[sblantipodi]

they answered me that a firmware update that will fix the over drive issue will arrive in 3 weeks. wow!

[PCM2]

That’s great. If they stick to that, it should be available in time for my testing of the X32 FP as well. Would be nice not having to list the locked overdrive as a glaring con. 😉

[sblantipodi]

I always used RGB gains only to calibrate my monitors but I have seen that using the RGB bias on this monitors helps reaching extremely accurate profiles.

Is it any bad to use RGB Bias in addition to RGB Gains when calibrating?

this is my calibrated settings:
R Gain 49
G Gain 49
B Gain 51

R Bias 49
G Bias 49
B Bias 50

and here all the reports.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NmrHnw9AAQVuiPgV6CQznuAavKANBiek?usp=sharing

as you can see from the reports the the average delta is 0.2 while the max one is 0.8.

I’m even impressed from the uniformity…

[PCM2]

Thanks for sharing the report data. There’s nothing wrong with fine-tuning the bias like that. You’re only making small adjustments which won’t have a negative impact and you’re checking the results of your changes with a colorimeter to make sure it’s aiding accuracy. And yes, that’s pleasing uniformity. 🙂

[sblantipodi]

I hope that I’m not bothering with all these questions 😀

I tend to have an eye very very sensitive to color accuracy, on this monitor I learned what is an exaggerated ghosting because with overdrive set to normal at 60Hz ghosting is massive.

Not clearly visibile everywhere but on some scenes is massive.

What I can’t see is the benefits of the over drive.

I disabled VRR.

Testing 60Hz, 80Hz, 120, 160Hz and
I can’t tell the difference between overdrive off and overdrive standard.

Extreme over drive only adds ghosting to the mix.

Is over drive really useful or it’s just a marketing gimmick to improve the “numbers” of the reviewers?

Are my eyes that are not sensible to the overdrive improvements or the difference between the overdrive off and standard are so small that are difficult to be seen with naked eyes?

[PCM2]

Are my eyes that are not sensible to the overdrive improvements or the difference between the overdrive off and standard are so small that are difficult to be seen with naked eyes?

Bingo. The X32 FP is natively reasonably fast even without overdrive and you’re more sensitive to the added overshoot than the added ‘powdery’ trailing you get without it. There will be further analysis in the upcoming review of course.

[sblantipodi]

can’t wait to see your review. thanks for the answer!

[EsaT]

Sblantipodi, you’re completely correct in that overdrive might not help response time at all:
If overshoot is big and long lasting, effect isn’t really that different from just having slow transition speed.
Response time charts of Rtings show that very visually.

Though I don’t see why there would have to be completely zero overdrive mode:
For as long as overshoot would be negligible down to 50Hz level might as well use overdrive.

But basing on TFTCentral’s measurements also that Normal mode overdrive strength should be toned down and tuned better:
Some transitions have quite lots of overshoot, but other transitions are slow and don’t seem to have any overdrive.
There’s just no point in current tuning.

Should be trivial to adjust LUT to tune down overdrive of those overshooting transitions while adding some more overdrive for slow transitions:
https://www.ti.com/lit/an/snla185/snla185.pdf

Also use configurable presets remembering local/adaptive dimming setting would be big improvement.
Shouldn’t take more than change of preset to be able to optimize monitor settings for standard desktop use and media consumption.

[matthias]

For quite a long time, I have been on the lookout to replace my atrocious LG 27UD69P-W. With the TFT market being as stagnant and slow as it is, it has been a rather dry spell. Finally, the X32 FP seems to be a good compromise… not really fully meeting all my required points but mostly coming close enough and most importantly, seemingly not terribly failing any of those points (e.g. I would have liked more dimming zones, for example and the possibility of a VESA mount… also the fixed OD with FreeSync is also hitting me hard since I will mostly be in the 60Hz range due to my rig).

As a background, my current device has terrible image retention. Just keeping the browser window open for a minute to read up on some documentation is already enough. Longer sessions (or the OS taskbar) cause even more pronounced image retention that takes more than a few minutes to fade out eventually. Unfortunately, most review sites don’t test for this and this problem is not as rare as one might think with IPS displays, judging from the reports I could find… even though they are probably not as severe as in my case usually. The problem hasn’t been this pronounced from the very beginning but it got worse over time. I should never have kept this display, but it was otherwise a great panel– or so it seemed.

I later discovered, when I needed it, that the black level was different for HDMI Full RGB (0-255) and Limited RGB (16-235), resulting in the later to be unusable since it was very noticeable. Again, most reviews don’t test for something like this either. But there have been other devices that got this wrong, so this LG device is not the alone with this.

