[BluesFanUK]

PCM – Any hands on with the Acer ET430K? It’s a 43 inch beast, IPS display, going for reasonable price on Amazon.

Seems the problem with previous big monitors like that is burn in.

[PCM2]

I haven’t I’m afraid. Although with their returns policy, perhaps you could be my guinea pig? 😉 I suspect it will be similar to the Philips BDM4350UC, likely using the same TPV panel in fact. And I don’t really think that’s a bad thing overall. Most users (me included) actually experienced no issues with burn-in on the Philips anyway. I know some users do have that issue, but not all.

If you did decide to brave it and go for the Acer, just be sure to go to Amazon through one of our links (for any monitor) if you’re buying from there. I’d welcome your thoughts on it as it does seem like a rather good price for such a beastly monitor.

[BluesFanUK]

It’s on my list of (many) monitors to consider atm. I think i’m definitely going to wait till the LG-32UD99-W drops first, if it’s anything like the LG-27UD68 then it’ll be a must have.

If it fails to live up to expectations i’ll either go for the BenQ PD3200U or i’ll look into either buying one of the 43″ monitors or a new TV. They’ve come on a long way over the past decade to the point at that size, a TV probably makes more sense than a large monitor, especially at 4K res.

[keepah]

Hello PCM2,

I did not buy a monitor yet but I’m asking myself a question, in the article about the Aoc u3277pwqu you write:

“For those who wish to work accurately within the sRGB colour space, the significant over-coverage is problematic.”

I’m a total newbie but is it something you can fix (more or less) using colorimeter hardware?

Thanks

[PCM2]

You can cut back on saturation levels to some extent with a colorimeter, but you would need the monitor itself to emulate a smaller colour gamut to get anything close to the level of saturation reduction you require (without significant negative side-effects). And even then there can be some underlying saturation issues due to the spectral output of the backlight itself. It’s a complicated area, but in many ways the U3277PWQU is not a good choice if accurate colour reproduction is important. That is made quite clear in the review not just in terms of the colour gamut but also inconsistencies due to panel type.

[keepah]

I understand, thanks much

[andrew]

HI
I have two options to buy new monitor for my MacBook Pro 13 toucher model
one is lg 27ud68 about 380US dollar (before tax)
and another one is Dell p2715q 430US (before tax)
Both models are discounted prices which are good deals.

I need a monitor because my MacBook Pro has too small screen, so my eyes get tired easily and also I want to watch movies with bigger screen.
I don’t play games a lot but most playing games are Starcraft (I know this games does not necessary for 4k but I heard UHD version is coming in summer), Fifa , overwatch (barely)

Can you recommend which option would be better ? please share your opinions !!
Thanks

[PCM2]

Both models are very similar in terms of performance; the LG actually uses a newer variant of the same panel, with a smaller panel border (hence the different bezel designs of the two models). They’re both well-calibrated out of the factory and as far as I can say without detailed testing, offering similar and good 60Hz responsiveness.

Some advantages of the LG model include FreeSync support and HDMI 2.0; neither of which are advantages for you as a MacBook Pro user. The Dell has the advantage of being a Dell (the ‘Dell factor’), generally very highly regarded due to their usually excellent customer service. It’s the more solidly constructed of the two models as well, not that the LG is poor in that regard, and includes a fully adjustable rather than tilt-only stand. You also gain 3 USB 3.0 ports on the Dell.

Overall I’d say that they’re both equally good monitors. The LG has some clear advantages for users who wish to use FreeSync (i.e. AMD GPU users) or HDMI 2.0 (‘4K’ capable games consoles) and is generally considered the more stylish product. The Dell has some superiority in functionality and ergonomics and is the more rugged-looking choice. Really, it depends which you prefer the look of and for you whether the fully adjustable stand and USB ports of the Dell are worth an extra $50 USD.

[stashix]

Hi, I’ve spent the past two months thinking about and unsuccessfully choosing a 4k screen.
Now I humbly come for advice, because this seems like an impossible task to me.
I’ve been using a Iiyama ProLite XB2483HSU-B1 24” FHD AMVA+ panel for the past 3 years and while I really like the contrast and uniformity I would like to get something bigger, both in physical size and resolution.
Ideally I’d like to stick with a VA panel again for the contrast, blacks and lack of glow, anything that’s comparable in responsiveness to what I have seems allright to me. While I do play a lot of video games it’s mostly slower paced single player stuff, or even games that are limited to 60 fps. Doesn’t seem like I would appreciate a 144 Hz panel with the one FPS game I play per year.
A good IPS panel would also be an option.
I can’t for the love of me decide if I should go with a 27” or 32” panel, 32” seems like it would work better in terms of not having to use scaling, but it was almost too huge when I saw one in person. With the smaller size I’m worried about scaling and whether the subjective impact of difference in detail is going to be quite so pronounced.
On a side note – I would like to be able to use the monitor with a PS4Pro as well.
I’ve been looking at some specific models, only two are VA (and there are no other VA panels at 4k available where I live).

