NEC EA244UHD Review
by Chris Heinonen on August 7, 2014 2:30 PM ESTsRGB Test Bench
The NEC EA244UHD has a built-in sRGB mode that is used for all of these measurements. SpectraView II can only calibrate the NEC to native gamut and while CalMAN 5.3.5 can use ICC-aware patterns for doing measurements, we do not use that option. Most programs are not ICC-aware and we want to show the most real-world performance that we can.
| Pre-Calibration |
Post-Calibration, 200 cd/m2 |
Post-Calibration, 80 cd/m2 |
|
| White Level ( cd/m2) | 202.6 | 198.5 | 80.5 |
| Black Level ( cd/m2) | 0.2677 | 0.2783 | 0.1143 |
| Contrast Ratio | 756:01:00 | 713:01:00 | 705:01:00 |
| Gamma (Average) | 2.06 | 2.17 | 2.37 |
| Color Temperature | 6347K | 6734K | 6593K |
| Grayscale dE2000 | 2.48 | 0.46 | 1.3 |
| Color Checker dE2000 | 2.21 | 0.79 | 0.87 |
| Saturations dE2000 | 2.42 | 0.78 | 1.1 |
The sRGB mode has a slightly red tint to the grayscale that gets worse as you get closer to 100% white. The gamma has a larger issue with it falling below 2.0 past 70% and giving us an average gamma of 2.06. Even with this gamma issue the color checker has a very good average error of 2.21 and the saturations error is only 2.42. The largest issue we see is actually the 100% white error, and this is something that calibration can usually correct quite easily.
As expected, calibrating to 200 cd/m2 using CalMAN gives us an RGB balance that is almost perfectly flat. The gamma drops down a bit at the end, but I expect we will see this happen more as I move to 256-point readings instead of 21-point. If I drop the readings back down to 21 it looks virtually perfect, so I wouldn’t worry. The grayscale dE2000 has an average of 1.0, so it is very good.
Color saturations are not adjusted, but the luminance is adjusted because of the improved gamma after calibration. This lets the color checker error fall to 0.79 on average and the saturations error fall to 0.77. Both of these are incredibly good and it means you won’t see any flaws when using the NEC EA244UHD after calibration. The contrast ratio takes a small hit from correcting 100% white, but not a major one.
Calibrating for the sRGB gamma and 80 cd/m2 also produces results that are very good. They are not as good as at 200 cd/m2 but are still good. I included gamma using both 21-point and 256-point charts so you can see the difference it makes in reporting. I don’t see this gamma issue past 90% that the chart indicates, but I also don’t do much work with nearly-white images. Overall these results are great and only look not-great when compared to the 200 cd/m2 ones.
I wish that SpectraView II could calibrate the gamut of the EA244UHD for sRGB but it doesn’t need it. If you own the hardware that can calibrate it you can use software like CalMAN or DispCalGUI and get fantastic results.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
57 Comments
View All Comments
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...