Thoughts on 4k 43" desktop monitor? (Philips BDM4350UC)

[stacerasus]

Hey fellow carbies,

So, my 'need for a new screen' itch has still not been scratched and hence my search continues.
I have looked into many options (27" 1440p, Ultra Wide, Freesync, G-sync, 4k, Curved etc.), all with their own selling points; but to be honest, a 43" Desktop monitor that sports

- 4k resolution
- 60hz refresh
- 5ms GTG response time
- 4:4:4 Chroma Subsampling

has really caught my attention.

I am looking for a 'as big as possible' upgrade from my current BX2450 (24" 1080p 60hz) monitor - something that'll give a new level of immersion.
My budget is around 10k, putting the Philips BDM4350UC smack in the options list.
http://www.philips.com.au/c-p/BDM4350UC_75/brilliance-4k-ultra-hd-lcd-display

I am not a competitive gamer (not in the slightest) - I play games for the escape, alternate world, experience etc. and hence play mostly single player games.
My gaming is primarily done on my PC, however, the odd PS4 exclusive also features often, however this is also played seated at my desk.

I sit approx 60cm away from my monitor, which should be enough for 43" of screen right?

What do you guys think? Is this a good option? As appose to the popular LG 34" Ultrawides?
Assume that I have the system spec to run most games at medium (at least) to gain 60fps in 4k.

To buy or not to buy?

 

[iamgigglz]

60cm away? Go for a 34" curved.
I had a 29" flat ultrawide, also sit around 60cm from the screen and I could barely read what was going on at the edges of my screen. That edge was at a 57deg viewing angle and 71cm away.
With a 16:9 43" flat you'll have a 51deg viewing angle (worse) at 77cm. You're not going to see shit. Mini-maps, build menus etc will have you strafing around in your seat like a cross between Muhammad Ali and Stevie Wonder.

I can't do the calcs for the curved screen but it's going to be a damn sight better than either of those examples.

Also, minor thing: Glossy coating - You're going to need a flat, dark, featureless area behind you, especially for darker games.

 

[MellowYellow]

60cm might be a bit to close, you will have a lot of head movement. Go for it YOLO, mine was about ~75cm away.
Note at 43" you can use 100% scaling on windows which is nice, as with the 28" UHD monitors you have to increase the scaling.

 

[stacerasus]

strafing around in your seat like a cross between Muhammad Ali and Stevie Wonder.

- hahahahaha..
[MENTION=29209]iamgigglz[/MENTION] and [MENTION=36885]MellowYellow[/MENTION] - Thanks for the input. I am going to formally measure the distance from my monitor at my desk when I get home. The desk I use is slightly 'deeper' than normal, so I want to confirm.
I could also always wall mount the monitor if that'll add a couple cm's - this is also an option.

According to this https://stari.co/tv-monitor-viewing-distance-calculator it seems for a 43" 4k monitor, sitting around 3feet (0,9m) away is optimal?
View attachment 69197

I guess my favourite options at the moment is the Philips BDM4350UC and the LG 34UC79G. I want something BIG - immersion is number 1 priority.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Well your looking at the same level of ppi as your 24" (slightly improved on the Philips), if you place it further away you'll have an improved image but at the cost of 4k performance.
I personally haven't tried a 43" at that close gaming distance so it would be hard to say if immersion would be improved or whether everything would be to large.
I've not seen allot of gamers stick with the 43", best to google some YT reviews etc

 

[SCHUMI4EVER]

There someone on here who swears by the 43" KU7000 Samsung. Thought I can't remember who that is at the moment (maybe someone else can?) but you'd probably want to talk to them.



Edit: [MENTION=35664]JustNick17[/MENTION]

 

[stacerasus]

I just measured it and turns out I sit almost exactly 1m from my wall.
Taking that into consideration, if I wall mount a 43" monitor, I would probably end up sitting around 85cm away from the monitor (with the VESA standoff etc.)

hmmmm; wish I could try this before committing to it.
Wife say I should put our 40" 1080p Bravia LCD TV in my setup for a week or so to test it. Gonna be a shitty 1080p experience, but size wise I should get some indication I guess.

Any better ideas?
[MENTION=35664]JustNick17[/MENTION] - how far do you sit from your monitor? [MENTION=13990]Ron Burgundy[/MENTION] - checking out some reviews now, thanks.

 

[Claw]

I have my eyes on the same screen, so please any info would help me out as well. Keep me updated. XD

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[stacerasus]

@Claw: Yea - I am seriously contemplating it. I cannot think of anything better than playing Dying Light on a 43" monitor! I wanna see the slashed up Zombies in great detail and size! haha..

Also saw this one yesterday - Dell P4317Q - http://www.dell.com/za/enterprise/p/dell-p4317q-monitor/pd
Its in the same price bracket (actually a little cheaper if you look carefully) and looks just as awesome. Plus (forgive me maybe) a better brand in terms of local support and quality of product?

