Introduction
Recently, we’ve seen significant advancements in OLED displays, with numerous manufacturers introducing a lot more OLED products in the past 2 years alone versus the previous decaude. MSI’s entry to this trend is the MEG 342C QD-OLED, a curved ultrawide QD-OLED screen boasting a 175hz refresh rate and is certified DisplayHDR400 True Black and can achievea peak brightness of 1000 nits.
Our video review shares most of my thoughts but expanding a bit on some details in this article to provider further insights.
Features & Specification
- 1800R QD-OLED Panel – With stunning image quality and fast response time.
- Ultrawide screen – 3440 x 1440 resolution displaying more details due to the UWQHD resolution .
- Fastest 0.1ms GtG response time and 175Hz refresh rate.
- QD Premium Color – Ensures the color meets the market standard – Delta E≤2.
- Incredible HDR visual – VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400.
Specification | |
---|---|
PANEL SIZE | 34.18″ (86.82 cm) |
ACTIVE DISPLAY AREA (MM) | 800.1(H) x 337.1(V) |
CURVATURE | Curve 1800R |
PANEL TYPE | QD-OLED |
PANEL RESOLUTION | 3440×1440 (UWQHD) |
PIXEL PITCH (H X V) | 0.2315(H)x0.2315(V) |
ASPECT RATIO | 21:9 |
BRIGHTNESS (NITS) | 250 (Typ.), 1000 (HDR Peak) |
CONTRAST RATIO | 1000000:1 (Native) |
SIGNAL FREQUENCY | 31~274 KHz(H) / 48~175 Hz(V) |
ACTIVATED RANGE | 48~175Hz |
REFRESH RATE | 175Hz |
RESPONSE TIME | 0.03ms (GtG) |
DYNAMIC REFRESH RATE TECHNOLOGY | FreeSync Premium Pro |
HDR SUPPORT | VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 |
VIDEO PORTS | 2x HDMI™, 1x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C |
USB PORTS | 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type B |
VIEWING ANGLE | 178° (H) / 178° (V) |
ADOBE RGB / DCI-P3 / SRGB | 97.8% / 99.3% / 139.1% |
SURFACE TREATMENT | Anti-Reflection |
DISPLAY COLORS | 1.07B (10 bits) |
POWER TYPE | Power Cable |
POWER INPUT | 100~240V, 50~60Hz |
ADJUSTMENT (TILT) | -5° ~ 20° |
ADJUSTMENT (HEIGHT) | 0 ~ 100mm |
KENSINGTON LOCK | Yes |
DIMENSION (W X D X H) | 814 x 293 x 375 mm / 814 x 143 x 375 (w/o Stand) |
CONSOLE MODE | 2K Resolution PS5™ Optimization with VRR function, FHD @ 120Hz |
FRAMELESS DESIGN | Yes |
PIP / PBP FUNCTION | Yes |
VESA MOUNTING | 100 x 100 mm |
WEIGHT (NW / GW) | 9.3 Kg / 13.9 Kg, 6.5 Kg (Without Stand) |
NOTE | DisplayPort: Up to 3440×1440@175Hz (YCbCr 10-bit). Type-C: Up to 3440×1440@175Hz (YCbCr 10-bit) w/ PD 65W. HDMI™: Up to 3440×1440@175Hz (RGB 12-bit). *sRGB, DCI-P3, and Adobe RGB follow CIE1976 standard. |
User Experience & Conclusion
Much of what I want to discuss has already been said in the video so I’ll just expand on the testing and use-cases for this monitor in this article.
This box is around 4-feet in length and while its not that thick, it is obnoxiously huge and hard to carry so it is highly advise that carrying this case is a 2-man job.
Anyway, expanding on testing. This is a DisplayHDR400 True Black rated screen. For those unfamiliar, True Black is a tier above DisplayHDR and encompasses the absolute blacks that displays, specifically OLED screens, can deliver. By default though, the rating is at least 1000nits but that can only happen at a portion of the screen. Opening up a fully white screen at 100% brightness will drive the brightness to a smaller amount. Still, this screen is bright enough as it is, but to achieve True Black, the screen has to dial the max rating a little bit. If you really the maximum brightness, you can go to HDR1000 in the OSD menu.
Speaking of OSD menu, this monitor is also has a DeltaE rating of <2 but user can only achieve this under professional mode. Gaming mode scores a bit less at <2.96 or <3 on average on DCI-P3. Regardless of settings though, sRGB coverage is ~100%.
The most integral thing here is that most people will definitely be cautious about preventing burn-in so you’re buying this and would just leave it on on fairly high brightness, MSI’s OLED Care features like PixelShift and Panel Protect will kick in and delay that process. Regardless if you leave the screen on for 24 hours, the screen itself will need to do no Panel Protect every so often. Still, if you want to maximize the life the screen, its best to practice using this monitor differently and that means enabling auto-hide taskbar or something similar, or just making sure your system dims out in as short a time as possible.
With that said, overall performance and iamge quality is a real standout and gaming performance is incredible which leaves us to the price: MSI Philippines provided us the MSRP at PHP74,995 (~USD1330) which is quite a high asking price for a 34″ screen. Putting this in market context in the current landscape shows us competing OLED monitors in the PHP90k to PHP100K range. Now, if you’re saying an LG C2 55″ usually goes on sale for as low as PHP45,000 then you’re missing the point of the MEG 342C QD-OLED.
If you just want a gaming screen, if you can spare the room size then a large screen TV would make more sense but if you need a daily driver that delivers impeccable display quality with gaming and multimedia professional quality standards dialed to 11, then the MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED is an excellent choice.