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Grayscale, Gamma and Color
Grayscale & Gamma Tracking
Our grayscale and gamma tests are described in detail here.
In Default mode, SmartImage is turned off and grayscale tracking looks quite good. Only the 90 percent level shows a tiny error, and we were hard-pressed to see it in test patterns or actual content. Gamma tracking is very near the ideal 2.2 mark as well. Remember that by default, color is locked to the DCI-P3 gamut, so the image will look oversaturated if you’re accustomed to sRGB.
Choosing sRGB from the Color Temp options warmed the grayscale a bit and lightened gamma ever so slightly. The errors were still invisible to our eyes, except at 100 percent brightness. This is excellent performance, earning the 436M6 a spot on our Calibration Unnecessary List.
If we tweaked the RGB sliders, the chart would look even better; however this locks you into that more saturated DCI color. That may or may not be an issue depending on your preference.
Comparisons
The 436M6 earned a respectably low 1.75dE grayscale error. After a few tweaks, we got the error down to .81dE, a small gain at best.
Gamma tracking is among the best with just a .09 range of values and a .9 percent deviation from the 2.2 standard. It doesn’t get much better.
Color Gamut Accuracy
For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
Clearly, the 436M6 is a DCI-P3 monitor. Red, green and magenta are a bit over-saturated but still near their targets. The secondary hues are spot-on, which makes both SDR and HDR images look their best.
If you select the sRGB option in the Color Temp menu, the monitor will track that gamut perfectly. All measurements are within the 1dE range, which is exemplary performance. The 436M6 qualifies as an sRGB reference display even without calibration.
Comparisons
With average scores of 1.51dE for sRGB and 1.66dE for DCI-P3, the 436M6 showed no visible color errors. These numbers are an average of 36 measurements and cover five saturation levels for each primary and secondary color.
Gamut volume is equally impressive with the 436M6 displaying the highest DCI-P3 color gamut volume of any screen we’ve reviewed to date. At nearly 95 percent, it even exceeds the comparison professional displays here (the two Dells). I’ve only measured one display with this much color volume: VIZIO’s PQ65-F1 Quantum 65-inch TV.
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