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Author Topic: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users  (Read 18588 times)

Czornyj

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NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« on: December 01, 2014, 04:22:45 pm »

I finally received production version of PA322UHD, so I'm happy to announce that there's an unexpected but long awaited surprise inside of the box:

Looks like we'll finally get the excellent NEC SpectraView II software on EU market - AT LAST!!! :D

The display features a marvelous OCF (optical compensation film), here's how it works in the darkness - there's my trusty old NEC 3090WQXi on the left and the new PA322UHD on the right side of the image:




The work with UHD resolution on 32" screen is unbelievably convenient and efficient, here's a small comparison of LR UI look on 2560x1600px 30" and 3840x2160px 32":
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19059944/30vs32UHD.jpg
« Last Edit: December 01, 2014, 06:43:43 pm by Czornyj »
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Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

D Fosse

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2014, 05:35:59 pm »

That's excellent news!

I notice NEC Norway has even started to list prices on their site, something they didn't before (!). There was just a discrete pointer to their "trusted partners" who might, or might not, be willing to sell a unit if they felt you qualified for the honor.

Maybe they finally realized that trying to out-Eizo Eizo isn't going to get them anywhere. After all, Eizo has always been accessible here - which is why they dominate the pro market completely.
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D Fosse

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2014, 04:32:57 am »

BTW, with this possible revision of their EU marketing policies, it'll be interesting to see if they will maintain the EU-specific distinction between the "Spectraview" and "Spectraview Reference" product lines. The price difference between them has been quite substantial, and on the same level as Eizo CX vs. CG. It's been a lot harder to see what the "reference" tag actually buys you, aside from an added hood (unlike Eizo; where the built-in sensor in CG goes a long way to justify the extra price).

In any case, if this means the Spectraview Profiler software is on its way out, to be replaced with Spectraview II, that's about time. I've tried both and there's no contest.

Oh, and another thing: If they can get rid of the silly firmware lock in the regular PA models, preventing hardware calibration, that should get them solid new market shares too. This policy has rendered PA's effectively non-upgradeable, a big turn-off for a lot of people.
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narikin

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2014, 11:26:57 am »

Might I ask what Graphics card you are using to drive the 4K display?

I also surmise this is NEC's version of the same Sharp 4K IGZO panel that everyone has had out there for nearly a year now (Asus PQ321, Sharp, etc).  Have they gt it to work without MST implementation? Can you drive it as a complete 10bit pipeline?

« Last Edit: December 05, 2014, 11:31:10 am by narikin »
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Czornyj

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2014, 02:17:32 pm »

I'm using it with HD4000 in my rMBP13. It features UHD GBr backlit IGZO panel, but NEC made wonders with it - in contrary to Sharp it's uniform and wide gamut. I guess it supports 10 bit pipeline, but OSX doesn't support it so I can't confirm it (and it doesn't matter anyway).
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Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

narikin

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2014, 03:42:24 pm »

I'm using it with HD4000 in my rMBP13. It features UHD GBr backlit IGZO panel, but NEC made wonders with it - in contrary to Sharp it's uniform and wide gamut. I guess it supports 10 bit pipeline, but OSX doesn't support it so I can't confirm it (and it doesn't matter anyway).

Well if it is the same Sharp developed panel, which it seems to be, then I don't see how the Gamut can be any different, though of course NEC's control of the display may very well be better. I can believe that.  Asus' version of this same panel are now under $1500 in the US, so it had better be a lot better to be worth double the money!

I would respectfully disagree with you about 10bit pipelines, it is a quite surprising difference onscreen when you are doing critical color balancing, gradients, shadow tones, etc, 10/30 bit display from Graphics Card to OS to Monitor works extremely well, and I doubt I could ever go back to just 8bit now. Quite shocking that Apple does not implement it.
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Alan Goldhammer

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2014, 04:03:31 pm »

Quite shocking that Apple does not implement it.
Apple does not care about color critical applications.
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Czornyj

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2014, 07:30:21 pm »

Well if it is the same Sharp developed panel, which it seems to be, then I don't see how the Gamut can be any different, though of course NEC's control of the display may very well be better. I can believe that.  Asus' version of this same panel are now under $1500 in the US, so it had better be a lot better to be worth double the money!

I would respectfully disagree with you about 10bit pipelines, it is a quite surprising difference onscreen when you are doing critical color balancing, gradients, shadow tones, etc, 10/30 bit display from Graphics Card to OS to Monitor works extremely well, and I doubt I could ever go back to just 8bit now. Quite shocking that Apple does not implement it.

It's not really a problem to tell the difference between normal and wide gamut display, and I have a an i1Pro2 + i1Display Pro sensor to support my observations. Trust me - althoug I didn't saw Asus, I saw Sharp panel, it's not in the same league with NEC PA322UHD.

I've only made tests with colour critical NEC displays on 10 bit pipeline, and frankly didn't see the obvious difference - even on the only real 10-bit panel (NEC PA302W), and nevertheless I'm experienced graphic designer with perfect colour vision in FM 100 hue test. What display type did you test it on?
« Last Edit: December 05, 2014, 07:38:42 pm by Czornyj »
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Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

digitaldog

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2014, 12:01:54 pm »

Looks like we'll finally get the excellent NEC SpectraView II software on EU market - AT LAST!!! :D
That is indeed excellent news! Should make tech support a lot easier for everyone.
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CoyoteButtes

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2014, 05:45:43 pm »

Really looking forward to this monitor becoming available in the USA.
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Stefan Ohlsson

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2014, 06:39:22 am »



In any case, if this means the Spectraview Profiler software is on its way out, to be replaced with Spectraview II, that's about time. I've tried both and there's no contest.


