Koorui S01 problems (non-standard FreeSync over HDMI?)

porina · March 26

https://www.koorui.net/productinfo13.html

Above is manufacturer's page on it. I just got one from Amazon and I'm on the verge of returning it.

The good: viewing angles and colours look great. 100 Hz is enough for many things.

The bad: video inputs are HDMI and VGA only.

The ugly: ~~it doesn't present a HDMI audio device to connected system. There is a 3.5mm socket but connecting this up, it still makes no sound. Monitor menu volume control doesn't help.~~

I haven't managed to get VRR working on any system. FreeSync is claimed as is G-Sync compatible. Note the small "c" on compatible, not big "C" which would imply nvidia certification. Have connected it to: 4070, 3070 Laptop, 5800H (same laptop when iGPU enabled). Same on A380 but I recall that VRR support over HDMI might not be a mandatory requirement. There is a menu to turn adaptive sync on/off, as well as overdrive settings. Doesn't seem to help at all. I'm left thinking, wasn't there something about early FreeSync over HDMI implementations that were non-standard? That is, not the HDMI 2.1 version.

I've e-mailed the manufacturer so will give them 24 hours to see if they say anything useful. Looking at Amazon reviews on the exact model (have to pick filter to avoid different size model) I see some other complaints about VRR not detected and sound problems, either not working at all like mine, or some comments about the volume control not working so it is too loud!

I'm just wanting to check if I've not considered something otherwise it is looking like this may be either a faulty unit or the description is wrong.

Stahlmann · March 26

I'd say this monitor is in the "too good to be true" price range. When other competitive products that are actually reviewed and known to be good, like the AOC 24G2, cost about 40-50% more, it's obvious they've made some significant compromises, as shown by the lack of a very basic feature like a DisplayPort connector. That doesn't mean they should be allowed to lie about their specs or advertise features that just don't work. Like you said, it's also possible that you just got a faulty unit.

If I were you, I wouldn't keep the monitor. So you're basically looking at 2 options here:

- Have Amazon replace it and see if another unit is better.

- Get a known good alternative from a reputable brand, albeit at a slightly higher price.

porina · March 26

50 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

I'd say this monitor is in the "too good to be true" price range.

https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/fhd-qhd/22mr410-b/

Another similarly priced monitor from LG claiming FreeSync. Maybe I could have searched harder and gone for this instead, but I didn't see it at the time. The specs are very similar actually. VGA, HDMI, FreeSync 100Hz VA. Maybe I misunderstood but the 3.5mm socket here is listed as a headphone out. It's ambiguous if the one on the model I have is in or out as the documentation exists but lacking.

50 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

If I were you, I wouldn't keep the monitor. So you're basically looking at 2 options here:

- Have Amazon replace it and see if another unit is better.

- Get a known good alternative from a reputable brand, albeit at a slightly higher price.

If I return it I'll likely get something else. If I was just after a pure display monitor, this would have been fine. Feels bad if advertised features either don't work or don't exist.

porina · March 26

I had a random thought and tried the sound again on a different system. It worked. When I tried various systems yesterday I was focused on VRR so didn't look at sound at the same time. I can send sound to it over HDMI, so maybe there's something about the first system (A380) I'll look at later.

I also confirmed the 3.5mm socket on the monitor is an output after all. Once I got sound working, plugged my headphones to it and sound redirected to that.

So that still leaves VRR as an open question.

Edit: HDMI audio on the A380 install is broken for unknown reasons. Driver stuff. Yay. Not even a DDU+reinstall helped so might be version specific? Not going to fish for an old driver. I might just throw in the 1030 instead.

porina · March 26

Been trying to read up some more. It does sound like in the early days of FreeSync, AMD got it working over HDMI but it is not the modern HDMI 2.1 VRR. Since this display only has HDMI and lists FreeSync more prominently, that might explain why my NV GPUs can't detect it.

That does leave the question why my laptop with 5800H did not detect VRR either. It is a hybrid with a 3070 and mux - at least for the internal display. Now I say that, I don't know if the mux only works for the internal display, or does it work on the external one too? Just speculating if the external HDMI is wired to the 3070, it can't work with old HDMI FreeSync. Anyone know a way to find out how a laptop is configured? Getting late now I'll try looking at NV driver when APU is enabled.

I've given up on testing the Arc A380 for now due to audio problems. Switched to a 1650 which works fine with audio, but that's too old for HDMI VRR.