What Is A Wide Color Gamut Monitor?

It’s likely you’ve heard of these before, so it’s only appropriate that we address it now; what is a wide color gamut monitor?

Well for starters, you could say it’s the future. It takes everything we know about our current screens, and ramps it up to 11.

Now the concept of color is one of those little things in life that’s often taken for granted. I mean think about it, when was the last time you wondered how it’s possible that we can perceive color?

Exactly.

Unless you happen to be an artist or into digital photography, it’s just not something that would really cross the average person’s mind. But the reality is we’re one of the few lucky few beings on the planet capable of visualizing the entirety of the color spectrum.

With that being said, how much of the spectrum do you think current television sets and monitors are able to display? 90 percent?

80?

Surprisingly it’s a number much lower than that. The fact is, standard displays are only capable of producing 16,777,216 colors out of potential billions!

So it’s obvious that we’re missing out on a huge amount of visual information. Knowing this, industry leaders have managed to come out with displays that can reproduce a majority of those missing colors, giving a much more vibrant and life-like image. How exactly do these work though, and better yet, should you get one?

Let’s find out!

How We Interpret Color

How Do Standard Color Displays Work?

How Do Wide Color Gamut Monitors Work?

The Advantages Of Wide Color

The Disadvantages Of Wide Color

What Is the Best Wide Color Computer Monitor?

What Is The Best Wide Color Television?

Should You Calibrate?

Final Thoughts

How We Interpret Color

So to really understand these new displays, it would only make sense to understand how we see colors in the first place.

To start, a typical screen makes use of red green & blue pixels.

With that, and the interesting thing is, a variety of colors is able to be created from just those 3 which is pretty cool to think about.

For example by adding the right amount of red and blue together, it allows them create magenta. If you add them all together in a certain way, you could create a different color, and so on.

By utilizing different combinations for each pixel, what you ultimately get is a full picture. The technical side of it is talked about more here if curious. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_space#Intuition

But here’s the real question though; why red, green, and blue of all colors?

Well the answer to that has to do with how we as humans see. In each of our eye balls, we have what are known as rods and cones.

Basically in those, we have 3 different types of proteins in our eyes that allows for you guessed it, seeing red blue, and green.

This is what is known as trichromatic vision (tri meaning 3, and chromatic relating to colors)

https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/primate/color.htm

Due to this, manufacturers originally decided that using these 3 would make the most sense since our vision is based off of this trio. The rest as they say, is history.

How Do Standard Color Displays Work?

Now believe it or not, there are different color models in existence as well; ranging from things like CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, & black) used for printing, and Adobe RGB  for digital editing which uses a greater variation between the primary colors.

But for the average monitor or display, sRGB is the widely accepted standard (with the s meaning standard) This is then implemented with what is known as 8 bit color depth.

Think of a bit as stored information, and depth as how many colors it can render.

The more bits you have, the more information you can store. So without making this too complicated (because it can get pretty in depth), if you have the standard 8 bit color, there’s 256 colors with regard to each red, green, & blue value, or 16,777,216 total possible colors overall.

This is also known as Rec. 709. More on that here if you’re curious about the science behind it. https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/bit-depth.htm

Over 16 million colors sounds like a lot though right? Well the problem is, even with the potential of displaying that many, there are still millions more that aren’t represented.

That brings us to the next topic at hand..

How Do Wide Color Gamut Monitors Work?

Wide Color! Cool.. what is it?

Besides being commonly referred to as Rec.2020, think of wide color as any device capable of displaying more than the usual 16 million colors. They were introduced with the intention of improving overall the viewing experience by ways of offering colors unable to be shown prior.

Now it’s important to keep in mind that when the term wide color gamut is mentioned, what is typically being inferred is 10 bit color; more specifically DCI-P3. That’s the standard that wide gamut displays mainly use right now.

While Rec2020 is the golden standard technically, it’s also indicative of the entirety of the visible color spectrum, which is something that our current technology isn’t quite up to snuff with just yet at least widespread.

So when you see screens that tout 100 percent color accuracy, they’re often talking about within the DCI-P3 spectrum, not necessarily Rec2020. Though this may change as technology becomes more advanced.

But still, 10 bit is certainly nothing to scoff at. Remember how I previously said that 8 bit screens were capable of displaying 256 possible colors for each red, green, & blue pixel?

Well in the case of 10 bit, this is bumped up 64 times to 1024. So If there’s 1024 for each possible pixel, that means there’s a total of 1,073,741,824 colors. That’s over a billion, which is absolutely insane!

What’s even crazier is the fact that an even newer, lesser talked about format exists called 12 bit color.

With this, the total is bumped up to an even more impressive 68 billion.

Yeah, absolutely incredible.

By now, you’re probably wondering what the point of that many colors even is to begin with, so let’s get to the numerous advantages that a wide color monitor does have to offer.

The Advantages Of Wide Color

#1 More Overall Colors

Obviously the jump from 16 million to over a billion colors is an extremely big leap in terms of capability. So with this many to choose from, images are able to be much more vibrant and dynamic than they ever could be before.

Take it from somebody who has one already; if the TV is properly optimized, it can make a big difference visually.

#2 More Accurate Colors

Truth be told, I think this is the biggest draw when it comes to a wide gamut display; accuracy. With 10 or 12 bits of color as opposed to 8, the amount of visual information they can relay is improved tenfold.

