The test is set to run at its default speed of 960 pixels per second, which is a practical speed for such photographs and sufficient to help highlight key weaknesses. This was most visible where dark objects moved against a significantly lighter background – for example dark gunmetal greys against a grey, foggy sky. The test is set to run at its default speed of 960 pixels per second, which is a practical speed for such photographs and sufficient to help highlight key weaknesses. By taking over 30 repeat readings to enhance accuracy, we measured 4.14ms (over 1/2 of a frame @144Hz) of input lag. Finally, bear in mind that FreeSync can only remove stuttering or juddering from frame and refresh rate mismatches, it can’t compensate for other interruptions to smooth gameplay such as network latency or insufficient system memory. The static contrast ratio remained strong across a broad range of settings, providing a depth to blacks and dark colours that simply isn’t matched by current non-VA LCD panels. We did not observe such flashes whilst gaming. The table below shows the luminance recorded at each quadrant alongside the percentage deviation between each quadrant and the brightest point recorded. This was particularly true for transitions between darker and somewhat lighter (medium) shades. With the ‘Faster’ setting you can see a slight trail in front of the object, which indicates that the pixel responses weren’t quite able to keep up with the requirements for ‘clean’ 144Hz strobing. 10. We will be analysing the pixel response behaviour over a more complete range of pixel transitions and discussing the implications for overshoot of a dynamic refresh environment (i.e. Shadows cast on vegetation and other objects and fine objects such as cracks in rocks, for example, were generally a fair bit darker than the object itself or the rest of the object. As we explore, though, low frame rates are still low frame rates and in this extreme example the playability of the game would likely be very poor indeed. If you don’t, then there is very little motion blur to mask the stuttering or juddering that ensues – things look, quite simply, messy and wrong. Not everyone will notice this or find it at all bothersome. Various reference shots are also included for the sake of comparison. Samsung C24FG70 / C27FG70 Calibration settings : Monitor . Author: Adam Simmons Date published: December 24th 2016. With the ‘Faster’ and ‘Fastest’ setting the strobe backlight mode is active, and unlikely at 60Hz it actually has the desired effect. Unfortunately, FreeSync involves dynamic adjustment of the refresh rate to match the frame rate. We’ll come onto these in a little bit. ResponsivenessInput lagUsing a sensitive camera and small tool called SMTT 2.0, we compared the latency of the C24FG70 with a range of monitors of known latency. Our test system uses a Club3D Radeon R9 290 royalAce, which is compatible with AMD FreeSync. The object is marginally thinner and better defined, indicating a slight decrease in perceived blur due to eye movement. This should give an idea of what to expect on systems (such as games consoles) that are limited to lower refresh rates such as 60Hz. We felt it added a little bit of extra depth to the gaming and movie-watching experience, but again this was quite subtle. This causes the backlight to strobe on and off at a frequency matching the refresh rate of the monitor, reducing eye movement and hence reducing perceived blur via the mechanisms explained in this article. Note that any interlacing lines are moiré from the camera and were not visible on the monitor itself. Explosions were lively with rich orange and yellow hues, standing out brilliantly well against darker backgrounds in particular – something that was aided by the relatively strong contrast of the screen. The luminance uniformity of the screen was very good overall. Our test system uses a Club3D Radeon R9 290 royalAce, which is compatible with AMD FreeSync. Responsiveness in games and moviesOn Battlefield 1 (BF1), where the frame rate kept pace with the 144Hz refresh rate (i.e. As we explore, though, low frame rates are still low frame rates and in this extreme example the playability of the game would likely be very poor indeed. One of the most relevant of these, for this particular section of the review, is the idea of perceived blur. This is an sRGB emulation mode that significantly cuts down the colour gamut of the monitor so that it closely follows sRGB. If you don’t, then there is very little motion blur to mask the stuttering or juddering that ensues – things look, quite simply, messy and wrong. It eliminated tearing and stuttering from traditional frame rate and refresh rate mismatches and did this at frame rates much lower than the hardware limited (i.e. With ‘VSync on’ the frame rate will not be allowed to rise above 144fps, where VSync automatically activates and imposes the usual latency penalty when it does so. Samsung. One of the final two options in the list, shown in the image below, would therefore be preferable. The curvature of this model is the same, at 1800R, and despite the difference in screen size (23.5” vs. 27” diagonal) the experience of using the monitor