Philips is now the second company to announce a mass-market 8K monitor with the 328P8K. It boasts of a 31.5" IPS panel with a mind-boggling 7680 x 4320 resolution, and delivers on the professional space with 100% AdobeRGB/SRGB color space support. Since availability of these panels is still scarce, this is likely the same panel that Dell is using on their own 8K UltraSharp UP3218K monitor.

Philips is boasting of something they are calling HDR 400 support in this monitor, due to its brightness being set at 400 nits. This would be enough for AMD's baseline luminance requirements for FreeSync 2 HDR, but stands a far cry behind the HDR10 standard with its 1,000 nit peak brightness target (not to speak about Dolby Vision's 4,000 peak brightness target). Contrast ratio should stand at 1300:1, with a 60 Hz refresh ratio. Connectors-wise, the new Philips 328P8K 8K UHD Monitor boasts of 2x DisplayPort 1.3 (needed for display of the resolution, and in a bid to avoid using DP 1.4 with Display Stream Compression 1.2 and ensure a flawless and accurate image quality) and features a USB hub with USB type-A and type-C ports. Expect this panel to come in at a pretty penny, most likely in the same ballpark as Dell's offering, which now costs less than $4,000. Expect Philips' take on 8K to be available for purchase around Q1 2018.

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, introduces the VP2785-4K, a 27-inch 4K UHD (3840x2160) monitor that delivers precise and consistent color representation and performance to ensure incredible image quality. Built to deliver unmatched color accuracy for professional color-critical applications, the ViewSonic VP2785-4K ensures vibrant and intense color reproduction, making this monitor the perfect display solution for photographers, video and content producers and editors.

The ViewSonic VP2785-4K offers 4K UHD resolution, a wide color gamut and consistent performance with 99 percent Adobe RGB and 98 percent DCI-P3 colors and factory calibration to achieve Delta E <2 across multiple color spaces. Hardware calibration capability allows users to ensure best-in-class color accuracy, while the built-in uniformity function guarantees screen consistency. With USB 3.1 Type C, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity options, the VP2785-4K can be used with a variety of external devices. The HDCP 2.2 input provides content protection for 4K content playback, streaming and gaming.

It's confirmed: no 144 Hz 4K gaming with HDR in 2017 for NVIDIA gamers who want to make use of G-Sync t avoid screen tearing in their games. Acer last week announced that its 4K HDR Predator X27 gaming display would be delayed to Q1 2018 (meaning, no such thing below your Christmas tree or on your fireplace sock, sadly.) But it isn't Acer's fault, apparently: ASUS's ROG Swift PG27UQ, which features virtually the same specifications, has also been delayed to 2018. Both these monitors are based of an NVIDIA reference design showcased at Computex 2017 (you may remember a slight foul play there as well.)

The Acer Predator X27 and the ASUS ROG Swift PG27UQ are based on AU Optronics' M270QAN02.2 AHVA panel, which offers a 3840×2160 resolution and can reach a 144 Hz refresh rate. Something that really should make these monitors shine is the usage of a direct LED backlighting system with 384 zones, which can be individually dimmed or brightened as needed, which allows the panel to deliver much higher levels of contrast, needed for true HDR display. At least until OLED panels make their way to high-performance gaming monitors, these are expected to be the best of the crop.

Remember that post on Samsung's investment on 32:9 aspect ratio monitors? The company has just materialized them, with the announcement of their 2017 flagship FreeSync 2 supporting monitors, which come in two different models and three different sizes. Samsung announced a world's first, the CHG90 QLED monitor, which leverages its alien 49" towards displaying a 32:9 presentation. That's what Samsung is calling a DFHD (Dual Full HD) screen, with a 3840x1080 resolution. This panel supports FreeSync 2, HDR, wide 178-degree viewing angles, and the now usual 1800R curvature, with blazingly-fast 144 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times.

At the same time, Samsung also announced the somewhat more mundane CHG70 QLED monitor, which comes in at either 27" or 31,5". Whatever your choice of panel size, these are essentially the same specs-wise, and differ little from the CHG90: they offer WQHD resolution (2560x1440), HDR, FreeSync 2, wide 178-degree viewing angles, and the now usual 1800R curvature, along with blazing-fast 144 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times.

AMD released the Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.6.1 beta drivers. The drivers come with optimization for "DiRT 4," including an AMD CrossFire profile, and up to 30 percent improvement in frame-rates with 8x MSAA cranked up. The drivers also improve performance of "Prey" (2017) by up to 4 percent, as tested on a machine with a Radeon RX 580 8 GB graphics card.

