Question about black level calibration.

[DooberKnob]

I'm using this page as a guide

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php

How difficult are the first few squares supposed to be exactly? Square number 2 is very difficult to distinguish against the black background and square number 1 is almost impossible. If I open up the image in windows photo viewer and zoom in on the 1st square I am able to see it is an extremely dark shade of grey next to black, so at the very least, I can confirm the monitor is displaying two different shades. However, this isn't readily apparent viewing the image at native resolution on a 4k screen.

Is this a sign of black crushing, or is this the ideal result of the test? The monitor is a VA panel (the BenQ EW3270U to be specific, which is supposed to have excellent gamma accuracy) if it makes a difference, so the blacks are quite dark to begin with.

 

[JargonGR]

Since I am in the process of calibrating my new display (BenQ SW320) I am also checking out various settings and calibration profiles. I can distinguish the squares in that image although the first is borderline. Bear in mind that unless you calibrate your monitor using a hardware device do not expect perfection out of the box irrelevantly what the manufacturer says. With that said things turn out to be far more complicated than they should when it gets to calibration.

In Firefox with full color management turned on and switching the monitor to sRGB or AdobeRGB the blacks crush but the gradient test displays perfectly. In opera the squares are fully distinguishable for me but I see some banding on the gradient test. Go figure....I am actually just learning too but after 10-12 of reading I still have work to do.

In properly color manged applicatons like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or ACDSee my profiles work perfectly tested with reference material. In uncontrolled environments I am still working on it since there are many combinations of things in play. Mine is a wide gamut monitor though.

In your case I guess the only thing I would do would be to ideally calibrate the monitor with a hardware device if you have one or eyball it through the windows calibration tools. All you need is to be able to see as close as possible to the sRGB & DCI-P3 color spaces which this monitor comes close to covering fully but not 100%. Blacks & whites though are gamma depended but without a colorimeter at least your only other option is to use your eyes.

 

[Ryom]

Every square should be easily distinguishable. You may have an MVA type LCD panel which has a natural black-crush effect (you can't fix this) but also lower black levels than other panel types. The only solution would be to raise the black point above the black-crush level, which would largely negate the benefit of MVA low-black levels.

 

[umeng2002]

Just get a calibrator... a cheap one is way better than just going off recommendations from websites, each panel is slightly different. With one, you can also profile your monitor and get great colors with programs that color manage. You can adjust your gamma with your graphics cards settings... with or without a colorimeter.

I would go into your graphics card control panel and lift (low number) the gamma in the low end a little and see if that helps.

 

[DooberKnob]

Just get a calibrator... a cheap one is way better than just going off recommendations from websites, each panel is slightly different. With one, you can also profile your monitor and get great colors with programs that color manage. You can adjust your gamma with your graphics cards settings... with or without a colorimeter.

I would go into your graphics card control panel and lift (low number) the gamma in the low end a little and see if that helps.

If I give the gamma a tiny boost in the Nvidia CP or windows color management tool, it improves the visibility if the first two squares without affecting the darkest black.

The only problem with this is that I intend to use the monitor with consoles as my PC, which don't let you load ICC profiles.

I'm think of debating whether or not I should return this monitor. I know Samsung and Viewsonic both have a monitor in this segment (31.5" 4k VA) that offer black stabilization in the monitor menu.