Pixio PX277H w/HDR is not bad! Quick Review after first day.

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Advil

2[H]4U
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Just got my Pixio PX277H.

A little background, I like my panel lottery screens. My last one was the Crossover 1440p OC'd to 90Hz which was fantastic. I had to give it up because it was DVID and there's no way to get that out of a RTX 2080 at 90Hz. So lets see if the PX277H from Pixio can replace it as a value king:

I had no issues with dead or stuck pixels and only a little IPS glow in the bottom left and right corners. Nothing that bothers me at all and well better than "normal" for an IPS screen.

Color and all refresh rates up to 144hz are great. Motion blur/ghosting and whatnot is as expected for a high quality IPS gaming monitor which means very minimal and not noticeable unless you compare it to a fast TN panel. Color is fantastic. The screen will do 4:4:4 on HDMI without HDR all the way to 144hz if you desire which pretty much makes the screen a fantastic value right there.

HDR is a mess on Windows 10, we all know that but I fought through getting it working. Here's the skinny:
1) Enable HDR in the PX277H on-screen menu.
2) Open the Nvidia control panel and set your color options to 4:4:4 at 60 or 75hz OR 4:2:2 AND 10bit or 12bit on the color dropdown and anything up to 144hz.
3) Enable HDR / WCG slider in Display Properties in Win 10, you won't be able to do this UNTIL completing step 2 properly.
4) Start your game and enable HDR in the game's optons.

You may be able to get some games to work fine in full screen mode without setting the slider in Windows 10, but this is hit or miss you are on your own figuring that part out.

HDR games I played a little last night:

- FF XV is seriously impressive with it on. Just watch the opening sequence and intro... wow.

- Assassin's Creed Origins is absolutely more impressive and stunning in HDR. Very impressive realistic sunny cliffs and uncanny bright cave torchlight. Make sure you do the calibration in game for HDR after turning it on.

- You can enable HDR in the ini file for No Man's Sky. You may or may not have luck with it it makes the games weird lighting more moody and punchy.

Issues: I have found a few. I don't think the EDID in my screen is quite right but that's no unusual on any advanced monitor these days especially one that costs only $400 like this one.

I have a certified DP cable coming and a higher quality HDMI 2.0 cable to see if I can coax more than 75Hz out of it at 4:4:4. However, this is not a deal breaker. It's common to have to run 4:2:2 on all kinds of HDR displays, but in theory there should be enough bandwidth on HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.4 to get 1440p and HDR 10bit up to 120Hz+. Even if I can't work this issue out, the screen is still a keeper.

But if I can, through better cabling, a different input or getting Pixio to help with a firmware update get this screen working at 4:4:4 120hz+ it will be in my mind a perfect low cost compromise screen that does everything "more than well enough."

It gets a little warm along the bottom edge of the screen, but nothing too concerning. The casing does have some ventilation in the back.

When my high quality DP cable comes in I'll post an update with what color modes and refresh rates work on DP.

So far, very impressed.
 
What is the HDR implementation? I assume it is just full frame given the low price.

Some games require enabling the Windows option, but others can enable HDR just fine without the need to do so.

High Speed HDMI can only do proper HDR10 with 4:2:2 chroma subsampling at 60 Hz and above. A "higher quality" cable won't change that.
 
It's probably full frame from what I can see (it isn't mentioned in the manual so we have to assume that's all it is), if it has zones it's not many. But that's expected for this price. It still provides an enhancement. It's certainly not a 1000nit multi hundred zone ultra quality HDR TV but it's definitely a good feature that adds something to the high speed IPS display.

I'm able to get 75hz out of it on HDMI and 4:4:4 with HDR. Still waiting on the good DP cable which should be here tomorrow and see what it will do/accept on the other input.
 
Advil said:
It's probably full frame from what I can see (it isn't mentioned in the manual so we have to assume that's all it is), if it has zones it's not many. But that's expected for this price. It still provides an enhancement. It's certainly not a 1000nit multi hundred zone ultra quality HDR TV but it's definitely a good feature that adds something to the high speed IPS display.

I'm able to get 75hz out of it on HDMI and 4:4:4 with HDR. Still waiting on the good DP cable which should be here tomorrow and see what it will do/accept on the other input.
Click to expand...
Other reviews and also in the manual pdf (I think) mentions that HDR is only available over HDMI, so your DP may not be an option.

