[PCM2]

Regarding colorimeters, the Spyder range is particularly user friendly and their newer sensors work very well with modern monitors. The ‘SpyderX’ range are the only ones you’ll find readily available now as older models have been discontinued – the sensor is much better for colour temperature measurement in my experience than older models, including the Spyder5 range. The X-Rite models are very good devices, including the i1Display Pro, although I don’t rate the included software very highly. The nice thing about the Spyder models (Pro and Elite) is that they give you good feedback during the process and allow you to optimise things properly in the monitor OSD even if you’re not going for a full profile (complete with ICC profiles).

[Varest]

I’ll take a closer look at the mentioned Spyder models, they seem reasonably priced as well.
Once again, thanks for the advice!

[sts_pro]

Hello everyone! 🙂 Just wanted to update this thread as I was asking for advice a while back.

I finally end up buying a monitor and the final choice was ASUS XG438Q 🙂

Pros:
– It is my first MVP screen and do far I am enjoying deep blacks (honestly I was quite tired of IPS glow of my Dell U2412M)
– Screen real estate: monitor is HUGE! After all the video reviews I’ve seen I still was “shocked” when I got the box! At home it just dwarfed my fairly large desk 😀 I am now considering a VESA mount…
– I am pretty happy with the colors so far (I am not a content creator) and as consumer and content editor I am satisfied
– I haven’t used it for gaming yet but “on paper” it seems to be quite good

Cons:
1. Monitor died after a month of use 🙁 Waiting on ASUS to pick it up for RMA after New Years break… I am not a fan of ASUS service in general so will see how it goes
2. No USB-C on a $1200+ monitor

[PCM2]

Thanks for the feedback and good luck with the monitor swap! Hopefully it will go smoothly when they finally get around to doing it. I’m glad you were enjoying the experience when it was working!

[jasswolf]

48″ LG CGX.

😛

[PCM2]

It’s not a monitor, but close enough so I’ll keep that here. 😉 Manufacturers are producing 55″ and 65″ “monitors” now, so would be nice to see some monitors using the 48″ LG Display OLED panel as well. Perhaps when GPUs support HDMI 2.1 and beyond we’ll start seeing that kind of thing.

[jasswolf]

Yeah it’s an interesting consideration now, as it’s slightly more pixel dense than a typical FHD monitor, input lag is fine for 120Hz usage, and it’d be far and away the best for BFI, HDR and arguably productivity.

Given it should be available for under $800 later in the year (and that’s the C series), that’s enormous price pressure on ultrawides, 4K 120Hz+ LCDs and anything JOLED is cooking up as they move into HVM. It’s a great bit of manoeuvring from LG.

[K2Core]

Premise of the whole thing: Working in 4k, playing games using Integer scaling (AMD) in 1080p.
I’m searching for screen that will allow me to work (video and photo editing for social media) with good / above decent color accuracy, but also give me some fun from playing video games. At first I thought about getting 1440p, but while searching for something nice, most of the screens that I found where already 4k, so I thought – why not.

Features that I would like to have:
Price tag around 300€
1440p or 4k (anything above 1080p)
27″ or more
Vesa mount
Freesync
Decent sRGB coverage, even some overcoverage would be nice to get something more punchy
I know that’s a lot to demand for something in this price range, but I found some propositions and would like someone with more experience / knowledge to evaluate them.
In recommendations I found Philips 276E8VJSB and then his younger brother with VESA mount (278E1A), but both of them lack freesync 🙁

So then i found LG 27UL500 – On paper something perfect for me – 4K, 98-99% sRGB, factory calibrated and freesync. But I couldn’t find any review of it that would cover real color accuracy / coverage, neither information about freesync refresh range. 27UL600 seems to be more known around but is slightly more expensive and is not factory calibrated. Next one is 27UL650 and this one is factory calibrated, but at this point im paying 100€ more for something that seems to be 27UL500 with new number slapped on and crancked up brightness for HDR badge (27UL500 is here for 1300pln = 288€; 27UL650 for 1750pln = 388€, we got from sweet spot to above budget real quick here xD)

My decision about 4K is not set in stone, so I also found 1440p panel – iiyama XUB2792QSU-W1. It’s slightly brighter and according to spec sheet it covers 115% of sRGB, but there’s also lack of evidence, all I could found is “It’s nice” on some youtube review. I’m considering this display because local reseller provide some kind of 0 dead pixels warranty.

So yeah, is there anything someone could recommend? Is it possible that this LG screen is as good as on paper or praised on the web 27UL650 is the real deal and that 27UL500 wasn’t so great?
And also: Is my premise any good? I couldn’t find any reviews about that, from mathematical point of view nearest neighbour should work like a charm and scale that 1080p lossless to 4k panel, but maybe I should just throw this idea out of the window, play on lower settings and force my pc to pump out native to 1440p panel?

