BenQ FP931
Only recently available world wide, BenQ usually sends only high end LCD screens for testing. But most of their sales is made with other much cheaper products.
This time, BenQ sent us a basic model LCD, and this was a good move as this monitor is a turning point for 19” LCD screens.
ErgonomicsBenQ didn’t try to create a user friendly screen, but rather an inexpensive and efficient one.
The FP931 isn’t vertically adjustable and doesn’t have a pivot mode, but the screen body is thin. The only available input is analogical, but there’s not too much concern here as they are rarely problematic. Color quality is identical as well as pixel reactivity. The only potential problem is a lack of sharpness if the phase and clock aren’t properly adjusted. With this screen, however, the picture was perfectly sharp.
Color qualityIn standard settings, brightness reached approximately 100 cd/m². The first test was disappointing with these parameters as blacks were washed away, and colors were not always accurate.
You will have to work quite a bit with the settings. For us, it was much easier thanks to our calibration probe. With the right adjustments (and after increasing the contrast via the screen’s OSD) results changed. The screen displayed superb colors, and the spectrum was wider than our CRT screen of reference!
How to interpret the graph? The X axis is 0 to 100, 0 is black and 100 is white.
When Delta E > 3 the desired colors is noticeably different from the one on the screen.
When 1 < Delta E < 2 colors are accurate. When Delta E < 1, the result is perfect.
The BenQ goes even further than the Mitsubishi CRT screen in reds and greens. Since we started this test (it’s quite recent), this is the first time we obtained such a good result. (It isn’t the last time as you will see further in this test).
There was still one problem. The CRT’s brightness was 90cd/m² and the BenQ screen’s 200 cd/m². With an additional 100 cd/m² the BenQ result is clearly not as good. Professional photographers and graphic designers who work all day and night may find this screen a little fatiguing after a while.
Games
The time is over when manufacturers integrated old and short-winded components to their screens. The FP931 is equipped with a 16ms AU Optronics panel. The result is as good as 17” screens equipped with AU 8, 12 and 16 ms panels, and that means it’s excellent and perfect for gaming.
We still noticed a slight afterglow that was quickly negligible once we became involved in the game.
We don’t have to only play with 17” LCD screens! Yes!
InterpolationHere it’s not excellent. We strongly recommend using this screen only with its standard 1280x1024resolution. From 1024x768 a lot of detail disappears and picture outlines are blurred.
Movies
Unfortunately, this is often the other side of the coin. You may have heard before, if game quality is good results with movies aren’t. This is also true here with small viewing angles and + 256K inborn colors extended to 16.2 millions by dithering, a software trick, which can result in a disturbing “twinkling” effect in large colored areas. It’s OK for watching short video sequences, but not for use as a TV.
VerdictIt’s finally happening. Some 19” screens are reactive enough for demanding gamers. There should be a turning point this fall / winter 2004. As technological breakthroughs for TN panels aren’t only limited to 17” screens this means that users will progressively change from 17” to 19”s.
Take a look at this manufacture’s dead pixel policy by clicking here! 
