Is Alan Wake 2 supposed to look like this on my PG27AQDM in HDR?

[VGeorge]

Hey everyone,

Just opened up Alan Wake 2 to try it out in HDR and found that it looks really weird on my PG27AQDM (referring to the weird hue on the right part of the ceiling). I have already run the HDR calibration tool on Windows 11 and messed with the in-game settings to make it go away but nothing seems to work. I'm on the latest firmware too (105). Does the game look like that on your PG27AQDM or is it my unit that's faulty?

[markob53]

I'm not sure OP is specifically referring to a purple tint, more to the weird looking shadows on the walls.

But i've seen your many posts before about your issues with this, and i do have to say i've noticed it more in certain conditions but it's quite subtle and not always obvious to me and i've also noticed perfect oranges in HDR (Games look Doom Eternal look stunning on this monitor and oranges are nice and bright).

So i wouldn't say it has a strict problem with showing orange but when it's a certain shade or certain colours combine it might look a little purple but It doesn't happen enough to bother me and i genuinely struggle to see it in a lot of your examples.

I also have no idea what the objectively correct colour is, what the intention of the author is or how good the HDR implantation is to be able to say for sure that there's something obviously wrong, but hell i didn't even notice a skin tone problem on MCM104 so it could just be me.

In your bottom gamma example, it would be easy to say the picture on the left looks better because a nice deep black is attractive to the eyes, but it also crushes and hides a lot of detail on the stairs, so maybe the one on the right is actually the correct implementation? and who am i to say otherwise.

But you clearly have an issue with this and i don't know how long you've had the monitor, but if you can i'd return it because you're clearly not happy with it.

[gpossel]

I'm sorry if my posts bother you, but I'm trying to get attention to these so we get a fix. I do believe the issue of the OP has to do with inconsistencies in the darkest part of the gamma curves, which would be the same that causes the purple halos and odd shadows.

I agree is not so clear in my pictures, now I'm looking this on my tablet and I barely see the purple, but in real life it's very conspicuous. I selected those scenes from The Hobbit because most people should know how they're supposed to look. Scenes with dark rooms illuminated by candles or fire show this very well, such as in A Plague Tale: Requiem. Well lit scenes look ok.

I sadly lost the opportunity to return the product, the laws of my country enforce just a very short period of return unless the individual product is broken. I didn't wanted to return it at first, because I was (am) happy with the SDR modes and other good features of this monitor. Mine came with MCM104, and shortly after, as I was slowly being bothered by the skin color/yellow tint issue, ASUS released the MCM105 fix, so I figured they were solving these software issues and supporting the product. Because I was focusing on the yellow saturation, I was satisfied with MCM105 for a couple of days, until I started noticing the purple bands and shadows. So the return period passed.

[markob53]

They don't bother me really, i was just surprised to still see you posting about it as i figured you surely could return it either via the store or under warranty, i understand why you are not able to return it now though (and also why you'd prefer the HDR to be fixed if the monitor ticks all the other boxes) these issues can not be obvious at first and sometimes it takes certain content or conditions to highlight them, i do think that in my country (UK) we have quite good laws regarding returns and i've also been quite spoilt with good customer service from one of the more popular computer retailers in this country, who are usually very accommodating if i have a good reason to return something.

But don't get me wrong, i also have concerns regarding HDR because of what i've seen reported from others, but my main issue was resolved in the last update (the mustardy yellows). I can't say i noticed a yellow tint or bad skin tones, but maybe i just got used to it, same with the purple tint you're reporting.

I think the issue is i'm not an expert regarding colours and how they mix with other colours/lighting and what effect should be produced, i can obviously see if every yellow looks dark like mustard as that's obvious, but when lots of effects are on screen to create a colour combination, something wrong is not immediately obvious to me, but that doesn't mean you aren't 100% correct and i understand why it would bother you.

