Looking for a 43” (or larger) 16:9 computer monitor. But which one?

[Boulez]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this question… am looking for a 16:9 / 43” (possibly 48” or 55”?) monitor (visual not loudspeaker!)

The reason for the size is to minimise vertical scrolling when working on large orchestral scores (ideally seeing piccolo and double basses at same time).

BUT: I’m 60s, have early cataracts, PVD, get ocular migraine. Will inevitably be working with monitor too many hours per day. So—hoping to minimise eye strain...

It’s to pair with a Mac Pro 2019. One Mac Pro XDR display is waay too pricey (let alone two, as one XDR is not large enough. Two in portrait mode would be super nice…..). But any small advantage eyes-wise might be worth paying for. Nice image quality might help. Colour fidelity not important.

Connecting more than one computer at once could be useful—which suggests the Dell P4317Q https://dell.to/31lJBwL might be the one. Does anyone here one use one of these? Recommend? Is it noisy at all? Easy to look at for long periods?

I’ve read that OLED screens are better for your eyes—but OLEDs get ‘burn-in’. I’ll be using Logic and Dorico mainly, and static images cause the problem. So I wonder if anyone knows, if you always used an OLED at low brightness, would it still ‘burn-in’? The Dell AW5520QF https://dell.to/3lcxMRy is a lot of money, but I wonder if—for my particular eyes—it might be worth it ??

Also been looking at Philips Momentum 558M1RY (55 inch). Also Acer Predator CG437K, which though a gaming monitor (I don’t game…) gets better reviews than the Dell 43…

All the above have flicker free / blue light filter / non-reflective screen etc.

Would be extremely grateful if anyone has experience to share on any of this.

Sorry for the longish message…

Thank you

[CS70]

Not sure if 48" exists, but 49" is basically two 27" near each other with all the benefits of a single panel and - due to screen-splitting and docking allowed by the driver - none of the cons.

I went with a Samsung QLED 49" LC49RG90 and can't be happier with it. It's very odd when sitting at 34" 16:9 someplace else suddenly feels very constrained

Worth paying attention to the resolution, some of the lower end ones (if a 49" ultra wide screen can be "low end") have only 1080 at the max refresh rate, and that's imho too fuzzy for DAW work. You want a 1440 one.

As for the curvature, after five minutes you dont notice and it's actually pretty awesome.

[James Perrett]

If you need plenty of room vertically have you thought about using a smaller monitor (or two) in portrait mode? I'm fairly sure that the Dell monitors can handle this out of the box as they have adjustable stands (or at least they did when I last bought one).

[Boulez]

Hi CS70, Thanks very much.

I like the Samsung curved ultra-wide monitors a lot – unfortunately a single one doesn’t have the height required for big orchestral scores – if the orchestra is large it’s a long way from the flutes at the top to the basses at the bottom! And the idea is to avoid scrolling endlessly. I did think about buying two ultra-wides and somehow fixing them so one sits on top of the other. I haven’t worked out if this is possible. Maybe someone here has done that?

[Boulez]

Hi James,

Thanks! – Yes, that was kind of my idea with two the Pro XDRs… but just a wee bit too pricey! I realise it could be done with other portait-mode-supporting monitors. But I *think* a 43" or 55" would just about be high enough. I still can’t get my head 100% around whether having two smaller monitors is a plus or a minus. I’m tending to think one big space and no-bezels-in-the-way is better... at the moment…

[CS70]

Hi CS70, Thanks very much.

I like the Samsung curved ultra-wide monitors a lot – unfortunately a single one doesn’t have the height required for big orchestral scores – if the orchestra is large it’s a long way from the flutes at the top to the basses at the bottom! And the idea is to avoid scrolling endlessly. I did think about buying two ultra-wides and somehow fixing them so one sits on top of the other. I haven’t worked out if this is possible. Maybe someone here has done that?

Two ideas - some "normal" monitors, not curved nor ultra wide - are made so that they can be positioned vertically on their stand exactly for people working with "paper" style documents. They're much cheaper and in your case one would do fine!

Don't have any specific models in mind but they should be fairly easy to find, the only trick is the monitor stands which has height and rotation enough. A 27" in vertical orientation (or two) would basically give you two "sheets" of virtual paper for your work. Most graphic cards this side of 2000 will allow you to set the signal orientation via hardware.

As for two wide monitors on top of each other, it's absolutely possible, there's all kind of monitor stands that can be used. High mentioned the other day the excellent Ergotron https://www.ergotron.com/en-gb/products ... ti-monitor

[The Elf]

I much prefer two monitors (I use 24 inch 'wide' screens) to a single larger one. I can maximise my project to one monitor and my mixer to the other.

[CS70]

I much prefer two monitors (I use 24 inch 'wide' screens) to a single larger one. I can maximise my project to one monitor and my mixer to the other.

Just for information - Windows at least allows wide screen management, so there's no difference in that regard (apart no bezel, of course) - you can explicitly split the wide screen as if you had two distinct monitors.

Windows Snap works fine for dual monitor arrangement. For more complex stuff (three areas, for example) you use stuff like DisplayFusion.

[Boulez]

Thanks CS70

2 x Samsung C49RG90 would be quite pricey but a pretty fabulous solution. I’ll definitely have a think about that (could buy one to begin with…). Or perhaps two slightly smaller Samsung curves.

The Ergotron stands look very practical and cool. On some of the curved screens I’ve looked at the stand was built-in (non-removable) which is why I’d stopped considering two ultra-wides. But I’m guessing from what you say that on your Samsung the stand is removable? Anyway, that’s something I can check out with Samsung! Great help – thank you very much!

