Results: Grayscale Tracking And Gamma Response
Our grayscale and gamma tests are described in detail here.
Out of the box, the 288P6LJEB is set to 6500K in its Color Temp mode. The measurements look decent with only slight errors at 50 percent and above. If you switch to sRGB, you’ll get the exact same result. While brighter whites run a little blue, the monitor looks good without calibration.
If you switch to the User mode without calibrating, the errors below 80 percent drop dramatically. Unfortunately, the brighter levels become worse. There is an obvious green tint, so if you want to use the 288P6LJEB unadjusted, stick to the Color Temp mode shown in the first chart.
Calibration does improve accuracy, though we struggled a bit with the contrast control. We adjusted the sliders using an 80-percent pattern, and you can see how it’s nearly perfect. But the other levels don’t show a lot of improvement. And we had to drop contrast by 12 clicks to fix the 100-percent step, reducing image contrast by over 16 percent. Our choice is still the calibrated mode, but some users may opt for greater dynamic range.
Here is our comparison group:
The out-of-box result is well under three, which is the visible threshold. Philips offers about the same stock accuracy as the other TN-based monitors we tested.
Calibration doesn’t produce a dramatic improvement in the average number. The principal change is in the brightest steps from 80 to 100 percent. If you use the 288P6LJEB for gaming and entertainment, the extra contrast of an uncalibrated display might be more appealing than realizing maximum color accuracy.
Gamma Response
We found some interesting behavior when trying the gamma presets. Most monitors simply move the same curve up or down. But the 288P6LJEB exhibits different tracking patterns as the setting is changed. The above chart represents the 2.2 option with no other adjustments. It looks great from a tracking standpoint, but it’s just a bit low (too bright).
Switching to User mode skews the gamma considerably. Not only do green errors appear in the brighter steps, but overall brightness is reduced too. To fix this, we dropped the preset to 2.0 and performed our usual grayscale calibration.
Our adjustments result in an almost-perfect gamma trace. The slight dip at 10 percent represents a microscopic error of only .27cd/m2. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Here is our comparison group again:
The comparison chart proves that Philips' 288P6LJEB is one of the best gamma performers we’ve seen. Coupled with an excellent ANSI result, we can see why its image looks far better than its on/off contrast numbers indicate. Gamma this tight can make up for middling contrast.
We calculate gamma deviation by simply expressing the difference from 2.2 as a percentage.
With a deviation of only .09 percent, Philips’ average gamma performance is just about perfect. The final number is 2.18 with a low of 2.12 and a high of 2.25.
