PG32UCDP: Gamma curve still not fixed with MCM106

[MA77HIAS]

Hi.

First of all, thanks for providing MCM106 with some valuable fixes, that's very much appreciated!

Unfortunately, the problem with the gamma curve (a kink in the lower half) is still not fixed, resulting in banding and black crush which is very distracting/annoying when watching media (movies, ...) on this device.

I had previously reported my findings with MCM103 in this post which never received any reaction and was eventually locked for no reason. 😞

In general: The gamma curve has a kink in the lower half which other reviewers also noticed and commented on (see XDA Developers and TFT Central ). This causes severe banding in the lower gray tones and is also noticable with other colors like cyan, for example. When watching media, in scenes with darker grayer tones, you see banding and in general it looks false and catches the eye. Hard to describe. For example, when a shadow hits a face, the tone of the face changes wrongly... it looks fake / wrong.

You can easily verify this by using the EIZO Monitor test and choosing the gradient test. If you switch through the colors (especially white), you will see severe banding in the lower half for some. This is more pronounced with the SRGB color space (when using Racing) or with SRGB Cal mode. But in general, it is present in all modes and in SDR and HDR.

This was a problem with the LG model as well that shares the same panel but they fixed it quickly with a firmware update, so it is fixable.

To make a long story short: This is is a great device but the gamma curve kink really dampens the overall great performance. It would be really appreciated and great if one more firmware update could be released with a fix for this issue.

Thanks a lot in advance!
Matthias

[mizzer]

Same problem,please fix it ,this is bad image 

[Aureliannn_ROG]

Hi @MA77HIAS @mizzer ,

Thank you for your feedback.

To better assist you with the color gradation issue, we would like to gather more information.

Please provide the following information:

1. Screenshot: Please provide a screenshot of the screen that most clearly shows the color gradation issue.
2. Firmware version: Please confirm the current firmware version of your monitor. If you have updated it, please provide the updated version number.
3. Gamma curve data: Based on your description, please provide a screenshot of the gamma curve data obtained from the EIZO Monitor test, especially the inflection point in the low grayscale area.

Also, kindly provide the below information for further invetigation:

• PC model:
• Graphics card model:
• Graphics card driver version:
• Monitor resolution:
• Monitor refresh rate:
• BIOS version:
• Operating system version:
• Connection cable: 

Providing this information will help our engineers analyze the problem more in-depth.

Thank you.

[MA77HIAS]

@Aureliannn_ROG : Thank you for taking the time, it is very much appreciated! I hope my answer is sufficient but if you need anything else, please just ask and I will try my best to help out.

Regarding the photo: I tried _really_ hard to get a photo of this but lacking a professional camera and only having a Pixel 9, I was unable to get a photo that properly shows this. BUT fortunately, I found a posting here in the forum for a different WOLED model that has photos that very much show what I am seeing as well on my model. Please have a look here . It is pretty much the  same with the PG32UCDP, maybe even a bit worse with the PG32UCDP.

To test this with the EIZO Monitor test , you simply select "Gradients" and switch through the different colours. On SRGB or DCI-P3, you will notice that on most colors, from the left hand side edge to approx. the width of a hand with thumb, there is severe banding and crushing and even color distorting... especially for white (grays). If you your on the monitor's "Wide Garmut", it will not be as severe for all colors but still show on white very clearly.

Like I also mentioned, this is in SDR and HDR, regardless of settings. It is very noticable in media content (movies, shows, ...) with areas that are darker colors. Please see the post above that I mentioned and look at the pictures there that shows it very clearly.

Since this is regardless of what system (PC, console, streaming box) or connection type (DP, HDMI) one uses, I will refrain from posting my system details since they are irrelevant for this. I hope that is okay.

Last but not least, I cannot provide the gamma curve myself, since I do not have the proper equipment but if you look at the review done by TFT Central or  XDA Developers , both contain professional data and graphs for the gamma curve that clearly show the kink (especially the TFT Central review).

I hope this will be fixed with a future firmware update since it makes me really regret buying this device as consuming any kind of media is spoiled by this "bug". 😞

Forgot to add: This is with MCM101, MCM103 and MCM106. That are the versions that I have thus far had on my device. I could also confirm this on another PG32UCDP as well.

