:9 so it will be stretched horizontally. Regardless of the 720p/1080i/p resolutions or quality, the image will be "warped" regardless.
Did you know that 16:10 computer display aspect ratio is "historical" heritage of the CGA resolution (320×200) ;) Anyhow, I understand you and I understand that people are keen to have 1:1 pixel mapping. In other words untouched HDTV 1920x1080 resolution so that correct aspect ratio is preserved and that you have black borders on top/bottom. That's just fine, but couple of things I would like to mention:

- We are not sure about the scaler chipset quality in BenQ case (maybe it's good, maybe it's not).

- If you have HD-DVD or Blue-ray PC drive, your PC and media player software will take care of the problem and you are pretty much safe. In that sense, if your DVI input will eventually take care of PC desktop display, PC Games, HD movies playback ... I guess that gaming consoles and HD broadcast are left problematic ? I remember that TR mentioned that SkyHD 1080i broadcast was tested and it was just fine and we are left just with the gaming consoles and they definitely don't require HDMI for HD gaming (you may use even VGA input). Honestly, I would rather plug expensive HD separates (and that includes gaming consoles, high end HD players or even HD TV broadcast) into the big ass LCD TV then 24" PC monitor itself.

- It's problematic if you don't have enough GPU muscle to run games in native 1920x1280 resolution. Again, we are not sure about the upscaling quality and I'm also sure that people with lowspec rig are not potential users of this monitor.

Are we making a fuss too early and without any practical reason ? BenQ HDMI business is a nice thing (for marketing too), but at the sime time it's bringing the confusion on board ... especially if at the end is not THAT important - rationally. More importantly, what users will use this monitor REALLY for ? if we exclude the show off factor with that oh-so-trendy HDMI port :p
 
Associate
Joined
16 Jul 2004
Posts
470
Location
London/UK
kumar101 said:
OK OK ... I did say "not many" titles, if you remember :p On the other hand, as far as I remember, xbox 360 will support only 1080i. If you end up with the 1080i content only and picture quality will greatily depend on the high quality deinterlacers, I would opt for the 60fps 720p in a heartbeat. Not only because of the deinterlacing problems, but because of the fluid frame rates too :) and picture quality will be still excellent. 1080i gives a more detailed picture of stationary subjects, 720p looks more crisp for moving subjects. You can even tell when switching from true 720p to 1080i that video starts to look jerky, it's not smooth and you may notice the flickering edges on horizontally moving objects. Honestly, for me, 720p is still fantastic choice.

kumar101 said:
Also, internal PC Bluray and HD-DVD Drives will become affordable within a year. So I would say anyone whos in looking to buy a new 24" Disp should be seriously considering having 1080p capability.
Remember, good HDTV is more than a numbers game ! ;)

I remember that study by the BBC claimed that average viewing distance of HDTV is just somwhere under 9 feet on a 50" WS set. There is one interesting phenomeon and it's called "eye's resolution limit" and when you combine that distance and that TV size, 720 lines is the that limit and everything above that is pretty much useless. This is also applicable on the larger LCD monitors or other ratio between the LCD panel size and ergonomically pleasant watching distance. In essence, 1080p may look just like 720p if appropriate viewing distance and screen size are combined and resulted in the "eye's resolution limit.". Something to think about - worst case scenario is that people purchase something they will not able to see :D

Couple of days ago, I watched the BBC Planet Earth DivX HD/720p version via my DP-600 network media player on my 32" LCD TV (720p). I have to say that this was the most beautiful DivX encode I've ever witnessed but it will tax the bitrate and decoder CPU more then usually encoded 720p streams, On some parts, bitrate can climb to 15mbps! Related to that, lately I do question myself frequently do I really need better video fidelity ? Even when I watch my standard definition DivX or DVD movies, upscaled (properly) to my 720p LCD TV ... PQ is simply exceptional. My 720p HD streams from Sony camcorder are also amazing. Who knows, maybe I reached my eye's resolution limit ;)

When looking back at LCD TV situation now, I bet that after some clever watching distance positioning today's 40" 720P HDTV sets will offer fantastic picture quality an incredible value for money compared to overblown prices of 1080p devices. It may quite happen that it's really hard to justify the price premium for them.
 
