2007WFP gradient banding

[slugg]

crap... well i just bought mine and it came with a 3 year warranty with "express exchange" (still dont know exactly what that means). If they ever come out with a fixed revision, would i be able to exchange mine for the fixed one?

 

[mpc7488]

Here's the official reply from Chris on the Dell forums:

"All,

Dell Engineering is testing the 2007's and will provide an official response within the next 5 business days. Currently, Dell Support is not replacing any 2007 for this issue until we have the Dell Engineering analysis results and instructions."

Dated today. So by next week there may be an answer, at least, even if it's not one we want to hear.

 

[slugg]

hmm good that puts me in the 21 days margin incase its not what we want to hear. Hopefully its something SIMPLE.

 

[shabby]

You'd figure the inspection monkies would find this flaw before shipping a final product, but what do you except its dell.

 

[Heartbreaker]

That one gets me too. Do they have no QA at all. I mean every monitor of the whole 2x07 series faulty and they ship them. Unreal.

 

[Pipnmike]

It seems like the only reason they started to look into it is because their flagship models 24" and 30" models have the same banding problem that's being reported by various sources. It wouldn't surprise me if they fixed it only for the 24" and 30".

 

[Powermoloch]

darn I got banding with my 2007FP

i compared the gradients between my 17 inch and 2007fp

it's pretty obvious the 17" did a better job. I'll see how the 2007FP does on games

 

[sinse7en]

Can someone explain to me how to test for banding. At work here, i'm using a 20.1" Apple cinema display.. i want to see what it looks like here..
I'm in the market for a 20.1" Widescreen and had been looking at the Dells untill i read all about this problem...

 

[Pipnmike]

OMG, http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod...spx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4688

The price for the 2007wfp is down to $358. Dell keeps on hitting a new low. They know the problem with the current revision, so they're trying to clear out the inventory it seems... sigh

 

[Pipnmike]

Hey all, someone posted the following on a site:

"The banding issue can be FIXED EASILY. It took me awhile to track down the solution, but if you download/run PowerStrip, you can solve the issue. In PowerStrip, in the advanced settings, change the Front Porch setting from 3 to 6. Then, all the banding on the leftside of the screen disappears. I was about to throw the monitor out until I figured this out. "

What exactly can PowerStrip do for a monitor?

 

[imported_waldo]

well, I thought I had no banding, but it turns out I have it. I just downloaded powerstrip to give it a shot, it doesn't go away with that. On the flip, it seems like powerstrip could be a pretty nice little program. I wouldn't be surprised if this is self advertising

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Pipnmike
Hey all, someone posted the following on a site:

"The banding issue can be FIXED EASILY. It took me awhile to track down the solution, but if you download/run PowerStrip, you can solve the issue. In PowerStrip, in the advanced settings, change the Front Porch setting from 3 to 6. Then, all the banding on the leftside of the screen disappears. I was about to throw the monitor out until I figured this out. "

What exactly can PowerStrip do for a monitor?

He's probably talking about some interference caused in the video signal, not banding.

 

[imported_waldo]

looking at it again, powerstrip does make a slight difference, but the banding isn't gone, it seems to just osrt of be masked. If you look straight on to the lcd it looks sort of gone, but once you look from the side you can see it.

 

[imported_waldo]

well, even more sporadic thought, the front porch setting just seems to shift things down the screen...not sure how that would affect gradient banding

 

[Pipnmike]

I knew it was too good to be true... I guess we'll have to wait and hope for a hardware fix...

 

[mpc7488]

Here's the latest official word again (copied for convenience of those tracking the issue here and not in the Dell forums):

"All,

I will have a response from engineering by end of business on the 24th. Until then, some thoughts. Forget the 256 grey scale test. Let's look at this from real world applications. How many PC games can bump up to the prime mode (optimal) of 1680x1050? I don't know, but let's start the game at 1024x768 with everything on max.

* Change the Image Mode in the OSD to Gaming. How does the game look?

