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BenQ V2400W
The V2400W is a 24 LCD monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200. It sports a TN panel and has an MSRP of $499. However, at the time of this review the V2400W is on sale directly from BenQ for $409.
Before I get started, I would like to point out that no calibration was done on this monitor for the review. It was left at factory settings because most people shopping for a 24 monitor in this price range dont own a calibration device. Also note that the wavy lines in some of the pictures were caused by my camera, not the monitor. With that out of the way, lets get started
Unboxing
The outer box was in good shape upon arrival and appears to be fairly sturdy.
Opening the outer box revealed the actual retail box thoroughly surrounded by packing peanuts. The retail box definitely wasnt bouncing around inside the outer box.
Inside the retail box, the monitor was completely covered in foam wrapping. Included in the box were a driver CD, a manual, a power cable, and a VGA cable. The absence of a DVI cable is extremely disappointing for a monitor that retails for $500. Considering DVI cables only cost a couple dollars to manufacture, this is inexcusable.
After removing the foam wrapping from the monitor, I was pleasantly surprised to see that every area of glossy plastic was protected from fingerprints and dirt. Unfortunately, the screen was not protected and there were already a couple fingerprints on it.
Appearance and Design
The V2400W is certainly one of the sexiest 24 monitors around. It has a matte screen surrounded by glossy black plastic and silver trim. The stand and casing are made entirely of plastic, but they feel surprisingly sturdy.
The controls, which are touch sensitive, are well placed and easy to read. An audible beep lets you know when a button is pressed. The buttons also illuminate when in use and turn off after a short period of time so as not to disturb you. This makes adjustments a breeze even in the dark. All of the buttons aside from the power button are very responsive. The power button sometimes takes a few touches to activate when the monitor is turned off.
Unfortunately, there are several major design flaws. The first one is the non-removable stand. This means there is no VESA compatible mounting area, so you can forget mounting the V2400W on the wall.
The second flaw is the lack of stand adjustments. There is no way to swivel or change the height of the monitor. All you get is tilt adjustment.
As you might have heard, BenQ is pitching the V2400W as the worlds thinnest 24 LCD monitor. While its certainly very thin, it would be even more impressive if it didnt bulge out in the rear center. See for yourself how it compares to the LG L246WP, an admittedly thick 24 monitor.
The third design flaw is the off center stand. It does look cool, but it causes the monitor to tilt ever so slightly to the left, as you can see in the picture below. This probably wouldnt have been an issue if the stand was metal.
Viewing Angles
The V2400W has fairly average viewing angles compared to other current TN panels. As is usual for TN panels, it looks decent from the sides and top, but turns very dark and looks like a negative photo from the bottom. The viewing angle from the bottom is actually worse than the last picture would have you believe.
The area in which the V2400W falls slightly behind some other current TN panels is when viewing solid colors. As you can see, colors sometimes change drastically from top to bottom.
Picture Quality and Adjustments
The V2400W has above average picture quality for a TN panel. Images are vibrant, text is sharp, and colors appear fairly accurate at the factory settings. There is no noticeable banding in gradients and the grayscale is visible from 4-251, which is about average for a monitor in this price range.
The V2400W has five video modes: Standard (default), Movie, Dynamics, Photo, and sRGB. Brightness, which adjusts the backlight, and contrast settings are available in all modes.
Standard and sRGB look nearly identical and colors appear more accurate in these modes than the others. The ability to manually adjust the colors and sharpness is only available in Standard mode.
Movie, Dynamics, and Photo are cooler and more saturated than Standard and sRGB. These modes also allow dynamic contrast to be enabled, but I dont recommend it. The screen flickers when changing brightness in dynamic contrast mode and its quite distracting.
Inputs and Scaling
The V2400W has three inputs: DVI, HDMI, and D-sub. Unfortunately, DVI is really the only viable option for computer use. Colors look the same when using D-sub, but the image is somewhat blurry compared to DVI and HDMI. HDMI looks the same as DVI, but the display never goes into standby mode. It just goes to the blue screen shown below.
For the most part, the V2400W does an excellent job of scaling. It has three scaling options: Full, 1:1, and Aspect. Full stretches the image to fill the screen, 1:1 displays an unstretched image at the center of the screen, and Aspect stretches the image as far as possible without changing the image proportions. The only two disappointments are no 1:1 mode in 1680x1050 for all inputs and no 1:1 or Aspect mode in 1920x1080 for D-sub. Xbox 360 owners that use a VGA cable are likely going to be stuck with a stretched image in 1920x1080.
The table below shows which scaling modes work and which dont. Blue means it works perfectly, red means it doesnt work properly, and NA means the option is grayed out.
Watching Movies
Watching movies on the V2400W was a mixed experience. There is an odd issue when the resolution is set to 1920x1080. With my Toshiba 1080i HD-DVD player, the image had a white haze to it between the black bars on the top and bottom. The picture on the left depicts this. The whole screen should be black and there should not be a stark transition between the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen and the actual image. When I set my PC to 1920x1080 I experienced the opposite effect. This can be seen in the picture on the right. The actual image was black this time, but the bars on the top and bottom had a white haze to them.
