Acer XZ321QU QWHD Monitor Ghosting.

[Sim Strata]

So it appears I did not do enough research before buying said monitor. I was intending to upgrade from a ASUS VG24 monitor which I believe is a TN LED. The new Acer XZ is a VN LED so I now understand. I am seeing alot of ghosting in the XZ. Whilst the colours, size and quality of the display is amazing compared to the old ASUS VG and I love the curved effect with TrackIR, but the ghosting is suprising. Still very playable, but not quite the upgrade I was expecting.

I have been playing around with the settings at 144hz and am getting the best results with image sharpening on, lower black boost and overdrive on normal rather than extreme with decent brightness and contrast. I have tried the MPRT modes, but the image is too dark for my likes.

This is a Freesync monitor but I am using a 1080. Would an AMD card improve things?

Anybody else with similar issues?

 

[Jeremy Ford]

VA panels will have ghosting it's normal with this type of panel.

 

[Sim Strata]

So maybe not a specific issue with my particular model then. I think one should think very carefully before buying a VA LED then. They are marketed as gaming monitors, but, IMHO, thay are not really, even with gaming features such as 144hz refresh rates. I mean the ghosting is not horrendous, but it is a stretch for the marketing to suggest one would buy these if gaming is the focus.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

It's the response times that reveal whether you'll see ghosting. A VA monitor will typically have a 4ms response time. TN monitors have 1ms. The response time relates to the speed a pixel is able to change from black to white or from greys. It doesn't interfere in how many images per second the monitor can refresh an image, as in 144hz. There's 1000 milliseconds in second so it's well within limits.

But sure 4ms you'll see ghosting on dark colours as images move across the screen. I have a VA monitor that can be run at 200hz, but it doesn't matter I get ghosting too which I sometimes notice on kerbing if it's moving across the screen quickly where I can see a slight grey band at the edge of the kerb, like if you drag a desktop window across the screen quickly you can see a slight trail.

Some racing titles it's more noticeable than others, but in most other fast paced titles I play I don't notice it. I suppose it's when more darker colours are on screen it blends the ghosting. Personally I still prefer VA over TN for the viewing angles. TN monitors bugged me with the distorted colours and contrast when you weren't within that viewing correct angle.

For no ghosting then you'll have to use a TN or OLED monitor.

 

[Sim Strata]

My monitor claimed a 1ms response time, but what they meant was with something called MPRT active. Anyway, thanks Jeremy for the info, very useful.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Yeah mine has one called ULMB made to reduce motion blur. However it can only run at 120hz, and doesn't work with G-Sync.

I've never bothered with it since I have Nvidia card so don't want to lose the G-Sync. But you got me thinking so I've been playing around with ULMB and observing the ghosting using this online tester, /www.testufo.com/ghosting. MPRT is the same thing as ULMB, it's using backlight strobing to reduce motion blur.

Interestingly I'm been switching ULMB on and off while watching the UFO fly past and can see a decent difference in the detail. With ULMB on the UFO is very sharp, but is followed by a light partial trailing outline of the UFO. With ULMB off the UFO is very blurred but doesn't have the trailing UFO outline.

 

[Sim Strata]

Yes, the MPRT thing makes a big difference witht UFO, but when watching RSS GTs in AC with the static camera it makes the cars very jerky in the faster across screen sequences. Best overall results do seem to be with MRPT off.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

ULMB introduces stutter for me too.

I also have a smaller IPS monitor hooked up, it's only 60hz but checking side by side against the UFO animation the ghosting is virtually eliminated. I even set my VA monitor to 60hz to have a fair comparison and I'm pretty amazed how much better my IPS screen is showing the animation without smearing the UFO.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

I've just discovered something else by accident, my monitor has some presets one named Game Mode which it's always been set to, after switching off Game Mode the ghosting reduced by half in the UFO test. One wonders how it's meant to improve gaming when it adds ghosting?

Also another option I have is called Overdrive which to my knowledge overvolts the pixels to transition more quickly. The highest Overdrive setting improves ghosting even further.

I guess I have you to thank Tony as you got me tinkering. I'll need to do a bit of gaming to see if I can tell much of a difference as I can't say on the whole ghosting was a big distraction for me.

