We know how tough it is to find new multimedia monitors these days. Manufacturers have introduced so many new features, like 4K monitors, faster response times, and larger screen sizes that make it challenging to know which is best for you.
One of the best uses of a multimedia monitor is watching movies. If you’re watching a film on your monitor, your biggest concerns should be screen size, color accuracy, and resolution.
Here, we’ll go through the best monitors for watching movies. We’ll give you some insight into which monitor might be the best fit for you. Once we do, you’ll be watching movies with a brand new monitor in no time!
Best 4K HDR Monitor for Watching Movies
Dell U4320Q
When you’re watching a movie, do the dark parts sometimes look blurry or seem to have some sort of gradation? Or maybe when you’re watching from too far away, the whole image looks blurry?
If you have a 4K resolution multimedia monitor by Dell, those problems won’t affect you! A 4K monitor has a max screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, four times as precise as 1080p HD. Not to mention it’s one of the best 4K monitors for movies!
The Dell U4320Q monitor is also massive! It has a 42.5-inch display, which is plenty of space for any activity, including movies. With this monitor, you can have two or more applications running on-screen with ease.
The Dell 4K monitor comes with the Dell Display Manager (DDM). Software like this helps you run more than one application at a time, while also remembering where you left off. DDM is convenient if you like to multitask.
What We Love
- A 42.5-inch monitor allows you to fully enjoy 4K resolution. If a monitor is too small, it can’t fit all the pixels on-screen, resulting in lower resolution.
- The monitor is adjustable. You can change the height and tilt to your preference, which is essential for monitors of this size.
Things to Consider
- Monitors of this size require a deep desk. If you don’t have a deep desk, your eyes will tire out faster since you’re too close to the screen.
Best Budget Monitor for Watching Movies
LG 32QN600-B
If you’re looking for a monitor while on a budget, the 32-inch LG 32QN600 monitor is for you. It has a Quad High Definition (QHD) display, which means it’s four times as clear as 720p HD.
The LG monitor comes equipped with Black Stabilizer, which makes dark images more explicit and less fuzzy. Black Stabilizer will make your movie experience more enjoyable because you’ll finally see all those details you were missing.
The LG monitor has in-plane switching (IPS), an LED display panel type that provides its users with excellent clarity and various agreeable viewing angles. IPS displays are ideal for movies since you can watch from any angle and still enjoy the full-color range!
LG focused on comfort with this monitor. LG equips their monitors with technology meant to limit the flickering of LED bulbs. A reduction in flickering helps protect your eyes and makes staring at a screen for hours less cumbersome.
What We Love
- The LG monitor doesn’t need any adjustments to color accuracy. The monitor is ready to display images in their true colors right out of the box.
Things to Consider
- The screen is front heavy, and the stand does not seem sturdy. If you’re not careful, you can knock the monitor off your desk quite easily.
Best Monitor for Watching Movies and Productivity
Dell UltraSharp U2719D
The Dell UltraSharp monitor is a 27-inch monitor built for movies or everyday work. The QHD display offers unparalleled clarity on such a compact screen, among the thinnest on the market.
The UltraSharp’s display has true-to-life color right out of the box, including while you’re viewing videos. The monitor comes equipped with an IPS panel type so you can enjoy your monitor from any angle.
The monitor has an ultra-thin bezel. A thin bezel allows you to connect two monitors with almost no border between the two screens. This can increase your productivity by allowing you to have multiple windows and tasks running at once.
The Dell UltraSharp monitor also comes with Comfort View, a unique feature that helps reduce the amount of blue light from your screen. Blue light is the leading cause of eyestrain, so reducing it will help you watch movies for longer or work more productively.
What We Love
- The Dell UltraSharp has low levels of backlight bleeding, which distorts dark colors. By reducing backlight bleeding, blacks and other dark colors become much sharper.
- The monitor is fully adjustable. Not only can you adjust the height and tilt, but you can also rotate the monitor to portrait mode, although you need to change some display settings first.
Things to Consider
- The monitor’s physical buttons often stick in either the on or off position. Although this isn’t the most pressing concern, it’s annoying.
Best 24 Inch Monitor for Watching Movies
ViewSonic VG2455-2K
If you have limited space, the ViewSonic VG2455-2K 24-inch monitor is for you! A 24-inch monitor can fit on almost all desks while providing ultra-clear resolution and an excellent refresh rate of 60Hz.
The QHD resolution is sharp, especially for a 24-inch monitor. Monitors this small can’t display resolution any clearer than QHD.
The ViewSonic VG2455-2K monitor comes with ViewMode, a feature designed by ViewSonic so their customers can choose the best viewing experience for their activity. The monitor has settings meant for games, movies, text, and more.
The settings have different levels of brightness, contrast, and color temperature. If you’re watching a movie, for example, you want deeper contrasts and brighter colors. The ViewSonic VG2455-2K monitor will help you achieve great-looking films with ViewMode.
The monitor also has multiple ways to adjust it, although its 40º tilt is the most impressive. A 40º angle makes it easy to use this monitor while standing or if you have a standing desk.
