With no adjustment beyond brightness, and only a single input, it is easy to get results from the VUE27D that should be repeatable for everyone. For all of this testing I use CalMAN 5.1.2 with an i1Pro spectrometer and a C6 colorimeter that I profile from the i1Pro. Our targets are 200 cd/m^2 of light output, a gamma of 2.2, and the sRGB color gamut.

The initial grayscale is very lacking in blue out of the box. The color temperature of 6032 is well below the target of 6504, which provides the warm, reddish tint of the grayscale. The overall gamma of 2.19 is very close to 2.2 but it isn’t flat.

Colors also have a red/green push with the CIE chart showing a drift towards that side of the chart. The color errors are certainly visible especially with shades of cyan that have a greenish tint to them.  The average errors for saturations and the color checker are relatively modest with skin tones and blue/cyan shades causing the largest errors. With no other controls available this is the performance most people should expect to see.

 

Pre-Calibration

Post-Calibration,
200 cd/m^2
Post-Calibration,
80 cd/m^2
White Level (cd/m^2) 200.5 203.23 80.06
Black Level (cd/m^2) 0.1992 0.2274 0.1163
Contrast Ratio 1007:1 894:1 688:1
Gamma (Average) 2.1921 2.1958 2.4121
Color Temperature 6032K 6406K 6393K
Grayscale dE2000 5.9671 1.2165 0.7413
Color Checker dE2000 4.2532 1.2528 1.0417
Saturations dE2000 3.8643 1.2017 0.9421

Calibrating with CalMAN v5.2.0 removes these issues. We have a slight color shift in the grayscale but nothing bad at all. Our gamma becomes neutral and the contrast ratio falls a bit from 1000:1 to 900:1 but is still good for IPS. Color errors are almost completely corrected for and no samples at all pass the dE2000 level of 3.0 that people consider visible.

Calibrating for 80 cd/m2 of light and the sRGB gamma curve produces similar results. The Contrast ratio is worse as the backlight does not go low enough to hit this target easily. The grayscale and gamma are both very good and the colors are also far improved.  If you have the ability to calibrate the VUE27D it has the potential to produce very accurate images.

The most recent release of CalMAN also adds the ability to test color accuracy for ICC aware applications. All the other tests involve just modifying the video card or monitor LUT, so we see how every application will work. If you are using Photoshop or other color critical work, your application is almost certainly ICC aware and can use profiles to be even more accurate.

For those applications the VUE27D can produce numbers better than anything I’ve seen to date. This is also the first monitor tested to use this ICC ability so there is nothing to compare it to. However if you are someone that can calibrate their display to get an ICC profile, and who uses ICC aware applications, the VUE27D will look virtually flawless.

If you don’t have any calibration hardware or software, the VUE27D is pretty decent out of the box. Skin tones and oceans will have a bit of a tint to them, but not a giant one. If you can calibrate it, then you’ll get fantastic results from all applications, ICC aware or not.

Brightness and Contrast Uniformity Data
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  • Drasca - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    I like his reasoning, because "location ahs been overrun with wrapped presents". Happy Holidays!
  • Gunbuster - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    Is that a crackerjack in the background? Maybe vacuum before the next floor based photo shoot.
  • ws3 - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    It looks like a sprinkle from a cupcake or donut is over in the corner too. Maybe the monitor doesn't work unless there are a few snack leftovers on the ground nearby.

    Additionally, the bottom of the window casing could use some paint, but I'm not actually complaining; my floors are dirtier.
  • cheinonen - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    The joy of kids. Clean the floors every day, something new appears from them. I'd fix the window if I owned the house, but it's a rental.
  • ws3 - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    That's why my floors are dirtier.
  • Krause - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    How is the Refresh Rate and overclockability? The main reason people were importing these 27 inch monitors from South Korea was that the refresh rates weren't locked and would usually overclock 95hz+ no problem.
  • blackoctagon - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link

    (real) overclocks in the range you cite have only ever been possible on (certain) models that have DL-DVI only, not DisplayPort
  • YazX_ - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    mmmm, no thx, Qnix and X-Star are better. i'm happy with my Qnix although no OSD and two DVI ports, but why would i need more than that, and lack of OSD is not that painful, you can manage fine without OSD
  • cheinonen - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    The VUE27D is specifically aimed at people that need DisplayPort and not DVI.
  • DiHydro - Monday, December 23, 2013 - link

    Chris, you mention this monitor not having tilt, yet in picture 3, it shows a joint that seems like it should be able to tilt? I am hoping for some clarification on this, as it seems strange for a monitor to not have a tilt function.

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