 

[Sim Strata]

Yeah, I stopped using Overdrive as it creates a black smear from the wing of my Feruccio 57, and others besides. I swear that reducing the black boost also improves the appearance too.

I am in the process of trying regain possession of my old TN monitor from my daughter as a comparison. I suspect I won't like the results and this monitor will be on the market. Wallet burned. Lesson learned.

 

[RasmusP]

I've just discovered something else by accident, my monitor has some presets one named Game Mode which it's always been set to, after switching off Game Mode the ghosting reduced by half in the UFO test. One wonders how it's meant to improve gaming when it adds ghosting?

Also another option I have is called Overdrive which to my knowledge overvolts the pixels to transition more quickly. The highest Overdrive setting improves ghosting even further.

I guess I have you to thank Tony as you got me tinkering. I'll need to do a bit of gaming to see if I can tell much of a difference as I can't say on the whole ghosting was a big distraction for me.

Check for input lag please! My Samsung TV looks quite a bit worse with gaming mode but the input lag goes down from not being able to hit a desktop icon on first move to being able to play shooters.
Very interesting thread btw! Shows why back light bleeding greyish black ips panels and crappy colours etc TN panels are used so much!
I'm saving up for a new monitor and the VA ones are the most attractive but now I'm not that sure...

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Check for input lag please! My Samsung TV looks quite a bit worse with gaming mode but the input lag goes down from not being able to hit a desktop icon on first move to being able to play shooters.
Very interesting thread btw! Shows why back light bleeding greyish black ips panels and crappy colours etc TN panels are used so much!
I'm saving up for a new monitor and the VA ones are the most attractive but now I'm not that sure...

I'm running a Predator 200hz monitor, gaming mode on the monitor is different from gaming/PC mode so it doesn't change input lag. For me it just added ghosting and altered the colour temp. The only thing I've discovered online is it's meant to be better for shooters, but it's a rather vague and not recommended.

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Yeah, I stopped using Overdrive as it creates a black smear from the wing of my Feruccio 57, and others besides. I swear that reducing the black boost also improves the appearance too.

I am in the process of trying regain possession of my old TN monitor from my daughter as a comparison. I suspect I won't like the results and this monitor will be on the market. Wallet burned. Lesson learned.

Weirdly overdrive made big improvements at least in the UFO animation for me. I had a session in Vermintide 2 and I can't tell any difference. I was switching overdrive on and off and spinning around, it looks the same. The usual blur of spinning quickly looked identical.

 

[RasmusP]

Weirdly overdrive made big improvements at least in the UFO animation for me. I had a session in Vermintide 2 and I can't tell any difference. I was switching overdrive on and off and spinning around, it looks the same. The usual blur of spinning quickly looked identical.

My 200€ Asus "not really gaming" monitor has an overdrive setting going from 0 to 100 in 20's.
60 and 80 look good, 100 creates a black smear behind the ufo and 0-40 leaves a blurred trail.
No idea where the black ghosting comes from. When scrolling text at 100 you have like "pre-ghosting" in front of the scroll direction.

Maybe the acer doesn't go above "Asus 80" so doesn't produce black smears at highest setting.

 

[Sim Strata]

My old VG248QE TN imaging was crap. Looked faded, diluted. No strong colouring. This VA panel is amazing in comparison. Assetto looks amazing. It just irks me when the motion blu is apparent.

I don't know what the input lag of my monitor is. Acer advertise it as 4ms (1ms MPRT) response time with low inut lag tech (whatever that means).

This is my monitor. Note how they make such a big deal about flicker and blur free gaming. Hmmm.

 

[RasmusP]

My old VG248QE TN imaging was crap. Looked faded, diluted. No strong colouring. This VA panel is amazing in comparison. Assetto looks amazing. It just irks me when the motion blu is apparent.

I don't know what the input lag of my monitor is. Acer advertise it as 4ms (1ms MPRT) response time with low inut lag tech (whatever that means).

This is my monitor. Note how they make such a big deal about flicker and blur free gaming. Hmmm.

Turns out I have the same Asus you're talking about. Indeed faded etc... It's okay but when I edit photos it's a pain. Just not reliable and always in the need to check the results on TV (TN too), phone and tablet...
The reaction time afaik doesn't have anything to do with mouse input lag as you won't notice it up to 10+ ms. More with software interfering.

The gaming marketing is a strange world... I agree!