p.1 #1 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Okay, I know there are many of these posts, but my 5 year old LaCie Electron Blue CRT is fading, giving up the ghost. Time for a new LCD monitor for the next five years. Excellence in screen to print matching. No gaming, etc.
Here are the two choices I narrowed down to and advice from user experiences is welcome.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=599905&is=REG
This 2690 NEC is recent H-IPS model (whatever that means).
It has a pixel pitch of .287 while most of the other 1900 by 1200 24” monitors are .27. Will that make images or text appear less crisp? Will it have no impact? It is wide gamut aRGB, and everything is configurable with the Spectraview.
B&H is currently running SV bundle as a special, and this NEC monitor, software, and their branded Eye One puck is not much more than other vendors are selling monitor for alone. It pays to buy bundle even though I have access to an Eye One Pro and an Optix XR, both of which are compatible. NEC no longer makes monitors with polarizer coating on monitor which the 2490 and earlier 2690 had, because the vendor stopped making it.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=542187&is=REG http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=542186&is=REG
The LaCie is a .27 pixel pitch, S-PVA monitor, which supposedly gets better blacks, while the IPS monitors have less off-axis viewing angle shift. Likely does not matter as who looks at monitors off-axis when working? This monitor has USB ports, audio and other ports I would not use.
Current pricing seems competitive, plus free shipping on the one with and without the puck.
This company makes nice stuff. They have a customer service reputation less stellar than NEC. Not sure their software will work with off shelf Eye One Pro or Optix. I’ve inquired at company website.
p.1 #2 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Can't speak for the 2690, but I received my 2490 last week and I'm loving it completely. Calibrated with a Spyder3 and SVII software, seems to be spot on. Haven't tried printing anything yet though.
I don't think you would notice the pixel pitch making that much of a difference on the NEC.
:EDIT: If you already have a calibrator, you can buy the monitor and the software separately. I would definitely go with the SV software though, it seems better to use with the internal LUT than the calibrators software.
p.1 #3 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Well I can say that the NEC 2690 WUXi2 combined with their high gamut puck and spectra view offers incredible results. I wouldn't want anything else. Pick it up, you will love it. I use this monitor for a lot of work related stuff, so not only graphics, a lot of text and it's fine on my eyes.
p.1 #4 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
I've owned 2 2690's for a year or so ... both perfect. I am very happy with my monitor to print matching. I use an Eye-One Photo SG system + Spectraview II to cabibrate the monitor and create custom paper profiles.
p.1 #5 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Thanks FM folks. Calibrating aRGB users appear satisfied with NEC last couple years.
B&H has monitor alone @ $1,120. If I add $100 for software, that's $1,220.
They are offering the monitor, Spectraview II software, and colorimeter puck for $1,280. That means puck only costs $60 in the kit bundle. Seems worth it to not borrow one from other users at work.
I was concerned .287 pixel pitch might not appear as sharp as .27, but I don't know a hoot about this stuff. I just want to calibrate and use it!
p.1 #6 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Buy the SV package ... you will want the freedom to be able to recalibrate at any time. Pixel size is not meaningful ... but, 26" vs 24" is meaningful. 26" is noticeably nicer. I worked for a while in dual monitor mode with a 24" and 26" NEC on my system.
p.1 #8 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
J Rabin wrote:
Okie dokey. Can't turn down FM user advice.
Sounds like I'm going for the 2690 WUXi2 with the puck. B&H has the special, and now free shipping. Thanks
p.1 #9 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
We just bought a NEC 2690 wuxi2 after telling the expert sales person that we did not want a monitor that glowed in the dark, as did the MAC Cinema display, and he assured us that this was a great display. Meanwhile he could not actually show it operating in the dark as his office did not cater for dark. So we bought it and guess what. Well what dummies we are. It is at least as bright in the dark as the MAC Cinema display, completely useless to us. We explained that we wanted it for photo work and for movies and games. We also pointed to the lack of black detail in a photo he used for a demand he said he had edited it out as it was the effect he wanted.
Movies and games are a waste of on this time unless you like doing this with the lights on. Also, we use both DVI-D and VGA and although the DVID is ok the VGA has heaps of horizontal lines moving all over the screen as the picture moves around in a game and we can not tune this out. We have tried all of the controls including the advanced controls and are completely mystified as to how a pro photographer could deal with detail in black on these sorts of monitors. They pack it in at something that looks like an 18% grey card in a dark room. Any advice appreciated. Very difficult to believe that any one who uses these is ever interested in working in the shadows. This is either going back or onto the second hand market. I am not sure what the alternative is but these come no where near the black levels of a CRT. Perhaps there is a market for Plasma monitors. Help appreciated. Thanks
p.1 #10 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
esotericxa:
I have a 2490WUXi, however I feel most of my observations will apply.
Any LCD, no matter which one you ask for, is not going to have blacks like a CRT or plasma. Your comments about "loss of black detail" and "useless" are completely off the mark, however, unless your unit is grossly misadjusted or miscalibrated.
