X35 flickering(Acer X35 monitor)

Delta_Payne

SopaConleche said:

I was able to easily reproduce the vertical (not horizontal like old TVs) scanline issue Delta_Payne reported with that image. I loaded the image and zoomed in, at 100% the entire page got scanlines including the the taskbar. If I kept zooming in they vanished, zoomed out it vanished. Only at exact 100%.

I tried loading the image on its own with no UI elements and the same issue occurred at exactly 100%. When UI elements are present scrolling up/down does not remove the scanlines.

While at 100% width and 100% image size, resizing the height of the browser window caused scan lines to appear/vanish at varying heights however if less than half height no scanlines. My guess is in games with flickering this condition is being hit moment to moment causing a flicker effect but I can't be sure of it. I also tried turning off G-sync but that did not affect it.

Max refresh rate: 144hz
Mode: G-sync on
Format 10bpc RGB444-sRGB
Range: full
EOTF: SDR-sRGB

Image in question: https://i.imgur.com/JiTDI0G.jpg

Acer Support: can you confirm that you've tested this image under the conditions and were able or unable to reproduce the issue. Seeing how it's occurring in a static jpg with G-sync turned off, I'm not hopeful that this is an Nvidia driver issue, or something that will only happen on "some games". I'm thinking I will need a definitive firmware fix before my return window.

This is a really expensive monitor and I want to like it but ultimately I may just wait another year and hope someone makes a good high refresh HDR ultrawide without flickering/vertical scanline issues.

Did you try to open the OSD Menu of the Monitor when you have the scanlines from the image? With the PG35VQ they disappear when i open it.

Aldur67

SopaConleche said:

I was able to easily reproduce the vertical (not horizontal like old TVs) scanline issue Delta_Payne reported with that image. I loaded the image and zoomed in, at 100% the entire page got scanlines including the the taskbar. If I kept zooming in they vanished, zoomed out it vanished. Only at exact 100%.

I tried loading the image on its own with no UI elements and the same issue occurred at exactly 100%. When UI elements are present scrolling up/down does not remove the scanlines.

While at 100% width and 100% image size, resizing the height of the browser window caused scan lines to appear/vanish at varying heights however if less than half height no scanlines. My guess is in games with flickering this condition is being hit moment to moment causing a flicker effect but I can't be sure of it. I also tried turning off G-sync but that did not affect it.

Max refresh rate: 144hz
Mode: G-sync on
Format 10bpc RGB444-sRGB
Range: full
EOTF: SDR-sRGB

Image in question: https://i.imgur.com/JiTDI0G.jpg

Acer Support: can you confirm that you've tested this image under the conditions and were able or unable to reproduce the issue. Seeing how it's occurring in a static jpg with G-sync turned off, I'm not hopeful that this is an Nvidia driver issue, or something that will only happen on "some games". I'm thinking I will need a definitive firmware fix before my return window.

This is a really expensive monitor and I want to like it but ultimately I may just wait another year and hope someone makes a good high refresh HDR ultrawide without flickering/vertical scanline issues.

For the life of me, I can't get the scan lines to appear with this image. I'm zooming in to 100% and I see no change in the icons on my taskbar. You just need to zoom in on the image, right? Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

SopaConleche

Yeah I simply made the image 100%, one note is chrome auto-shrunk it so you may have to click to get the right "size". So chrome itself was full screen, image was loaded within chrome at 100%. It also worked on "full screen" (f11 key) mode on chrome.

The effect is actually relatively subtle I only notice it on the selected/grey taskbar icon for example (darker background can't really see it). If I scroll up/down while holding ctrl to get the zoom to flip I can recreate a flicker effect using it, but at a standstill I actually have to put my face closer to the screen to realize anything is "off", at normal sitting distance it's hard to tell.

If I leave it at 100% and ask someone "what's wrong" they'd likely say nothing. My interest in the scan-line issue is actually more due to me thinking this is relating to flickering. As quickly flipping between 90-100% makes things look like it's flickering (only the grey taskbar item, everything else is too subtle to make a real difference).

As for the OSD question, it had no effect. Scan-lines remained.

SopaConleche

Tried doing a bit more looking into it, once I got a flicker in Final Fantasy XIV, I was able to stare into my task bar and notice that I'm seeing the scanlines come in/out really fast which is what the flickering is for sure. I recorded 3 videos of the taskbar at extreme closeup. One has no flicker, one has a game flicker, and one is my manually causing it with the image above.

