Gaming TN panels and gamma control.

Ashendie · 26 Nov 2015 at 19:07

Question time from me regarding these gaming TN panels.

Ok so..

I've tried the PG278Q and had a small amount of time with the Dell S2716DG too. I'm fully aware of TN viewing angles vs IPS and the colour shift associated with them.

However when I tried them the gamma was horrendous. No option to correct it at hardware level on the Dell or the Asus. So of course you have to resort to the NV control panel to adjust it or software calibrate it etc.

Now when you've done that its all well and good until 7/10 fullscreen applications or game resets it during use or when the program is closed. Forcing you to then toggle it back in the NV control panel or by some other means.

The default gamma state after lowering the brightness when you first switch on one of these is awful. Almost like a bright mist clouds 60% of the screen and its a struggle to read black text on a white background near the bottom of the screen.

Even reviewers don't tend to mention it as an issue. My few years old spare cheap Hanns G 28" TN monitor has a far better picture and no issue with gamma vs these "premium" gaming screens.

So to finish with the question... Is this perfectly normal to have to do this gamma adjustment all the time or am I being rather dumb and missing something completely?

andybird123 · 26 Nov 2015 at 19:47

I'm using nvcp as well, and whilst it does very occasionally reset itself, its not as often as you seem to indicate.

Someone did have some instructions on making sure it was a bit more permanent but I cant find them off the top of my head.

Falkentyne · 26 Nov 2015 at 19:56

PG278Q does not have gamma adjustments for some reason. Asus doesn't seem to like putting Gamma adjustments in a bunch of their monitors. Yet the older PB278Q *DOES* have OSD gamma adjustments.

VG248QE doesn't have gamma adjustments. Yet the Benq Z and even the older T series (which use the exact SAME panel) do have gamma adjustments.

I know the Acer XB270HU does also (yes I know this is an AHVA IPS monitor..)

Maybejustmaybe · 29 Nov 2015 at 19:59

Im about to get the PG278Q

Im going to be using the INNO3D 980TI Ichill as my GFX card

Can I ask what settings you guys are using on your monitor, it might save me a heap of time setting it up

Rroff · 29 Nov 2015 at 20:07

Its one of the things that bugs me with the Swift - though I've not had problems with it staying applied yet but it doesn't sit well with me using software gamma control - but the perceived image quality between default and lowering gamma in the nvcp is massive.

Most of my older gaming TNs have had several gamma presets in the OSD or just had really good gamma out the box and I can't remember if they had gamma options or not but I think they did.

In regards to calibrating the PG278Q - I've seen quite a lot of variation - my original one IIRC I used something like user colours RGB: 94,95,100, gamma 0.92 whereas this one 92,96,96 with gamma at 0.86 (brightness 35 in both cases). Unfortunately the person I usually get to calibrate my monitors hasn't been available so I did both of these by eye against my Dell IPS which is properly calibrated.