ASUS Officially Won - 4K 240Hz OLED PG32UCDM Update

Thank you to Ruipro for sponsoring this video! (Monitors & Firmware Below!)

I was just finishing up hours of testing on the ASUS 4K 240Hz 32” QD OLED monitor when, surprise…

ASUS drops a firmware update, which based on the notes seemed like a big one. A really big one, and it was, so out the window all that testing had to go, because their HDR performance with this new update has changed quite a bit.

Now if you’ve been watching my reviews you’ll likely know that while these 32” OLEDs are in my opinion the best monitor tech we have today, they do have a few downsides, the biggest one being unimpressive HDR brightness where they get absolutely clapped by their TV counterparts, and unfortunately you have to choose on many of these monitors between a mode which allows the monitor to hit up to 1,000 nits, but drastically reduces the average brightness, or an HDR400 True Black mode which tracks correctly and is much brighter overall, but limits the monitor to a maximum of roughly 480nits.

New Update - 0:00
ASUS - 1:06
Brightness - 1:36
Accuracy - 5:54
Big Improvement - 7:15
Feedback - 8:04
Review - 10:04
Cables - 10:22

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Music

[thedisplayguy]

Thank you to Ruipro for sponsoring this video! (Monitors & Firmware Below!)

[ColemakDH]

Just purchased, I'll almost certainly regret this, but that's an issue for future me

[pdamasco]

I'm so glad I bought this monitor a few weeks ago. It has been great so far and now I can't wait to update the firmware and get even more out of it! Great news and looking forward to your final thoughts.

[vladyatskiv]

Those who struggling about the best HDR settings:
Windows HDR calibration: 0, 800, 260
Why 800 and not 1000 - it helps to mitigate clipping (over-brighten the details)
Monitor: Console HD + boost
Game: Lower in-game brightness (paper-white) settings. For example in Alan Wake I lower it from 200 nits to 140 nits

OR

Just use Gaming HDR, if you ok with raised blacks and greys.

All depends on the game you play. If the game is mostly dark scenes Gaming HDR and Cinema HDR are not for me as it fills like some kind filter is enabled.

[jackw]

For your final review, can you please test EOTF tracking in each mode with window sizes larger than 10%? TFTCentral showed all the QD-OLED monitors are dimmer on 25%-50% sized windows when you run them in Peak 1000 mode vs HDR400 TrueBlack modes. From your description it sounds like Asus might be the first to address this issue but would be nice to see it confirmed with full EOTF measurements. Also please test for HDR black crush as some of these monitors seem to crush everything between gray levels 65-80 or near black 2%.

[erqey]

LFG!! I got one about a month ago and I was already very very happy with it. Cyberpunk 2077 like absolutely amazing on it. Great to see it's getting even better

[keyoske]

I am loving my PG32UCDM! PG32UCDM FTW!

[marcel]

The Asus PG32UCDM may be a great monitor, but it costs almost 600€ more than the Alienware. And that improvement is not worth it!

[HeavyComponent]

I got this monitor because I couldn't wait for the MPG32 that's $950. To be honest I'm glad I got this one and I just did the update. HDR brightness is night and day. I use to see a smokey washed out image, I'm not sure who else had that. But now it's clear!

[justwhitely]

I've had this monitor for months, and I'm really glad I decided to buy it. Been waiting for this firmware update, and it's finally here! It's definitely the best monitor I've ever used

[BlueSkyleaf]

HUGE thank you for making the video, ASUS really dropped the ball on communication here not even mentioning the changes to the other HDR modes (But they did a great job on the tech obviously)! I am really curious as you kinda forgot to compare console hdr wihtout boost which seems to be the only "dark" mode left. Did all the modes besides it actually get brighter too compared to before? Asus only mentioned the boost but my testing showed it seems to affect all modes. Your video obviously seems to confirm tat but just double checking.

[ExecutionerDan]

I remember the pg32uq i think it is which was a 4k 144hz monitor which back then was revolutionary.

[thepowerwithin]

I would like to see a side-by-side comparison with new Samsung OLED Odyssey G8 2024 vs this monitor with the new update so you can I would like to see a side-by-side comparison in gaming so I can see what one should i buy

[demproblems]

Got delivery of 2 of these monitors for work and gaming. They are insane!!! Gaming is on another level

[TheSmurray]

Nice, literally ordered one 30 minutes ago

[flyingpj]

2:00 a DVD player lol, I will say being able to hook up an Apple TV 4k to my AW3225QF and get Dolby Vision is pretty nice

[G-man_]

I would kill for a comprehensive guide for optimal HDR settings, including the monitor and Nvidia control panel. 🙏

[xorycx]

I hope Dell does the same thing on the AW3225QF

[YGadgETech]

How it’s compare to the Aorus 32 4k glossy dp2.1 ? Brightness and picture quality

[LightofHope]

I heard bad things about ASUS warranty. Aside from that, this would have been my first choice. I have the AW3225QF and find it very nice.