The drivers also fixed a number of issues, including virtual super-resolution (VSR) not correctly enabling on certain Radeon RX 400 and RX 500-series GPUs; HDR not correctly enabling on certain WQHD or higher-resolution displays; flickering noticed on some WQHD or higher-resolution displays connected via HDMI; fast mouse movements causing a frame-rate drop in "Prey" (2017); "Mass Effect: Andromeda" noticing a stutter with multi-GPU systems; and a system hang noticed on Radeon R9 390 series GPUs with the memory overclocked using a third-party application. Grab the driver from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.6.1

The change-log follows.

LG Electronics USA Business Solutions has added premium 4K UHD and In-Plane Switching (IPS) commercial monitors to its already-broad portfolio of cutting-edge desktop monitors. Led by the brand new 43-inch 4K UHD monitor, which will be demonstrated at InfoComm 2017, the new displays provide users the high-end picture quality and flexibility needed to maximize productivity and ease of use.

"As content formats rapidly evolve, LG's portfolio of state-of-the-art commercial monitors has been expanded with 4K and HDR (high dynamic range) technologies," said Stephen Hu, head of monitors at LG Electronics USA Business Solutions. "With a three-year warranty, advanced imaging technology, unmatched interoperability and industry-proven calibration methods, LG's new commercial desktop monitors are designed to meet evolving customer needs across different verticals."

In its eagerness to showcase just how important HDR (High Dynamic Range) support is for the image quality of the future, NVIDIA set up a display booth on Computex, where it showcased the difference between SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) and HDR images. However, it looks as if the green company was a smite too eager to demonstrate just how incredible HDR image quality is, considering they needed to fiddle with the SDR screen's settings to increase the divide.

The revelation comes courtesy of Hardware Canucks, who say were granted access to the monitor settings NVIDIA used on their displays while running the demo. And as it turns out, NVIDIA had changed default factory values for brightness, contrast, and even gamma in the SDR monitor, which compromised the image quality it was actually able to convey. Resetting the monitor settings to their factory values resulted in a severely less muted image on the SDR monitor than before, which plays out on the deliberate attempt to reduce image quality on the SDR presentation. Now granted, image quality perceptions comparing SDR to HDR may fall on the personal, subjective spectrum of each viewer; however, actual brightness, contrast and gamma settings being set outside even their set factory levels (which can usually be improved upon with calibration) does make it look like someone was trying too hard to showcase HDR's prowess.

And here I was thinking the whole point of having standards was to homogenize offerings for a given feature, ensuring the same minimal requirements were met by anyone (or any product) looking to carry a sticker emblazoning its capabilities. Yet here it is, another HDR standard, which Samsung and Amazon are calling HDR10+.

The HDR10+ standard looks to slightly bridge the gap between the HDR10 standard as certified by the UHD Alliance, and the Dolby Vision one, which boasted better HDR reproduction whilst carrying higher specifications to be adhered to. The greatest change in HDR10+: the adoption of Dynamic Tone Mapping, which stand upon variable dynamic metadata to help adjust brightness and contrast in real time, optimized on a frame-by-frame basis, a feature present in Dolby Vision but lacking on the UHD Alliance's HDR10, which resulted in some overly darkened bright scenes.

Dell, which makes some of the best computer monitors around (though they really don't tend to be the most cost-effective), has announced a new addition to its line of monitors. The UP2718Q is a 27" monitor which boast of 4K (3140* 2160) resolution, and supports the UHD Alliance's HDR10 standard. Its peak brightness of 1,000 nits ensures its adherence to the HDR standards (which backs up to 400 nits brightness on non-HDR material), while the 100% Adobe RGB, 100% sRGB, 100% REC 709, 97.7% DCI-P3, and 76.9% REC2020 color coverage ensures this is a panel best used by professionals who need extreme color accuracy. Connectivity wise, we find 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.0a ports, 2x USB 3.0 ports, and a hub of 4x USB 3.0 ports, two of which are capable of charging.

EIZO Corporation today announced the new ColorEdge PROMINENCE CG3145 - a 31.1-inch reference monitor with DCI-4K resolution (4096 x 2160) for the professional HDR post production workflow. HDR (high dynamic range) approximates the human perception of color and light as content is shown on a display device. ColorEdge PROMINENCE CG3145 is able to correctly show both very bright and very dark areas on the screen without sacrificing the integrity of either - a process which cannot be achieved with SDR (standard dynamic range) monitors.

The monitor achieves the 1000 cd/m2 (typical) high brightness level needed for HDR content display. It is also the world's first LCD monitor to achieve a typical contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 for displaying true blacks. The name "PROMINENCE" refers to the phenomenon known as a solar prominence - a flame-like eruption which extends from the Sun's surface. This image of the bright sun shining against the deep black of space lends to the monitor's ability to accurately display both bright and dark content.