27” LG 27UD68-B
-IPS
-well reviewed here
-relatively cheap
-Freesync is useless to me

27” ViewSonic XG2700-4K
-IPS
-great review on Tomshardware
-Freesync is useless to me

AOC U3277PWQU
-VA
-not that well recieved
-apparently slow
-32”, great
-nice price

32″ Philips 328P6VJEB
-VA
-can only find a Prad.de review in German, so not much info
-not that fast
-32”, great
-getting pricey

27″ Acer XB271HKbmiprz Predator
-IPS
-GSync – could be handy, but not that important to me
-pricey

32″ BenQ PD3200U
-IPS
-apparently pretty fast
-great colors
-over budget

32” Samsung U32H850
-VA
-not out yet
-price unknown
-actual performance unknown

Sadly I can’t find any data for comparison on my current screen, but I can say that it feels fast enough to me.
I’ll probably wait for the Samsung display since it looks like it may tick most of the boxes, but failing that I’m kinda lost. Favorites are probably the Phillips for being VA and 32”, AOC for being those too and relatively cheap, the LG (cheapest, good connectivity, good reviews, but only 27”) and the Benq, but that is quite a bit over what I would like to pay.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards

[PCM2]

Hi stashix and welcome,

I’ve merged your great and well-thought out post into this thread as there is already some ongoing discussion on some of these models and some general principles to consider. Plus I like to keep things in one place where possible rather than cross-posting in multiple threads. The fact that you’re specifically after a monitor for both PC usage and PS4 Pro usage puts an interesting slant on things. It certainly narrows down your choices a bit in that HDMI 2.0 support is a requirement. This is supported on all of the models you’ve mentioned (good job narrowing them down – you’ve clearly done a lot of research on this).

What I would say, though, is that the AOC U3277PWQU was indeed a bit disappointing. The thing that stood out for me, really, was the screen surface. It was just such a contrast with the beautifully smooth alternative used on the ~32″ AHVA panels (like the BenQ BL3201PT/PH and newer PD3200U you mentioned). Responsiveness wasn’t particularly impressive, which could be partly blamed on the fact that it is a VA panel. But compared to some modern VA models I’ve tested there were still some stand-out weaknesses. As noted in our news piece on the Samsung U32H850, it’s very likely using the same panel, so a lot of this will unfortunately apply to that model as well.

So I feel, from your list, the BenQ PD3200U would offer the best experience. But whether that’s worth you paying a premium for is not something I could answer myself. And given you feel the screen size is too big, it perhaps suggests sticking with 27″ would be better. Yes there are some potential compromises with scaling perhaps being required, but there will be compromises no matter which monitor you choose.

If you just use your PC for general purpose things like web browsing, MS Office and similar applications plus a bit of photo editing perhaps then I actually think you’d find things tolerable on a 27″ model. Personally I can read things okay without scaling and certainly use those sorts of programs – and there’s often application-specific zoom which can be used instead of scaling to make text a bit bigger. On those sorts of applications scaling is usually handled pretty decently anyway. It’s not perfect, but if you consider that you might find the screen size more comfortable and the price far more agreeable then it’s probably a worthy compromise to have to make.

I’d stay away from the XB271HK as it uses the same panel as the ASUS PG27UQ. The screen surface is something of a grainy mess, it’s a mystery to me why they thought such a surface was a good idea on a UHD screen! The ViewSonic XG2700-4K uses the same panel as the 27UD68 I believe, or possibly a slightly older LG AH-IPS revision with slightly thicker bezels but very similar performance. As used on the Dell P2715Q and ViewSonic VP2780-4K. Given the price and what I feel is similar performance, I’d stick with my recommendation of the LG 27UD68 for a 27″ UHD screen with HDMI 2.0 capability.

[stashix]

Thank you for your thorough and informative answer.
Given the lack of satisfactory VA options I think I’ll stick with your recommendation and get a 27” IPS panel.
Might yet spring for the Viewsonic since the LG 27UD68 seems to currently be delisted/out of stock at our domestic retailers.
If I find it unpleasant to use I can always return it and wait/sell my soul for the Benq.
I do some programming work on my machine, but VS scales pretty well.

A wild question if I may – would you happen to know what the situation is in regards to the PS4Pro and HDCP 1.4? It’s impossible to get a straight answer from Sony, they’ll always just pang me off to some useless marketing page.
As far as I can tell only a HDMI 2.0 + HDCP 1.4 is required, but HDCP 2.2 is needed for things like Netflix and maybe HDR? Not that any of the current models can do that anyway.

