[Bartemus]

Hello all,

Hopefully you can help me as I am a bit lost with the endless options out there. I will mainly use the monitor to game on my xbox series x sitting about 4 foot away on a couch with my head height central and in line with the screen. I will mostly be playing single player immersive games. So I am not too bothered about having a really fast response time or 4k at 120Hz. My main priority is to have the best picture quality and contrast for my budget of £350. My understanding is that VA panels, given its superior contrast and black uniformity are more suited to my needs and priorities.

I have seen the philips-328e1ca get a lot of praise on these forums and I am close to pulling the trigger on it, however I have a few (possibly unfounded) reservations.

I have never used a curved screen before and as I tend to sit on a couch, rather than on a chair at a desk I am worried that the curved screen might look quite strange and limit the viewing angles from that distance. My other worry which is probably unfounded is the release date of the monitor (2018). My instinct is to buy something released more recently.

Do you have any other monitor suggestions, given my use case and budget? I am also thinking if I cant find any suitable VA monitors (market seems heavily IPS / competitive gaming skewed) to potentially look at 43 inch TVs and try and squeeze one in as I assume they would be VA and better picture quality.

[PCM2]

Given your uses and prioritising contrast, the 328E1CA would indeed be my main recommendation. Nothing has really changed in terms of image quality and general characteristics for 60Hz VA models since 2018, except that Samsung Display used to manufacture most VA LCD panels (including that used in the Philips unit we reviewed) and now they don’t manufacture any LCD panels at all. The panels are now made to their ‘recipe’ by other manufacturers such as CSOT and similar panels from AUO. I’ve continued to receive good feedback for newer revisions of the 328E1CA than we reviewed, as that too has switched over to using alternative VA panels due to Samsung Display dropping out for LCDs. So in that sense it has been updated since release, anyway.

The curve isn’t generally something people find problematic if sitting back a bit and viewing the monitor from below, it’s more if you’re far off-centre from the sides that it can start to look odd. It’s a very subjective and individual thing, I’d recommend giving it a try.

[Bartemus]

Thanks for that. I will try find a display I can use before I buy. I also wondered if you had any experience of the Philips B Line 328B1? I didn’t see a review of it on here but thought it looked like a good back up incase the curved screen did put me off.

[PCM2]

I don’t have experience with that specific model or feedback to share, but I agree it should be a good fallback if the curve doesn’t work out. Philips ‘B’ line models are usually solid performers and well built with plenty of useful OSD options if you need to adjust the image. 🙂

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