Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/860302
www.postmagazine.com 39 POST AUGUST 2017 REVIEW covers 99 percent of the Adobe RGB color space. For anyone that doesn't know what color space is or buzzwords like Rec. 709 and DCI-P3 refer to, simply Rec. 709 represents roughly 35 percent of visible color where DCI-P3 represents about 50 percent. The more color that is represented in the monitor means that more shades are visible, meaning the "richer" the color fidelity is. Even if you have different monitors, as long as your monitors have been calibrated in the Rec. 709 color space, color should be consistent between them. Calibration is an interesting skill and requirement among color critical proj- ects that has been around for forever. More recently, it has been popping up more and more since different color spaces on different televisions and monitors have been sprouting up. The BenQ PV270 has many features that are geared towards us video and post nerds, but up first is the compatibility with X-rite Palette Master, i1 Display Pro, i1 Pro and i1 Pro 2 monitor calibration tools. The PV270 allows for two custom calibration presets from your X-Rite colorimeter to be stored in the mon- itor itself. However, if you want other options, there are a total of 11 color modes: Standard, Adobe RGB, sRGB, DCI-P3, Rec. 709, D50, D65, Calibration 1, Calibration 2, Custom 1 and Custom 2. These can come in handy in a pinch by getting you close to the color space you need to view without doing a full calibration. Beyond this, you can also adjust features like brightness, contrast, sharpness, color temperatures (2800K to 9300K, custom in 100K increments and user defined), gamma, color gamut, hue, saturation and black level. All of which can be saved. When in Standard Color Mode, you have a variety of choic- es in color temperature and color gamut while the gamma can be customized between 1.8 and 2.2, in DI-P3 2.2/2.4/2.6, in Rec. 709 2.2/2.4 and so on. A fea- ture I would typically turn off is the Eye Protect mode, which essentially adjusts the backlight automatically depending on the surrounding light conditions. An interesting feature on the BenQ PV270 is the PIP/PDP menu. PIP allows for a picture in picture while the PDP al- lows for two different video sources to be placed side by side in the monitor. What is cool about the PIP is that you can se- lect a different color gamut, gamma and color temperature on the inset picture than what the larger picture is displaying. Us post users can keep in mind that there is an option called "HDMI RGB PC Range" which allows you to select video levels or full range labeled as RGB(0~255) and RGB(16~235), respectively. IN CONCLUSION In the end, the BenQ PV270 is a great monitor for color critical users. Even Technicolor has thrown its Color Certified seal of approval on it. All that being said, this is not a Sony Trimaster OLED. You will pay quite a bit more for that level of equipment. But for those who need a color critical monitor without SDI connections or 4K resolu- tion, the BenQ PV270 deserves a serious look. Combined with the X-rite i1Display Pro colorimeter, the PV270 priced at $899 is a great monitor that you will be happy with as a color accurate user interface workstation display. With the supplied hood, you can even double this up as an onset monitor loaded with a 3D LUT.