P.S: I’m really sorry for grammar, but it’s 4am here and english is not my native language, so if something isn’t clear, just quote it and i’ll rewrite it 😉

[PCM2]

Hi K2Core and welcome,

It’s correct that we recommend the Philips 276E8VJSB and would consider the 278E1A a good alternative if VESA mounting is important. These models offer a slightly lighter (less grainy) screen surface than alternative models using LG IPS panels, which to sensitive users like me is a huge plus. But to be fair isn’t something everyone would really mind about – the LG models are not “terrible” in that respect at all. The Philips models also offer slightly better pixel responsiveness overall or are at least better tuned in that respect. Not a huge difference there, but still worth mentioning. It’s largely when you add price into the equation that the Philips models really stand out. I wouldn’t recommend most users pay more for what I see a somewhat inferior product from LG.

Having said that, Adaptive-Sync (FreeSync) is a nice addition for some users and notably absent from the Philips models. I wouldn’t say the LG models offer a bad experience by any stretch of the imagination, either. Some of the more expensive options (such as the 27UL650 you mentioned) can demand a somewhat higher price for pretty useless additions such as ‘HDR’ support – despite lacking an appropriate colour gamut or any contrast advantage. Some users might like how the image looks with this, but really these models miss ticks on too many important boxes for that to be worth much consideration. I agree that the 27UL500 would be more interesting to consider as it uses the same panel but has a less powerful backlight without ‘supporting’ HDR. Don’t pay too much attention to factory calibration, though. Certainly not deserving of a bold font in your initial reply 😉 . Many models (recommended Philips 276E8VJSB included) don’t promote this but are quite consistently well-calibrated anyway. Some models claim to be factory calibrated yet they miss the mark when you actually put that to the test as a reviewer, even in terms of gamma which doesn’t shift over time like white point.

You haven’t mentioned something very important and that is the GPU you’re using. The exact model isn’t always relevant when discussing monitors, abut in this case I think it is. I question whether you actually need FreeSync on the monitor? If you’re planning to game at the Full HD resolution, presumably you’re doing that for GPU horsepower reasons. Is your GPU not able to maintain a consistent 60fps at 1920 x 1080? If you think it would only do that with reduced graphics settings and you’d rather increase graphics settings at Full HD, you might want to have a re-think. Extra pixel density and increased resolution has a very broad and definite impact in increasing the detail and clarity, giving a crisper look to games even with graphics settings set to ‘Low’. A look that no fancy graphical filters or extra options in your game will replicate. So resolution is the last thing I’d recommend sacrificing if possible. I have no opinion on the Iiyama nor user feedback to share, but I can see the merits of considering a 2560 x 1440 model instead given what I’ve just said.

[K2Core]

Thank you for your response!

Don’t pay too much attention to factory calibration, though.

Thank you for this info, I also wasn’t sure if that’s anything that I should give any care about.

You haven’t mentioned something very important and that is the GPU you’re using

So right now I’m using RX580 (8GB) and I can achieve stable 60fps in most games on high details and I would like to keep this card until first decent releases after next-gen console release (probably something like 1,5 year)
I thought about freesync as a thing that would allow me now to get most of that 1080p experience without lowering game settings and provide smooth gameplay while my GPU won’t be able to stick to that 60fps and I think that it will happen within next few months. In long-term, after GPU upgrade it could allow me to try some of that 4k with little bit of reserve.

But your reply made me rethink is freesync really what I need. For now I could just lower some settings and still get that 60fps and in long-term if I would be able to push 4k I will just do it.

About 1440p – It’s still on the table. With freesync it would make it possible to keep on going with my GPU and totally would be the sweet spot for gaming, on the other side – I’m loosing possibility of working and watching movies on 4k screen and some part of my brain is telling me “no” ;D

Also the possibility of integer scaling is heavily affecting my decision here. I don’t mind keep playing on 1080p even on new GPU, becuase while playing I pretty much don’t care about the details as much about the consistency of frametimes, so that’s what makes that 1080p on 4K look like viable option for me.

Are there any reviews / confirmations that it’s working properly? Or maybe someone who have 4K display could take a quick test and tell us if it’s crisp as it should be?

After your response I think that 278E1A is the leader now in my head, but if integer scalling is a lie, the whole 4K idea is going out of the window, and I’m going to search for 1440p, or maybe 1080p ultrawide to play on native resolution.

[PCM2]

That makes sense. I know some users go into things thinking Adaptive-Sync or G-SYNC is absolutely essential. But in my view it’s good to consider whether it’s really necessary, and in this case it perhaps isn’t. The other thing is that even with the technology it’s nice to have the frame rate as high as possible. Having used a number of high refresh rate ‘4K’ UHD models (including the ASUS PG27UQ) I found the experience more enjoyable at higher frame rates even with G-SYNC there. So I was happy to compromise with detail levels to achieve this and found the pixel density itself very rewarding even with medium to low settings.