I am a programmer and that adds to the attraction - having an IDE and a web browser open side by side in still bigger than 1080p resolution is a huge turn on!

Stop me pulling the trigger on a 10k purchase!? :beguiled:

 

[blogbytes]

While the dell is slightly cheaper, it lacks hdmi 2.0 so if you ever want to hook up a Ps4 pro or Xbox one x and game in 4k, you won't be able to.

Also keep an eye out on the LG43.

http://www.144hzmonitors.com/reviews/lg-43ud79-b-preview/



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[stacerasus]

[MENTION=887]blogbytes[/MENTION] - Good point about the DELL there - thanks, didn't actually pick that up. I have full intent to run my consoles (now and future) through this monitor, so that is a deal breaker unfortunately.

Wow that LG looks awesome! Any idea where I can source one locally?
A quick Google search didn't yield any promising results.

Also - most source suggest sitting between 89cm and 1.5m away from a 43" monitor for desk usage; an achievable distance for most with some effort (maybe wall mount etc.).

 

[blogbytes]

Thoughts on 4k 43" desktop monitor? (Philips BDM4350UC)

[MENTION=32718]stacerasus[/MENTION]

We're in the same boat. I also couldn't find the LG anywhere locally. It was released only 2 months ago I believe. I am sure some supplier will bring it in. Perhaps someone here can share which supplier deals with LG imports.

That being said. I had the 40inch Phillips for a few months and really enjoyed working on it. Actually still biting myself for selling it. The screen estate is just fantastic. I mainly grabbed it for work and not for gaming. But any of the mentioned monitors in this thread will make a great experience for casual gaming, especially console gaming.

My desk is 900mm deep and I had no issues with viewing angles or with having to move my neck from one side to another. Keep in mind that when you switch from let's say a 27/28 inch screen, even a dual setup, it will take a day or 3 to get used to the size. It feels rather big in the beginning. But once you're used to the size, you would not want to go back to any smaller screen.

Are you mainly wanting this size for gaming or productivity?


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[stacerasus]

[MENTION=887]blogbytes[/MENTION]

I can imagine you kicking yourself for selling the 40" Phillips, that model gets great reviews and to be honest, I think 3" smaller than the current (what seems to be standard) 43" sounds perfect to me.

Honestly, I would probably spend around 60% of my time in front of this monitor gaming, 10% watching high def content, and the other 30% working (which entails programming tasks, some web design, flow creation and some audio production).
But, as I've mentioned before, I game for the entertainment and immersion thereof and I am not too concerned with high refresh rate, low input lag, fragging glory (although, Quake Champions promises to be quite fun).

So I am constantly back and forth between a 'massive' 4k monitor, or a 34" Ultra wide. One of my biggest drawbacks (which ironically is one of the biggest pros) on Ultra wide is the 21:9 aspect ratio.
I don't really look forward to cut scenes scaling to 16:9 (even if the game supports 21:9) on most modern titles, or those black bars for my console gaming - I believe I'll be put off by that.

Obviously, the other thing is the price tag on this type of monitor upgrade of 10k does make me think twice often - 10k is a ton of money!
Back and forth, back and forth, CUD CUD CUD, stop it stop it stop it. haha.

 

[Machine]

While the dell is slightly cheaper, it lacks hdmi 2.0 so if you ever want to hook up a Ps4 pro or Xbox one x and game in 4k, you won't be able to.

Also keep an eye out on the LG43.

http://www.144hzmonitors.com/reviews/lg-43ud79-b-preview/



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Sign me up for this LG - 100%.

 

[stacerasus]

And so, after some further research and deeper inquiry with those in the know; I realized that going 4k is going to be too much of a frame rate sacrifice for my current GTX 980Ti.
So, keeping the above in mind, I decided to pull the trigger on one of the very popular LG 34UM68 Ultrawide monitors (sold to me by legend @EsEs) - and boy oh boy am I impressed.

Having done a lot of back and forth around screens the past couple of months, I can say I am very happy with my decision to go Ultrawide.
My concerns for the 'funny' aspect ratio of 21:9 were way over played as I have had 100% joy with the 5 games I've tried already (Doom, Crysis 3, Dota 2, Metro 2033, SOMA); and I have no doubt I'd be happy with other titles too. Even running my PS4 through it (producing black bars on the side) worked way better than expected and the experience was still great (and will be for most 16:9 content on the 21:9 monitor).

The reasonably 'low' resolution of 2560x1080 is not something to be concerned about either as it is still perfectly fine at 34". The experience is similar to that of a 1080p 27" screen (as the height of a 34" ultra wide is similar to a standard 16:9 27"). After a quick investigation it looks like I am loosing between 5-12 fps on games with the extra pixels now added on the X axis. But even this frame loss doesn't really matter (as going from 120fps in Doom to 110 fps doesn't feel any different) - lol. I would be more than confident running this monitor with even a single RX470 by the looks of things - this resolution is very forgiving considering the immersion experience this screen grants.

