Can DP1.2 support HDR? Asus PA32UC

Sitti_S

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Can DP1.2 support HDR? I was looking at this monitor Asus PA32UC. According to its spec, it fully supports DisplayHDR1000 and it's got FALD. I though HDR support was from DP1.4. How does this monitor support HDR via DisplayPort. Is it true HDR?

I was considering of purchasing PA32UCX when it comes out, but seems like the price is going to be $3000. Amazon has new PA32UC for $2000. It's strange that there aren't many buyer reviews for this monitor at any online retailers. At this price, is this a good monitor to buy?

I currently have PG27UQ, and going to return it soon. I'm looking for over 30" IPS 4K monitor with HDR1000 certified.

Thanks
 
I have a Samsung CHG70 and a R9 290x the display turns on in HDR mode windows is in HDR mode and the game is in HDR mode. But there is one thing I'm not to sure if it is the same when I check the radeon settings control panel shows that the colour is 8 bit dithering. Not sure if that is the display panel limit or the DP limit.
noko and NKD have the Samsung as well not sure if there running it in DP 1.2 mode.
I do run Anthem and it does look good and HDR works. No idea about the dynamics or which mode it actually uses in display port.

Btw the monitor is displaying on the info section Freesync 2 HDR
 
DisplayPort 1.2 does not officially support HDR, but I believe it can still translate basic HDR10 data to control brightness levels. Newer HDR standards like HDR10+ and Dolby Vision send metadata to offer finer control of brightness level that requires hardware support, which wasn't added to DisplayPort until 1.4.

The PA32UC has HDMI 2.0b inputs which do officially support HDR, the only issue being that the limited bandwidth forces 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.

Is the size the only thing that bothers you about the PG27UQ? If you're mostly gaming seems like you would be overall downgrading for the same price. If you're mostly watching movies and/or doing video production then I think it would be worth it.
 
It's strange that there aren't many buyer reviews for this monitor at any online retailers.

You can read buyer reviews on B&H. This monitor had a reputation for problems when it came out, here's some reasons I would avoid it:
  • Literally every FALD backlight except the X27/PG27UQ is hundreds-of-milliseconds slow. Based on review reports, PA32UC is no different.
  • A lot of people had substantial difficulty calibrating it when it came out. Asus may have fixed this, but who knows.
  • Weird issues with DP1.2 HDR hack reported, like it not working if you have a Ryzen CPU??
  • A bunch of other miscellaneous issues reported with various firmware versions like cursor lag(wtf?).
HDR is a mess on PC. It's largely only useful for games, and there aren't that many games that support it. Plus, why would anyone want a 60hz monitor for gaming? For watching movies/tv you're MUCH better off with an HDR capable TV.

For professional use, which is this monitor's intention, it seems to have calibration issues, black crush issues, and many reported hw/sw problems, so it's no surprise that it did not sell well. For someone who is trying to get work done, multiple reports like these are a red flag. You don't have time to waste cajoling your monitor to work properly.
 
I have a friend that recently got an Asus HDR 32 inch monitor he returned it it gave him headaches and there were some problems with it. He bought the Samsung :)

Btw if you are investing in a display that does 1000 nits make sure you are far enough away from it.
 
Thank you for your replies guys. I have decided I'm going to wait for PA32UCX. Someone from Asus answered my Q&A at B&H, and he stated "HDR was indeed introduced with DP 1.4, however the display still supports HDR-10, by using a software based implementation." So it doesn't truly support any of HDR standards. I can see this will cause issues down the road.
 
Thank you for your replies guys. I have decided I'm going to wait for PA32UCX. Someone from Asus answered my Q&A at B&H, and he stated "HDR was indeed introduced with DP 1.4, however the display still supports HDR-10, by using a software based implementation." So it doesn't truly support any of HDR standards. I can see this will cause issues down the road.

HDR is software however you want to look at it. The signal is also revered to as 10 bit. The part where it is displayed is how your monitor/panel interprets it.
That part is no different for any device even non HDR capable.

I double checked through youtube videos in HDR and I can say that the colours are there the panel does display them however not the same way my TV does but that could be my monitors limitation (8 bit dithering, lower nits). I have to say that my TV is 1800 nits (movie mode) and my monitor is 600 nits.

The effects are there as well in Anthem , on my old monitor the lighting is way way different also the specular highlights are pretty awesome ....
 
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HDR is software however you want to look at it. The signal is also revered to as 10 bit. The part where it is displayed is how your monitor/panel interprets it.
That part is no different for any device even non HDR capable.

I double checked through youtube videos in HDR and I can say that the colours are there the panel does display them however not the same way my TV does but that could be my monitors limitation (8 bit dithering, lower nits). I have to say that my TV is 1800 nits (movie mode) and my monitor is 600 nits.

The effects are there as well in Anthem , on my old monitor the lighting is way way different also the specular highlights are pretty awesome ....
For me HDR makes a rather nice noticeable impact in rendering quality - gives a much more depth or realism. Shadow of the Tomb raider is awesome! FarCry, BFV also looks very nice as well. I had the 8bit dithering with the 1080Ti if the refresh rate was other than 144hz which to me was noticeable in degradation - so I went with 144hz. This was before Nvidia supported FreeSync, I was trying to match up monitor frequency, frame rate and use adaptive sync. Anyways I just used 144hz due to image quality and finished the game.

HDR on the Vega's on non HDR content is superior, most times you can't really tell much difference or I just forget about that it is on. Do not know how Nvidia newer drivers handle HDR but it was terrible on non HDR content in the past. I just keep the Samsung on the Vega 64 LC now, even if lower frame rate it is butter smooth or smooth enough for me.
 
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