Looking for a monitor comparable to BenQ FP241W

[crazy032]

I bought a BenQ FP241W, and loved it, everything was great, except for the dead pixel in the center of the screen, I couldn't stand it, so I sent it back (I had dead pixel coverage). I'm in the market to buy a monitor again, and I really don't want a TN panel. Can someone recommend a 24-26 inch monitor that at least comes close to the BenQ in the $500-$600 price range?

 

[jaguarskx]

Wow. The BenQ FP241W...

I remember that being one at the top of my list back in 2007 when I was looking for a new monitor. I think the one thing that turned me off was the lack of 1:1 pixel mapping. BenQ did update the firmware to include 1:1 pixel mapping, but you had to get the version with the January 2007 firmware if I remember correctly. Based on customer responses, getting that firmware date or later was more or less hit or miss. People did have their FP241W flashed with the more current firmware to get 1:1 pixel mapping, but they had to ship the monitor to BenQ and they had to pay shipping both ways.

I don't recall anything else that really turned me off about that monitor. I just happened to increase my budget an decided to buy the 26" NEC LCD2690WUXi. Ah, nostalgia...



Anywaste, I would probably recommend the HP LP2475w which uses a H-IPS panel monitor which can produce good color (once calibrated) and should fit in your price range. Here's a review:
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2008/review-hp-lp2475w.html


You may also want to look into the Dell 2408WFP. You should know that the initial version (revision A00) had a reputation for high input lag as in 50+ms. I has since come down with revisions A01 and A02, but I haven't seen any reviews about revision A02 to tell you how low it decreased. Some people say it is less than 30ms now (less than 2 frames of lag), but they offered no proof of such claims.

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2009/review-dell-2408wfp.html

The only monitor which I can hands-down recommend that can come close to what you are looking for is the Planar PX2611w (which I own). It uses the same H-IPS panel as my NEC LCD2690WUXi and it has less than 8ms of input lag (< 0.5 frames lag). I recommended this monitor to a friend who does professional graphics and he told me the monitor was "AWESOME". Good for gaming and video.

However, there are two caveats:
1. ~$800
2. If you want to connect it to a PS3 or XboX 360 to play games at 1080i/p, you will have color banding issues. This only occurs when playing console games (not PC games and not when watching movies) at 1080i/p resolution.

 

[crazy032]

What about watching movies from a PS3? Has there been any idea of a solution to the color banding issues?

 

[jaguarskx]

There shouldn't be any issues with banding issues when watch movies @ 1080i/p from any source based on the following review:

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=84&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=3

I have not heard of any updates to the firmware that would correct the console gaming color banding issues @ 1080i/p.