Looking for a 1080p HD Monitor/TV for programming and movies

[Logpiri2]

Hi,

I'm looking for a Monitor/TV for programming and watching movies.
I also need the following features:

• 
  ■ Dimension: >= 24''
  ■ High quality in movies, images etc...
  ■ PPI: the highest possible
  ■ Response time: the lowest possible, < 5ms (my old monitor)
  ■ Contrast ratio: >= 50:000:1 (my old monitor)
  ■ Price: < 380$

Any advice?
My video card is MSI R6870 Hawk
I live in Europe.
Thanks

 

[ssddx]

Dimension: > 25''
... if you're only looking for something in the 24,25,26" range then a monitor would be better suited for you. i'd only suggest a tv if going with 32,36,40 or larger. however, given your other requirements i think you would be best to stick to monitors.

High quality in movies, images etc...
... both tvs and monitors would do this but text would be much easier to read on monitors. for movies they will always look best at native resolution (1080p on 1080p screens) or at least on even multiples of the resolution. also, if you want to avoid black bars on movies its best to maintain the same aspect ratio (though you will run into black bars if you watch enough content). in terms of color accuracy, 8bit ips panels will offer greater color quality and no banding on gradients but are also expensive (though with your budget you just might be able to pick up one). be careful as not all ips are 8bit, many of the cheap ones are only 6bit.

PPI: the highest possible
... ppi depends on the screen size and resolution. the higher the resolution and the smaller the screen size the higher the ppi. a good way to calculate is to divide the diagonal pixels of the resolution by the rated screen size of the monitor. diagonal pixels measurement can be easily calculated by a hypotenuse calculator (google.com has this built in if you search). for example 2202/26 (2200 = hypotenuse of 1920x1080 triangle) would give you 84ppi which is a 26" 1080p monitor. a 24" would be about 92ppi. going with a higher resolution monitor (such as 2560x1440, 2560x1600 or 4k) would give you much higher ppi numbers.

Response time: the highest possible, < 5ms (my old monitor)
... you meant "the lowest possible" as higher response time would mean more lag. 5ms is not bad and some of your ips panels will have similar response times. if you want super fast such as 1-2ms then you are limited to panels such as TN which while the fastest responding are also the worst on viewing angle and are only 6bit. if you wanted greater color accuracy, you would need to step into an 8bit monitor.

Contrast ratio: >= 50:000:1 (my old monitor)
... make sure you are referring to static contrast not dynamic. static is often a much lower number but means quite a bit more in terms of actual contrast values. dynamic is done by lowering the backlight output however at the same time this also means that brighter areas will be dimmed. while dynamic contrast can certainly be useful, a higher static contrast number will be better.

Price: < 480$
... for this price (depending on local prices of course) you can likely have your choice of 1080p, 2k and 4k monitors in 6bit. if you wanted 8bit you are likely going to be stuck with 1080p at best due to higher costs. in televisions you can normally get a screen around 30-36" for this price in a decent brand or around 40-45 for low end brands.

--

what i think would work best for you:

either going with a smaller monitor (about 24") in 1080p in 8bit ips/pls which would give you the best color accuracy for image editing if color accuracy is most important to you and it is for business type work.

or... going with a higher resolution 2k or 4k monitor in 26" to 30" in 6bit if you are more interested in crispness and screen real estate over color accuracy.

i will note that just having a high dpi screen means nothing unless the content you are viewing has high resolution. lower resolution content stretched to fit a higher resolution screen will not look good but high resolution content on a high resolution screen will look superb. for instance 1080p content scaled up to a 30" 4k monitor will not look as nice as on a 1080p 22" monitor. good, yes but not quite as good.

another thing to note is that if you plan on gaming, you need significantly better hardware to do so on higher resolutions (and even then, typically need to run at lower settings to get good framerates).

good monitor brands:
samsung, viewsonic, dell, acer, asus, lg
good tv brands:
sony, samsung, lg

 

[Logpiri2]

wow, great. That's a great answer, all I was looking for. Thanks so much.
Now I have realized that I knew nothing about monitors/tvs

I want to add that I always watch 720p/1080p (Video: 640 Kbps, Width: 1 920 pixels, Height: 800 pixels, Display aspect ratio: 2.40:1, Frame rate: 23.976 fps, Bit depth: 8 bits etc...) movies and sometimes also Bluray (Video 15000 kbps 1080p / 24 fps / 16:9 etc...) so maybe I should stay on 1080p 24'' 8bit ips/pls what do you think?

 

[Logpiri2]

Also I was thinking that I don't need a TV monitor, but just a Monitor is enough (I'll buy a decoder to wath TV).
Also care about my eyes so I'd like to buy a LED monitor (they say that it's better for eye strain).
In conclusion I think I'm looking for a monitr with: LED, 1080p, 8bit IPS, dimension >= 24'', price: < 380$.
Any link to good ones?
Thanks

 

[ssddx]

there is a "monitor guide" stickied at the top of the peripherals section you may want to read. it has some more tidbits of info such as types of monitors, etc. not really going to help pick a specific monitor but a good read. it also highlights the difference between 8bit and 6bit+frc (also called 6bit+2)

okay, the trouble with any true 8bit panels are that they are rather expensive and generally outside your budget. however, if you can find a refurbished model, clearance model or find one on a really good sale you might be able to manage. might being the key word as europe prices may be higher, availability lower and access to deals not as frequent. you might just need to settle on the 6+2 below but i'd at least take a quick look to see if you see any for a lower price.

for example the dell 2413 http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2413.htm typically has a very high pricetag of $480+ but is a true 8bit panel (actually its 8bit+frc making it similar to 10bit) but if you look around you can find it for lower prices though i'm not sure if even good sales will drop it to quite what your preferred budget is but more manageable than its retail price for sure.. on ebay.co.uk for example refurb models are 199gbp. it might be worth looking around t other 8bit monitors to see if you scan score similar deals. if you dont want to waste time doing that and want 100% brand new from a big dealer, you're going to need to stick to below.

if true 8bit isnt possible, the 6bit+frc panels are not that bad and you would be more than happy with those since the kind of work you'll be doing on the pc doesnt seem like you really need to worry about it being perfect. they are also within your budget.

the site http://www.tftcentral.co.uk is very handy (especially their in depth reviews). for pricing i was looking at amazon.co.uk

a few models which lookd like they had promise. they might not be 1080p so you may need to do some more searching, but all are 6bit+frc and rated as flicker free.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2415.htm
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_p2414h.htm
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2515h.htm

i'd also look at products from lg, viewsonic, acer, asus and samsung as well as some other dell models. i'd read some reviews on tftcentral to see what they say about the specs.