the colors on my new lg ultrawide look washed out and dull compared to my old monitor, especially blacks.

— asked by Taylor

Quick answer: The default picture mode is likely set to a low-contrast, energy-saving preset. The IPS panel's native contrast ratio is 1000:1, which can appear muted if not configured.

Diagnosis

The default picture mode is likely set to a low-contrast, energy-saving preset. The IPS panel's native contrast ratio is 1000:1, which can appear muted if not configured.

How to Fix It

Press the joystick to open the main menu. Navigate to Picture > Picture Mode. Change from "Reader" or "sRGB" to "Custom". Then go to Picture > Brightness and adjust Contrast to 70 and Black Level to 55 as a baseline. Ensure Gamma is set to Mode 2.

If That Didn't Work

The washed-out look may be from the graphics card outputting a Limited (16-235) RGB range. On an NVIDIA card, open NVIDIA Control Panel, go to Display > Change resolution, and set Output dynamic range to Full. On AMD Radeon Settings, go to Display and toggle the HDMI/DCP pixel format to Full RGB.

Heads Up

Do not use the HDR Effect mode for standard content. It artificially boosts contrast and will crush shadow detail. True HDR content requires enabling HDR in Windows Display Settings, but this monitor has limited HDR10 capability (350 nits peak).

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