Investing in a great, separate TV with a large screen can be the right solution. However, if you’re mostly watching streaming content and doing light gaming, external monitors make more sense.
They offer a great deal of desktop estate, which is great for running your work apps from your laptop. And when you need a break from work, these monitors are a great source of visual entertainment.
Whether you’re working, catching up to the latest episodes of your favorite TV show, or watching the most recent movies, a subpar display won’t do. So, to make the right pick and simplify your purchase, we should talk about key areas to keep in mind.
Table of Contents
What To Look For In Monitors For Movies
- Panel Size – The panel size of desktop monitors usually falls between 14 and 49 inches. The viewing experience is more delightful in a more significant viewing area. However, it would help if you were practical regarding space constraints. If you have enough space on your desktop, buying a 27-inch display delivers a pleasant viewing experience at a reasonable price.
- Curved Shape – If space isn’t an issue, look into massive, curved-screen models for an authentic cinematic experience. Keep in mind that the size of the screen is the most significant price factor; the bigger the screen – the higher the price.
- Native Resolution represents the maximum number of pixels a monitor can display, horizontally and vertically. Most 27-inch monitors offer FHD (Full HD – 1080p) resolutions. Displays from 24 to 32 inches provide a WQHD native resolution, sitting perfectly between FHD and 4K.
- Pixel Response Rate – This is the time it takes for a pixel to change from black to white or transition from one shade of gray to another. The pixel response rate is measured in milliseconds, and faster, the refresh rate means less ghosting and blurring of moving images. 1ms gray-to-gray pixel response is excellent for gaming, but even displays with a 6ms response rate are more than enough for watching movies.
The 10 Best Monitors For Movies In 2023
BenQ PD3200U
As the graphics cards in our PCs and laptops get even more powerful and capable of handling 4K resolutions, purchasing a 4K monitor seems like a reasonable step.
So, BenQ designed PD3200U, a stylish and capable UHD monitor that handles both business and entertainment. This particular model is popular with gamers, designers, and professionals.
The PD3200U’s main selling point is its 4K resolution IPS panel, which provides exceptional image quality. In addition, the native resolution of 3840×2160 pixels offers a large amount of desktop estate.
The panel offers color accuracy at any angle, and a 100% sRGB color gamut, which is great for video production, let alone watching movies.
As expected from a professional-aimed device, the design is quite simple yet elegant. Since it does a great job of image reproduction, you shouldn’t dismiss it because of its professional-focused nature.
Pros Of The BenQ PD3200U
- 4KIPS panel
- Affordable
- Elegant design
Cons Of The BenQ PD3200U
- You’ll need a big desk
Dell UltraSharp U2718Q
Dell is known for developing some of the best-performing hardware. Their UltraSharp U2718Q follows the same high-quality standard and certainly doesn’t disappoint.
This 27-inch InfinityEdge display offers 99.9% sRGB coverage across 3840×2160 pixel resolution, resulting in high-quality image reproduction. In addition, this model comes equipped with a ComfortView feature, which filters out harmful blue light emissions. It also employs an HDR feature to deliver visually realistic images.
The U2817Q features a premium design, full ergonomic support, up to 5 inches of height adjustments, and swivel, tilt and pivot adjustments.
The Dell U2817Q offers smooth performance, premium design, excellent color accuracy, and a 4K resolution, making it suitable for watching moves.
Pros Of The Dell UltraSharp
- Vivid color reproduction
- Full ergonomic support
- Great performance
Cons Of The Dell UltraSharp
- Software-emulated HDR only
Acer XR382CQK
This 38-inch curved-screen monitor offers stellar performance and incredible color accuracy, making it more than capable of multimedia reproduction. It sits in the middle of the price scale, but it’s well worth the price considering the quality, features, and screen size.
The IPS panel supports 10-bit colors, covers 100% of the sRGB color spectrum, and offers 178° viewing angles. The UWQHD display offers a 3840×1600 resolution, which places this panel between 4K and regular UHD monitors.
Besides the impeccable color accuracy and enjoyable performance, the panel has no visible backlight bleeding, or IPS glow. In addition, the screen is coated with an anti-glare 3H treatment, eliminating sunlight reflection.
The XR382CQK comes packed with pre-calibrated picture presets, including the Movie preset, among others. There are also several other valuable features and adjustments, all available via an OSD menu.
The design is a premium quality, featuring a metal stand with excellent ergonomics. However, it’s pretty significant, so make sure you have a big enough desk.
