Nixeus VUE 30: 30" 2560x1600 IPS Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen on August 20, 2013 6:00 AM ESTIt seems that the larger the panel on a display I review, the brighter the display can get. I always expect the opposite, as lighting more screen would take more and more power. So far, that has not been the case. The VUE 30 is plenty bright, but not as blindingly bright as many other large displays. When I crank the brightness to maximum I measure 277 cd/m2 of brightness on a pure white screen. Moving the brightness to minimum drops this down to 77 cd/m2, which is below the 80 cd/m2 I like the minimum to fall under. This should provide plenty of range for most users.
With a black screen, we see a black level of 0.126 cd/m2 with the backlight at the minimum level. With the backlight to maximum this jumps up to 0.45 cd/m2. This level is very much in line with other computer monitors. I won’t fault Nixeus for this, but I’m always surprised at the level of black that is accepted with PC monitors that isn’t acceptable with TVs. Modern plasma displays can produce black levels of 0.006 cd/m2 under the same test conditions, and modern LCDs can hit 0.05 cd/m2 as well. I understand why plasma isn’t used for a PC display, but I’d like to see all vendors work on their black levels going forward. Basically, this panel seems similar to the 30" IPS displays we tested over five years ago; it's just half the price now.
These numbers provide us with a contrast ratio of just 610:1 on average. This falls well behind the Dell U3014 and ASUS PQ321Q displays, which are the most recently reviewed 30”+ displays I have data for. Those both cost a lot more, but being close to 600:1 is a disappointment to me.
With those basic measures out of the way, it was time to see how accurate the VUE 30 is.
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ezridah - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - link
I saw that you are doing one of the 27" ones. Is it the Glass Panel Pro or the Zero-G?cheinonen - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - link
The Zero-G. I believe I'll be getting the Glass Panel Pro as well, though.SeanFL - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
I bought the higher end 27" monoprice monitor and find it phenomenal. Looks amazing.Daniel Egger - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - link
I stopped reading at CCFL...piklar - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
Good to see another 30" offering out there for reasonable price. Id take a Crossover 30Q5 Pro any day over this for a lot less that cost of this as well, might be a bare bones 30" but least it has 5Ms response times making it far more suitable for gaming..cheinonen - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
How is the response time measured? Unless they're measured using the same method, it's really hard to compare one measurement to another due to all the factors possibly involved in the measurement.bznotins - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
Still rocking my 3007WFP from *2006*. Love that monitor, best spend I ever made on a PC component. It's spanned numerous upgrades and keeps trucking. No perceptible input lag. No dead pixels.It has only one input (DL DVI) and no OSD. I wish more monitor manufacturers would do this today -- focus entirely on the panel and leave the scaling/processing hardware out.
I'm giving one of those Korean 27" monitors a try and I'm happy to see that they're just as utilitarian as the Dell. Worried about QC, but for $250 it's worth a try.
AnnonymousCoward - Thursday, August 22, 2013 - link
And sadly, there's been no significant improvement in 7 years and counting.Doomtomb - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
$730 isn't that cheap. We've already had $500 30" 2560x1600 IPS imports from Korea for a while now. Wake me when it's sub $400.Zap - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
"Power connects through a power brick to the bottom of the unit."Looks as if it uses a normal power cable.