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OSD Setup & Calibration
Two presses of the third control key will bring up the full OSD. You can access other monitor functions with the first two buttons. That feature is configurable by the user. Let’s check out the SE2717H’s comprehensive menu system.
The first screen has only brightness and contrast sliders. The latter is set correctly at 75 and should be left alone. Brightness runs through a 100-step range that takes output from 40-290cd/m2.
The Auto Adjust option is for analog signals coming through the VGA port. Here you can set timings to ensure a clean image. It’s grayed out when using the HDMI input.
The input source selector is minimal, because it only has to manage two inputs. With Auto Select turned on, the SE2717H quickly finds the first active signal on startup.
The Color menu offers 10 picture mode selections, of which Standard is the default. It’s pretty close to the mark without calibration, so Dell has forgone the redundant sRGB mode. Other presets alter color temp and gamma for various tasks. Since FPS gaming is the most likely use for this screen, we’ll show you its measurements in the tests on page four. To perform a grayscale calibration, choose Custom Color. You’ll then be presented with a precise set of RGB sliders that begin at their maximums. We initially lamented the lack of a gamma control, but as you’ll see later, it’s completely unnecessary.
In our chosen Custom mode, the Display menu offers only a few basic options. You can change the aspect ratio, adjust sharpness (leave it on 50 for best results) and choose an overdrive setting. Super Fast causes ghosting that is more visible in test patterns than in actual content. And it does reduce motion blur.
The only energy-saving option is to turn off the power LED. Since the SE2717H is already fairly efficient, there won’t be much gain here.
The Menu screen offers multiple languages, five transparency levels, up to a 60 second timeout, and a lock function that prevents tampering.
The first two control keys can be set to one of five functions in the Personalize menu. We liked the defaults of Brightness/Contrast and picture mode.
Others has the two final options: DDC/CI, which should be left on; and LCD conditioning, which is completely unnecessary, since modern panels don’t suffer the effects of burn-in.
Our only gripe with the OSD overall is the lack of any FreeSync information. You won’t know it’s active unless you check AMD Catalyst. Also the refresh info says “60Hz max,” which is incorrect. We confirmed proper operation at 75Hz during all our hands-on tests.
Calibration
The SE2717H looks pretty good in Standard mode and comes close to most of our color, gamma, and grayscale targets. You can enjoy the monitor for just about any task without calibration. We measured nicely saturated sRGB color, a D65 grayscale, and almost perfect 2.2 gamma tracking before making any adjustments. Selecting Custom Color and tweaking the RGB sliders takes accuracy a little higher, but the result is barely any different from the stock image. Here are our recommended settings and brightness values for popular output levels.
| Dell SE2717H Calibration Settings | |
|---|---|
| Mode | Custom Color |
| Brightness 200cd/m2 | 70 |
| Brightness 120cd/m2 | 34 |
| Brightness 100cd/m2 | 26 |
| Brightness 80cd/m2 | 17 |
| Brightness 50cd/m2 | 5 |
| Contrast | 75 |
| Color Temp | Red 100, Green 97, Blue 97 |