I've done the same and I do agree that there is no contest. But for me SpectraView Profiler, AKA Basiccolor Display, is the winner.
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howardm

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2014, 07:02:01 am »

This may be OT but, according to BasICColor, the new v5.4 has ..............

Version 5.4.0 build 54.62
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- NEW: added hardware calibration support for NEC MultiSync displays (80 series, 90 series, PA series)
- bugfix: VideoLUT editing under MAC OS X 10.9 and higher works now again


I wonder if this is legal/contractual fallout (ie. they couldn't do it before in the general release due to contract requirements w/ NEC but now
that that seems to be over, they can).

D Fosse

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2014, 07:49:59 am »

I've done the same and I do agree that there is no contest. But for me SpectraView Profiler, AKA Basiccolor Display, is the winner.

OK, not going to argue that since I use neither at the moment. Maybe it's all a bit subjective, I just liked the US version better.

There is one thing though, mentioned by Czornyj in an earlier thread - that below 120 cd/m2, Spectraview Profiler doesn't adjust the monitor, but instead does it in the video card. In my book, that defeats the whole purpose of hardware calibration, and it's hard to see any reason for this.
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Bearmann

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #13 on: December 15, 2014, 06:27:07 pm »


...There is one thing though, mentioned by Czornyj in an earlier thread - that below 120 cd/m2, Spectraview Profiler doesn't adjust the monitor, but instead does it in the video card. In my book, that defeats the whole purpose of hardware calibration, and it's hard to see any reason for this.

Really! Is that true? I guess I need to consider increasing my PA273 monitor to 120 cd/m2 from 100 cd/m2. Of course, if my prints come out too dark, I'll need to go back.
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D Fosse

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #14 on: December 16, 2014, 02:17:02 am »

It does sound unlikely, so maybe it only applies to some models. IIRC it came up in a discussion about the P232W. It could even be that I got it wrong.

I'll see if I can dig it up (or Czornyj will be along to clear up).

(EDIT) Right. Apparently it's only the (EU) Spectraview 232 / Spectraview Profiler 5.2. Here's what Czornyj wrote:

Quote
Spectraview Profiler 5.2 for NEC Spectraview 232 also has an issue - it calibrates the backlight brightness to 160cd/m^2 (no matter what target), then just cuts the luminance down to target value with the display matrix.
...
Spectraview Profiler simply uses monitor LUT for dimming to a luminance lower than 160cd/m^2, which also lowers the contrast, no matter if Black luminance Min. Neutral or Min. Native priority option is selected. I'm usually working at lower luminance levels, so - speaking euphemistically - I didn't quite like it...


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=83078.20
« Last Edit: December 16, 2014, 02:28:31 am by D Fosse »
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Czornyj

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2014, 12:07:10 am »

AFAIK it was fixed for PAxx2 series in rev. 5.3 - not sure about older models. But I still much prefer SVII for a number of reasons.
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Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

narikin

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #16 on: December 17, 2014, 10:01:32 am »

Just to alert folks that the same exact panel (32" Sharp IGZO 4K) is used in the Asus PQ-321 monitor, and very cheap on Amazon right now:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-PQ321Q-31-5-Inch-4K-Monitor/dp/B00DJ4BIKA?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ7T5BOVUVRD2EFYQ&tag=camelanonalerts-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00DJ4BIKA

under $1500, a new low for that 4K monitor.

I have no doubt that NEC's implementation of this panel is somewhat superior, but at over $3500 in US, it's a pretty stunning price hike for their touch!
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D Fosse

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #17 on: December 17, 2014, 10:45:18 am »

Just to alert folks that the same exact panel (32" Sharp IGZO 4K) is used in the Asus PQ-321 monitor, and very cheap on Amazon right now

Not to say anything against Asus, which I don't have any experience with, but to put it in context these monitors all use the same panel (LG.Display AH-IPS LM240WU9): Asus PA249Q, Dell U2413, Benq PG2401, HP dreamcolor Z24x, NEC PA242 and Eizo CG247. Possibly different revisions, though.

There's a lot more to it than the raw panel off the assembly line. There's such a thing as production tolerances (some come out better than others), and there's a bunch of different technologies applied to make the panel behave (uniformity compensation and so on).
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Czornyj

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #18 on: December 17, 2014, 10:55:11 am »

Just to alert folks that the same exact panel (32" Sharp IGZO 4K) is used in the Asus PQ-321 monitor

No, it's not the same - it's W-LED backlit narrow gamut (~90% coverage of sRGB) display without all bells and whistles of color critical monitors, so it's completly different animal.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2014, 10:57:39 am by Czornyj »
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Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

Czornyj

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Re: NEC PA322UHD and good news for european NEC users
« Reply #19 on: December 22, 2014, 06:02:56 am »

[Update]

A small comparison of display diffusers ;)

Matte diffuser - NEC 3090WQXi. Huge flare, noisy image with lot of clouding and sparkling:


Semimatte diffuser - EIZO CX271. Much cleaner image, virtually no clouding and sparkling, less flare:


Satin diffuser - NEC PA322UHD. Perfect clarity, significally reduced flare (!!!):
« Last Edit: December 22, 2014, 06:10:01 am by Czornyj »
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Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa
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