Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

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TheRedBaron91
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Joined: 12 Sep 2018, 22:11

Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by TheRedBaron91 » 12 Sep 2018, 22:20

https://i.imgur.com/BL5wcX6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/7FISuFQ.jpg

https://imgur.com/a/SvSQnCc

I just got this today, I know this is no color manipulation monitor, but I'm trying to figure out if I should rma this one. I just need to make sure I am not setting myself up to disappointment with another one, but this is getting a bit ridiculous.

Thanks again for any help! (the second picture is the black end of the colorbanding test, it loks fine overall, but you can absolutly 100% see the individual bars if you zoom in)

This will be like, the 5th monitor I have to RMA, ive both tried every monitor I though was worthy but ended up not being so, and 2 of this one... I think amaozn is still cool with it, but im not even sure if I can aspire to better colros at this point. For games, i kinda think I might have firugred out a solution, reshade seems to do the trick for colorbanding, but I cant find a solution for videos.

notthatjesus
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Joined: 24 Apr 2017, 20:48

Re: Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by notthatjesus » 14 Sep 2018, 14:49

The first photo looks a texture issue. Maybe streaming?

The visibly-segmented gradient, though, it looks almost identical to my pg278qr sorry to say. I think you may be falling into the same trap I did as someone who does a lot of video / image editing but also enjoys playing competitively on their free time: Wanting a monitor fantastic image quality and clarity, one which would ideally give you a competitive advantage (or at least give you the peace of mind that the playing field is leveled.)

Also, you didn't mention it, but in case you didn't know or were curious about, the yellowish tint is just the anti-glare coating. Unfortunately, the (TN) panels that PG278QR monitors come with just aren't ideal for color reproduction. However, a color calibration done with a cheap colorimeter and open source calibrating software for better accuracy does wonders for getting better balanced, more uniform colors.

- My two cents, hope it saves you an RMA or two

TheRedBaron91
Posts: 3
Joined: 12 Sep 2018, 22:11

Re: Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by TheRedBaron91 » 15 Sep 2018, 01:36

darn.

I reckon this is it then, huh? I have read that this is the best panel for TN color reproduction. Why is it so hard to find a decent display nowadays... if its not the VA panel ghosting its the TN color banding, or its the lack of good refresh rate.

When can w expect monitors with at least a decent ammount of everything? I cant look at this monitor for anything except videogames, because even youtube looks absolutly terrible, it essentially negates any resolution quality.

notthatjesus
Posts: 11
Joined: 24 Apr 2017, 20:48

Re: Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by notthatjesus » 15 Sep 2018, 02:49

While I agree that the colors are horrible at stock settings, they really are drastically better once you've got a custom color profile calibrated. I attached the calibration I did on my own monitor if you'd like some sort of reference. I used the FPS Mode monitor profile as stock with the following settings:

Brightness 80
Contrast 48
Saturation 44
Gamma 2.2
Color Temp. User R100 G91 B97

Calibration was done originally with brightness, contrast, and saturation all set to 50 and then tweaked to my own liking — a balance between a visually appealing image vs. accurate one (accurate color calibration alone produces a pretty flat, dull looking image). Also keep in mind that color reproduction varies from monitor to monitor, even if they are the same model, so it won't be as accurate as it is on my rig. Again, mostly just for reference

edit: File was too big

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RealNC
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Re: Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by RealNC » 15 Sep 2018, 13:24

If you could post links to the original images so I can check them, that would be useful.
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TheRedBaron91
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Re: Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by TheRedBaron91 » 23 Sep 2018, 01:46

You will have to forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean links to the original images? Do you mean the original greyscale tests? Are the imgur links incorrect?

Here is the color banding test. https://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Cal ... adient.htm

Thanks for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

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RealNC
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Re: Is this level of banding acceptable for pg278qr ?

Post by RealNC » 23 Sep 2018, 01:55

The first image seems to be a photo of your monitor watching a video. A link to that video is needed so we can tell whether the banding is due to the video or the monitor.

As for the banding test, try and download the test image (right-click on the image, then "save as") and view it in something like IrfanView, and make sure you view it unscaled. Meaning not zoomed in, nor zoomed out. I have found that many browsers don't display images correctly, because they apply wrong gamma transformations. Also, if you zoom the image in or out, there will be banding. That's completely normal. Banding tests must be viewed 1:1. Any kind of scaling will introduce banding. So also make sure you configure Windows to not use DPI scaling (set it to 100% for the test.) Right-click on the desktop, and select "display settings." Make sure to log out and back in from Windows when you change the scaling setting.
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