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Results: Colour Gamut And Performance

Asus PQ321Q 4K Monitor Review: Top-Shelf Ultra HD For £2800
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Colour gamut is measured using a saturation sweep that samples the six main colours (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow) at five saturation levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%), providing a more realistic view of colour accuracy.

The PQ321Q’s colour performance is not quite as good as what we saw in the grayscale and gamma tests. The blue/magenta/red side of the gamut is slightly undersaturated. In addition, all colours except cyan are clocked away from their targets. You can see in the luminance chart that blue, magenta, and, to a lesser extent, red are bumped up to compensate. If you check out familiar images like fleshtones and sky, they look reasonably accurate. The errors increase as you go up in saturation.

Let’s see how Asus' screen stacks up against the competition.

An average error of 2.55 Delta E is beneath the threshold of visibility, but some of the problems at higher colour saturations can be seen by the naked eye. The range of values is .47 to 7.53 Delta E. We’d prefer to see greater consistency in a monitor selling for £2800.

Gamut Volume: Adobe RGB 1998

There are basically two categories of displays in use today: those that conform to the sRGB/Rec 709 standard like HDTVs, and wide-gamut panels that show as much as 100 percent of the Adobe RGB 1998 spec. We use Gamutvision to calculate the gamut volume, based on an ICC profile created from actual measurements. The chart shows the percentage of both sRGB and Adobe RGB 1998 gamuts.

The PQ321Q is a Studio RGB-only display. It is accurate enough for professional use, but many will prefer the wider Adobe RGB 1998 gamut available in screens like Asus' PA279Q. We’re sure it’s only a matter of time before an Ultra HD panel becomes available in wide-gamut form. For now, we have to be satisfied with a monitor that looks great in gaming and multimedia applications.

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  • 0 Hide
    grebgonebad , 23 January 2014 11:03
    'highest pixel count of any monitor I've reviewed to date'Wait until you get to review this beast then!

    http://connect.dpreview.com/post/5972070381/sharp-shows-8k-tv-prototype

    With an 8k resolution (Yes, that's right, 7680 × 4320 totalling to over 33 million pixels!) on a screen over 80 inches in size you can play one pretty mean game of minesweeper!
  • 0 Hide
    mi1ez , 23 January 2014 21:09
    Quote:
    nine-pin-to-3.5 mm RS-232 adapter
    Is this a typo or does this cable have a serial plug on it?A 3.5mm headphone plug on one end and a serial on the other...
  • 0 Hide
    mi1ez , 23 January 2014 21:13
    Actually, after some extra Googling, it looks like it might be one of those camera-to-SVideo cables?
  • 0 Hide
    markaflias , 23 January 2014 22:40
    UHD or 4K ? 4k is not the same as UHD ^^