Gigabyte M27U Review

This monitor has an edge-lit local dimming feature with only eight zones, and it performs terribly. You can only turn it on in HDR, and while leaving it off results in less blooming, setting it to 'High' delivers the best results with it on. Like most edge-lit local dimming features, it doesn't do much to improve the picture quality in dark scenes because most content causes all the zones to turn on. Because of this, there isn't any visible black crush, but you also lose details in scenes with small bright highlights, like a star field. The zones are quick to turn on but slower to turn off, which is noticeable when fast-moving objects transition between zones. There's also some color shift in the process.

Unfortunately, the biggest downside to an edge-lit local dimming feature is the blooming between zones that are on and off. This is distracting when there are small bright objects in dark scenes or when there are subtitles. However, because brighter content causes all the zones to turn on, this isn't as much of an issue with most things you watch.