Acer EI491CRG9 with 49″ Ultrawide VA Panel, 240Hz Refresh Rate, Mini LED Backlight and HDR2000
Recently we brought you the news of Samsung’s new Odyssey G9v2 (as we called it), an update to their popular 49″ ultrawide G9 display, keeping the same large screen format, 5120 x 1440 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, but now combining it with an impressive Mini LED backlight with >2000 local dimming zones. Information appeared for this screen on Chinese retailer taobao, often early to announce details of new screens before they even appear from the manufacturer. Taobao have now also released information on what is expected to be Acer’s equivalent display, the EI491CRG9 (note the cheeky use of “G9” in the title there!) Take this information as not fully confirmed, but it should give you a decent overview of what to expect from this new screen.
Mini LED backlight with 2,048 zones
Like the Samsung Odyssey G9v2 one of the key features to this screen is the Mini LED backlight. According to the Taobao product page this is expected to have 2,048 local dimming zones which should offer significantly improved local dimming capability compared to the common edge lit desktop displays around at the moment, including the existing Samsung G9 model. That has a very limited number of edge lit dimming zones and offers fairly poor implementation for HDR as a result. The high number of zones helps minimize blooming and halos in HDR content and is a step beyond even current FALD backlight models which have fewer zones.
VESA DisplayHDR 2000
Thanks to the Mini LED backlight the screen is also being marketed as featuring VESA DisplayHDR 2000 certification. This is not actually an officially announced certification level yet from VESA, although it’s reasonable to expect it to appear alongside this monitor and other possible future screens, with the only real difference from existing HDR 1000 and HDR 1400 levels being an increased peak brightness. The HDR 2000 label suggests, and the listed spec confirms, that the updated Odyssey G9 display will offer a peak brightness of 2000 cd/m2 which is impressive and should help produce bright highlights in HDR content. This is again the same as the Samsung Odyssey G9v2.
Update 19/4/21: VESA Addresses Use of Illegitimate DisplayHDR 2000 Logo for Two Upcoming Monitors
Variable Refresh Rate Support
The screen has a native 240Hz refresh rate which is supported through and to help support the high resolution and refresh rate, the screen is listed on Taobao as being G-sync Compatible which means it uses adaptive sync for VRR from both AMD and NVIDIA systems. The NVIDIA G-sync Compatible certification is presumably pending given it’s not yet listed on NVIDIA’s website as it is so new. AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certification is also listed and expected.
The absence of a Native G-sync module might cause some complications here with usage of the Mini LED backlight at the same time as VRR. That is incredibly complex to develop and one of the reasons why current FALD and Mini LED gaming monitors use the G-sync module. We will wait to see how this performs and whether the Mini LED backlight can keep up with VRR and gaming properly and effectively.
Acer EI491CRG9 Specs
The EI491CRG9 is 49″ in size with a 32:9 aspect ratio ultrawide format and a 1000R curvature. It uses a VA technology panel with a 5120 x 1440 resolution, 1ms G2G response time, 4000:1 contrast ratio and 178/178 viewing angles. A wide colour gamut covering 95% DCI-P3 is also listed thanks to the use of Quantum Dot coating.
One spec of note that deserves more attention: there is a listed 1.07b colour depth which is listed on Taobao as “12-bit”. Now 1.07b colours is 10-bit, but it’s possible there is some enhanced internal processing of the LUT or something like that going on here. Time will tell when we have the official Acer product pages and spec.
For connectivity there are expected to be 2x DisplayPort and 2x HDMI connections provided (unclear which versions), along with 2x USB 3.0 and an audio output. The screen features integrated 2x 3W speakers too. Further specs and details when we have some official information from Acer.
The pricing on Taobao should probably be taken with a pinch of salt as this is very early information and could change. It’s listed at 14999 RMB, which is about $2300 USD. That’s certainly more sensible than the $4600 place-holder pricing for the Samsung alternative. Further confirmation of pricing and regional availability when we get it.
Our thanks to @gouki201 for the lead.
Source: Taobao
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