Another issue I found was that the V2400W is terrible at displaying interlaced signals. The image was jittery and artifacts appeared quite often.
One thing the V2400W manages to handle properly that so many other monitors mess up is overscan. There is an option to turn it on or off and the image looks as expected in both scenarios. The picture on the left shows a video with overscan turned off and the picture on the right shows the video with overscan turned on.
With the issues mentioned above, it seems as if the only way to properly display movies on the V2400W is to play them through a PC with the resolution set to 1920x1200. The Blu-Ray version of Rambo looked amazing this way.
Gaming
Gaming on the V2400W was a joy. I couldnt detect any ghosting or input lag. I didnt even bother enabling BenQs overdrive technology, AMA (Advanced Motion Accelerator), because I didnt feel the need to. Overdrive technology often causes unwanted visual artifacts so its best left alone if youre happy without it.
Conclusion
One thing I didnt mention in the review is backlight bleed. This is mainly due to the fact that pictures dont accurately depict what I see with my eyes. When I turned the monitor on for the first time, I thought the backlight bleed was quite bad. However, I am pleased to report that over the course of two weeks the backlight bleeding has improved tremendously. There is still a small amount of backlight bleed along the top and bottom edge of the screen, but its in line with other current TN panels and isnt very distracting. If you really want to see the backlight bleed, look back to the Rambo picture.
Overall, the BenQ V2400W is a stylish, well rounded monitor with a fairly average feature set. It has the potential to be an exceptional monitor in the $400 price range if some of the problems are patched up in a second revision. As it is, its still a good monitor if it can be found for around $400. However, at $500 it begins to drop into the mediocre category.
Heres a quick summary of the pros and cons:
The Good
- Very stylish
- Very thin
- Good build quality
- Well thought out controls and menus
- Above average picture quality for a TN panel
- Good scaling (for the most part)
- No detectable ghosting or input lag
The Bad
- No DVI or HDMI cable included in the box
- Non-removable stand and no place to attach a wall mount
- No swivel or height adjustments
- Monitor tilts slightly left due to off center stand
- No standby mode for HDMI
- No 1:1 scaling for 1680x1050
- No 1:1 or Aspect scaling for 1920x1080 using D-Sub
- Some odd image problems displaying 1920x1080 over DVI and HDMI
- Not good at handling interlaced signals
-gtg465x
The V2400W is a 24 LCD monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200. It sports a TN panel and has an MSRP of $499. However, at the time of this review the V2400W is on sale directly from BenQ for $409.
Before I get started, I would like to point out that no calibration was done on this monitor for the review. It was left at factory settings because most people shopping for a 24 monitor in this price range dont own a calibration device. Also note that the wavy lines in some of the pictures were caused by my camera, not the monitor. With that out of the way, lets get started
Unboxing
The outer box was in good shape upon arrival and appears to be fairly sturdy.
Opening the outer box revealed the actual retail box thoroughly surrounded by packing peanuts. The retail box definitely wasnt bouncing around inside the outer box.
Inside the retail box, the monitor was completely covered in foam wrapping. Included in the box were a driver CD, a manual, a power cable, and a VGA cable. The absence of a DVI cable is extremely disappointing for a monitor that retails for $500. Considering DVI cables only cost a couple dollars to manufacture, this is inexcusable.
After removing the foam wrapping from the monitor, I was pleasantly surprised to see that every area of glossy plastic was protected from fingerprints and dirt. Unfortunately, the screen was not protected and there were already a couple fingerprints on it.
Appearance and Design
The V2400W is certainly one of the sexiest 24 monitors around. It has a matte screen surrounded by glossy black plastic and silver trim. The stand and casing are made entirely of plastic, but they feel surprisingly sturdy.
The controls, which are touch sensitive, are well placed and easy to read. An audible beep lets you know when a button is pressed. The buttons also illuminate when in use and turn off after a short period of time so as not to disturb you. This makes adjustments a breeze even in the dark. All of the buttons aside from the power button are very responsive. The power button sometimes takes a few touches to activate when the monitor is turned off.
Unfortunately, there are several major design flaws. The first one is the non-removable stand. This means there is no VESA compatible mounting area, so you can forget mounting the V2400W on the wall.
The second flaw is the lack of stand adjustments. There is no way to swivel or change the height of the monitor. All you get is tilt adjustment.
As you might have heard, BenQ is pitching the V2400W as the worlds thinnest 24 LCD monitor. While its certainly very thin, it would be even more impressive if it didnt bulge out in the rear center. See for yourself how it compares to the LG L246WP, an admittedly thick 24 monitor.
The third design flaw is the off center stand. It does look cool, but it causes the monitor to tilt ever so slightly to the left, as you can see in the picture below. This probably wouldnt have been an issue if the stand was metal.
