BenQ RL2460HT 24" Gaming Monitor Review

[AkG]

The all new $288 BenQ RL2460HT isn’t your average 1080P monitor, not is it meant for the average consumer. Rather than take the usual 'everyman' approach where a monitor's design is meant to appeal to as broad a consumer base as possible the BenQ RL2460HT has been designed with laser-like intensity towards satisfying the needs of budget-focused PC gamers.

There’s a distinction to make between a typical gamer and someone who needs the absolute best gear money can buy. While BenQ turned to demanding professional gamers when designing their newest purpose-built monitor, its ultimate audience doesn’t have thousands to spend on a PC / display upgrade. So the RL2460HT may be classified as a “gaming” class product but it doesn’t have an extreme premium attached to it.

BenQ didn’t just want to throw a bunch of features at the wall to see what stuck with the RL2460HT’s intended market. So what did they create? A low lag, ultra quick panel that may not support some of the more advanced technologies like G-SYNC and 3D Vision but it still offers plenty of features to enhance the overall gameplay experience.

With gamers clearly targeted yet facing a pricing cap, BenQ has actually taken some decisions which may sound odd. In order to allow the RL2460HT to display crystal clear, lag free images at all times they have opted for seemingly unimpressive 60Hz TN panel that only has a resolution of 1920x1080. That’s right; 120Hz has been kicked to the curb. This alone is sure to exclude anyone who takes color fidelity and refresh rates seriously. However the used a top-shelf TN panel backstopped with enhanced electronics, resulting in an impressive 1ms response time and a virtual elimination of input lag.

Amongst their conversations with professionals like JWong, Fear, Grubby, and Moho, one other crucial detail came to light. While many manufactures simply use their generic On Screen Display and maybe add in one or two special features to make it 'unique' gamers want something more when money and pride are on the line. To this end BenQ have given the RL2460HT physical buttons rather than the sometimes-unresponsive capacitive alternatives and a rather unique OSD that boasts nine predefined modes and three additional slots for custom profiles.

These features in combination with an asking price that is much more palatable than 120-144Hz monitors like ASUS' VG series or PLS based versions of Samsung SyncMaster series are what BenQ are counting on to make the RL2460HT a hit. If they can achieve their goals this may be the next monitor of choice of gamers who either need a portable LAN companion or just want an affordable solution that gives an edge over the competition.

 

[AkG]

A Closer Look at the BenQ RL2460HT

A Closer Look at the BenQ RL2460HT

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Unlike most gaming orientated monitors, BenQ has taken a more conservative approach to the overall design of the RL2460HT. With the exception of the red line encircling the stand’s connection to its base this is an entirely matte black monitor without any design flourishes.

Underneath that simplistic exterior is 16:9, 1920x1080 TN panel that is extremely responsive given its 60Hz nature since the response time has been kept to 1ms GTG and 5ms for a screen full refresh. Unfortunately it is still a 60Hz panel (16.66ms) and as such cannot fully take advantages of the responsive nature of the electronic internals like it could if it had been 120Hz (8.3ms) or 144Hz (6.94ms) panel.

BenQ seems to have also cut some costs on backlighting since the RL2460HT uses standard LEDs rather than the newer GBr-LED or even W-LED technology. This will have an understandably negative impact upon color fidelity.

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When you first look at this monitor, there won’t be an irrational urge to force feed it a sandwich. In fact words like robust quickly spring to mind instead of the typical waifish descriptors that best fit most TN based monitors. Instead of going with the usual “thin is better” approach, BenQ has decided to go with a thicker housing which enhances cooling potential for their upgraded internal components. It’s good to see a manufacturer ignoring simple mass market trends in an effort to build the best product possible for their intended market.

To help reinforce the idea of the RL2460HT being targeted towards gamers, its base has some great abilities. It offers 110mm of height adjustment, 20° of tilt (+5° to -15°), excellent swivel capabilities and also portrait mode. This is actually more than its competitors offer.

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This is nearly everything you could want in a gaming orientated monitor's stand, but like most modern monitors consumers will have to take care in transition to and from portrait mode. As with many similar designs, this panel will scrape along its bottom right corner unless you first tilt it all the way back and raise it to full height extension before trying to change orientation.

