The On-Screen Display
The ASUS PG32UCDM monitor makes it easy to use its settings menu with a joystick found just under the screen. This joystick allows users to adjust settings right on the monitor, although you can also use Asus's software, called DisplayWidgetCenter, for some adjustments. The settings menu on the monitor, known as the OSD (On-Screen Display), has more customization options than the software, which is why it's crucial for those who want to fine-tune their monitor settings. The joystick makes moving through the OSD menu simple, and it's expected that future updates might let users do everything through the DisplayWidgetCenter with a mouse, making the process even smoother.
Both the OSD and the software divide settings into categories like gaming features, image presets, quality adjustments, and options for displaying two sources at once (Picture-in-Picture or Picture-by-Picture). In the gaming section, there are specific settings for different types of games such as racing, first-person shooters, and real-time strategy or role-playing games. There are also special modes designed to improve visibility in games, like Night Vision for darker scenes and MOBA mode for vibrant colors. The GamePlus feature adds extras like a crosshair overlay, a zoom function for precise aiming, and Shadow Boost to make dark areas clearer.
The Display Widget software goes beyond simple adjustments like brightness and contrast, offering more in-depth settings like sharpness, color hue and saturation, and gamma levels. For gamers, it includes features similar to those in the OSD, like Shadow Boost, timers, a frame rate counter, and sniper mode. The monitor is designed for gaming, but some features like variable refresh rate and motion blur reduction may be limited depending in choices you make in the OSD. A notable feature includes the ability to display content from two sources side by side, a sensor that turns the monitor off when no one is nearby to save power, and customizable RGB lighting with a projected ROG logo.
For HDR content, the monitor offers four modes: Console, Cinema, Gaming, and DisplayHDR 400, with Console mode being the recommended setting for a good balance. The HDR-400 mode maxes out at a brightness of 450 nits. ASUS is also planning to add Dolby Vision support with a software update.
