[MotionGrey]

Hello,

Thanks for the recommendation.

I realize I forgot to indicate my budget, which is around 800€ max.

I’ll be looking into the philips, but in your experience, are curved screen a problem when watching form 3 meters away ?

I will use my monitor as PC display, but also to watch movie from the couch from about 3 meters.

Thanks again

[PCM2]

In my experience the curve is only a problem (i.e ‘weird’) if you’re sitting too far off-centre to the left or right. If you’re sitting on your couch fairly centrally (but naturally, below the monitor) then you should find it fine. It’s pretty subjective and it may take a little getting used to, though.

[MotionGrey]

Okay well noted, I’ll check out the max angle under which I’m likely to watch it.

Besides that one, would you have any flat-screen recommendation for 20% gaming, 50% movies, 30% work?

Thanks

[PCM2]

It depends if that movie content would be HDR. If it is, the Philips you mentioned (and 328M6VJRMB) would offer the most engaging experience. Most of the flat models aside from that are very similar to one another, without local dimming and such powerful backlights. The notable exceptions are some of the Samsung models which use a flat Samusng SVA panel (like a flat version of the 328E1CA), including the Samsung S32R750U ‘Space Monitor’ and upcoming F32TU87, both mentioned earlier in this thread.

[MotionGrey]

Hello,

Well, I’m still trying to make up my mind, on whether the curvature will be a problem ( why don’t the propose a flat alternative with the same panel is beyond me…).
So I objectively made some measurement.

In the worst case, I would be looking at the screen from 1.3m away from it’s axis, at a perpendicular distance of 4m MAX,

I attached an ugly schematic, but more comprehensible. https://ibb.co/SsnsKVM

Under those extreme circumstances, do you think the curvature of the would be a problem per se ? (since the color shifting would anyway be present on a flat screen)

Otherwise, I wouldn’t opt for the SPACE monitor as it doesn’t have the VESA mounting system, and the comfor provided by this is unreplaceable at my eyes.

So the 2nd option would be to wait for the F32TU87, but do you “think” it would be worth the wait, compared to the Philips ?

Thanks for your time,

BTW, the link on the philips does redirect me to amazon, but not directly on the page product, would you still get your comission this way ?

[PCM2]

I think you’d find the curve find under those conditions. It isn’t actually that steep of a curve and you’d probably adapt quite quickly or perhaps even find it fine straight away. It’s very subjective, but I just sat in a similar spot on the monitor I’m currently testing (ViewSonic XG270QC, 27″ with 1500R curve) and I found it fine for watching video content. The Samsung F32TU87 has many unknowns without testing, it would only be something I’d recommend considering or waiting for if you’ve had a chance to use a curved monitor properly and it really didn’t work out. As for the ‘Space’ monitor – I keep forgetting they have no VESA holes. I know they have a reticulated arm and desk clamp that’s all part of the design, but forcing users to stick with that is all very Samsung.

Thanks for checking about the link – it should still be fine as long as you add the monitor to the cart during that same session after clicking the link.

[MotionGrey]

Hello,

Well, due to some unexpected income, I havce a larger budget as of today.
I can go up to 800€, but my use has not changed.

I’ve seen the recommendation page, and I’m wondering if going for the BenQ EW3280U would be better than the Philips CA.

I know the philips is VA and more suitable for movies, but maybe the quality of the BenQ EW3280U overcomes this ?

Thanks for the advice again.

[PCM2]

As you’ll see from the reviews and the summary in the recommendations section, the two models have distinct strengths and weaknesses. The BenQ offers more vibrant and consistent colour output (which is nice) and has a lighter matte screen surface with more direct emission of light. Colours are more ‘lively’, to put it simply, and this is the case throughout the screen. Pixel responsiveness is also improved compared to the Philips, but contrast is weaker and you have ‘IPS glow’ to consider. It very much depends what you value more from the experience.

[NicBathgate]

After watching the Samsung F32TU87 selling (with model number F32TU870VU) in European countries for the past few months, it has finally arrived on Amazon US (with model number F32TU872VN).

At $599USD, this would convert to $1265NZD (including $125USD shipping plus NZ GST).

Concurrently, AOC have announced a new and interesting looking 32″ MVA monitor, the U32E2N. AOC monitors tend to be great value. The price has been announced at £349, which would convert to $928NZD (assuming a similar shipping cost, with NZ GST included).

