Best Type of Monitor for Just Movies?

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Peat Moss

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Looking to get a 27"-32" monitor for movies. It would be a second monitor used solely for watching blu-ray movies from a blu-ray drive. No other function or purpose.

It will be used on a desk and I will be sitting approx 30" from the screen. So a 27"-32" size would be optimal.

Looking for the best picture quality (color accuracy, black depth, contrast and shadow detail). No other criteria. Just best picture possible for movies.

Questions:

1). For strictly movies, would it be better to simply get a 32" HDTV? Or would a computer monitor provide better picture quality?

2). Should I be looking for VA panels, or is IPS/PLS ok?

3). Glossy, semi-glossy, or matte?

4). I figure it would best to get a native 1920 x 1080p resolution to minimize scaling/conversion/black bar issues. Is this a correct assumption?
 
I'd get a 27" VA monitor for that, can't beat those black levels
 
32" 1440p va if you gonna hook it up to computer or 27" 1080p va or 34" 21:9 curved.

Depends if you need sub for movie 21:9 may or may not be better.

Though most 60Hz monitor can't do 24Hz properly so that is something that you should consider.

So a TV maybe better after all unless you can benefit from 1440p(with good renderer scaling) or 21:9.
 
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Peat Moss said:
Hahaa! Yeah, forgot to say my budget is ~ $500.
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Don't know how much it costs now in your parts, but the Eizo fg2421 which I use right now is great for watching movies. I bought it for 460; amazing contrast for an LCD, extremely blur free in 240hz mode and great colors once calibrated.

Otherwise, get a used Panasonic Plasma TV... might find a 50 inch VT30/GT30 for under that price...
 
androsforever said:
Don't know how much it costs now in your parts, but the Eizo fg2421 which I use right now is great for watching movies. I bought it for 460; amazing contrast for an LCD, extremely blur free in 240hz mode and great colors once calibrated.

Otherwise, get a used Panasonic Plasma TV... might find a 50 inch VT30/GT30 for under that price...
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Thanks, but looking for a 27" - 32".
 
Mokkat said:
I'd get a 27" VA monitor for that, can't beat those black levels
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Yep. A Contrast monster is what you'll want for movies. Also stick with 1080p. Anything else will look blurry from being upscaled. Color accuracy with VA panels is not bang on but its suitable enough.
 
Bezel finish, colour, room lighting and a displays brightness are far more important than the measured contrast ratio. Wait for reviews of the 2015 TV's to come out before buying.
 
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NCX said:
Bezel finish, colour, room lighting and a displays brightness are far more important than the measured contrast ratio. Wait for reviews of the 2015 TV's to come out out before buying.
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Contrast even you have to admit is one of the first if not the very first things to catch the eye. Of course Bezel's and color accuracy are important but how many people honestly notice the difference between color corrected displays versus high contrast ratio displays? The OP doesn't sound like he's immediately concerned with color accuracy.

If you doing dark room viewing contrast even with bias lighting is absolutely critical. Your recommendation on bias lighting helped quite a bit but my TV already had very excellent static contrast ratio to begin with. I also bought a second bias lighting kit for an IPS TV and while it helped its still an IPS TV with an inferior contrast ratio. But you are correct everyone has different conditions to adhere to.

Something tells me that even with VA color inaccuracies that it'll still be the preferred panel type for movie viewing in a computer monitor display category. The biggest downside being VA's slightly inferior viewing angles of course.

Even if he goes with a TV it'll likely still be VA because IPS panels in that size category from what I've seen generally have terrible contrast.
 
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Godmachine said:
Yep. A Contrast monster is what you'll want for movies. Also stick with 1080p. Anything else will look blurry from being upscaled. Color accuracy with VA panels is not bang on but its suitable enough.
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how blurry is it to you? Reason I ask is I have a 1440p and play 720p movies on my screen and it doesn't look bad at all.

lg-34um95.jpg


james-bond-1.jpg


james-bond-2.jpg


cars.jpg
 
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Because 720p to 1440p is exact 2x pixel mapping. Just like 1080p looks great on a 4k monitor (assuming the scaling is done properly of course).
 
If I'm comparing 1080p and 1440p in a game on my 1440p display, it will of course look better in 1440p.
But for 1080p movies the upscaling is negligible, the movies just look good. At least I'd argue that it's insignificant enough that resolution shouldn't be a deciding factor.
The reason I'd recommend 1080p is because that's all 27" VA monitors come in. I'm sure movies would look just as awesome on the 32" 1440p VA displays.
 
If your watching a lot of 2.35:1 blu rays I would get the 29 inch lg 21:9 monitor. That way your using all of your screen when watching movies. Also your perceived blacks will be better because you will not be looking at the black bars. Movies look great on mine.
 
kalston said:
Because 720p to 1440p is exact 2x pixel mapping. Just like 1080p looks great on a 4k monitor (assuming the scaling is done properly of course).
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720p looked good on my 25" 1080p monitor as well. The screen is smaller but looks like it has about the same ppi as the 34" as my icons on the desktop look to be the same size.
lg%20monitor%201.jpg
 
Zepher said:
how blurry is it to you? Reason I ask is I have a 1440p and play 720p movies on my screen and it doesn't look bad at all.

lg-34um95.jpg


james-bond-1.jpg


james-bond-2.jpg


cars.jpg
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I see a lot of black crush in those photos (could be the photos).

Q: How does one tell what kind of panel is in the TV? The promotional material almost never tells you, and the reviews may or may not reveal the panel type.

I've been looking at this Sony lately:

https://www.videopro.com.au/p-7316-sony-32-bravia-kdl32w700b-full-hd-led-lcd-tv.aspx
 
the black crush is due to the compression of the file, and the camera seems to add some artifacts to the image.

This image I just snapped has the nearly the same brightness and color as I see on my screen, but the cameras compression gives it a jaggy look, it's actually crisp and clean on the monitor.
http://transamws6.com/pics/pc/2010/test-image-igod-lg.JPG

That screen shot is from my friends documentary iGOD and is a 22GB 1920x1080p mp4 file.
I held the boom mic for a few of the interviews he shot.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3956984/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Aren't most current TV's IPS panels? that Sony has 178/178 viewing angles, same as IPS. VA panel may have the same spec though.
 
Godmachine said:
how many people honestly notice the difference between color corrected displays versus high contrast ratio displays?
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Contrast differences are essentially negligible if the display is used in an extremely bright room (glossy IPS TV will look better than a semi-glossy VA TV) or when using any kind of display with the brightness cranked in a light-less room, especially if the display has screen uniformity issues. A VA panels blacks will look deeper in a light-less room, but both will look awful if the brightness is kept cranked or if bias lighting is not used.

One could buy an LG TV (<900:1 contrast) and put a 5000 lumen 6500k/Daylight bias light behind it, plus LG's IPS TV's use matte silver and grey bezels.

One could also buy a frame-less IPS which has an inner black bezel which always ruins the perceived black depth, regardless of the room lighting or lack of. Frame-less matte & frame-less glossy
 
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