[qXTFgo4E]

With 4K becoming more common over the past few years, the entry price for 4K monitors rated for near-full AdobeRGB + DCI-P3 coverage (usually 99-100% AdobeRGB and >95% DCI-P3) has dropped to as low as $500 in some cases. I was wondering if there was a compilation of monitors that fit the following criteria:

Density

≥ 160 PPI (for 120 PPD at around slightly above 1 m or 39″ viewing distance, so basically a 30″ deep desk)

Basically 4K at 27″ (4K at < 27″ is very limited, 5K at 27″ is basically just the LG Ultrafine 5K, and 6K or 8K at 32″ is pricey to say at the least)

Gamut/Color Space
≥ 99% AdobeRGB and ≥ 95% DCI-P3

Bit Depth/Color Depth
10-bit (8-bit + FRC or 10-bit)

Brightness
≥ 250 cd/m^2 full-screen sustained brightness

Contrast/Dynamic Range
≥ 1000:1
HDR support doesn’t really matter with the current HDR standard wars and lack of HDR content.

Price
< $1,000

The main panel that I’ve seen is the LG LM270WR4-SSA1 which shows up in the Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 (~$480, 2017), BenQ DesignVue PD2720U (~$880, 2018), ViewSonic ColorPro VP2785-4K (~$920, 2017), and BenQ PhotoView SW271 (~$1100, 2017).

Outside of that, the other main candidate is the Acer ConceptD CM3271K (~$650, 2020) which is in the PCM recommendations as of now.

Quick notes on the above options with primarily color-sensitive work and quality of life in mind and video games as a nice-to-have:

— Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 —

Price: ~$480
Measurements: PC Mag

Pros:
Least expensive of the bunch by a wide margin.
Internal AC/DC conversion (no power brick).

Cons:
3rd-party input lag and response time measurements are a ? (didn’t see any in English reviews).

— Acer ConceptD CM3271K —

Price: ~$650
Measurements: Tom’s Hardware

Pros:

Ambient light sensor (convenient for general usage).
Adaptive refresh. (minor, with a caveat in the cons section)
Comes with a hood.
Flicker-free backlight. (minor, unless the PWM frequency in other monitors is very low)
Hardware LUT. (minor, since you’re tied to whatever OSes and colorimeters + spectrometers their calibration software supports and LTS is shaky)

Cons:

Built-in profiles for AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 lock down OSD calibration options.
Response time compensation/overdrive can’t be used when adaptive refresh is enabled.
Input latency is a bit high.
External AC/DC conversion (power brick).

— BenQ DesignVue PD2720U —

Price: ~$880
Measurements: Notebooks Billinger (German)

Pros:

Built-in KVM switch which is especially convenient with the hotkey puck.
Ambient light sensor (convenient for general usage).
Flicker-free backlight. (minor, unless the PWM frequency in other monitors is very low)
Internal AC/DC conversion (no power brick).

Cons:

3rd-party input lag and response time measurements are a ? (didn’t see any in English reviews).

— ViewSonic ColorPro VP2785-4K —

Price: ~$920
Measurements: PC Mag, Light and Matter

Pros:

Built-in KVM switch.
Hardware LUT. (minor, since you’re tied to whatever OSes and colorimeters + spectrometers their calibration software supports and LTS is shaky)
Ambient light sensor (convenient for general usage).
Flicker-free backlight. (minor, unless the PWM frequency in other monitors is very low)
Comes with a hood (minor).

Cons:

3rd-party input lag and response time measurements are a ? (didn’t see any in English reviews).
External AC/DC conversion (power brick).

— BenQ PhotoView SW271 — (basically the BenQ DesignVue PD2720U but trades the KVM switch and ambient light sensor for a hardware LUT)

Price: ~$1100
Measurements: Tom’s Hardware

Pros:

Hardware LUT. (minor, since you’re tied to whatever OSes and colorimeters + spectrometers their calibration software supports and LTS is shaky)
Flicker-free backlight (not explicitly mentions but probably just like the DesignView PD2720U). (minor, unless the PWM frequency in other monitors is very low)
Internal AC/DC conversion (no power brick).
Comes with a hood (minor).

Cons:

3rd-party input lag and response time measurements are a ? (didn’t see any in English reviews).

Are there any other notable monitors I’m missing from this list?