Associate
Joined
16 Jul 2004
Posts
470
Location
London/UK
Humate said:
i think u actually need badass to sort that one out for you
I think that he doesn't have the FP241W sample with him :( and as far as I remember he mentioned this to me.

Anyhow, you need to have proper HD source and equipment for testing ... apart from the monitor itself. For example, I have the (hardware based) HD network media player with HDMI & component out, and this device is capable to produce any video signal starting from 470i to 1080i/p. I can borrow separate HD processor and I have 1080i Sony HD camcorder too. I would really like to help you guys, but I also don't have the FP241W to test.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
1 Sep 2005
Posts
412
Location
Harrow, Middx
igors said:
OK OK ... I did say "not many" titles, if you remember :p

Actually there are going to be lots of 1080p Games link:
http://www.ps3portal.com/ps3/article/494.html

Sony's Phil Harrison has confirmed six 1080p games for the PlayStation 3. At the Tokyo Game Show, Harrison announced that the following titles will run at 1080p:

* Lair
* Mobile Suit Gundam
* Virtua Tennis 3
* Gran Turismo HD
* Ridge Racer 7
* NBA '07
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
3,792
igorS your packed full of information! Well thanks for all your explanations and personal thoughts. I think we just need to wait and be patient for this monitor to be released before jumping up and down. Easier said than done, the person who said "patience is a virtue" was obviously not waiting for anything to happen! :p
 
Associate
Joined
1 Aug 2006
Posts
461
Well I put my order in so I hope it's decent. I can always use an external scaler if to retain the aspect ratio if it comes to it.

I just needed a new hi-res lcd pc monitor and wanted to avoid buying a 1920x1080 hdtv for another 12 months so this will be a ok stop gap
 
Associate
Joined
16 Jul 2004
Posts
470
Location
London/UK
ubern00b said:
igorS your packed full of information! Well thanks for all your explanations and personal thoughts.
No probs! I hope that my bubbling will eventually be useful to some of you, although it's bit more detailed. :) If anyone would like more in-depth info about the eye's resolution limits, I have another post here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17634507

... as I don't want to clutter this thread too much.

ubern00b said:
I think we just need to wait and be patient for this monitor to be released before jumping up and down. Easier said than done, the person who said "patience is a virtue" was obviously not waiting for anything to happen! :p
Look, I just want to clear some things up as it may happen that people are jumping to some conclusions too early. It's not everything in numbers, specs and marketing. Especially when we consider the fact that people have to look a bit forward and realise what exactly they want to do (and how) with their monitors. After all the hype, sometimes is happening that even particular flaws are maybe not that important at the end, when we consider the definitive and practical usage for some users.

We still don't have the new "English" reviews of this monitor and unfortunately TR review was not that in-depth. So .... no rush! People should simply wait for more reliable information and then we can have final thoughts about the FP241 establishment :)
 
Associate
Joined
2 Nov 2003
Posts
1,693
The screen is out in the US now so at least it shouldn't be delayed anymore. Bit annoying they only have to pay $799 for it though (£425).
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Jun 2006
Posts
5,791
Need a good independant review then before next thursady so i can decide if I need to take advantage of the 2407 this week only price or not :D

Been holding out for the Benq but at £550 the Dell is looking damn attractive
 
Associate
Joined
2 Nov 2003
Posts
1,693
Some user pics I've found on another forum. Pics 17-19 are interesting as they show Guitar Hero (PS2) running in fill mode but with black bars at the side to maintain the aspect ratio. The backlight looks pretty even too (pic 20).

DangerIsGo said:

edit:
bnewton said:
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
16 May 2005
Posts
6,509
Location
Cold waters
RichL said:
Pics 17-19 are interesting as they show Guitar Hero (PS2) running in fill mode but with black bars at the side to maintain the aspect ratio.
They'd be a lot bigger if it was maintaining 4:3, or on the top and bottom if it was maintaining 16:9. No idea what's going on there. :eek:

blah.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom