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Brightness & Contrast
To read about our monitor tests in depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test Monitors and TVs. Brightness and Contrast testing is covered on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
As the line between premium business class and professional displays becomes blurred, we thought it fair to include a couple of each in today’s comparison group. From BenQ comes the PD2700Q and PV3200PT. Acer offers the BE270U, and NEC is represented by its do-it-all EA275WMi. The value quota is filled by Nixeus’ PRO Vue 27P.
All the screens claim either 300 or 350cd/m2 as their max output, and most come pretty close to those numbers. The NEC overachieves with a brightness near 400. The VP2771 clocks right in the middle, and right on spec with 355. Its black level is slightly below average for the category, which results in a maximum sequential contrast ratio under 1000:1. Professional displays are not typically known for high contrast, but a few recently-released products have upped the bar a little.
Uncalibrated – Minimum Backlight Level
ViewSonic has chosen a useful 46 nits as the VP2771’s minimum brightness level. One click upward will result in our 50-nit preferred value. This makes the display well suited for video production editing bays where there is typically no ambient light. Desktop monitors should be kept at a low level in that environment to ensure proper judgement of the image on larger mastering screens usually found on the walls.
After Calibration to 200cd/m2
After our manual calibration in the Advanced Mode, there is no change in contrast, which is a good thing. No adjustments were made to the contrast control, and changes to the RGB and color sliders were minimal. You’ll see similar results if you use the Colorbration auto-cal software.
If you engage any of the preset color modes, the uniformity compensation option appears. Choices are limited to on or off; there is no fine tuning available. As you can see, it reduces peak output by nearly half. It has little effect on black level and it lowers overall contrast by a significant amount. Our VP2771 sample sported great uniformity without any need for compensation, so in our case, we would not use the feature. It’s also not available in the Advanced Mode or the auto-cal modes.
ANSI Contrast Ratio
ANSI contrast remains very near the sequential number, which indicates a quality panel with precisely fitted polarizer and anti-glare layers. Our sample shows exceptional uniformity, which helps the result. Obviously, uniformity compensation affects intra-image negatively. Without it though, the VP2771 shows decent dynamic range with nicely saturated and accurate color. Highlight and shadow detail are solid, as they should be.
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