[PCM2]

I like this thread idea and if anything else comes up I’ll add to the list. So thanks for the very welcome contribution. 🙂

Just to note that Tom’s Hardware is not a reliable source for input lag or response time measurements. Their figures often conflict with more reliable source such as TFT Central, RTINGS and others for models that can be cross-checked. Having said that, I don’t consider the CM3271K as a ‘low input lag’ product and I have no solid data to refute the 20ms+ measurement. Except that I have a wealth of positive feedback on that model which includes thoughts from somebody who upgraded from a model I know to have ~24ms input lag and who found the Acer far superior in that respect. The difference being ‘hard to tolerate’ vs.’ ‘just fine’. User feedback I’ve received suggests overdrive is set to the optimal setting with Adaptive-Sync disabled, anyway, so it isn’t a real issue. The VRR range is too narrow for you to want to use a different setting for the top vs. bottom end as well.

I don’t consider the lack of adjustability with the pre-calibrated colour space emulation modes a major issue, though absolutely still worth noting and a pesky inflexibility either way. If somebody wants to use them as calibrated they can and any adjustments made for the sake of accuracy should certainly be done so using a colorimeter or similar device to guide those adjustments. If something is clearly off by eye then I agree it would be nice to be able able to just tweak the colour temperature, or there may be a different gamma preference or something else that could do with casual adjustment.

But with a monitor like this and colour accuracy in mind having a colorimeter or similar device pays dividends for proper calibration and re-calibration over time. And in this case you’ll get strong results by setting monitor to the full native gamut, unlocking full controls and allowing the profile to do its thing (including gamut mapping for colour-aware applications). Or making use of the hardware calibration functionality (using Acer’s Color Calibrator software) and directly addressing the LUT of the monitor. As you say you need to use a compatible device for that so it isn’t always an option. It has also been confirmed as flicker-free (via oscilloscope measurement from laptopmedia). I added these to your pros list for that model, incidentally. Given its overall feature set, performance and price it will remain as a key recommendation for photo and video editing or other colour-critical work. Though as the page says it’s a heavily condensed list and I do feel some of the others you list are worth strongly considering, especially the BenQ SW271 if budget allows. 🙂

As an aside, some people don’t consider having an internal power converter to be a good thing. Of course it can be nice not having to place a little or in some cases not so little ‘power brick’ that’s external from the monitor. But the power adaptor generates a fair bit of heat in some cases so it can be nicer having some of that heat generated away from the monitor and therefore further from your face. This isn’t generally an issue, but there’s some food for thought over in this thread.

[qXTFgo4E]

Thanks for the word of caution on the sources. It’s unfortunately the best I can find in this case since these kinds of monitors seems to get relatively little comprehensive coverage.

This worry is probably due to my lack of long-term personal experience but since the accuracy is going to drift over time, being unable to re-calibrate the built-in profiles seems like a bit of a sharp edge. The questions basically come out to 1. how quickly does accuracy drift on average and 2. will we just have gotten a different monitor by then (e.g. standards or display technologies have evolved fast enough or the hardware has somehow degraded enough to reach the end of its useful lifespan).

Hardware calibration is a bit tricky in the long-term support (LTS) view since, while the hardware (both the monitor and calibration device) is likely to last awhile, the software needed to adjust the hardware LUT may not be supported for all that long, especially since a lot of these companies aren’t exactly software-focused. This worry is probably a bit overblown since breaking changes in Windows and macOS are (usually) kept to a minimum by Microsoft and Apple to not upset customers so the hardware calibration software will probably work well past its support window. On a side note, it’d be interesting to see a monitor which had user-addressable internal storage (like a flash drive or hard drive) where users could drop a standard ICC file and the monitor would let you select it as a custom profile in the OSD (basically a standardized hardware calibration spec).

From the long-term perspective, external AC/DC conversion is probably the preferred since, in the rare case the converter dies or smaller and more efficient power electronics (i.e. GaN power electronics) become available, you can easily replace it so in retrospect it’s a bit of a wash (trading off slightly easier cable management for a bit of repairability that, hopefully, is unlikely to be needed).

[PCM2]

The calibration drift over time is rather non-linear and varies quite a bit between different models. It isn’t that you should expect a good factory calibration to become ‘bad’ over time, rather that some elements of it become less than perfect. The gamma calibration, gamut corrections and most elements of the calibration remain more or less as they are. Those things can change slightly, but not usually to a worrying degree. What drifts far more readily is colour temperature, due to natural decay of the phosphors or degradation of other elements used in the backlight. This tends to happen most noticeably during the first several months to a year and you can expect perhaps a 200 – 300K drift over that time. Further changes can be expected but they will be more minor in comparison. The fact the core of the calibration remains much as it should be over that same period means that it is still valuable. And naturally, the colour temperature you should be targeting changes just as much throughout the day (unless your lighting is extremely carefully controlled) so that should really be more of a concern. To some people it would be, but unless the absolute highest level of colour accuracy is required then I don’t think it’s worth becoming too concerned about.

