2407 Calibration Tip And Also Some Problems

Question

I have a tip and some problems.   Specs:Dell 2407WFP revision A03 made in Mexico and I thought I saw somewhere that it was manufactured in September but I can't find that now. Ordered it October 2nd, recieved it October 4th. I have an NVidia 7900GTX video card.   Tip: I thought the display was too bright at it's default settings as well. So I tried turning down the brightness like everyone else but I noticed that when you do you start losing the grey level detail almost immediately (using the Nokia Monitor Test program). I also tried changing it through the NVidia control panel with the same result. Then I figured out that the brightness is really only there to control the black point and I figured out that you can control the white point by changing the color mode to custom color and turning down all three colors equally. Here are my setting which work great now: brightness: 49, Red: 84, Green: 87, Blue: 87 and also I changed the gamma in the NVidia control panel to 1.16 ( edit: do not change your gamma in the NVidia control panel, it causes banding). Now it's not too bright at all and none of my gray levels are missing. Maybe this was common knowledge, but it didn't jump out at me as obvious right away.   Problems:Everything seemed to be good at first. I didn't notice any banding and no dead pixels. But now I made a black to white horizontal and a vertical gradient and can see a lot of banding on DVI but not much on VGA and on my CRT there is no banding at all. I also have another problem that I noticed before the banding. There is a vertical line one pixel wide and about 4.25 inches from the left side and extends all the way from the top to bottom of the screen. It's red or purple and flickers somewhat. But here is the kicker, it is only visible when certain colors or shades are being displayed. I first saw it playing Far Cry when I looked at the sky it was visible only on certain shades of the sky for about a quarter of an inch tall. So i made a vertical gradient (b&w) and found out what shades it prefers to make it visible and made a 1920x1200 image of that color and bam the line showed up all the way up and down. It's not just one color it's a range of colors and shades that bring it out. The range of colors that bring it out also change as you change the brightness. It is visible on DVI and VGA. I believe there is a flaw with that whole row of pixels on mine. I'm gonna send it back at some point just wanted to share my problem and see if anyone else has seen anything like this.   Question, if i send this one back for a replacement will Dell send me a new one or a refurbished one?   Here is an image of the red/purple line when a certain color is being displayed to the monitor: http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n11/mikea423/vert-line.jpg   Here is an image of the banding, it doesn't show up nearly as well as in person: http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n11/mikea423/hor-banding.jpg   Here is the original gradient I created to find that purple line (if you have it too it will only show up for about a quarter inch): http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n11/mikea423/vert-gradient.jpg   Update: I saw another post where they said to change from one DVI port to the other one on the video card to get rid of the banding and that worked. So I don't have a banding problem anymore but it isn't 100% smooth, it looks strange. But I still do have the purple/red line problem, that didn't go away. Message Edited by mikea423 on 10-09-2006 03:23 AM Message Edited by mikea423 on 10-09-2006 03:59 AM Message Edited by mikea423 on 10-13-2006 09:47 PM

hdtv00 · Answer

Yeah I agree its not 100% smooth on mine either but its within limits for me anyway. Yep theres no way Id put up with that line, thats just crazy.

And people wonder why I dont wanna return my working unit for scratch on front bezel. When the rest of it is working fine, well cept maybe some backlight bleed in...still torn on that issue.

ezhik · Answer

Its a good tip to reduce the default RGB levels.

I was getting shimmering on scrolling webpages, the text would have a kind of yellowish or purplish fuzz around as it scrolled quickly up or down. I just reduced the RGB equally to 95, brightness at 51, at it looks just perfect with no strangeness when scrolling.

The grey scale looks right and I like the crisp bright screen.

Your purple red line is a pretty serious defect. If you get it relaced within the first 21 days you should really get a new replacement. Good luck, hope you get it sorted.

mikea423 · Answer

Well my banding is appearing and disappearing at random now even though I'm on the other DVI port... seems to be banded most of the time actually. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna be sending it back soon. I hope I don't get one with dead pixels this next time... this one is perfect except for the line and the banding. I've only had it a week so far so I've got a little time. I was hoping to delay as long as possible while still being able to get a new one so I could get one from a newer batch or maybe even a new revision (although not likely for a month or more if ever). ezhik, yeah I had the shimmering problem too before I reduced the RGB levels, I forgot about that.   If I do get one with for example one dead pixel will they let me send it back? I know their policy is around 7 or 8 pixels from what I've heard but just wondering if they are lenient.   This is for the people that turn their brightness down below about 40.... DON'T DO IT... trust me you are messing up your grey levels, try reducing the RGB colors instead. Just trying to help.   Thanks for the posts hdtv00 and ezhik!