[Boulez]

The Elf & CS70

Yes, not having tried all this before I’m still just trying to imagine the pros and cons of one monitor or multiple. My main applications are Logic, Dorico and a piece of music software designed by myself and written by a friend. Ideally, I’d like 4 main screen configurations, and to be able to flip easily between them: (a) All Screen Space = Logic (b) All Screen Space = Dorico (c) Half each Screen Space (divided Left and Right) = Logic / Dorico (4) Some other division, with other programmes there too

I'm guessing this is not a problem, with Mac Pro, and the two curved widescreens, one above the other?

With the Dell 43”, you can simultaneously display the output from up to 4 different machines. I definitely won’t need to connect 4 machines to one monitor. But of course two widescreens will take two machines, which would be incredible anyway.

[CS70]

But I’m guessing from what you say that on your Samsung the stand is removable?

Yeah, the stand that comes with the monitor is good but it's removable, on the back there's a standard VESA mount socket so no problem with any arm that can withstand the weight.

[Boulez]

Yeah, the stand that comes with the monitor is good but on the back there's a standard VESA mount socket so no problem with any arm that can withstand the weight.[/Cool quote]

Cool -- thanks!

[Boulez]

CS70
Aside from the single/multiple monitor issue, what’s even more important to me is whether the screen can be turned down to comfortable levels of brightness. The Samsung C49RG90 looks like a fab monitor (according to reviews), but it’s max luminence is 1000 nits (very bright) and I can’t see the minimum luminence, which manufacturers seldom quote.

CS70, may I ask if your Samsung monitor still looks clear and readable at pretty low levels of brightness? BTW, I realise there are softwares like f.lux and IRIS to help deal with this…

Many thanks.

[CS70]

CS70, may I ask if your Samsung monitor still looks clear and readable at pretty low levels of brightness? BTW, I realise there are softwares like f.lux and IRIS to help deal with this…

Many thanks.

It's still pretty sunny up here in Oslo, but I've tried reducing brightness to almost minimum and things seem clear and readable to me.. but not sure exactly what you mean. I do have the Nvdia control panel with calibration adjustments on. Perhaps the best would be to go testing in a shop?

[Nazard]

Aside from the single/multiple monitor issue, what’s even more important to me is whether the screen can be turned down to comfortable levels of brightness

Use hardware calibration, which loads the saved file into the Win folder. I use Datacolor, but X-Rite, etc., are also good. You can tweek the file in terms of brightness, contrast, colour temperature, prior to saving it.

[Boulez]

It's still pretty sunny up here in Oslo, but I've tried reducing brightness to almost minimum and things seem clear and readable to me.. but not sure exactly what you mean. I do have the Nvdia control panel with calibration adjustments on. Perhaps the best would be to go testing in a shop?

I'm in the Styx and though I'd be prepared to do a trip to London I haven't actually found anywhere you can view kit of this calibre in the flesh. Hard to explain what I mean as it's hard to explain what it's like seeing thru my eyes... But Trevor has just posted that these things can be controlled so maybe I don't need to worry about this (I assume 'f.luz' does the same for the Mac).

Thanks v much for looking

[Boulez]

Use hardware calibration, which loads the saved file into the Win folder. I use Datacolor, but X-Rite, etc., are also good. You can tweek the file in terms of brightness, contrast, colour temperature, prior to saving it.

Thanks very much Trevor

I guess these are the companies you mean?

https://www.datacolor.com/ and https://www.xrite.com/categories

Not sure though if this is relevant to what I need! I may be missing the point?? Sorry...

[Boulez]

Not sure though if this is relevant to what I need! I may be missing the point?? Sorry...

Trevor -- Ooops - apologies, I misread your message (eyes). I'll look into this, also whether there's a Mac equivalent. Thanks.

[al_diablo]

Use hardware calibration, which loads the saved file into the Win folder. I use Datacolor, but X-Rite, etc., are also good. You can tweek the file in terms of brightness, contrast, colour temperature, prior to saving it.

Thanks very much Trevor

I guess these are the companies you mean?

https://www.datacolor.com/ and https://www.xrite.com/categories

Not sure though if this is relevant to what I need! I may be missing the point?? Sorry...

Edited for relevance-

If you go for the 2 monitors route I would definitely calibrate, so their output matches. Even on the same settings there are often quite big differences between monitors, which is maddening if you are switching your attention between them

[CS70]

If you go for the 2 monitors route I would definitely calibrate, so their output matches.

As a note: that is much easier said than done.

It was actually the exasperation with fine-tuning the properties of two monitors (which periodically slightly drift) that was the final trigger to get a single super-wide one for me.

[al_diablo]

True, and it gets expensive to buy the calibration tools

[Boulez]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the recent comments, which I just saw. (I'm not sure why the Forum doesn't alert me to posts that respond to my thread—it should shouldn't it?)

News update: in the end I bought the Dell U4320Q 43", and I'm very pleased with it, primarily because I can definitely look at it for quite long periods without feeling excess eye strain. I wouldn't say that that it's the greatest thing for watching videos, and I've definitely seen clearer and more beautiful images -- but the main thing is that I can work without suffering or feeling I'm screwing my eyes up any further. So - mission accomplished!

People say 43" is too big for a desk monitor. I find the opposite, I really like it - in fact if it was a little bigger I'd be even happier...

Thanks again for all the advice folks!