Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.
The XV282K supports HDR10 signals with two additional picture modes, Auto and HDR 400. A quick comparison showed greater brightness and contrast with HDR 400, so we chose that for our tests and gaming. When the signal is detected, you must switch the monitor over manually and back again when returning to SDR content.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
The XV282K just manages to exceed its DisplayHDR 400 spec with 412.5698 nits. That’s bright enough for most content, though the other monitors are brighter with the FV43U topping 1,000 nits. While you don’t need high brightness to achieve good HDR, it certainly helps. The more important figure is black level, and at 0.1460 nit, the XV282K’s isn’t too bad. That’s good enough to almost triple the Acer’s native contrast ratio to 2,825.7:1. Though the ACM (dynamic contrast) option is grayed out in HDR mode, it’s obviously in operation. But, again, there are HDR screens with more contrast available (see our story on How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor).
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
The grayscale tracking test came out the same in both HDR 400 and HDR Auto modes. There is a slight blue tint in the brightest steps, but the error is barely visible, just slightly over 3dE. The EOTF curve shows a little extra darkness at the low end of the scale but by 30%, the lines are merged. The tone-map transition is more gradual than the reference and happens at around 65%. In practice, this makes a good but not great HDR image. It is accurate and overall contrast is a little better than SDR.
The XV282K hits the HDR color saturation targets for all colors except red. There, the inner points are either on point or oversaturated. The max point is right on. And green is short of the mark like nearly every extended color monitor we’ve reviewed. Overall, this is very good performance.
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MORE: How We Test PC Monitors