and the effect of the curve is much the same. 70Hz if using ‘Ultimate Engine’ and DP) the monitor acts in exactly the same way regardless of the VSync setting, at least when using DP and the ‘Ultimate Engine’. Still, it’s nice to talk about the experience on this game just for a bit of variety. The contour map below gives a graphical representation of this deviation. It isn’t usual that we would tell users to consider 144Hz monitors like this for console gaming, as they are limited to 60Hz, but in this case it’s certainly a viable option for users. This film showcased the strong contrast performance of the monitor nicely, with plenty of scenes where very bright and very dark elements combined. The middle row of the test (medium cyan background) was used. The extent of this varies depending on the transitions and it certainly isn’t universal, but generally we found the overshoot most pronounced at around 80 – 110fps (80 – 110Hz). The monitor also performed well at 60Hz on this title with observations similar to BF1. This is related to the refresh rate, specifically, so if you are not using FreeSync and the monitor is set to a static 144Hz you will not see this extent of overshoot regardless of frame rate. The table below shows this data with various settings used, including those explored in the calibration section. The video below shows this text test, a mixed desktop background and dark desktop background from a variety of viewing angles. The monitor showcased an excellent variety of shades and some very impressive deep and neon shades, which feature quite heavily in this animated film. Given the depth of analysis above, we don’t have much to add from observations in Dirt Rally. It can be activated at 60Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz or 144Hz – although as pointed out earlier, it’s as good as useless at 60Hz due to image duplication (crosstalk). Explosions were lively with rich orange and yellow hues, standing out brilliantly well against darker backgrounds in particular – something that was aided by the relatively strong contrast of the screen. There is a bit of overshoot visible, slightly stronger with the ‘Fastest’ setting. The monitor also performed well at 60Hz on this title with observations similar to BF1. An excellent ‘sRGB emulation’ mode was also present, which cut down on this saturation without loss of contrast, any real sRGB under-coverage or locked image controls. No dithering was observed. The 60Hz reference screen is a Samsung S27A750D (set to 60Hz, 100% brightness to avoid PWM) which shows how things should look at 60Hz with little or no response time weaknesses in play. That is to say they are relatively wide but short, with relatively large gaps between rows. This is quite faint and also visible to some extent at 120Hz. An excellent ‘sRGB emulation’ mode was also present, which cut down on this saturation without loss of contrast, any real sRGB under-coverage or locked image controls. It is worth remembering, though, that low frame rates remain low frame rates. The object is marginally thinner and better defined, indicating a slight decrease in perceived blur due to eye movement. Bright elements such as car headlights and lamps around the track stood out very nicely, with good ‘pop’ and a relative smoothness aided by the screen surface. ‘Standard Engine’ supports 90 – 144Hz (90 – 119Hz via HDMI) whilst ‘Ultimate Engine’ gives a broader variable refresh rate range of 70 – 144Hz (62 – 119Hz via HDMI). Note that the image below is for a different monitor and is just used here for reference. Finally, bear in mind that FreeSync can only remove stuttering or juddering from frame and refresh rate mismatches, it can’t compensate for other interruptions to smooth gameplay such as network latency or insufficient system memory. If you don’t, then there is very little motion blur to mask the stuttering or juddering that ensues – things look, quite simply, messy and wrong. As we explored in the ‘Contrast and brightness’ section, the brightness control is locked off. Because FreeSync allows the monitor to dynamically adjust its refresh rate, you do actually enter this ‘zone of more obvious inverse ghosting’ at certain frame rates. It can be activated at 60Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz or 144Hz – although as pointed out earlier, it’s as good as useless at 60Hz due to image duplication (crosstalk). A technology called AMD LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) comes into play, whereby the monitor’s refresh rate will stick to multiples of the frame rate to eliminate the tearing or stuttering that would otherwise occur. At 60Hz, with ‘Response Time’ set to ‘Standard’, the UFO appears soft and blurry. The highest deviation recorded was DeltaE 2.7 towards the bottom right. There was a little detail lost for some of the darkest shades due to the gamma behaviour and so-called ‘black crush’, as these near-black shades blended into each better than they ideally would. But the loss of connected feeling and obvious increase in perceived blur still hampered the experience.If you recall, we observed a greater level of overshoot (inverse ghosting) in the UFO Motion Test with the monitor