ProArt: Big and small and gaming?

The new Asus ProArt PA279CRV is a relatively affordable monitor (€550) that aims to give the impression of a premium professional panel. If you ask Co-Pilot of Windows 11, you get the following info: “The Asus ProArt PA279CRV is a monitor that is making waves in the tech industry due to its impressive features and affordable price. This 27-inch 4K monitor is part of ASUS’ ProArt range, designed for video editing and content creation.” It’s not just adverts that like to exaggerate, AI language models also get exuberant from time to time: “…making waves in the tech industry”

What interests us now about the Asus ProArt Display PA279CRV and also the Asus ProArt Display PA169CDV is precisely the topic: How much “pro” do you get for the money?

Auf der Rückseite sind zwei Ständer-Varianten, einmal für eine „Wacom-artige“ Neigung, als Pen Tablet, und einmal eine „hohe Neigung“, wie man sie von externen Monitoren kennt. In der hohen Ständer-Variante kann man auch bequem im Porträt-Modus arbeiten – oder halt gemütlich das DP-Epaper im richtigen Format lesen. Ich mein ja nur.

There are two stand variants on the back, one for a “Wacom-like” tilt, as a pen tablet, and one for a “high tilt”, as known from external monitors. In the high stand version, you can also work comfortably in portrait mode – or simply read the DP-Epaper in the correct format. I’m just saying.

What are these classes?

Our definition comes from colour grading. Here, anything that achieves a so-called class 1 (as far as possible) is considered professional. For example, a Sony BVM HX3110 (dual LCD) or an EIZO CG3146 or a Sony BVM X300 (OLED). There would certainly be more devices, but these are the most common and cost between 20,000 and 30,000 euros. Mid-range for me so far has tended to be an EIZO CG series. They are around 2000-4000 euros. Classic class two broadcast monitors are similarly priced or around double or triple the price – depending on the manufacturer, dealer and age. Anything under 1,000 euros would therefore not be mid-range. A good 4K/27-inch office monitor from Eizo already costs 600-1,500 euros. In this respect, the Asus is almost in the low-end price range. For the sake of completeness: A favourable
Office monitor in this size and resolution is around 200-300 euros, i.e. about half the price.

Im Gray-Scale-Tracking unten links sieht man den Farbstich im „Schwarzbereich“ bis etwa 25 Prozent, ist der Schwarzwert eher grau und hat deswegen auch einen bläulichen Farbstich – als normgerecht gilt 6500k, aber im Schwarz steigt es auf über 10.000 Kelvin an was dann ein grau-blau ergibt anstatt Neutral Grau und es ist ein grau und kein Schwarz selbst beim absoluten null. (kommen noch andere Messprotokolle dazu) — In the grey scale tracking at the bottom left you can see the colour cast in the “black range” up to about 25 percent, the black value is rather grey and therefore also has a bluish colour cast – 6500k is considered standard, but in black it rises to over 10,000 Kelvin, which then results in a grey-blue instead of neutral grey and it is a grey and not black even at absolute zero. (there are also other measurement protocols)

The claim

Anyone who edits images (as a rule) also wants to see colours that are as correct as possible. In recent years in particular, the problem has arisen that different colours have to be constantly discussed. Not infrequently with the customer complaining that the colours are too bright or usually “too red”. The cause is often the same: many monitors can now display so-called wide gamuts and are preset at the factory with these natively very saturated colours. If the operating systems or programs do not use colour management, the colours are often seen incorrectly because they were usually produced in sRGB/Rec.709 but are now displayed in P3 or higher. Skin tones in particular look too red. We will cover this topic in detail in the next DP, especially in the comparison between Windows and Mac.

The PA169CDV – how much colour do you need on the move?

If you want to do something on the go, we recommended the excellent Asus ZenScreen OLED MQ16AH in the penultimate issue – which scored points with its low price and great colours. The PA169CDV (honestly, Asus, we need to talk about names!) is the “professional version”
which is not designed for productivity, but for graphic designers and image makers. What’s in the case?

