Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?  (Read 15192 times)

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« on: June 11, 2015, 02:58:57 am »

There are two really interesting 4K monitors just coming on the market at the moment - the NEC PA322UHD-BK-SV 32 Spectraview and the Eizo CG318-4K. The NEC is actually available now - the Eizo will be in the next few weeks. The NEC 32" the Eizo 31.1 inch" - close enough not to matter.

Eizo
NEC

Both high end Adobe RGB monitors with slightly different resolutions. The NEC is UHD and Eizo DCI HD. So thats 3840 x 2160 for the NEC and 4096 x 2160 for the Eizo. Almost a quibble... but not quite as it depends on what you are doing with it.

Both claim 99% for Adobe RGB and both have pretty similar specifications. Except in price - the NEC comes in a shade over $3,000 USD. The Eizo at a wallet busting $5,979 - pretty close to double the NEC. Ouch...

Being in the market for a new 4K Adobe RGB display and looking at these two options is somewhat confusing (at least I have found it so). The Eizo offers roughly 6% increase in resolution over the NEC which if I was interested in editing to the film 4k standard would be appealing - I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make in real world still image editing.  Hard to say and quantify. A native resolution of 149 PPI on the Eizo also appeals vs. 140 on the NEC.

In terms of uniformity both will be excellent and frankly its probably going to require them being side by side to see any difference with test charts and possibly no difference in real world usage.

Eizo has a built in calibration device - the NEC needs a puck so is a bit more fiddly.

When making this sort of investment in new hardware I like to take a long term view approach and think through the benefits with the cost being a secondary consideration. But.. with a price difference of double I am leaning pretty heavily toward the NEC. I actually ordered it, and then cancelled it because I was undecided when I read about the new Eizo. Now quite honestly, I feel torn between the two.

I know the Eizo can run at 60Hz on the 2013 Mac Pro at full resolution. Not sure if the NEC can do that or if it needs to run at 30 Hz.

Anyone got any thoughts on either of these monitors for color critical still work? Or, has anyone actually tried either as yet?
« Last Edit: June 11, 2015, 03:02:03 am by Josh-H »
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel

Czornyj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1948
    • zarzadzaniebarwa.pl
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2015, 05:39:56 am »

NEC has different proportions, so it's noticably larger than EIZO. It has internal RGB sensor connected to SpectraView engine, which compensates drift of white brightness and color using G and B LED 2D brightness control. You can use external i1Display Pro to calibrate the display as well as other monitors, there's no problem to repair or replace the calibration sensor in case of malfunction. NEC has OPS slot, so it can be upgraded to new standards such as HDMI 2.0, or Quad HDSDI with optional extension cards. If you can only live with UHD instead of 4K resolution, NEC is no-brainer.



NEC works flawlessly with MP 2013 at 60Hz. Qualitywise it's as good as LCD gets
« Last Edit: June 11, 2015, 07:21:29 am by Czornyj »
Logged
Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

jrsforums

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1288
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2015, 09:37:18 am »

How does the Samsung U32D970Q compare to the NEC and Eizo?
Logged
John

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2015, 06:48:13 pm »

Quote
NEC works flawlessly with MP 2013 at 60Hz.

I assume from this statement that means you have one and have tested it  ;D

All of that technology you mention is actually in both the Eizo and the NEC. They just call it different things and implement it differently. Im not quite so sure the NEC is a no brainer - but I am sure both are excellent monitors.

Hoping to get a demo of the Eizo next week and then make a decision.
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel

AlterEgo

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1995
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2015, 07:15:33 pm »

How does the Samsung U32D970Q compare to the NEC and Eizo?

or LG 31MU97

one can assume that probably 2nd tier to NEC or Eizo and that may be panel uniformity is one feature where 1st tier clearly ahead, no ?

Logged

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2015, 07:19:08 pm »

or LG 31MU97

one can assume that probably 2nd tier to NEC or Eizo and that may be panel uniformity is one feature where 1st tier clearly ahead, no ?



Absolutely. Uniformity will be a very big deal and likely one of the more notable differences when you step up from a consumer panel like a LG or Dell to something like a NEC Spectraview or Eizo.

