OSD Settings, Viewing Angles

OSD Settings

The OSD settings for this panel are fairly straightforward. The first thing to pop up is a quick menu of icons corresponding to color settings, brightness (0-100), Overdrive (3 levels), ULMB (85 and 100Hz), and more detailed settings:

Hitting the corresponding button (there are 5 buttons) brings you straight into that submenu. Those who frequently change settings should have no trouble learning the pattern to get to a specific option for rapid adjustment. Here's a look at the detailed menu presented when choosing the rightmost option:

All of the quick options from that initial menu are also tweakable from within this more detailed list. Here I'm showing the settings tab, which includes Overdrive, ULMB, and the USB charging port seen on the previous page. Also available is a 'Refresh Rate Bar':

The bar can appear either 4 or 8 pixels wide, and shows as an overlay on the lower left corner of the display. It's a cool idea on paper, but in practice it is not as usable as I would have liked, mainly because the bar is only updated every 10 seconds. I would imagine that the person who wants to see this bar would also want to see it updated more frequently (maybe even instantaneous).

Viewing Angles

Viewing angle tests show us the ability for a monitor to reproduce an accurate image (with color and brightness) from different directions. If you are sitting at your desk and slouch down, or move your chair to the side, will the screen still show you the image you expect? The easiest comparison we can make here is directly against the ASUS ROG Swift. The following images will alternate between the ROG Swift and the Acer Predator at various matched angles. The Lagom.nl Viewing Angle Test was used for these photos.

Straight ahead

ROG Swift:

Predator XB270HU:

As you can see, the IPS panel is far superior in viewing angles to the Swift. The TN panel of the Swift, while better than most, still goes as far as to change apparent color as viewing height changes even slightly. The straight ahead photo shows only a thin horizontal band where color reproduction is accurate. The Acer Predator does not exhibit these effects when viewed at the same angle and distance.

5 Degree Down

ROG Swift:

Predator XB270HU:

35 Degree Up

ROG Swift:

Predator XB270HU:

45 Degree Right

ROG Swift:

Predator XB270HU:

The Acer Predator sees a slight change in contrast when viewed at side angles. This is common with IPS displays, as blacks will appear lighter at these angles (the effect is known as 'IPS glow'). Overall though, the benefits of an IPS screen technology are definitive in our images as the Acer display offers much more accurate and consistent color and brightness from all angles shown above.

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