In other words, the screens utilizing this technology are incredibly more accurate than before since there’s more hues and shades to choose from per pixel.

What do you get as a result of this?

Images that are much more realistic and true to life. So for example if there’s a scene with a rainforest, instead of using 100 shades of green, it might be able to use 1000 shades of green just for that particular tree.

Come to think of it, it’s actually similar to HDR in that regard; in that colors are much more nuanced and gradated.

That brings us to the next advantage..

#3 Less Banding Resulting In Smoother Images

It’s hard to convey what banding looks like without seeing it for yourself, but I’ll give you an idea by offering an analogy.

Let’s say you have a scene where there’s a blue sky that goes from light blue, to dark blue.

Now in person, that transition from light to dark would look gradual right?

Well imagine that instead of that smooth transition, there was a distinctive separation between each shade of blue. This is where the term banding comes from. Instead of one cohesive image, there are separate bands of a similar color that make up the picture.

This is actually what is happening on the average screen.

With wide color however, there are plenty more shades to choose from so that change has a lot more gradation and nuance.

It also happens to be why 4K and HDR pair so well together with it since that combination of additional pixels and additional color gives you a supremely clean image.

The Disadvantages Of Wide Color

Of course, there are certain drawbacks that you should aware of as well should you be interested in getting one for yourself.

#1 Sensitive Eyes May Find It Uncomfortable

Due to the fact there’s a lot more dynamism introduced, images will be dramatically more lifelike and colorful.

However that could be part of the problem for some people. If you have really sensitive eyes, or you’re not particularly used to it, chances are you may not like it.

For people with really sensitive eyes, it could run the risk of coming off as a bit too much so keep that in mind if that sounds like you.

This could also be exacerbated in relation to the amount of blue light exposure you’re getting as well.

https://easyhometheater.net/is-blue-light-harmful-to-the-eyes

#2 Things Originally Recorded With RGB In Mind May Look Odd On The New Format

This isn’t something of a certainty since it’ll honestly depend on the content, the display, and that individual’s eyes.

But do keep in mind that with one of these new displays, there is a chance that old content may look a little off or even odd.

I never personally noticed that at all, but again, everyone’s different.

What Is the Best Wide Color Computer Monitor?

Winner: LG 27MD5KB-B Ultrafine 27″

So with all of this, let’s say you were interested in getting a new extended color monitor (because even a quality desktop monitor is a part of home theater which I’ll be covering in later articles)

Which one would be the best to get?

If I had to recommend just one, it’d probably be the LG 27MD5KB-B Ultrafine 27″

I seriously couldn’t say enough good things about this one, it’s really that good. Besides supporting awesome picture clarity, it also has 10 bit support as well.

That means you’re getting over a billion colors and the support of a wide color gamut with this one; so movies, shows, etc. will be incredibly immersive and enjoyable.

It even has wide viewing angles, meaning people off to the side of the display won’t suffer from a degradation in picture quality.

It’s also 27 inches in total, which is pretty big for a computer screen.

Even for gamers, it has a fast response time which makes games feel much more responsive and fluid.

All of this makes for an all around amazing performer.

LG 27MD5KB-B Ultrafine 27″

What Is The Best Wide Color Television?

Winner: Samsung 65-Inch Class QLED 4K Q80C Series

Now if we switch over to the TV side, that’s a tough one. All things considered, I’d have to say one of them is definitely the SAMSUNG 65-Inch Class QLED 4K Q80C Series

This is a particularly unique television in that it uses what are known as quantum dots.

To put it briefly, quantum dots are microscopic particles that glow a certain color when light is shined through them.

By applying these to every single pixel, you basically get a display capable of a lot more vibrancy and accuracy.

I did an entire article on it if you’re curious about that. https://easyhometheater.net/what-is-samsung-qled-technology

Simply put, this is one of the best TVs I’ve ever seen. The image quality is just impeccable.

Then on top of that, you of course get the standard features you’d expect from a high quality set like high dynamic range and UHD.

If you’re in the market for a top of the line TV, this is certainly a solid choice.

Samsung 65-Inch Class QLED 4K Q80C Series

Should You Calibrate?

So after you’ve gotten you’re new screen, you’ll definitely want to calibrate it or at least optimize it. If you don’t, the colors will may be off, and it might not show the full capabilities of the display.

Now there are a few ways to do this, so if you’re on a PC, here’s a helpful guide detailing that.

If you plan on doing most of your watching on a television however, then this may help.

https://easyhometheater.net/how-to-optimize-your-tv

Final Thoughts

Hopefully with all of this being said, you now have an understanding of what a wide color gamut monitor actually is.

While it certainly hasn’t around for too long, they’ve undoubtedly left their mark as this technology is already being touted as the next eventual standard in video formatting.

That is until the potential emergence and adoption of Micro LED technology or even 8K!

It remains to be seen whether this will be the case though. But with all the ineffable benefits they do offer, I can’t see why they wouldn’t be at some point at least.

So with that, it’s exciting to think about what may come next when it comes to visual technology.

That just about does it for now though.

Until next time; make it easy, keep it simple.

Jay

Hey everyone it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jay, writer & founder of the site Easy Home Theater. I’ve been with the hobby of home entertainment for many years now. I decided to create this site to be a helpful resource, and share everything that I’ve learned from personal experience with you. I also happen to be a huge gamer, lover of all things tech related, and a major fitness buff (love weightlifting)

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