The multiple explosions tear a sharp shrill around you, as hordes of aliens descend on your position. You ready your weapon with your high-end game controller even as the premium speakers emit clear sounds of your dire situation. But in front of you, everything looks… off, as if you’re seeing things through a bad video reception. In the world of gaming where we spend on audio equipment and controllers, investing in a high-quality gaming monitor is also a game-changer, as the visual senses are the first steps through how we perceive immersion, and BenQ’s MOBIUZ line is a prime example of how technology can elevate the visual gaming experience.
These premium monitors aren’t just about displaying sharp, detailed images as they are also designed to plunge gamers into the heart of their favourite virtual worlds. With its crystal-clear image quality and swift refresh rates, MOBIUZ monitors promise a deeply immersive experience for users, from far flung alien worlds in Destiny 2 Lightfall to fantastical realms in Baldur’s Gate 3.
It all starts from enhancing the visual quality. The introduction of the Newly Optimized HDRi and Color Shuttle features marks a significant stride in the evolution of gaming monitors. The HDRi technology brings a new level of depth and colour vibrancy to the screen, making every scene more engaging. Meanwhile, the Color Shuttle feature allows gamers to tailor their visual experience with unprecedented precision, adapting to the unique aesthetic of each game or personal preference.
These latest features from BenQ’s MOBIUZ monitors are reshaping the landscape of gaming visuals, technology, bringing a new level of vibrancy and increased detail to the game worlds. Available via BenQ’s display QuicKit, the HDRi upgrade now offers more vivid colours and adjustable vibrance, tailored to both ambient lighting conditions and on-screen content.
Use the slider above to see the difference with the newly optimized HDRi on a scene in Cyberpunk 2077.
With the understanding that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t suit the diverse gaming landscape, the team at BenQ has smartly revised their HDRi technology. This revamp means enhanced detail resolution in all lighting conditions, making games more immersive and visually stunning. The addition of Colour Vibrance, offering 20 levels of saturation adjustment, empowers gamers to fine-tune their screens for an optimal viewing experience.
Addressing the needs of both movie buffs and gaming aficionados, the Newly Optimized HDRi features two modes: Game HDRi and Cinema HDRi. Game HDRi amplifies contrast and saturation, particularly in red tones, crucial for realistic skin tones and environmental textures. Cinema HDRi, on the other hand, fine-tunes each pixel’s colour balance and contrast for consistent performance across various scenes.
Upgrading to this new feature is a breeze with the hassle-free firmware updates, now available for specific MOBIUZ models such as EX480UZ, EX3210U, EX2710U, EX2710Q, EX270QM, EX3410R, and EX3415R.
Updating is straightforward – ensure you have a single-monitor setup, establish both video and data connections between the PC and the monitor, download the firmware, and run the update via the BenQ Display QuicKit.
When the BenQ EX3210U monitor, featuring a 3840 x 2160 resolution with a variable refresh rate up to 144Hz, was used to play Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6 Core processor, it delivered a significant enhancement in both viewing and gaming experiences. The high resolution and refresh rate provided a smooth and crisp visual quality, making every detail in the games sharp and fluid, contributing greatly to the immersive experience.
The monitor’s HDRi technology, a key feature, provided images with greater depth and vibrancy. This enhancement was particularly noticeable in the Game HDRi mode, where the dynamic range of colours and contrast vividly brought virtual worlds to life, sharpening details and defining environments more clearly. The games’ environments appeared more realistic, with subtle nuances in lighting and shadows becoming more pronounced, thus significantly boosting overall immersion.
Switching to Cinema HDRi mode, the monitor was tested with streaming content from platforms like YouTube. The Cinema HDRi mode fine-tuned the colour balance and contrast, making the movie scenes appear more vivid and lifelike. The enhanced contrast ratio brought a new level of depth and dimensionality to the visuals, making the viewing experience more engaging. Dark scenes were easier to navigate without losing detail, while bright scenes maintained their vibrancy without being overexposed. Overall, the BenQ monitor’s Cinema mode significantly improved our streaming experience, making movies and TV shows more enjoyable with its superior visual quality.
As BenQ elevates gaming visuals with its Newly Optimized HDRi technology, offering unrivalled detail and colour accuracy, it’s clear that the visual component is crucial in gaming. Understanding the importance of immersive visuals, BenQ has taken another significant step by launching Color Shuttle.
Recognising that visuals can make or break the gaming experience, the company has also introduced Color Shuttle, a software application that allows gamers to apply expertly defined colour settings to their MOBIUZ monitors, enhancing each game’s visual appeal with just a few clicks.
Color Shuttle is all about ease of use and customisation. It taps into the expertise of BenQ’s colour analysts and seasoned gamers to create a range of presets specifically tailored for popular games. These presets are readily available for download, allowing gamers to instantly enhance their favourite titles with expertly calibrated visuals. The flexibility to save these settings locally or to the cloud means that gamers can switch between their customised presets as effortlessly as they switch between games.
But what truly sets Color Shuttle apart is its community-driven approach. Gamers can not only apply presets created by experts but also share their own custom configurations on social media. This feature turns Color Shuttle into a collaborative platform where gamers can exchange tips and tricks to achieve the best visual settings for various titles. Whether it’s intensifying the realism or bringing out the vibrant colours of a game’s world, Color Shuttle offers a way to do it easily and effectively.
For those who want to dive in, using Color Shuttle is straightforward. After downloading the software from BenQ’s official website, gamers can explore and apply different colour profiles. If a particular profile catches their eye, they can simply download and apply it to their monitor. Moreover, users are not restricted to these profiles; they can fine-tune them according to their preferences and even share their personalised settings with the community.
Since there is no color profile for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on Color Shuttle just yet, gamers can download one here, specially curated by Geek Culture ourselves.
BenQ’s Colour Experts and content creators from the gaming community have meticulously crafted these colour profiles, packing an optimal visual experience. The icing on the cake, though, is that popular games like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Resident Evil 4 already have these enhanced colour profiles ready for use.
Currently, Color Shuttle is available for specific MOBIUZ models like the EX270QM and EX3210U, with plans to expand compatibility to more models. This tool represents BenQ’s commitment to constantly upgrading its features, focusing on what gamers genuinely need for an enhanced gaming experience. For MOBIUZ monitor owners, Color Shuttle offers a new way to experience games, transforming the way colours and visuals are enjoyed.
All in all, BenQ MOBIUZ’s introduction of Newly Optimized HDRi and Color Shuttle marks a significant leap in gaming technology. These features are a testament to BenQ’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of gamers. With the Newly Optimized HDRi, gamers can now enjoy more vivid colours and adjustable vibrance, all customised to their content and ambient lighting conditions. This innovation, backed by BenQ’s proprietary algorithms, brings an unprecedented level of detail and realism to the gaming visuals.