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Our default measurements of the XL2411P were taken in the FPS1 picture mode. It is identical to the Standard preset where we performed a calibration. As you’ll soon see, there are some gamma quirks to talk about.
Grayscale and Gamma Tracking
We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.
Default grayscale tracking is quite good except for at the 90 and 100% brightness levels, which show a slight blue tint. Normally we’d fix this by reducing the contrast slider, but that had no effect here. It’s just as well, since we’d prefer not to reduce dynamic range for the sake of color accuracy.
Calibration (2nd chart) didn't change the white point error much, but it did reduce the effects of skewed gamma, which you can see at the 10 and 90% brightness points. BenQ does this by design to increase perceived contrast, which it does, but some detail in highlight and shadow areas will be harder to see. You can use the Black eQualizer control to compensate for darker scenes, but there is no way to resolve all detail in the brightest highlights. The overall effect is subtle and color saturation is still very good, but we’d prefer to see a straight line from left to right.
Comparisons
In the FPS1 mode, the XL2411P averaged a Delta E (dE) of 2.60, which is better than all other monitors here, except the XFA240. That’s low enough to suggest there’s no need for calibration, but we recommend it for better gamma and color accuracy. Plus, halving the error is a nice bonus. Though 1.34dE puts the BenQ in last place, its performance in this area is still considered excellent.
The gamma result is unusual. With the large swings at 10 and 90% brightness, values range widely over a 1.43-point span. That’s greater than nearly any monitor we’ve ever measured. But the average is still just a tiny bit off 2.2 ,with only a 0.45% deviation. Therefore, all the levels from 20-80% -- in other words most content -- is displayed with the correct gamma. Only extreme highlight and shadow areas are affected.
Color Gamut Accuracy
For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
The XL2411P’s gamma errors contribute to a default gamut chart that has a few issues. The grayscale errors at 90 and 100% brightness cause an under-saturated yellow secondary. This error is visible in test patterns. The gamma behavior we noted above also causes over-saturation of red, green and magenta mid-tones. These errors are visible both in test patterns and in actual content. Whether this is a problem is up to the individual user, but when you’re accustomed to accurate color as we are, there is room for improvement.
Changing the gamma presets won’t help. You’ll want to leave it on setting 1 like we did. Though our RGB adjustments were small, they improved gamut accuracy by a significant margin. A 1.16dE average is among the best and makes the XL2411P’s picture far better.
Comparisons
Our calibration put the XL2411P at the top of the sample group in the color gamut test. 1.16dE is about as good as it gets, especially at this price point. We highly recommend tweaking the Standard mode with our recommended settings (see page 2) as it makes a visible improvement to image quality.
The XL2411P is an sRGB-native monitor, and it covers that spec almost to perfection. With only 1.3% of bonus volume, it can be used for color-critical tasks once calibrated. The Pixio uses DCI-P3 as its native gamut, but any of the other screens here is a good choice for sRGB.
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