XL2720T / XL2420T / VG278HE / VG248QE -- Easy LightBoost ON / OFF via hotkey (beta)

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Mark Rejhon

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 6, 2004
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We need more beta testers of this free easy LightBoost monitor utility:

I helped ToastyX beta test new LightBoost utility on VG278H and XL2411T, but we need owners of other 120Hz LightBoost monitors to try it out.
ToastyX StrobeLight Beta
(The world’s easiest method to turn on/off LightBoost, even for 3-monitor surround setups, no 3D Vision setup required anymore)

...

Easy to add common refresh rates.

Ctrl-Alt-Plus = Turn on LightBoost
Ctrl-Alt-Minus = Turn on LightBoost
Ctrl-Alt-# = Adjust LightBoost % setting

Successfully Tested (so far):
- ASUS VG248QE
- ASUS VG278H
- BENQ XL2411T
- BENQ XL2720T
- Surround Setups

Need Testing:
- BENQ XL2420T
- BENQ XL2420TX
- ASUS VG278HE
- ASUS VG278HR

Please let everyone know if your monitor or surround setup works, and how long it took to initialize.
 
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Worked perfectly on the middle monitor (only had to allow the files to run) on 3x vg248qe in nvidia surround, on a titan.
Setup, placed the other exe in startfolder, reboot, allowed to run, done. Seemed to be little or no delay from allowing the exe to run until lightboost popped on.

Surround mode was on the whole time, the utility simply detected this as 1 monitor. I guess i need to disable surround and activate lightboost again on all 3 separately?

Edit: Tried turning off surround and rebooting to enable lightboost on each monitor separately, but only monitor -3 is selectable in the drop down menu in the utility.
I don't have time to try more right now, but i guess i can test to disconnect the middle one (which is lightboost-enabled) later and see if that helps.

Edit2: the hotkeys also don't seem to work to adjust LB level. Windows 8.

Edit3: It all worked when i started it manually (run as administrator).
When i rebooted windows 8 and got a blocking popup and chose run anyway, it didn't run anyway.

So to sum it up: works perfectly in surround, but at least on my windows 8, adding it to startup didn't work. I will try a bit more and see if i can get it to autostart.
 
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I'll try it on my VG248QE. I'm so happy this is out! Thanks!

EDIT: Works perfectly. Awesome program.
 
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Morkai said:
Worked perfectly on the middle monitor (only had to allow the files to run) on 3x vg248qe in nvidia surround, on a titan.
Click to expand...

Morkai, you're the first tester to attempt StrobeLight on three VG248QE's simultaneously. Can you PM ToastyX and tell him your findings. He'll appreciate your log file.
IMPORTANT -- it is a beta test period -- a period of fixing bugs.
 
Mark Rejhon said:
Morkai, you're the first tester to attempt StrobeLight on three VG248QE's simultaneously. Can you PM ToastyX and tell him your findings. He'll appreciate your log file.
IMPORTANT -- it is a beta test period -- a period of fixing bugs.
Click to expand...

Sure, where does the logfile go?
 
IMPORTANT: If you want to be able to turn on/off LightBoost, install multiple refresh rates.

Therefore, for VG248QE users, I recommend selecting these in the Setup:
120Hz strobed
100Hz strobed
144Hz
60Hz
 
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I can confirm it works on 3x VG248QE setup in 2D surround non lightboost and enables lightboost without having to re setup surround display on 780 SLI
 
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LastLegion said:
I can confirm it works on 3x VG248QE setup in 2D surround non lightboost and enables lightboost without having to re setup surround display on 780 SLI
Click to expand...
Great news that it works perfectly on surround setups! Don't forget to thank ToastyX for his work.

Morkai, were you able to get it working?
EDIT: It looks like you did. Yes, Strobelight needs to run in Administrator mode.
 
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Confirmed working on Radeon 6870 with VG248QE.

This tool saved me a lot of money. Awesome.
 
Although Strobelight makes LightBoost easy on AMD products, Blur Busters only did testing of ToastyX Strobelight on nVidia products (I own multiple LightBoost monitors, both ASUS and BENQ).

