Dell 6K U3224KB Monitor

[enc0re]

I currently use Continuity Camera. I used the Brio 4K long before that, since 2017. It's good for its time but Continuity Camera off my iPhone 15 Pro gives much better chroma key results, especially around my hair.

The advantage of a built-in webcam (apart from not having to hook up my iPhone) is that it places the camera as low as possible on the screen. I make educational videos that involved sharing my screen. I look in the camera to maintain viewer connection but then have to use my peripheral vision to do the actual on-screen work. The closer the camera is to the screen, the easier that job is for me.

Before someone else suggests how I should be doing my job, I have also used the technique of having a camera on a tripod in front of my screen. But then I have to manually sync the video streams and have a separate setup for videoconferencing.

A 32"+ HiDPI monitor with a great built-in webcam is worth a lot to me. That's why I bought the Dell U3224KB at release since its 4K webcam with a Sony sensor sounded like it would be good. It wasn't then. Is it now?

 

[t_a_m]

The dell webcam is nicer than the studio display.

The DDPM lets you adjust colour temp etc now, so you can do it to taste. Default is a bit less saturated than the built in webcam on a MBP but nice enough I've left it. Skin tones are more accurate. I'm normally in daylight from a window though.

Display colour is very good. For reference I have as you do a screen with an LG OLED panel, a couple of MBP with mini-LED, iPad Pro, and various other work displays with good colour etc. I work in computer vision/related fields and am an amateur photographer, colour is important to me.

It's not as vibrant or contrasty as OLED, and obviously can't match the dynamic range of the OLED/MiniLED options - but I wouldn't expect it to. It's a lot cheaper than a MiniLED of that size, let along resolution would be. For P3 or sRGB it's perfectly good and accurate, to my eyes. In HDR modes it's more important colour spaces line up or things look odd/washed out but it's about as good as you'd expect for HDR600. In that for natural images - HDR with an iPhone etc - it looks good. I (so far) tend to keep it in SDR though for increased average screen brightness in what is normally a well lit room (where it beats most OLED). Also most of my "proper" photography isn't HDR.

 

[JtheLemur]

Hey gang, just got this monitor, it's really great. However, I'm reading that there are two audio paths, one is an "Echo Cancelling" speaker and one is the "normal audio playback" speaker. On Windows, apparently these are named properly. On Mac, they are not.

I'm hooked up via TB4. In my sound output I have two selections:

- DELL U3224KB (DisplayPort); this one allows for the monitor's speaker volume to be controlled via DDC
- U3224KB/A (USB); this seems to behave like a normal USB speaker, my Mac's volume keys adjust the output volume normally

Really not sure what I should be using for like, a Zoom call, and what I should have the system set to for everyday things like music playback.

Would love any input on this!

 

[t_a_m]

Use the USB one.

 

[JtheLemur]

Use the USB one.

Doing a side-by-side between the DisplayPort one and the USB one at matching volumes, I can't tell a difference. Sound exactly the same. So I'm wondering what exactly makes one of these "echo cancelling"…

 

[PaulD-UK]

Does the monitor/webcam have microphone?
Echo-cancelling over USB might refer to the electronic removal of the speaker's output from the signal coming from the mic?
For Zoom use to prevent remote users to hear themselves back through the Zoom call...
So it wouldn't change the speaker's output, just the mic signal?

 

[t_a_m]

Yes as per PaulD, that was my understanding.

 

[t_a_m]

To add some more useful info, full resolution 60hz 10bit (with or without HDR) working fine on M1 Pro MBP. I know it’s mentioned earlier in the thread but just to reiterate it works.

Cable matters USB-c to hdmi cable: https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1663-124-usb-c-to-8k-hdmi-cable.aspx

Flashed with firmware as per: https://kb.cablematters.com/index.php?View=entry&EntryID=147

I used a win 11 arm image running in UTM to flash it from my Mac.

It shows as 8Gbps DSC mode exactly the same as the M4 pro does. So it not working natively on TBT4 is a software issue on M1 Pro I think, as the hardware does it with a DisplayPort to hdmi cable.

I’ll test it soon with this cable through my Thunderbolt 3 dock. If that works it’ll give me the option to KVM my M4 pro work machine and M1 Pro personal machine with only one cable per machine for power, data and video.

I’ll also re-test the m2 iPad with the flashed cable (and TB3 dock also).

To return to this, just setup my TB3 dock again (a WD Black game dock) and with the flashed cable attached to the downstream thunderbolt 3 port on it I'm getting full resolution, 60hz, 30 bit into the monitor.

So my setup is M1 Pro MBP into TB3 dock, into flashed usb-c->hdmi + usb->usbC to the monitor, and a M4 Pro MBP into the TB4 monitor input.

