ASUS ROG Swift PG32UCDM in post-test – MCM105 firmware brings Dolby Vision – and new bugs

1 - Introduction 2 - SDR Color Performance 3 - HDR - Dolby Vision 4 - Summary and Conclusion

Microsoft Windows vs. Dolby Vision

The issue with Windows and Dolby Vision is somewhat complicated, although it shouldn’t really be a big problem. Those of you who have an HDR-capable TV (with HDR10 and Dolby Vision support) at home are probably familiar with this: You go to the streaming service of your choice and start a film in HDR10 and the TV recognizes from the transmitted signal that it should now display HDR10. The same happens when you start a movie in Dolby Vision.

This does not work automatically for Windows. If you set Dolby Vision on the monitor, Windows always forces all content (there are exceptions) into Dolby Vision, even though the signal is actually HDR10. This leads to incorrect tone mapping! Microsoft needs to talk to the TV manufacturers, because their software recognizes the content and sets the appropriate format – if the TV supports it. Put simply: If the customer sets their monitor to HDR mode under Windows, then Windows must recognize which format is present and set the monitor to the correct mode.

The next issue is that there are currently few if any PC games that support Dolby Vision Gaming. This means that the benefits of Dolby Vision for monitors are currently more geared towards external devices such as streaming boxes (Apple TV, Fire TV, etc.) via HDMI. (My opinion)

Dolby Vision Bright

Dolby Vision Dark

Dolby Vision Gaming

I don’t know what ASUS was thinking here. It all looks the same, no matter what you set. And if anyone thinks this is due to Windows, they are mistaken.

Spoiler alert: Dolby Vision Bright (Dell Alienware AW3225QF)

It can be done differently or better. I suspect that ASUS did not intend for the bright mode to only go up to 450 nits. In other words – another FW update has to fix it. ASUS has to do its homework first! After some discussions with ASUS Germany, it was finally decided that my sample would have to go back to ASUS first. I was therefore unable to test the new Dynamic Brightness Boost mode – for HDR10 – due to time constraints. I’ll have to refer you to my colleague Tim: