Sony finally returned to monitor space, and actually offer an HDR hardware on their product

[e22big]

Just saw it from Hardware Unboxed for me, as always Tim's arbitary standard annoy the heck out of me but the rest of the review is solid.

 

The key take away is that this monitor offer 96 local dimming zone for VESA HDR 600 at 900 USD. It's a bargain at that pricing if you actually want HDR in your life (and don't have space for TV or larger format display)

 

But as with any FALD display, response time do suffered (but that's very minimum for this model) and being IPS means that you will have to experience more blooming than usual even with these many zone counts. It's also seems unfinished in some area but nothing deal breaker. If 27 inch is all you can get, this is probably one of the best HDR display you can get right now.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stahlmann]

Well it aint much, but it's still better than anything else on offer for that price point. I hope that basic FALD like on this monitor becomes the standard for entry-level HDR, not the edge-lit dimming BS.

[venomtail]

Competition can only mean a good thing. But I am a bit confused by all the performance metric. So is it better than the 4K Mobiuz monitor I've been saving up for?

[e22big]

1 hour ago, venomtail said:

Competition can only mean a good thing. But I am a bit confused by all the performance metric. So is it better than the 4K Mobiuz monitor I've been saving up for?

If you want HDR, this will be vastly better than the Mobiuz - but if not, at the end of the day, the Mobiuz is a 32 inch screen and this is not. It's also not particularly fast for an IPS (but should still be better than BenQ Mobiuz, any large 4k high refresh rate LCD display have a relatively slower response time when compared to 27 inch although it's probably practically no different for anyone but the most hardcore competitive player - which shouldn't be looking for a 4k display in the first place)

[e22big]

1 hour ago, Stahlmann said:

Well it aint much, but it's still better than anything else on offer for that price point. I hope that basic FALD like on this monitor becomes the standard for entry-level HDR, not the edge-lit dimming BS.

It's probably going to be a lot better if they went for Samsung current gen VA instead. HDR on IPS is just going to be bad no matter what imo (well, unless it's an iPad with over a thousand of dimming zones)

 

But it's a nice package overall, better as a monitor but give a taste of HDR to people who haven't seen one or just don't like a TV. I like it although the upcoming A90k (which is 43 inch exclusive) is going to be more exciting. 

[Stahlmann]

4 minutes ago, e22big said:

It's probably going to be a lot better if they went for Samsung current gen VA instead. HDR on IPS is just going to be bad no matter what imo (well, unless it's an iPad with over a thousand of dimming zones)

 

But it's a nice package overall, better as a monitor but give a taste of HDR to people who haven't seen one or just don't like a TV. I like it although the upcoming A90k (which is 43 inch exclusive) is going to be more exciting. 

We're at least seeing FALD and MiniLED creeping down below $1000 and away from just the ultra-high-end offerings. And Sony has proven with their past TV's that they can get a lot of picture quality out of low zone count FALD backlights. I won't be buying this monitor as i'm more of an OLED person, but i see this as a good addition to this crowded market where most monitors are the same. (Samsung 4K G7, Gigabyte M28U and MSI 281URF for example all use the same panel)

[Doobeedoo]

Nothing special really there are better offers and price for those zones.. come on that aint HDR though. 

[Stahlmann]

34 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

Nothing special really there are better offers and price for those zones.. come on that aint HDR though. 

So far there aren't any better HDR displays for that price. Everything else is just edge lit crap. 96 zones isn't exceptionally good, but it's a decent step up from what we currenty have.

[venomtail]

21 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

So far there aren't any better HDR displays for that price. Everything else is just edge lit crap. 96 zones isn't exceptionally good, but it's a decent step up from what we currenty have.

Just a shame it's maximum 27''. If I'm gonna be using a 4k monitor there's no point in any less than a 32''

[Doobeedoo]

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

So far there aren't any better HDR displays for that price. Everything else is just edge lit crap. 96 zones isn't exceptionally good, but it's a decent step up from what we currenty have.

Nowhere near worth of that price, better options out there for a solid monitor overall, not even counting edge lit, or simply get more proper HDR for higher price. 

[Andrewtst]

96 local dimming zone for that price.  It is a bit pricey. The leg look annoying as it is protrude out at center.

 

Not for me even though this is HDR 600. But it is great Sony enter the Monitor market and Sony is great on Display, can't wait for next Sony release.

[e22big]

4 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

Nothing special really there are better offers and price for those zones.. come on that aint HDR though. 

like.. what?

 

I don't think there's any monitor in the market right now that have more dimming zones than this, at this price. There are more expensive monitor or TV with better HDR but they are just that - more expensive, and you're dealing with all sort of the same caveats - too wide, too tall, burn-in, dim, terrible texts, slow as snail, 60hz or cost more than a mortage. 

 

The only monitor that came close to this Sony's offer that I can think of is Predator X27 but that's 2000 bucks in 2018 money. 

[Doobeedoo]

52 minutes ago, e22big said:

like.. what?

