Test Bench 1.2: Changelog

See the previous 1.1 changelog.

See the next 2.0 changelog.

Usage Ratings

Replaced the "HDR Gaming" usage in favor of the "HDR" usage, which focuses more on how good the monitor is for all types of HDR content (gaming, movies, etc.).
Renamed the "Multimedia" usage to "Media Consumption".
Score changes to all usages to better reflect user feedback.

Tests

Style

Moved the weight comparisons to the "Stand" and "Display" boxes.

stand

Moved the thickness picture to this box.
Moved the "Weight (with stand)" test to this box. Now named "Weight (with display)".
Moved the "Thickness (with stand)" test to this box. Now named "Thickness (with display)".

Ergonomics

Score changes
Moved "Back" box contents into the Ergonomics box.

Back

Removed the box and moved its contents to the "Ergonomics" box.

Borders

Removed the box and moved the borders size test to the new "Display" box.

Thickness

Removed the box and moved it's tests to the "Stand" and "Display" boxes.

Display

New box, which looks at the dimensions and weight of the display itself.
Now measure the display's width and height.
Moved "Thickness (without stand)" to this box.
Moved "Weight (without stand)" to this box.
Moved "Borders Size (Bezeles)" to this box.

Controls

Moved this box to the "Design" section.

In The Box

Moved this box to the "Design" section.
Moved the "Power Supply" test to this box.

SDR Brightness

Changed the box name from "SDR Peak Brightness" to "SDR Brightness"
Removed "SDR" pre-fix from each test name.
Added the "Minimum Brightness" test.

HDR Brightness

Changed the box name from "HDR Peak Brightness" to "HDR Brightness"
Removed "HDR" pre-fix from each test name.
Now list the monitor's VESA DisplayHDR Certification if it has one.
Now measure the monitor's PQ EOTF tracking.

Gray Uniformity

Removed the 5% Gray Uniformity tests
Score changes due to a bug fix in the 50% DSE calculation.

Color Accuracy (Pre-Calibration)

Changed the box name from "Pre-Calibration" to "Color Accuracy (Pre-Calibration)"
Now measure the sRGB gamut size of the monitor's tested picture mode to evaluate over or under saturation.
Score changes to account for the measured sRGB gamut size.
Added the "Brightness Locked" test.
Renamed some tests for better clarity.

Color Accuracy (Post-Calibration)

Changed the box name from "Post-Calibration" to "Color Accuracy (Post-Calibration)"
Now measure the sRGB gamut size of the monitor's tested picture mode to evaluate over or under saturation.
Score changes to account for the measured sRGB gamut size.
Added the ICC Profile download link.
Fixed some issues with our ICC profiles that caused them to not work as expected.
Renamed some tests for better clarity.

SDR Color Gamut

Slight presentation and score changes.
Added the word "Coverage" to the coverage tests, for better clarity.

SDR Color Volume

Slight presentation and score changes.

HDR Color Gamut

Now measure DCI-P3 coverage using the native performance of the panel, in addition to the previously measured tone-mapped performance.
Now graph the monitor's native gamut coverage in comparison to the DCI-P3 color space.
Tone-Mapped DCI-P3 coverage and performance are now illustrated in gray.
Slight presentation and score changes.
Added the word "Coverage" to the coverage tests, for better clarity.

HDR Color Volume

Slight presentation and score changes

Image Retention

Removed the box.

Color Bleed

Removed the box.

Response Time @ Max Refresh Rate

Designed a new methodology for taking measurements. It's similar to our previous methodology, where the monitor's refresh rate and the "in-game" frame rate are set to the same frequency, but we now test with VRR enabled.
Visual changes to the tables and charts.
Removed the "Dark" transition tests in favor of "Worst 3" transition tests, for more consistent and balanced scoring.
Changes to the scoring.
Renamed "Best Overdrive Setting" to "Recommended Overdrive Setting".

Response Time @ 60Hz

Designed a new methodology for taking measurements. It's similar to our previous methodology, where the monitor's refresh rate and the "in-game" frame rate are set to the same frequency, but we now test with VRR enabled.
Visual changes to the tables and charts.
Removed the "Dark" transition tests in favor of "Worst 3" transition tests, for more consistent and balanced scoring.
Changes to the scoring.
Renamed "Best Overdrive Setting" to "Recommended Overdrive Setting".

Response Time @ 120Hz

Added a new refresh rate to our response time testing.
Follows the same changes as response time @ max refresh rate and response time @ 60Hz.

Backlight Strobing (BFI)

Renamed the box from "Black Frame Insertion" to "Backlight Strobing (BFI)"
Removed the scoring, as it often didn't represent the actual performance.
Added more tests:
- Longest Pulse Width Brightness
- Shortest Pulse Width Brightness
- Pulse Width Control
- Pulse Phase Control
- Pulse Amplitude Control
- VRR at the same time
Added more motion blur pictures to show the backlight strobing performance across different refresh rates and modes.

Refresh Rate

Now test for the max refresh rate via the connector type and color bit depth.
Renamed "Native" to "Native Refresh Rate" for better clarity.
Slight score changes.
Moved VRR tests to the new VRR box.

Variable Refresh Rate

New box which focuses on the VRR performance and capabilities of the monitor.

Input Lag

Now test input lag @ 120Hz.
Renamed " Native Resolution" to "Native Resolution @ Max Hz" for better clarity.
Removed the HDR Input lag test, as it rarely made a difference and wasn't possible to test for in many cases, using our current methodology.
Removed the VRR Input lag tests, as enabling VRR rarely made any meaningful difference to the input lag.
Score changes.

Resolution and Size

Score changes.
Renamed "Screen Diagonal" to "Measured Screen Diagonal" for better clarity.

PS5 Compatibility

New tests for which resolutions, refresh rates, and features a monitor supports when connected to a PS5.

Xbox Series X|S Compatibility

New tests for what resolutions, refresh rates, and features a monitor supports when connected to an Xbox Series X or S.

Video and Audio Ports

Renamed the "Inputs" box to "Video and Audio Ports" and moved the USB tests to a separate box.
Now test for the HDMI 2.1 Rated Speed if a monitor supports HDMI 2.1.
Removed the "DisplayPort Out" test.
Added the "Daisy Chaining" test.
Cleaned up the presentation.

USB

New box for more in-depth tests and analysis of the monitor's USB ports.

macOS Compatibility

New box to test for compatibility when connected to a macOS source device.

Additional Features

Moved the "HDR10" test to the top ribbon of the review.
Added KVM Switch test.

78 Monitors Updated

We have retested popular models. The test results for the following models have been converted to the new testing methodology. However, the text might be inconsistent with the new results.