Associate
- Joined
- 6 Dec 2007
- Posts
- 1,711
- Location
- Cambridge
Hi all
I'm posting this in the vain hope that MSI picks up on this.
I managed to get my hands on a MAG 274UPDF E16M Mini LED just after they launched over here, and have had a chance to do a bit of testing and compare notes with people on Reddit.
At this point, and after having unsuccessfully contacted MSI support, I can't recommend the screen. I bought it for a combination of office work, photo editing and gaming/media (not in that order).
In SDR for photo editing, I've noticed that none of the sRGB, Adobe RGB or P3 modes are poorly calibrated and have a strong blue bias, so you're stuck working in unclamped mode, which at least lets you fix the blue tint. It corrects to a rather disappointing dE 1.9.
HDR mode is the real problem for this screen. It boasts an 1152 zone backlight and 1000 nits peak brightness. HDR has 4 modes. Local dimming off, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. Off means you get no dimming at all. No idea why it's an option in HDR mode. Level 1 is clearly designed to showcase the panel at its absolute worst, with blacks being artificially brightened and heavy haloing around large bright lights. It almost looks like the backlight is maxed out across the screen, leading to an IPS backlight bleed look. The effect is still present but slightly better controlled at Level 2. Contrast is ok at Level 2, but the blacks are still way too high and there's no way even the point lights are anywhere near 1000 nits. You also get haloing around black windows with the Windows in dark mode. At Level 3, you get the inky blacks you paid for, but highlights are flat, and look like they're being disabled - they're about as bright as the mid tones.
I've included a couple of photos of Level 2 and 3 so you can see what I mean.
I contacted MSI, who asked for photos (which I sent) and then got radio silence. Someone on Reddit contacted them with the same issue and was told the monitor is working as designed and the backlight is supposed to be off at local dimming Level 3. Considering Level 3 is the default mode, either they shipped a Mini LED monitor with local dimming disabled by default in HDR mode, or with very broken HDR support and are trying to handwave it.
I'd seriously recommending holding off on buying this unless there's a firmware update to fix HDR.
I'm posting this in the vain hope that MSI picks up on this.
I managed to get my hands on a MAG 274UPDF E16M Mini LED just after they launched over here, and have had a chance to do a bit of testing and compare notes with people on Reddit.
At this point, and after having unsuccessfully contacted MSI support, I can't recommend the screen. I bought it for a combination of office work, photo editing and gaming/media (not in that order).
In SDR for photo editing, I've noticed that none of the sRGB, Adobe RGB or P3 modes are poorly calibrated and have a strong blue bias, so you're stuck working in unclamped mode, which at least lets you fix the blue tint. It corrects to a rather disappointing dE 1.9.
HDR mode is the real problem for this screen. It boasts an 1152 zone backlight and 1000 nits peak brightness. HDR has 4 modes. Local dimming off, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. Off means you get no dimming at all. No idea why it's an option in HDR mode. Level 1 is clearly designed to showcase the panel at its absolute worst, with blacks being artificially brightened and heavy haloing around large bright lights. It almost looks like the backlight is maxed out across the screen, leading to an IPS backlight bleed look. The effect is still present but slightly better controlled at Level 2. Contrast is ok at Level 2, but the blacks are still way too high and there's no way even the point lights are anywhere near 1000 nits. You also get haloing around black windows with the Windows in dark mode. At Level 3, you get the inky blacks you paid for, but highlights are flat, and look like they're being disabled - they're about as bright as the mid tones.
I've included a couple of photos of Level 2 and 3 so you can see what I mean.
I contacted MSI, who asked for photos (which I sent) and then got radio silence. Someone on Reddit contacted them with the same issue and was told the monitor is working as designed and the backlight is supposed to be off at local dimming Level 3. Considering Level 3 is the default mode, either they shipped a Mini LED monitor with local dimming disabled by default in HDR mode, or with very broken HDR support and are trying to handwave it.
I'd seriously recommending holding off on buying this unless there's a firmware update to fix HDR.