One piece of advice, if you can, use the Display Port and not the HDMI. The picture quality difference was HUGE! I was at first somewhat concerned at the 'sharpness' of the screen when I used the HDMI cable. But when switching to Display Port cable, the experience and quality jumped 100 fold. (*Maybe I just had a really terrible HDMI cable; but the difference was massive).

I guess the only draw back currently would be the fact that I am running a FreeSync capable screen on an Nvidia card; which obviously means this great tech goes to waste. I may consider making the change to team Red now that this stunnner is perched on my desk - just to take full advantage of the features available.

Point of my post: don't fret for Ultra Wide; make the jump.
Immersion - check
Screen real-estate - check
Top performance - check
IPS - check

A great option; especially if you can pick one up second hand at a reduced priced like me?

 

[stacerasus]

Before and after shots below (taken quickly while initial setup last night - so forgive the bad light).

This was indeed an upgrade that proved itself worth of all the research and waiting.

Ultra Wide - you beauty

 

[DominionZA]

This thread inspired me to upgrade my 27" 1440p last Saturday to a 43" 4k.

Absolutely loving living at my desk.

 

[stacerasus]

@DominionZA - I am reviving this thread because I am once again considering going 43" 4k.

I had settled on the 34" Ultra Wide last year, and have loved it, but currently really enjoying my PS4 again - which is tempting me to make the trade again to standard 16:9 4k and then going big - 43" sounds GOOD. I regularly recline on my single seater couch in my study, and I would like to play some PS4 from there too - but the 27" (when the 34" has black bars on the side, that is the realistic 16:9 screen size) is just too small for me for the distance.

Consider you've now spent quite a number of hours (I assume) in front of your beautiful setup - what is your honest opinion of doing this?
By the pictures you shared, I'd say I sit about as far from the monitor as you - is it far enough to truly enjoy the size, but not be hindered by it?
Do you have any consoles hooked up to it?

It would be so cool if you would give me something insight man - this thread from @Jack_Bauer_ZA has me on edge about making the change.

 

[PHalanKS]

Why not both?


I was also planning on 43" as a monitor, but having seen the 55"s at work (got 4 of them for dashboards etc) I'm disappointed. Considering 34" ultrawide instead, but I'm quite attached to my 16:10*2 setup. If I change I'll likely never find another two 16:10 monitors as they are like hens teeth. Even the dell U241x range went from 1920*1200 to 1920*1080, and the U2515 is 1440p so more resolution both ways but I still prefer the U2412/U2415.

 

[SCHUMI4EVER]

Why not both?


I was also planning on 43" as a monitor, but having seen the 55"s at work (got 4 of them for dashboards etc) I'm disappointed. Considering 34" ultrawide instead, but I'm quite attached to my 16:10*2 setup. If I change I'll likely never find another two 16:10 monitors as they are like hens teeth. Even the dell U241x range went from 1920*1200 to 1920*1080, and the U2515 is 1440p so more resolution both ways but I still prefer the U2412/U2415.

Hear Hear, a man after my own heart.
I've made the jump to 16:9 with a heavy heart. I have a 16:10 ASUS PB248Q (direct competitior to the U2412, also 1920x1200) and love it more than any of my other monitors. That may change though once my PG279Q arrives.
I am never surrendering this PB248Q for any reason.

 

[Pickled_Dick]

If you play games for experience and escape get a 1440, 34, curved, 100hz, gsync


not much is more immersive than that.
4k you arent going to be able to play your games maxed out without fps dips,
also 60hz in 2018....come on dude, you deserve better

 

[Pickled_Dick]

@DominionZA - I am reviving this thread because I am once again considering going 43" 4k.

I had settled on the 34" Ultra Wide last year, and have loved it, but currently really enjoying my PS4 again - which is tempting me to make the trade again to standard 16:9 4k and then going big - 43" sounds GOOD. I regularly recline on my single seater couch in my study, and I would like to play some PS4 from there too - but the 27" (when the 34" has black bars on the side, that is the realistic 16:9 screen size) is just too small for me for the distance.

Consider you've now spent quite a number of hours (I assume) in front of your beautiful setup - what is your honest opinion of doing this?
By the pictures you shared, I'd say I sit about as far from the monitor as you - is it far enough to truly enjoy the size, but not be hindered by it?
Do you have any consoles hooked up to it?

It would be so cool if you would give me something insight man - this thread from @Jack_Bauer_ZA has me on edge about making the change.

My ps4 is hooked up to a ultra wide with no black bars?
Std ps4 with a asus mx34