It’s a portable 15.6-inch screen with 4K resolution (3840×2160 pixels), IPS panel and 10-point touch, which is Display HDR 400 certified. With the included ProArt pen, which uses Wacom EMR technology, you can draw or write directly on the display. Like the PA279CRV, it is also said to have been Calman verified and Pantone validated. Measurement reports are enclosed in each case.

Ein Foto von der Realität ist aber aufschlussreicher: Hier beim PA169CDV kann man sehen, wie das Display „graublau“ aufleuchtet, die Kamera überzeichnet aber die Ecken durch lange Belichtung, mit bloßem Auge sieht man den gelb-rot Farbstich nicht stark, obwohl kein Bild anliegt, also eigentlich alles Schwarz sein sollte. Es scheint eine sogenannte „Edge“ Beleuchtung vorzuliegen, die nur in den Ecken LEDs aufweist. Das hat weitere Konsequenzen! — However, a photo of the real thing is more revealing: Here on the PA169CDV you can see how the display lights up “grey-blue”, but the camera overdraws the corners due to long exposure, with the naked eye you can’t see the yellow-red colour cast very clearly, although there is no image, so everything should actually be black. There appears to be so-called “edge” lighting, which only has LEDs in the corners. This has further consequences!

According to Asus, we have 500 cd/m² in HDR mode, 450 cd/m² in typical mode, as well as HDR10 and colour spaces set to Standard, sRGB (100 percent), Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, Rec. 709, Scenery, Reading, HDR and two “User Modes”. In terms of connectivity, there are two USB-C ports on the left-hand side of the screen (one of which is in Display Port Alt Mode) and a full-size HDMI 2.0. Above these are the menu button, an On/Off button and a “rotary wheel”, which can be freely assigned to all kinds of tools. Power is also supplied via USB-C, namely 15 watts in operation and less than 0.3 watts in standby mode. As with the ZenScreen, there is a ¼ inch thread at the rear. Two speakers with one watt each are also installed. The whole thing weighs a little over a kilo, measures 37 by 23.7 by 1.2 cm and costs between €1,100 and €1,300 on Amazon.

However, the smaller PA169CDV costs more – about twice as much for about half the surface area, it is a pen tablet with “Wacom feel”. Otherwise, the screen specs look almost identical at first glance: The currently only supplier for the PA169CDV describes it as 4k OLED but in the same sentence as an IPS panel, which is an LCD monitor type. In fact, both displays are the same: IPS panel with 10 bit and LED backlight
Backlight. And here we are at the first weak point: LED backlights with too few LEDs cause various problems. An old problem with LCD/LED monitors is the lack of black level. This is easy to recognise from the supplied measurement report – it is clearly not an OLED.

The PA279CRV – ProArt for little money!

The second monitor in the test is the Asus ProArt Display PA279CRV Professional 27-inch monitor mentioned at the beginning. A 27-inch 4K (3840×2160) HDR display with LED backlighting, IPS panel and a wide viewing angle of 178 degrees. Asus reports 99 percent DCI-P3 and 99 percent Adobe RGB coverage as the colour space, and that this would be Calman-tested and pre-calibrated to Delta E<2 colour accuracy at the factory.

Everything is available in terms of connectivity, including DisplayPort via USB-C with 96 watts Power Delivery, DisplayPort, HDMI and a USB hub (3.2, and easily accessible at the bottom) plus a wall-mountable design (Vesa 100×100) for maximum desk space. Power consumption is 33.5 watts, the refresh rate is 60 Hz and, because it is currently being discussed: Asus guarantees 8 years of software and firmware updates as well as 7 years of spare parts availability. Very nice, that! But back to the colours…

