Tech
HDR gaming monitors compared: Viewsonic vs. Philips
- HDR gaming monitors compared: Viewsonic vs. Philips
- Details: Viewsonic Elite XG341C-2K & Philips Evnia 7000 Series
Almost every current gaming monitor advertises HDR suitability. However, it is often just a marketing promise and at best gives the display slightly better HDR compatibility. For example, screens that are certified according to the smallest DisplayHDR 400 standard can display HDR signals without any problems, which is of course a good sales argument.
Ultimately, however, such devices offer far too few brightness reserves with a maximum of 400 cd/m², which they have to achieve according to the specification, to conjure up really high-contrast images on the panel. As a result, the desired aha effect of HDR with its lively contrasts and deep black tones is missing.
HDR with more than 1500 nits
“Real” HDR only begins at significantly higher luminosities, although there is no defined limit here. Luminances of 1000 cd/m² should be present, however, since they are usually the minimum requirement for HDR standards such as HDR10 or Dolby Vision.
This is an easy exercise for most current flat-screen televisions, but hardly any gaming display can achieve a brightness of this dimension. The few that can do it are rare and expensive. At the time of testing, there were about a dozen such screens on the market, all with at least a four-digit price – unfortunately, the HDR upper class is not available for small money.
Our duelists also belong to this select circle Philips Evnia 7000 Series 34M2C7600MV and Viewsonic Elite XG341C-2K. Both 1500R Curved Monitors solve with 3440×1440 pixels on, are based on the currently highest DisplayHDR standard DisplayHDR 1400 certified and achieve so guaranteed HDR peak brightness from 1400 cd/m².
They are in the test 21:9 displays However, even more and even create highlights of just under 1600 cd/m². Even in SDR picture mode (Standard Dynamic Range) they are with luminances of more than 700 cd/m² much brighter than most monitors and even surpass displays that are certified according to DisplayHDR 600.
Optimum contrast guaranteed
High brightness does not guarantee an optimal HDR image with a gaming monitor. A high-contrast panel and the dimming process are at least as important. The test candidates from Philips and Viewsonic take care of the former with their VA panels. Due to the design, these already reach SDR mode a very good one contrast ratio.
Lay HDR content but the VA panels increase again by a multiple and ended up with six-digit results. For example, we have at Philips Evnia 7000 Series 34M2C7600MV in the top one contrast ratio from scarce 400,000:1 Measured when DisplayHDR 1400 picture mode is selected in the monitor’s SmartImage menu. With the test winner of Viewsonic resulted with around 340,000:1 a similar excellent value.
Both displays achieve their excellent contrasts through their Mini LED backlight. This works with Full Array Local Dimming (FALD) and 1152 dimming zonesto achieve the dynamic range needed for HDR. Any of these 1152 screen zones can the screens from Philips and Viewsonic control individuallywhich enables you to darken or lighten certain areas of the image with very fine resolution, depending on the content being displayed.
All in all, this ensures a significantly higher contrast compared to a standard display that only uses global dimming, i.e. brightness control over the entire screen instead of selectively as with FALD. Local dimming works in both SDR and HDR image modes on the Viewsonic, but only in HDR mode on the Philips.
Thanks to their mini-LEDs, the duelists from Philips and Viewsonic also achieve very homogeneous illumination of their screens Viewsonic Elite XG341C- 2K at excellent 99.1 percent lies (Philips Evnia 7000 Series 34M2C7600MV: 98.9 percent).
In terms of image parameters, the Viewsonic was also slightly better tuned in the factory than its competitor from Philips, which gave it a small point advantage in the image quality rating. Again, both displays can DCI-P3 color space too round 95 percent cover. In HDR mode, they therefore provide more accurate color reproduction than standard displays, which are limited to the small sRGB color space and therefore tend to be oversaturated and unrealistic colors in HDR images.
3440 x 1440 pixels at 200Hz
With her strong 1500R camber the test candidates make it easy for users to keep an eye on what is happening on the screen. The rather mediocre viewing angle stability, which is typical for VA panels, is therefore easy to get over if you sit in the center in front of the monitor, which should be the norm.
With an at 120Hz measured input lag from 7ms (Viewsonic) respectively 6ms (Philips), both gaming monitors are not among the fastest of their kind, but they still display rapid image changes sharply.
You have to take into account that the higher the refresh rate, the lower the latency. There is still room for improvement, especially with the Viewsonic, provided the PC has a powerful graphics card that can deliver frame rates in excess of 120 FPS at 3440 x 1440 pixels.
With enabled overclocking switch in the on-screen menu, the Elite XG341C-2K provides up to 200Hz but is otherwise limited, like the Philips Evnia 7000 Series 34M2C7600MV 165Hz. falls In-game frame rate below the minimum frame rate of 48 Hz supported by the displays, they take care of using LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) by doubling individual frames to ensure that the game remains fluid.
The controls its adaptive refresh rate range Viewsonic-Test candidate over AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and is G-Sync compatible, although not certified by Nvidia. It is similar with the Philips Evnia 7000 Series 34M2C7600MV. He officially only supports that VESA standard Adaptive syncso it comes without AMD or Nvidia certification, but can also be used with FreeSync and G-Sync.
Strong equipment with HDMI 2.1
When it comes to equipment, the monitors from Philips and Viewsonic share a lot in common. They each have a USB-C portwhich can act as an additional DisplayPort and up to 90 watt charging power provides. Furthermore, each competitor brings one DisplayPort 1.4 as well as two HDMI 2.1 ports with which they are also suitable for use with next-gen consoles such as the Sony PlayStation 5.
The USB hub of the monitors works in each case USB 3.2 Gen.1 Tempo (5 GByte/s) and is operated via USB-B port. Together with the USB-C interface, the displays therefore also offer one KVM switch and thus make it possible to control two end devices with a mouse-keyboard combination.
The equipment also includes a RGB lighting as well as stereo speakersthat are DTS certified by Philips. The Evnia can also take advantage of more energy efficient operation and longer battery life warranty period for themselves book: With the Philips monitor it is three years compared to two years with the Viewsonic.
Conclusion: a successful performance as a duet
The duel between Philips Evnia 7000 Series 34M2C7600MV and the Viewsonic Elite XG341C-2K ends extremely short. If you compare them in terms of their core competencies, it says: two thumbs up. Thanks to DisplayHDR 1400, Full array local dimming (FALD) and 1152 dimming zones both practically exhaust the maximum of possibilities that is possible in terms of HDR display in the PC area.
The Viewsonic Elite wins on points, but due to the very similar equipment to the Philips Evnia, both cross the finish line practically at the same time. The high purchase price of the Viewsonic is difficult to justify, especially since the Philips display is a whole 600 euros cheaper.
