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The PG34WCDN is extremely accurate with or without calibration. Just leave it in Racing mode and set brightness to taste. A data sheet is saved in each sample’s firmware for recall from the OSD.
Grayscale and Gamma Tracking
My default measurement run shows no visible errors with all grayscale values under 3dE. Gamma shows a slight dip (too light) at 90% brightness, but this will be hard to spot in real-world content. Since RGB sliders are available, though, I availed myself of them and got all but 90% under 1dE. Gamma is a bit tighter as well. This is pro-level performance.
I measured the sRGB mode by simply choosing that option in the Color Space menu rather than using the sRGB Cal mode. That way, calibration is still available. The third chart above shows the default measurement, which has no visible errors and the same slight gamma dip at 90%.
Comparisons
0.62dE is a superb result for the PG34WCDN, but clearly, the OLED category is a competitive one. I haven’t found a bad one yet. A few need tweaking, like the AOC and Acer screens, but they all become professional-grade after adjustment.
In the gamma test, the PG34WCDN stuck closest to the 2.2 reference with a 0.91% (2.18 actual) deviation. That’s solely due to the dip I found at 90% brightness. All other steps are perfectly on spec. The range of values is still small at 0.17 from bottom to top. This is excellent performance.
Color Gamut Accuracy
Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
The PG34WCDN covers more than 100% of DCI-P3 and that is reflected in its gamut test result. You can see some bonus red and green, which is slightly oversaturated against the reference. This pumps up color in a good way because the points are linear, so there’s no obscured detail, and fine textures are rendered precisely. All points are on or near their targets. Calibration tightens the hues a bit, but visually there’s no difference.
SRGB is as accurate as the best professional screens I’ve tested. Every point is spot-on with a tiny average error of 1.08dE. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Comparisons
Again, the PG34WCDN is up against excellent competition. It managed a second-place finish with 1.19dE, which is among the very best I’ve recorded. All the screens here would look the same in a direct comparison. In the volume test, the PG34WCDN lags just a little behind the top four panels. This surprised me a little given its new tech, but the difference is only slightly visible. It has a tiny bit less red than the others, which you’ll notice in content with a lot of warm tones. Green and blue are on par. SRGB covers a nearly ideal 95.48%.
Test Takeaway: Aside from having slightly less color volume than other Quantum Dot monitors, the PG34WCDN acquits itself well with superb accuracy and easy calibration to reference standards. Since most users are buying it for speed, a small sacrifice in saturation is worth the increase in gaming performance.
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