Results: Color Gamut And Performance
Color gamut is measured using a saturation sweep that samples the six main colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow) at five saturation levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%). This provides a more realistic view of color accuracy. Since there are no color management controls on the HP E271i, we're only showing the post-calibration graphs (although we’re sure they'd look pretty much the same out-of-box).
We’ve seen the oversaturation of blue on a few other screens, so this chart is not out of the ordinary. You can also see that green, yellow, and magenta are clocked slightly away from their targets. The errors are fairly small, as shown on the bottom Delta E chart. In fact, things look pretty good until you pass the 60 percent saturation level. Color luminance (middle chart) also dips for red, magenta, and blue as the saturation level rises.
Thanks to its excellent mid and low saturation color accuracy, the VG248QE’s color error average stays just below the visible level of three. HP's ZR30w is the only screen we’ve tested this year that finishes over three. This tells us that most monitors out there are pretty close to either the Adobe RGB 1998 or sRGB standard. It’s getting harder to buy a bad screen these days!
Gamut Volume: Adobe RGB 1998
There are basically two categories of displays in use today: those that conform to the sRGB/Rec 709 standard (like HDTVs) and wide-gamut panels that show as much as 100 percent of the Adobe RGB 1998 spec. We use Gamutvision to calculate the gamut volume, based on an ICC profile created from actual measurements. The chart is also expanded from previous reviews to include the sRGB gamut volume.
None of the sRGB-compliant screens we’ve tested reach the 100-percent mark. At 93.1 percent, the VG248QE does pretty well. This is more than adequate performance for any sort of entertainment use, from movies to games.
