The ultimate Pro Display XDR info thread

[joevt]

I've checked all possible display so far, bigger than 27". Most of them are curved and none of them is real 5K. There is only one 8K.

Displays with higher resolution result in tiny fonts, not really usable for me.

Maybe the biggest problem of retina display is the TB3 connection which none of the PC-GPU has. Therefore there are no retina displays on the market. Maybe we'll see one from Dell, as their 5K isn't available anymore and no-one can run the 8K version.

Planar IX2790 is full 5K (2880 tall) but only 27 inches but that is the proper size for a 5K Retina display. It's not Thunderbolt so it is only supports 8bpc instead of 10bpc at 5K.

Other 5K displays may be 2160 tall or 1440 tall. They are larger but have fewer pixels which means they are not meant to be retina displays.

 

[Coyote2006]

Planar IX2790 is full 5K (2880 tall) but only 27 inches but that is the proper size for a 5K Retina display. It's not Thunderbolt so it is only supports 8bpc instead of 10bpc at 5K.

Other 5K displays may be 2160 tall or 1440 tall. They are larger but have fewer pixels which means they are not meant to be retina displays.

Yes that's right. I've ordered a LG 38WK95C-W seems to be a good compromise.

 

[me505]

I just received the standard Apple XDR Display. It's incredible, big upgrade over the LG 27" 5K displays as far as colors and sharpness. The color is closer to the 16" MacBook Pro screen. In my office, there are no reflections from most angles.

Setup

Here's a comparison to the LG

Just for Fun

 

[Philllllip]

WOW Gorgeous. Congrats
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I have the nano coming in around 5/6 weeks!

 

[syndr0me]

Yeah, that's gorgeous. Jealous!

I'm curious, how low can the monitor get on its stand compared to the LG? I tend to run my monitors fairly low (LG is near bottom) but haven't seen what the range looks like on the XDR with the fancy stand.

 

[HappyIntro]

Great info on this thread, thanks to all. I must not succumb to temptation...argh!

 

[chfilm]

I ordered a nano... but right now I’m thinking again if I should cancel again and get glossy just to match it better with my existing glossy dell...🤔

 

[me505]

I ordered a nano... but right now I’m thinking again if I should cancel again and get glossy just to match it better with my existing glossy dell...🤔

I was a little bit worried about getting the standard glass after seeing all the reviews on the nano. But now that it's in my office, I love it. I have no reflections or glare with my setup, so it all worked out.

 

[chfilm]

I was a little bit worried about getting the standard glass after seeing all the reviews on the nano. But now that it's in my office, I love it. I have no reflections or glare with my setup, so it all worked out.

I'm wondering if I should cancel again and get a glossy one and see if it bothers me...
then again, I'm looking at my glossy Dell and see these reflections:

My problem really is, I never cared about them, but now I can't unsee the nano..

 

[apple2me]

I'm wondering if I should cancel again and get a glossy one and see if it bothers me...
then again, I'm looking at my glossy Dell and see these reflections:

My problem really is, I never cared about them, but now I can't unsee the nano..
View attachment 887519

It is a difficult decision. But if you prefer nano and/or your work environment will be enhanced then stay with it.

 

[MRrainer]

I just received the standard Apple XDR Display. It's incredible, big upgrade over the LG 27" 5K displays as far as colors and sharpness. The color is closer to the 16" MacBook Pro screen. In my office, there are no reflections from most angles.

Setup

Absolutely beautiful setup.

But man, that dock looks tiny!
😀

There is no way in this universe that I can justify buying one of these, (un-)fortunately.

 

[chfilm]

It is a difficult decision. But if you prefer nano and/or your work environment will be enhanced then stay with it.

It's just a gut feeling that the nano wows me more, at least in the store, I just found myself constatly looking at how crazy videos and pictures looked on it. And it's a fact that I have reflections on my screen, I just never cared, but I think it'll be better to get rid of them of course.

 

[hakonik]

Could someone with the monitor please test and see if XDR luminance shift shown in this video is a real issue on basic use, or if the guy who made the video just has the monitor in some reference/hdr mode or whatever? I suppose it is due to backlit system not being able to handle the small white area properly when everything is dark next to it. I would maybe understand that if the white rectangle is brighter than basic non-hdr white. But that looks a bit extreme even then.