Pros Of The Acer XR382CQK
- Huge display
- It has great built-in speakers
- Excellent performance
Cons Of The Acer XR382CQK
- This is a heavy monitor.
LG 38WK95C-W
In case you find the 34″ monitors to be too small for your taste, you should try LG’s 38″ widescreen monitor. It might be just the thing you’re looking for.
This 38-inch model features a UWQHD+ resolution on a 37.5-inch screen, resulting in a 110 PPI ratio. That pixel density is considered a sweet spot, offering plenty of screen space and vivid and sharp details without scaling.
The IPS panel has 10-bit color support with 99% sRGB color gamut, a vast 178° viewing angle, and a 21:9 ultrawide aspect ratio. These features combined offer a unique cinematic viewing experience, making movies and video games much more immersive.
The 38WK95C-W is HDR-compatible; however, it’s only software-enabled. In addition, while the monitor accepts the HDR10 signal, it lacks proper display capabilities for a complete HDR viewing experience.
Pros Of The LG
- Vibrant colors, bright and sharp details
- Plenty of connectivity options
- Adjustable stand
Cons Of The LG
- HDR is software-enabled only
AOC Agon
Agon AG352UCG6 is a 35-inch ultra-wide, curved gaming monitor, which will dominate any surface you place it on.
But it shouldn’t be dismissed just because it’s a gaming monitor. Gaming monitors are known for their exceptional performance, and this model offers nothing less than that.
The VA panel of this monitor has a native resolution of 1440p, offering a perfect middle ground between 1080p and 4K resolutions at a 120Hz refresh rate. In addition, it produces well over 100% of the sRGB color gamut, with fantastic, well-saturated colors and exceptional levels of black.
These features contribute to excellent image quality, ensuring an enjoyable viewing experience.
The overall build quality of this model isn’t up to the premium level of some of the industry’s most delicate, but it’s far from being spoiled. The chassis is pretty sturdy and well built; however, it would benefit from a less aggressive design.
Pros Of The AOC
- Phenomenal colors
- Affordable
- Great performance
Cons Of The AOC
- The design needs a few changes.
LG 32ML600M-B
The 32ML600M-B is a professional-grade, high-performance monitor engineered to help improve the viewing experience. It’s also surprisingly affordable, considering the features it offers.
This 16:9 IPS monitor features a native 1080p resolution with a 75Hz refresh rate. The panel offers 99% of the sRGB color reproduction, with more accurate color expression. IPS technology provides wide viewing angles of 178°, enabling you to watch displayed content from virtually any position.
The panel is HDR10 compatible, displaying brighter whites and darker blacks, rendering images with much more detail. It’s also anti-glare coated with an H3 hardness rating, eliminating the sun’s reflection and giving you a better viewing experience.
The design of this 32-inch monitor is that of a gaming monitor. However, it’s subtle, with no red accents. The ergonomically designed stand offers tilt, rotate, and swivel functions, adding to your viewing comfort. And if you feel like it’s taking too much of your desk space, LG 32ML600M-B is a wall-mountable monitor.
Pros Of This LG
- Great color accuracy
- Affordable
- HDR
Cons Of This LG
- Some users reported that it’s too bright.
Asus ROG Strix
Expecting a top-notch viewing experience from the Republic-Of-Gamers monitor is entirely justified. This line of products proved to be suitable for both business and pleasure.
Gaming monitors offer fantastic performance, suitable for almost every use, including watching movies. This 31.5-inch VA panel supports a WQHD native resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, working out to a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.
Panels with vertical alignment technology are known for their deep black, high viewing angles, excellent color reproduction, and relatively high contrast. However, VA panels have a common drawback, as they tend to have a slow pixel-response rate. In this case, the gray-to-gray pixel response rate is 4ms, which is pretty good for a VA panel.
Rog Strix XG32VQ offers many aesthetic, ergonomic, and viewing features, delivering a rich and immersive viewing experience.
Pros Of The ROG Strix
- Nicely curved
- Smooth performance
- 144Hz refresh rate
Cons Of The ROG Strix
- Pixel response can’t match IPS or TN panels
Samsung CF791 – great monitors for movies
It’s relatively easy to immerse yourself into the content displayed on a curved monitor, which captivates your entire field of view. Samsung’s 34-inch CF791 monitor offers such an experience, sporting proprietary quantum dot technology, accurate colors, and sharp images.