 

I don't think there's any monitor in the market right now that have more dimming zones than this, at this price. There are more expensive monitor or TV with better HDR but they are just that - more expensive, and you're dealing with all sort of the same caveats - too wide, too tall, burn-in, dim, terrible texts, slow as snail, 60hz or cost more than a mortage. 

 

The only monitor that came close to this Sony's offer that I can think of is Predator X27 but that's 2000 bucks in 2018 money. 

It's a €1100 monitor with 96 zones that's a joke. Anyone caring for HDR will easily pay a bit more to get something worth the price. Or simply cheaper solid monitor that still looks good.

[Andrewtst]

1 hour ago, e22big said:

like.. what?

 

I don't think there's any monitor in the market right now that have more dimming zones than this, at this price. There are more expensive monitor or TV with better HDR but they are just that - more expensive, and you're dealing with all sort of the same caveats - too wide, too tall, burn-in, dim, terrible texts, slow as snail, 60hz or cost more than a mortage. 

 

The only monitor that came close to this Sony's offer that I can think of is Predator X27 but that's 2000 bucks in 2018 money. 

Actually this Sony monitor price ain't cheap, it is freaking expensive for a 96 dimming zones. This really is a joke! 96 zones? Seriously? 

 

Predator X27 is 384 dimming zone. By divided half of Predator X27 price and that is 2 years ago. At least Sony should give out 192 dimming zones.

300+ dimming zones already too little, don't said this 96 zones...

 

Dimming zone keep increasing as it is not enough, for standard today, it should at least 500 dimming zone for cheaper version as everybody else is already provide 1000+ dimming zone, some even as high as 2000+ dimming zone.

 

When I seen the 96 zones, I nearly faint and I know it is not worth to get anymore. It is too costly for getting a 96 dimming zones monitor.

[xg32]

11 hours ago, e22big said:

.

 

nice monitor though for people that are fine with ultrawide it's not really "cheap" compared to the qd-oled (if i had 1k i'd save up a bit more instead)

 

But if i was looking at a 16:9 27inch 4k monitor for smaller pixels, decent hdr, there simply isn't another option.

 

Great review overall aside from the srgb clamping preference (it's an hdr monitor)

 

Very nice attempt by sony, hopefully more options are coming.

[Middcore]

I assume/hope this thing is VESA-compatible? Because oof on that stand. 

[e22big]

4 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

It's a €1100 monitor with 96 zones that's a joke. Anyone caring for HDR will easily pay a bit more to get something worth the price. Or simply cheaper solid monitor that still looks good.

None of the HDR monitor came with a solid performance. If you want a no compromise PC monitor that can also do HDR, this is pretty much the only option at the moment.

[e22big]

4 hours ago, Andrewtst said:

Actually this Sony monitor price ain't cheap, it is freaking expensive for a 96 dimming zones. This really is a joke! 96 zones? Seriously? 

 

Predator X27 is 384 dimming zone. By divided half of Predator X27 price and that is 2 years ago. At least Sony should give out 192 dimming zones.

300+ dimming zones already too little, don't said this 96 zones...

 

Dimming zone keep increasing as it is not enough, for standard today, it should at least 500 dimming zone for cheaper version as everybody else is already provide 1000+ dimming zone, some even as high as 2000+ dimming zone.

 

When I seen the 96 zones, I nearly faint and I know it is not worth to get anymore. It is too costly for getting a 96 dimming zones monitor.

Outside of a mini-LED, I don't know any monitor that have 1000+ dimming zones at any where close to this price range. Actually even a mini-LED TV doesn't have 1000+ zones. The only device I know that have that is Apple iPad Pro. 

 

Should also noted that Predator X27 is over 4 years ago at this point, two grands from 2018 worth a lot more than what it is today. 96 zones are plenty enough imo. So long as they still use IPS no amount of dimming zones can fix their blooming and black raised issue. Even the three grands Asus mini-LED have massive blooming issues. 

[Doobeedoo]

11 minutes ago, e22big said:

None of the HDR monitor came with a solid performance. If you want a no compromise PC monitor that can also do HDR, this is pretty much the only option at the moment.

Nah, this is a waste of money for a anyone actually caring for HDR at all. The HDR in PC monitors is still a joke with LCDs and especially prices with MiniLED FALD crap.

[Andrewtst]

4 hours ago, e22big said:

Outside of a mini-LED, I don't know any monitor that have 1000+ dimming zones at any where close to this price range. Actually even a mini-LED TV doesn't have 1000+ zones. The only device I know that have that is Apple iPad Pro. 

 

Should also noted that Predator X27 is over 4 years ago at this point, two grands from 2018 worth a lot more than what it is today. 96 zones are plenty enough imo. So long as they still use IPS no amount of dimming zones can fix their blooming and black raised issue. Even the three grands Asus mini-LED have massive blooming issues. 

In that price range probably nope but that price ain't cheap and not worth. Top up more is much worth IMO.

 

96 zones is mediocre and not enough, it will look bad. In my opinion 500 zones should be minimum, anything lower than that is not that useful. 

[e22big]

3 hours ago, Andrewtst said:

In that price range probably nope but that price ain't cheap and not worth. Top up more is much worth IMO.

