TOO MANY tech companies are slaves
to fashion. HP certainly isn’t guilty of
that crime with its DreamColor Z31x
Studio Display, a glorious 31-inch panel,
with what HP describes as full “cinema
style” 4K resolution. To say that the Z31x
defenestrates the vogue for slim screen
bezels would be the understatement of
the eon. This thing is fat.
It is also, however, designed for serious
professional productivity and content-
creation work. So, quality, accuracy, and
functionality are what matter, rather than
superficial aesthetics. The Z31x has all of
that in spades. For starters, those bezels
are a function of its ability to fully calibrate
itself. Top and center, HP has located a
sensor that swings down on a motorized
arm, allowing for full calibration.
What’s more, the calibration tool can
be set to run automatically. Similarly, the
display can be configured to turn itself on
and warm up on schedule. A nice trick, and
indicative of the attention to detail HP has
lavished on this screen. The same goes
for other features, including a built-in
KVM switch, dual DisplayPort inputs, two
HDMI 2.0 sockets, a USB Type-C port with
DisplayPort pass-through and charging
power up to 60W, and an Ethernet port
with support for configuring settings over
a network via HTTP.
But it’s the 31-inch IPS panel that really
qualifies this screen as seriously special
and worthy of true “pro” status. It all
starts with that 4K “cinema” resolution.
Specifically, that’s 4096x2160 pixels,
rather than the more typical 3840x2160
grid. It’s thus slightly wider than the norm,
with a 17:9 aspect ratio, and capable of
showing 4K movie masters in full, which
are encoded with 4,096 horizontal pixels.
Adding to its movie creation credibility,
the Z31x can run at both 50Hz and 48Hz.
T h e l a t t e r n o t o n l y a l i g n s w i t h H i g h F r a m e -
Rate cinema content, it’s also double the
24fps used by conventional theatrical
releases, allowing for proper playback of
major movie formats. The Z31x also has
a true 2:1 pixel doubling mode, allowing
2K content to be displayed pixel for pixel,
instead of via interpolation.
But that’s just the beginning. Next up
is true 10-bit-per-channel color fidelityIt ain’t fashionable, but it is awesome
HP DreamColor Z31x
Studio Display
9
VERDICT HP DreamColor Z31x Studio
Display
OSCAR WINNER Stunning panel
quality; huge feature set for pros.
GOLDEN RASPBERRY Not exactly sleek; not
exactly cheap.
$2,999, http://www.hp.comSPECIFICATIONSPanel Size 31.1 inches
Panel Type IPS, native 10-bit
Resolution 4096x2160
Brightness 250cd/m^2
Contrast 1,500:1
Pixel Response 20ms (full on/off)
Refresh Rate 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz
VESA Mount 100 x 100mm
Inputs 2x DP, 2x HDMI,
USB Type-Cand support for multiple color spaces. HP
says the DreamColor Z31x is good for 100
percent of the sRGB space, 100 percent
of BT.709, 100 percent of AdobeRGB,
99 percent of DCI-P3, and 80 percent of
BT.2020, also known as Rec2020.
If all that sounds impressive, it is, but
there’s an obvious omission: This is not
HDR-certified. But it is still gorgeous
regarding image quality. With the full
4096x2160 resolution on a 31-inch panel,
pixel density is fairly high, but it’s the
colors and accuracy you’ll appreciate.
This screen looks bang on in native
color mode and it’s a cinch to jump into one
of the numerous alternative calibrated
color spaces via the OSD. There’s loads
of contrast on offer, too, and the viewing
angles are as good as you’re going to get
from an LCD-based display. It’s not eye-
poppingly bright, but it’s not supposed to
be. What it’s supposed to be is a seriously
capable display for SDR content creation.
It very much delivers on that remit.
The Z31x isn’t cheap, but there are
some very attractive deals available—as
little as $1,800. At that price, you could
almost argue it’s a steal. –JEREMY LAIRDmaximumpc.com JAN 2020 MAXIMUMPC 85