The monitor features a VA panel with high contrast ratios. However, finding cinematic content that fills its aspect ratio is a difficulty. This proved to be a problem when using streaming services through your internet browser.
If you find appropriately sized video content, the CF791 will deliver a breathtaking, stunning performance that exceeds all expectations.
It delivers vibrant colors since it delivers 100% of the sRGB color spectrum and 85% of the AdobeRGB spectrum. In addition, Samsung’s quantum dot technology does its job of handling colors much more efficiently than standard LCDs, placing the CF791 ahead of the competition.
The colors are sharper, more accurate, and more vibrant. Moreover, you can tweak the colors to a more professional-grade accuracy, with just essential calibration thanks to the quantum dots.
Pros Of The Samsung
- Beautiful design
- Excellent picture quality
- Extremely accurate after calibration
Cons Of The Samsung
- High contrast ratios are sometimes a problem.
Acer Predator X34
A monitor needs to look fantastic and perform flawlessly at a higher price range. Acer did a good job, so the Predator X34 offers superior performance and a design statement.
The X34 features an UltraWide QHD IPS panel, known for its best color reproduction, contrast, and wide viewing angles. In addition, this particular model is rated to display 100% of the sRGB color gamut, offering deeper blacks, pure whites, and crisp and vivid colors.
Picture reproduction is surprisingly uniform, with no discernible light bleeding. In addition, the curved nature of this 21:9 monitor captivates the entire field of view, allowing for an immersive experience.
The bezels on this model measure only 0.39″, with a slightly wider bottom bezel, all made of plastic. There’s a metal frame around the entire monitor, which adds a sense of safety to the product and a sense of style.
Pros Of The Acer Predator
- UWQHD display offers full immersion
- Stylish and durable
- Great image quality
Cons Of The Acer Predator
- Limited input options
Asus Designo
Designo offers some attractive features for occasional gamers, weekend photographers, and video content enthusiasts. This monitor is truly versatile, satisfying players, professional designers, and movie lovers.
Asus chose an IPS panel type for Designo since this technology offers fantastic color representation, high contrast, and wide viewing angles. In addition, the 2560×1440 resolution works magically on this 27-inch panel, delivering a crisp image with intense and well-saturated colors.
The design produces 100% of the sRGB color gamut, with a 77% AdobeRGB range. This might not be enough for professional users seeking an extended gamut, but it satisfies most users.
Another great feature is the Harman Kardon tweaked speakers, which offer impressive sound. The audio isn’t on par with an external audio device, but it works exceptionally well, considering it’s a monitor’s audio.
Designo has some distinctive styling, adopting a sleek and luxurious design, with an ultra-slim chassis with nearly invisible panel borders. Everything on Designo screams elegance, matched only by its performance.
Pros Of The Designo
- Super-thin bezels
- Excellent image quality
- Sturdy, supportive stand
- Outstanding onboard audio
Cons Of The Designo
- Limited stand adjustments
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are The Best Monitors For Movies?
The best monitors for watching movies tend to have higher refresh rates and most pixels per square inch. As a result, they provide the best viewing experience, but it depends on the type of screen you want to watch movies on.
For example, some people prefer watching movies on a curved screen because it feels more immersive and exciting. Others prefer watching on a non-curved screen, but one that is bigger and takes up more of the room.
I’d say the best monitor depends on what you’re looking for, of course, but there are some clear winners. For a curved screen, the best monitor for watching movies is probably something like the Acer Predator X34, but others like this one too.
Are Curved Monitors Good For Watching Movies?
In recent years, curved screens have become very popular for gaming, watching movies, and all sorts. The difference they provide is that they make the viewing angle perfect no matter where you’re sitting in the room. As a result, curved monitors are ideal for small and large rooms and make the viewing experience much better for everyone.
The difference is relatively small compared to a standard flat-screen TV, but the fundamental differences show when many people are in a small room. In this case, everyone gets the perfect viewing angle and doesn’t experience any distortion.
On older and larger TVs particularly, you can easily see the distortion caused by the screen if you sit at an angle to it or near the side of the screen. However, for most people, you can’t see the difference unless you’re sitting to the side of the screen.
Are Gaming Monitors Good For Watching Movies?
Gaming monitors are great for watching movies, mainly because they have a fast refresh rate.
They often also have many pixels per square inch, so the quality of the image is very high. That being said, sometimes a monitor just for watching movies is a bit better.
You can find things that are good for both, like, for example – this monitor. Check out this review if you are looking for a gaming laptop under $600.
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