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Cheap 27" 2560x1440 monitors based on S-IPS panels
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  • Here's my review: Holy Cow!

  • @DrDave

    Short and on point :-)

  • DrDave, I am pleased to hear that. Really tempted, by the way. :) I found Korean seller who offers Free FedEx! :)

  • I got the DHL shipping to my door in just a few days from green-sum. Of course, now I want a 30" http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACHIEVA-Shimian-QH300-IPSBS-S-IPS-Panel-QHD-2560x1600-16-10-DVI-30-LCD-Monitor-/160760450119?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item256e11cc47 Quality ofthe 27" is better than my Asus 23" IPS.

  • @DrDave

    Do you plan to make full review? May be video one?

    As for 30", they seem to be quite pricey, I think you could find 30" Dell for not much more if search carefully.

  • Hi Vitaliy, you know the guy in the link above covered every little detail of the monitor, including the bubble wrap, the pixels, the stand, the circuit boards, the buttons, and so on. My personal view (if I may use that phrase) is that you take it out of the box, plug it in with the special cable, and you go wow. Now, since I have an IPS monitor from Asus, I was not expecting that it would be a lot better. But it is. So I suspect that this is a later, or better version of IPS, like H-IPS as you suggested, and the photo of the pixels you posted seems to confirm that. I expected a few dead pixels, but I did not get any. Zero. But the pixels are so very small, well, it would not be a deal breaker for me. As others have noted, it does not have a lot of controls, but I use a Huey pro, so I just calibrate it. Colors were richer than I expected. Another surprise is that when running Arcsoft totalmedia to view an MP4 file, it looks really great upscaled. Not digital at all--smooth, almost analog. My monitor did not have any buzz or coil whine. Running DAWs with lots of tracks, wow, you can just see so many tracks and items. Running word processor software, or music software, you can get two pages up that are larger than 1:1 for a real sheet of paper. Running Premiere, it seems fine, maybe a bit less zippy, but of course the screen is drawing four times as many objects. So far, seems like very few glitches considering the resolution. I suppose if I ran it it 1920 mode, it would be the same as the old monitor. Something has to draw those extra vectors. Haven't tried any 4K stuff yet.

    OK the glare--it does not have the thick, anti-reflective coating. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't use it near an open window. Without the coating, it is clearer, less muddy, but of course catches reflections. Backlight: it isn't 100 percent even, as others have noted, but it is way better than my Asus IPS, with less of the greenish tint. I prefer it to the larger Dells I have used, but by a narrow margin. I would also say that compared to the glass plated screens, it has slightly less glare, to my eye. The details are really clear. Heat--runs cool, even after hours. Viewing angle: good, but why would I view it way off angle? Stand is OK for me, tilts and swivels, and you can replace it if you wish. I don't wish. I don't ever look at the stand.

    Random thoughts: great for multicam, large multitrack DAW projects and brochure proofs. Negatives: warranty. Really, in all respects better than I expected. Is there a better one for $3000 like the Eizo ColorEdge CG275W? I have no idea! Do I believe it is similar or the same as an Apple display? I do believe, but I prefer without the glass, which this has.

    Main things you notice right away: BIG Thin, thin bezel--mostly monitor, not bezel. Good color Super small pixels Slightly cool, LED like light which all the LEDs have that I have seen. Happy to answer any questions. Happy camper so far.

  • I'm so eager to order one of these next time I get paid - but I noticed on some of the eBay listings they write some graphics cards won't work, and my ATI Radeon 5870 is one of them. Anyone know if this is true? I've seen forum posts that say it will work but I won't see any startup/BIOS screen type info, just my OS once it's loaded. I can probably live with that (I'm running OS X Lion).

  • Well, if you run premiere pro, you will be using Nvidia, presumably, my GT240 cost $35 on eBay. You have to have the special high density dual DVI port. It comes with the right cable. Basically, if your graphics card won't drive a high res monitor, you need a new one, but they are cheap. I would say, if it says it won't work, it probably won't, but there are so many cards you could use instead.

  • @Oedipax

    They copy this list of cards. It is not actual really. Any card with dual link DVI port will work.

    Well, if you run premiere pro,

    This is worse thing in Premiere, still lack of OpenCL support on Windows. This is why I like MAGIX products that can use even available Intel GPU resources, not only good AMd GPUs.

  • Magix is a really good program. I do like the Premiere pro with the cuda/mercury engine. Even with the bloatware it works well. In multicam mode, you can put all the cams on one screen--hence the 27" IPS screen.

  • In multicam mode, you can put all the cams on one screen--hence the 27" IPS screen.

    Yep, this is good. Btw Video Pro from MAGIX has 9 cameras multicam also. And can work on many monitors.

