LAS VEGAS, NV — ASUS has announced its first professional OLED display at CES 2018. The ProArt PQ22UC features a 4K resolution and covers 99% of the DCI-P3 color space, making it a good solution for professionals who need this spectrum. ASUS says that the compact dimensions and light weight of the device make it a good option both for post-production and on-set routines.

The ASUS ProArt PQ22UC is based on a 21.6” 4K RGB stripe OLED panel made by JOLED (a joint venture between Sony and Panasonic) using the company’s printing method. The panel features a 3840×2160 resolution, a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, and a response time of 0.1 ms. The monitor can reproduce 1.07 billion colors and covers 99% of the DCI-P3 color space. ASUS does not say anything about the brightness of the panel, 3D LUT, sRGB, and Rec. 2020 support. The company does say that the “dynamic range is wide enough to support HDR content”, so the look-up tables are there, but it is unknown whether the PQ22UC supports the HDR10 or other high dynamic range specs. In any case, HDR requires relatively high brightness levels and luminance is not a strong side of the OLED technology in general, so the actual HDR experience on the PQ22UC is something that remains to be seen. Meanwhile, 3D LUTs can be used on set to emulate specific display devices for quality assessments.

ASUS positions the ProArt PQ22UC as a professional solution for those on the go, which is why it uses USB Type-C and micro-HDMI inputs (no word on exact protocols, but DP 1.2 and HDMI 2.0x are likely) to save space. The display features an angled stand that can regulate height & tilt and can be detached and folded flat for easier transportation.

Brief Specifications of the ASUS ProArt PQ22UC
  PQ22UC
Panel 21.6" OLED
Native Resolution 3840 × 2160
Maximum Refresh Rate 60 Hz (?)
Response Time 0.1 ms (black to white)
Brightness typical: unknown
minimum: 0.0005 cd/m² (minimum)
Contrast 1000000:1
Viewing Angles 178°/178° horizontal/vertical
Pixel Pitch 0.1245 mm²
Pixel Density 204 ppi
Display Colors 1.07 billion
Color Gamut Support DCI-P3: 99%
sRGB/Rec 709: 100% (tbc)
Adobe RGB: ?
SMPTE C: ?
Rec2020: ?
Stand Tilt and height adjustable
Inputs 1 × USB Type-C (DP 1.2?)
1 × mini HDMI (2.0a? 2.0b?)
PSU External
Launch Price & Date unknown

The display is factory calibrated to Delta E≦2 color accuracy and comes with the ASUS ProArt Calibration feature that saves color parameter profiles to the monitor rather than to a host PC, which is particularly useful for a mobile solution that can be attached to different computers.

ASUS has not released any details regarding pricing and availability timeframes of the ProArt PQ22UC. Meanwhile, JOLED says that its 21.6” 4K OLED panels are in production.

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Source: ASUS

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  • masouth - Thursday, January 11, 2018 - link

    I think the point of .1 ms response is that it's basically native to the technology. OLED has crazy fast response time compared to LCD so it's not like it's some artificial number they were shooting for just for marketing...it's just the way it is.
  • zepi - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link

    204dpi is a nice figure to go as a second monitor for high-dpi laptops. One could use the same scaling factor as with the laptop screen and everything would still be nicely usable.
  • Santoval - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link

    If the minimum brightness is reported as 0.0005 nits(cd/m^2) and the contrast ratio is 1,000,000:1 doesn't that suggest that the brightness is 0.0005 x 1,000,000 = 500 nits? That would be high for an OLED panel, but probably still low for HDR. I suppose even in OLED panels the min nits cannot go down to 0 (and thus provide OLED's theoretical infinite contrast) because there should always be a tiny amount of light bleeding toward blacks - in real content anyway.