Despite the fact that black isn't as black as we'd like, there is no problem with black detail on these screens. That's the whole point of the fancy LUT and high price tag. It's an 8-bit display, just like all other DVI-connected displays, and in monitor tests I can see all 8-bits of information. Yes, I can see the difference between a grey level of 0 and 1, also 254 and 255. Please explain what detail there is to be gained? Sure it would be nicer if black was blacker, but all of the colours are there. This level of performance is not present on many, many LCDs.
Furthermore, are you 100% certain that you are using minimum backlight intensity when evaluating the "dark room" usefulness of the display? The 2490/2690/3090 have a complicated OSD which doesn't always tell you exactly how your settings affect what the unit is doing. There are many settings there which lower contrast and may adjust the LUT *or* backlight intensity when making adjustments. There are many factors affecting this - colorcomp on or off, autoluminance on or off, auto-brightness on or off, calibrated mode or not, setting SV to tune for max contrast or ultimate grey tracking etc...etc...
It is also possible that you have a defective unit with an unacceptable level of backlight bleed. You should use your colorimeter to measure your black level and/or post your black/white level, contrast readings and correction curves. If you don't have SpectraView and a colorimeter, I suggest that if you are a picky user you should go acquire them and learn how to properly use them.
I had no intention of letting go of my Sony GDM-F520 CRTs for years to come, but stumbled into a one-in-a-lifetime deal on a 2490 about 6 months ago. The larger dot pitch, inter-pixel spacing and pale blacks took some getting used to, but the power, desk real estate recovered, wide screen aspect ratio, perfect calibration (better than my DTP-94 and videocard LUT), geometry and sharpness didn't. I love my 2490 but like everyone else I do wish blacks could be blacker.
p.1 #11 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Thanks calemeon for taking the time.
Yep I had come to the conclusiion that all of the levels are visible but that you need to be working in enough light to stop one seeing the glowing effect. But if you do see the glowing effect, you can not work with it really.
However, the VGA horizontal artifacts are very strong and not subtle at all. So we suspect that this is a fault. We will test some more VGA sources such as the MAC DVI to VGA cable and look at some photos but the Xbox works on every thing else via VGA without artifacts.
Any ideas on how to tune this? We found two items that appeared to apply but they could not fix this.
Glad you have confirmed the view about the blacks. It is not often mentioned or acknowledged, and actually, Not being an expert, the concept of working with detail in t he shadows "actually while in a dark room" gives one a great feeling of confidence without having to translate what you will edit with the lights on to what you will see as a video film or whatever as a finished product with the lights off.
You also appear to be mentioning controls I have not seen listed in the book. although I have found the advanced mode. This is not a spectraview certified item, is that just a certification or is there some real difference. I was told not. Also how does one tell if it has a hardware calibration capability or not? Finally every one keeps talking about luminance but the display OSD says Brightness, i assume this is the same setting...?
Also, where does on get training on calibration and monitor controls. This whole area of light and colour is of course very complex
Thanks again.
p.1 #12 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Oops, getting there, solved the VGA problem, lower resolution and no artifacts, VGA needs good sheilding at high res which means high frequency and so normal xbox vga cables do not work well at high res. this has helped a lot.
p.1 #13 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
I tried two 2690wuxi2's and also was not happy with the screen glow and light blacks even after calibration and black level tweaking. I had assumed that this was just a trait of the IPS screen but after doing some searching I found some other complaints that mostly pointed to the lack of a polarizer in the new model. I noticed the glow looking straight ahead and not just when off angle. This was after calibration to the photo target and tweaking settings like black level and color comp. It was very noticeable and distracting when using it side by side with my PVA Samsung 215tw.
Also found similar complaints here and the person who made the last comment solved his problem by exchanging his for the older model: http://douglaslevere.com/blog/?p=159
I decided to save the $ and just stick with the Samsung for now but I haven't heard any complaints about the 2490 so I am thinking about trying one out sometime in the future.
p.1 #16 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Well, I started this thread. Our IT people at work showed me on NEC website here: http://www.necdisplay.com/supportcenter/monitors/spectraview2/faq/#LCD2690WUXi_and_LCD2690WUXi2_Specific_Questions
that the 2490, early 2690 model used the polarizer, but the vendor making them for NEC stopped doing so. Thus, the 2690 WUXi2 does not have. But, since it is mostly related to off-axis viewing, that does not affect me.
I am sure I can manage the blacks for matching screen to inkjet or service bureau printing.
Jack
p.1 #17 · Purch experiences w/ NEC 2690 NEC2690WUXi2 or Lacie 324
Is the Lacie 324 outdated at this point? It's an S-PVA Panel, but the color gamut is great on this monitor. Was rated as one of the best monitors under $1K by Will Crocket at Smartshooter. Still making a final decision between this monitor and the NEX 2490WUXI2
