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Which Monitor

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Sorry to bother this forum with a monitor question but this, I think, is where the most knowledgable folks hang out.

My Eizo 301W is near the end of its life - it's developed darkening on one side and a color cast. What should I replace it with? I assume another Eizo but which one?
 

gazwas

Active member
NEC or Eizo, both are of equal quality.

NEC are discounting many of their Spectraview monitors (UK) at the moment so possibly there might be a refresh coming so worth checking.
 

stngoldberg

Well-known member
I just bough the EIZO ColorEdge CG276-self calibrating with its own built in color calibrating instrument. Awesome is an over used adjective-but not in this case-got a good deal from capture integration
Stanley
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
I would look at both the 27" and 30 NEC's with Spectraview software.

I have both a 2690 (older 26") and the 3090 (older version of the 30"). Both are excellent monitors and the profiling process is excellent with NEC software.

The monitor that seesm to get the most conversation is the newer 27" NEC. I have wanted to replace my 26" with this version .

One feature of the NEC's (not sure on Ezio) is that they all feature a rotation base so you can rotate the monitor 90 degrees., so if you work on web stuff a lot or portrait images it's a nice feature.

Paul Caldwell
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Sorry to bother this forum with a monitor question but this, I think, is where the most knowledgable folks hang out.

My Eizo 301W is near the end of its life - it's developed darkening on one side and a color cast. What should I replace it with? I assume another Eizo but which one?
Have you checked with Eizo on a repair/replacement? Depending on the issue it may be a silly endeavor or a no brainer.

If properly cared for their warranty is 5 years.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
NEC or Eizo, both are of equal quality.
I'd agree that both are of excellent quality. Not sure I agree they are of "equal" quality. Anytime I've run my gamut of abuse tests (high-gamut long gradients at primary angles, adding grain to near saturated gamut colors and looking if it is visible to the eye, starting a level ramp at 0 directly on top of a continuous black bar and seeing where detail becomes apparent etc) the Eizo is the only one that performs flawlessly.

I've not seen every NEC, but I've seen some of their best.

An entirely separate argument of course is whether any of the differences I've noticed will matter in day to day use. But if you're just asking what the best monitor is, I stick to my assertion that it's an Eizo every time.

Bias alert: we are Eizo dealers and not NEC dealers (though that is by choice and largely predicated on the above opinion).
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
One feature of the NEC's (not sure on Ezio) is that they all feature a rotation base so you can rotate the monitor 90 degrees., so if you work on web stuff a lot or portrait images it's a nice feature.
Most (maybe all) of the current Eizo line has a similar built-in rotation feature.
 

gazwas

Active member
I've not seen every NEC, but I've seen some of their best.
As far as I'm aware both monitors now use the same panels and the only difference will be the software they run.

I'm sure you have seen these differences Doug but I've seen test reports (reviews) that suggest the NEC monitors perform better that the Eizo so I'd say its all swings and roundabout at this level.

However, this is based on European Spectraview monitors designated "Reference" that are hand picked from the cream of the crop of the standard screens for colour gamut and uniformity. I don't think the US gets these screens and get standard multi syncs bundled with spectraview II software.
 

Jeffg53

Member
My understanding is that NEC monitors in Australia are inferior to Eizo. That came from a dealer who sells both.

Quato, from what I have been told, are up there with Eizo but they seem to get little press, and I don't understand why.
 

fotoflood

New member
My understanding is that NEC monitors in Australia are inferior to Eizo. That came from a dealer who sells both.

Quato, from what I have been told, are up there with Eizo but they seem to get little press, and I don't understand why.
I've owned both and now prefer NEC. IMHO: No reason to spend the extra $$$$

Probably the dealer who sells both makes more margin on the Eizo. Just sayin'
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
This is an interesting question and just at the right time for us. We have an NEC P221W which has a color cast left to right on the screen. My friends bought in the UK has the same thing. We sent it back and got another with the same problem and NEC told us that they would not replace the screens again, if we wanted even coloring we needed the spectraview but they wouldn't warranty those either against colour or brightness casts across the screen. These are the US versions that are sold here, not the EU. The EU ones are tested for uniformity before selling with the spectraview label. I now have the choice to either buy a European spectraview and hope that it is ok and doesn't develop an issue due to the shipping as returns would be a nightmare or man up and pay the price for an Eizo. We are checking now with Eizo supplier here whether they will accept returns for uniformity issues on their CG line. It is however about double the price of an European NEC Spectra and that is a very big difference, enough even to think about paying import fees and shipping.
 

gazwas

Active member
It is however about double the price of an European NEC Spectra and that is a very big difference, enough even to think about paying import fees and shipping.
Thats weird as NEC Spectraview Reference and Eizo ColorEdge top of the line 27" monitors are about the same price in the UK?

NEC £1319
Eizo £1397
 

wryphotography

New member
I use a Dell u2711, a fantastic monitor for the cash. can now be had for 600-700 bucks.

It came pretty closely calibrated from the factory. Still calibrated it with an eye one, I couldn't be happier, the prints match perfectly.
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
So I got a call back from the dealer today. NEC will not warranty their screens for color/brightness shifts across the panel. Including the Spectraview screens. Eizo have just come out with a new trio of 'pro' panels, the only one where they will warranty the screen for this problem is the new CG line, 24" or larger and prices starting at scary amounts.

How hard can it be to make a screen without a colour shift? I didn't realise the industry was so pathetic at present.
 

hcubell

Well-known member
So I got a call back from the dealer today. NEC will not warranty their screens for color/brightness shifts across the panel. Including the Spectraview screens. Eizo have just come out with a new trio of 'pro' panels, the only one where they will warranty the screen for this problem is the new CG line, 24" or larger and prices starting at scary amounts.

How hard can it be to make a screen without a colour shift? I didn't realise the industry was so pathetic at present.
I agree about the lack of quality control with respect to color/brightness shifts over the screen. However, my experience with NEC on warranty issues in the US has been exceptional. I purchased the NEC 2690WUXI about 4 years ago. About 2 years later, there were noticeable color shifts from one end of the screen to the other. NEC replaced the monitor with a refurbished 2690WUXI. Two years later, the replacement 2690WUXI developed color/brightness shift issues. I emailed NEC a screen grab of the issue and they replaced the replacement 2690WUXI with a refurbished PA271W unit, again on warranty. The PA271W seems to be performing admirably so far. The Spectraview software is excellent. Very easy to calibrate and profile.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
:thumbs: on the PA271W. I use a Colormunki and Spectraview software for calibration and it's a great monitor. I use it alongside my Cinema 30in and as Wayne mentioned you need the Apple $99 display adapter if you are using something like a recent dual/triple port Radeon card otherwise you won't get full resolution.

I have no complaints. I got a refurb from NEC at an embarrassingly low price and I'm very very happy with it.
 
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