Der PA279CRV weist in den Bildrändern einen deutlichen Rotstich auf, der im direkten Vergleich mit einem anderen Display auffällt. Um das eindeutig hier darstellen zu können, wurde das Bild stark vom Kontrast her bearbeitet. Was man gut sieht, ist: Nur ein kleiner Bereich in der Bildmitte, da wo man üblicherweise auch mit dem Farbmess-Sensor misst, ist farblich einheitlich. Daher kann man sich vorstellen, wenn dieser Kontrast schwächer ist, fällt kaum auf, dass die Mitte anders ist als der Rest. Zumindest auf den ersten Blick sah der PA279CRV deutlich rotstichiger aus, als mein eigener Monitor, dessen Bildfläche bis zum Rand homogen anders ist. — The PA279CRV has a clear red cast at the edges of the picture, which is noticeable in direct comparison with another display. In order to be able to show this clearly here, the image was heavily processed in terms of contrast. What you can clearly see is: Only a small area in the centre of the image, where you would normally measure with the colour measurement sensor, is uniform in colour. So you can imagine that if this contrast is weaker, it is hardly noticeable that the centre is different from the rest. At least at first glance, the PA279CRV looked significantly more reddish than my own monitor, whose screen area is homogeneously different right up to the edge.

Zum Vergleich hier mein Office-Monitor, das Bild ist genauso bearbeitet/kontrastverstärkt wie das vom ASUS. — For comparison, here is my office monitor, the image is just as processed/contrast-enhanced as that of the ASUS.

Calibration right up to the edge…

If you calibrate such a display with the measurement sensor in the middle, the edges/corners will no longer reproduce correct colours. When I first calibrated the PA279CRV and placed it next to my office monitors, I was briefly confused. The monitor actually seemed to have a red cast in the white and I started to check whether I had done something wrong. However, I measured the edges with the measuring probe and measured a considerable red cast, which I also perceived “optically”.

Spektralmessung mit Jeti Spektroradiometer — Spectral measurement with Jeti spectroradiometer

Colorimeter mit LED Profil (internes Profil) — Colourimeter with LED profile (internal profile)

Colorimeter mit Profil vom PA169CDV — Colourimeter with profile from PA169CDV

Colorimeter mit neuem Profil nun gleich wie Jeti — Colourimeter with new profile now the same as Jeti

If you place two monitors next to each other and compare them, you focus primarily on both edges and hardly notice that the image actually changes towards the centre of the image, if it actually does. As can be estimated from the amount of area above, the central area (blue-grey cross) is also smaller than the corner areas, which have a different colour. If you take a photo of the white area, it looks clear – I have edited the image for the print.

Incidentally, there is a cool online tool from EIZO for testing monitors: eizo.de/monitortest

I used this to create the white area, you can see the numbers to the left of the centre of the image, if you click on them you can select different test patterns and modify some of them at the bottom right of the window. Anyone familiar with Eizo monitors and their advertising will have seen this picture before. Eizo has developed a technique to eliminate precisely this problem. This is one reason why Eizo monitors are sometimes many times more expensive than the PA279CRV.

Der PA279CRV im nativen Farbraum hier im Verhältnis zu Rec.709/sRGB also weit drüber, auffällig der daneben liegende White-Balance bzw. Weißpunkt, der bei 6.500 Kelvin liegen sollte, hier aber deutlich an Rot vermissen lässt. Mögliche Ursache sind zweierlei: Der Einsatz nicht profilierter Colorimeter und der grundsätzliche Rotstich der Hintergrundbeleuchtung. Weitere Auffälligkeit ist der abgehobene Schwarzwert, was zunächst mal LCD-typisch klingt. Das hat aber noch andere Gründe, wie ihr im Artikel lesen könnt. — The PA279CRV’s native colour space is far above Rec.709/sRGB, and the adjacent white balance or white point, which should be 6,500 Kelvin, is noticeably lacking in red. There are two possible causes: the use of non-profiled colourimeters and the general red cast of the backlight. Another conspicuous feature is the contrasting black value, which initially sounds typical of LCDs. However, there are other reasons for this, as you can read in the article.