I believe in supporting nVidia because they made LightBoost. If you have not purchased a GPU yet, please consider leaning towards green instead of red. Although LightBoost can now be enabled independently of 3D Vision drivers (a side effect of any third party "easy LightBoost utility", which was VERY badly needed) -- Blur Busters does not wish to upset nVidia, while gently pointing out that nVidia needs to un-bundle LightBoost 2D from 3D Vision, and make it make it easier to enable LightBoost (like turning VSYNC ON/OFF). Again, please lean towards the Green Side (aka nVidia products) if you haven't purchased or upgraded your GPU yet. At least, please consider doing so, when you upgrade your ATI GPU to the next version -- to support nVidia's invention of LightBoost.
 
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Not working on hd 7970 and vg278h. Strobelight shows error message "No compatible displays found"
 
Broke my 3d vision after install. Red message text if enabled, doesnt matter what refres non strobbed i chose. Keeps showing the red error.

VG248qe with 670gtx 320.18 drivers.

Strobe light works like it should but just cant get 3dvision glasses and monitor to work after using the utility
 
Diegoferbet said:
Broke my 3d vision after install. Red message text if enabled, doesnt matter what refres non strobbed i chose. Keeps showing the red error.
Click to expand...
What refresh rates did you install? Can you PM a link to your error message?

3D Vision requires strobed rates. (LightBoost was originally invented for 3D Vision)
Make sure you install 120Hz strobed, and enable LightBoost, or 3D Vision doesn't work.
Make sure you've rebooted too.
Also, try 3D Vision Toggler.
 
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I just tested it with one XL2720 and is working perfectly so far. It took about 30 sec scanning about 300 passes to 350 passes. The lightboost adjust setting is working and lightboost and non light boost refresh rate also working. Thank you and toastyX for creating this app. If you guys need any more info or testing with any other apps please let me know will be glad to help.
 
dentnu said:
I just tested it with one XL2720 and is working perfectly so far. It took about 30 sec scanning about 300 passes to 350 passes. The lightboost adjust setting is working and lightboost and non light boost refresh rate also working. Thank you and toastyX for creating this app. If you guys need any more info or testing with any other apps please let me know will be glad to help.
Click to expand...
This is a one-time initialization that will never happen again, unless you unplug your monitor from power.
This is simply the one-time initializing of the nVidia LightBoost feature inside the monitor.
Then subsequently after that, it's easy to turn ON/OFF, provided you've added multiple modes in strobelight-setup.exe

shedokan said:
So this works on fresh install of OS without doing the setup wizard?
Click to expand...
Yep. It is no longer necessary to use 3D Vision drivers (if you don't have/want a 3D kit). You can use your favourite nVidia drivers without installing the 3D Vision stuff, if needed.
 
Mark Rejhon said:
I believe in supporting nVidia because they made LightBoost. If you have not purchased a GPU yet, please consider leaning towards green instead of red. Although LightBoost can now be enabled independently of 3D Vision drivers (a side effect of any third party "easy LightBoost utility", which was VERY badly needed) -- Blur Busters does not wish to upset nVidia, while gently pointing out that nVidia needs to un-bundle LightBoost 2D from 3D Vision, and make it make it easier to enable LightBoost (like turning VSYNC ON/OFF). Again, please lean towards the Green Side (aka nVidia products) if you haven't purchased or upgraded your GPU yet. At least, please consider doing so, when you upgrade your ATI GPU to the next version -- to support nVidia's invention of LightBoost.
Click to expand...
NV is wont get upset about that because idiots that work there probably don't know you can remove blur with LB :eek:

it's good this program was created because there was risk NV would fix this bug that didn't disabled LB in 2D. Now not only we are safe but don't have to choose one GPU brand. There are a lot of people who would not buy NV card and vice versa. Fortunately thanks to this app it's not limiting AMD fans from using LB :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH6XayaLTw8 :D
 
Mark Rejhon said:
What refresh rates did you install? Can you PM a link to your error message?

3D Vision requires strobed rates. (LightBoost was originally invented for 3D Vision)
Make sure you install 120Hz strobed, and enable LightBoost, or 3D Vision doesn't work.
Make sure you've rebooted too.
Also, try 3D Vision Toggler.
Click to expand...