I welcome any future firmware updates and hope they can get this monitor perfect, the reviews for the PG32UCDM are looking good so far, and HDR is meant to be perfect out of the box, so i hope they can do whatever they did to get that right and apply it to this monitor.

[HakykSuu]

900usd monitor is include G-Sync and HDR. how about the console users?ok this is our fault?why u Open G-Sync on 900usd monitor?why u Open HDR on 900usd monitor?why u buy 900usd monitor for your console?it that your mean?maybe u ask why we don't refund it? who's know professional ROG monitor 900usd can be awful like this?and we believe they will fix it but not, released around 1 year, u just "feel" the problem is ok for u, but the problem still here, ok?

[markob53]

Not sure i follow exactly.

I agree more could and should be done with this monitor, it's expensive, it should be perfect. Hope they release more firmware updates, i just personally don't notice too much wrong with it and the good out weights the bad, it's still the best monitor i've ever owned so i'm happy for now. But if something better comes along i might be tempted to switch.

Regarding the G-Sync, issues are present on all OLED monitors, not just this one, if you google 'VRR flicker' or 'G-Sync flicker' there isn't a manufacturer without issues. The doesn't excuse advertising it as G-Sync compatible but you would potentially have the same problem on an Alienware or LG or Samsung etc.

Yes, the issues highlight here don't bother me as much as other people, but i still hope they get fixed and we see MCM106.

[HakykSuu]

 

 

 

This is how pg27aqdm on console look like, I really hope u tell me is wrong setting, very awful!!

PS5, YouTube video (kenshi yonezo - Loser), horizon zero dawn (HDR OFF/ON), MCM105

[HakykSuu]

U didn't bother anyone, pg27aqdm awful is true, even disabling G-Sync still problem everywhere, and disabling G-Sync on monitor G-Sync?what a joke. And how about the console users?

[VGeorge]

So experimenting with different settings, I found that the weird look that Alan Wake 2 has in HDR is a combination of the gamma changing in lower FPS (and therefore refresh rate) when G-Sync is enabled and the purple hue that everyone else has also been experiencing.

This is with 6500K and G-Sync enabled:
You can see both the weird purple look (especially the left side) and the weird dark tones (above the lamp on the right and on the ceiling)

When I disable G-Sync and the monitor runs at 240Hz fixed, these weird darker tones go away:

Notice that the area above the lamp as well as the ceiling above no longer look pale and appear more contrasty (if that's even a word)

Now, when I change the color temp from 6500K to 8200K (G-Sync still disabled), the weird purple-orange hue also goes away:

It just looks really orange now and I'm not sure if that's what the game designers went for, since I don't have a reference HDR monitor next to me for comparison.

I'd also like to mention that I have the monitor set to console HDR and have properly calibrated it using the Windows 11 calibration tool (iirc I set the brightness to around 900nits which is in line with the specs of this monitor).

[markob53]

It's good that you managed to fix it by disabling G-Sync, well sort of, sucks if you want to use G-Sync but this explains why i've not noticed this on mine because i've had G-Sync disabled since day one because of the flicker when it's enabled.

I will say that i've done two different playthroughs of Alan Wake 2, on two different firmwares and that building always looks that orange to me, i think it's intentional. You can probably verify by finding a walkthrough on your phone or something.

But what is surprising to me is that it's more orange on 8200k than 6500k, the latter is warmer so surely it should be the other way round, unless you need to reset and re-calibrate etc. 8200k is a no go for me on this firmware as everything looked so dull.

But i think that bottom screenshot is the closest to how it's supposed to look. I might double check and post what mine looks like tonight as i just got to that part again.

[VGeorge]

Yeah, having g-sync disabled seems to help a lot, although would be really nice if I didn't have to compromise, especially with such an expensive monitor. I guess most people don't really use g-sync and therefore haven't noticed the gamma issues at lower Hz that I have.

I'll try to find a youtube video of the same place and compare, thanks for the suggestion!

Exactly, doesn't make any sense

Thank you, would greatly appreciate it!