In what could spell very interesting things for the uptake of the Freesync 2 open-standard, Digital Foundry has confirmed that Microsoft's upcoming "Project Scorpio" console will leverage AMD's FreeSync 2 standard so as to improve fluidity of frames. The objective is, as usual, to eliminate tearing and reduce stutter, allowing the GPU to trigger the display refresh rate at exactly the same frequency as it can churn out frames. The FreeSync 2 revision of the open standard is HDR-compatible, which means it supports what is being touted as The Next Big Thing in image quality. Like always, the available FreeSync-supported band will still depend on the panel's actual specifications. Additionally, the Scorpio is going to offer support for the upcoming VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) implemented within the HDMI 2.1 specifications.

Though TV panels don't support either of those standards currently, AMD has teased that FreeSync support on TVs would be possible - and upcoming. If true, and if this FreeSync support were to take off, this might spell an increased uptake on AMD's open standard implementation of VRR over NVIDIA's G-SYNC. The adoption of these VRR technologies would also allow developers to perhaps change their performance targets (say, from 60 FPS to 45 FPS), while also increasing fluidity of games that struggle to maintain their target frame rate. The Scorpio could be the first mainstream piece of tech to offer widespread support for VRR standards, thus increasing the user base and industry adoption rate of this technologies, which can only be good. To say that this adoption spells the death of NVIDIA's proprietary G-SYNC is nothing more than wild, boastful speculation; saying it could drive FreeSync and HDMI's VRR implementation towards mainstream usage is not. And that could mean a slow push of G-SYNC towards a niche PC-monitor solution with reduced uptake from monitor manufacturers.

The 32UD99 is to be LG's flagship consumer monitor, if its specs are anything to go by. And while it isn't mainly marketed towards gamers, it seems to be a good bet for image quality enthusiasts, ticking the 4K, HDR10, and Freesync (between 40 and 60 Hz via DisplayPort) boxes in a 32" panel. The LG 32UD99 carries a IPS panel with a native 3840×2160 resolution, and its 1.07 billion colors cover more than 95% of the DCI-P3 color space, and 100% of the sRGB gamut - with factory calibration to boot. The panel features 350 nits typical brightness, a neither great-nor-bad 5 ms response time, a 60 Hz refresh rate for those who don't need a million frames in a microsecond, and the 178° viewing angles that are par of the course for IPS.

The monitor's stand supports Tilt (2~15°), pivot (90°) and height (110 mm) adjustments. Input-wise, it features 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0a (HDCP 2.2), 1x USB Type-C (with DP 1.2 support), and a 2-port USB 3.0 hub with support for Quick Charging. There is also a pair of 5 W speakers. Availability is expected in late May. And it's a good thing this monitor is such a looker up-front, because its profile somewhat reminds me of Quasimodo.

NVIDIA today announced the G-SYNC HDR technology. An evolution of the company's proprietary adaptive display sync technology, which keeps the display's refresh-rates dynamically in-sync with the graphics card's frame-rates, G-SYNC HDR, as its name suggests, adds support for HDR (high dynamic range) displays. NVIDIA's partner display manufacturers such as Acer, and ASUS have each announced displays with this technology, which will will be available later this year.

NVIDIA worked with display panel maker AUOptronics to develop G-SYNC HDR. It leverages full 384-zone LED backlights, and a quantum-dot technology. The monitors rely on wide color gamuts, with 10-bit (1.07 billion color palettes) to bring HDR to life. G-SYNC HDR monitors come with support for the HDR10 standard. The year's most anticipated game, "Mass Effect: Andromeda," will come with support for G-SYNC HDR.

NVIDIA announced the 2017 Shield home entertainment system. This device connects to your TV, and works as a game-streaming device that streams games rendered on your PC from another room, the cloud, through services such as GeForce Now, and "smarten" your TV through technologies such as Google Assistant. NVIDIA has given the 2017 Shield hardware upgrades that enable 4K HDR, that's 4K Ultra HD resolution with 10-bit HEVC/VP9 support, and HDR. NVIDIA plans to sell these at $199.

Dell has announced at CES their new ultrathin 27" monitor. Aptly (and maybe unoriginally) named the "Dell 27 Ultrathin Monitor", it sports a Quad HD (2,560 by 1,440 pixels) screen with a 178º viewing angle which also supports HDR (though apparently, and according to Dell, not the same as HDR standards you'll find in 4K TVs. However, it will still be able to display higher contrast and color range than most consumer monitors, with support for up to 99 percent of the SRGB gamut.

But no, bar the name, it doesn't have almost anything to do with AMD's renowned Freesync. Instead, according to Videocardz, AMD are apparently expanding the Freesync functionality to more than just an adaptive synchronization technology - it might eventually become a software stack unto itself, embedded within AMD's drivers. This would be a smart move from AMD, since they would be taking advantage of Freesync's brand and name recognition on the market as a way to promote new features.