Now back to the subject of this thread. 🙂

I would kindly like to ask, if someone (sblantipodi maybe?) could test for image retention on their panel and report back? This would be very important to me because that is a definite no-go. Also, is the HDMI black level correct and the same for Full and Limited RGB? Also, how are the viewing angles? I read that they are not as good as they should be for a modern premium panel, causing a brownish/warm tint horizontally and a blue tint vertically.

Personally, I have everything (PC, NVIDIA Shield, …) connected to an AVR for surround sound, so I only use HDMI as input/output since it is the only thing the AVR supports.

In general, I am more of a perfectionist when it comes to display panels, unfortunately. Not by choice, I might add. It is just that I see pretty much every imperfection rather quickly and some things I cannot get used to (e.g. uneven screen uniformity, backlight flickering (PWM), color tints/spots on some areas, stuck/dead pixels, …). Sigh, so actually buying a new monitor with the panel lottery is an endeavour of its own.

Enough said… thanks for making it this far and so sorry for the wall of text– I actually tried to keep it short. 🙂

[Degrader]

No meant to disturb any comment but just to let you know that Tomshardware has a very positive review of the X32 FP: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/acer-predator-x32-4k-mini-led-gaming-monitor-review

Edit: Oh, wait, it is the X32 with a G-Sync Ultimate module, so not the FP!

[PCM2]

The reviewer seems to be confused about what they’re actually reviewing, even if they did praise that product a lot. The X32 (non FP) does not exist – and if hypothetically speaking it did, certainly not for $1200. Mention of the ‘G-SYNC Ultimate’ certification and VRR range is a curveball, but could’ve been because they’re simply looking at the wrong spec sheet. No model with G-SYNC module supports HDMI 2.1, either, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to have an Nvidia-tuned full fat G-SYNC product with ‘AMD FreeSync Premium’ certification as well. So they’ve most likely reviewed the X32 FP but didn’t realise the X32 was a separate product (which may not release) and have muddled up some of the specs.

[sblantipodi]

@ matthias one of the previous X32F I tested presented a problem of burn in that can be easily solved with a power cycle of the monitor.

I never seen burn in since then.

But how this is possible? Isn’t IPS free from the burn in problem?
Is this kind of burn in a permanent one like on the OLED or the one on IPS can be always fixed with a power cycle?

I’m now worried about image retention, I buy this monitors and not OLED for this reason, don’t want to worry about burn in on IPS too…

Please shed some lights on this topic.

I have another worries.

My PC/Monitor is connected to a quality server UPS (PR1500elcd from cyberpower) and the UPS is connected to a raspberry running home assistant that logs all the events on the ups, power consumption included.

I use this setup since two years and it always worked very precisely.

When X32FP arrived (I remember that I tested six monitors before getting a semi-perfect one) I noticed that during night, when the PC is off and the monitor is off, my ups reports a power consumption of 50W that lasts for some seconds.

I immediately thought to the new monitor and I made some tries to better understand what is the peripheral to do it. At the end I discovered that it’s the Acer’s power supply.

I disconnected everything from the ups, I disconnected the monitor from its power supply and connected the Acer power supply to the ups and the spikes remains until I disconnect the power supply

This spikes happen randomly every hour more or less.
I tried six power supply and every power supply has this problem.

Is this something that I should worry about?
Never seen a power supply that sucks up to 50w when no peripherals are connected to him.

[PCM2]

The distinction needs to be made between temporary image retention and ‘burn-in’. LCDs (including both IPS and VA) can suffer from temporary image retention, particularly if specific shades or patterns are displayed on the screen at high brightness with a repetitive movement style or static for a long time. I’ve seen this with some models, usually AHVA panels like the X32 FP uses, when running Test UFO for example. And I do note this in the reviews where it occurs but also note that it wasn’t observed elsewhere (unless it is).

A small number of LCDs may suffer permanent damage (‘burn-in’) but this is very rare. As a reviewer using models for a limited period of time I can’t assess that unless by some freak miracle that burn-in occurs very rapidly but it’s something that can be apparent over time from user reports. As it happens, some of LG Display’s ‘4K’ IPS panels suffered from this alongside a few issues (‘corner bleed’) which developed over time. That’s why they switched over to using panels from other manufacturers such as BOE for such models, but I don’t have any reason for concern of permanent burn-in on the X32 FP.

[sblantipodi]

thanks for the answer PCM2, I really appreciate it.

I am quite worried about the spikes generated from the monitor’s power supply, are there any idea on why a power supply should sucks 50W when the monitor is not connected to it?
(it sucks 50W for some seconds one time every hour more or less)-

[PCM2]

It’s not my area, really, so I could be off on this. But as I understand it, it’s not unusual for ‘power bricks’ (AC-DC converters) to draw a bit of power even when the device isn’t connected. I’ve got speakers with a ‘power brick’ that gets warm to the touch even when the speakers are switched off and I’ve noticed this with various other ‘power bricks’ before. If you’re concerned about it then you could consider using a ‘smart switch’ so you can turn the power off completely. It’s another reason not to like external power converters on monitors – I’m sure EsaT can confirm their dislike of them and shed some more light on this issue.