set to 100Hz that at higher refresh rates or indeed 60Hz. The clarity is actually quite similar to the reference display for these transitions. There was a stronger red hue to alternate stripes towards the bottom and flanks of the screen, but no obvious shifts between green, red and orange from a normal viewing position. The classic lightsabre battles in darkness looked particularly impressive, with the darkness having a good atmospheric depth to it and the bright elements looking quite bright and pure. This is shown in the graphic below. We also tested some Blu-ray film titles on the monitor – it performed well without any noticeable trailing or overshoot. Once the system is switched off, you can turn the monitor ‘off’ and disable the LED by holding the JOG button in for a few seconds then releasing. Some users have referred to this overshoot as ‘purple trailing’ or ‘purple ghosting’ and it’s something that was far more prominent on early revisions. If the frame rate matched this ‘zone of obvious overshoot’ (around 80 – 110fps ish and to some extent a bit beyond) then it was more clearly visible than at higher or lower frame rates. This is contributed to not only by the pixel responsiveness of the monitor, but also the movement of your eyes as you track movement on this screen. This is due to perceived blur from eye movement. Note that the image below is for a different monitor and is just used here for reference. This is contributed to not only by the pixel responsiveness of the monitor, but also the movement of your eyes as you track movement on this screen. There were plenty of impressive flashes of vibrancy here, aided by the strong contrast and the fact there were many scenes with bright shades cast against dark backgrounds. In fact we’d go as far as to say the overall clarity (including overshoot levels) was superior to what we’ve seen with any monitor with ULMB (even fast TN models) and even the likes of the BenQ XL2420Z and XL2730Z with BenQ’s ‘Blur Reduction’. These may appear as a sort of mesh or interference, with woven or interlaced lines of alternating shade that’s slightly lighter or darker than that which is intended. There was some here and there and it did include some hints of colours such as purple and green in places, but it isn’t something we feel would bother most users.The monitor also provided a largely impressive performance at 60Hz, which is good news for games console users who are limited to this refresh rate at maximum. FreeSync active) in the proceeding sections. The video below shows this text test, a mixed desktop background and dark desktop background from a variety of viewing angles. It does not do this to anywhere near the same extent that ‘IPS glow’ would. The panel itself also provided pleasing colour consistency for a VA panel, with some slight loss of saturation towards the extreme edges and bottom of the screen but nothing as pronounced as you’d generally see on a VA model of this size.It’s fair to say that anybody expecting a 144Hz VA model to perform like a decent 144Hz TN panel would be setting themselves up for disappointment. There were a few transitions that were a bit slower than optimal, but this was similar to what we’ve seen on 144Hz AHVA (IPS-type) panels and beyond what we’ve seen from VA models thus far. It blooms out more noticeably from sharper viewing angles, as shown later on in the review. The advantages this brings to the table are explored in the G-SYNC article linked to previously, but on a basic level this eliminates stuttering (VSync on) or tearing and juddering (VSync off) associated with frame rate and refresh rate misalignment. This is something we’ve also seen from 60 – 75Hz models including the Samsung C27F591FD. There was a small amount of ‘VA glow’ towards the very bottom of the screen, but nothing alarming and certainly nothing as ‘atmosphere-breaking’ as IPS glow or TN gamma shifts. It should be automatically activated when you connect up the monitor, provided you have the ‘FreeSync’ option enabled in the ‘Game’ section of the monitor’s OSD set appropriately. With the ‘Faster’ and ‘Fastest’ setting the strobe backlight mode activates, something which is explored a little later. Some transitions produced slightly more visible overshoot which included some slight hints of purple, blue or green. This is actually reduced somewhat compared to at 100Hz – and again isn’t too dissimilar to the reference display.At 144Hz, with the ‘Standard’ setting, the overshoot is perhaps marginally reduced again. The extent of this varies depending on the transitions and it certainly isn’t universal, but generally we found the overshoot most pronounced at around 80 – 110fps (80 – 110Hz). ConclusionMonitors with VA panels are generally the slowest of the three main panel types, with some pixel transitions being performed noticeably slowly. Shadows cast on vegetation and other objects and fine objects such as cracks in rocks, for example, were generally a fair bit darker than the object itself or the rest of the object. The static contrast ratio remained strong across a broad range of settings, providing a depth to blacks and dark colours that simply isn’t matched by current non-VA LCD panels. Colour