Using the HP DreamColor LP2480zx  
Monitor for Professional Video 
Applications 

Introduction 

While the original target market for the HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display was color-

critical PC and workstation customers—especially those involved in computer graphics at the 

professional level—this product is also very well-suited to use in professional video post-production 

environments. The HP DreamColor LP2480zx can provide a level of performance very comparable 
to—and in some cases, exceeding—that of current “studio reference” monitors of any display 

technology, and at a very competitive price. 
Features of the HP DreamColor LP2480zx which make it an attractive choice for these applications 

include: 
 

The monitor is capable of accepting a video signals with a wide range of frame and field rates 

(including 29.97/59.94, 25/50, 24 and 23.976

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) and displaying them without the use of a 

frame-rate conversion (FRC). This means that you can work at standard video rates and not see the 

tearing, frame skipping, judder, or other motion artifacts that are usually seen when video is 

displayed on an LCD monitor. 

 

A very broad “native” color gamut, plus built-in color gamut remapping capabilities which enable 

the monitor to accurately match all common color-space standards currently in use within the 

professional video community. Factory-calibrated “color space presets” are provided covering the 

ITU-R BT.709 and ITU-R BT.601 (SMPTE 145/SMPTE-C) standards, and a DCI-P3 Emulation preset 
provides 98% coverage for that color space. In addition, the monitor may be calibrated by the user 

(via the optional Advanced Profiling Solution calibration tool) to match other standard gamuts. 

 

The RGB LED backlight permits precise setting of the monitor “white point” (without affecting the 

video data being provided to the LCD panel), and gives the monitor a very wide range of white 
luminance adjustment; white may be set anywhere from a minimum of 50 cd/m2, for use in dark 

viewing environments, up to a 250 cd/m2 level suited to standard office lighting.  

 

The tone response (“gamma curve”) of the HP DreamColor LP2480zx may also be very accurately 

calibrated to duplicate the specified response of various output device standards, and/or match 
that of CRT-based reference monitors, while maintaining minimal neutral axis color drift. In other 

words, the grays stay gray. 

 

The LCD panel used in this monitor provides a very wide viewing angle with minimal off-axis color 

shift, and a static contrast ratio of 1000:1 (typ.). Coupled with the wide range of backlight and 
response curve adjustability, this permits the HP DreamColor LP2480zx to very closely duplicate the 

performance of traditional CRT-based studio reference monitors under a wide range of viewing 

conditions. 

In order to best utilize the HP DreamColor LP2480zx monitor in as a video display device, it is helpful 

to understand how the monitor receives, processes, and outputs a video signal. The following pages 
discuss these topics in detail and provide you with recommendations and configurations for the 

monitor. 

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 The LCD panel has the ability to sync at rates down to 47.952 Hz. These frame rates will be displayed at a doubled rate of 59.94, 50, 48, and 

43.952 Hz respectively. This exact doubling will not introduce any frame-rate conversion artifacts.