To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
Opponents of OLED technology often cite peak brightness as a weakness. Indeed, LCDs are generally brighter than OLEDs, but the PG27AQDM has nothing to worry about. I measured a bit less than 300 nits in SDR mode using a 25% window pattern. A full field measured 212 nits, so some power management is happening even though I turned that option off. That’s not unusual for any OLED. Back in the days of CRT and plasma, it was called DC restoration. It’s meant to protect the display’s power supply from overloading when showing the brightest content. The only thing affected here is where one would set the peak output level. I used window patterns for all tests, so users reading this may want to employ higher brightness values to get the peak level to their liking.
Like any OLED, black levels can’t be measured by any available instruments, so the contrast is theoretically infinite. The lone LCD here was tested with its local dimming turned off, so it delivered a typical-for-IPS 1,041.5:1 contrast ratio.
After Calibration to 200 nits
As stated earlier, I measured the PG27AQDM using 25% window patterns to achieve a realistic light reading. 200 nits is about halfway down the brightness control’s range. All the OLEDs retain their infinite contrast status.
ANSI contrast is also unmeasurable on an OLED. The AOC does well for an LCD but it’s easy to see the difference in a side-by-side comparison whether viewing test patterns or actual content.
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