Another interesting addition is the measurements alongside the adjustment arm. We’re not quite sure why someone would need these on a regular basis but they’re quite handy for resetting heights in those rare instances when you need to remember where the optimal height was.

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While we may welcome a throwback design it’s not that easy to overlook the massive 1” bezel thickness. It’s simply massive and seems to be more at home on a monitor out of 2006 rather than one that has been created in a time when multi screen configurations are common.

The last thing most gamers want is ambient reflections negatively impacting their reaction times so BenQ added an aggressive anti-glare is a matte coating. This does an admirable job at reducing iterant light reflections and even in brightly lit rooms the impact reflections have on image clarity is minor. Unfortunately, this coating is very noticeable and is best described as a 'light frosting' which greatly impacts image clarity. Compared to modern anti-glare coatings the RL2460HT seems to be a touch dated.

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BenQ’s use of actual physical buttons instead of touch based capacitive sensors is a revelation which bucks the current trend of putting misplaced design etiquette before functionality. These buttons simply respond better and have a very well-balanced tactile feel.

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In the input category, the RL2460HTprovides one dual-link DVI, two HDMIs, and even one analog D-Sub port but lacks DisplayPort connectivity. As an added benefit it also comes with 3.5mm in / out audio jacks for pass-through purposes.

 

[AkG]

Menu Layout & Observations

Menu Layout & Observations

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BenQ RL2460HT's On Screen Display is one of the most user-friendly designs we have seen in a sub $300 monitor. Even though it is laid out in a very intuitive and easy to understand manner it does boast a wealth of features specifically designed for improving the customers gaming experience. Equally important, the OSD may be orientated towards professional PC gaming, the host of features it does have will make setup and configuration very easy for even novice consumers.

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Much like Dell, the BenQ RL2460HT features a quick access menu. Unlike Dell which has a more general purpose quick access menu, the RL2460HT's quick access menu is focused solely on gaming. This list consists of four main options: Input Selection, Black eQualizer, Picture Mode and Menu. The Input and Picture mode options are self-explanatory and allow you quickly choose between the various input and previously configured profiles. The Menu is also obvious in what it does as it allows you to gain access to the main On Screen Display's Menu.

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The Black eQualizer option does however require a bit of explanation. This feature increases or decreases the black levels of images displayed but does so without changing white levels. Until you have fully configured the RL2460HT we recommend leaving this option alone, but it can help increase perceived black levels in games and as such having quick access to it to modify this level on a game by game basis is a nice bonus.

Because you can create up to three custom profiles <i>and</i> the RL2460HT comes with <i>nine</i> default color profiles most consumers will never need to go beyond this quick access menu. If you do need to configure something not listed - or during initial setup and configuration - accessing the main menu is literally as simple as pressing the Menu option in the quick access menu. Doing so will open up the full On Screen Display which has been laid out in a very easy to understand manner. This main OSD uses easy to understand and common language for its top level menu options. For example, the Picture section deals with the common picture configuration options while the Picture Advanced is for advanced features. This in combination with the fact that the most used adjustment features are only a button or two away and not hidden in sub, sub-menus makes for a very quick to use OSD.

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The only issues anyone will have with this OSD is the fact that it has been designed with PC Gaming in mind and as such more advanced features like fine grain gamma correction are missing. BenQ may include five preset gamma options but this is no excuse for not including true fine grain gamma correction. Equally unfortunate is not every pre-set allows for total control over all the features included.

On the positive side BenQ has included twelve presets and the ability to create and label three entirely custom profiles. These presets include Standard, Movie, Photo, sRGB, Eco, RTS 1, RTS 2, Fighting, and FPS. RTS 1 is a general purpose Real Time Strategy game profile whereas RTS 2 has been tweaked specifically for DOTA2. Also included are three 'Gamer' slots for your own custom game profiles. As an added bonus BenQ included the ability to reduce input lag - or what BenQ call 'Instant Mode' - which will also help create as perfect a gaming experience as can be expected from TN panels.

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Taken as a while the RL2460HT may be missing advanced features like 6-axis color correction, a built-in energy meter, and even true gamma correction but it does make up for it with a vast array of game related options.