Thanks again 🙂

[PCM2]

No problem. And I’d love to hear your impressions on the ViewSonic XG2700-4K if you go for that one. Unfortunately I’m not really sure on the HDCP requirements for the PS4 Pro, but I can’t see why HDCP 2.2 would be specifically required for general usage but only specific things like you mentioned. HDCP 1.4 should be sufficient for most things and it would be quite limiting if Sony specific required HDCP 2.2.

[stashix]

I’ll gladly write some up, but full disclosure – I’m a total amatuer when it comes to displays, don’t have a colorimeter or anything like that at home and only went through 3 (now hopefully soon 4) monitors since 2003 (a 17” second hand IBM CRT that I had until 2010, a hand-me-down Samsung 1650×1080 Monitor/TV TN and the iiyama), so no idea how useful they’ll be.
I have to say this is the most helpful forum I’ve ever posted to, I really have to thank you a lot.
One last thing and I swear I’ll stop pestering you – have you heard anything about the AOC U2777PQU? It’s again a 27” IPS, price is ~15€ over the LG.

[PCM2]

My pleasure. And just general impressions would be useful. Yes, I’m aware of the U2777PQU, I haven’t tested it, however.

[MrMulch]

I’ve been looking at getting a large 4k monitor. I’m primarily looking to use it for programming and similar tasks, and a 40″ 4k monitor would essentially give me 4 times the screen space of an ordinary monitor. I would occasionally play videos on it, but it would not be my primary display for movies, and it would be nice if it would do okay with games too, though I’d need a computer upgrade for that, and that’s further down the line.

Looking at the options out there, they all seem to have various issues. Philips BDM4037UW with ghosting, and Philips BDM4350UC with serious burn in, the Dell P4317Q sounds like it would be good for my primary use, but not do so well with the dynamic content. ViewSonic VX4380-4k, LG 43UD79-B, also seems to have their issues.

I’ve also considered 32″ monitors, but they don’t seem to differ all that much in price, and they all appear to have similar issues as the larger ones.

From reading reviews and user impressions, it almost seems that 4k monitors over 27″ don’t work that well yet, and it’s quite a lot of money, so I don’t want to get a sub-par product.

Is there any monitor that would work for me, or is it better to wait 6 months or so, and hope that the market produce something that will better suit my needs?

[PCM2]

Hi MrMulch,

I’ve merged your thread with this one as I like to keep things together. Even though you’re specifically looking at ‘large 4K monitors’ and this thread is more general.

The fact of the matter is that all displays have issues, or potential issues. I would like to point out that the 32″ models do not generally suffer from the same issues as the 40″ models at all. There are no creadible or wide-spread reports of ‘burn-in’, ‘ghosting’ or any such thing from the BenQ BL3201PT/PH which we justifiably feature in the recommendations section. It’s not likely that a product will come along by the end of the year that ‘better suits your needs’, this model should do so anyway.

I would also like to point out, as covered in our review and in our comments on the YouTube video review of the Philips BDM4350UC that not all units do suffer from burn-in and for the vast majority of users it simply isn’t an issue. This is also reflected by the relatively low return rates of that monitor from users who have kindly purchased it via our website. Regardless of this, it is still a potential issue and the ‘frame skipping’ issue highlighted in our review is there regardless. In light of this and the fact the pixel density is superior, I personally tend to prefer the 32″ models (BL3201PT/PH in particular).

[MrMulch]

Out of curiosity, what makes making a 40″ monitor so much more difficult than making a 27″? Intuitively, I would think that the size of the individual pixels wouldn’t affect response time nearly as much as the number of total pixels (which would remain the same). I can see that size may make even back lighting more difficult, but that’s not what seems to be the problem with the large monitors.

[PCM2]

What you need to appreciate is that the ~40″ panels aren’t actually specifically designed for monitors, they’re designed for TVs and simply incorporated into monitors. The requirements in terms of image stability (lack of ‘burn-in’) and responsiveness are a lot looser for TV panels. Furthermore, the VA models are specifically manufactured by TPV. They don’t have the same expertise or indeed track record of providing relatively responsive VA panels that AU Optronics and Samsung do.

[MrMulch]

I see, the problem isn’t that it can’t be done, just that the market isn’t big enough to be worth it for someone to do it.

I would see the similar problems with:
Seiki Pro SM40UNP
ViewSonic VX4380-4K
LG 43UD79-B
LG 43UD79T 43

[PCM2]

Exactly. And yes, all of the models use either a TPV VA panel, TPV IPS-type panel or LG IPS panel. And they’re all shared with TVs and may exhibit the issues you’ve raised.

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