Any idea of the AOC U32E2N is still using the old Innolux panel? I’ve waited a long time for the Samsung F32TU87 to arrive, but at that price I could just about buy a Dell Ultrasharp U3219Q or BenQ EW320U!

[PCM2]

The pricing of the Samsung is indeed disappointing. We’ve now got a news piece up on the AOC U32E2N with further details. Good shout on that, I got a press email about it late last month but didn’t get around to writing a news piece at the time. It certainly doesn’t use the offending Innolux panel, most likely based on a Samsung CELL with custom backlight (assembled by TPV). I’m trying to confirm with AOC the exact panel used or at least get absolute confirmation of the manufacturer.

Important point to note about the AOC is that it has a standard colour gamut not a wide colour gamut. Some will like that, others would prefer the extra vibrancy of a wider gamut. I’ve also noticed the monitor was listed in the US initially but that listing was pulled and I’d like to know why. Maybe they’re updating or jumped the gun a bit with the product page, I hope they didn’t change their mind on release there. Because good US availability is an important review criteria for us at the moment and I’d quite like to take a look at this AOC.

[arcs]

I am currently looking for a 32″ 4K display, and I’m not sure about whether the BenQ EW3280U or the BenQ PD3200U is a better choice.

The prices for me are 779€ on Amazon vs 717€, with the professional BenQ costing less.
I have read both the reviews although they were made with quite some distance in time.

I see that the former is on your recommendations page, and I like it. I think it looks good (aesthetically), it does seem to tick all boxes, I like the remote and sound part though I already have a sound bar under my central monitor so I will likely not use it.

On the other hand as far as extra features go the PD model has KVM, which could be useful to me because I plan to run a VM with GPU passthrough, and it has an adjustable stand as well.
However for the adjustable stand it’s likely I won’t use it, the main monitor is in the middle between other monitors, it currently has such a stand and I cannot pivot or swivel it in practice because of the position it is in, height adjustment is useful to me but it usually only goes up not down, and if anything since it’s gonna sit on top of a sound bar I’d want to put it lower, so the stand doesn’t really add much to the PD to me (nice to have though), the KVM is also nice to have but it doesn’t seem worth it, I don’t know how practical/good it is.
And both of these things I could buy separately later on if I needed them (though it is still the cheaper monitor, and it has these included)

What I am more concerned about is the screen itself.
I will give you some context.
My current main monitor is the 1440p, 60Hz 27″ IPS Asus PB278Q which looks really good to me, to my eye all colors are very accurate (it claims 100% sRGB) and I would be very happy to get the same quality but at higher size and resolution, it does have some backlight inconsistency I think but I don’t notice it too much because I never had a panel without that.
I am worried because I tried another monitor before that was wide gamut, the EW3270U I believe, and it looked oversaturated on wide gamut, and washed out in sRGB mode, I would really hate that.

Whereas the PD3200U has supposedly calibrated, “pro” colors and is sRGB ONLY.

To be clear, I am not doing professional color grading. My usage is software development, watching movies, and general usage, as well as games sometimes (so I do want Freesync but I don’t care much about refresh rate)
But I wouldn’t want it to look oversaturated.

On the other hand I do like the idea of HDR, and having something that’s only sRGB seems a bit limiting, especially if some movies/games release with DCI-P3 support I’d like to be able to see it.
However I know this is fake HDR since it doesn’t have local dimming so is it at all worth it? I read that this sort of tech just mangles colors and makes things look worse.
Colors do matter sometimes because I can work (not mainly) on UIs, currently the people I work with all have a PB278Q identical to mine, we know that we’re looking at the same thing. Of course I will still have this monitor so it’s not super critical that the colors are correct, and I might not notice the difference anyways (It’s not calibrated currently, never was).

[PCM2]

Hi arcs,

The representation of shades and preferred gamut is a very personal thing. The ASUS PB278Q has a similar sort of colour gamut to the BenQ PD3200U. Actually it offers less extension in the green to red region but more in the red to blue. But it’s still offering you comprehensive sRGB coverage and a bit of extension beyond. It delivers a bit of extra vibrancy and saturation, but not the kind of strong extra vibrancy (and inherent oversaturation) you get with a model like the EW3280U using its native gamut. sRGB emulation modes like that on the EW3280U will stick more closely to sRGB without this bit of overextension. So it may take things too far the other way for you. However; the strong colour consistency and (at least with my unit) the gamma tuning actually meant that even the sRGB emulation setting on the EW3280U was quite rich. I’d suggest trying it out and seeing how you find it, because I think you’d be forever wondering what you’re missing on the HDR side or for content where you can enjoy the extra colour gamut if you go for the PD3200U instead.

