Performance - Part I
A monitor review based on descriptive visual analysis will always have the underlying problem of subjectivity, because assessments of panel quality will vary from user to user depending on their normative expectations. To get around this problem we’re deploying Datacolor’s Spyder 4 Elite professional monitor analyser to return a quantitative assessment of display quality.
These numerical results, we feel, add extra utility to our reviews allowing us to more accurately benchmark the following display characteristics:
- Colour Gamut relative to sRGB and AdobeRGB industry standards
- Brightness levels and contrast ratios
- Colour uniformity
- Brightness uniformity
- Colour accuracy
The tests are run under two different scenarios: uncalibrated and calibrated. Uncalibrated performance equates to the out-of-the-box settings the monitor ships with; this is the typical end-user experience as very few consumers engage in calibration of their displays before use. Calibrated performance is the results after the monitor has been put through the Spyder4Elite hardware-calibration process with the following parameters: 2.2 Gamma, 6500K colour temperature and 120 nits of brightness. These calibrated results demonstrate what the monitor is capable of when tuned correctly but we appreciate the results have limited relevance to most consumers who will not calibrate their monitors.
Colour
98 per cent of sRGB coverage means the Philips 272G5DYEB monitor is at the top-end of TN panels for colour gamut. Average TN-type panels tend to fall in the 90-95 per cent coverage region.
Colour accuracy isn't a strong point with an uncalibrated delta-E of around 3.5. At this level colours are perceivable different to their true values for eagle-eyed viewers, though most users won't be able to tell a dramatic difference. Calibration brings the delta-E value down to near one, a superb score, demonstrating the capability of the panel once tuned.
Colour uniformity is among the strongest we've seen so far; the monitor is well-balanced and features no colour hotspots.
