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jbennett360Hey all.
Stumbled across a review for the HP OMEN 27qs G2 which basically sang it’s praises for accuracy out of the box. A quick Google and I’ve managed to get hold of one for around the £220 mark.
Quick catchup – I’ve basically been on the lookout for something that is accurate out of the box and doesn’t need sRGB software clamps, or calibrating, the two things I have to do on my current monitor.
Here’s my initial impressions so far of the HP:
Out of the box, the colour profile is set to standard, this is the sRGB mode. You can change the brightness and also change the RGB channels too, so these aren’t locked down. (Native is there too if you want full wide gamut)
Brightness set to achieve 120cd/m
Standard Mode (sRGB)
White Point: 6786k
Measured vs. assumed target whitepoint ΔE*00: 7.45
Average ΔE*00: 0.93
Maximum ΔE*00: 2.43
Contrast Ratio: 1406:1Standard Mode (sRGB) – With tweaked RGB
White Point: 6508k
Measured vs. assumed target whitepoint ΔE*00: 0.53
Average ΔE*00: 0.88
Maximum ΔE*00: 3.04
Contrast Ratio: 1233:1Full Calibration with DisplayCal
White Point: 6516k
Measured vs. assumed target whitepoint ΔE*00: 0.32
Average ΔE*00: 0.14
Maximum ΔE*00: 0.66
Contrast Ratio: 1240:1
sRGB Volume – 99.4%
sRGB Coverage – 97.5%So, default OOTB isn’t bad – it’s the white point that suffers here with been a little bit on the cooler side.
With the RGB channels tweaked a little (mainly reducing the green and a bit of the blue) – the white point is great, and the maximum error is down to 3.04 – the only thing to note here is the dip in the contrast
I suppose the question here is, what’s better to run. The general OOTB with none of the settings touched at all, or the slightly tweaked RGB channels to correct the white point?
The full calibration looks good, but I really would love to just get rid of sRGB clamp and displaycal altogether and not have to worry about any of that side of things anymore!
Assuming that I’ve done all of the above correctly of course!
PCM2Thanks for providing your feedback on the 27qs G2, I’m glad you’re enjoying it overall!
The dip in contrast isn’t exactly massive once you correct the RGB channels, I’d wager it would be difficult to notice that in reality for most content. Although I know there can be a psychological issue knowing the contrast has technically been reduced. The contrast dip is usually strongest when the green channel is adjusted. So if you find the monitor a touch cool out of the box, try reducing the blue channel but go easy on the green channel adjustment – see how it looks to you.
It’s also worth remembering white point will drift over time. So it may be more or less necessary to make those adjustments over time. If you’re not using a spectral correction for DisplayCal the measured white point might not be as accurate as it could be, either. I personally prefer my monitors to be slightly on the warmer side (if not at 6500K) and that can be more suitable in some lighting anyway. Really it’s a case of seeing how you find it, visually, and not worrying too much about precisely meeting an apparent 6500K. And by the same token I wouldn’t stress about the full calibration for general purpose usage, if you’re happy with the results visually without using it.
jbennett360It’s just nice to see a monitor sort of function how you’d expect it to. sRGB by default!
When I tweaked the RGB channels, I used displaycal to do this – as they have that RGB checker before the full calibration starts, it was the green bar that was really high, so that’s took the biggest hit (R – 255 G – 239 B – 245)
I prefer the white point to be warmer too actually. Although it’s hard to do a comparison of 6500k Vs 6786k
Colour accuracy doesn’t seem to be an issue here either based on the above results, which is good to see!
I think I’ll probably just go for tweaked RGB, and take the slight hit on the contrast.
The fact I don’t need to use an srgb clamp and DisplayCal to get something that’s relatively accurate is great!
Well done HP!
jbennett360Quick update.
Got the monitor swapped over now, so it’s now the daily driver!
I’ve opted for the tweaked RGB Channels (R – 255 G – 239 B – 245) to pull the white point more in line at the expense of that slight dip in contrast (Saying that, it’s now reporting it as 1333:1 – so not that much of a hit.)
The only one thing I have noticed is ever so slight uniformity issues, bottom left looks a little darker. But as we all know, there’s no way of getting a perfect IPS panel unfortunately! No doubt over time once the eyes have adapted I probably won’t even notice it.
Will let it run for a few days and see how it goes, give it chance to properly break itself in.
Opted against the Display Driver from the HP Support site too, figured that probably won’t help things!?
PCM2Yeah, there’s no point in installing the display driver. All they might do is include a bundled generic ICC profile and may or may not change what the monitor is called in Windows. 😀
jbennett360Unfortunately I’m going to be sending it back.
As good as the accuracy out the box is, something just feels off.
Almost feels like there’s some vignetting, so the corners don’t seem as bright.
Uniformity seems a bit of a mess too, bottom left is much cooler
One other thing too, it feels like if you were to sit slightly off centre, or lean over just a little to one side, the opposite side seems to almost have a shadow/looks darker effect – it’s hard to explain, but rather annoying!
It’s a shame. I guess the search goes on :/
PCM2What you’re describing does sound like vignetting, which would only be reduced if you keep your head central and move back slightly. 🙁
jbennett360Sitting arms length away from the monitor, even central, it was there and noticeable. Glancing down at the time and date in the bottom right, it just didn’t look as bright, almost a little blurred too?
If I pushed myself further back, say, double arms length away and viewed the screen, it didn’t look too bad. Unfortunately, that’s not really an option!
I wonder if it’s an issue with IPS Black panels, or some of the newer IPS panels in general? I did start doing a bit of reading last night on Reddit, and some of the newer Gigabyte Monitors seem to have the same issue too.
PCM2It’s definitely not limited to the enhanced contrast panels. I’ve noticed this on various recent IPS models I’ve used, including the Gigabyte M27UP I tested recently (which uses one of the ‘dual mode’ panels that’s all the rage at the moment).
jbennett360Ahh. That’s good to know. Something else to chuck into the panel lottery!
Maybe I just hold out and go OLED at some point in the near future?
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