 

[AkG]

Image Quality (Uniformity / Panel & Gamma Performance)

Image Quality (Uniformity / Panel & Gamma Performance)

Calibrated Settings

Please remember that the settings below have been calibrated for our specific environment and your viewing conditions may differ from ours.


Mode Used: Factory Default "Standard Mode"

Notes:
- All tests done at default settings at 120 cd/m2.
- Unless otherwise noted, the tests were carried out via DVI


With most monitors, 'Gaming' is code word for poor panel quality and abysmal color fidelity. This is why we were pleasantly surprised by the RL2460HT and what it could do. It may never compete with IPS screens or even high end TN monitors like the Asus GV278H, but it is still a surprisingly capable monitor given its gaming-centric design and more affordable price tag.

There is however still a lot of room for improvement and you will be giving up a certain amount of non-gaming performance by choosing this TN based unit over a similarly priced IPS monitor. With an asking price of under $300 certain hard decisions had to be made by BenQ's engineers and every time it came down to either cutting gaming performance or features that other users may be looking for, the latter lost out. This means that if you are interested in a monitor which does equally well at image fidelity as it does gaming, look elsewhere since the RL2460HT will fall short.

On the positive side the default color settings for the standard profile was as close enough to be perfect that few will notice the normal issues associated with TN. The lack of factory calibration was readily apparent once we dialed things in but for a quick and easy starting point, we’ve seen far worse.

While the standard profile was quite good, the other eight presets varied from poor (the 'Fighting' mode) to excellent (sRGB mode) with little rhyme nor reason for their associated color profiles. If accuracy is important, you will want to stick to one profile and calibrate that one to ensure it is accurate at all times. Doing otherwise will result in a less than optimal viewing experience.

Believe it or not the BenQ RL2460HT's brightness setting was actually very reasonable at 143.8cd/m which is pretty close to our gold standard. Lowering it to 120cd/m2 or raising it to a maximum of 270cd/m2 to compensate for environmental lighting changes was extremely easy thanks to the user-friendly OSD and physical buttons.

Panel Uniformity

In a perfect world a screen’s brightness output would be equal throughout the entire panel. This is not a perfect world, but the lower the variation the less chances you will notice overly bright or dark sections on the screen. For the consumer LCD marketplace a variance of 10% is our gold standard but anything below 15% can be considered excellent as we doubt anyone will notice a -7.5 to +7.5 variation. A variation above 15% but below 24% can be considered adequate, but anything above this does not meet our basic minimum standards.

It is blatantly obvious where the LED backlight is located and how its location directly impacts panel uniformity. On the positive side a variance if 16% is not the absolute worst results we have seen from a 24" monitor and in fact this fairly average for TN panels. The relatively large 'dark zone' shouldn’t negatively impact gaming performance.

Panel Performance

In a perfect world a screen’s real world response rate would be so high that motion blur, ‘ghosting’, ‘reverse-ghosting’ would be a thing of the past. No matter how fast the action on screen all images would be represented in pristine condition similar in quality to a static image. This is not a perfect world, but the less amounts of blurring which occurs the less chances you will notice the issue in real world scenarios. While the panels response rate (ms) and and frame rate (Hz) can give a fairly rough idea of how much blurring to expect it is not the end all and be all.

To this end we have taken PRAD’s Pixel Persistence Analyzer ‘Streaky Pictures’ program and using a high speed camera captured exactly how much and what kind of motion blur you can expect from a given monitor.

Considering the RL2460HT’s pedigree and intended market, anything less than good results would have been disappointing given its supposed 1ms nature. By that same token it is not as good as you would expect. At the end of the day it still uses a 60Hz panel and no matter how fast the timing internals allow it to be, the panel is still going to be relatively 'slow' compared to 120-144Hz options. This means a certain amount of ghosting is going to be present. However, in this instance at least, the ghosting isn’t noticeable to the naked eye and it is only using high frames per second camera that it is becomes obvious.

Gamma Performance

Gamma correction is one of the hardest terms to explain. However, for our purposes the gamma correction of any electronics device is how bright or dark an image will be displayed on a screen.

All PC devices now use 2.20 gamma as the default. Any variance from this will result in an image being either underexposed which will create black crush and underexposed shadow detail or washed out with too little black level detail (aka being over-exposed).

