HP z27x Review
by Chris Heinonen on December 2, 2014 4:00 PM ESTThe HP z27x offers a feature that no other monitor I have used before does: self-calibration. I’ve used many displays that include calibration software, but that is driven from the PC and not by the display itself. The HP z27x has the ability to directly interface with the Klein K-10A colorimeter. This is a high-end, professional meter that can read faster and more accurately at low light levels than almost any meter out there. Klein Instruments was nice enough to loan me one for an extended period of time to work with the HP.
Usually a colorimeter wouldn’t be the ideal choice because it needs to be profiled from a spectrometer before using it on a display. The Klein is different as it has built-in profiles that you can create and edit to make it work correctly without a meter. One of the internal profiles now is for the HP z27x, so it can be hooked directly up and work.
The self-calibration is very easy. You enable the HP z27x calibration in the menu system, plug in the K-10A, and the process starts. An aiming target is on-screen and you have full control over the settings you want to use. Our normal calibration target at AnandTech is 200 cd/m2 of light, a 2.2 power gamma, and the sRGB color gamut. I can set these all up using the z27x and the K-10A will calibrate a preset to those settings in under 10 minutes. If I want to use an XML file on a USB drive, I can even rename that setting and take that to multiple displays to calibrate them all the same.
A feature like this can be overkill for the home user, to a degree, but can be essential to a company that has a large number of HP z27x displays for production. You can move from display to display with your flash drive and K-10A, quickly calibrating all the presets to the same standards and same name. This removes the PC from the equation as well, so the video card LUT will have no effect on the calibration quality. Using the advanced management features in the HP z27x, an administrator can even tie a color profile to a user. People working on a Blu-ray disc will see the Rec.709 gamut while those working on a theater release will see the DCI gamut. It makes it easy to ensure accurate, consistent color without the ability to make a mistake.
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SanX - Sunday, December 7, 2014 - link
The author has done absolutely right things. HP indeed does not care even to cherrypick. HPs and Dells became more and more a rebranders of Chinese goods. And actually it is not the China the final reason in bad quality control of everything but WE THE BRAINDEAD PEOPLE and of course our croocky american sales/middlemen who exploit this vulnerability of average technically illiterate Joe and are just interested to drop more larger margin shiny crap on the heads of dumb public, on our heads.DanNeely - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
It might've been the 1st time it crossed your desk; but NEC's offered in monitor calibration since (at least) the the Multysync 3090 (released around 2008). I'm not sure how it compares with HP's offering; but they've got something called NaViSet to allow centralized admin of display settings. Lastly, IIRC their internal calibration does have some ability to adjust for uneven backlighting (presumably at the cost of some overall contrast).http://www.necdisplay.com/support-and-services/nav...
cheinonen - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
I've used and reviewed the NEC PA series, and while they offer an internal LUT with calibration options, it has to be done through the SpectraView II software. The HP allows you to do it entirely inside the display without a PC at all, making it easier to do a large number of them. The NEC PA series also lacks the Ethernet control. The uniformity on the NECs is top notch.baii9 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
Wide gamut -> GB-r LED -> uniformity issue, why am I not surprised.Here is when good warranty kick in, panel lottery.
Doomtomb - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
This monitor came out in 2014? This looks like something that would've come out in 2009. The bezel is huge. The body is thick. The resolution is nothing special. I don't care if it has features, and the color gamut. Seriously, this is the mind of the average consumer.D. Lister - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
This product isn't targeted at the average consumer.DanNeely - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
Although one of the reasons why pro-grade monitors tend to be significantly thicker than consumer ones is to put an array of evenly spaced backlights behind the panel instead of just a few on one or more edges using mirrors to bounce it around; because the former results in more even illumination.Something that clearly didn't happen with this monitor; and since AT has proven willing to hold reviews if they see unexpectedly bad results and the vendor says "looks like something broke, let us send you a replacement to test" or "we didn't test that case and need to write a new firmware to fix the problem" I can only assume that HP considers the level of backlight variation Chris saw in this model acceptable.
kyuu - Thursday, December 4, 2014 - link
Based on Chris's own statement in these comments, your assumption would be wrong. It seems that Chris didn't inform HP or offer them the chance to send a replacement in order to avoid the appearance of receiving a "cherry picked" sample.... Seems kinda silly to me. Unless Chris purchased the review unit himself, HP already had the chance to submit a cherry picked sample. Giving them the chance to fix what may very well be damage incurred during shipping does not somehow break reviewer ethics.
baii9 - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
average consumer don't drop 1.4k on a 27" monitor.jann5s - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
The ASUS MX229Q is using more power at minimum then at maximum, I guess there is a booboo in the database (LCD Power Draw figure)