What You Need to Know MSI OLED Monitors – Uniform Brightness
Monitors
In this article, we will discuss the brightness settings of MSI's new QD-OLED Monitors. Before delving into the settings, it's essential to understand APL and ABL.
What is APL?
APL, or Average Picture Level, refers to the brightness level of a given image on the screen. APL is expressed as a percentage, where 0% indicates a dark image. On the contrary, 100% signifies a full bright image. Usually, when browsing the Internet or doing office work, APL is higher because many office applications and browsers' backgrounds are white. When we are playing games, there are a lot of scenes, so APL is a dynamic value. It is usually at 10-50%.
What is ABL?
The full name of ABL is Auto Brightness Limiter. You may be unfamiliar with ABL because it is usually on OLED display not on LCD. OLED panels have limitations on energy consumption. When displaying a large bright image, each pixel of the OLED panel needs to lower its brightness to stay within the energy limits.
Why MSI Uniformes the Brightness?
ABL can be problematic in certain situations, such as when working in an office or performing tasks that require frequent window dragging. The constant changes in brightness can be uncomfortable for the eyes.
Even though ABL usually doesn’t work dramatically in the SDR games. For some gamers, even minor changes in brightness can impact their performance. Shifts in light and shadow can be distracting, diverting attention and potentially leading to negative outcomes.
Default Brightness of MSI OLED Monitors
To address this issue, MSI has implemented uniform brightness settings on our OLED monitors when in SDR mode. When the MSI OLED Monitors are in SDR Mode, the brightness will be 200-250 units. Make sure our users won’t be affected by the frequent changes in the brightness. Below, we provide the detailed data for both SDR and HDR modes.
Mode
APL%
Nits
HDR(True Black 400)
100%
Around 250
HDR(True Black 400)
10%
400~450
HDR(Peak)
3%z
800~1000
SDR
N/A
200~250
Demo
SDR:
When we are in SDR Mode, the brightness won’t change despite the APL having any change.
HDR:
Once we turn on HDR, the ABL will work, and according to the percentage of APL, the brightness will go up or down.
