FALD or True 10 bit? Deciding between two Asus ProArt monitors

Ginger Penguin · October 5, 2020

Hi all,

I'm looking at getting a good colour-accurate monitor for my film work. I'm early-mid career so I don't need anything majorly expensive but I've been looking at the ProArt line from Asus lately. There's a chance I might be able to get a PA32UC for a bit over $2300AUD and it has a lot of features I like especially full array local dimming hopefully alleviating some of the low-contrast issues that IPS displays have. Unfortunately, it's not a true 10 bit display but Hardware Unboxed said it's one of the best implementations of the 8bit+FRC jiggery-pokery they'd seen. The other option in that line is the newer PA329C which has no local dimming but does have true 10-bit colour. It is also $300-$500 cheaper as well. It is DisplayHDR600 certified though which presumably means it still does alright.

Any thoughts?

badreg · October 5, 2020

The issue with FRC is the potential 30Hz flickering. If you are sensitive to that, then true 10bit is the way to go. Unfortunately, it's something that you need to experience for yourself, so it's difficult to make an informed decision before buying the monitor.

That said, true 10bit displays tend to have higher quality, wider gamut panels and more features, so 10bit vs 8bit+FRC is one of those things that get chosen for you. I'm not familiar with the ProArt stack, but for Dell, the top tier UP series all have 10bit panels, while second tier U series have 8bit+FRC, so if you need the extra features that the UP series has, you get 10bit whether or not you need or want it.

Ginger Penguin · October 6, 2020

10 hours ago, badreg said:

The issue with FRC is the potential 30Hz flickering. If you are sensitive to that, then true 10bit is the way to go. Unfortunately, it's something that you need to experience for yourself, so it's difficult to make an informed decision before buying the monitor.

That said, true 10bit displays tend to have higher quality, wider gamut panels and more features, so 10bit vs 8bit+FRC is one of those things that get chosen for you. I'm not familiar with the ProArt stack, but for Dell, the top tier UP series all have 10bit panels, while second tier U series have 8bit+FRC, so if you need the extra features that the UP series has, you get 10bit whether or not you need or want it.

I don't really think I've ever been susceptible to PWM flickering. I've certainly never noticed it before on devices that have it. I don't know if they're comparable things, though. I definitely get that 10 bit displays tend to be higher quality. It's actually annoyed me on laptops that you have to have the 4K option for the screen if you want something decently colour accurate which I often feel is unnecessary for something that size.

As for quality, it's still possible that a high-end monitor from a few years ago is still a very good choice today. The PA32UC was about twice the price of the newer PA329C and I just happen to have found it for only a few hundred dollars more. I know higher price doesn't necessarily equal higher quality but it might do. I guess I'm really keen on the full-array local dimming but I know both would be good options. Obviously the PA32UCX with something like 3-4x the number of zones would be better but that's over $2000 more than the PA32UC.

Kou Tsuneka · October 15, 2020

I have seen many other sources said PA32UC is true 10 bit without FRC

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/ff341049

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/compare/ASUS_ProArt_PA32UC_32"_16%3A9_Wide_Gamut_IPS_Monitor_vs_LG_32UK950-W_32"_16%3A9_4K_UHD_Nano_IPS_Display_vs_LG_27UK650-W_27"_16%3A9_4K_HDR_FreeSync_IPS_Monitor/BHitems/1430401-REG_1382967-REG_1384128-REG
https://www.displayninja.com/best-monitors-for-photo-editing-and-video-editing/

https://www.displaydb.com/compare/lg-32ul950/asus-proart-pa32uc

others say 8-bit + FRC.
https://www.techspot.com/review/1743-acer-proart-pa32uc/ ("acer" in URL)
Hardware Unboxed

I'm not sure which is correct.

Ginger Penguin · October 16, 2020

7 hours ago, Kou Tsuneka said:

I have seen many other sources said PA32UC is true 10 bit without FRC

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/ff341049

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/compare/ASUS_ProArt_PA32UC_32"_16%3A9_Wide_Gamut_IPS_Monitor_vs_LG_32UK950-W_32"_16%3A9_4K_UHD_Nano_IPS_Display_vs_LG_27UK650-W_27"_16%3A9_4K_HDR_FreeSync_IPS_Monitor/BHitems/1430401-REG_1382967-REG_1384128-REG
https://www.displayninja.com/best-monitors-for-photo-editing-and-video-editing/

https://www.displaydb.com/compare/lg-32ul950/asus-proart-pa32uc

others say 8-bit + FRC.
https://www.techspot.com/review/1743-acer-proart-pa32uc/ ("acer" in URL)
Hardware Unboxed

I'm not sure which is correct.

Yeah, the problem is a the fact that they can advertise it as 10-bit or 1billion colours or whatever without repercussions so it leads to confusion. But I reckon if anyone reports it as 8-bit + FRC then that data came from somewhere and it's probably reasonable to assume that it is.