  • Vitaliy--thanks for the info, I will check out Video Pro 9, I did not know they did the 9 cameras multicam. Of course, I already bought the PremierePro but the Magix products always has better audio capabilities. Maybe I will install a trial and see if there is a speed difference. Now that I have had the monitor a few days, I would also mention that the monitor is very thin, because the power supply is external. The PS is actually pretty big, more of a brick. The other thing is that when you go back to a different monitor, you really appreciate the fact that the pixels are so small on the catleap. As far as the color accuracy for post production, I have no real way to measure that. My feeling on this is that whatever the tech is, it is pretty good--the colors seem deeper and richer than on my Asus or Samsung TV. It isn't as high contrast as my 4.5" OLED phone sreen, but an OLED monitor that size would be pretty pricey. Any monitor has to be calibrated. One thing to keep in mind is that when previewing the final product, you are no longer in "native pixel mode". So for example on my TV and my Asus IPS monitors, the 1920x1080 is mapped to the video output. I don't see this as an issue so far, but just like with audio gear, you have to assume that most ppl will not watch the final product on a TV or monitor that many pixels. If you work with documents, you will appreciate the fact that you can put two pages up with a bit of space on the edges for menus, toolbars. etc. That is, without much fussing you can see a 1:1 of a piece of paper.

  • @DrDave

    Most issues with this monitor that I see on forums is that it has high minimum brightness.
    As on monitor calibrated for video preview you need not only colors calibration, but also tune the brightness for correct levels.

  • Goes dim and bright; there are two buttons on the lower edge of the bezel. One makes the monitor really dim, and the other makes it quite bright. Certainly bright enough. I don't use it outdoors. There's no little bar graph that shows you where you are, so you would have to recalibrate if you messed with the brightness too much. Or count button presses--easy enough. Ambient light plays a huge role in monitor calibration, which is probably why the reviews are so different. With the Huey Pro, it adjusts the gamma etc automatically. But of course the dynamic range is important, all I can say is it is better than my Asus 23" IPS in all respects. Except the Asus has a headphone jack. Hey, I could use it to monitor my GH2! Still looking for my first dead pixel. Thought I found one, but it was a speck of dust. There are also two buttons for the speakers, but my monitor does not have speakers. I mention this because I figured, why put an amplifier in there if you don't need one? It might mess with the display electronics. I will try to measure how many bars of grey shades are visible--that is the key metric. I did read a post somewhere that said the Shimian version has better contrast than the Catleap. However, they did not offer a side by side measurement. I have used brighter monitors, but this one is bright enough. After all, you are staring right at this big screen, it isn't across the room like a TV.

  • Have you tried using an HDMI-DVI cable to see if it will sync to a GH2 HDMI output?

    I've really been thinking about getting one of the 27" versions. They are going for like 295$ on ebay now.

  • @svart

    It clearly states that it does not have any CPU, so it works in native resolution and doubly link DVI only.

  • @svart you can get one with a built-in converter for more money, but as Vitaliy says it is just a monitor. The monitor comes with the "dense" DVI cable, it will not accept the DVI cable with the gap in the pins. Most good graphics cards--even my trusty $35 GT 240 which runs Premiere Pro in Cuda mode--have these extra pins and you need only use the supplied cable. I would buy one of these monitors just to put on the desktop, I mean, why not?

  • Just to pile on to what @DrDave said -- I just received my Yamakasi Catleap 27" and it couldn't be easier to use with my Aluminum MBP -- literally plug and play. No dead pixels or backlight bleed that I can tell. $300 shipped, less than a week from order to door. Really, you can't go wrong here.

  • I was surprised I had no backlight or pixel issues. I wonder if I had paid more for the pixel perfect version if I would get the same monitor :)

  • @DrDave, Which vendor did you get yours from? I see you said Green-sum but I couldn't find an ebay vendor by that name.

  • http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-YAMAKASI-CATLEAP-Q270-SE-27-LED-2560X1440-WQHD-DVI-D-Dual-Computer-Monitor-/140738200221?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item20c4a6829d I have only the one item from this vendor, but my monitor arrived in four days and the seller answered my email and provided a real tracking number. One of the big sellers of these monitors.

  • can the stand be taken off and the monitor attached to an arm? based on the picts it doesnt look like thats possible?

  • I just received the Shimian 27" with tempered glass. $300 shipped. I'm very happy with it, but if I had to do it all over I would probably get the non- tempered glass version because it is highly reflective, and I hear the non-glass version is probably less reflective.

    BTW, no dead pixels that I can see but there does appear to be one small fleck of dust behind the glass. Hardly noticeable, though.

  • @maxdvz

    Look at the film references above. You can use such film to make it much better.