Hier der PA279CRV im sRGB (entspricht farblich dem Rec.709) Modus. Auch hier der gleiche Weißpunkt Fehler. Was auch zu erheblichen Farbabweichungen führt und so zwangsläufig nicht zu den Herstellerangaben über die hohe Farbgenauigkeit führt. Fachlich gesehen muss man leider der Werkskalibrierung hier handwerkliche Mängel vorwerfen – das ist aber ein sehr weit verbreitetes Problem bei fast allen Monitorherstellern. — Here the PA279CRV in sRGB (corresponds to Rec.709 in terms of colour) mode. The same white point error here too. This also leads to considerable colour deviations and therefore inevitably does not match the manufacturer’s claims of high colour accuracy. From a technical point of view, the factory calibration can unfortunately be accused of poor workmanship here – but this is a very common problem with almost all monitor manufacturers.

Vergleichen wir noch weitere Werkszustände: Hier der PA279CRV im AdobeRGB Modus, den Farbraum deckt er vollständig ab, besser als den sRGB obwohl größer. Im sRGB fehlt etwas blau. Die Gammakurve wird hier viel besser auch im Schwarzbereich geführt, hat einen besonderen Grund: Ich habe die Dynamik-Dimming-Funktion abgeschaltet. — Let’s compare other factory states: Here the PA279CRV in AdobeRGB mode, it covers the colour space completely, better than the sRGB although larger. Some blue is missing in sRGB. The gamma curve is much better here, even in the black range, for a special reason: I have switched off the dynamic dimming function.

Würde man die 100 Prozent Werte weglassen (was Hersteller gerne mal unterschlagen) wäre man mit Delta E2000 deutlich unter 2 im Maximum. Der Durchschnitt ohne 100 Prozent Werte von 1,2 ist aber beachtlich gut (allerdings erst nach einer Kalibrierung). Die Werkskalibrierung war deutlich zu Gelb. — If the 100 per cent values were omitted (which manufacturers like to omit), the Delta E2000 would be well below 2 at maximum. However, the average without 100 per cent values of 1.2 is remarkably good (but only after calibration). The factory calibration was clearly too yellow.

Hier nun der PA279CRV: Die Delta E2000 Werte für Rec.709 (sRGB) bei Gamma 2,4 sind für einen LCD sehr gut, aber auch hier erst nach einer echten Kalibrierung, ab Werk zu Grün. Interessant ist, dass eine Monitor-Review-Plattform hier moniert hat, dass der sRGB-Modus zu wenig Peak-Luminanz leistet, was ich bestätigen kann – es waren nur rund 80 nits, was für sRGB zu wenig ist. Aber der farbidentische Modus Rec.709 lässt sich ja von der Luminanz her frei justieren. — Here is the PA279CRV: The Delta E2000 values for Rec.709 (sRGB) at gamma 2.4 are very good for an LCD, but here too only after a real calibration, ex works too green. It is interesting to note that one monitor review platform criticised the sRGB mode for providing too little peak luminance, which I can confirm – it was only around 80 nits, which is too little for sRGB. But the colour-identical Rec.709 mode can be freely adjusted in terms of luminance.

Comparison of measurement probe profiles

Here you can see some examples of the profiling problems of measurement probes – this should give you an idea of how important precise individual current profiling of measurement probes is:

Measurement, calibration and evaluation

First of all, it is always interesting to see how different the spectral light properties of monitors from the same manufacturer and of the same or very similar design are. If you use cheap colourimeters, you may have several spectral profiles (usually up to five different light source types such as LEDs or tubes etc.) to choose from, but these cannot be modified, e.g. for so-called phosphor-based LED backlights. However, there are different types such as RG_Phosphor or PFS Phosphor WLED LED backlights with different spectral properties and therefore different white points – if they have not been calibrated to a specific white point. So neither of them can be calibrated correctly with a “standard profile”.

Even if I use a 7,000 euro colourimeter, its stored profiles for perhaps ten specific monitor types such as an EIZO CG series profile are of no use to me at all, as these change with the wear and tear of the years, as with all monitors. This is why built-in measuring probes are more of a consumer gimmick, as they themselves drift and the monitors in which they are installed do too, albeit to varying degrees.

