Philips 276E6 27-inch Quantum Dot Monitor Review

OSD Setup And Calibration

Touching the second button from the right brings up an OSD that will be familiar to users of Philips monitors.

OSD Tour

First up is the input selector. You can also change sources by pressing one of the bezel keys.

The Picture menu contains everything to adjust luminance along with SmartResponse (overdrive) SmartContrast (dynamic contrast) and a pixel orbiter. The latter is meant to prevent panel burn-in, though this isn't a problem with LCDs so we recommend turning it off. Picture Format is an aspect ratio control with two options: Wide Screen and 4:3.

Gamma tracking proved accurate in our tests on the default 2.2 setting. If you want a different look, or would like to meet another standard, you can choose a curve between 1.8 and 2.6 in .2 increments.

Volume and mute affect the headphone output. Audio signals come from the HDMI input when properly configured. There is no analog sound support nor are there built-in speakers.

The 276E6 doesn't use picture presets in the traditional sense. By default, it ships in the Color Temperature mode where you can choose either a 6500 or 9300K white point. No other adjustments, including Brightness, are allowed. If you attempt to change another option, the monitor switches to Adobe RGB mode. Once there, you can select the User Define field and adjust the RGB sliders to dial in white balance.

The OSD is available in 21 languages.

The OSD can be moved away from the center of the screen to any location. You can also set it to one of four transparency levels and extend its timeout to 60 seconds.

The Setup menu has image positioning controls for the VGA input. They are grayed out for digital signals. You can have the 276E6 warn you of resolution changes. And Reset returns all settings to their factory defaults. Finally, Information lets you know the input resolution, refresh rate and the monitor's serial number.

Calibration

We said the 276E6 has no picture modes but it does have a menu called SmartImage, which is called up from one of the bezel keys.

We recommend the Standard mode because it doesn't add any enhancements to the image. Internet and Game will change the picture dynamically based on content. A proper calibration would therefore not be possible.

If you want to use the monitor without adjustment, it's quite accurate in the Color Temp mode. The only drawback is that light output is locked at a fairly bright 370cd/m² and cannot be changed. The color standard is Adobe RGB regardless of the mode you choose. There is no sRGB option. To adjust Brightness to our 200cd/m² standard we were forced to use the Adobe RGB mode, which requires calibration as it is far too green in hue. The white balance controls work well in bringing grayscale tracking to near-perfection. We also lowered the Contrast slider one click to improve accuracy at the maximum white level. Please try our settings to optimize your 276E6.