While 2.20 is the gold standard, a minor deviation of 0.10 will in all likelihood never be noticed by anyone other than professional photographers. Higher levels of deflection however will be noticed by just about everyone.

It may not be a “perfect” 2.20 but 2.23 is close enough that we doubt many consumers will ever notice the difference. Considering other TN-based monitors have fallen well short of this benchmark, we can’t hold BenQ’s result against them.

 

[AkG]

Colour Saturation Levels / Default RGB Levels

Colour Saturation Levels

While there are numerous colors the human eye can’t “see”, the human color space confined to three primary colors and combinations thereof. To make things easier for manufactures (and not waste resources displaying colors we can’t see) a color space was mathematically described and while various models do exist, the CIE RGB color space is the de facto standard.

In the below image, the dark triangle which isn’t highlighted is the sRGB color space while the overall CIE color space is displayed as the background colors. Meanwhile, the white triangle with highlighted color represents the results of what a given monitor can display. No monitor can display the entire CIE color spectrum but a good monitor should be able to display the sRGB spectrum of possible colors as this is usually used as the standard for image encoding.

A monitor which uses the “wide color gamut” moniker can display more than the sRGB spectrum and is considered primarily for professional use. If a monitor cannot cover off the entire sRGB triangle, the resulting image will appear “off” to an observer. The end result is a picture displayed on the panel which won’t be as rich, vibrant or as correct as it should be.

Once again the RL2460HT will never be able to compete against similarly priced IPS displays in the color fidelity arena but these results should still be more than adequate for gaming scenarios. Games aren't known for their ultra wide color gamut requirements and the speed of this panel should more than make up for its limited color space. By the same token, based on these results we would be hesitant to recommend the RL2460HT for photo editing and general usage scenarios.

Default RGB Levels

An LCD or LCD LED backlit panel relies on accurately blending Red, Green and Blue pixel clusters to create an overall image so closer to each of these colours is to a “perfect” 100 output, the better and more accurate the default colors will be.

In this case, we have a low tolerance for anything less than perfection since any color shift can be noticeable even to untrained eyes and will require a color correction be applied at the software level to overcome a monitor’s stock output. We do however consider a minor variation of only a few points per color to be acceptable.

Much like with the default gamma setting, the default color profile (shown above) is more than adequate for its intended market niche. If it is not, either change the mode you are using (which will change the default RGB levels) until you find one that's more pleasing, or do what most professionals do: color calibrate it using a colorimeter.

 

[AkG]

Viewing Angles / Contrast Ratio / Power Consumption

Viewing Angles

<i>Unlike CRT displays, the manner in which LCD panels create an image can result in one large weakness: the image can lose contrast when viewed off angle. While we do not recommend watching an LCD at anything besides perfectly straight on, the reality is this cannot always be done.

To help give you a glimpse of what a panel will look like when seen from either above the horizontal or vertical plane we have taken pictures at fairly extreme angles. </i>

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The RL2460HT certainly doesn't have the widest viewing angles and if this is important to you, your money would be better spent on an IPS based alternative. Luckily, it still isn't necessary to be perfectly centered in front of the monitor since, unlike with other TN panels, slight positional changes won’t cause a drastic loss of contrast or image fidelity.

Severe degradations do however occur at moderate angles and only worsens as extreme angles. At off horizontal viewing angles there is a noticeable loss in color saturation whereas off-vertical viewing will result in a loss of contrast first.

Maximum Contrast Ratio

<i> While manufactures love to throw around “maximum” contrast ratios in the millions, the fact of the matter is that to get these high numbers they have to use "dynamic contrast" which—at best—results in overly optimistic specs. With DC turned off, the number of shades between purest white and blackest black a given monitor can display is usually in the low hundreds rather than the thousands.

The higher the contrast ratio, the better the monitor will display shades of dark and light. For IPS monitors, anything below 450:1 is unacceptable, with 500:1 or above considered optimal. For TN anything above 120:1 will be considered “good enough” for most consumers.</i>

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TN panels aren't known for excellent contrast abilities and once again we were not expecting much from the RL2460HT. While not as pleasant a surprise as the default color profile accuracy, we were expecting the RL2460HT to post a lot worse numbers than it did.