Viewing Angles
The V2400W has fairly average viewing angles compared to other current TN panels. As is usual for TN panels, it looks decent from the sides and top, but turns very dark and looks like a negative photo from the bottom. The viewing angle from the bottom is actually worse than the last picture would have you believe.
The area in which the V2400W falls slightly behind some other current TN panels is when viewing solid colors. As you can see, colors sometimes change drastically from top to bottom.
Picture Quality and Adjustments
The V2400W has above average picture quality for a TN panel. Images are vibrant, text is sharp, and colors appear fairly accurate at the factory settings. There is no noticeable banding in gradients and the grayscale is visible from 4-251, which is about average for a monitor in this price range.
The V2400W has five video modes: Standard (default), Movie, Dynamics, Photo, and sRGB. Brightness, which adjusts the backlight, and contrast settings are available in all modes.
Standard and sRGB look nearly identical and colors appear more accurate in these modes than the others. The ability to manually adjust the colors and sharpness is only available in Standard mode.
Movie, Dynamics, and Photo are cooler and more saturated than Standard and sRGB. These modes also allow dynamic contrast to be enabled, but I dont recommend it. The screen flickers when changing brightness in dynamic contrast mode and its quite distracting.
Inputs and Scaling
The V2400W has three inputs: DVI, HDMI, and D-sub. Unfortunately, DVI is really the only viable option for computer use. Colors look the same when using D-sub, but the image is somewhat blurry compared to DVI and HDMI. HDMI looks the same as DVI, but the display never goes into standby mode. It just goes to the blue screen shown below.
For the most part, the V2400W does an excellent job of scaling. It has three scaling options: Full, 1:1, and Aspect. Full stretches the image to fill the screen, 1:1 displays an unstretched image at the center of the screen, and Aspect stretches the image as far as possible without changing the image proportions. The only two disappointments are no 1:1 mode in 1680x1050 for all inputs and no 1:1 or Aspect mode in 1920x1080 for D-sub. Xbox 360 owners that use a VGA cable are likely going to be stuck with a stretched image in 1920x1080.
The table below shows which scaling modes work and which dont. Blue means it works perfectly, red means it doesnt work properly, and NA means the option is grayed out.
Watching Movies
Watching movies on the V2400W was a mixed experience. There is an odd issue when the resolution is set to 1920x1080. With my Toshiba 1080i HD-DVD player, the image had a white haze to it between the black bars on the top and bottom. The picture on the left depicts this. The whole screen should be black and there should not be a stark transition between the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen and the actual image. When I set my PC to 1920x1080 I experienced the opposite effect. This can be seen in the picture on the right. The actual image was black this time, but the bars on the top and bottom had a white haze to them.
Another issue I found was that the V2400W is terrible at displaying interlaced signals. The image was jittery and artifacts appeared quite often.
One thing the V2400W manages to handle properly that so many other monitors mess up is overscan. There is an option to turn it on or off and the image looks as expected in both scenarios. The picture on the left shows a video with overscan turned off and the picture on the right shows the video with overscan turned on.
With the issues mentioned above, it seems as if the only way to properly display movies on the V2400W is to play them through a PC with the resolution set to 1920x1200. The Blu-Ray version of Rambo looked amazing this way.
Gaming
Gaming on the V2400W was a joy. I couldnt detect any ghosting or input lag. I didnt even bother enabling BenQs overdrive technology, AMA (Advanced Motion Accelerator), because I didnt feel the need to. Overdrive technology often causes unwanted visual artifacts so its best left alone if youre happy without it.
Conclusion
One thing I didnt mention in the review is backlight bleed. This is mainly due to the fact that pictures dont accurately depict what I see with my eyes. When I turned the monitor on for the first time, I thought the backlight bleed was quite bad. However, I am pleased to report that over the course of two weeks the backlight bleeding has improved tremendously. There is still a small amount of backlight bleed along the top and bottom edge of the screen, but its in line with other current TN panels and isnt very distracting. If you really want to see the backlight bleed, look back to the Rambo picture.
Overall, the BenQ V2400W is a stylish, well rounded monitor with a fairly average feature set. It has the potential to be an exceptional monitor in the $400 price range if some of the problems are patched up in a second revision. As it is, its still a good monitor if it can be found for around $400. However, at $500 it begins to drop into the mediocre category.
Heres a quick summary of the pros and cons:
The Good
- Very stylish
- Very thin
- Good build quality
- Well thought out controls and menus
- Above average picture quality for a TN panel
- Good scaling (for the most part)
- No detectable ghosting or input lag
The Bad
- No DVI or HDMI cable included in the box
- Non-removable stand and no place to attach a wall mount
- No swivel or height adjustments
- Monitor tilts slightly left due to off center stand
- No standby mode for HDMI
- No 1:1 scaling for 1680x1050
- No 1:1 or Aspect scaling for 1920x1080 using D-Sub
- Some odd image problems displaying 1920x1080 over DVI and HDMI
- Not good at handling interlaced signals
-gtg465x