Works great, KVM switches all the peripherals and ethernet between the two machines and both run full quality on the display. Both machines only require a single cable for power, data, display, networking. Truly living the dream!

 

[user11988]

I recently upgraded to Sequoia 15.6, and now my Mac won't let me go past 30Hz. I'm using the CableMatters 20GB USB-C switcher, so I suspect the Mac isn't using DSC as it previously was. Is anyone else encountering this issue?

 

[t_a_m]

Hmm I can test this later - if you go to the connection info screen on the monitor it’ll tell you what mode it’s in, DSC etc under the “stream info” section.

 

[user11988]

Actually, DSC is being used! I just can't choose 60Hz as an option when selecting the native resolution (3072x1728@2x)

 

[EugW]

I recently upgraded to Sequoia 15.6, and now my Mac won't let me go past 30Hz. I'm using the CableMatters 20GB USB-C switcher, so I suspect the Mac isn't using DSC as it previously was. Is anyone else encountering this issue?

What happens if you use a Thunderbolt cable direct to the monitor?

 

[user11988]

It works w/o DSC.

 

[t_a_m]

Actually, DSC is being used! I just can't choose 60Hz as an option when selecting the native resolution (3072x1728@2x)

Working ok for me, M1 MBP, cable matters usb-c to hdmi (flashed with the updated firmware), via a TB3 dock- as above.

Ah hang on, I've not applied the 15.6 update to this machine... let me do that...

 

[t_a_m]

..and working fine on 15.6 also.

 

[vanc]

..and working fine on 15.6 also.

I can confirm too. it works fine with 15.6 just as before.

I recently upgraded to Sequoia 15.6, and now my Mac won't let me go past 30Hz. I'm using the CableMatters 20GB USB-C switcher, so I suspect the Mac isn't using DSC as it previously was. Is anyone else encountering this issue?

But I'm using a thunderbolt 3 cable to connect MBP (M4 max) with the monitor directly. That's different. You may try a direct connection and see if the issue is with the switcher (or rather macOS's compatibility with it).

 

[tstafford]

I don't use it much at all, but I seem to have lost the ability to enable HDR. I'm running an M1M Studio, TB4 and Better Display. In the early days I used the BD hack but then things smoothed out and it worked normally.

Any ideas on what I might be missing?

 

[t_a_m]

> I suspect the Mac isn't using DSC as it previously was

I just had this happen on my M4 pro machine. Noticed it as the monitor was at 60hz but in 24bit not 30 (tb4 connection)

I toggled HDR on then off again in display settings and it went back to using DSC and 30 bit…

 

[ckuwajima]

> I suspect the Mac isn't using DSC as it previously was

I just had this happen on my M4 pro machine. Noticed it as the monitor was at 60hz but in 24bit not 30 (tb4 connection)

I toggled HDR on then off again in display settings and it went back to using DSC and 30 bit…

Better Display has a feature named "Configuration Protection" which is able to keep monitor settings, such as Resolution, Refresh Rate, Color Mode, HDR Status, against unintentional changes.

 

[torquer]

I have several of these and have had good experiences. The firmware updates help a lot, but can be finicky to get to install as others have mentioned. I have 2 for sale in the Denver area if anyone is interested. If you're out of the Denver area I do have the box for one and would be willing to ship. Hit me with a DM with an offer if interested

 

[Udy7000]

Hi! I'd been using this monitor with a linux system, connected by the mDP port. The source is a PC having standard DP ports. The cable was supposed to be bidirectional, but the system had experienced intermittent blank screens. I then bought a certified HDMI 2.1 cable and there have been no more blank screens. BUT, due to some legal issues, we don't have HDMI 2.1 support in Linux (AMD tried to open source the specs and was stopped by the consortium), and such the maximum resolution in Linux is now 4k @ 60Hz.

I've been searching for a certified DP to mDP cable (directional), but I have found none thus far. Is any of you here using the monitor connected to a PC with a DP -> mDP cable without issues?

The Thunderbolt port is in use with a MacBook.

The linux system is an Ubuntu 25.04 with Wayland.

 

[t_a_m]

I’ve not tried it in that configuration but Cable Matters cables work well for others on here (and myself) and they sell cables explicitly listed as working both directions, e.g. https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1057-154-mini-displayport-to-displayport-14-cable.aspx

They also make a mini to regular and vice-versa adapter: https://www.cablematters.com/pc-23-153-mini-displayport-to-displayport-adapter.aspx

 

[Udy7000]

Thanks for your time! There is no new info about the pin 20 on that cable. Early customer reviews complained about that pin being connected. It's true that that was in 2015 (ouch!).

I'll keep looking...