EsaT – also wondering if you’re still enjoying the X32 FP, despite it’s ‘quirks’?

[EsaT]

Every power supply not completely disconnected from power by real mechanical mains switch, or by “pulling the plug” draws some electricity even when device is “powered down”.
Internal PSU monitors aren’t different in that and there’s always standby power present to allow monitor’s electronics to notice “power” button press.
Though standby power could be separate small circuitry with higher efficiency/lower heat losses for small loads than running main circuitry constantly.
Just don’t know if they do that in any monitors like its done in all ATX PCs…
Documentation of monitors is inadequate lacking electrical wiring diagram/schematics and component lists for easier replacing of electrolytic capacitors. (something impossible in “glued”/welded shut power bricks)

But no matter the internal/external type, there shouldn’t be higher power draw moments without load.
Only thing coming to my mind is maybe meeting standards for efficiency/stand by power draw with such big power supply by special design, which runs whole circuitry only once in a while charging capacitors full and then shuts down some parts. (at least active PFC switcher could be shut down) But capacitors being enough to provide standy power for full hour sounds little too long. (or was it without monitor connected?)
That would be something to ask from Acer.
Though I think they would again go for PSU’s manufacturer Delta Electronics for answer.

As for running warm, Commodore 64’s power brick had that cornered… I wonder if that foot warmer achieved even 50% efficiency.

IPS glow is definitely nice thing to NOT have. That’s the way weakest part of viewing angles in standard IPS.
And local dimming works nicely with normal SDR content.
But Acer should really fix firmware to make presets remember local dimming to allow easy changing between normal desktop usage and media consumption with dimming and higher brightness.

[matthias]

Sorry for not posting earlier, but I somehow did not receive any notification about new posts and only discovered those by coincidence.

@ sblantipodi I am a bit worried that you already saw image retention on one of the X32FPs you had. Would you mind testing with this and report back please? That would be so much appreciated.

By the way, image retention usually does not go away with a simple power cycle but takes a certain amount of time where the display is being used with different patterns. At least that is my experience. The stronger the retention, the longer it takes to completely fade away… usually, for me, it takes several minutes. RTings also have an article about it, if I remember correctly.

PCM2 Your note that AUO’s AHVA panels are more prone to this, had me worried and after doing some research, unfortunately, I am even more worried. They clearly have a long history of bad quality control and image retention. I had many (lcd and non-lcd) monitors in my life (TN, IPS, PVA, …) and this is my first with image retention and it is really driving me up the walls and I promised myself, never to get such a bad panel again. Now it seems like, with modern IPS panels, that will be quite hard. Is image retention quite inherent to a specific panel model (as-in: they show pretty consistent behavior within that model) or is the panel lottery also involved here and you can get the exact same panel (model and revision) with either terrible or no image retention, depending on your luck?

[PCM2]

It’s generally a particular panel that would be prone to image retention rather than some sort of a panel or monitor lottery involve, but it could be either really. Image retention on monitors is usually mild and temporary and will go away when using the monitor normally. It’s why it’s not widely reported – it simply isn’t something that most people will notice or will suffer from. If your ‘normal use’ happens to involve specific patterns that trigger the behaviour, then unless you stop viewing those patterns then the behaviour will persist and that image retention will not fade until you turn the monitor off for a bit, for example. If your usage is varied then you won’t have to leave the monitor off for image retention to fade – although depriving the monitor of power could accelerate how quickly the image retention fades.

In sblantipodi‘s case I’m not sure what triggered the behaviour, but it only happened once and it was cleared with a power cycle. They’ve used multiple X32 FP units extensively since without issue. So I don’t think it’s worth becoming overly concerned with this – all monitors have issues and if the Acer ticks your boxes despite this concern (which I feel is perhaps unwarranted) then you should give it a go.

[sblantipodi]

@ PCM2 thanks for all the help.

@ EsaT I know that every power supply draws some current even when peripherals are disconnected but they generally consume some watts, not 50W for some seconds every hour or so. This happen with the monitor disconnected and with the monitor connected but turned off.

@ matthias no problem, don’t know why but mee too stopped recieving the email from this forum.

I know have only one X32 FP here at home now, I received too much bad units and decided to not give it to wife.
I’ll test it and report in case of any burn in, in any case I don’t feel worried, IPS and permanent burn in should not be possible.

I always use static images on my monitors since I leave my pc turned on doing things and the monitor does not turn off for long periods. I have seen this problem only once on one of the bad units I had.
This unit seems to not present this problem, not currently at least.

[PCM2]

Sorry about the reply notifications not working, the forum seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to the notification system. I’ve tweaked a few things which may help, hopefully you’ll at least receive some notifications now. 😉

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