I certainly wouldn’t worry about the LTS of the calibration software. Acer’s ‘Color Calibrator’ software as used on the CM3271K is very lightweight and simple software which forms a key part of their ConceptD line. It’s very unlikely they will pull it, so it will remain something that you can download and use with existing models. It isn’t the sort of software that will require updating over time for a specific model, either, it just forms a simple interface that allows calibration data to be uploaded to the monitor. Just like you can still use software that’s several years old and hasn’t been updated for software calibration. They would need to update it to include support for new calibration hardware, but it’s very likely they’ll continue to use this software and iterate it for future models. Just as I expect BenQ’s Palette Master Element software and ASUS ProArt Calibration software to receive long-term support. I can’t guarantee this, I just think it’s very likely. Either way, I do really like your idea of being able to simply transfer over an ICC profile that the monitor can make use of. That would indeed be neat.

[qXTFgo4E]

Looks like the Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20 is slated for December 2021.

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/news/441765c

It bumps the price up a bit but adds in a KVM switch, higher rated DCI-P3 coverage, 100W USB-PD charging, a built-in ethernet NIC as part of the built-in docking station.

[PCM2]

That’s an impressive DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage combination. If that is achieved in reality that would make it attractive for work within both colour spaces. I’m not sure what panel it uses or whether it’s based on a CELL with custom backlight, but I’d expect to see other models from other manufacturers using the same solution.

[qXTFgo4E]

Xiaomi Mi 4K Professional Display (XMMNT27NU) @ 3499 CNY (~$550 USD using a 1 USD : 6.37 CNY exchange rate).

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/news/98e76bb

No panel number so at best we could guess that it’s the same panel as the Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20 given the few details we have (similar gamut, bit depth, and certification).

[PCM2]

It appears that both the Xiaomi Mi 4K Professional Display and Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20 are indeed both using the same panel, the BOE MV270QUM-N40. The panel is a 1H 2020 panel so it’s interesting that it hasn’t been used by other manufacturers as far as I can tell.

[qXTFgo4E]

I’m not quite sure if the Philips 279E2FQE (E Line) and 279M1RV (Momentum) have full coverage of both AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 since they seem to count out-of-gamut coverage in their color space figures on the product pages and leaflets (e.g. over 100% sRGB coverage, over 100% AdobeRGB coverage in the case of the Momentum).

Philips 279E2FQE

Product page (Singapore): https://www.philips.com.sg/c-p/279E2FQE_69/lcd-monitor-with-quantum-dot-color

Leaflet: https://www.download.p4c.philips.com/files/2/279e2fqe_69/279e2fqe_69_pss_engsg.pdf

3rd party PR: https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/news/2fa75eb

[PCM2]

Per our news piece the Philips 279M1RV offers 98% DCI-P3 coverage. It uses the same panel as the LG 27GP950. As you thought might be the case, the figures quoted by Philips for some of their regional product pages for Adobe RGB are what some would call ‘relative’ and not absolute coverage. So they reflect overextension due to the generous DCI-P3 coverage without accounting for the significant under-extension in the green to blue region. 89% Adobe RGB coverage was recorded in this review.

Whilst the 279E2FQE isn’t a model I’ve covered due to current region-restricted availability, it has a Quantum Dot LED backlight and the listing of 100% Adobe RGB and 98.9% DCI-P3 coverage suggests absolute values in that case (hence the Adobe RGB stopping at 100%). It would tally with the capabilities of the QD backlight solution as well. I suspect it’s based on the BOE MV270QUM-N40, too, which would mean that panel does indeed use a QD backlight. That would also explain the gamut capabilities of the other models using it. 🙂

[qXTFgo4E]

New contestants are springing up now that CES is under way. There’s now the Philips 27B1U7903 which has 99.2% AdobeRGB and 97.2% DCI-P3 coverage with a MiniLED QD backlight.

https://tftcentral.co.uk/news/philips-27b1u7903-with-4k-2304-zone-mini-led-backlight-and-thunderbolt-4-connection

https://www.philips.com.cn/c-p/27B1U7903_93/professional-monitor-4k-uhd-mini-led-thunderbolttm-4-monitor

My best guess would be a binned BOE MV270QUM-NM0 or something similar given that it’s a QD backlight (and it being the only good match I can find on Panelook).