gamut 'sRGB' Colour in games and moviesA good array of vibrant and varied colours were displayed on Battlefield 1 (BF1). With FreeSync disabled and the monitor set to a static 144Hz, there was noticeable tearing and juddering (VSync off) or stuttering (VSync on). This was particularly true for transitions between darker and somewhat lighter (medium) shades. These images are only for illustrative purposes and give a poor (generally exaggerated) view of how things would be when actually sitting in front of the monitor and using it. The brightest point recorded was ‘quadrant 5’ in the centre of the screen (162.3 cd/m²). On Battlefield 1 (BF1) strong contrast was displayed, which enhanced the atmosphere of the game. The test is set to run at its default speed of 960 pixels per second, which is a practical speed for such photographs and sufficient to help highlight key weaknesses. There were no stand-out sluggish response times imparting obvious trailing on top of the perceived blur due to eye movement. Note the ‘VA glow’ mentioned previously, which appears to bloom out a bit off angle. This is captured in the video below. The monitor also performed well at 60Hz on this title with observations similar to BF1. This involves using a moving camera to capture motion on a monitor in a way that reflects both the pixel responsiveness and eye (camera) movement and hence gives a realistic idea of perceived blur.The images below are pursuit photographs taken using the UFO Motion Test for ghosting. Some users have referred to this overshoot as ‘purple trailing’ or ‘purple ghosting’ and it’s something that was far more prominent on early revisions. The image certainly looked vivid, but not in the sort of garish oversaturated way that would be portrayed on an untamed wide gamut display. It added a little bit of extra depth to the experience, but kept things seeming natural rather than weird and distorted.One of the key strengths of this monitor is contrast, both on paper and in practice. This is an sRGB emulation mode that significantly cuts down the colour gamut of the monitor so that it closely follows sRGB. The contrast gradients were excellent, with distinct brightness steps in all cases.Performance on the black level tests was pleasing. No dithering was observed.Performance in the white saturation test was very good, with good visibility on all but the final pattern. As is entirely usual for strobe backlight technologies, it can’t be used in conjunction with FreeSync either. The brightness could be adjusted at the expense of contrast, with the strobe backlight mode, and least there was plenty of that to play with. This avoids the excessive oversaturation associated with viewing sRGB content on a wide gamut monitor, but provides extra vibrancy which many users would quite like for general usage and entertainment purposes. The 144Hz ‘normal’ (non-strobe), 100Hz strobe (ULMB) and 120Hz strobe (ULMB) references show the test performed on a Dell S2716DG, which offers very rapid pixel responses. This was with ‘Low Input Lag’ enabled, which had no noticeable negative side-effects. We also tested with an Nvidia GTX 1070 and found that the monitor worked in much the same way (aside from the lack of FreeSync support). It isn’t a cheap monitor, especially given the resolution, but it does offer a unique experience that will be a refreshing alternative to the 144Hz TN alternatives for PC gamers with either Nvidia or AMD GPUs. It lacks a wide color gamut to properly display HDR content and it can't get bright enough to bring out highlights. The image certainly looked vivid, but not in the sort of garish oversaturated way that would be portrayed on an untamed wide gamut display. Bright elements such as car headlights and lamps around the track stood out very nicely, with good ‘pop’ and a relative smoothness aided by the screen surface. We also introduce a photography technique called ‘pursuit photography’. But in many respects the responsiveness of the C24FG70 was rather impressive. There was significantly more perceived blur and a loss of connected feel, as you’d expect given the drop in frame rate. This was purely dependent on refresh rate rather than frame rate. But the loss of connected feeling and obvious increase in perceived blur still hampered the experience. There was some here and there and it did include some hints of colours such as purple and green in places, but it isn’t something we feel would bother most users.The monitor also provided a largely impressive performance at 60Hz, which is good news for games console users who are limited to this refresh rate at maximum. Below the floor of operation for FreeSync (e.g. This did give a bit of extra saturation compared to what is technically supposed to be displayed within the sRGB colour space, but this was not as extensive as that seen on models with wide colour gamuts such as Adobe RGB. This was especially the case where bright or ‘neon’ colours were painted on with darker background colours, with the strong contrast and colour gamut combining to give strong ‘pop’. In summary, ‘Impulsive Scanning’ provided an excellent level of motion clarity at 100Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz