All of the IPS panels we’ve tested recently display excellent grayscale tracking, even at stock settings. It’s important that the color of white be consistently neutral at all light levels from darkest to brightest. Grayscale performance impacts color accuracy with regard to the secondary colors; cyan, magenta, and yellow. Since computer monitors typically have no color or tint adjustment, accurate grayscale is key.
ViewSonic VP2770-LED
To perform a manual calibration of the VP2770-LED, we employed the User color mode. The other modes lock out the RGB adjustments. Selecting the sRGB preset also prevents use of the Contrast and Brightness sliders. The pre-calibration chart below reflects the User mode with the RGB controls set to their default positions.

The color of white tends a bit towards blue as the signal level rises. The error becomes visible at 40 percent, and hits a max of just over six Delta E at 100 percent. This is a slightly cool tone and an average out-of-box result.
After calibrating the VP2770-LED, the grayscale tracking is quite excellent. Only small adjustments need to be made to bring everything in line.

Our final settings are Red 98, Green 100, and Blue 94, with contrast set to 70 and Brightness to 42. This is perfect tracking with an average Delta E error of only 0.8604. It doesn’t really get much better than this.
Samsung S27B970D
As mentioned earlier, the S27B970D offers several unique options with its color modes. The first chart is the factory-calibrated mode. As previously stated, the only way to adjust this is to use the Natural Color Expert software with a supported color probe. The chart below represents the monitor in its default state.

The result is somewhat green in hue, with the error increasing as the light level goes up. The error becomes visible at 50 percent and it hits a max Delta E of just under six. Given a choice, we’d rather see blue errors than green because the human eye is most sensitive to green, and therefore better able to detect that error.
This is the Standard mode measurement. The green error is still present, but slightly lower. Visibility doesn’t occur until 80 percent, and the max Delta E is now under four.

If you don’t plan to calibrate the S27B970D, we recommend Standard mode. The color is pretty accurate without adjustment, and you’ll be able to control brightness and contrast.
After a manual calibration, the results are just a hair short of perfect.

Calibrating the Standard mode produces one of the best charts we’ve ever seen. Only zero and 10 percent are over one Delta E, and that can even be attributed to instrument error. While the human eye cannot distinguish between the Samsung and ViewSonic monitors we're measuring, we remain very impressed by this level of accuracy.
All of the monitors we’ve tested recently show an extremely low grayscale error right out of the box. While we recommend calibration of any panel, you can still enjoy an accurate image from any of these screens at their stock settings.

The Samsung S27B970D is the only panel to measure under three (average Delta E). This result is for the monitor’s Standard mode; the factory-calibrated mode measured higher, with an average Delta E of 3.76.
After calibration, both the Samsung and ViewSonic panels had essentially no grayscale error. This is near-perfect performance.

