Reply With QuoteThe models with more inputs have onscreen controls for everything. But the cheapest ones are a dumb output for DVI. You're supposed to control everything, including brightness and contrast, from your NVidia or AMD control panel.
So I dipped my toes into the insanely-cheap-IPS-27"-Korean-monitor waters with this model:
FSM-270YG
Apparently these sell for like $250 in Korea, but in the USA you can't beg borrow or steal a decent 27", 2560x1440 IPS monitor for less than $800. So lots of Koreans are reselling them to the US for like $300-$350 on eBay, etc. You just slap a US power cord in the power brick (it comes with a korean outlet cord) and it works perfectly, though everything is printed in Korean moon language.
I ordered a few to test, and the good news is: they are beautiful 27" IPS panels!
The bad news is: they have ZERO backlight brightness adjustment.
Besides the fact that most monitors have retina-scorching backlight brightness from the factory, I use three monitors. I can't stare at the surface of the sun, and I don't want an indoor suntan, so I run my current LCDs at 25% brightness.
I wasn't expecting (or even wanting/needing) a full blown on-screen display, but I'm really shocked that a monitor would ship with nothing but a power control on it, no hardware backlight brightness control at ALL. That is a bummer. There are two buttons with (korean text) (minus sign) on the bottom next to the power but they do nothing that I can tell, on repeated press or press-and-hold.
Yes, you can "simulate" dimming the monitor with the graphics card settings, but that is nowhere near turning down the LCD backlight hardware, and has lots of visual side-effects.
I thought about using these anyway, but god DAMN they are bright. Even the one I set up to test is insanely surface of the sun bright. I doubt there's any sane way to adjust this backlight even if I disassembled the monitor.
If you like 100% bright monitors (related: what the hell is wrong with you? are you outside on the computer?) this is a fantastic deal. The panel is beautiful and dirt cheap. Such a shame about hardware LED brightness control.
HEED MY TALE OF WOE!
The models with more inputs have onscreen controls for everything. But the cheapest ones are a dumb output for DVI. You're supposed to control everything, including brightness and contrast, from your NVidia or AMD control panel.
Cheap fix?
Where'd you hear about these monitor? Googling that product name yields a bunch of ebay sales and then... this thread. 27 inch IPS display for 300 dollars? I'm so if you can find a fix.
For the record, my Korean monitor, a Crossover 27Q LED-P, does have backlight controls and I am very happy with it.
That's fine, but not being able to control the LED backlight level is kind of insane. That's darn close to not having a power switch -- power to LEDs!But the cheapest ones are a dumb output for DVI. You're supposed to control everything, including brightness and contrast
It did not even occur to me that such a thing (that is, not having hardware LED backlight control) was possible...
Hmm. How dim can it go with the backlight control? This review here seems to indicate "not very"? I need at least 25% dim (that is, 75% below the default).my Korean monitor, a Crossover 27Q LED-P, does have backlight controls
1. I already wear glasses so I'd have to use old-person-over-the-glasses-virtual-reality-giant-shades.Cheap fix? (sunglasses)
2. Reducing the backlight power also reduces actual power consumption from the wall, which is a nice perk.
3. It'd still be INSANELY bright to have three full-power 100% bright 27" displays on at the same time. At night it would be comical, like having the overhead light in the room fully on.
All you'd need is to move to Miami and get yourself a cane, and you'd fit right in.Originally Posted by wumpus
A friend of mine has computed for years using yellow-tinted glasses, instead of full-blown shades, as he's sensitive to full brightness screens. He also races motorcycles as a hobby, so this may be an affectation of "coolness", so who knows if that's actually the reason.
Sell it. Buy another.
On the lowest setting the Crossover is about as bright as a DSiXL is on brightness setting 2. I don't know how else to quantify it.
Last edited by Douglas; 07-15-2012 at 01:55 PM.
Consider setting a camera in a stationary spot and taking a picture of full brightness and lowest setting? At least get a feel for the subjective range of the monitor.
http://stereopsis.com/flux/
The cure for your woes.
Software brightness control is a very different thing vs. reducing the actual power to the LED backlights in the monitor.
I'll try one of the Crossover 27Q LED (don't need the Pivot "P" since I use monitor arms) models. Hopefully it goes dim enough.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1280755/r...cinema-display
I hate to say it, but you bought the wrong model... There are Crossover, Achieva, and I think Catleap, models that all have brightness controls. (And that's about all they have...)
Maybe sell it to someone who doesn't mind (I'm sure you can recoup what you spent on it, given how cheap they are) and get one of the models with a brightness control? There are topics on Overclock.net that delve into the capabilities of the various models in pretty good detail.
I'm probably going to go for Shimian Achieva QH270-Lite myself. It has a brightness control; verified in this review and various forum posts.
