Wide screen monitor or 4K TV?

However with this screen size
you need enough distance
I’m about 1mt 20
and my scaling under windows 10 is at 125%
I also enlarged the text to 150%
after all depends on your eyes and especially on your age :smile:
In example a capture of Cubase 12 Pro under windows 10 on my 4k screen
to show you the image quality

Capture Cubase 12 Pro 4k

Hello Joe,
I think I can understand what you mean by ‘2 x HDMI’ monitors but just to make sure: You mean a 22 - 24 inch HD (1920 x 1080) monitor?
If yes, than I recommend a 4K monitor. The fact that your new PC has display ports is irrelevant for this matter. If you whish you can find adapters that bridge HDMI to Displayport. (for a few dollar only).
BUT: 4K monitors are typically High DPI. So if you have ‘old’ software, such as Native Instruments old VST stuff, you may run into trouble.
I do use two 4K High DPI monitors (costing a fortune) and I had to add one of my old 22 inch (1920 x 1080) monitors again to my setup as some windows/dialog/pop up’s were unreadable on the 4K main screens.
A single wide screen (unless you pay a fortune) has typically a small vertical resolution …
Windows 11 is really good in letting the user ‘throw’ two windows onto each side of a screen.
Furthermore, you may want to discover the properties of an .exe file, allowing to adjust the ‘Compatibility’. It is a good idea to experiment with the ‘Change high DPI settings’ and I did get good results selecting ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior’ with option: ‘performed by System (En hanced)’
Cheers and happy spending!

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Hello Freudon,
Nice screen capture. If I put it on my monitor, I see a lot of information available on a single screen. For my eyes a bit too small though. (I use two 32 inch 3840 x 2160 pixels set a (windows recomended) 150%. at a typical ‘desktop’ distance from my eyes (approx 1 m/39 inch)

That’s why 4k is great on a big screen
a 32 inch is too small for me
I had a 32 inch in QHD and I already found it too small

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I use a 49" 32:9 monitor. Its great but takes some getting used to. Because of the way cubase works its harder to manage some snapping features but microsoft powertoys has a window manager called FancyZones which can help.

I have zoom set to normal and the resolution set to 5120x1440 @ 70Hz

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So: You do have sharp eyes. But: this 49’’ monitor is ‘only’ 1440 pix high. I don’t understand how you made that screenshot …? That must have been made from a 4K screen ?

Agree. I have two of these, side by side … :wink: Great value for money and indeed that ‘Ergo’ stand is pretty nice.

Check in windows what is possible for your configuration (System > Display )

Hi Fantom, I’m not sure if you are responding to my post but if so, I don’t understand what you mean by screenshot. This is the monitor - quite old now but still nice for cubase. I have mine mounted on an adjustible monitor arm so I can pull it closer if required.

Many thanks Fantom, the picture is now a lot clearer for me. I’ll go the 4K route,

Best wishes joe

Indeed, my mistake. I thought you were the guy who uploaded the screenshot of Cubase on a 4K monitor.
Your Philips monitor must be great for gaming, but I personally prefer two physical 4K monitors.

A final ( I hope question from me about 4K tvs as monitors:
Do I need a high speed hdmi cable?

There’s lots of confusion around the different variations. I tried an old hdmi connected to a 4K tv and the maximum resolution was 1920 x 1080 so something was wrong…

Thanks for your wisdom, Joe

For Cubase I would suggest not going into scaling since there are all kind of problems with it in Cubase (a lot of threads on that subject here)

already mentioned RTINGS web site is great if you want to learn more about subject.

Personally I would go for 4k TV/Monitor minimum 43" preferably 48". Friendly advice to skip all 4k resolutions bellow 43" on monitor/tv cause everything will be so tiny if you run it without scaling. Also in practice especially if you work with many channels having 2160p vertical pixels(which you have on 4K) is always needed, often endless scrolling on my 1440p (ultrawide monitor) in my home studio on some busier projects.

Second you need GPU which can drive 4k. Mostly newer ones can but not all can do 120hz if you aim on that. To make that clear see the chart from wikipedia:


As you can see above only HDMI 2.1 can go full chroma/rgb on 120hz so you will need graphic card that has HDMI 2.1.
Nvidia latest cards are transparent on HDMi version but for some cards you will have struggle to get which HDMI version they have since manufactures dont expose that info clearly so you might contact support on that. But all in all 60hz is enough for all work althrough working on 120hz is breeze :slight_smile:

Third you will need certified HDMI cables that actually can run desired framerate, and yet there are lot of options and misunderstanding on this, the best rule is to take the shortest possible certified 2.1 (In studio we changed several certified 2.0 hdmi and unable to get 60hz full chroma(4:4:4) until we find one that works, but all 2.1 cables even longer ones get 60hz and 120hz 4:4:4 easily) so the 2.1 is the safest buy.

TV, RTINGS is good website for getting right infos and they doing really good benchmarks and tests. In studio have LG NANO 50 and its great to work with cubase almost I don’t need workspaces at all.
For some serious graphic design is not the best option since colors aren’t dead accurate.
If you seeking for more accurate colors check RTINGS TV Table Tool chart on best TV as PC monitor and you will find plenty of options there.
Be aware if you choose TV route you have to dial with some settings and menus picking predefined modes so you set it up right (LG has good settings control and overall software is more handy than for example samsung has) but when you set it once that’s it.

Cheers

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Hi Grada
I’m using an LG 43" Nano 756 4K currently set at 4096 x 2160 with my NVIDEA P2000. I have switched to a 4K capable HDMI cable now.

It’s running at 60Hz and I have an acceptable Cubase page now though I’m sure there are grapics tweaks I’m missing… I’m scaling down from 300% (windows recommended) to 250% which looks better for Cubase 12.

thanks and any more tips welcome! joe

And without scaling? 4k with scaling missing point having 4k resolution in the first place. Better have 1440p wirhout scaling than.

Hi again Grada
Without scaling and using Windows recommended settings everything is HUGE and unworkable. This includes Cubase so I needed to scale down.
Let me know your settings, including ratio and screen resolution and I’ll try them…

Many thanks, joe

3840x2160 @120hz, full chroma(4:4:4) no scaling.

Hiya

the difference is that your system is capable of 120Hz whereas mine is limited to 60Hz.
My result using your settings is that eveything is simply too big to use. I need to scale back,

Thanks, joe

The refresh rate has nothing to do with the resolution… At 200% scaling you’re effectively using a 43" 2K monitor. If you want to take advantage of 4K and its screen real estate, turn scaling off unless you have really bad eyesight and need it turned on.

By meaning “big” you mean there are lot of things going on monitor and you have to scale them and have them less? You see vast space in project window and lot of channels in mixer console?