Asus PA32UCG-K: Real Users Split on FALD & QC Issues

Linus is totally not getting them cherry picked review samples /s. I don't want 4K MiniLED, I want 1440p 144hz+ OLED.

It's not meant for the average consumer. It would be bullshit I guess if you're just gaming on it, but that's not what this product was made for — it's for professionals that are making HDR content.

This is the king of spec-war bullshit. What are you reasonably going to achieve with 1600nits 12bpc on an LCD? Unless you are using it in an insanely bright room there is no benefit at this contrast ratio.

It's a professional display that competes with the Pro Display XDR, which is the same price, doesn't work for shit on Windows, has like half the zones and doesn't come with a fucking stand. The price isn't weird for what it is, unfortunately.

What is the input lag? What is the FALD delay? Those are the two questions people care about!

I think the main thing the higher cost monitors will have is better uniformity and accuracy when calibrating. Seems to be an issue that pops up with all these budget HDR 'reference' monitors. Might get pretty close to the expensive ones but will quickly suck if the monitor needs to be calibrated every month and can only be viewed at certain angles.

I just don't see the point. None of the streaming services that support HDR would even accept content graded on an Asus display. And lower tier content don't even ask for HDR anyway?

That's barely a review though, no stats at all to go along with the statements. I'm not even sure how statements like 'While for gaming purists, the input lag is probably more than they would ideally like' are supposed to inform a purchasing decision. What is the input lag? I would take all TechRadar reviews with a bag of salt.

If you are working for productions that want or need HDR, they should pay you enough to afford monitoring. There is no point in bending over backwards for nothing.

I owned the PA32UCG for a month. The panel is slow but it has amazing color accuracy. I enjoyed watching movies on it but I couldn't justify keeping it for just that. Dolby vision is only 8-bit color on this panel.

I've had this monitor for more than a year now. I really like it, but it's not without its quirks. I'm running macOS at 120hz in Adobe RGB mode over thunderbolt (into an OWC TB3 dock). One of the quirks is that macOS defaults the monitor to 100hz. It used to be fine at 120hz but some update had it fall back to 100hz which is quite annoying. You can change it to 120hz using BetterDisplay which works fine.

Colour accuracy is spot on for Photo & Video editing. It has almost no colour banding, colour and light uniformity is extremely good, guaranteed pixel warranty if it's not perfect Asus will replace (assuming you're buying brand new with receipt from a reputable retailer otherwise defaults to when the monitor was made).

It's the back light/dimming zones that are a problem. The dimming zones on this display are basically like 9 vertical bars that light up a vertical section of 2 inches wide. Very noticeable in full black frames. I just permanently enabled the backlights/disabled the adaptive thingy, not as irritating anymore.

It's an amazing monitor when it works haha. It's quite buggy sometimes losing DP signal when changing from HDR to SDR or when updating drivers, took a few resets for it to pick up a signal. Running it on HDR 24x7 it's quite an image it can produce — windows desktop looks better than SDR using PQ Rec2020 and hardclip.

Nits aren't everything. This monitor doesn't have the full gamut for Rec2020 (most don't) or even P3. I guess in the end it depends on the type of work you'll be doing but I wouldn't trust it as a reference display for professional work if you can't even see all the colours. It's definitely great to practice on and hone your skills though.

On paper, every 2nd display seems like an appropriate grading display, but the reality often looks quite a bit different. HDR means usually rec2020, no? With 85%, it basically means it's not compatible. Same with P3. And all those data but no contrast ratio.

Even the Eizo $30000 HDR reference monitor doesn't provide 100% DCI-P3 coverage, let alone Rec2020. It actually has near identical color gamut to the monitor OP linked (98% vs 99% P3). Rec2020 primaries are not meant to be achievable by real life hardware as they are placed at the very edge of what's perceptually visible.

Get the KTC M32P10, it gets brighter and has a faster panel, same DCI-P3, more Hertz and faster.

Mine looks exactly the same unfortunately.

Damn, appreciate the follow-up. Further research on lift gamma gain forums confirmed the FALD performance is disappointingly poor. Was hoping mine was just a faulty model.

The problem is the low native contrast + monitors have worse dimming algorithm than high end TVs due to weak processors. Which is why a 43 qn90b or 90c beats it handily with only 360 zones for instance. Even Mac displays with 2000+ zones perform worse than VA high end TVs with dimming count below 1000 zones.

My recommendation is just buy OLED if you're mainly watching movies.

The solution was to: 1. Go to OSD/System Setup and do Reset All. 2. DDU the GPU drivers. 3. Freshly install the GPU drivers. But, god, this monitor is slow compared to PA32UCX — it completely misses the BIOS POST screen and Windows logo screen and only detects the signal when Windows is fully loaded while it is connected via the DisplayPort.

There's such a thing as too bright, especially in the evening. I have to turn the brightness on this thing way down, even during the day.

Cons listed: Extreme wallet abuse, Very heavy, Illogical OSD controls, Cabling issues. I'll give them the OSD issue — that can be very frustrating especially when you need to use them all the time.

With DisplayPort 1.4, in Dolby Vision mode it could run in 4K 10bit 60Hz, HDMI 2.1 only supports 4K 8bit 60Hz. I don't know why it doesn't support 4K 10bit 120Hz in Dolby Vision mode.

I literally just bought one and was like why is it doing this and thought it was broken. Now I see I'm not the only one — any fixes?

I'm having the same issue, just bought this monitor. Did you find a fix for this in the last year, or did you move on to a different monitor?

Are you using DP1.4 DSC? I found it very picky with the cable and no longer have the no signal after wake up issue after switching to a Club 3D cable which is well regarded.

In case you haven't found the solution yet — it's not a monitor issue, but just a GPU setting. Default Nvidia is 8bit limited colour range. Solution is in the Nvidia control panel: set Output colour depth to 10 or 12 Bits Per Channel, and change the Output Range from Limited to Full.

8-bit Dolby Vision means the color volume/range is clipped right? In a similar manner to the 'Limited' vs 'Full' in the NVIDIA control panel? What's the point of Dolby Vision if it is limited in colors. I'm guessing a TV might make more sense, waiting a few generations, or just sticking with the UQX — it is a fantastic monitor, my favorite so far.