In most cases, calibration will yield a reasonable improvement over the stock image. With the monitors reviewed here, the improvement is more significant. It should be noted that Samsung’s Natural Color Expert software was not able to achieve a grayscale error this low. The best we could do was 2.14 Delta E average. The obvious conclusion is that a manual calibration is preferable for the S27B970D.
- ViewSonic VP2770-LED And Samsung S27B970D
- Test Setup And The S27B970D's Unique Features
- Results: Stock Brightness And Contrast
- Results: Calibrated Brightness And Contrast
- Results: Gamma And ANSI Contrast Ratio
- Results: Grayscale Tracking
- Results: Color Gamut And Performance
- Results: Viewing Angle And Uniformity
- Results: Pixel Response And Input Lag
- Is QHD (2560x1440) Right For You?
It's coming. We're ramping up our display coverage, so we took note of the requests after the last display piece and put in the requests. You'll see this soon. Of course, if there are any other requests from you guys, do let us know. Christian is doing a phenomenal job of applying his extensive experience on Tom's Hardware.
Everything gets smaller.
So increase the DPI scaling ?
Everything gets smaller.
So increase the DPI scaling ?
Agreed. I bought a Dell U2711 a few months ago, but if something forced me to replace it, I'd probably go with one of those cheap Korean panels -- or a TN panel 2560x1440 monitor if somebody would actually make one - I doubt I'm the only one who likes the resolution but isn't so picky about color quality. I had no objection to the color quality on my Samsung P2770HD, and the color shifts of a TN panel are affected by the physical size of the monitor, not the resolution, right?
It's coming. We're ramping up our display coverage, so we took note of the requests after the last display piece and put in the requests. You'll see this soon. Of course, if there are any other requests from you guys, do let us know. Christian is doing a phenomenal job of applying his extensive experience on Tom's Hardware.
That's great to hear, I agree with the others that the price of these models is too much to consider unless they were generating $$$s for me. $3-400 seems like the range I would be willing to spend on these. And as for the USA based korean cheap models, are there any legit retailers of these? Please point me at them.
Here are the inexpensive $300-$400 27" korean monitor brands: Yamakasi Catleap, Achieva Shimian, Crossover, PCBank, Potalion, Auria
"The reason these monitors are cheap - LG makes IPS panels for apple cinema displays. Apple only accepts grade A+ panels. That means the all the grade A,A-,B+, etc are not accepted and returned to LG. LG resells those IPS panels to other manufacturers. You can get the whole story on google if you're interested. In addition, you're getting no support and no manufacturers warranty."
Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?game=239&view=forums&post=5192222#5192222
It would be really interesting to get a review of these monitors that go for 50% or less of the price of the Big Brand stuff. If it's even 85-90% quality compared to the big brands, then they are worth the plunge.
Don't forget the Auria at Microcenter. Many Toms users, myself included, have them.
Both 60 HZ
No need to read any further.
I just dont see QHD picking up any traction in the main consumer market until they get prices down to reasonable levels.
Heck I can pick up two 1080p 23/24 inch panels for
Even with my recent resolution, I experienced some hard time to adjust myself when gaming is involved. The HUGE screen about 60 inch from my eyes still hurts my respond. I'm too focused on what happen on the middle of the screen and never had a chance to look at details on corners, when I do, it's already too late...
I don't think I'm ready for such resolutions, even if someday my rig is.
I have the Dell U2711 also. Im a very visually detailed person. Audio I cant tell the difference between low to mid, or mid to high end systems... but visually I notice. My friends and family dont notice visual details or color accuracy. They think my monitor was a waste of money, but I dont. You need to know yourself before making a purchase on these. Also, if your gaming, you'll need a beefy system.. the jump from 1080p requires more hardware than youd expect.
Want to replace this mess with 3 27" QHD IPS panels. VESA mounts are mandatory; minimal/no-bezel cases would be preferred. I don't see that combination of features available anywhere.
Also at $700 - $1000 dollars apiece it would be impossible for me to get all three at the same time. I could swing the cash for three of the Korean panels but spending that kind of money on a scary warranty, quality gamble is a bit un-nerving.
So I guess some comprehensive reviews of the lesser panels and comparisons to the name brand monitors would be extremely helpful for me at this point. I could have worse problems!
This certainly applies to my 53-yr old eyes. I have two 1920x1080 monitors now, and I use the smaller one (21.5") on my primary PC because I am a little less likely to miss things than on the 23" one. Also, it isn't just the cost of the monitor; for games you're looking at $400-$600 price of graphics card(s) to go with it, plus a beefier PSU... I just can't justify it. I'm not knocking those who can, but I can't.
I am happy with 1920x1080; I suspect my next monitor upgrade (unlikely to be soon) will be to get a 120Hz monitor for 3D, but not to get more real estate.
QHD is more generally 3840 x 2160, but in regards to being 4x 720p, it's acceptable. Just not too... correct.
For example, 720p shouldn't be HD if 1080p is HD. Like... 720 should have been 720miniHD but for marketing use, it's HD because HD is always good. So QHD is more reasonably 4x 1080p.