Stay away from BenQ

[bboivin]

First of all I had a big group of red pixels in the middle-left that I managed to massage out but when I went to play a game and then watch a film I noticed the crazy backlight bleeding on upper and lower edge. The TFT is a BenQ G2420HD

Ok, I know it is a cheap monitor but the level of backlight bleeding along the edges is unacceptable for a monitor made in July 2009...and BenQ said

"Don't worry about the "bleeding" as this is normal for TFT monitors. It is impossible to achieve a 100% light sieling. There always will be a little bit of light emission at the corners (I also forwarded them to a technician of mine that confirmed that this is normal). Hope you have a good day."

Photos: Lights on: http://twitpic.com/hxnh1 Lights Out: http://twitpic.com/hxnew

I bought it from Oyyy and they won't do anything....and you can see BenQ's response above. What do you guys think?

[smargh]

I took some photos of my G2400WD for the sake of comparison.

The quality is a bit crap, as presumably all TN panels are in total darkness with nothing on the screen, but I can't see any bleeding with my eyeballs - just some normal "angular discolouriation" (?).

[bboivin]

That would be acceptable to me. It seems the new series is a stinker. I just don't understand why BenQ are in denial about how bad the backlight bleeding is on my monitor. I have now posted this to twitter and here, and if anyone does any research on this model now I doubt they will purchase it a.) given the big group of red pixels which they also said they wouldn't fix b) the very bad bright strips on the top and bottom c) BenQ's customer support simply goes into denial/telling lies mode when approached with an issue like this.

So, instead of just fixing the issue now they will lose countless sales (anyone that does research online will see this thread or on twitter perhaps)...why do some of these companies still not understand that they need to have proper customer service or irate customers will do as I've done and show the world how bad they are?! At this point I'm not happy with Oyyy.co.uk either as perhaps they should have just replaced it instead of sending me to BenQ.

My advice is that if you were thinking of purchasing a BenQ monitor (from the new series) don't take the risk even if it is only £150 we are talking here....as you will most likely be stuck with a stinker of a monitor and there will be absolutely nothing you can do about it. I wonder if I could take them to small claims court as the monitor is so clearly not fit for purpose?

[fiish]

If the monitor is indeed unacceptably bad and not fit for purpose as you say (given the large number of bad pixels you initially had) then Oyyy are obligated by law to sort it out for you, you have rights under the Sale of Goods Act and they cannot fob you off to the manufacturer just because they don't feel like dealing with your problem. You are within the initial 6 month period, so Oyyy have to prove to you that there is no problem with the monitor, or exchange/refund it. If you decide to exercise your rights with Oyyy, I wish you the best of luck and hope you do not give up

As you have said, there should not be such shoddy panels made in 2009 which are made available for sale. However, as also mentioned it is a cheap monitor and I am not very surprised that BenQ have let the quality slip a bit. By making the cheapest monitors cheaper and also a bit worse in quality, they are trying to encourage us to spend a bit more and buy one of their better panels perhaps.

[jim]

By making the cheapest monitors cheaper and also a bit worse in quality, they are trying to encourage us to spend a bit more and buy one of their better panels perhaps.

Or, more likely, someone else's better panels.

[bboivin]

I've sent a follow-up to oyyy to point them at this thread but I doubt they will help.

Would this be acceptable to any of you? you can see how bright it is along the edges, I'm definitely not getting the advertised 40,000:1 let alone the 1000:1 contrast ratio



If they don't resolve this or respond to my follow-up e-mail I will look into taking BenQ to small claims court or should it be Oyyy?

[this_is_gav]

I'd say there's only slightly more bleeding than is standard for a bottom of the range monitor.

I've seen worse.

All TFTs have some bleeding. You get what you pay for.

[bboivin]

You've seen worse in a July 2009 TFT? It actually looks worse in person but if you look right along the edges in the above photo it is almost bright enough to be white! ..and this isn't "some bleeding" it is "a lot" of bleeding. I don't agree that this is a bottom of the range model, it is actually one of the higher models BenQ offers in this range. It ain't an IPS or PVA £450 dell but it certainly shouldn't be considered to be at the complete bottom.

From BenQ's product page:

With a dynamic contrast ratio of 40000:1 to give you splendid image details and clarity in darkened and complex motion pictures: everything becomes more vivid! The 40000:1 DCR automatically adjusts backlight to optimize light levels for each and every scene, and flawlessly renders dark details. This makes movies and video games more enjoyable.

Flawlessly renders dark details? Movies and video games more enjoyable?

whether it’s playing your newest PS3 games, watching your favorite Blu-ray DVDs, or sharing with your loved ones the cherished moments caught by your HD camcorder! With the BenQ Full HD 16:9 LCD monitors, everything is lookin' great!