I’m curious about integer scaling as well. I’m not aware of any monitor that does this, but as a GPU scaling feature it should work nicely in theory. Certainly better than an interpolation mechanism that involves obvious softening to the image vs. native Full HD. I haven’t tested it myself and I tend not to focus too much on GPU features, but I’d be very interested in hearing if others have used it and how they found it. I’ll probably test it out when I next have a ‘4K’ monitor, not sure when that will be though. 🙂

[K2Core]

Okay, when Coronavirus will slow down a bit I’ll pull the trigger on Philips 278e1a and share some tests / opinion about that driver feature on forum.

Thank you for your support man, stay healthy!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone!

I’ve recently discovered this website and I’d say it’s very useful for someone who’s looking for a new monitor. The thing is that I can’t spend more than €300 so I come up with this two monitors.

Samsung U28R550 – 28″ 4K, 4 ms, 60 Hz, HDR10, FreeSync, LED, IPS, 16:9, 1000:1, 300 cd/m², 178°, HDMI 2.0 – €279 right now.

Philips 278E1A/00 – 27″ Ultra HD 4K, IPS, 4 ms, Mega Infinity DCR, FlickerFree, HDMI, Displayport – €299.

I don’t know much about monitors so if you could tell me about them (panel, colors, etc) and advise me which is best for my budget I’d appreciate it a lot.

Thank you for your time.

[PCM2]

Hi,

I’ve merged your thread with an existing thread covering ‘4K’ options. You didn’t say what you wanted to do with the monitor, so I will only assume it’s general usage and perhaps some gaming on the side. Either way, you’ll be well aware of how restrictive choices are with such a budget.

I think either model would work nicely, although I don’t have any experience with the Samsung or any others using that particular 28″ IPS-type panel. I do recommend the Philips 278E1A, however. It’s covered in this thread and as noted is just like the model we currently recommend with a different chassis and a few extra features.

[niels]

Hi pc monitors do you know which current 4k monitor 27 to 32 inch has the least matte and least grainy surface coating

Thanks in advance

Niels

[PCM2]

Hi niels,

As mentioned earlier in this thread, one reason we recommend the Philips 276E8VJSB (and by extension the 278E1A with the same panel) over competing models with LG IPS panels is that it offers a smoother and less grainy screen surface. Of the ~32″ ‘4K’ VA models I’ve used the Philips 328E1CA and others using the same curved Samsung SVA CELL (e.g. U32R590C) offer the least grainy screen surface.

I haven’t come across any ~32″ ‘4K’ IPS-type model recently without a somewhat grainy screen surface, though. And I wouldn’t say the models with that Samsung SVA model are wonderful in that respect either, they just have less of a ‘sandpapered’ appearance than most IPS-type models in the segment. The 27″ Panda panel used in the Philips is a bit better. Perhaps the BenQ EW3280U will be pleasing when it comes to screen surface, but I’m not holding my breath given other ~32″ ‘4K’ IPS-type models I’ve used in the past few years. I’ll find out when I review it shortly.

Note that this assessment focuses on how grainy the screen surface texture is. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the lightest (lowest haze) screen surfaces are used by other models than those I just recommended. Including the ~32″ IPS-type models. I haven’t come across a ‘4K’ model which offers a satisfying combination of both low haze value matte surface and smooth and ungrainy surface texture since reviewing the BL3201PT (BL3201PH) several years back. There are some glossy options, but the only one within your size range that hasn’t been discontinued is yet to be released. And that’s the Philips 328M1R.

[Anonymous]

Hi again!

You’re right, my mistake. I’ll basically use the monitor to work with text, YouTube videos and media in general, but I’m mostly interested on text-based work. I’ve read about the technology used by Samsung U28R550, AAS, but it’s not clear to me this “IPS-type” panel technology and its pros (if they exist) because it’s usually stated as a VA kind-of technology, even if the contrast is 1000:1. I’m not a gamer but a VRR technology such as FreeSync is welcomed, even if it’s not essential.

So, between that Samsung and the Philips, I’ve seen you strongly recommending the latter. I know that my budget is really limited so I’ve searched for more models that I could afford right now and I’ve found the Samsung U32J592 for €29 more (€329, 287 as the lowest price ever on Amazon), which is a 32″ model and I could have more space to work but I’ve read on another thread (4K UHD Monitor to work with text) that the colour gamut is not as good as on the Philips line (compared to the big one). However, I don’t know if a 32″ at almost 60 cm away is too much for my eyes and if it would provoke and excessive eyeball movement, even if a 150% scaling is used.

Thank you in advance.

