BenQ EL2870U 28 inch HDR 4K Gaming Monitor | Optimized for Gaming with Fastest 1ms Response Time

BenQ 28 inch 4K HDR10 Monitor (EL2870U), UHD 3840x2160, FreeSync, 1ms Response Time, Eye-Care, Brightness Intelligence Plus, HDMI, DP, Built-in Speakers -Update- Something happened to the HDR, it suddenly stopped working and it looked like an old CRT with magnet damage. Let me know if anyone else had this issue but I returned it for now and got an LG 27uk650-w and I am very happy with it. -Disclaimer- First of all, the reviews on here are confusing as they are all grouped together, this is for the el2870u (28" 4k HDR). I have only used this for my Xbox One X and not PC (my PC is old and does not even have an HDMI output). -1st Impression- I bought this monitor for my new Xbox One X as it seemed to fit all the specs. My first impression is that the picture is very clear but also very bright. So bright in fact that the colors looked a little washed out until I calibrated the brightness and contrast as well as the other settings (which are posted at the end). With the proper settings, I was impressed by the color and contrast despite being a TN panel with LED backlighting. -HDR- Yes it supports HDR10, but not it is not true HDR. It is barely a third of the required brightness to qualify for true HDR but it still made most games look better. My biggest complaint is that when an HDR source is detected, it goes into either HDR or Cinema HDR mode and you cannot adjust any of the settings. Without an HDR source, these two modes emulate HDR but I advise avoiding them and just using your own custom settings. On the Xbox One X, HDR was a hit or miss, most games looked great but some were washed out or too bright. There are some known HDR issues with certain games so I think that it is probably not the monitors fault. Despite being not true HDR, the games with working HDR looked fantastic and noticeably better with it on. -Construction- I was a little surprised how heavy and solid it felt when I first took it out of the box. The stand is pretty sturdy and doesnt really wobble but it is not very customizable. All you can do is tilt it up and down but luckily it can be mounted to a 3rd party stand. The buttons are mounted on the bottom and also feel very sturdy. The bezels are pretty thick and not ideal for more than one monitor setups. -Verdict- Pretty good value for what you get: A very clear 4K picture, great color and pretty good contrast once the settings have been adjusted, and hit or miss HDR depending on the game. This is a solid 4 star monitor but I got it during a BenQ promotion for 15% off which put it above the other monitors at that price point so that is why I gave it 5 stars. Thanks for reading my novel, a lack of reviews prompted me to write it. -Settings- The following settings are what I was using at the time of the review that look pretty good on my One X: - Mode: User - Brightness: 20 - Contrast: 56 - Sharpness: 5 - Gamma: 5 - Color Temp: Normal - Hue: 50 - Saturation: 65 - Everything Else: Default

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I bought this monitor exactly a week ago. Not counting today, the monitor has been working great! Its bright and the colors are decent.. although maybe Ill tinker with some of those settings soon. The 4k resolution is a grand upgrade from 1080p. Having 4 times the real estate is extremely helpful when programming, modeling, gaming, etc. The issue I have run into today is that the screen is flickering and turning off A LOT. I do not know if this issue is with the monitor, or with the (also brand new) display port cable. I have updated the monitor driver, restarted my computer, unplugged/replugged in the display port cable.. and the problem persist. I now have switched to HDMI and so far, there isnt any flickering or turning off. Its only been 15 mins but with how it was flickering/shutting off every few seconds.. this is a success. Im curious is this monitor has issues using the display port in general or if my display port cable is defective. Hopefully there isnt a more serious problem with the monitor. Ill update this review if/when anything changes. EDIT: Its now been a month and using HDMI seems to work better but I still get the issue where the screen goes black randomly as if its turning off, then comes back on. Its a strange issue but as long as its not happening at a high rate then I guess Ill survive. Id be iffy about buying another monitor from BenQ due to this weird issue though.

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I love everything about this monitor except what I bought it for. HDR will not work. Cannot stream 4K or HDR from Vudu. Cannot stream 4k HDR from Netflix or Amazon Prime. Ive tried 3 different Displayport 1.4 cables to rule them out. I have a GTX 1080 which i know has dispalyport 1.4. BenQs website and several reviews say the monitor is comes with Displayport 1.4 connection, but other reviews say its only Displayport 1.2, which cant handle the data needed for HDR. I can turn HDR on in Windows 10, but the selection to stream in HDR is grayed out and cannot be turned on. I dont know if its a Windows problem or BenQ is lying about its Displayport capability or its HDR capabilities. Other than that....its a nice monitor. Update 2-10-19: Turns out there was a Windows 10 update that completely screwed up HDR streaming. Its become an issue for a lot of people. And Vudu doesnt support HDR or 4K to desktops. Games that are HDR capable WILL display proper 4K HDR.

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As usual, this BenQ model is a solid investment, especially for the low price. Quick break-down. Pros: Nice simple design Great color / contrast / black levels 4k looks great paired with Xbox One X Price is rather alluring for the specs. 1ms response, UHD, solid 28" matte screen Enables FreeSync on Xbox One X Cons: Shotty BenQ control panel with usual lack of remote Extremely poor speakers, dont even try it lol! Another usual suspect. HDR10 Looks terrible gaming on Xbox One X - details below Only 60hz - even though console is locked at 60fps, future proofing a bit would be nice, 144hz preferred In short, this monitor is a great value if you want one in this tempting price range. Mine has had zero issues other than the terrible HDR10. With the HDR turned on both monitor and console, even on newer xbox one games, the colors get extremely washed, contrast gets out of whack. And it limits your adjustments on the monitor with it on as well so you can only do so much correcting. Two presets are allowed. HDR10 and HDR10 Cinema. The first is a bright washed out mess, and the latter is a dark shadowy washed out mess. So I just dont even bother after days of trying to dial everything in. Even splured on a high end 4ft. Ocean HDMI cable just to make sure that wasnt the culprit. Simply used on a Standard setting with your own tweaks, it looks pretty dang good though so I cant really complain. You will enjoy it.

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