Dude, if you can make any sense of that fucking thread at all, you're a smarter man than I. It's only FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE PAGES. Searching for "brightness" on the page produces lots of hits for what looks like it working.Maybe sell it to someone who doesn't mind (I'm sure you can recoup what you spent on it, given how cheap they are) and get one of the models with a brightness control? There are topics on Overclock.net that delve into the capabilities of the various models in pretty good detail.
It never even occurred to me that a LCD monitor could ship without a) power button and b) power-to-backlight-LEDs button.
(FYI, the forum software we're building will have a sensible way of showing you the "greatest hits" of a thread, partly based on how often posts were visible on people's screens and for how long. As well as explicit "likes" and number of replies, etc.)
Yeah, I basically read the first couple of pages, the last couple of pages, and then did some searching by terms I was interested in (seller names, brightness, scaling, etc.)
That sounds awesome on the forum software. :)
Toss in number of times it's visited via direct linking and you've got a winner on your hands. There are individual posts I've hit a dozen times or more on mech keyboard and shaving sites.
Yes, we are also tracking the # of times a post has been visited by a deep link as well.
Do you have a way to address people being AFK? I would think time-on-screen would really be distorted by a number of factors (AFK, unclarity of posts requiring a fair amount of parsing, etc.).
On topic, this thread has focused on hardware controls- how is the general display quality of these monitors compared to the more expensive offerings available from Dell for example?
This is essentially the same screen as used in the Apple Thunderbolt Display, so it's good quality. The cheapness comes from (1) lack of inputs and analog/digital conversion, and (2) lack of quality control. If you don't pay the extra $50-60 for a tested "perfect pixel" version, you'll very likely get a few dead pixels. And the construction is more shoddy, so you might get some light bleed or dust in the screen. (Again, paying the extra for a tested version lessens the chances of this.) The actual LCD screen hardware is the same as the more expensive Apple monitor, it's just the support electronics, bezel, glass, etc. that's cheaper.
And of course, if it blows up, fixes are going to be more complicated. So I would only get one as a second monitor. (Which is what I'm doing -- replacing a 1080p 27-inch.)
After my month long research on these monitors, I ended up with a Shimian QH270-IPSMS. i can answer any questions about that model if anyone has them.
Vesper, why did you go with that particular model over the others? I'm close to pulling the trigger, but haven't narrowed down the model. I was leaning towards the QH270-LITE.
Also, did you 1) pay extra for "perfect pixel," and 2) have any dead pixels either way?
I'd also like to know the results of research.
My 30" monitor recently re-broke (after spending $400 to fix six months ago), and I've been getting by on a cheap 24". I haven't heard of these high resolution Korean monitors until this thread.
Bishop, this topic is a good place to start. As I said, read the first couple of pages, the last couple of pages, and then pop back up a level to the monitors forum for some topics on the specific monitors.
Here's a good overview of the Crossover model, with comparisons to an Apple display.
Finally found an article that does a good job breaking down the differences between the zillions of different models.
I went with the IPSMS because I wanted both A) On-screen controls, B) an HDMI port to hook up my PS3, and C) A scalar in the monitor - without it, the monitor displays a 1920x1080 image with black borders around the edges. The speakers I didn't really care about, but those seem to come with most models.
After reading lots of anecdotes of purchases on the Overclock.net forums, I saw lots of good feedback from the "ta_planet" seller I linked to in the other thread. Even without buying a 'pixel perfect' upgrade, this seller visually checked shipments for dead pixels/defects before shipping. At the time, there was also some concern over getting a power supply that used 120V - although it appears that is shipping from all resellers now.
Incidentally, all of the manufacturers (Shimian, Catleap, Crossover, etc). have models with and without the "AD board" that does OSD, scaling, and extra inputs. Some even have DisplayPort input.
I went for the QH270-Lite from ta_planet, and sprung for "perfect pixel" because even a single dead pixel would bug me...
I'll only be using this with my desktop PC (I can plug my laptop into my Dell U2412M), so I don't need the scaler. So I just opted for the Q270-Lite. It has a brightness control, doesn't have the glass over the screen, and it has a standard VESA mount that's easily accessible if I decide I hate the stand. (The Catleap was the other one I was looking for, but you have to disassemble to swap the stand.)
Cheers for the warning, Wumpus. It never would've occurred to me that someone would gimp a monitor in that fashion. I swear every time a product category looks like it's going to become totally commoditised, some manufacturer saves the day by producing something really imaginatively borked.
These Korean monitors were originally designed for internet cafes and game centers... Then people got wind of them and consumers started buying them. So they don't have the quality control and feature set you'd normally find on a consumer product.
Basically, that's the sacrifice to get the display equivalent (but not the feature equivalent) of a $999 Apple Cinema Display for $350.
Mm, it doesn't mention which ones have a hardware brightness control, which is my only real concern.
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