FullHD/WQHD/UHD? *solved*

Today I’m using three 27” monitors in FullHD with Cubase Pro 9.5 and I think it pretty awesome. Now that FullHD is a bit dated I wonder if I maybe should update my monitors. The setups I have in mind is:

One Monitor at UHD about 34” to 40”
or
1 FullHD 27” with two UHD 28” one per side
or
Two UHD 28”
or
Two WQHD 32”

Today I’m using Cubase main window on the middle placed monitor, mixer on the left one and vsti’s and/or edit on the right one.

I upped the resolution on the right one to QWHD resolution just to try and I can fit 4 instances of Omnisphere 2 at that resolution. In FullHD I can’t even use 2 instances without overlapping one with the other which I find a bit annoying.

So my question is which of the setups I should go for and why? Or should I stay with the 3 FullHD monitors I already have and keep getting annoyed from time to time about lack of space?

Be careful with smaller UHD monitors. The text/UIs can get very small. You end up having to scale the interface up, which leads you back to using regular monitors. In prior discussion on the topic 43" to 48" seem to be the sweet spot for being able to see without or with minimal scaling, while still having a manageable desktop size.

I’ve never found “Full HD” monitors to be a good solution for pretty much anything computer related. Standard computer monitors have better pixel density ratios. I’d avoid normal HD monitors.

If I understood you right even a 40" UHD ain’t good? So in other words dual WQHD would be optimal?

Of course everyone has different vision, so I can’t categorically claim that 40" is too small like it’s a rule or something. But, I’ve seen a few complaints for some types of applications on high pixel density displays. And since Cubase doesn’t fully support high density displays, you could end up with very tiny graphical elements. But, that may not bother you at all.

Also, don’t get stuck on the TV HD specs. Just get a monitor with proper resolution for the size of the monitor. I have 2 30" 2560x1600 HP monitors. They are computer monitors. They are absolutely perfect. To me it’s the right resolution for a monitor of that size. I don’t comprehend 24" and 27" HD monitors. It’s a waste of screen space.

I have been using a 43-inch 2160p IPS screen for a month now. Quite nice for cubase, a step up from the Dell 27-inch 1440p I had before
Especially text is still a bit small for my aging eyes at a distance of about 60-70 cm. But a larger screen than 43-inch doesn’t really fit between my near fields, plus I would really need to move my head with such a huge screen, which is tiring.
Maybe I should get computerglasses, 70 cm is just between the 2 parts of my bifocals(eg too close for the upper part, too far for the lower part). I use the lower(reading) part of my glasses mostly, which makes me tilt my head a bit too much to be completely comfortable.
If you’re younger than me and/or have great eyesight, this is probably not an issue and 43 inch at 70 cm is fine.

What you think about two of these “Philips 32” LED BDM3270QP2/00" ?

I’ve been in multiple discussions with people that echo what zipb is saying. 43" is probably the bottom end of what you want to use with Cubase, unless you have great vision. I worked on a friends 50", and I found it too big for being right in front of you. That’s what led me to provide the 43" to 48" range. But again, it isn’t a rule or anything. Everyone has different eyesight at different depths.

Do you think a 2160p and 39-40 inch will be to small for the resolution?

I sit about 80-100cm from the monitor.

I don’t think so. I run dual 2160x1600s at 30" and I don’t see myself going to UHD for a long time.

[/quote] Do you think a 2160p and 39-40 inch will be to small for the resolution?
[/quote]

Corner case @ 70 cm for me, unusable @ 100 cm



Corner case @ 70 cm for me, unusable @ 100 cm

Yeah, I keep forgetting to emphasize that knowing how far from the monitor you are is very important as well.

Again, it will depend on what you want to do. Those monitors are 1440 high. So, less vertical height. If you want a lot of rows of data, that won’t work. Horizontal space with two of those would be excellent. So, my two HP 30" monitors are 2560x1600 for reference.

Vertical space is important for me. With 2160p, I can have a usable mixer below the arrange part. Also, I don’t need to make room when I open an editor. For 500 eu, it’s a worthwile investment in workflow improvement.

I recently went from 3 x 24" (1920x 1080) FULLHD to one 34" curved (3440 x 1440). I don’t want to go back to my old setup. Remember that the bigger the screen the more pixel density starts to play a role.

Thanks for all your input. It ended up with a 40" curved 3840x2160 and it works great. I have the monitor positioned about 60cm in front of me and I have no problem reading everything. I really happy with this investment.