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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.
The Dark Matter 42892 is DisplayHDR 400-certified and accepts HDR10 signals through all its video inputs. If you select the Auto Detect option in the OSD, it will change modes automatically. There are no adjustments, including for brightness or contrast, available to calibrate HDR signals.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
The 42892 just squeaks by the 400-nit threshold to earn its DisplayHDR 400 rating. But with a relatively high black level, HDR contrast is the same as SDR. There’s no dynamic contrast feature here, but that’s not unusual. The two MSIs don’t have it either. We tried an option called Dynamic Luminous Control, but that only served to increase black levels, making contrast lower. Though the 42892 provides the extra color needed for HDR content, HDR doesn’t look significantly different from SDR.
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
For the best possible HDR from the 42892, make sure Dynamic Luminous Control is switched off. This will keep black levels in check. HDR grayscale tracking is a bit cool as the signal approaches the tone-map transition point at 65% brightness. You can see this in the brighter parts of the image. The EOTF curve tracks reasonably well with some reduction in shadow detail, good tracking in the middle and then a smooth transition between 60 and 70% brightness.
The HDR gamut chart looks good except for the tracking of the red primary. Between the 20 and 60% targets, there’s a large gap. We measured the 40% saturation point closer to 80%. In practice, this showed a reduction in detail in the middle tones if the picture were predominantly red. In other hues, the effect wasn’t visible. Sky, water and grass looked normal. We saw a little smearing in the red skies that dominate Doom Eternal, but in other games, like Call of Duty: WWII, which focuses on earth tones, the issue wasn’t a factor.
Overall, the HDR picture is good but not great. You will see a bit of extra punch in HDR thanks to the large color gamut, but contrast is just average, and red tones aren’t always as detailed as they could be.
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