ASUS ROG SWIFT PG43UQ review

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Display Stream Compression

So what is the deal with Display Stream Compression; DSC?

If you read my previous 144Hz / HDR / Ultra HD compatible monitor reviews then you'll have learned that we ran into issues in Windows desktop mode with discolored fonts and text, this was due to something called Croma Subsampling. Simply put, there is not enough bandwidth over DisplayPort to pass 98 Hz in combination with Ultra HD. So bypass that issue, a color compression mode kicks in, and that is responsible for what we noticed:


Chroma

Above you can see a good example of the problem at hand. Compare the two photos left and right, focus on the icon text To the right the N in Heaven and letters N H and M on Benchmark are discolored. That's is the effect that 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. The photo is blown up, but you can see this rather clearly with your own eyes. You would only notice this effect on the Windows desktop with thin fonts. In gaming, you will not notice the effect, at least I could not see it. So 4:2:2 chroma kicks in when you run into signal bandwidth issues, where you preferably want 4:4:4.


Tackling the problem: DSC

With (Display Stream Compression) DSC enabled "chroma subsampling," (downsampling the quality of your content in order to pass all those pixels onto a high-refresh-rate 4K display is bypassed, DSC is a fixed rate codec. DSC is basically a VESA Display Stream Compression (DSC) standard is descrived as "visually lossless compression" for ultra-high definition display applications.  In its bare essence, DSC is an image compression standard designed to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted. You can even call it a CODEC. DSC is suitable as a compression method for many interface specifications and provides the capability to allow 8Kp60 video over DisplayPort but thus also 144 Hz at 10-bit (HDR) and Ultra HD. 


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Don't mind the moire effect of the photo, but look at the white font text, DSC at work.

 

In its core essence, DSC would never be better than the quality of uncompressed display streams, similar to a JPG image or H.264 video stream it never will be as good as a RAW stream, but it is a solution, perhaps even tradeoffs that will make compression worth the challenge. And admittedly, we have not been able to tell a difference, similar to whnm you are listening to say a 320kbit MP3 file.


HDR 10 and nits

Better pixels, a wider color space, more contrast will result in more interesting content on that screen of yours. FreeSync 2 and the new G-Sync Ultimate enabled monitors even have HDR10 support built in mandatory, it is a requirement for any display panel with the label to offer full 10bpc support. High-dynamic-range will reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with digital imaging. We measure this in nits, and the number of nits for UHD screens and monitors is going up. Candle brightness measured over one meter is 1 nit, also referred to as Candela; the sun is 1.6000.000.000 nits, typical objects have 1~250 nits, current pc displays have 1 to 250 nits, and excellent non-HDR HDTVs offer 350 to 400 nits. An HDR OLED screen is capable of 500 to maybe 700 nits for the best models and here it’ll get more important, HDR enabled screens will go towards 1000 nits with the latest LCD technologies. HDR allows high nit values to be used. HDR had started to be implemented back in 2016 for PC gaming, Hollywood has already got end-to-end access content ready of course. As consumers start to demand higher-quality monitors, HDR technology is emerging to set an excitingly high bar for overall display quality. Good HDR capable panels are characterized by:

  • Brightness between 600-1200 cd/m2 of luminance, industry goal is to reach 1000 to 2000
  • Contrast ratios that closely mirror human visual sensitivity to contrast (SMPTE 2084)
  • And the DCI-P3 and/or Rec.2020 color gamut can produce over 1 billion colors at 10 bits per color

HDR video and gaming increase vibrancy in colors, details with contrast and luminosity ranges with brightness. You will obviously need a monitor that supports it as well as a game title that supports it. HDR10 is an open standard supported by a wide variety of companies, which includes TV manufacturers such as LG, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Vizio, as well as Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment, which support HDR10 on their PlayStation 4 and Xbox One video game console platforms (the latter exclusive to the Xbox One S and X). Dolby Vision is a competing HDR format that can be optionally supported on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and from Streaming services. Dolby Vision, as a technology, allows for a color depth of up to 12-bits, up to 10,000-nit brightness, and can reproduce color spaces up to the ITU-R Rec. 2020 and SMPTE ST-2084. Ultra HD (UHD) TVs that support Dolby Vision include LG, TCL, and Vizio, although their displays are only capable of 10-bit color and 800 to 1000 nits luminance. The maximum range of colors reproducible by the monitor, generally expressed as the percent coverage of a defined standard like sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, and BT.2020. These each specify a “color space,” or a portion of the visible spectrum, that delivers a consistent viewing experience between different imaging devices like monitors, televisions, and cameras. HDR10 requires displays cover at least 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (which is a subset of the currently unachievable BT.2020 color gamut). 

The ASUS ROG SWIFT PG43UQ offers precisely that gamut threshold.


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Another way to interpret color gamuts is their coverage of Pointer’s gamut, a collection of all diffuse colors found in nature. Expanding a color space to include or extend beyond Pointer’s gamut will allow for richer and more natural imaging, as human vision is capable of interpreting many artificial colors beyond Pointer’s gamut that are commonly found in manufactured goods like automobile paints, food dyes, fashionable clothing, and Coca-Cola’s signature red. Think big and a lot of bandwidth. Monitor resolutions are expanding. A problem with that is that the first 8K monitors needed multiple HDMI and or DisplayPort connectors to be able to get a functional display. Alright, we've got the basics covered, let's move onwards into the review.


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