[arcs]

Yes I think you are right, I will get the EW. I think it will probably satisfy me and it’s nice to have the option to use wide gamut.

[MotionGrey]

Hello, PC Monitors,

Do you plan on testing the new samsung F32TU87 and/or the new AOC to compare them to the current Philips CA ?

Thanks again

[PCM2]

Refer to my earlier post on this thread. And no, I’m not interested in reviewing the Samsung. Even if a sample could be provided (unlikely with Samsung’s current UK PR team) it’s completely overpriced in key regions.

[ronik56]

My budget is 500-600 USD and I’m looking for a 32″, 4K monitor for watching movies and office work. VA is a must (contrast is key for movies), gaming is not important.

I’m using this monitor for 8-10 hours a day (mostly browsing, office) so text clarity is importrant. I’m sitting right infront of the screen, 80-110 cm so viewing angles shouldn’t be a concern.

Obviously, HDR is a big bonus, but not a must. I’m watching movies in a dark room, office work with a 2700K-3200K light (not sure about the exact number).

After lots of research, I narrowed it down to the Philips 326M6VJRMB and BenQ EW3270U (Dell is curved and not as good, LG not as good/no review/PWM for the UL750). From the review here the Philips has a better contrast (1:4000 here and 1:2700 for the BenQ on RTINGS), definitely brighter and HDR600. I’m not sure how do they compare in terms of black/grey uniformity and colors, although both seem to have good colors. The grainy thing in the Philips is a bit concerning, but not sure how big of a deal it would be.

Any suggestions?

[PCM2]

I’d just like to preface this by saying that I’m a fan of a lot of the data RTINGS puts together in their reviews and admire the unique format they use. But there is some valid criticism to be pointed towards the over-simplified presentation system and lack of explanation for some of their methodologies and data. It can cause confusion and cause people to miss some key parts of what they’ll experience when they actually put eyeball to screen, so to speak. We don’t write >10,000 word reviews and provide ~1 hour long video reviews for nothing – these things are important but extremely difficult and time-consuming to explain. Which is why nobody else goes into the depth we do. And what we do and the review style we adopt probably borders on insanity, but use this unique insight to your advantage. Some key pointers to bear in mind based on information in this thread and our reviews:

– Spend a little time reading this thread, which I’ve merged yours with. It should become clear that the curved models with Samsung panels are superior to the flat models with Innolux panels. Some flat models with the Samsung panels are available or will be shortly in the case of the AOC U32E2N.

– The curve is not something to fear, don’t base your assessment on images or videos of the monitors. They are a terribly misleading indicator of what to expect when you’re sitting in front of the monitor using it.

– The RTINGS reviews that you’re basing your assessment of the Dell S3221QS vs. BenQ EW3270U is missing some large pieces of the puzzle. It looks at off-angle performance but none of their assessment points out the colour and gamma shifts and inconsistencies which are very readily apparent from a ‘normal’ viewing position on the Innolux panels. And less so with the Samsung panels.

– Your viewing distance will reduce the flaws of the Innolux panels, especially if you’re able to sit >1m from the screen and keep nice and central. The graininess of the screen surface will be somewhat less apparent from that sort of viewing position. The colour and gamma shifts will be much less severe.

– The Philips 328E1CA is an excellent monitor for both price and performance and will remain as a recommendation unless I come across a worthy ‘replacement’.

– This isn’t just based on what I’ve observed, it’s been confirmed to me by multiple users who have experienced models using both panels.

– Contrast measurement on VA models can be a bit iffy. I don’t like that RTINGS only gives a single value here with one set of settings. We actually recorded 3380:1 using our ‘Test Settings’ which is more comparable to the value RTINGS would provide in their testing. Inter-unit variation has to be considered as does the fact these measurement instruments only offer so much precision with black point. When you round a low black point value it can cause fairly large differences in the end result depending on whether you end up rounding up or down. A spread of values as we provide with different brightness and other settings can be useful to gauge things properly. The static contrast performance of the 326M6VJRMB and EW3270U is very similar in practice.

