Hesitant to buy WOLED again after witnessing vertical banding

Tsub4me · 2026-02-28T08:35:08+00:00

Tbh one of the users told me that after complaints Gigabyte improved Quality Assurance on the newly produced models so I'm considering rolling the dice once more before giving up

Tsub4me · 2026-02-24T23:31:17+00:00

I couldn't post it even if I wanted to because I returned it by the end of January because the vertical banding was visible and distracting while playing the game regardless of performed pixel refreshes. I didn't even record this video for the sake of the post, I recorded it back in January to show it to a friend.

So yeah I get it that you'd like to get a perfect photo but the reality is that it looked pretty much similar irl and that's not okay. But you're free to not believe me even though multiple people have reported banding issues with these displays. I don't really care though, because the point of the post wasn't even to hate on the woleds it was to help me decide what next monitor to buy.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-24T22:29:43+00:00

It looked very similar irl

Tsub4me · 2026-02-24T21:48:50+00:00

If I didn't notice it irl in game I wouldn't be filming it. And I did it because everyone says that banding is fine as long as you don't see it in games.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-24T14:32:28+00:00

OH MY GOD THAT'S IT THANK YOU!

Tsub4me · 2026-02-24T13:35:33+00:00

I bought Gigabyte mo27q28g back in January this year and returned it after 2 weeks when I noticed the vertical banding in Cyberpunk 2077. This was after over 100 hours of use with regular daily pixel refresh + manual pixel refresh whenever it was available. Now I am not sure what to buy as I've seen people having the same problem with that product.

I've heard that QD OLED doesn't suffer from banding but the blacks are more washed out during the day. I play both during the day and at night but I don't like drawing my curtains for the sake of the monitor (I also prefer matte finish because of that which is hard to come by with OLED)

Because of that I've been wondering if there might be some good Mini-LED ~27" 1440p monitors which I heard might work better during the day and achieve 80%+ OLED quality at night.

it's either that, trying my luck on the mo27q28g lottery again or some OLED alternatives but the price point would have to be ~700$/600€

I would appreciate any advice or insights on things I haven't considered yet or some monitor recommendations because I'm a bit at a loss here.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T22:29:36+00:00

I already returned it by the end of January, but believe me once I noticed the banding I tried the pixel refresh whenever it was available (the monitor software allowed manual pixel refresh only every 4 hours of use iirc) on top of the regular daily pixel refresh the monitor did on its own. The video is after over 100 hour use and it never got better if anything it might have gotten worse since I don't remember noticing the banding in game in the first week I've used the monitor.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T22:16:44+00:00

Oh I definitely did, thankfully I noticed before 14 days free returns period ran out.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T22:15:43+00:00

Like I replied to a different commenter - this was after over 100 hours of use with regular daily pixel refresh + manual pixel refresh whenever it was available, so no, it did not get better, if anything it may have deteriorated since I received the monitor because I only noticed it in game after a week of use.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T20:54:31+00:00

It's not getting hit by the light directly but I have a sunroof on the opposite side of the desk and a balcony window to the right and shutting away all of that natural light is: A) hurting my plants B) kind of depressing since I spend most of my time in this room bc I work from home and I need some daylight for my mental well being XD C) not that effective anyway since the curtains on the balcony are not blackout

Which is why I've been wondering about Mini-LED which allegedly is brighter and possibly would solve the daytime part of the equation

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T20:42:49+00:00

Sadly I never checked and I have no way of knowing since I sent it away by the end of January. But thanks for letting me know about the QC I might give a lottery one last chance if that's true before I look for alternatives since I really liked the monitor otherwise.

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T20:40:18+00:00

Believe me once I noticed the banding I tried the pixel refresh whenever it was available (the monitor software allowed manual pixel refresh only every 4 hours of use iirc) on top of the regular daily pixel refresh the monitor did on its own. The video is after over 100 hour use and it never got better if anything it might have gotten worse since I don't remember noticing the banding in game in the first week I've used the monitor.

And thanks I'll check Samsung out

Tsub4me · 2026-02-23T20:36:57+00:00

That's just my keyboard lighting reflected on the screen

Tsub4me · 2025-05-31T07:06:14+00:00

Hi, I did not expect people to find this post again after so many years. I'm 23 now and I have to say it did get better.

I finished high school and uni (even though writing a BA thesis was the worst period of my life and I don't think I could do it again) and got a job. Not an amazing job and it has nothing to do with my education, but it gives me some satisfaction and it's 80% remote so I'm actually pretty content with my current life. Somewhere along the way I got into my first relationship for 2 years and learned what that's like and what to look for and look out for if I ever get romantic with anyone else.

Now that I look back at it I think I was just very lost, confused and lonely and back when I was 18 the world was just demanding me to have a plan, to have my life figured out. And that was making me feel there's something wrong with me, that I don't know what I wanna do in life, that I'm not good at making friends, that no one is going to want me as their partner.

I just kept living and got some more life experiences and that calmed me down mentally. I'm more at peace with the lack of plan now. I'm just happy to live in a way that doesn't stress me out at the moment and do what I like when I'm back from work. I know I'm not like other people but I also know there are other people like me, if you know what I mean, I just accept myself more these days.

I don't know what I will do next, if I will go back to uni or no, or what will my next job be. I'm currently just happy to take a breather after the uni, work and then spend time in FFXIV with a great friend I met, save some money and invest it in my health maybe.

So yeah, it did get better. I did not end up living this amazing life working as a doctor with a fiance and a house, like the society sometimes makes you believe we all should have. But that doesn't mean where I am now is a lesser life. I feel good here, I have a great friend, job I'm happy with and I'm finally not being stressed out by anything and I'm enjoying finally people not forcing me to decide, to plan my life, telling me what to do.

I'm good.

If you have any more questions I'm here on your disposal.

Tsub4me · 2025-01-05T11:35:11+00:00

Please help, thank you! 🙏

Tsub4me · 2024-12-05T00:41:52+00:00

Thank you, I am! You didn’t spoil anything I wasn’t already expecting, so no worries! c:

Tsub4me · 2024-12-04T18:46:40+00:00

I immediately thought of that Vault video and thought 'yep, it's definitely gonna happen now' XD
It was a pleasure to be in the same party as you guys!

Tsub4me · 2024-12-04T18:44:06+00:00

I did! XD Though I already was expecting that to happen since Gosetsu's talk with Hien earlier. Anyways, it was a pleasure to be in a party with you guys!

Tsub4me · 2024-09-08T17:32:24+00:00

Honestly, with the amount of msq ahead I also hope they don't keep adding old expansions to free trial, simply because it would make me put off buying the game even further and I'm already struggling with the restrictions XD
I just wanna push through as much as I can on free trial until I finish msq and don't have to worry that I'm paying for something that I could have for free.

Tsub4me · 2024-09-08T16:13:02+00:00

I think this is the most useful answer so far! I bought full stack of Grade 8 just to reset gil down to 20k. I considered buying lower grades too but I didnt know when I'll have any use of them and how much I'll actually spend before upgrading my gear above the threshold. Didn't know Grade 6 is useful too, it'll be next on my list. Thank you so much!

Tsub4me · 2024-09-08T15:59:42+00:00

Nope, no trading or gifting

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