DPI: Too High?

The real question with a 24” UltraHD display is how well can you see/use it at native resolution? To me, it’s simply not usable at 3840x2160 resolution without DPI scaling. If you want to try and use it at this resolution you can, but I imagine you will stop after a short period of time. Scaled to 150% (or 2560x1440, which OS X Yosemite also supports as an option) it is easy to read and use everything. With applications that support DPI scaling correctly, like Lightroom, you can also have elements that are scaled while images utilize all the pixels that UHD offers.

Talking to NEC, they also realize that most people will be scaling images on the display. One issue, beyond OS support, is that applications that use custom UI elements take more work to improve for HiDPI and UltraHD displays. Those applications that only use standard OS elements (normal menus, no icons or images like Photoshop or Paint.NET) can migrate to supporting HiDPI far more easily.

There are many areas where UHD displays, even a smaller 24” one, are very valuable for their larger screen area. Content creation, including images and videos, can utilize the extra space. Financial users, who always want as much data on hand as they can have, are another large market. NEC includes DICOM support so the UHD display works for examining x-rays in as much detail as possible.

As I mentioned before, SpectraView II now works with the EA-series displays starting with the EA244UHD. Compared to the PA-series there are a few limitations to what SpectraView can do. It will calibrate the grayscale and color using the internal LUTs, but your only color gamut target is native. Since the EA244UHD has a large gamut that covers AdobeRGB, this causes issues. SpectraView II will create an ICC profile that lets ICC-aware applications see colors perfectly, but non-ICC applications will have a blown-out gamut. Since the EA244UHD also has an sRGB emulation mode, you can still use non-ICC applications and get an accurate gamut, but you must do so without calibration.

SpectraView II also now supports the BT.1886 gamma curve that is becoming more common in home theater use. One feature I was hoping to see, but NEC says will not be there, is support for 4:2:0 chroma subsampling over HDMI. Since HDMI 2.0 chipsets are just now becoming available, fitting a 60Hz UltraHD signal into the HDMI 1.4 bandwidth requires use of this chroma subsampling. For video content this is perfectly fine, Blu-ray and DVD content has always used it, and some vendors have used it with HDMI 1.4 chipsets. The NEC does not so the highest refresh rate you can achieve with an UltraHD signal over HDMI is 30Hz.

Meet the NEC EA244UHD Brightness and Contrast
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  • DanNeely - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Does NEC still use much larger than normal boxes? My 3090's box was several inches larger in every dimension than the box that a friends 30" Dell monitor came in.
  • cheinonen - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Yes, because they ship them with the stand attached where the Dell ones need to be attached (a 10 second process). The Dell box is certainly smaller, and Dell also uses good packaging (all cardboard, easy to recycle but still sturdy). They are really the two best at packaging monitors by far.
  • NECDisplaySolutions - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link

    The NEC Display Solutions box size is 25.7in. (W) x 19.6 in. (H) x 10.5 in. (D).
  • Death666Angel - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    The wrong monitors seems to be highlighted in the power draw chart. :)

    Good review otherwise, out of my price range though and I like 1440 with 110Hz IPS and near zero input lag just fine for my needs. :D
  • cheinonen - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Thanks, fixed the graph!
  • boblozano - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    Have the dell 24 driven from a mac pro, using "best for display" scaled resolution in 10.10. Did a quick calibration, and this just works. Best monitor I've ever used on a stationary computer, hard not to keep smiling. At this point I think (multiple) 4k 24s are the sweet spot, at least if the os and apps handle scaling well.
  • nevertell - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link

    But what could handle a set of three 4K monitors ?
  • B3an - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    I'm so sick of these 4k monitors that are not even 30".

    A 30 - 36" 4k monitor would be perfect.
  • DanNeely - Thursday, August 7, 2014 - link

    in the 30 inch class I'd really rather have a 5k monitor. As long as legacy apps are in frequent use 2:1 scaling options will have major advantages; and a 24" 2k monitor does 2:1 perfectly as an upgrade from 1080p.
  • nevertell - Friday, August 8, 2014 - link

    A 2k monitor as in 3820x2160 ? Or 2560x1440 ? Because the latter won't do 2:1 scaling. To scale something 2:1 on a monitor, you've got to have 4 times as many pixels.

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