    The contrast might really be infinite if you divided the screen in 2, 4 or 8 parts and alternated full white and full black squares. Close to the dividing lines (up to a few mm into the white and black frames) the contrast would probably be 1,000,000:1 due to light bleeding, but if you measured a few cm+ beyond the dividing lines the contrast should be infinite. So, when you view or render CGI scenes of a film ora game the 1,000,000:1 number might be minimum guaranteed contrast ratio, rather than the maximum.
  • nathanddrews - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link

    ASUS might intend that value to be something totally different, but that 0.0005 cd/m² minimum brightness is just that - minimum brightness, not black. OLEDs are off when fed a pure black signal, so the infinite contrast ratio still stands, but if you feed it any other gray/color signal, there is an absolute minimum brightness each pixel will output. In some cases, this actually becomes a problem if the minimum brightness isn't low enough, as the difference between off and only a little bit on is still infinite. Always calibrate your displays, kids.

    For peak brightness, 500 nits falls short of the ~800 nits that LG OLED TVs can currently hit, but it really doesn't matter unless you have a lot of bright windows everywhere. Objective and subjective tests keep putting OLED at the top of the picture quality stack, including HDR performance. Contrast is king.

    0.1 pixel response time black (100% off) to white (100% on) is killer even if limited to 60Hz, because it will eliminate LCD-related artifacts (ghosting, etc.). OLED naturally excels at this. What's more important is input lag, the measurement of time it takes for the signal to be processed by the monitor's SOC and displayed by the pixels. Can they get it down to CRT levels (0ms)? Probably not, but we'll see.
  • mkozakewich - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link

    My Galaxy Note II would have a barely-perceptible glow when showing black, so its pixels couldn't turn off completely.
    My more recent BLU Vivo Air LTE was completely invisible (in a perfectly dark room, mind) when I showed a black image.

    So they might be saying that the ratio is not infinite, and that a black image in a dark room would still be slightly visible. Most likely, they're doing a whole lot of rounding and you can't get any real number from reversing the math.
  • Jorsher - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link

    No. People are not understanding.

    OLED can go down to complete black by turning off the pixel, as stated above. The "min brightness" means the minimum brightness of a pixel that's turned on. For OLED, you can have an infinite contrast due to the pixels' abilities to be shut off. For plasma, each pixel needed to retain a charged state since "powering" the pixel took longer than the 0.1ms required for LED. The minimum brightness on OLED refers to the lowest brightness possible for a pixel that isn't turned off -- the lower, the better, as it will allow for less detail loss or "black crush" for shadow detail. The minimum brightness on plasma would be what you all are thinking, while also the same -- it's the lowest "powered" brightness possible, which is ALSO the lowest brightness possible.
  • boeush - Thursday, January 11, 2018 - link

    For OLED monitors, higher Max brightness threatens faster/worse burn-in. Unlike TVs in typical use, monitors often end up displaying static content. Particularly when it comes to things like task bars or window chrome ...

    So in general, it would make sense that OLED monitors should always lag OLED TVs in terms of brightness - all other tech factors being equal.
  • Jorsher - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link

    It's more of a limitation to OLED than trying to prevent burn-in, I believe. I have a Panasonic plasma which also "suffers" from burn-in, however they can get very bright (look at Samsung F9500). In the case of plasmas, there are Energy Star requirements which create an artificial limitation to brightness, and the manufacturers implemented ABL to decrease brightness -- for example a mostly-white screen -- to reduce power-consumption.

    In the case of OLED, I think it's less about the potential for burn-in and more about either a hard-limit for OLEDs or a longevity case. As with plasmas, TVs are used primarily for video so the effects of burn-in are almost non-existant outside of using your display for gaming that has HUDs. I game on my last-gen Panasonic plasma for hours, and worst case I'll have some image retention that isn't visible while watching video (except in the rare case there's a solid color for a length of time) which is gone before finishing an episode of your favorite show...

    This concern about OLED burn-in is -- in my opinion -- not as big of a concern as people make it out to be. I thought plasma burn-in concerns were inflated for later-gen TVs, and think OLED is even more resistant...
  • Frenetic Pony - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link

    Want. Want want want want want want waaaaant.

    At least, theoretically. It needs to be bright enough, eye adaptation is a bitch for ruining contrast ratios, even a relatively dark office is going to cut into it significantly. It's also kind of small... where's the 24"+ model?
  • imaheadcase - Thursday, January 11, 2018 - link

    Any word on the 4k/200Hz gaming monitor Asus and Acer have been promising? They have had webpage up for it since June of last year...its been delayed like 2 times already. I heard they was going to announce more info at CES.

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