KevinR100 · Answer

mike

You have the option of getting a full refund so point out that you WANT a NEW one & not refurbished. If they send you a refurb. then keep sending it back. This also applies if you don't get a A03.

I don't know why these monitors don't behave correctly when adjusting the brightness as with mine (244t) I can adjust up & down without any problems & this is the way it should be.

Good work in finding that work around though. I knew that the dell was under saturated on blue & green & your figures support this.

btw. those pics. are shocking.

cheers

ps: You also said -

If I do get one with for example one dead pixel will they let me send it back? I know their policy is around 7 or 8 pixels from what I've heard but just wondering if they are lenient.

The thing is that any exchanges should be treated as within your 'satisfaction guarantee' period so don't accept a bad one as you could atm ask for a refund on any grounds so why should this change when you ask for an exchange?

cheers again

Message Edited by KevinR100 on 10-10-2006 05:53 PM

Message Edited by KevinR100 on 10-10-2006 05:57 PM

mikea423 · Answer

I just called and they are sending me a new one. Said it should take 8 days, but I'm sure it will only take 2 or 3. I told them to send me a new one and not a refurbished one and the guy said ok. Thanks for your advice about the satisfaction guarantee Kevin. If I end up getting a refurbished, a non-A03, or find any dead pixels I'll be sure to bring that up with them.

KevinR100 · Answer

Thanks mike, I would not mention the dead pixels unless it has heaps of them, find some other problem:smileywink: cheers

mikea423 · Answer

you're right Kevin... gotta play ball with their policy. Thanks.

all the facts · Answer

See this tip about banding: 'When I uninstall the driver and color profile, the banding is gone again and everything is just wonderful.' http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_monitor&message.id=66975 Let me know if it works for you, if that's the case. Message Edited by all the facts on 10-12-2006 06:48 PM

mikea423 · Answer

I didn't install the monitor driver until yesterday. I had the banding before and after I installed it, it didn't change. I never installed the color profile.

all the facts · Answer

artstorm installed and uninstalled the color profile in that thread. Did you get the new one yet? Message Edited by all the facts on 10-13-2006 07:00 PM

mikea423 · Answer

I never installed the color profile just the driver. I turned off my gamma correction in the NVidia control panel and that cleared my banding up. Turns out that was it the whole time. It's not 100% perfect but it's very acceptable now. Makes me a little sad because now the only problem this monitor has is that red line. I hope the new one they are sending is just as good as this one (minus the red line).

all the facts · Answer

The new one should be better:)

mikea423 · Answer

I got my replacement yesterday. It took 7 days before they shipped it but only took 1 day in transit, so 8 days total from when I called.   Some things I've noticed about the new one. It's an A03 made in Mexico just like the last one but it was manufactured in september instead of august like the old one. The new one is much brighter than the old one... and that's saying something because the old one was bright. I had to turn my RGB settigns down quite a bit lower to match my old one. Also the colors are a little different I had to adjust green down more on the new one. I'm glad to report that there was no line in my new one like the old one had.   Everything looks good on the new one except I just noticed maybe 7 white/grey stuck pixels when on a black screen. I didn't notice them right away when I first got it and checked for them so it might be possible that I caused them when I was rubbing the screen down with a dry cotton cloth. Maybe I pushed too hard. But really I didn't push very hard at all. They don't really bother me much at all, but I'm going to try several things to fix them.   Also the stand on my new one is much more rigid. It doesn't shake as much as the old one. But the new one is also tilted clockwise more, it's kind of distracting. It is 9mm higher on the left side.   Oh, and a question for those of you who have gotten a replacement. They didn't send any kind of return label or instructions at all. What do I need to do? Thanks. Message Edited by mikea423 on 10-19-2006 03:14 PM

all the facts · Answer

If you get blue pixels that look like stuck on pixels on the desktop, right click desktop properties and click refresh. You can that from dragging icons and stuff around.

If that doesn't work then they are stuck on. Use "dead pixel buddy" and put the flashing square over them to see if it helps.

hdtv00 · Answer

'Also the stand on my new one is much more rigid. It doesn't shake as much as the old one. But the new one is also tilted clockwise more, it's kind of distracting. It is 9mm higher on the left side.' The more I think about it and test my replacement the more I feel the stand on my old one wasn't up to par. I near almost got stiffed out of a new monitor but lucky ChrisM came and replaced mine even after dell denied me over the phone. I feel with mine height wise all the way up and other factors mine tipped over and smashed itself without anyone/anything being near it. I was lucky to get it replaced. So maybe there was something to the whole stand thing afterall...

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