In game the flickering very visible. On the taskbar it is only noticeable if your face is like 1 inch from the screen, looks slightly flickery but if you focus enough you can tell with your own eyes that it's the scanline effect going on/off. On video closeup you can see the colors going on/off within a pixel on what should be a static image https://www.dropbox.com/s/nj5xb6khnax2txw/ffxiv-flicker-effect.mp4?dl=0

Same taskbar in part of game with no flicker effect going on, can see sub pixels stable as expected: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4gxhlt2d8szgf4/ffxiv-no-flicker.mp4?dl=0

Chrome task bar when loading up forest image, and manually making scanlines appear disappear. I believe this is exactly the same thing that's happening in the first video only much much slower as I'm causing the action manually.  https://www.dropbox.com/s/z0gjrcwr0ak8nmd/manual-forest-image.mp4?dl=0

While none of this says why it's happening hopefully it's a strong indicator as to what's happening for Acer's team to debug.

kot0005

Uzap said:

We really need some one from Nvidia or ACER to let us know what the true issue lies with? Hardware natural of VA panel(non fixable), Hardware(fixable with Firmware from ACER) or Software(fixable with future driver). Anyone? I went to Nvidia forum and the driver developer aren't commenting on this issue and one Nvidia fanboy keep pushing off this issue toward ACER hardware. This is really disappointing and upsetting.

Can you post a link to the nvidia forums ? I wana check it out. Cheer.

Uzap

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/310225/official-43602-game-ready-whql-display-driver-feed/
There u go, check the post by P4yn3( first few post) .

kot0005

Uzap said:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/310225/official-43602-game-ready-whql-display-driver-feed/
There u go, check the post by P4yn3( first few post) .

ok kool. I am not sure if it can be fixed with driver because its happening in a lot of games and the nature of the issue. Acer might have sprouted some nonsense to PC monitors about driver fix. Nvidia will have to issue a firmware update for this and you will have to send the monitor to a service centre or return it and wait till they release a batch with updated firmware. Nvidia are the one who make the Gsync/HDR and FALD all work together. 

If Acer and Asus could do it then why cant other manufacturers like LG, Samsung dont have FALD in their displays yet ? its all nvidia doing the R & D. AUO provides the panel/backlight and Asus/Acer distribute them in a package.

losssy

Yea I give up. Really wanted to keep this, but after reading Manny’s last post, Ive lost all hope for aced support.  Doesn’t 
“Cannot” consistently reproduce the issue mean that you were able to see the issue but doesn’t happen frequently? If HQ saw it happen, it’s a real issue. 

qwertyuiopgfg

Ok, so this is a very easy way for me to reproduce the flickering and the lines that appear. It is so easy that I'm worried that the problem is getting worse because I think I would have noticed this before. When the monitor is connected to an output that is not producing a signal and you turn on the osd this appears. Can someone try to reproduce this, because like I said I'm worried my monitor is getting worse.

Mnot75

qwertyuiopgfg said:

Ok, so this is a very easy way for me to reproduce the flickering and the lines that appear. It is so easy that I'm worried that the problem is getting worse because I think I would have noticed this before. When the monitor is connected to an output that is not producing a signal and you turn on the osd this appears. Can someone try to reproduce this, because like I said I'm worried my monitor is getting worse.

Yes this is the case with mine as well. With no active source, the OSD flickers. Would love to know why that is and if I should be concerned.

SopaConleche

I can confirm I see it as well with no input (with HDMI being the empty input). Also it seems to me like I'm noticing it more and more in Final Fantasy XIV but I can't say if that's just because I played more, it's all in my head, the game zones I happened to be in, or it's actually getting worse. But it feels more frequent and also a stronger effect when it does happen.

hendrix69

SopaConleche said:

I can confirm I see it as well with no input (with HDMI being the empty input). Also it seems to me like I'm noticing it more and more in Final Fantasy XIV but I can't say if that's just because I played more, it's all in my head, the game zones I happened to be in, or it's actually getting worse. But it feels more frequent and also a stronger effect when it does happen.

Hi PG35VQ owner here, i have the same exact symptoms on my monitor as well as everyone on here, you are definitely not alone, it is happening on ASUS monitors too. I also tried using the HDMI input (nothing connected) to try this and i can see the scan lines in the OSD but does not seem to be flickering.
I mainly play PUBG and when running through short grass the screen flickers quite badly. I noticed this in the first couple of games i played with this monitor.
I tried all the different options in the OSD to remedy this but nothing worked.
What i did find was that if i turned up "Digital Vibrance" up to 90 (which is where i had it set on my old monitor, pg348q) it is much better, only noticeable flicker if i deliberately go looking for it, but makes the game playable.
I know this is not a fix, but a workaround until ASUS/NVIDIA/ACER work out what is wrong.
Give it a try. 
Regards

Aldur67

hendrix69 said:

What i did find was that if i turned up "Digital Vibrance" up to 90 (which is where i had it set on my old monitor, pg348q) it is much better, only noticeable flicker if i deliberately go looking for it, but makes the game playable.