PM send.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2yoxlc19ri6fhrg/Foto%2029-06-13%2014%2058%2049.jpg

Pic showing the message and the 120hz freq enabled.

Installed first: 144 + 120hz strb + 100strb + 121

Same result with multiple combinations

Tried 120 hz strb slone, same rsult for 3dvision

Reseting the display works perfectly and can run 3dvidion without message.

Thx for any suggestion
 
XoR said:
NV is wont get upset about that because idiots that work there probably don't know you can remove blur with LB :eek:
Click to expand...
This is false. They deifnitely knew. (e.g. Motion blur reduction mentioned in the old 2011 AnandTech article (PROOF, PROOF!) -- nVidia told them that.)

They simply bundled blur elimination with 3D Vision.
You needed the 3D Vision kit in order to get the blur reduction.
Nobody knew about it being good for 2D.
Not everyone wanted 3D Vision, and it was only recently that the Lightboost hacks were discovered by people half a year ago, and then LightBoost became more popular.
Now more power-users know LightBoost eliminates motion blur. (and don't need 3D for that)

Also, don't call either nVidia or AMD idiots.
They invent chips with billions of transistors running trillions of math operations per second, called "GPU's". That's very smart stuff, buddy!
 
shedokan said:
Perhaps this removes the screen goes blank for 1sec at boot? Any info?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure. I get that too. I think it's the 3D Vision initialization overhead. I wonder if simply using non-3D-Vision drivers would just do the job, but you will always get the screen blanking everytime you switch between LB and non-LB modes. That said, the screen blanking should not be happening if LB is not being turned on/off -- still happens anyway to me at login/boot. Strobelight doesn't fix that. It's the nVidia drivers trying to do a mode change.

But you can try deleting all modes (even 60Hz) except 120Hz(strobed) and then it would only run at one resolution. So no more mode changes, and no more 3D Vision initialization (if not using 3D Vision drivers). That may finally stop the blacking-out, as LB on/off can take a few moments longer than a simple resolution change.
 
If I have a 60Hz monitor (LG l246wp) and a 144Hz monitor (ASUS VG248QE) both hooked up, will this mess with the 60Hz one? Or are the settings specific to the 144Hz one?
 
Strobelight won't affect 60 Hz monitors, but make sure to choose the right monitor in the setup program.
 
I don't have anything installed other than 120Hz Storbed but all modes like 60/100/144 show in the list but when choosing any it won't do anything just keep 120Hz Storbed, weird bug
 
rfisher983 said:
Any love for the xl2420te ? Not sure if it even supports light boost.
Click to expand...
It supports LightBoost.
All 3D Vision 2 systems all have LightBoost.
Presently, Strobelight should work on all ASUS and BENQ monitors, unless nVidia changed the LightBoost initialization process.
 
shedokan said:
I don't have anything installed other than 120Hz Storbed but all modes like 60/100/144 show in the list but when choosing any it won't do anything just keep 120Hz Storbed, weird bug
Click to expand...
Many video games usually like to automatically choose the lowest refresh rate, so try installing only 120Hz strobed and 144Hz (or 121Hz). See what happens for that specific game.
 
Mark Rejhon said:
This is false. They deifnitely knew. (e.g. Motion blur reduction mentioned in the old 2011 AnandTech article (PROOF, PROOF!) -- nVidia told them that.)
Click to expand...
main purpose of LB is brighter 3D without crosstalk. 2D blur reduction was never intended. If someone did leave this bug (yes, ability to enable 2D LB is a bug) on purpose it would have to be some "rogue" engineer and not marketing ploy...

