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日本AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx monitor – Specs, Pros / Cons: A Niche Product With a Lot of Features
What is AOPEN and what are we opening? Some Asian brands are truly confusing, and AOPEN is one of them. A subsidiary of Acer, it makes all kinds of electronics from PCs and monitors all the way to intelligent Gym equipment, so you can get your gains on the gaming side and IRL. Today we have their 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx, which is just a bunch of letters and numbers, however, the specs sheet offers a lot more than that.
There’s a 27-inch VA panel with a Quad HD resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate, a 4ms response time, which is still good enough for gaming, and AMD FreeSync technology, which ties everything together. What really surprised us was the color coverage on this monitor, as we get tons of colors, with almost the entire DCI-P3 color gamut (it even stretches beyond it in certain areas).
You can check the current price of the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)
Contents
Specs sheet, Assembly, Drivers, Design, Connectivity
| Screen size | 27 inch (68.58 cm) |
|---|---|
| Refresh rate | 165Hz |
| Response time | 4ms |
| Panel type | VA |
| Backlight type | LED |
| Screen finish | Matte |
| Resolution | 2560 x 1440 (QHD) |
| Technologies |
|
| I/O |
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What’s in the box? Assembly
Drivers and Software
You can find all downloadable for the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx on AOPEN’s Support Portal. There are tons of user manuals and no drivers, but only a Display Widget downloadable all the way on page 8, which essentially gives you an OSD menu inside Windows, so you can use a mouse and keyboard to make adjustments to the settings that much easier.
Design and Connectivity
The design of the AOPEN is impressive, especially considering the low price. The curved screen is one thing, but the silver finish on the stand legs and the red accents really do give it a unique feel when compared to Acer’s Nitro and Predator monitors. The stand itself is very adjustable, offering Tilt, Swivel, and Height adjustment. There are built-in speakers, which are rather powerful, with 2x 3W units. In terms of the port selection, there are two HDMI 2.0 ports, a single DisplayPort 1.4 port, and an audio jack.
Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict
The AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx brings a 27-inch Full HD screen (2560 x 1440), which calculates to a pixel density of 108.79 PPI, a pitch of 0.2335 x 0.2335 mm, and a Retina distance of 31.60 inches or 80.26 cm. From this distance, the human eye can’t distinguish individual pixels.
The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 5890 K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.18.
Color coverage
Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.
Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx can show:
Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content
AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 96% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
(Fig.1) AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx covers 100% of the Web colors (sRGB)
This means that if the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.
Color accuracy
Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the ones you’ll see on the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.
For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.
Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx, the Average color accuracy was 3.6 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 2.3 dE (Fig. 3), which is a 156% increase in accuracy. While you’re above the 2.0 mark that we usually like to see, we’re pretty close, and the color coverage is insane.
(Fig. 2) AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx in its factory condition
(Fig. 3) AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx with our display profilesComparison in the Display P3 color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).
Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile
Gaming and Movies
We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile
BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx.
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
Here’s how to prepare thе monitor for our profiles:
1. Open the OSD menu (On-Screen Display)
2. Reset Settings: Go to Menu ➡️ Information ➡️ Reset All Settings, and click ‘Yes’.
3. Brightness: Navigate to Image ➡️ Brightness and set it to 50% for optimal viewing.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
Verdict
The AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx is a rather unknown gaming monitor, as the AOPEN brand is niche and not as popular as Acer. Despite that, this monitor is a hidden gem, offering a lot of features for its price. A big problem is that the monitor isn’t available in many markets, so it’s really 50/50 if you’ll be able to find it in your country. Still, if you manage to find it, this is a great gaming monitor, with the specs and colors to match.
The design of the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx offers a unique aesthetic that’s quite different from Acer’s Nitro and Predator gaming monitors. The stand is a cylinder with three legs and offers Tilt, Swivel, and Height adjustment, which is all you need, considering the curved screen (a Pitvot movement wouldn’t really make sense). The specs include a fast 165Hz refresh rate, a QHD resolution, a 4ms response time, as well as FreeSync Premium support.
In terms of Creator work, the monitor shows quite high color coverage, with 100% of the sRGB gamut and 96% of the DCI-P3 gamut. However, the color accuracy doesn’t get good enough for most Creators. Our Web Design and Office Work profile reduces the dE value from 3.6 to 2.3, which is a decent improvement in accuracy, however, it’s not the best.
The rest of the profiles do their own thing, like the Gaming and Movies profile doing its best to keep the contents of the screen visible, even during the darkest scenes and environments, thanks to its ability to stabilize black colors and bring more visibility. Lastly, the health guard keeps both Blue Light and PWM (Flickering) in check, as both have their negative effects on your eyes.
You can check the current price of the AOPEN 27HC2UR Pbmiiphx: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)
Pros
- Great and functional design (a lot of adjustability, curved screen)
- 100% sRGB and 96% DCI-P3 coverage
- 156% more accurate thanks to our Web Design and Office Work profile (dE 3.6 => dE 2.3)
- Very good gaming specs (165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, FreeSync Premium)
Cons
- Slim port selection