I just tried this with The Witcher 3 and found that it does indeed help with reducing the flicker when I have in-game sharpening set to "High". Although the colors looked way over-saturated with the Digital Vibrance set at 90, it did reduce the flickering substantially. Reducing the Digital Viberance down to 75 also helped with the flickering and the colors were as overly saturated, but the colors were still too saturated for my liking. 
This new information gives me hope that the flickering problem is something that can be solved through a Nivida driver update.

hendrix69

Aldur67 said:

hendrix69 said:

What i did find was that if i turned up "Digital Vibrance" up to 90 (which is where i had it set on my old monitor, pg348q) it is much better, only noticeable flicker if i deliberately go looking for it, but makes the game playable.

I just tried this with The Witcher 3 and found that it does indeed help with reducing the flicker when I have in-game sharpening set to "High". Although the colors looked way over-saturated with the Digital Vibrance set at 90, it did reduce the flickering substantially. Reducing the Digital Viberance down to 75 also helped with the flickering and the colors were as overly saturated, but the colors were still too saturated for my liking. 
This new information gives me hope that the flickering problem is something that can be solved through a Nivida driver update.

Yeah i guess with colorful games like The Witcher 3,  COD and i would imagine Final Fantasy XIV, 90% Digital Vibrance would be to much, but i usually play PUBG and Battlefield V and to me they look washed out.
Thats why on my old monitor i had Digital Vibrance set to 90% and for me on those games that setting carried over well to this monitor. But i know this is just papering over the cracks until the manufactures or Nvidia come up with a solution.

Aldur67

hendrix69 said:

Yeah i guess with colorful games like The Witcher 3,  COD and i would imagine Final Fantasy XIV, 90% Digital Vibrance would be to much, but i usually play PUBG and Battlefield V and to me they look washed out.
Thats why on my old monitor i had Digital Vibrance set to 90% and for me on those games that setting carried over well to this monitor. But i know this is just papering over the cracks until the manufactures or Nvidia come up with a solution.

Yeah, I can see how turning up the Digital Vibrance setting would be preferable in some games and not in others. But still, it's a great find that will hopefully lead to a solution on Acer's or Nvidia's end. 

SopaConleche

Just called the "dedicated predator" support line to see if I could get any information. I know the responder was likely a 3rd party help desk of some sort but in any case I got no useful information and when I tried to explain it wasn't just me with the issue and point to forums essentially got nowhere. She asked me to send the monitor to them for repair and had no information regarding the flickering issue multiple people seem to have seen. No way for me to get more information or escalate and I didn't want to be an a-hole demanding supervisors and such so just let that go.

Obviously I'm not going to ship the monitor to acer if it's still within my return window for a full refund. But that experience and lack of meaningful replies on forums explaining the issue, expected fix date, or any information really, isn't looking hopeful.

Spynosaurs

As someone that was looking into ultrawide hdr monitors (aka the Asus PG35VQ and this x35 one) this whole thread has been scary to read. The idea of dropping $2400+ on something to then just have problems makes me take a step back.

hendrix69

Spynosaurs said:

As someone that was looking into ultrawide hdr monitors (aka the Asus PG35VQ and this x35 one) this whole thread has been scary to read. The idea of dropping $2400+ on something to then just have problems makes me take a step back.

Yeah, i would keep away if i was you. The silence from the manufacturers is the most worrying part for me, despite the many complaints and videos of the fault, they are saying nothing and we the customer are left trying to troubleshoot the problem.
I think i will give it another week it to see if a fix is mentioned, if not it’s getting returned. 

SopaConleche

Has anyone exchanged the monitor only to have the same flicker effect? I don't even have confirmation if this is affecting every unit or not. It's disappointing getting no help from Acer, earlier posts about it being a driver issue sounds like an exchange won't help. It's definitely affecting an appreciable amount of them.

TXHammer

SopaConleche said:

Has anyone exchanged the monitor only to have the same flicker effect? I don't even have confirmation if this is affecting every unit or not. It's disappointing getting no help from Acer, earlier posts about it being a driver issue sounds like an exchange won't help. It's definitely affecting an appreciable amount of them.

I bought my X35 from directly from Acer and can't return it because I'm outside of their 14 day return window. In addition to recreating the issue with The Witcher and using the forrest image that was posted here, I discovered that the scanline issue always happens randomly on and off in World of Warcraft: Classic when you are dead and walking back to your body in the blue/white spirit world. It is the game I'm playing the most currently.

I do have a Microcenter in my city with the X35 on display.  I took the forrest picture posted here up to the store and tested with it on their X35 and it has the same issues.  While there I was explaining the issue to an employee and we hooked up a PC with WoW on it and it fired up to test.. same issues.

I think all of these monitors will have the scanline/flicker issue.  Because it is happening with both Acer and Asus models, it has to be something to do with the panel, gysnc compnents, or driver support because those are all shared between both brands.  I think reguardless if it is the panel or the gsync compenent, it is on the manufactuer, in my case Acer, to either resolve the issue, get Nvidia to resolve the issue, or provide a refund.

I understand that identifying and resolving an issue like this takes time. I would just like some communication or updates throughout this process from either Acer or Nvidia.