HP z27x Review
by Chris Heinonen on December 2, 2014 4:00 PM ESTFor the AdobeRGB calibration we use the same targets as the sRGB calibration only with the AdobeRGB color gamut. Pre-calibration the numbers for the HP z27x in its AdobeRGB mode are perfect. They’re good enough that I would see no reason to calibrate this most likely. The grayscale and gamma could be better, but not by much. I really don’t have much to complain about when it comes to the preset AdobeRGB mode.
Post-calibration it is better, but barely. Since our target during a calibration is an error level of 0.5 dE2000 and it was already there, it was unlikely to improve much if at all. If we set a target of 0.1 dE2000 it might have done even better, but you’re then trying to make an improvement that you cannot see so you are just wasting your time. There is really no more to write about the performance here because it’s just great.
The results are the same when we target 80 cd/m2 and the sRGB gamma. The HP does not have visible errors after calibration. It’s a professional level display and handles this color gamut and setup with ease.
The AdobeRGB modes on our HP z27x were more accurate than the sRGB modes were. Each unit will have some variation here since they are individually calibrated, but what we can see is that HP provides the hardware to create a totally accurate image. Using CalMAN to manipulate the internal LUT we get a display that is incredibly accurate, as good as anything we have seen before.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
47 Comments
View All Comments
bobbozzo - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
Hi,It wasn't clear to me which is preferred - using (renting?) a Klein K-10A colorimeter and doing the self-calibration, or doing software calibration?
Thanks for the article
cheinonen - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
Doing it inside the monitor is best, as you don't need to worry about the PC LUT being correct, it will just be accurate on any computer hooked up to it.Samus - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
A worthy successor to my Dreamcolor LP2480, moar resolution and USB 3.0!Oubadah - Sunday, December 21, 2014 - link
Plus no A-TW Polarizer and inferior backlight array. This monitor isn't in the same class as the last gen Dreamcolor. Not to mention it's bugs and abysmal quality control. http://www.liftgammagain.com/forum/index.php?threa... I wouldn't touch this monitor with a barge pole at the moment.tyger11 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
When are we going to see monitors with HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.3?cheinonen - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
Once we have chipsets. The issue with HDMI 2.0 is that all the current HDMI 2.0 chipsets with the full bandwidth don't have HDCP 2.2 as well. The HDCP 2.2 chipsets only use a subset of HDMI 2.0 and so they can't send as much data. Hopefully at CES next month we'll see products announced using new chipsets.wolrah - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
Does HDCP actually matter to PC users? Aside from legitimate playback of Bluray/HD-DVD content what else on a PC ever gave a shit about it? I think iTunes did at one point, no idea if it still does.I mean there are technically roles a PC can fill for which it matters, but personally even among those I know who have BD-ROM drives in their PCs (a slim number, optical drives altogether are a dying breed) I don't know anyone who actually uses their PC to watch movies from disc. Anyone who uses discs uses a hardware player or more often a console, and anyone who uses a PC just sources from the internet in one way or another.
For TVs HDCP is a big deal, but for a computer monitor I'm finding it hard to care.
cheinonen - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
I don't know that it's a big deal for straight PC usage, but it's also likely to upset people if they buy an HDMI 2.0 monitor, only to discover when they try to hook up their other 4K devices to it that they won't play back a 4K image. Since the chips are expected to be at CES, I don't think we will have to wait too long for them and IMO I'd rather have a display that can do that, without needing MST for a 60Hz refresh rate, than have a monitor today that will be out of date that fast.chaos215bar2 - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
On a Mac, at least, iTunes most certainly still does care about HDCP. Even Netflix manages to check it when using the HTML5 player. HDCP may be silly, but it's still important if you want to watch videos on your computer without the hassle of stripping DRM.DanNeely - Thursday, December 4, 2014 - link
As of about 8 months ago (last time I tried using it) Amazon Instant Video also required HDCP for higher quality streams.