– The only reason I’d recommend the Philips 326M6VJRMB is if you’re interested in a compelling bright-scene HDR performance. In most other respects it’s simply inferior to the models with Samsung SVA panels. The BenQ EW3270 doesn’t even have that going for it, but you are at least able to mitigate a lot of the weaknesses in its SDR performance and overall image quality due to your generous viewing distance.

[ronik56]

First of all, thank you! I really appreciate your in-depth reviews and your help here!

Regarding the curve, I haven’t had any experience with a curved monitor so I’m open to this. It’s just that I sit relatively far from the screen and I fear that it might not be ideal with a curved monitor. Having said that, I do have a VESA arm using which I can move the monitor closer so that I’d be 50-60cm from it, but won’t be too close for a 32″, especially a VA?

Moreover, since my sitting distance will negate most of the cons of the Innolux, wouldn’t the 328E1CA and BenQ be pretty similar?

I understand that the contrast should be pretty similar between the BenQ and 326M6VJRMB, but the 328E1CA is 1:2500 compared to 1:3380 of the 326M6VJRMB, wouldn’t that be a noticeable difference? That’s 35% higher.

Ok, but HDR600 should be a noticeable improvement over SDR, right? Combine that with the higher contrast and it should be at least noticeably better than the 328E1CA?

From what I gather the EW3270U and the 328E1CA should be pretty much the same for me- the EW3270U has true 10 bit which isn’t really noticeable compared to 8 bit + FRC but a worse panel which shouldn’t be as noticeable for my viewing distance, right? If so I would go for the Philips as it is cheaper. But if I’m going to be watching HDR content, than I should go for the 326M6VJRMB

Also, if I’m willing to try a curved monitor, is there something better that you might recommend?

[PCM2]

The static contrast figures only tell you part of the story. You also need to consider ‘VA glow’, ‘black crush’ and related gamma shifts and how they affect what you perceive. From a distance these are reduced – and of course the 35% higher contrast is certainly nice to have, at least on paper. In practice I wouldn’t say it’s a dramatic difference nor is it enough to offset the weaknesses in other respects. You’d probably notice more difference between different units of the same model depending on how lucky you were with the ‘dark uniformity lottery’ than between the two models based on static contrast. All else being equal, the stronger static contrast is indeed still a bonus but this difference isn’t all that pronounced. Neither model has a deep and inky look in dimmer lighting conditions, both models look quite similar in brighter lighting conditions. There’s a bit of crossover between those ‘extremes’, if you like, but the difference isn’t going to wow you either way.

I’m using a ~32″ model with 1500R right now and I’d say it’s fine from >1m away with respect to the curve. It is more natural and makes more sense if you’re closer to the screen, but I find it easy to adapt either way. It’s something you’ll have to see for yourself, really, but you certainly shouldn’t be put off until you’ve had one on your desk and used it for at least a few hours.

Also, if I’m willing to try a curved monitor, is there something better that you might recommend?

Surely it’s clear what I’ve said and what I recommend that there isn’t a better curved option than the Philips 328E1CA in my view, currently? If there was, wouldn’t I recommend that instead? If you meant was there an option that was more expensive but somehow performed better given your uses and focus, the answer is still no. I’m also a bit unsure about the expectations you have surrounding VESA DisplayHDR 600 on the Philips 326M6VJRMB when you said it should be “better than SDR”. That’s a very broad statement there. Just sticking with contrast – for bright content and decent pop, absolutely! For nuanced shade variety and appropriate use of the gamut with less oversaturation, yes. But for an atmopsheric look to dark content, not at all. Again, this is covered in detail in the HDR section of the review and with clear examples if you watch the appropriate section of the video review. It’s also covered earlier in this thread and some other threads (example). It’s important to have realistic expectations in that regard and if you’re expecting an edge in dark-scene performance or contrast where darker content is dominant then you’ll end up sorely disappointed.

[PCM2]

Some more options relevant to this thread in the form of the LG 32UN500 and 32UN550. Only difference between the two models is the stand design flexibility and that the ‘500’ is more widely available. I’ve received confirmation via service menu from a user of the 32UN500 that the panel used is the AUO M315QVN01, so another panel in the wild that will offer a (likely superior) alternative to the flat Innolux one.

[Author]

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