[MA77HIAS]

One more data point: After reading the other thread I mentioned above, I did some more testing. The banding / crushing gets severely more apparent with decreasing brightness levels. At around brightness 80-85, it does get a lot better but naturally that is simply way too bright to use for work or gaming. At around brightness 36, which is way more ergonomic and recommended for a normally lit room, it is already rather bad. Further decreasing the brightness will quickly make it even a lot worse. Naturally also lowering the gamma from 2.2 to 2.0 does help but that comes with the its own set of disadvantages, as one might guess. At first sight it might seem that "Uniform Brightness" does also negatively impact this issue but looks can be deceiving. When using "Uniform Brightness", the overall brightness is lower at a specific brightness level, thus the problem is more severe. But if you deactivate "Uniform Brightness" and set a brightless level that has the same nits as when "Uniform Brightness" was on, you will get the same banding / crushing.

Again, LG and other brands do not have those issues and do have compensated for this within their firmware. I really hope Asus will fix this because this is really bad. 😞

[MA77HIAS]

I know this isn't helping but I am so massively disappointed in this device and in ASUS for not fixing this issue as it seems to have been around for a while on other ASUS WOLED devices as well.

We just watched a movie and it had unfortunate lighting and was in SDR, so there was a lot of banding in the people's faces and all. For a device that cost this much and from a major company like ASUS, this simply should never have passed QA. Also, any and all complaints about such an issue should have been taken very seriously by the firmware engineering team and fixed.

Like I said, massively disappointed. I will give it a bit more time to see if there eventually will be a firmware update that fixes this but I do have little hope that there will be. 😞

I wish I could still return the device because if this is not fixed by a firmware update, I will most definitely be replacing this monitor sooner than later with a different brand and, I am sorry to say, avoid ASUS like the plague in the future and make sure friends and colleagues do the same. Spending a premium doesn't help these days either to get a quality product and support...

In the end, this is my fault for not returning it when I had the chance but I was hoping for a firmware update and thought this might just be a bug that gets fixed. Foolish of me, I know. Sigh.

Sorry for the rant. But... 😞

[mizzer]

we can see the black issue in ff7 remake menu( sdr hdr same)

the right black is this two picture

1.Gray smoke should slowly transitions to black normallyGray smoke slowly transitions to black normally

Gray smoke slowly transitions to black normally

but in pg32ucdp ，in sdr or hdr400 、gaming、console mode ，The gray smoke and the black background are not excessive, and a clear dividing line is directly cut out.

rating.com have post this issue like this part

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/asus/rog-swift-oled-pg32ucdp

[mizzer]

Pg32ucdp like this

Pg32ucdpPg32ucdp

[simontomi]

Hi, I just registered to the forums to say that I can confirm that the very detailed and technical explanation given by MA77HIAS stands true, I'm seeing these gamma issues as well, almost as if the lower end of the greyscale was clipped. It looks almost as if the monitor received a 6 bit signal instead of 10 bit, so I spent quite a while making sure that my graphics driver settings are correct, only to find out that the issue is with how the monitor handles gamma. I've calibrated my monitor as well but it does not completely resolve the problem, the banding is still severe.
I would greatly appreciate a confirmation from an ASUS Representative that they have confirmed the issue and are working on a solution.

[MA77HIAS]

@simontomi : I am really trying not to sound overly negative/pessimistic but I honestly don't think ASUS will fix this. I really want to be wrong but they have had several firmware releases meanwhile and also other WOLED models from them have the same issue with no fix. If you look at the thread I linked to in my first post, you will notice the back and forth with their support team who did not acknowledge the problem at all.

To make a long story short: If you still can, I would strongly suggest returning the monitor and getting a model from a different brand. Otherwise you will deeply regret it-- just like I did (I wish I could go back in time!).

Another "option" could be getting the media involved like the YT channel "Monitors Unboxed" and TFTCentral.co.uk, for example. As well as the more traditional IT press. If they report about it, this might increase the pressure on ASUS to actual do something and fix this issue. But they might as well just continue ignoring it... so... who knows.

Like I said, I really want to be wrong about this and maybe ASUS will surprise us all with a shiny new MCM107 or so that fixes the gamma curve issues as well as the newly broken refresh rates. I will be the first to apologize and kindly say Thank You. 🙂