But please update with more info when you can.
 
GalaxyDrifter said:
Other reviews and also in the manual pdf (I think) mentions that HDR is only available over HDMI, so your DP may not be an option.

But please update with more info when you can.
Click to expand...
You're right, since the specs mention DisplayPort 1.2. The HDR metadata wasn't added to DisplayPort until 1.4.
 
The monitor has 2x HDMI ports but only one of them is HDMI 2.0. Make sure you are using the 2.0 port.
 
So, the DP can do HDR, but not as capable as the HDMI port.

144hz still no problem on DP, 4:2:2 still no problem.

But 4:2:2 with HDR only works at I "think" 60hz. DP is a little more wonky than HDMI.

Also tried a better HDMI cable. No change in results on the HDMI side.

So if you are ok with 4:2:2 HDR or 4:4:4 no HDR you're good to go up to 144hz.

If you want 4:4:4 you need to use HDMI and 75hz.

I can't test Freesync. No AMD card. Assume it works as described. Other reviews mention it I think.

Still all in all a very capable screen for the money. I'm keeping it.
 
Advil said:
So, the DP can do HDR, but not as capable as the HDMI port.

144hz still no problem on DP, 4:2:2 still no problem.
Click to expand...
How was DP HDR different?

Also a note: I tried out a BenQ Freesync 2 HDR monitor last week and it seems like much of the HDR functions in the monitor were tied to Freesync 2. So I wonder if some things in your monitor are expecting freesync.

Any HDR content the monitor would pop up a message indicating "Freesync 2: HDR". Also, most of the OSD items options that affect the color or other display adjustments were no longer available.
 
Ok, I just got my px277h in today. Only had a short time to test, but one of the first things I did was test the HDR and check the things you are having issues with.

I have HDR turned on in the OSD and in Win10 display settings. I also have Freesync on as I have a Vega GPU.

I am using an Amazon Basics HDMI cable connected to the monitor port 1 (HDMI 2.0). It appears that I am getting 144hz and RGB 4:4:4 pixel format according to Radeon Settings.
 
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Some combination of the latest Windows 10 October (Redstone) release and new Nvidia drivers seems to have improved things.

In the Nvidia control panel I now have HDR on with "RGB", 8bit, Full Dynamic Range.

That wouldn't work before. Not sure why I can't select 10 bit specifically but then again I'm not used to selecting "RGB" either.

I still can't specifically set 4:4:4 instead of "RGB" and do more than 75hz. Also in 4:4:4 there's still no 10 bit option, just 8 bit and 12 bit. I think that's some kind of EDID issue.

Not sure what the difference between these two modes actually would be.

Wouldn't RGB at Full Dynamic Range pretty much BE 4:4:4?

Can someone enlighten me?
 
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I just bought this display and had a few questions.

Anyone know what all the modes actually do? The manual has no information of what they do or change.

Also mine is using HDMI with freesync at 144hz 8 bit color 4:4:4 full rgb
 
Just got this monitor as well. Freesync is so incredibly smooth. I didn't think it would be that big of a different but WOW.
 
Yes on HDMI it has fully correct modes... "144hz 8 bit color 4:4:4 full rgb."

That is what I am using currently and everything is perfectly fine.

ON DP, it's kind of odd. But as long as one or the other works correctly, I don't care.
 
Thanks for the review.

I've seen the Pixio monitors on Newegg, but they seemed like a unknown brand.

Wasn't sure about taking the gamble, even with the cheap prices, but good to hear they are decent quality.
 
Hi,

I just got this monitor, but for some reason on HDMI input (using port #1) I can't get the refresh rate more than 29hz. In the Windows settings (Windows settings > Display > Advance Display Settings > Display adapter properties for Display 1), It only gives me options of 59, 60 and 75 hertz. I have no idea how to get it to 144hz. When I try to change the refresh rate to 75hz, it automatically changes to a really low resolution.
I'm using an R9 Fury, and in AMD's radeon settings it doesn't really let me set much settings in the display tab.
I can use the DP input no problem (just no HDR), and I can get 144hz and 1440p. HDMI input is unusable because of the low refresh rate.
Does anyone have any clue on this?

Thanks
 
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