And here is a thread I found this from: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=104153&start=50

 

[macpro2000]

I'm so excited to get 3 of these but my darn AppleStore doesn't think they will even get a pair in to demo. I really don't want to have to buy 6 of them just to return 3 of them after I decide which ones I want.

 

[syndr0me]

Could someone with the monitor please test and see if XDR luminance shift shown in this video is a real issue on basic use, or if the guy who made the video just has the monitor in some reference/hdr mode or whatever? I suppose it is due to backlit system not being able to handle the small white area properly when everything is dark next to it. I would maybe understand that if the white rectangle is brighter than basic non-hdr white. But that looks a bit extreme even then.

And here is a thread I found this from: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=104153&start=50

Any chance the price drops by half once people realize the monitor isn't adequate for grading?

 

[Adult80HD]

Could someone with the monitor please test and see if XDR luminance shift shown in this video is a real issue on basic use, or if the guy who made the video just has the monitor in some reference/hdr mode or whatever? I suppose it is due to backlit system not being able to handle the small white area properly when everything is dark next to it. I would maybe understand that if the white rectangle is brighter than basic non-hdr white. But that looks a bit extreme even then.

And here is a thread I found this from: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=104153&start=50

This shouldn't surprise anyone; it's exactly what you *should* expect on a FALD array display. That's a tiny white patch in a sea of black; you'd need a huge number of zones in the display to not have this problem. Once you move that gray option box away from the full black area the system dims that zone. You need OLED or microLED to make that tiny white patch in a sea of black stay perfectly white.

 

[Menno87]

What is the max brigtness lumiance in normal macos desktop mode (xdr profile)? Is this supposed to be 1000 or 500.

 

[hakonik]

This shouldn't surprise anyone..

Well it is not a surprise if you are handling HDR stuff. But here the question was if this monitor is not capable of handling SDR content without local dimming. And therefore would have visible problems in situation where all good monitors from past 5 years without issues.

 

[nethead]

if this monitor is not capable of handling SDR content without local dimming

I think it's not so much "is not capable of", but rather that it uses local dimming to improve the contrast ratio of SDR content, too - which is pretty nice usually, but may occasionally show artifacts like that.

If you switch to one of the other reference modes (what about the "Apple Display (P3-500 nits)"?), maybe it doesn't use dimming for SDR? Haven't tested it myself, just an idea.

 

[hakonik]

Yes, I hope also that depends on the mode. But will have to make sure before ordering.

 

[Adult80HD]

Could someone with the monitor please test and see if XDR luminance shift shown in this video is a real issue on basic use, or if the guy who made the video just has the monitor in some reference/hdr mode or whatever? I suppose it is due to backlit system not being able to handle the small white area properly when everything is dark next to it. I would maybe understand that if the white rectangle is brighter than basic non-hdr white. But that looks a bit extreme even then.

And here is a thread I found this from: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=104153&start=50

So I did this little test this morning. First off, people should be aware that this is basically a "worst case" scenario--pure white against pure black, and a very tiny small area of white. That's basically a guaranteed way to make any FALD display show some interesting effects. I think the camera may be exaggerating the effect a little, as I did the same test on my nano XDR and it was not nearly as strong. Had I not been looking for it I might not have noticed. I did try it in several different modes, such as the standard 500 nits Apple Display mode and in the 1600 nits ProDisplay XDR mode and it was pretty much the same no matter what.

I also looked for blooming, with the lights turned off and the room completely black. You should note that this is NOT how standard color grading is done, BTW--most guides for color grading recommend having a D65 light at a fixed lumen value behind you, to replicate "normal" viewing and light conditions. That said, it is a great way to stress test the blooming. With the same tiny patch of white on a pure black background I can just barely see some purplish-blue blooming when I lean pretty far off-axis from straight on viewing.

On the other hand in the same conditions a 27" iMac and my LG 5K don't even look black--the XDR just blows them away for producing a true black. Check out the attached photo to compare. Can you replace a $35-45K reference monitor with an XDR? No. Is it way closer to a true a reference monitor than a regular desktop display, definitely. How close? I have no idea, but I can tell you that it's way better in daily use than my LG 5K, and the price for a 32" 6K display with the color gamut, FALD and brightness capabilities are pretty much unmatched right now. The AsusProArt PA32UCX is close, but only 4K, and not as bright (1400 nits). It will set you back $3999, but the stand is included. It does have more FALD zones though, which should help with blooming in theory, but it's hard to say given the other technology Apple has used. Asus is releasing another version of this display soon with 1600 nits, but it will also only be 4K (although with a 120 Hz refresh rate and double the zones). The price isn't known yet, but it's presumed it will run more than the lower-spec version. In that light the Apple display doesn't seem so expensive, well except for that crazy stand price.