And the more I dig, the more I find differences between the Eizo and NEC as well. Eizo seems to hang a lot on their color edge software and being able to set different white points to match different warmth of papers and then quickly flick between them. Thats a nice feature not possible on Spectraview (I currently own a Spectraview). You can also tweak individual color hues on the Eizo. Wether thats worth the cost difference remains to be seen - but its a nice feature nonetheless.
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel

digitaldog

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20630
  • Andrew Rodney
    • http://www.digitaldog.net/
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2015, 07:27:53 pm »

Eizo seems to hang a lot on their color edge software and being able to set different white points to match different warmth of papers and then quickly flick between them. Thats a nice feature not possible on Spectraview (I currently own a Spectraview).
Unless I'm not understanding the feature, SpectraView should do this. Maybe quickly flick between them is the key, it takes maybe 20-30 seconds for SpectraView to update the internal calibration and load the appropriate ICC profile but I have multiple calibration aim points for papers; contrast ratio, White Point etc.
Logged
http://www.digitaldog.net/
Author "Color Management for Photographers".

jrsforums

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1288
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2015, 07:29:13 pm »

Absolutely. Uniformity will be a very big deal and likely one of the more notable differences when you step up from a consumer panel like a LG or Dell to something like a NEC Spectraview or Eizo.

And the more I dig, the more I find differences between the Eizo and NEC as well. Eizo seems to hang a lot on their color edge software and being able to set different white points to match different warmth of papers and then quickly flick between them. Thats a nice feature not possible on Spectraview (I currently own a Spectraview). You can also tweak individual color hues on the Eizo. Wether thats worth the cost difference remains to be seen - but its a nice feature nonetheless.

About the Samsung, again....

It does provide calibration, and recalibration, to provide uniformity.  Plus calibration of hardware LUTs.

I'm sure it does not have all the NEC and Eizo have......but $1k vs $3k vs $5k....??  Is it that bad?  If it is, I'd like to know.
Logged
John

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2015, 08:52:46 pm »

About the Samsung, again....

It does provide calibration, and recalibration, to provide uniformity.  Plus calibration of hardware LUTs.

I'm sure it does not have all the NEC and Eizo have......but $1k vs $3k vs $5k....??  Is it that bad?  If it is, I'd like to know.

I have no experience with the Samsung to confirm or deny. But I doubt its a 'bad' panel. At the high end, as with most things, the gains are incremental and the cost scale for those gains heads north quickly. So I would not say that the NEC or Eizo are significantly better than the Samsung without seeing them side by side. They are almost certainly 'better', but how much better I have no idea and wether that gain is worth the investment is going to come down to the individual.
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel

CoyoteButtes

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 119
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2015, 12:28:21 am »

Thanks for the entries on this thread. I am undergoing the same conflict between the NEC and the Eizo. This discussion helps.

Will be glad to read Josh's impression of the Eizo after trying it out.
Logged

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2015, 12:30:23 am »

Thanks for the entries on this thread. I am undergoing the same conflict between the NEC and the Eizo. This discussion helps.

Will be glad to read Josh's impression of the Eizo after trying it out.

That might take longer than I had hoped as I found out an hour or so ago stock of the Eizo is now not going to be available before August (at least here in Australia).

Edit - Scratch the above. Just found out there is a demo unit here in Australia and I should get a look at it in the next week.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2015, 12:42:57 am by Josh-H »
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel

D Fosse

  • Guest
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2015, 01:23:34 am »

Eizo seems to hang a lot on their color edge software and being able to set different white points to match different warmth of papers and then quickly flick between them.

The way it works is that Colornavigator presents a list of your various calibration targets right on the main screen. So you can indeed flick between them instantly.

You also have instant right-click access to the target list via the system tray, without opening CN (on Windows).

Of course, to load the corresponding profile in Photoshop/Lightroom etc, the application needs to be relaunched anyway. So it's not as instant after all - but it's certainly convenient.

I have used both Spectraview II and Colornavigator, and between them I feel CN is superior in practical useability. But they do mostly the same things.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2015, 01:27:44 am by D Fosse »
Logged

Czornyj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1948
    • zarzadzaniebarwa.pl
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2015, 09:34:19 am »

I assume from this statement that means you have one and have tested it  ;D

All of that technology you mention is actually in both the Eizo and the NEC. They just call it different things and implement it differently. Im not quite so sure the NEC is a no brainer - but I am sure both are excellent monitors.

Hoping to get a demo of the Eizo next week and then make a decision.

As a general rule, I'm not talking about something that I hadn't tested myself (MP 2013 6xE5 3,5GHz, 2xFirePro D500 + PA322UHD = 60Hz)

Both monitors are excellent and have similar specs, but NEC is much cheaper, slightly larger, and has some future expanding possibilities via OPS port.