Power Consumption

<i>To obtain the maximum number we set the monitors brightness to 100% and the contrast to 100%. The Calibrated results are taken at 120 cd/m2 with the contrast set to the default level. </i>

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With a calibrated power consumption <i>lower</i> than that of a typical 60 Watt CCFL light bulb, the RL2460HT is one of the most frugal monitors we have come across.

 

[AkG]

Gaming & Movie Perforamnce

Gaming Performance

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Even with the limitations we discussed in the previous pages one thing remains clear: synthetic testing cannot tell you how a monitor will really work in games. Since the RL2460HT is purpose-built for gaming, we sat down for over 45 hours and put it to the test.

Simply put, we can’t think of many monitors in this price range that are its equal at gaming. Even excluding the multiple preconfigured modes (which actually work very well) the RL2460HT eats, breaths and <i>lives</i> for gaming. While it is only a 60Hz monitor it positively excels at it this task. If you cannot afford the massive buy0in cost of a G-SYNC or 144Hz supporting product, the RL2460HT should be on your short list

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For the most part images were crisp, clear and required almost no tweaking to look correct. While not perfect, the default gamma and color levels were more than good enough for nearly every game since most titles don’t utilize an overly wide color pallet. With that being said we do still recommend fine-tuning the RL2460HT to your liking before passing final judgment since it can be calibrated to an impressive degree.

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One of the main differentiators between the RL2460HT and its similarly priced competition is the combination of a 1ms response time and alongside a resolution of 1080P. While higher res monitors are readily available, 1080P makes hitting a consistent 60 frames per second perfectly achievable for most modern video cards so you won’t have to spend an absolute fortune to drive the thing to its maximum capacity.

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The amount of ghosting here is all but unnoticeable and more importantly, the BenQ RL2460HT is one of the most responsive 'budget' monitors we have ever tested. There was literally no discernible lag time between an input and its resulting action onscreen. Indeed, your mouse will likely be the bottleneck in this equation long before the monitor comes into play.

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It is only in either extremely fast paced games that the 60Hz nature of this monitor will be the bottleneck and only then if you are looking for it. The same holds true of the less than perfect gamma, as only in extremely dark titles will the slightly off nature of the default color profile become noticeable. In some cases this may be an advantage- such as during certain points in Batman Arkham Origins, but it may prove to be a distraction to purists.

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If your game of choice requires small details to be shown in razor sharp relief during every fast-paced sequence, look elsewhere. While it may be awesome in many respects, RL2460HT just can’t hope to match the onscreen fluidity exhibited with 120Hz panels, especially those which support NVIDIA’s G-SYNC. Then again, it’s also a fraction of those units’ cost…

Movie Performance

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Unlike the gaming performance results, the RL2460HT’s movie performance is more of a mixed bag. On the one hand its low latency can make for a very good user experience if your tastes run towards fast paced, action packed cinematography. The 16:9 format of the panel also ensures accurate pixel mapping without any stretching to fit native 16:9 video. These two factors certainly weight heavily in the RL2460HT's favor, but to be blunt it isn’t really all that great at displaying movies.

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The low contrast and lackluster color fidelity combine to make for a less than optimal viewing experience in most movies. The wide color pallet available in nearly all HD content is lost in translation which makes movies look either blown out or strangely muted rather than vibrant and lifelike.

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Large open scenes lose much of their punch from the lack of color gamut and dark scenes tend to lack definition, often suffering from black crush as different shades of black all meld together. Granted, some of these shortcomings can be overcome by judicious tweaking but the end result will always leave much to be desired.

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Even when these issues are corrected the RL2460HT just cannot provide the rich and awe inspiring impact that similarly priced IPS monitors can. A lot of this has to do with the large dot pitch that comes along with the lower resolution. Again, it’s important to remember that BenQ’s market isn’t videophiles so we can let some of these shortcomings slide.

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If your tastes run more towards fast paced anime rather than Arnie, these problems will be non-issues and the RL2460HT will provide a great viewing experience. The ultimate opinion will simply come down to your movie tastes and what you expect from a monitor in this category.

