The other interesting aspect is the refresh rate.
There’s a built-in KVM switch as well for using the display with multiple inputs.
you could disable DSC if you want to.
Unfortunately though, the screen composition, layer structure and coating is mostly unchanged relative to first-gen QD-OLED.
Samsung’s 49-inch OLED doesn’t come with a burn in warranty either.
The best part of how OLEDs function is that performance is basically identical at all refresh rates.
There is effectively no difference in response time performance between this QD-OLED and other OLED monitors.
The only difference for motion clarity at the maximum refresh rate is the max refresh itself.
But as far as response times themselves are concerned, all OLEDs are basically the same.
Where the big difference lies is between OLED and LCD.
Here the Asus model is around 10x faster than some of the highest end LCDs on the market today.
It’s also good to confirm excellent cumulative deviation results, though no different from most other OLEDs.
As expected this really is the same technology that delivers the same response time performance as other QD-OLED ultrawides.
Input latency is great, with Asus delivering less than 1ms of processing delay.
In total we get an astonishing 84.4% coverage of Rec.
We’ll be able to confirm that with a second monitor using this panel.
Compared to other monitors, factory greyscale performance is great, while ColorChecker performance is not so great.
Some nice strengths but also some big weaknesses here.
What is pleasing to see is that the PG49WCD has a good range of calibration controls.
Calibrated performance as expected is excellent, and we used Calman for this.
Nevertheless you could achieve great results on a product like this.
Minimum brightness was also good at 17 nits.
HDR Performance
This Asus monitor is a great HDR display.
This is due to OLED technology’s inherent hardware qualities that are tailor-made for displaying HDR content.
OLED therefore has the edge when it comes to displaying clean HDR content with minimal blooming or haloing.
At other times, OLED can have a brightness advantage for small bright objects within a dark scene.
Subtitles will look cleaner on an OLED with reduced blooming.
And generally, OLEDs produce richer shadows thanks to its inherently higher contrast ratio.
Aside from brightness and shadow detail, OLEDs also have other advantages for HDR.
To see what exactly these modes are doing it’s best to look at EOTF tracking charts.
This performance is identical whether we use an AMD or Nvidia GPU.
What’s frustrating about these controls is that larger window size performance differs.
Measuring at a 10% window size in the Console HDR mode delivers very good results and excellent roll-off.
What this all means is that there’s no really accurate HDR mode provided with this monitor.
Where we end up with brightness is reasonable.
HDR: Brightness vs.
Window Size
Here’s what we get with brightness vs window size for a selection of OLED monitors.
Real world brightness is pretty much as expected across the various tests.
Ultracool or Not?
The overall performance isn’t too different from other QD-OLEDswe’vetested.
Yes, Asus is using a second-generation panel, but performance is mostly the same as before.
The panel still reflects ambient light in some situations, reducing the apparent black depth.
But as a content consumption and gaming monitor, the PG49WCD does deliver a great experience.
I’d also like Asus to offer a proper burn in warranty with clear language posted on their website.
At launch Asus told us this display will have a$1,300MSRP, which at first glance seems okay.
But, that’s only an MSRP vs. MSRP comparison.
And that’s basically where our recommendation lies at the moment.
It’s good, but a lesser set of capabilities must mean a lesser price.
