Monitor recommendations $500-1000

Hey there,

I have read so many reviews on different monitors that my head is spinning. Some people recommend OLED's others IPS others say to get an HDR monitor some say gaming monitors are just as good for color these days. I thought maybe some knowledgeable colorists here might know.

I'm trying to upgrade from my old Dell U2410, I'm on Windows 10, Quadro K5200 (going to buy an RTX 3080 when it's available again) and have a new iDisplay Pro Plus for calibration.

I'm looking for a good all around monitor that I can use for daily activities, as well as color grading. I'm not a full time colorist, but I do film and commercial production, and often end up coloring my projects. Mostly for web, but it would be nice to have something I could use for theater or TV coloring in the future, but I'd rather have something that's great for web, than to worry too much about other stuff.

Ideally I'm looking for 27", 1440p or 4K, great color reproduction, good contrast ratio, I also game in my free time, so if there's something that's 120 or 144hz I'm open to it, but won't sacrifice color quality for that. I also want something that will calibrate well, I've had less than favorable experience calibrating my U2410. Also, ideally something that will last me a long time.

I appreciate the help. Thanks

I can understand why your head is spinning, there's a lot of misinformation out there. Unfortunately a true reference grading monitor, especially for 4K and HDR is not a cheap thing. A lot of people say the LG C9/8s are the bees and knees and every Hollywood grading house has them. They are only good as client monitors and if I had a few million to spend on a feature and I walked into a grading house whose main monitor was a LG C9 I would be looking for somewhere else that had proper gear. They can be calibrated for acceptable SDR but not HDR by a stretch. Similarly all these BenQs and Eizos that promise 4K HDR wide colour gamuts around the price you are looking for are not sufficient for feature or TV true professional grading. So I would be realistic about that part of your future use. I spent 3.5k sterling on a 17" HD grading monitor, for this reason and use a 4K client monitor downstream from it. A true 4K HDR Dolby Vision monitor, for instance costs around 30K. There are some appearing around 10-15K now but as you can see a lot more expensive than a consumer LG.

As to your main requirements I think there are some good and acceptable monitors in this price range from those manufacturers as long as you accept the foregoing limitations. The other really important piece of equipment I would regard as essential in all cases is a Decklink or Ultrastudio video i/o to feed them. Using the computer hdmi output (whatever the graphics card) defeats the purpose for true calibrated video output.

Try not to cover all bases in one go for $500-1000 or you'll be tearing your hair out of your spinning head. Good luck.

monitor that I can use for daily activities, as well as color grading.

Those are two different things that require two different monitors, with the later also requiring a dedicated I/O device like the Decklink.

Thanks for the advice. I am aware that I will never get anything truly professional under these circumstances. But I've been using my Dell U2410 and while it's not perfect, I've been able to get good results for web, theaters, and TV. I know I can't have it all in my price range, but I guess I'm just asking if anyone knows what the best option for me within this price range would be. Obviously it won't be perfect, but certainly some of the monitors in this price range are better than others, and I just want the best one I can buy for $500-1000. Since 98% of my work is web based, I just need something that will be reliable for web stuff and give me the best bang for my buck in my range.

Get one from Eizo CS range. There should be something for 1000$.