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Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
We’ve rounded up a group of 27-inch panels for comparison to the PX278. Gigabyte’s represented by the Aorus FI27Q and Aorus CV27Q, the lone VA screen. There’s also the Asus ROG Strix G279Q and Asus TUF Gaming G289Q, as the Razer Raptor 27 IPS monitor. All support HDR and extended color.
The top three monitors, including the PX278, can exceed 400 nits in SDR mode. This is useful in extremely bright environments, but most will want to turn the brightness down to a more comfortable level.
Only the CV27Q and its VA panel can achieve true blacks. The IPS and TN screens look more like a dark gray when the backlight is at maximum. Resulting contrast is 1,049:1 for the Pixio PX278, on par with other IPS and TN monitors. This provided decent image depth, but the best picture still comes from a VA monitor like the CV27Q.
After Calibration to 200 nits
Turning down the backlight to 200 nits made the IPS and TN screens’ black levels much better. While the CV27Q still leads the pack comfortably, the other monitors come much closer to creating a convincing black at this brightness level. Our calibration cost the PX278 a few points in contrast, but it’s still decent at 978.4:1.
Our sample has a few minor uniformity issues, which affected the ANSI contrast score. A slight rise in brightness at the top of the screen drops intra-image contrast a bit. Overall quality is good in the more central zones, which is where the eye is most often focused during gameplay. Bright content looks excellent with vivid color while shadow areas are not as well-defined.
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