4k Monitors...Pros and cons

I know this topic and various related off-shoots has been covered on and off over the last few years, but I thought with 4k monitors becoming more mainstream and budget-friendly, there should be quite a bit more user experience to draw from at this point. If you’re using a 4k monitor, what have you found to be the pros and cons? What’s your setup…Multiple monitors, screen size, etc.

Currently, I use a two-screen setup, both 1920x1080, 42" screens. I typically keep the editor window on my left, and the mix console on my right. My audio interface window is also on the left, and I keep it slightly off-set from the editor window, so I can select back an forth quickly. I used to use a three-screen (27" screens, 1920x1080) setup, where I had the audio interface screen on the left, editor window in the center, and mix console on the right. I actually liked that a little better from a workflow standpoint, but the larger screens are much easier on the eyes during longer sessions, and I didn’t have room for three larger screens.

The video card on my main machine (GTX960) is capable of 4K, so I’ve been kicking around going to 4k screens. I’ve actually been kicking this around for almost a year now, but haven’t quite convinced myself to pull the trigger. I was looking at going back to a three-screen setup. As I mentioned, the main reason I went to two screens from three was because I just didn’t have room to go to three bigger screens…All the larger monitors had an inch or two of border around the screen. Now everything’s more low-profile, and I think I can get maybe three 40" screens to work.

Thoughts, experiences?

If readability is an issue with 20-24inch HD screens, best to see a 40inch 4k screen as 4 22inch HD screens.
OTH if you can afford one very large 4K screen like 55 to 60 inch you have effectively 4 HD screens. Is sit relatively close to the screens so a 40inch 4k will work for me. I know have 3 HD’s. 2 24inch in the centre and a 40inch TV to the side. I use the 40inch only when needed.

I can’t comment on 4k, but are yours monitors or TVs? I use two HD Tvs - great. You could try using your TV if it is 4k

I bought a (secondhand) 28" 4K Iiyama, but I don’t use it on max resolution…
In hindsight I should have bought a bigger screen to use for 4K…

I didn’t go all the way to 4K, I went from dual 1080 screens to dual 1440 screens and just that jump took a bit of adjustment. I can’t really imagine going to 4k unless I’m planning to scale Cubase to make it usable or getting a massive display that would make it easy to use.

Getting a 40" 4k monitor was a life changing experience! I would never go back.

I’m curious ZZ, what make, model and size do you use?

I have a 28" @ 4k and a 24" @ 1920x1200 screen
note: cubase 8.5 pro does NOT support high dpi screens at the moment (perhaps 9.0 will we will find out in a few days)

In some respects the 4k screen looks worse, eg heres what the same rack looks like on each screen

(though both take up approx the same size cm^2 on their respective screens)

You can see the 4k screen on the left looks blurry and is actually harder to read, I do recommend a 4k monitor though as other stuff eg looking at this webpage look so much nicer when the text is sharper due to the higher DPI

Yeah…That’s what I’m using right now. Two 42" HD TV’s. If I go 4k, I’d do TV’s as well. Significantly less cost than actual monitors, and the only real difference that I can see is that “monitors” come equipped with better input options. A monitor will have DVI, Displayport, HDMI, etc., where the TV’s anymore are only HDMI. Adapters aren’t too expensive.

Be aware, HDMI will only display 4k @ 30fps unless its HDMI 2.0, 30fps is OK for a TV but not when its connected to a PC (I first had my monitor hooked up through HDMI thinking since I dont play games I could live with 30fps, after a week looking at the lagging cursor, it was down the shop buying a DP cable). With Displayport, versions 1.2,1.3,1.4 all can display 4k @ 60fps

I would highly recommend 3400x1440 on a 34in panel. You don’t get the pixillation, and the wide format is stunning.

34" diagonal? Got a specific monitor / video card recommendation?