[PCM2]

AAS = Azimuthal Anchoring Switch. It is a very confusing term for a panel technology, because it can be applied as either a VA or IPS-type panel. With the Samsung U28R550 it’s an IPS-type panel and characteristically similar to that. The same sort of technology is used in the Gigabyte FI27Q-P we’re currently reviewing.

I don’t generally recommend the flat ~32″ VA models with Innolux panels (AAS VA-type – confusingly) and I’ve mentioned why earlier on this thread. But essentially the colour and gamma consistency is poor compared to the competing models with Samsung curved SVA panels and they have a grainier screen surface. The Samsung U32J592 is one of them. For your uses the colour consistency and gamma consistency might not be a big issue, but you need to consider the granier screen surface and just your overall preferences for colour performance when using the monitor.

Personally I feel a ~32″ screen would be “OK” from 60cm away, but you’re correct that you’d be moving your eyeballs a fair bit in comparison to a 27″ screen from that distance. I use such screens from ~70-80cm without issue, perhaps a little closer at times. But 60cm all the time would be just a bit too close for my personal preferences. Such a viewing distance would also exaggerate those gamma and colour shifts I’ve explored with VA panels.

[Anonymous]

I see, so the best is avoiding those model from Samsung and go for a Philips monitor. But now I’ve come to a dead end: Philips 328E1CA is (maybe) too big for me, Philips 278E1A is IPS.

What bothers me a lot is BLB and greyed blacks on my actual old grainy TN panel monitor (not even for gaming, it was cheap 11 years ago, I didn’t even know I was using a TN monitor…), so I really want a VA panel because of its high contrast, less BLB, less glow and much less greyed blacks (I’ve seen some comparisons and wow), but according to this thread (https://forum.pcmonitors.info/topic/looking-for-a-27-inch-va-monitor-thats-not-horrible/) and this one (https://forum.pcmonitors.info/topic/best-gaming-monitor-for-dark-scenes), finding a good 27″ VA panel is a difficult task, don’t say at 4K resolutions (maybe 2.5K easier).

So my only two options are going for a €300 27″ IPS monitor (https://pcmonitors.info/philips/philips-278e1a-27-inch-uhd-model/) with good colours but lower contrast, more BLB and more glow or save some more money and go for a €400 32″ VA monitor (https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/philips-346b1c/) with good colours too, higher contrast, less BLB and glow expected (I don’t know if the glow would be more visible from a nearer viewing position) BUT maybe too big for my desk and/or could cause eye strain.

By the way, I’ve seen this AOC monitor (https://pcmonitors.info/aoc/aoc-u2790pqu-elegant-4k-ips-model/) which is classified by the brand into their professional line, a €350 monitor which uses the same panel as the Philips 278E1A but I don’t know anything about it in terms of professional reviews such as the ones found here, is it just a Philips 278E1A “fancier” version which includes a better stand and USB HUB (I want to use an adjustable stand, so…)?

Thank you for your time.

[PCM2]

Just to clarify, in case others reading this might misinterpret. I was specifically suggesting avoiding the models using the flat 31.5″ Innolux panel – that’s all ‘4K’ VA models currently on the market that are flat. I wasn’t specifically suggesting avoiding all Samsung models. The U32R590C uses the same CELL as the Philips 328E1CA), for example. But if you’re not happy with ~32″ inches, which I understand can be a “hard barrier” as I call it (i.e. something you absolutely need to avoid) then you have no choice but to go for an IPS-type panel or a model with lower resolution.

I’m glad you’ve been following the other threads (as you highlighted in your post) where I suggest the 27″ 2560 x 1440 VA models can be a bit disappointing if you’re expecting a strong contrast performance. Monitors are of course very subjective, but these models just never quite hit the spot for me and didn’t really show sufficient benefit from the VA panel technology. Some people will still enjoy the experience they provide. It’s not the case that the IPS models will give you better backlight uniformity (including less backlight bleed and clouding), either. That varies between units and ultimately VA models can be just as prone to it – the modern VA models with ~3000:1 or lower static contrast seem quite prone to this, actually. ‘VA glow’ can be a bit obnoxious on these models as well and some would argue more distracting than ‘IPS glow’. Difficult to quantify that one, but I’d certainly recommend looking out for our upcoming FI27Q-P review. The sample I’ve received has good uniformity and is an excellent demonstration of what an IPS-type panel with decent static contrast and little backlight bleed can achieve. It’s such a shame not all units will be like this. 🙁

The AOC U2790PQU does indeed use the same panel as the Philips models and should offer similar performance. The feature-set and build is slightly different, as you identified. There’s some suggestion the input lag may be slightly higher as well and some users suggested they were having some HDCP handshake issues. Not sure about either aspect myself as it’s not a model I’ve used and I don’t intend to review it. And yes, I’m happy for you to post internal links as you have done and prefer this to external links to the same products. 🙂

[Author]

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