nearly $4,000, and runs off DisplayPort
1.2 rather than DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI
2.1. So, you have to connect via dual
DisplayPort 1.2 interfaces just to get 8K at
60Hz. Seriously clunky.
That’s all set to change this year. BenQ
says it will launch its first 8K monitor later
in 2022 and Viewsonic’s is due soon after.
It’s not clear exactly how they’ll be priced,
but we’re fairly confident it will be well
below that $4,000 Dell. What’s more, both
Hannspree and Monoprice, both known
for their competitive pricing, have hinted
at 8K panels in the works. Hannspree has
suggested its 8K monitors will be bigger
than existing displays.
It’s unclear exactly what it plans, but
we suspect it could be a 55-inch monitor
using a TV panel rotated through 180
degrees to give the correct RGB subpixel
layout. Add in HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort
1.4, crank it out for, let’s say, $1,500 and
that’s still not chump change for a PC
monitor. But what a display that would be.
Well worth investing in for years of high-
DPI action with an incredible amount of
desktop real estate to boot.
While we’re talking resolutions,
one option is the upcoming LG DualUp
28MQ780. It’s an unusual 16:18 aspect
panel with 2,560x2,880 pixels and is
designed to deliver increased vertical
space in a world of ubiquitous widescreenmonitors. A niche option? For sure, but
interesting all the same.
If that’s affordable high-refresh 4K
and 8K multi shapes and sizes covered
off, what else can you expect in 2022?
LCD monitors with mini-LED full-array
backlights are going to be more widely
available. As we’ve already implied, mini-
LED full array backlighting is never going
to be as good as a true per-pixel technology
like OLED for controlling light output. But
done right it can give impressive results
when it comes to contrast. Mini-LED
is also capable of greater brightness
than current OLED tech and gives better
bright-scene HDR performance than an
OLED panel.BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
The brightest backlit LCD TVs, for
instance, can hit nearly 2,000 nits of full-
screen, eye-popping zing, whereas even
the latest generation of OLED technology
can only manage around 1,000 nits in
small, isolated windows. In practice,
absolute full-screen brightness isn’t
hugely relevant. But in brighter scenes, it
really matters for HDR performance.
That’s because the way that HDR
content is mastered takes into account the
limitations of human vision. The process is
known as PQ or Perceptual Quantisation
and it’s based on a granular model ofthe human eye’s ability to perceive two
different levels of light. It’s all rather
technical, but the bit you need to know is
that when a display cannot achieve the
brightness anticipated when the content
was mastered, details in bright areas
bloom out or bleed into one another.
The result is a loss of detail. A good
example involves clouds in a bright sky.
On an OLED panel they tend to bleed into
a featureless white mass, with the finer
elements lost as large areas flatten out,
whereas, on the best LED-backlit LCD
screens, you can see lots of fine, wispy
detail and features.
Anyway, in this category of mini-
LED monitors that promise outstandingscreen tech