Dell G3223Q Review

The HDR brightness is good as long as you have the monitor updated to the latest firmware and you're using the 'Custom Color HDR' Smart HDR mode. Firmware version M3T103 added this mode in Smart HDR, and it gets brighter than 'DisplayHDR 600,' which is what we originally used for testing. After the update, 'DisplayHDR 600' has a Real Scene brightness of 524 cd/m² with most test windows around 615–660 cd/m², and it has frame dimming with 2% highlights. Overall, using 'Custom Color HDR' results in brighter highlights, including smaller ones that stand out more.

The monitor follows the target PQ EOTF curve well if you enable Source Tone Map in Console Mode, but there's a sharp cut-off at the peak brightness, leading to a loss of fine details in bright scenes. The EOTF is also similar in 'DisplayHDR 600' with Source Tone Map on. Disabling Source Tone Map leads to a slower roll-off, preserving details, but the roll-off also happens sooner, which means some scenes aren't as bright as intended. You can see the EOTF with Source Tone Map disabled in 'Custom Color HDR' here.