Nobody knew about it being good for 2D.
Not everyone wanted 3D Vision, and it was only recently that the Lightboost hacks were discovered by people half a year ago, and then LightBoost became more popular.
Now more power-users know LightBoost eliminates motion blur. (and don't need 3D for that)
Click to expand...
exactly, noone told noboby LB can be good for normal 2D operation

Also, don't call either nVidia or AMD idiots.
They invent chips with billions of transistors running trillions of math operations per second, called "GPU's". That's very smart stuff, buddy!
Click to expand...
engineers are smart but people who decides about features are idiots
just look at NV forums at answers why prerender limit @ 0 was removed. It is stupid, it is idiotic and tells us that there are at least some freaking idiots @ NV :eek:
 
XoR said:
main purpose of LB is brighter 3D without crosstalk
Click to expand...
Yes, _primary_ purpose, _but_ they definitely knew LightBoost does three things. (See the LightBoost FAQ).
Purposes of LightBoost
-- Reduce 3D crosstalk.
-- Make image brighter with 3D glasses.
-- Eliminate motion blur.
Click to expand...
The elimination of motion blur occurs in 3D too. It doesn't only affect 2D.
exactly, noone told noboby LB can be good for normal 2D operation
Click to expand...
Correction: The engineers actually knew strobes universallly eliminate motion blur regardless of 2D or 3D.
Modern display engineers are very familiar with things like these. It's part of sample and hold physics found in Science & References and these engineers integrated strobe backlights in Sony/Panasonic/Samsung HDTV's (Yes, existing technology). The best video-game compatible model, is the Sony interpolation-free "Motionflow Impulse" (LightBoost in new Sony HDTV's). Its primary purpose is elimination of motion blur, but they also use the strobings to reduce crosstalk during 3D glasses mode, too. The purpose goes both ways. Also, I am the author of the Scanning Backlight FAQ, so I know a lot about this stuff as part of my Blur Busters Blog.

The marketing department probably didn't care as much as they did -- marketing wanted to push 3D :)
 
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Some feedback about the hotkeys for the utility:
Ctrl+alt = alt gr.

On many keyboard layouts (swedish, norwegian for example) important symbols reside on alt-gr + 1,2,3 etc.
altgr+2 on sv keyset is "@", which is obviously used a lot.
It would be nice if the hotkeys could either be rebindable, or be more obscure combinations.
As it is now, I have to leave the utility off, which isn't a big deal, lightboost still works perfectly after the first initialization.
 
It doesn't matter to me what nvidia knows. It matters what they do. And they did nothing to allow enable their customers with easy on/off 2D lightboost. So it makes no logically sense to promote them for the sake of 2D lightboost to someone like me, who has no interested in 3D gaming, when they only implemented 3D lightboost support in their drivers.

I understand you have your reasons to support nvidia for things they provide you that you enjoy. But it is easy enough to tell someone to buy something because you think they should. But it is another to dip several hundred dollars into your pocket to do so. Remember, it is not you who has to pay for it when you promote your favourite brands. If I did end up having to buy a nvidia card, it would have been out of reluctance, not excitement.

For the record, I have zero brand loyalty to any name. I think brand loyalty is the stupidest concept. I could have a intel CPU one computer, then an AMD next. A linksys router now, then d-link next. I buy the product that serves my purpose and bottom line best when it comes to buying time. It just so happens, I had an AMD card this time around (I have had my share of nvidia product in the past and still have them in my current laptop). That said, if I knew about lightboost before I bought this system, I would have got a nvidia card and worked around the lack of 2D support from the drivers using a community hack.
 
Morkai said:
As it is now, I have to leave the utility off, which isn't a big deal, lightboost still works perfectly after the first initialization.
Click to expand...
You can make two copies of the strobelight.exe file to make it behave as easy ON/OFF executables that have separate icons:

strobelight-init.exe -- Turn ON LightBoost and quit
strobelight-off-init.exe -- Turn OFF LightBoost and quit
 
Morkai said:
Some feedback about the hotkeys for the utility:
Ctrl+alt = alt gr.

On many keyboard layouts (swedish, norwegian for example) important symbols reside on alt-gr + 1,2,3 etc.
altgr+2 on sv keyset is "@", which is obviously used a lot.
It would be nice if the hotkeys could either be rebindable, or be more obscure combinations.
Click to expand...
I will include options to change the modifiers in the next beta release, but I want to know if there are more sensible defaults. What do you suggest?
  • Alt+Shift doesn't work with the numpad, and I found myself suddenly typing foreign characters until I figured out Alt+Shift switches between keyboard layouts in Windows.
  • Ctrl+Shift doesn't work with the numpad, and I find Ctrl+Shift+1 hard to type because I keep wanting to use left Ctrl and left Shift like a doofus.
  • I thought about adding a numpad-only option, but then Num Lock would have to be on unless I also map Home/End and Page Up/Down, and not everyone has a numpad.
Then there's the Windows key:
  • I can't use the Windows key by itself because Win+# is for launching/switching programs in the taskbar.
  • I can't use Shift+Win because that's for launching additional instances of programs in the taskbar.
  • I can't use Alt+Win because that's for showing the icon's jump list menu.
  • I can't use Ctrl+Win because Ctrl+Win+# behaves like Win+# and I can't seem to override that.
 
