OSD Setup & Calibration
Despite its intent as an entertainment product, the EW277HDR sports an OSD worthy of a professional display. You get full calibration controls plus an array of Eye Care features that encompass low blue light and make use of an ambient light sensor (Brightness Intelligence Plus) to control output and color temperature automatically. HDR is supported both as an emulation and with proper handling of HDR10 signals.
First up is the Eye Care menu which offers four Low Blue Light modes, the B.I.+ sensor control, and a duration option that changes output and color temp based on total work time. BenQ takes eye fatigue and human factors very seriously and this is a very well-thought-out feature that benefits those who spend long hours in front of a computer monitor.
The Picture menu has a full set of calibration controls, but you’ll have to select the User picture mode from the Picture Advanced menu to access them all. After running our initial tests, we realized there was no need for any adjustments. The EW277HDR has pro-level accuracy in all its gamut modes, both DCI-P3 and sRGB. If you want to tweak, there are six gamma presets, three color temp levels, plus hue & saturation sliders. Our advice? Stick with Standard if you like P3 color or sRGB if you want that smaller gamut.
Picture Advanced contains the mode selections along with Super Resolution (a form of edge enhancement), Smart Focus (to highlight a particular area of the screen), Dynamic Contrast (only in some modes), Display Mode (aspect options), Overscan, and HDMI RGB PC Range (Auto works best in most cases).
Display has an input selector plus position, phase, and clock controls for analog signals. Audio controls volume and mute for the 3.5mm output and allows you to choose between the line in or HDMI inputs for your sound signal source.
System covers all ergonomic and OSD options like language, timeout, and the like. Two of the bezel keys can be programmed for different functions such as picture mode or brightness. Signal information is minimal and doesn’t include any HDR stats. When you input an HDR10 signal, a message pops up for a few seconds to let you know it’s working. If you turn on the emulation using the front key, or by choosing the HDR picture mode, the message says “Emulation” so you know it’s not true HDR. Finally, you can reset the EW277HDR to its factory defaults by choosing Reset All.
Calibration
The EW277HDR has a comprehensive set of calibration controls, but our sample needed no adjustment whatsoever. After running the tests, we simply dialed in brightness to 200cd/m2 and called it a day. When processing HDR10 signals, there are no image options available. You can’t even bring up the full OSD. Luckily, no changes are needed there as our benchmarks will demonstrate on page five. Here are the SDR brightness settings for commonly-used output levels
- 200cd/m2 – 60
- 120cd/m2 - 29
- 100cd/m2 - 22
- 80cd/m2 - 14
- 50cd/m2 - 4
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