Colours on the PA279CRV

Now let’s take a look at what colours the PA279CRV monitor delivers ex works. Standard colour presets are often “native” and present the entire colour space, which is usually neither fish nor fowl – and always shows the maximum colours possible, i.e. all too often oversaturated.

Dynamic dimming should always be switched off, I had switched to Fast (Display HDR) to see contrast optimised for HDR, but this produces very creepy phenomena, especially in SDR.

Link to the video Dimming-Fail is.gd/dimming

Colour on the 169CDV

If you now start to calibrate the PA169CDV, the gamma unfortunately shifts and the midtones really drop off, a problem that tends to occur with inexpensive colour processing, more expensive devices such as Eizo, for example, have no gamma problems after a white point calibration.

Conclusion

As a long-time Wacom user, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the pen features of the PA169CDV, which is why I haven’t gone into it any further here. With the 16:9 display and the pen aspect ratio, it only fits 16:9 displays such as laptops and desktop monitors. For me personally, the surface is too large when you’re not looking at it and too small to draw on – and too expensive for everyday use due to the limitations. The 169CDV is interesting as a second monitor “to go” on a laptop – sturdily built and the size fits most mobile workstations.

In addition, unlike laptop displays, you can explicitly switch on sRGB or a wide gamut here and work with more usable colour conformity – many laptop displays show “any wide gamut” and you can never be sure what you are seeing. Who says that Apple laptops are very good when it comes to internal monitors? In the next issue, I will go into this topic in more depth and measure and compare an Apple laptop and tablet.

So much for the small one, now for the big one: The large PA279CRV monitor is supposedly great in terms of colour after calibration on the protocol, but you can’t calibrate away the colour casts towards the edge of the picture.

Hier der kleine PA169CDV vor der Kalibrierung – der war deutlich zu Gelb, also Blau im Minus. Gammatracking liegt aber gut im Soll (hier gibt es keine Dimming Funktion). — Here is the small PA169CDV before calibration – the colour was clearly too yellow, i.e. blue in the negative. Gamma tracking, however, is well on target (there is no dimming function here).

Nur den Weißpunkt am PA169CDV kalibriert: Jetzt haben wir einen Blaustich in den mittleren Tonwerten. — Only the white point on the PA169CDV was calibrated: Now we have a blue cast in the mid tonal values.

Jedoch gibt es einen Trick das wieder etwas einzufangen, man kalibriert den Weißpunkt nicht bei 100 Prozent Peakwhite, sondern bei 70 Prozent! Hier seht ihr den „als Kompromiss kalibriert“ mit etwas besseren mittleren Tonwerten und durchschnittlich deutlich weniger starken Abweichungen. — However, there’s a trick to compensate for this: don’t calibrate the white point at 100 per cent peak white, but at 70 per cent! Here you can see the “calibrated as a compromise” with slightly better average tonal values and significantly less deviations on average.

Alternatives!

It’s nice when you’re rummaging around in a range that you occasionally find the cream of the crop. The ROG Strix XG32AQ from Asus, which I bought myself (a quick fix because an office monitor had broken down), is similar in price and larger. This gaming monitor is on a par in terms of overall colour and doesn’t have anywhere near as much colour change towards the edges of the screen for me to recommend it.

Although it “only” has a resolution of 2560×1440, this is much better for working at 32 inches. In general, I find 27 inches with UHD resolution far too small, many menu fonts are barely legible and the accuracy of menu items or buttons with the mouse is drastically less efficient. Other people see it differently, Bela from the DP editorial team thinks 27-inch 4K is the “sweet spot” in terms of resolution and size. But he usually sits much closer to the screen, doesn’t have a tablet and doesn’t click as quickly as I do.

However, if I only want a VideoIO monitor, UHD is preferable – there are no reading problems. But as a video monitor, I would again recommend OLED, with the system’s inherent decent black levels and proper HDR. Because the HDR functions of the 169 and 279 are unfortunately only a “theoretical” feature and hardly usable in real life – 400 nits is only a pro-forma part of the VESA HDR standards, visually HDR 400 is a disappointment if you know what good HDR looks like.

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ProArt: Big and small and gaming?