Now for that photo showing how black black really is on the XDR. From left to right, it's my 27" iMac, the 5K LG Ultrafine and then the nano XDR. All with a jet black screen (www.lightbleedtest.com).

 

[hakonik]

So I did this little test this morning..

Thanks for this. Sounds like this is tolerable, but I will have to check the monitor before buying.

 

[chfilm]

So I did this little test this morning. First off, people should be aware that this is basically a "worst case" scenario--pure white against pure black, and a very tiny small area of white. That's basically a guaranteed way to make any FALD display show some interesting effects. I think the camera may be exaggerating the effect a little, as I did the same test on my nano XDR and it was not nearly as strong. Had I not been looking for it I might not have noticed. I did try it in several different modes, such as the standard 500 nits Apple Display mode and in the 1600 nits ProDisplay XDR mode and it was pretty much the same no matter what.

I also looked for blooming, with the lights turned off and the room completely black. You should note that this is NOT how standard color grading is done, BTW--most guides for color grading recommend having a D65 light at a fixed lumen value behind you, to replicate "normal" viewing and light conditions. That said, it is a great way to stress test the blooming. With the same tiny patch of white on a pure black background I can just barely see some purplish-blue blooming when I lean pretty far off-axis from straight on viewing.

On the other hand in the same conditions a 27" iMac and my LG 5K don't even look black--the XDR just blows them away for producing a true black. Check out the attached photo to compare. Can you replace a $35-45K reference monitor with an XDR? No. Is it way closer to a true a reference monitor than a regular desktop display, definitely. How close? I have no idea, but I can tell you that it's way better in daily use than my LG 5K, and the price for a 32" 6K display with the color gamut, FALD and brightness capabilities are pretty much unmatched right now. The AsusProArt PA32UCX is close, but only 4K, and not as bright (1400 nits). It will set you back $3999, but the stand is included. It does have more FALD zones though, which should help with blooming in theory, but it's hard to say given the other technology Apple has used. Asus is releasing another version of this display soon with 1600 nits, but it will also only be 4K (although with a 120 Hz refresh rate and double the zones). The price isn't known yet, but it's presumed it will run more than the lower-spec version. In that light the Apple display doesn't seem so expensive, well except for that crazy stand price.

Now for that photo showing how black black really is on the XDR. From left to right, it's my 27" iMac, the 5K LG Ultrafine and then the nano XDR. All with a jet black screen (www.lightbleedtest.com).
View attachment 887832

How well do you tolerate the glossy screens next to the nano? I’m really anxious about this.. guess it’s just a temporary solution. Loving the nano coating?

 

[Adult80HD]

How well do you tolerate the glossy screens next to the nano? I’m really anxious about this.. guess it’s just a temporary solution. Loving the nano coating?

I hate reflections so I was willing to pay for the nano. I don't mind them too much side by side to be honest. When I look at the LG I can see that it's a tiny sharper on text, but I got the XDR to edit my images, where there's not text involved. If I turn off the LG I never even think about the slight softening of the text on the nano. If it helps, I ordered a second nano XDR, I like it that much.
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I just received the standard Apple XDR Display. It's incredible, big upgrade over the LG 27" 5K displays as far as colors and sharpness. The color is closer to the 16" MacBook Pro screen. In my office, there are no reflections from most angles.

First: Your office is insanely clean and organized. Do you actually do ANY work there?

Second: It seems like the LG has a more greenish cast, have you noticed that? My LG seems to lean way more green than the XDR, even when I've calibrated it.

 

[me505]

First: Your office is insanely clean and organized. Do you actually do ANY work there?

Second: It seems like the LG has a more greenish cast, have you noticed that? My LG seems to lean way more green than the XDR, even when I've calibrated it.

It's the only way I get work done, the organized space helps me focus. And yes, the LG is more green and cool in tones.