Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.
The OLED G8 supports both HDR10 and HDR10+ formats. The latter requires correctly encoded content with dynamic metadata. The mode switch happens automatically and if you set Color Space to Auto, the gamut will change between sRGB and DCI-P3 accordingly.
HDR Brightness and Contrast
The OLED G8 does not vary brightness in HDR mode so its peak of 446 nits is the same when measuring either full field or window patterns. The Corsair and Alienware screens top 1,000 nits by increasing output to small areas of the screen only. The black level is unmeasurable in any case which renders contrast infinite. The Philips is a notable exception in the OLED category in that it doesn’t completely shut off the screen when a black field pattern is displayed. The G8, like every OLED, has superb HDR thanks to its high native contrast.
Grayscale, EOTF and Color
When I applied an HDR10 signal through the G8’s HDMI port, it gave me the choice of two picture modes, Standard and Movie. Standard has spot-on grayscale tracking but its luminance tracking is quite far off the mark. It is much too light from 10% brightness up to the tone-map transition point at 65%. This means most areas of the image will look washed out and flat. Dark material won’t render a true black.
Luckily, the Movie mode is much better. It has the same accurate grayscale tracking along with near perfect luminance tracking. The picture here is true to the original content and is the optimal way to enjoy the OLED G8’s HDR quality.
In the gamut tests, I’m only showing the Movie mode. You just don’t want to use Standard; trust me, it won’t do the OLED G8 justice. Color saturation tracks almost perfectly on-target when measured against the DCI-P3 reference which is the basis for much of today’s HDR content. Hue errors are minimal, and the gamut is fully covered to 100% saturation. The Rec.2020 chart tracks its color targets until the OLED G8 runs out of color at around 85%. This is about as good as it gets for any wide gamut display.
Test Takeaway: The OLED G8 has superlative HDR quality that is on par with other OLEDs I’ve reviewed. With its huge gamut, it is only matched by the Philips 34M2C8600 for total volume making it one of the most colorful monitors available. It also delivers reference level accuracy for grayscale, EOTF and gamut as long as you choose the Movie mode.