 

[AkG]

Non-Colorimeter Tweaking and Results

Non-Colorimeter Tweaking and Results

<i>In a perfect world either every monitor would come factory calibrated to perfection or every single consumer would own a decent colorimeter. We don’t live in such a world and as such most consumers simply use the old Mark 1 Mod 0 eyeball to fix any imperfections with the stock colors of their new monitor.

In order to gauge how easy this is to do for a given monitor we have included a new set of tests. These tests will be carried out before any of our standard tests and will consist of us using a combination of the free online LCD Monitor Test Images (found here LCD monitor test images) and then if necessary the free Hex2Bit Monitor Calibration Wizard (found here Hex2Bit - Software by Mike Walters). The goal of these tests is to not only gauge how easy it is to accurately calibrate a given monitor using only the onboard monitor tools, but to see how closely we can come to what a Spyder3 Elite can do. </i>

To obtain these results we did the following
- used “Standard” mode
- ensured dynamic contrast was off
- adjusted the brightness to 31 (which resulted in a 121.8 cd/m2)
- left Red to 100
- adjusted Green to 99
- left Blue at 100
- All other settings left to default levels

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The combination of physical buttons, an easy to use OSD, and a very good default color profile means that it will take you mere moments to correct the slightly off default color profile for the Standard or sRGB modes. Adjusting the gamma will take a bit longer through the video driver control panel since there isn't a setting for it within the OSD, but within a few minutes you can have a good looking image. To be blunt most people will not even need to adjust anything besides the brightness setting as the Standard and sRGB modes are almost as good as it gets.

The other profiles will require a concerted effort to correct, but once again the abilities of the RL2460HT make it as painless a process as you will find this side of the TN / IPS border. Luckily, you can save up to three custom profiles so creating RTS, fighting and FPS modes that are color accurate is not difficult.

 

[AkG]

Conclusion

Conclusion

We have all heard the now-stale adage that PC sales have been in a meteoric descent as of late but certain segments within this market continue to thrive. Gamers have long stood as a bulwark against global financial meltdowns and they have been fueling component sales in the search for the best equipment possible. Unfortunately, this has led to massive premiums being attached to most so-called premium “gaming” gear; look no further than the upwards spiral of GPU prices as of late for proof of that. BenQ looked at this situation and figured they could offer monitor that meets the elevated expectations of gamers while maintaining an affordable price point. For the most part, the RL2460HT fits that bill perfectly.

Up until now, we’ve been spoiled with advanced technologies like G-SYNC, AMD’s upcoming FreeSync, 3D Vision, 120Hz+ refresh rates and countless other features that are built to take gaming to the next level. The only problem is that monitors supporting them are so expensive; very few people will actually buy one. The RL2460HT may not have any of those fancy marketing bullet-points but its quick grey-to-grey response times provide a noticeable reduction of artifacts over similarly priced alternatives. Granted, the onscreen fluidity has no hope of matching 120Hz panels let alone the buttery smooth experience provided by G-SYNC but BenQ’s solution is certainly good enough for 99% of gamers. We also appreciated this monitor’s scaled down processing time which all but eliminated lag.

There’s no hiding the RL2460HT’s offering up certain image quality elements as sacrificial lambs in an effort to maximize features that appeal to gamers. This means TN technology has been used so we get all of its usual calling cards: a limited color space, low contrast ratios, reduced viewing angles and other limitations will all dissuade image quality junkies. However, unlike so many other low cost TN-based monitors, this one actually offers enough adjustment capabilities that a pretty decent color space can be achieved.

Features play a huge role here as well. For example, the Game Mode Loader with its associated S-Switch provides a quick and easy solution for ultra fast loading of profiles to the monitor. Having the ability to press a single button that loads game-specific colors, brightness settings and contrast will be a game changer for anyone that constantly finds themselves fiddling with the OSD between games.

The BenQ RL2460HT doesn’t promise to provide an amazingly accurate color profile, nor does it want to compete against its higher priced alternatives. Rather, this is a purpose-built gaming monitor that’s meant to provide an affordable yet seamless gameplay experience. It does exactly that while offering up a long list of features that the 1%ers may choose to ignore but the rest of us will appreciate.

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