iPad Pro 9.7 Absolute Color Accuracy Plots    
    Reference Colors for the Standard Gamuts  

Figure 2a Reference Colors
Figure 2b sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Accuracy
Figure 2c DCI-P3 Color Gamut Accuracy

Figure 2a.   41 Reference Colors for the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Standard
Note that Complementary Colors lie directly across from one another through the White Point.
The 4 sets of triangles are the 25% 50% 75% and 100% Saturated Colors.
Reference Colors for sRGB / Rec.709
The colors shown in Figure 2a have been accurately calculated to show the real colors within the
sRGB / Rec.709 Gamut - the colors shown in most published Color Gamuts are wildly incorrect.

41 Reference Colors for the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Standard
Virtually all current consumer content is based on the sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Standard.
Figure 2a above shows 41 Reference Colors for the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut as White, Gray, and Black circles. The 10 Black circles on the outer triangle are the 100% fully Saturated Colors on the periphery. The 3 inner sets of Gray triangles are the 25%, 50% and 75% Saturated Colors between the inner White Point and the 100% Saturated Colors on the periphery. The White circle is the White Point with 0% Color Saturation.

41 Reference Colors for the DCI-P3 Color Gamut Standard
The 41 Reference Colors for the DCI-P3 Color Gamut are shown in Black in Figure 2c below. It is a 26 percent larger by area triangle compared to Figure 2a. We have not included a Colorized version because it is quite similar and you would need a DCI-P3 display to actually see the true colorized colors.

Uniform Color Diagrams
All color measurements are plotted on 1976 CIE Uniform Color Diagrams.
Note that the older 1931 CIE Diagrams that are published by many reviewers are highly non-uniform and are meaningless for Color Accuracy. Also the often referenced NTSC Color Gamut is from 1953 and has been obsolete for over 30 years so stop referencing it!

Absolute Color Accuracy Plots
sRGB/Rec.709 Color Gamut: Figure 2b below shows the measured screen colors for the sRGB / Rec.709 Reference Colors. DCI-P3 Color Gamut: Figure 2c below shows the measured screen colors for the DCI-P3 Reference Colors.

Reference Colors
The Reference Colors in Figures 2b-2c are all shown as Black circles and the measured Colors for each of the two Gamuts are shown as Red circles. Color Errors smaller than the appropriate JNCD are not visually noticeable. The 1 JNCD and 3 JNCD Errors are discussed next and are shown in the Figure.

Just Noticeable Color Difference JNCD
The on-screen colors produced by any display can be measured using a Spectroradiometer together with our proprietary DisplayMate Test Patterns. The accuracy of the colors can then be calculated using the 1976 CIE Uniform Chromaticity color space and compared to the eye's sensitivity to color. We present the color accuracy and errors here in terms of MPCD Minimum Perceptible Color Difference or JNCD Just Noticeable Color Difference, where 1 MPCD = 1 JNCD = Δ(u'v') = 0.0040 on the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Scale.

Color differences less than 1 JNCD are visually indistinguishable, while values greater than 1 JNCD are visually noticeable when the two colors are touching on-screen. When the colors are not touching and are further apart, the visual threshold for Just Noticing a Color Difference is higher. Here we will use 3 JNCD for the threshold of a visually noticeable display color difference. The 1 JNCD and 3 JNCD sizes are shown in the Figures below. Any Display Color Error less than 3 JNCD on a display is not visually noticeable and appears perfectly accurate to the eye. For an in-depth discussion and analysis of Absolute Color Accuracy see this article.


Figure 2b.   sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut Accuracy Figure 2c.   DCI-P3 Color Gamut Accuracy
Absolute Color Accuracy for the sRGB/Rec.709 Color Gamut Absolute Color Accuracy for the DCI-P3 Color Gamut
Copyright © 1990-2017 by DisplayMate® Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Article Links
iPad Pro 9.7 and iPad Air 2 Display Technology Shoot-Out Article
Mobile Display Shoot-Out Article Series Overview and Home Page