with relatively low overshoot levels, the least flicker and the best ‘connected feel’ at 144Hz. The monitor certainly produces some attractive vibrant shades for the car liveries and advertising around the track, with some electric blues, deep purples and bright greens being particularly eye-catching. The following observations were made. This was in places a little more noticeable due to being bright (as observed without the strobe backlight active as well).At 120Hz this brighter overshoot was a bit brighter still and more eye-catching whilst the faint repetitions were in places slightly bolder. There is a bit of overshoot visible, slightly stronger with the ‘Fastest’ setting. Some shades, such as desert browns and yellows, lost some saturation towards the extreme edges and bottom of the screen but this was not extreme. This indicates some viewing angle dependency to the gamma curve of the monitor. This plus some flickering on the desktop with FreeSync active made for a less than stellar implementation of the technology The curve added to the experience in a subtle way, without being unusual or difficult to adapt to. The classic lightsabre battles in darkness looked particularly impressive, with the darkness having a good atmospheric depth to it and the bright elements looking quite bright and pure. LFC was supported).For users who want the lowest level of perceived blur and can maintain consistently high frame rates, there is also a strobe backlight featured called ‘Impulsive Scanning’. No such artifacts were visible on this monitor during motion. The test is set to run at its default speed of 960 pixels per second, which is a practical speed for such photographs and sufficient to help highlight key weaknesses. There is no noticeable conventional trailing, though, so the tuning of the pixel overdrive is actually better at this refresh rate compared to 100Hz. The caveat here, though, is that you absolutely need to be running the game at a frame rate that matches the refresh rate for this to work. With the ‘Faster’ and ‘Fastest’ settings the clarity of the object is excellent with some good well-defined details. The image certainly looked vivid, but not in the sort of garish oversaturated way that would be portrayed on an untamed wide gamut display. All of this is typical for a VA model of this size, although less pronounced than we’ve seen on older (non-curved) models. This surface also handles glare effectively, but regardless of this it’s best to avoid light striking the screen surface directly. The panel itself also provided pleasing colour consistency for a VA panel, with some slight loss of saturation towards the extreme edges and bottom of the screen but nothing as pronounced as you’d generally see on a VA model of this size.It’s fair to say that anybody expecting a 144Hz VA model to perform like a decent 144Hz TN panel would be setting themselves up for disappointment. This involves using a moving camera to capture motion on a monitor in a way that reflects both the pixel responsiveness and eye (camera) movement and hence gives a realistic idea of perceived blur.The images below are pursuit photographs taken using the UFO Motion Test for ghosting. If you hover over this, it will also report the variable refresh rate display supported by the display. Donations are also greatly appreciated. There was a noticeable absence of the sort of ‘smeary’ trailing you’d generally see on VA models, even for the often problematic ‘high contrast’ transitions. The caveat here, though, is that you absolutely need to be running the game at a frame rate that matches the refresh rate for this to work. The relatively smooth screen surface aided brighter shades, keeping them free from obvious graininess. The stand attaches centrally and can be removed along with some of the surrounding plastic to attach the included VESA plate. The overall perceived blur was much as you’d see on the fastest 60Hz LCDs and again much better than we’ve seen on other VA models. There is no noticeable conventional trailing, though, so the tuning of the pixel overdrive is actually better at this refresh rate compared to 100Hz. Here, darker greys represent lower luminance and hence greater deviation from the brightest point than lighter greys. The skin tones appeared slightly more saturated than intended, but not disturbingly so. Explosions were lively with rich orange and yellow hues, standing out brilliantly well against darker backgrounds in particular – something that was aided by the relatively strong contrast of the screen. We did observe some static interlacing patterns, though, which were much less obvious. ResponsivenessInput lagUsing a sensitive camera and small tool called SMTT 2.0, we compared the latency of the C24FG70 with a range of monitors of known latency. The purple block appeared lilac throughout, except for the extreme side edges and bottom of the screen where a more obvious pink hue was observed. Unfortunately they put it in an installer. Again, the connected feel and levels of perceived blur was excellent where the frame rate kept up with the 144Hz refresh rate. The greyscale gradient appeared very smooth, free from obvious banding or noticeable dithering.