[SOLVED] Is this HW issue or bad configuration?

[Radek_Skrivan]

Greetings.
I would like to ask for your help with a decision. My Acer Predator XB1 (XB271HU) 27" in some specific moments shows weird color distorted images. I cannot describe this very well so I tried to use my mobile phone to capture the effect.
On the left you can see my old Acer Predator XB321HK and on the left there is the Acer Predator XB271HU.

I am not sure if the issue is obvious from this picture so here are both monitors zoomed in separately for direct comparison.

I have to say that both monitors are configured exactly the same in their own HW menu, the windows color management settings are also the same since I used the 'duplicate these displays' setting.
In that mode Acer Predator XB321HK is not running in its native resolution but I believe this is a color issue so hopefully the resolution is not a factor here.
I tried to compare those two monitors and the only really distinctive difference is that Acer Predator XB1 (XB271HU) has the LED backlit. I believe this may be causing this and I possibly just need to adjust either monitor or Windows color management settings to get rid of those awkward color patterns (I really do not know how to describe this).
Unfortunately I was trying to play with all possible settings and this is not easy to get rid of. I would welcome any advice you can provide.

Other possibility is, that this is some kind of HW issue. In that case I can play with configuration all day long and I will still see these strange colors. If you encountered something similar and you have experience that after changing the faulty piece the issue went away please let me know.

 

[Eximo]

Not really sure what you are trying to show. Seems like the images match each other relatively well. Larger screen might have a better contrast ratio despite their supposed matching values. Maybe a good calibration would help here to get them to match better. But they are never going to be identical.

They both have LED backlights, quite similar really. If Acer's supplier is still AU Optronics they are probably both from them.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/IL/content/predator-model/UM.JX1EE.012

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/predator-model/UM.HX1AA.001

I would not trust the VS website much. Mostly just going by text from some source.

 

[Radek_Skrivan]

Not really sure what you are trying to show. Seems like the images match each other relatively well. Larger screen might have a better contrast ratio despite their supposed matching values. Maybe a good calibration would help here to get them to match better. But they are never going to be identical.

I was afraid of that. I will try to elaborate. What concerns me is the sharp color changes in several parts of the picture. For example this element is very sharp on the new monitor at the right while at on the old monitor it is barely visible and blends with the rest of the background.

Here is a zoomed comparison so that the color difference is more visible. You should be able to notice that the old monitor to the right has almost uniform color in that section while the new monitor to the right has weird sharp color shapes there. I would like to have the same uniform color on the new one and I am failing to achieve that.
Can you see the what I am trying to show there?

I was trying to adjust the contrast but I was never able to get the same level of uniform image as there is on the left.
Moreover I would expect the image to be almost the same with the identical configuration but this is a huge difference.

They both have LED backlights, quite similar really. If Acer's supplier is still AU Optronics they are probably both from them.
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/IL/content/predator-model/UM.JX1EE.012

XB271HU bmiprz - Tech Specs | Monitors | Acer United States

XB271HU bmiprz

www.acer.com

I would not trust the VS website much. Mostly just going by text from some source.

Thank you. So the difference between those panels is almost nonexistent. I just do not understand why is each giving such a different color scheme wen they are configured identically.

 

[Eximo]

Well, that could just be there result of non-native resolutions and one panel having a lot more pixels. It should be able to show sharper images.

They don't go into detail, but you might also be seeing HDR content on one or the other. 10bit panel vs 8bit plus FRC. This would maybe come out in smooth gradients as well as color compression isn't always perfect. Or a combination of all three.

I suggest reading in more detail the differences from a reputable reviewer like rtings or tftcentral.

Given these monitors are quite high end, should be no trouble finding reviews.

 

[Radek_Skrivan]

Thank you very much Eximo.
I looked into the FRC and it made me try changing the Output dynamic range in the Nvidia control panel from full (0-255) to limited (16-235). This setting was exactly what I was looking for.