Excellent factory calibration, strong sRGB coverage and good flexibility in the OSD, with a range of useful ‘Gamma’ modes delivering what’s promised With BenQ is pitching this as a monitor for professionals, color accuracy at any angle is important, and the 100% sRGB color gamut adheres to industry standards. It also boasts Rec. 709, which is a standard for video production.

The monitor provides very good color accuracy right out of the box. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, my red, green, and blue color measurements (represented by the colored dots) are closely aligned with their ideal CIE coordinates (represented by the boxes). Moreover, the monitor aced the DisplayMate Color Purity and Uniformity tests and provided a razor-sharp UHD picture while displaying scenes from Marvel's Deadpool on Blu-ray. The panel's ability to display outstanding highlight and shadow detail in my test images is not surprising, given its stellar performance in the 64-Step Grayscale test. As with most IPS panels, viewing angles were wide, with no apparent color shifting or dimming. On some monitors faint interlace patterns can be seen during certain transitions, particularly noticeable where light shades (muzzle flashes, explosions etc.) briefly pop up on the screen. These are sometimes referred to as ‘inversions artifacts’. Alternatively, static interlace patterns can be seen with some shades appearing as faint horizontal bands of a slightly lighter and slightly darker version of the intended shade. We did not observe any such artifacts on this monitor. Prices have come down, but it’s still an expensive segment of the market — especially in the professional monitor market. That’s where the BenQ PD3200U really shines. Standing up against monitors that are three to four hundred dollars more isn’t an easy task, but the PD3200U sure makes it look that way.Looking at contrast and color gamut, you can see this monitor scores well, but doesn’t quite compete with the top contenders in this arena. The HP Dreamcolor z32xfeatures a wider color gamut, hitting 98 percent of the sRGB space, and 92 percent of the AdobeRGB color space. Even the LG 27UD88-W beat out our BenQ PD3200U, hitting 77 percent of the AdobeRGB space, to the BenQ’s 75 percent.

This is the weakest Low Blue Light (LBL) setting. It is not particularly effective, although it does reduce blue light output compared to defaults and give a slightly warmer look to the image. The solid aluminum upright supports a full range of movements including 45° swivel, 5” height, and 25° tilt. You also get an impressive portrait mode. We can imagine the ease of editing orchestral scores or working on poster-sized graphics when the panel is rotated. We also observed the monitor on Dirt Rally, where the contrast performance was again decent overall. The level of detail in dark areas was respectable on the whole, with even relatively subtle details such as car tyre tread patterns visible. There was some detail lost towards the edges of the screen, in particularly near the bottom corners, due to ‘AHVA glow’. This was by no means extreme and again a bit subdued compared to some screens of this size. Lighter elements such as car headlights appeared with a light graininess to them rather than an obvious ‘layering’ from the screen surface, helping them ‘pop’ quite nicely in some respects and stand out well against darker surroundings.The panel type is IPS, with a native contrast of 1000:1. This ensures viewing angles are very good, which is essential for a screen of this size, as when sitting in front of it at a desk it really does take up almost all of your peripheral vision. That means the monitor will outlast your current desktop hardware, and will see you through at least a couple years of hard use. In Standard mode, the PD3200U consumed 44 watts of power (it does not offer a power-saving ECO mode). That's more efficient than the same-size BenQ PV3200PT (57 watts), the BenQ BL3201PH (56 watts), and the 34-inch Dell U3417W (56 watts). Conclusion However, this isn’t just a monitor for media consumption. It’s a monitor for media creation. In that regard, it holds its own against more expensive competitors, but it’s not the most impressive professional monitor we’ve seen. Good contrast performance overall, with static contrast as expected and a slight reduction in ‘AHVA glow’ compared to what you might expect from such a screen

The UHD resolution on a 32” screen also brings with it a very pleasing pixel density of 139.87 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). This brings with it excellent clarity and detail when viewing images or indeed when playing games. As with images, getting the best out of this requires that the game itself offers suitably high-resolution content. You always benefit from extra clarity, a reduced need for anti-aliasing and that sort of thing anyway – but truly admiring game content at this resolution requires suitably high-resolution textures and particle effects as well. This is something we explore in more detail in the aforementioned article and indeed in our BL3201PT/PH review. Although they are in no way representative of what you see first-hand when using the monitor, we’ve included a few photos of the monitor running a range of game titles. Particularly with the details cranked up (which brought out GTX 1070 to its knees, unfortunately), these titles looked quite stunning in many respects and certainly benefited from the high resolution and pixel density on offer here. A good screen size and resolution combination in our view (3840 x 2160 and 32”), plus HDMI 2.0 and an ergonomically flexible and solidly built stand Colour reproduction was very pleasing on Battlefield 1 (BF1). The environments appeared rich, natural and suitably varied with an excellent palette of varied greens and browns. Colour consistency was also strong, allowing colours to appear quite consistent in their saturation levels and aiding subtle shade variety. There was also a nice dose of vibrancy where it was warranted, for example lively-looking yellow and oranges flames and some quite lush-looking vegetation. Dirt Rally also showcased the colour reproduction capabilities of the monitor nicely, with a healthy variety of earthy browns and a vivid but natural-looking palette of greens. Different environments appeared distinct due to the particular shades showcased there – and we’re not just talking desert vs. forest here, either. Meanwhile more vibrant shades such as electric pinks, bright blues and neon greens stood out quite nicely on the car liveries. In that respect things didn’t have the same ‘pop’ or arresting vibrancy we’ve seen on some models, but only those with a more generous colour gamut (causes oversaturation) or glossy screen surface.

A large 4K screen for your desk

Moving on to color accuracy, the BenQ managed to steal victory from the jaws of defeat with a near-perfect score. With an average color error of 1.23, to the HP Dreamcolor’s 1.68, and the LG 27UD88-W’s 3.97, the BenQ wins by a significant margin.