NEC EA244UHD Review
by Chris Heinonen on August 7, 2014 2:30 PM ESTBrightness and Contrast
For all of the measurements I enabled the display uniformity option. This can reduce brightness and contrast ratio, but it also produces a more uniform image which I believe is worth the tradeoff. Given the target for the EA244UHD I feel most people would also leave this enabled.
The maximum light output with this enabled is only 269 cd/m2. Setting the backlight to minimum drops this all the way down to 16 cd/m2. This is a very wide range but it's not incredibly bright. Most people using the EA244UHD probably have some sort of light control but if you don’t, bright sunlight will wash it out pretty well.
With an IPS panel and uniformity compensation, black levels are what I expect to see from an NEC display. They are okay but not excellent. NEC could improve these by using a VA-panel, but that leads to sacrifices in off-angle viewing. Instead of uniformity compensation, NEC could use some sort of dimming system to improve blacks, but those almost always harm image quality.
Due to those so-so black levels we get a contrast ratio right around 750:1. IPS panels can do 1,000:1 or almost 1,200:1 now, but not with the uniformity compensation feature. When we look at display uniformity later we can see if this is worth the tradeoff that NEC has made.
This section could have been copied almost verbatim from any other NEC monitor review I have done. The EA244UHD isn’t as bright or punchy as other IPS displays, but it might offer better uniformity because of it. This is the compromise NEC has always made before, and in the past it has proven to be worthwhile.
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willis936 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link
I think a better solution than the chroma subsampling to achieve 4k60 today would be to use two connectors and stitch the picture together at a high level. It would take bigger buffers on the display and some additional circuitry but there's no reason a display driver couldn't pull this off with existing hardware. 4k60 is already the high end so I don't see why corners need to be cut, especially when displays like this tick all of the feature boxes and come with a bajillion different connectors.NECDisplaySolutions - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link
Hello. This can be done on the EA244UHD with the Picture by Picture modes, either 2, 3 or 4 way. A 4-way Full HD configuration over HDMI and DVI would give you 60 Hz support. Or you could just use 1 DisplayPort cable.marcosears - Thursday, October 9, 2014 - link
This is a nice try from NEC, but it just doesn't meet the standards of some of the really good monitors on the market today. /Marco from http://www.consumertop.com/best-monitor-guide/fpsdean - Friday, October 9, 2015 - link
LOL! TN panels are garbage! Watch what garbage you post -- none of those monitors are even good.gevorg - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link
Does it use PWM? If yes, at what brightness levels?http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/content/pulse...
kepstin - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link
This is an LED-backlit model, so it almost certainly uses PWM for backlight control. I'd be interested to know what frequency it runs at.xenol - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link
Not every LED backlight uses PWM.NECDisplaySolutions - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link
Hello. The PWM frequency on this monitor is 23kHz. You can see all of the product specifications for the EA244UHD here: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/ea244...Ahriman4891 - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link
PWM frequency is 23kHz, mentioned in this press release: http://cinescopophilia.com/nec-4k-24-inch-multisyn... and confirmed by a NEC rep on hardforum.NECDisplaySolutions - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link
You are correct. The PWM frequency on this monitor is 23kHz. You can see all of the product specifications for the NEC EA244UHD monitor here: http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/ea244...