I'm not sure that EIZO has GBr LED backlight with 2D brightness control - the spectral power distribution curve looks like new W-LED type used in recent TVs (blue LED + green and red phospohors):

In such case it's impossible to control green and blue LED independently like in PA322UHD (there's only blue LED), and there's more blue energy in SPD.

Another difference is that in case of 318-4K EIZO guarantees 10k hours at 120cd/m^2 and wtpt D50-D65. For PA322UHD NEC guarantees 15k hours at 160cd/m^2 with native wtpt (DUC off).

Both displays can be calibrated to various targets, and you can switch calibrations in the software - indeed, CN makes changes faster. On the other way you can use NEC MultiProfiler to create up to 5 custom hardware-softproofing presets, which can be switched by a button on a display, which is even faster and doesn't need to run calibration software.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2015, 09:36:21 am by Czornyj »
Logged
Marcin Kałuża | [URL=http://zarzadzaniebarwa

AlterEgo

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1995
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2015, 09:49:11 am »

...

Joshua, I sent you a PM with one question - may be you can take a look if you don't mind... thank you.
Logged

digitaldog

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20630
  • Andrew Rodney
    • http://www.digitaldog.net/
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2015, 10:05:39 am »

The way it works is that Colornavigator presents a list of your various calibration targets right on the main screen. So you can indeed flick between them instantly.
Of course, to load the corresponding profile in Photoshop/Lightroom etc, the application needs to be relaunched anyway. So it's not as instant after all - but it's certainly convenient.
Well that sounds slick but we need a lot more evidence of functionality to justify the much higher cost over the NEC. List on-screen, list in the software, you have to wait for the panel to update and load the profile so I don't see this as being that worthwhile.
Logged
http://www.digitaldog.net/
Author "Color Management for Photographers".

D Fosse

  • Guest
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #15 on: June 12, 2015, 10:45:58 am »

With the Eizo CGs you pay for a lot of features that a photographer probably won't need. Mostly video related stuff, support for broadcast standards, 24 fps playback, safe area marker and so on. And the internal sensor, which is good, but not really better than an i1D3 which most photographers will already have. And a hood, surprisingly expensive as a separate item.

Add it all up, and it goes a long way towards explaining the price difference. When you strip these features (but keep the panel technologies) what you have is an Eizo CX - which happens to cost about the same as an NEC PA, everywhere.



Logged

StuartR

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 95
    • http://www.stuartrichardson.com
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #16 on: June 29, 2015, 03:36:55 pm »

Reviving the thread a bit, but this is something I am looking into as well. I am also interested in the CG248-4K, which is the 24" 4k Eizo. That is priced much more reasonably. I use the CG275W now, and the size is great...not sure I really want to go down to 24", but the 31.5" version is huge and expensive.
For what it's worth, Eizo seems to have very uneven pricing depending on market. For example, in Japan, the CG318 can be had for 4500 USD, yet it is nearly 6000 USD at B&H. In Europe, it is 4900 euros including 19 percent VAT, so if you are a business you would only really wind up paying 4600 USD for it. I am located in Iceland and had a similar experience when I bought the 275W...it was nearly 1000 dollars cheaper to buy it in the UK and have it shipped here, as compared to buying it the US. I will likely do the same this time, or even by it from Japan directly. We do not have a distributor here, so there is no possibility of buying locally anyway. Perhaps NEC has a more balanced export pricing scheme...
Logged

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #17 on: June 30, 2015, 12:30:26 am »

I spent some time today with the new Eizo 4K monitor - first impressions are that its pretty amazing. Price aside, there is an awful lot to like about this monitor. And for me I prefer the Eizo software after trying it to the NEC Spectraview software. It isn't a chalk and cheese difference, and in reality they do mostly the same thing.

The resolution of the Eizo is crazy impressive - impressive enough that I decided to order one.
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel

CoyoteButtes

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 119
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #18 on: June 30, 2015, 12:39:00 am »

Thanks for this feedback on the Eizo Josh. I'm still procrastinating.
Logged

Josh-H

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2079
    • Wild Nature Photo Travel
Re: 4K Monitors - At the top of the Tree - Eizo or NEC?
« Reply #19 on: June 30, 2015, 12:47:00 am »

What really got me over the line with the Eizo was that I really like the ability to tweak individual colors in the colour navigator software. Thats a really useful feature to get perfect print to screen matches. I can print a color chart like attached (just a screenshot, so don't use this), then tweak each individual color hue and saturation in the Eizo software as well as customise the white point to march the paper warmth. The software is very intuitive and works for me.

There is some good reading on this HERE
Logged
Wild Nature Photo Travel
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up