* Change the Image Mode in the OSD to Multimedia. How does the game look?

* Change the Image Mode in the OSD to Desktop. How does the game look?"

 

[Ryan Norton]

Uhh.... "forget the 256 greyscale test." Thanks, but no thanks, Dell =^)

Seriously. But to humor them I'll go loadup Oblivion and look at the sky again.

 

[trabpukcip]

Originally posted by: mpc7488
Here's the latest official word again (copied for convenience of those tracking the issue here and not in the Dell forums):

"All,

I will have a response from engineering by end of business on the 24th. Until then, some thoughts. Forget the 256 grey scale test. Let's look at this from real world applications. How many PC games can bump up to the prime mode (optimal) of 1680x1050? I don't know, but let's start the game at 1024x768 with everything on max.

* Change the Image Mode in the OSD to Gaming. How does the game look?

* Change the Image Mode in the OSD to Multimedia. How does the game look?

* Change the Image Mode in the OSD to Desktop. How does the game look?"

Have they seen how horrible the banding looks on the left and right edges of dailytech? (black to greyscale gradient)

Not to mention the "dancing banding" when using anything but desktop?

I am on my second 2407wfp now, two dead pixels fixed with bit of rubbing and plenty of banding. Although the tech I spoke to, talked to the engineer who already had a few reports of the problem across the 2x07 range.

 

[trabpukcip]

Originally posted by: guidryp
trabpukcip: I don't buy your theory. No driver will fix this. It happens on all the 2x07 monitors, it is not just banding, it is also text blur and pixel jitter. Poor driver electronics. Also it happen with a wide assortment of vid cards, happens with Macs or PCs etc...

But these LCD's do have firmware don't they? So there might be an easy fix at the end of the saga.

 

[Ryan Norton]

OK Dell, I have humored you. Check out the raging banding in FEAR:

http://ryannorton.googlepages.com/dell2007colorgradientbanding

 

[josh6079]

Did you keep the same driver settings throughout the pics? It looks like the Gaming Mode pic doesn't have any AF.

 

[trabpukcip]

The Dell forums thread on this issue has now been stickied at the top http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board?board.id=dim_monitor

Oh and here my 2407wfp screenshots:

Ok here are some pics most from Paint Shop Pro 5, sorry about the image quality but it is a difficult thing to photograph and I have a crappy kodak so the images are a little overcompressed.

Service Screen, can see model number and panel type:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dkemp/100_1993.jpg

Top to Bottom, White to Black Linear Gradient 2x Zoom no dither 256 x 256 px:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dkemp/100_1996.jpg

Left to Right, Black to White Linear Gradient 2x Zoom no dither 256 x 256 px:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dkemp/100_1997.jpg

Black to White Sunburst (Radial in Photoshop) Gradient 2x Zoom default dither 256 x 256 px:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dkemp/100_1999.jpg

Gradlin v0.2, Visual Basic Program
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dkemp/100_2000.jpg

 

[shabby]

Originally posted by: Ryan Norton
OK Dell, I have humored you. Check out the raging banding in FEAR:

http://ryannorton.googlepages.com/dell2007colorgradientbanding

Gaming mode ftw!

 

[Ryan Norton]

gaming mode ftw indeed... what a washed out POS of a picture!

Same driver settings in all three: The EVGA recommended WHQL Forceware 87.56 from their site, no AA/AF nor any other changes to the Display settings, 2x AA/8x AF in the game, and every other 3D/effects/performance option maxed except for Soft Shadows being turned off.

 

[imported_greyhound]

I have no such banding in FEAR on my L2000c. Even the skyshots are fine. So far, the only in game banding I've noticed is grayscale in HL2 when you approach light at the end of a tunnel, such as on Hwy 17. Since this is normally where the game pauses to load the next level, it is easily detected though not terribly bad. Otherwise, all is fine with games.

The banding on those screenshots is awful!! Perhaps the L2000c is an option for some who want all the panel benefits with less banding (though there would still be some on DVI re those editing photos).