2405FPW lagged response - is this panel a lemon?

Question

Howdy all,   A great screen at a great price.  Except it's very annoying to use.   When I move the mouse on a screen, I expect the screen to respond straight away.  My 2405FPW does not - I would estimate approximately 1/10th of a second lag between when I move the mouse and when the mouse pointer decides to move on screen.   This doesn't happen on my Dell notebook's internal LCD.  It doesn't happen on an external CRT (Dell P1130) on the same video port at the same res.  If I connect the screen to DVI or AGP to any other machine, the problem is also there.   In short - it is a problem with the panel.  No amount of throwing third party hardware at it shows one instance of the problem vanishing.  I also get the problem when running the panel at 800x600.   Got one?  Try this:  get two screens - whether it be a flatpanel or a CRT as your secondary.  Connect them both.  Move a window around.  Notice how your 2405FPW updates considerably later?   This is frustrating in games.  This ticks me off even further when using my PC casually.  Do I have a lemon or is this a design flaw?

DELL-Jesse L · Answer

EvilZardoz, Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum. The problem is not the monitor but, possibly the video card.

EvilZardoz · Answer

Jesse,

I have two panels which exhibit this problem - tested on *five* systems. I find it hard to believe that five of my graphics cards are incompatible with the Dell panel. As I said, I have compared it on the same video outputs from the same video cards side-by-side with other screens. I have tried analog and digital. The lag is introduced as part of the image processor in these panels it seems.

I understand your assumption that it is the video card. The delay is only marginal and I understand it if you were not to experience it (I have had countless people tell me I need to purchase a Radeon X850XTPE to have the panel perform properly, however an Apple or Sony panel of the same specifications seems to behave just fine on the cards I have used).

The delay is also present when used with my PowerBook G4. It's not obvious after about half an hour of use - till I go back to using either its internal display or the Samsung 172X.

FYI, I have tested it on the following:

* Inspiron 8200, Geforce4MX 440 VGA output (variety of resolutions)

* P4 3Ghz HT with Radeon 9800 Pro (1920x1200, DVI and VGA)

* PowerBook G4 1.5Ghz with Radeon Mobility 9700 - 1920x1200, 1280x854, 1024x768 - simultaneous and standlone mode.

* P4 3Ghz with integrated Intel 865G integrated graphics, VGA out, 1920x1200

* AthlonXP 2500+ with Radeon 9800 Pro, Geforce 6600GT (variety of resolutions).

I have tried single mode and dual head, even tried swapping the inputs around (eg, swapping the primary and secondary screens' positions on the video card). No amount of testing can convince the panel to drop its processing delay.

Did I mention that I have two? One was purchased for an associate of mine and also exhibits this delay, however he cannot pick it but I can - clear as day. I took a short video comparing the Dell panel to another and the Dell panel is consistently two frames behind that of the other panel.

My video cards work fine with the Apple Cinema Display and the Sony PremierePro 23" LCD (both LG-Philips S-IPS based) and they do not exhibit any such lag issues with these panels even with the idential settings. The Dell panel itself (i.e. the LCD produced by Samsung) doesn't blur or ghost and for all intents and purposes the panel is fantastic, however a 30ms. Unfortunately I don't own one - however I have tested these screens on my own hardware in the last week and are noticably faster in responding - they feel like a real screen when in use.

I can also confirm that other people have discovered the same problem (compared with a 30ms(!!) LCD!: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=900484&page=1&pp=20 - this link was uncovered after a Google search upon discovering the delay problem.

Unfortunately calls to technical support (here in Australia, they are directed to Malaysia via a drop-out-prone VoIP link) have been unresolved and I have been unable to talk to a technician who is fully experienced with these screens. Ideally, I would love to have a chat with the designers to work out what could be causing the issue.

I would dearly love for this problem to be resolved as everything else about the screen (colour reproduction, price etc) is light years ahead of the competition, purely because this panel is current technology, not older tech like the LG-based Apple and Sony panels. Unfortunately this does not appear to be possible.