 

96 zones is mediocre and not enough, it will look bad. In my opinion 500 zones should be minimum, anything lower than that is not that useful. 

 

Well, you've said so yourself  Predator X27 have just 300 zones of dimming, people were all over it then (including Tim himself, which makes me so annoyed about his made up metrics. Something can't be HDR one day and then not a couple of years later.) So obviously you don't 500+ zones to have a relatively good looking HDR, especially if it's bright enough for LCD.

 

But yeah, it's probably going to look bad but I've made my stance. HDR will just not going to look good on IPS, (unless you have the same dimming zones density as iPad - which is over a thousand in a 12 inches, so probably well over 3000 for 27 inches)

[Andrewtst]

53 minutes ago, e22big said:

 

Well, you've said so yourself  Predator X27 have just 300 zones of dimming, people were all over it then (including Tim himself, which makes me so annoyed about his made up metrics. Something can't be HDR one day and then not a couple of years later.) So obviously you don't 500+ zones to have a relatively good looking HDR, especially if it's bright enough for LCD.

 

But yeah, it's probably going to look bad but I've made my stance. HDR will just not going to look good on IPS, (unless you have the same dimming zones density as iPad - which is over a thousand in a 12 inches, so probably well over 3000 for 27 inches)

I had seen the X27 from YouTube. It did not meet my requirement, the blooming is so big! 

 

500 to me is just a minimum. My monitor is 2x 27" with 2048 dimming zone, it was OK but if it is 4000 dimming zone, the I believe will be perfect, which means for a 27" or 32" 16:9 aspect ratio monitor need to have 2000 dimming zone to be perfect. You even said need 3000 dimming zone. 

 

So this 96 zones will be disaster. It will not good until where and similar with those 50 dimming monitor.

[e22big]

1 hour ago, Andrewtst said:

I had seen the X27 from YouTube. It did not meet my requirement, the blooming is so big! 

 

500 to me is just a minimum. My monitor is 2x 27" with 2048 dimming zone, it was OK but if it is 4000 dimming zone, the I believe will be perfect, which means for a 27" or 32" 16:9 aspect ratio monitor need to have 2000 dimming zone to be perfect. You even said need 3000 dimming zone. 

 

So this 96 zones will be disaster. It will not good until where and similar with those 50 dimming monitor.

Or just use VA - you'll be able to get away with far less amount of dimming zones. The Q90A 50 inch has just 600-700 zones which is tiny for a screen that size yet it blows everything IPS off the water and rivals even OLED in dark scene. Local dimming will always suck imo, that's why it's important to have a good native contrast for an LCD monitor, which allows you to not rely on dimming nearly as much to get a perfect picture (it also solved pretty much all of the problems related to local dimming in SDR usage)

[Andrewtst]

33 minutes ago, e22big said:

Or just use VA - you'll be able to get away with far less amount of dimming zones. The Q90A 50 inch has just 600-700 zones which is tiny for a screen that size yet it blows everything IPS off the water and rivals even OLED in dark scene. Local dimming will always suck imo, that's why it's important to have a good native contrast for an LCD monitor, which allows you to not rely on dimming nearly as much to get a perfect picture (it also solved pretty much all of the problems related to local dimming in SDR usage)

I agreed on this. Good quality VA actually look much better than IPS. The cons is it is not for screen sharing due to bad viewing angle. 

 

OLED still the best, I wait for next generation and hope next gen will be full RGB pixel alignment to prevent text purple frigging. Now so have real RGB pixel alignment OLED monitor by LG but all is insanity price and only 60hz. After use 144hz or 240hz display, I can't accept 60hz screen anymore.

[Stahlmann]

Dimming zones is just another number that doesn't mean much on it's own. The software algorithm that controls them is just as important. Sony has had TV's in the past with superior local dimming performance while having less dimming zones than their competitors. Good local dimming means as little blooming and haloing as possible while trying to preserving details in shadows AND highlights. It's easier to achieve this with high zone counts, but you can make up for a lot with a good dimming algorithm.

 

Just saying, 96 zones doesn't inheritly mean "bad". Just as 1000+ zones doesn't inheritly mean "good". No matter how many zones a montior has, when it just cranks brightness in 1 zone completely because there are 2 bright pixels in this particular zone it will always result in blooming. Doesn't matter if it's 10 zones or 2000 zones. Just look at how most FALD monitors have problems with blooming around the mouse cursor on the desktop. Even the best 2000+ zone FALD monitors have blooming here.

 

Still, the higher the panel's native contrast, the better it can supress blooming, which is why VA is always preferred compared to IPS and is why 1000+ zone IPS monitors still severely suffer from blooming.

 

To supress blooming FALD backlights need to spread out small highlights across multiple dimming zones, which results in raised blacks for quite large areas around bright objects. To really achieve a good dimming result pixels need to be self-lit, which brings us back to OLED and maybe MicroLED if it ever becomes affordable. Imo FALD is just a stop-gap solution until OLED becomes even more affordable and is offered in more reasonable sizes, like 27" and 32".