I can't play PS3 games or watch Blu-ray DVDs (sic) since the edges are so bright it completely ruins the experience.

All TFTs do not have bleeding like this, my 22" Viewsonic and 24" Dell (at work) do not and if you look at Smargh's photos above the edges actually look even darker than the rest of the screen!

[Bugbait]

If you bought it online, just reject/return it under the DSR?

[this_is_gav]

You've seen worse in a July 2009 TFT?

I've seen worse in a new TFT, yes.

All TFTs do not have bleeding like this, my 22" Viewsonic and 24" Dell (at work) do not and if you look at Smargh's photos above the edges actually look even darker than the rest of the screen!

I didn't say all TFTs have bleeding to this degree, I said all TFTs have bleeding. It sounds like you want a £130 24" monitor to have the specifications of a £400 24" monitor.

While it's worse than the average bleeding you get at this end of the range, you have to accept there's a large chance there's going to be some significant bleed at this price point.

For the record, the G2400WD is aimed at a different market. It's not basement, it's more low-to-mid range.

//edit: I'm not saying you should be happy with what you've got, but you can't expect much for a £130 monitor. It's not going to meet the specs that monitor manufacturers continually embellish.

[Kamikazejoe]

I can't belive that you 're only playing games or watching movies with dark content or stories.
From my perspective you would not see this border of light whilst concentrating during play as I'm experiencing with my LG TFT at home. With normal lit conditions and usual game content, which presumably is not absolutely dark at all, this border would go out of your field of vision.

If you look at many other LCD-type displays like TVs you can see almost the same effect, regardless of the price. Even on a high priced model from Sony you can experience bleeding. This may be caused, as the support guy has already mentioned, from the construction of such a display. If you take a look at the way an LCD works, you can maybe get an idea of how this effect occurs and why it is hard to prevent or to completely eliminate.

Just my oppinion

[bboivin]

I understand this is a cheap monitor, I understand all TFTs have bleeding to some degree but not in this way, not with such a high amount of bleeding, so much so that it is distracting. You can see it quite clearly when playing games even if it is not a completely dark scene. The other G2400 series monitor photos posted here clearly do not have this problem, and others reviewed on the net did not either, which is one of the reasons I purchased this one. I have had in my life maybe 20 different TFT displays and never had one with the problem to this degree.

None of you after seeing my photos would ever purchase a monitor with this much bleeding would you? Therefore it is not acceptable and it was £150 including VAT which is not a small amount of money in by books.

I'll explore the DSR route but Oyyy have already been difficult about it.

Additionally, as I pointed out BenQ has blatant false advertising on their website so maybe a note to the ASA is in order as well.

[Bugbait]

Additionally, as I pointed out BenQ has blatant false advertising on their website so maybe a note to the ASA is in order as well.

You might find that more difficult to "prove" than you think. The law allows for a certain amount of embellishment and exaggeration in marketing materials as it assumes reasonable people do not take it 100% literally. In my opinion there's nothing in the text you quoted that I would take as "blatant false advertising". If they lied about the specifications (eg. Saying it's a 10bit panel when it's actually a 6 or 8) or misquoting hard "facts" like resolution, etc.

These things are very subjective. My wife thought my old 17" Viewsonic I handed down to her was great and perfectly usable, until she got my 20" Samsung, and then my 24" Dell. Every monitor was perfectly usable in her eyes. Although now, she won't settle for less than the Dell 24". Compared to my current Dell 30" I wouldn't touch any of them again with a barge pole. What one person finds acceptable, another may find unusable. The law has to find the middle ground and the "reasonable person" test is ambiguous at best.

Clearly you're not happy but maybe your expectations were too high? This is why I don't always buy from the cheapest places as post-purchase support is very important.

EDIT: I'd say use the DSR or write it off as a lesson learned. Don't purchase from that retailer again...

[bboivin]

Thanks, yes lesson learned..don't go for the cheap...don't trust reviews, etc.

I have made a compaint now to the ASA, will let you all know how it goes, specifically regarding the text ""flawlessly renders dark details" and the point that given the amount of backlight bleeding that they say is a normal feature, their advertised contrast ratios cannot possibly be true.

[Pob255]

Actually when you first got it with the big red smear, you should of complained at once to the e-tailer you got it from and got it exchanged, not held on to it.

I've got a cheap tv that has worse bleed, same amount as that but also down the sides.

PS was the camera at 90 degrees to the screen when you took the photo, often bleed shows up far more when you view it from an angle and with a TN panel it can be a very slight angle.

[Zak33]

if I were the Opening Poster I'd prolly NOT link this thread to Benq because it's not really gonna help, as over 50% of the readers think it's acceptable

just a thought !