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grandpatzer said:
Is it possible in future have 144hz LightBoost?
Click to expand...
Not on current panels. LightBoost needs to refresh the panel (in the dark, backlight off) a little faster than the refresh cycle, to create a longer interval between refreshes, so the pixels can settle before strobing the backlight. At 144Hz, there's not enough time between refreshes for the backlight to aim a good strobe through.

Future panels, possibly. I envision a 240Hz-native-refresh LCD panel eventually (at least in non-LightBoost mode). Cables designed for 4K@60Hz will easily do 1080p@240Hz, so that will present a market opportunity. Many LCD panels are capable of a 1/240sec scanout, so it's a matter of the cable and LCD controller electronics, to make it happen. 240Hz flickerfree sample-and-hold would finally begin to approach the motion clarity of LightBoost=100%, but without using strobes. It will be comparing 4ms of motion blur (240fps@240Hz non-strobed) versus 2.4ms of motion blur (144fps@144Hz non-strobed) , a much smaller chasm than 6.9ms of motion blur (non-LightBoost 144Hz) and 2.4ms of motion blur (LightBoost=100% at 120Hz).
 
Is there any reason why my XL2420T looks terrible with lightboost on in 2D? It's hard to explain, but it makes the screen look all textured. I don't know how anybody can stand it.
 
SirMaster said:
Is there any reason why my XL2420T looks terrible with lightboost on in 2D? It's hard to explain, but it makes the screen look all textured. I don't know how anybody can stand it.
Click to expand...
Different LightBoost monitors have different artifacts.
The XL2420T and the VG278HE ('HE', not 'H') has a known checkerboard pixel pattern artifact during LightBoost. You can reduce the texturing a little by reducing your monitor's OSD contrast significantly.

The Asus VG248QE and the BENQ XL2411T have the cleanest looking LightBoost motion, but colors can be quite pale.
The Asus VG278H and the BENQ XL2720T tends to have reasonably clean LightBoost (some minor artifacts) while retaining fairly good color.
The Asus VG278HE and the BENQ XL2720T has sensitive LCD inversion artifacts (checkerboard pixel pattern, see Lagom Pixel Walk), which amplify itself during LightBoost mode.

See the LightBoost FAQ.
 
hmm well the new program by toastyx works perfectly, installed only 120Hz storbed as I wont be using anything else.
 
ToastyX said:
I will include options to change the modifiers in the next beta release, but I want to know if there are more sensible defaults. What do you suggest?
  • Alt+Shift doesn't work with the numpad, and I found myself suddenly typing foreign characters until I figured out Alt+Shift switches between keyboard layouts in Windows.
  • Ctrl+Shift doesn't work with the numpad, and I find Ctrl+Shift+1 hard to type because I keep wanting to use left Ctrl and left Shift like a doofus.
  • I thought about adding a numpad-only option, but then Num Lock would have to be on unless I also map Home/End and Page Up/Down, and not everyone has a numpad.
Then there's the Windows key:
  • I can't use the Windows key by itself because Win+# is for launching/switching programs in the taskbar.
  • I can't use Shift+Win because that's for launching additional instances of programs in the taskbar.
  • I can't use Alt+Win because that's for showing the icon's jump list menu.
  • I can't use Ctrl+Win because Ctrl+Win+# behaves like Win+# and I can't seem to override that.
Click to expand...
The best would be if people could keybind whatever they wanted themselves, maybe in a config file?
Otherwise maybe ctrl-alt+asdfghjkl or so? I don't know if that would mess up some other keyboard layout though.

Really great job on the utility btw!
 
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