I have made arrangements to proceed with the return of the panel early next week if I cannot resolve the issues by then.

apathypuff · Answer

I too would like an answer. It may not seem like a problem. Heck, evidently some people don't notice it. But to others, it is big.

And it's widespread, too. I know mine is going back if it's not resolved.

LUM · Answer

Enter Factory mode. Set ISP Mode Off.One frame delay(16.7ms) will disappear.

EvilZardoz · Answer

What exactly is this ISP mode and what does it do?  I can enable or disable it with absolutely no effect on the delay time.

apathypuff · Answer

Same here. No change in the delay.

LUM · Answer

Insert Surplus Picture

This is efficient 1920x1200 mode(no scaling) only.

Perhaps you can't recognize 16.7ms delay.

Another solution.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_monitor&message.id=47652

cepler · Answer

How do you get to the screen with the ISP Mode section? I did the power-on while holding the Enter/+ buttons and I see Samsung in my menu now, with V1.9, shows bandwidth used now as well but no options in here that I can see for ISP mode...

EvilZardoz · Answer

Tried that.  Still the same problem.  ATI cards are affected, too.  Intel integrated video is affected on analog as well.  My MAC is also affected...   .. i.e. it's the panel.  Mine is running 1.8 and is almost two weeks old.   To get into the factory menu, go to 'factory reset' and there should be a fourth optiond down the bottom of the menu called 'factory'.  Select that.  Bingo.

LUM · Answer

Inspiron 8500 wuxga clone. ISP off and on. Compare 602(off) to 751(on). OSD,PIP,PBP and Zoom don't affect  results(delay).   602 - 16.7ms delay (my setting - one picture buffer delay) 751 - 33.3ms delay (default - two picture buffer delay)

cepler · Answer

Got into the factory mode, disabling the ISP mode doesn't seem to affect the problem I'm referring to but left it disabled anyhow. Didn't realize the word 'Factory' was an item that was selectable the way it's displayed on the v1.9 firmware, not sure if it's diff from yours. eVGA initially said it was 'cause I was running single link DVI (Sillyness) so I explained them the limitations of single link DVI and that 1920x1200 was well within the spec, then they said the card was bad, send it back (?!). So I told them THAT was silly too since I can play games just fine, see my desktop etc that I wanted to have them open a line of communication with nVidia to have them research the problem...they said they'd send it to their technicians, a sentence that sounds a lot like "File this into blackhole of nothingness where we just forget about it and move on". So I suspect they won't ever get back to me, they'll never talk to nVidia and nothing will happen there.

Very frustrating how segregated I feel right now from the people that could actually make a difference and correct the problem. I hate trying to explain this type of stuff to support people that are used to handling the normal "How do I plug in my monitor" and "Wheres this cable go" type of problems.... *sigh* What ever happened to REAL tech support?!

apathypuff · Answer

Overseas! *rimshot* Well, just keep us updated. I don't notice the problem so much anymore but even still, why should we have to get used to it? Message Edited by apathypuff on 08-11-2005 09:41 PM

EvilZardoz · Answer

My panel was collected a week ago and I await my full refund.   I still use one of these panels occasionally and while the lag is there, I am amazed at the amount of colour and sharpness these panels have compared to the LG-Philips S-IPS based panels.  Brightness blows me away in a bright room.   Pity about the lacking gm1601 chip and a pity that Dell didn't get this one right the first time - if they did, I would be ordering some more.

DUpedAL · Answer

EvilZardoz,   Thanks for bringing this issue out into the public.  Sometimes when people have problems like this they just give up and ship the thing back.  I have done that before on some stuff.  When I think back I think I should have warned people.

Courtney123 · Answer

I can't offer you an answer but wanted you to know I do not have any mouse lag with my 2405. I'm using a Radeon 9800 Pro to drive it via DVI.

As hard as it is to sometimes believe Dell, I suspect it is correct in blaming your video card.

Monitors

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