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The G34WQi supports HDR10 content with an automatic switch once you’ve set the OSD option to Auto, it’s turned off by default. There are no additional picture modes or image adjustments.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
When running the HDR contrast tests, I discovered a quirk. The G34WQi carries its brightness setting over from SDR to HDR. That means if you’ve set it to 200 nits for SDR, that’s all you’ll get for HDR. The workaround is to max the brightness slider before inputting HDR content, which is a step that shouldn’t be needed. There is no dynamic contrast or variable dimming enabled here, so HDR contrast is the same as SDR. The G34WQi tone maps with reasonable accuracy, so HDR looks a little better than SDR. But if you want maximum impact from the latest HDR content, this monitor is not for you. Note that the ASRock, HP and Monoprice screens have a lot more contrast to offer. The Mini LED displays shut off their zone-dimming array, so black levels and contrast cannot be measured.
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
The G34WQi nails the grayscale portion of the HDR test but is a bit dark in its EOTF tracking. There are no visible errors in gray step patterns which is a good thing. But output rises too slowly as the stimulus level increases which means some shadow detail will be obscured. This would be helped by dynamic contrast but alas there is none.
In the color tests, most points are over-saturated, which helps add impact to HDR. This makes it a little better than SDR, but without a broader dynamic range, image quality improvements are limited. Hue tracking is on point, meaning colors looks natural. The Rec.2020 chart shows the same behavior. The only difference is that the G34WQi runs out of color, around 85% red, 90% blue, and 75% green. This is typical performance for wide gamut monitors.
Test Takeaway: The G34WQi has good HDR color that looks natural and saturated, and is reasonably accurate. But with dark EOTF tracking and no dynamic contrast, the picture is only slightly more impactful than its SDR counterpart. The need to max brightness manually before applying an HDR signal is unnecessarily fiddly too. That could be potentially fixed with a firmware update. The G34WQi supports HDR but doesn’t make the most of the extra quality it offers.
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