Dell UP3214Q Review
by Chris Heinonen on April 1, 2014 12:00 AM ESTChanging the color gamut to AdobeRGB instead of sRGB produces similar pre-calibration results. The grayscale is pushing red and this leads to dE2000 errors that are visible. A larger issue is the color gamut, as it is over-saturated at the points below 100% and has a serious tint shift in magenta. The color errors are very visible and it happens at all saturations for almost all colors.
|
Pre-Calibration |
Post-Calibration, 200 cd/m^2 |
Post-Calibration, 80 cd/m^2 |
|
| White Level (cd/m^2) | 199.8 | 199.5 | 80.6 |
| Black Level (cd/m^2) | 0.2655 | 0.263 | 0.2625 |
| Contrast Ratio | 752:1 | 759:1 | 307:1 |
| Gamma (Average) | 2.31 | 2.21 | 2.40 |
| Color Temperature | 6580K | 6567K | 6521K |
| Grayscale dE2000 | 2.68 | 0.63 | 0.67 |
| Color Checker dE2000 | 4.13 | 1.07 | N/A |
| Saturations dE2000 | 3.91 | 1.70 | N/A |
Post-calibration the grayscale and gamma are spot-on with no visible error to them. The gamut is much improved with the exception of green and cyan. The behavior here is very strange, as we can see the gamut is capable of hitting 100% saturations for them, but after calibration it does not. I’m willing to lay the blame for this on CalMAN and an issue with the calibration here. Since every point except for these 5 are virtually perfect, and the pre-calibration data shows those points should be possible, I imagine it’s a bug. Multiple attempts to calibrate gave the same results, so it isn’t something I can correct myself.
If we believe that is a bug, then post-calibration the Dell UP3214Q is almost perfect in AdobeRGB mode as well. It encompasses the entire gamut and has very accurate results. The results for 80 cd/m2 are identical to the ones for 200 cd/m2 but some of the data was lost and those charts are missing. The pre-calibration numbers are not great for the Dell UP3214Q in the grayscale, but the color gamut is good. It manages to use the full AdobeRGB gamut with its backlighting system unlike other UltraHD displays.
Note: Dell provides their Dell Calibration software with the UP3214Q. Using this and a meter like the XRite i1Pro you can save two modes with your own light output, gamma, and color space settings. Unfortunately I could never get it to work properly with the UP3214Q. The software would detect the i1Pro which is connected directly to the UP3214Q USB ports, but didn’t detect the UP3214Q itself. Updating the monitor firmware and the Dell Calibration software didn’t resolve this issue either. Talking to others with the display they had similar issues as well so hopefully Dell can resolve this as this software has worked well in the past.
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Taracta - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
I don't know what is considered by many as HiDPI but this monitor is most definitely not HiDPI at just 140 DPI! I know that most highend monitors are ~ 100 DPI and common one are even lower but I don't see why 140 DPI would be such a big deal. Are the Icons that much smaller? Are the alphanumeric character unreadable?I believe the the ridiculously low DPI of generations of monitor has made expectation of huge icons and lettering the norm and they are just not needed. You can see the icons and characters perfectly fine at 140DPI no scaling is needed!
houkouonchi - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Yeah I think its just people set in their ways. Even when I had an out-dated prescription and saw worse than 20/20 I still would have no problem with that size. The only thing I can think of is that is just how most people have used computers and are stuck in their ways. I used 1600x1200 on a 17 inch CRT way back in the days (pre windows-2000) and soon after when I switched to linux I was 2560x1920 on a 22 inch CRT. It was even a bit blurry but it was still not a problem and that was 160 PPI. With a super sharp 140 PPI display why do people need scaling? I don't use scaling even on a 200 PPI+ display.JDG1980 - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Personally, I'd like to see a 39" 4K monitor, using the same VA panel in the Seiki TV but with a 60 Hz input. The Seiki TV is OK for productivity apps, but if you play any games or watch videos, as I do, then the low frame rate is a deal-breaker.A 39" monitor at 4K would provide an absolutely huge workspace - you would no longer need a multiple monitor setup. And the DPI isn't much higher than a standard 27" 2560x1440 monitor, so you don't need to use the Windows scaling that so many applications still don't do properly. (Microsoft really needs to do something about this - right now they seem content just to hope everyone eventually moves to Metro, which they aren't and won't.)
sk317bge - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Chris H. - does the Dell preset for Game exist? On my 24", the Game mode has less lag (by many milliseconds), with a tradeoff that the color is a bit too overdriven.GTVic - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
May be UltraHD in comparison to a TV, but 138 DPI is something I would sneeze at. A 50% increase in pixel density compared to a standard 16:10 24" monitor with 94 DPI is not enough.lokitx - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
Everyone should read this before purchasing this monitor: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/periph...praeses - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
You mention the usefulness of contrast over brightness in this instance. As LED monitors do lose a notable amount of brightness over time, are you able to re-test the brightness of a monitor that you have previously tested and recorded the numbers on and report the differences?I suspect over the long term having a monitor that can go brighter than needed may be more useful than suspected.
Human Bass - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
It was looking quite decent, but that lag, wow, seems like a motion blur city.cjl - Wednesday, April 2, 2014 - link
Lag does not cause motion blur. Lag is how long a display takes to react to an input, and is usually (in the case of displays like this) caused by a delay in the image processing circuitry in the display itself. Motion blur on the other hand would be caused by a slow pixel response time (where the pixels themselves take a long time to change states after the display has already begun to refresh).Death666Angel - Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - link
I'm more looking for the 28" Dell one, much better price/performance for me. 600€ is nearly as much as I paid for my 1440p monitor not that long ago. Incredible.