Horrible Color banding with new PG278QR

[Spark77]

Hi,

So I just got this monitor (PG278QR ) it is great until you get to something dark.

The colors begin to band horribly, even a 4K movie or LOW settings on a game such as DIshonored 2 doesnt produce any improvement.

I've tried calibrating for the past few days to the best of my knowledge and with tutorials.
Nothing helped, messing with the gamma helps to improve a bit but makes everything too dark eventually. increasing the gamma just makes it worse/washed out.

I compared my friend's PG278Q and its nothing like mine, seems I can only get total blackness or a grey mess, nothing in between looks right.

I added photos of the issue in a 4K movie and Dishonored 2 ( You can see how dark areas become separated and pixelated)

Would appreciate the help.
Thanks!

[Bahz]

zaderoni wrote:
Do you even make a research before buying these kind of monitors?
Asus clearly don't test their monitors before production.

Now you paid a lot of money just to get a daily headache.
Welcome to Asus Monitors

That's not the truth, this issue is something that can't be fixed, it's not a QC issue but rather a panel limitation. All other competitors that use this same panel, all have the same issues.

[Spark77]

yup

I searched for videos and looked up my friend's monitor again, and it seems its an all around issue, some less some more, what helps is basically turn the brightness to 5 if your in a dark room (its enough for me it seems this monitor is bright as hell) and 20 if im gaming in a dark room works fine.

the other issue of video still presist, though i have managed to solve it with anti banding filter using "madVR" - it doesnt work on youtube videos but the low brightness sorta does.

Its just a Panel limitation I guess, are there any TNs that dont suffer from this issue? if so why do they set them up so bloody bright when they dont need it and can't handle it ???

[Bahz]

Spark77 wrote:
yup

I searched for videos and looked up my friend's monitor again, and it seems its an all around issue, some less some more, what helps is basically turn the brightness to 5 if your in a dark room (its enough for me it seems this monitor is bright as hell) and 20 if im gaming in a dark room works fine.

the other issue of video still presist, though i have managed to solve it with anti banding filter using "madVR" - it doesnt work on youtube videos but the low brightness sorta does.

Its just a Panel limitation I guess, are there any TNs that dont suffer from this issue? if so why do they set them up so bloody bright when they dont need it and can't handle it ???

There definitely are but this panel is overclocked and spec wise it offers some advantages and unfortunately also some disadvantages. Look for TN panels with slightly lower spec and where refresh rates aren't and can't be overclocked (144Hz or below). Better yet, probably it's a good choice to consider looking into VA panels if you wanted to go a step up for quality.

[Spark77]

Bahz wrote:
There definitely are but this panel is overclocked and spec wise it offers some advantages and unfortunately also some disadvantages. Look for TN panels with slightly lower spec and where refresh rates aren't and can't be overclocked (144Hz or below). Better yet, probably it's a good choice to consider looking into VA panels if you wanted to go a step up for quality.

I paid $1000... for a monitor.
The only thing im doing now is saving for new gen tech : QLED / OLED

TN / VA even IPS all these gaming monitors seems to come along with issues and QC issues.

Guess its a fool's market for now.

[Bahz]

Spark77 wrote:
I paid $1000... for a monitor.
The only thing im doing now is saving for new gen tech : QLED / OLED

TN / VA even IPS all these gaming monitors seems to come along with issues and QC issues.

Guess its a fool's market for now.

Can't agree more, I hope OLED technology improves quickly and prices drop significantly as that's what I'm buying next.

[Reservoir_Dog]

Bahz wrote:
Can't agree more, I hope OLED technology improves quickly and prices drop significantly as that's what I'm buying next.

You agree...
I find it almost criminal that asus sell those crap panels!
There are other and much better panel manufacturers then ****ing auo.
Im done with asus. I hope a lot will follow....

[Bahz]

Reservoir_Dog wrote:
You agree...
I find it almost criminal that asus sell those crap panels!
There are other and much better panel manufacturers then ****ing auo.
Im done with asus. I hope a lot will follow....

I'm guessing that would apply for Acer as well and a number of other manufacturers that use the same panels. This is unfortunately what drives the market because you have to offer monitors at competitive prices to compete in this industry. A lot of poor decisions to use certain panels is due to competitors offering a model with that panel and these other companies are forced to feel they must do the same. I do hope that changes in the future but unfortunately at this point with certain TN and IPS panels, it's not likely going to change until at least a few years later when the technology is much improved or replaced with next gen panels. I would say that VA panels are the safer bet and I hope more models get offered with VA panels then maybe there won't be as many complaints.

[Dmitriy957]

I wish ASUS will make monitors on Samsung panels. Like did Acer with Z271. It will be awesome! But i refuse buying any monitor on AUO panel.

[Bahz]

Dmitriy957 wrote:
I wish ASUS will make monitors on Samsung panels. Like did Acer with Z271. It will be awesome! But i refuse buying any monitor on AUO panel.

I'm sure there's that consideration internally, thanks for your feedback.