No pricing but I imagine it won’t be <$1,000.

[PCM2]

Definitely a stretch to consider that a “value” option, but an interesting model nonetheless so might as well list it here for reference – thanks. 🙂

[jonathanco]

Hi,

New to this but looking for some advice as also looking for a 4K monitor (27 or 32 inch) with good AdobeRGB (I’d probably settle for just under 100%)

I have the added complexity that I’m in NZ and we typically have a more limited range available locally.

The typical BenQ monitors are a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

At the top of my price range at the moment, and looking quite good is the ViewSonic VP2785-4K which has 100% AdobeRGB

From my reading it uses the LG LM270WR4-SSA1 Panel which seems to be well regarded?

My question is then whether I could look at other models from other manufacturers that use the same panel and expect similar quality?

For example, the ASUS ProArt PA279CV seems to use the same panel, but in reviews seems to rate at only 80% AdobeRGB (and ASUS themselves don’t seem to give a number)

Presumably the panel is only one part of the equation, there is something going on with the back lighting that makes the difference?

——

Bonus question if I can, the LG UltraFine 27UP850-W (BOE MV270QUM-N51 panel) also looks good (90% AdobeRGB?), and seems reasonably well regarded on this forum?

[PCM2]

Hi jonathanco,

Some models use CELLS, which are panels minus their backlight and then have a custom backlight fitted. That would change the colour gamut. But that’s not the case here. The PA279CV uses the BOE MV270QUM-N20, not the LG LM270WR4-SSA1. It’s a standard gamut monitor not designed for work within wider colour spaces than sRGB. ViewSonic’s VP series is generally pretty solid and the VP2785-4K seems to be a decent monitor, so with the limited choices available and its capability I feel that would be a good one to go for in your position.

The 27UP850 has only been referenced on this forum twice before this post I’m currently typing – once by me and once by you. I have given some generally positive words about earlier models such as the 27UL850, but I don’t have a good deal of feedback to share on the 27UP850. And if you’re going to be working within the Adobe RGB colour space or want maximum coverage of that, there’s a significant difference between ~90% Adobe RGB and ~100% Adobe RGB.

[jonathanco]

Ok, good advice, thank you.

Btw I got the panel info for the ASUS PA279CV from here: https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/6b052206. They show the LG LM270WR4-SSA1 panel not the BOE one. The fact that it’s not actually the same panel as the ViewSonic definitely clears up some of my confusion.

Sorry, my statement re the 27UP850 was poorly worded, it was more that the panel (BOE MV270QUM-N51) seemed to feature in other models that were considered to be good (at their price point).

[PCM2]

Yeah, DisplaySpecifications can be a bit hit and miss with their information. Most of it is accurate, but they have the occasional error and this is one example of that. And you’re correct about that BOE panel series and models which use such panels generally being well-regarded. I would expect that to be reflected by the 27UP850 as well. 🙂

[kaneda]

Hiya.
So BOE panels are the way to go?

[PCM2]

No, that’s far too general and not what I was saying at all. I was simply affirming that the 27UP850 is likely a decent monitor given that models using ‘similar’ BOE panels are generally well-received. I don’t prefer them to competing products, but they aren’t bad either. It very much depends on the product and the capabilities you’re looking for and regional price and availability can also dictate the choice. My own recommendations are clear in the ‘4K’ segment and they include models with Innolux and AUO panels primarily. The S2722QC and 288E2UAE (288E2E) do not offer the gamut capability to be relevant to this particular thread. I also specifically state elsewhere (including a thread you’ve participated in) that I’m not a fan of the ~32″ ‘4K’ BOE panels because they tend to have worse viewing angle performance and a grainier screen surface than alternatives from other manufacturers, most notably AUO.

[EsaT]

Innolux is seriously lacking in greens to meet AdobeRGB.
AUO seems to be nowadays only maker doing also AdobeRGB covering panels.
Ironically LG who used to make those widest gamut panels, nowadays stumbles and plants face to dirt when trying to get over DCI-P3.

[qXTFgo4E]

Another no-price-yet-but-probably-not-sub-$1k contender was announced: the Cooler Master GP27-FUS.

Product Page: https://summit.coolermaster.com/chronos/streaming/gp27-fus/

PDF Spec Sheet: https://coolermaster.egnyte.com/dd/ECvuoY1rcq

If I had to guess, this is probably the same panel as the Philips 27B1U7903 from earlier in the thread (BOE MV270QUM-NM0). They only announced pricing for the GP27-FQS (QHD sibling) at $700 but I suspect this one will probably be much more expensive.

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