What We Love
- The monitor has a tool-less assembly. The monitor attaches to the stand with ease, and all it takes to secure the monitor is one screw that you can fit with just your hands.
Things to Consider
- The built-in speakers are not of good quality. If you plan on using this monitor for movies, you should also think about a sound system.
- This monitor has compatibility issues with Apple products. The USB port on the monitor sends currents that are too high to safely charge Apple products, like iPads or iPhones.
Best Ultrawide Monitor for Watching Movies
Samsung CHG90
The Samsung 49-inch CHG90 curved monitor is a little crazy…
Although Samsung made this monitor for gaming, you can use it for movies, work, or surfing the web. The monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate and 1 ms response time, a clear step-up from the 60Hz and 10 ms average.
The curved monitor is great for watching movies by yourself or with your significant other. Curved screens are excellent if you’re directly in front of it because the curve makes the image seem larger, but the picture is distorted if you’re at an angle.
The display has an aspect ratio of 32:9 and a display resolution of 3840 x 1080 pixels, which means it’s close to 4K resolution, but not quite. The monitor comes equipped with a High Dynamic Range (HDR) to create deep contrasts and bright colors in images.
The Samsung CHG90 monitor’s curved screen, excellent resolution, and insane specs contribute to a fantastic viewing experience. Set yourself up right in-front to achieve the best monitor for watching anime, movies, or your favorite TV show!
What We Love
- The monitor is perfect for replacing a dual monitor setup. You get the same screen real estate with this single monitor that you would get with two smaller monitors.
Things to Consider
- The monitor comes with no speakers. If you plan on watching movies with this monitor, you have to invest in a sound system.
Best 144Hz Monitor for Watching Movies
LG 32GK650F-B
The LG 32GK650F-B 32-inch monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate, making movies look smoother and feel like the theatre. A refresh rate this high is suitable for video games too.
The LG 32GK650F-B is equipped with QHD to ensure its image is of the highest quality. When you’re watching movies, a high-quality resolution with insane refresh rates provides you with the best viewing experience possible.
The monitor has a Vertical Alignment (VA) panel type that gives the monitor the best contrast between light and dark tones. VA panels have the best contrast ratios of any panel type, which means your image is sharper.
LQ designed this monitor with ease of use in mind. The USB ports are all placed on the bottom of the monitor so you can easily plug in your mouse and keyboard. The monitor is also ready to use right out of the box, with no calibration needed.
What We Love
- The 144Hz refresh rate is a noticeable improvement over the 60Hz average. It’s the creme de la creme for gaming and watching movies, without blowing up your budget.
Things to Consider
- The pixel density is off. If you sit too close to the screen, you can see the pixels, making the image look distorted.
Best Monitor for Watching Movies and Color Accuracy
ViewSonic VP3268-4K
The ViewSonic VP3268-4K PRO 32” 4K Monitor is the most accurate monitor for color recreation! Every color seen on-screen is as close to exact as possible. It’s a professional monitor meant to help photographers and editors create the best pictures they can.
The monitor comes with an IPS panel type and 60Hz refresh rate, which help create the sharpest possible images and videos.
The ViewSonic monitor can recreate over four trillion colors, which helps the monitor create the most life-like representations. Watching a movie with this monitor is like going to the theatre!
Although this monitor is pricey, it’s an investment. A monitor with this many features is perfect for businesses that deal with editing or color graders who need to know their colors are exact replications of real-life colors.
What We Love
- The monitor’s color reproduction is quality right out of the box. If you don’t think the monitor is appropriately representing colors, you can easily change the brightness and contrast.
Things to Consider
- The power button is on the back of the monitor. This causes some problems if you have wires or other objects on your desk that could get in the way.
- The monitor has noticeable backlight bleeding. Backlight bleeding can affect how sharp contrasts look.
Points to Consider for Movie Monitors
When choosing the best monitors for watching movies, we created some criteria to make sure we didn’t jump into the search blind. Here are the criteria we used to determine what monitors were the best:
Screen Size, Resolution, and Aspect Ratio
- We focused on having a wide variety of screen sizes because we know not everyone can fit a 49-inch monitor on their desk. When it came to resolution and aspect ratios, we looked at monitors with the highest resolution and the lowest ratios. By doing so, we found monitors with high pixel density, which contributes to a sharper image.
Color Accuracy
- When you’re in the market for a monitor for watching movies, perhaps the most important quality is the color accuracy. Having accurate colors on your monitor makes movies more fun to watch, but is also essential for photographers who need their images to reflect reality. When we were choosing monitors, we found that more expensive monitors are often better equipped for color accuracy right out of the box.
Panel Type
- The panel type in a monitor affects the way it produces images. IPS panels produce the highest quality images because they have the highest color gamut or amount of producible colors. VA panels are also useful because they produce almost the same gamut as IPS, but with a greater contrast ratio. That means VA panels have more significant differences between lights and darks. These two different panel types are the best for monitors if you plan on watching movies.
Price
- We included various monitors at different prices because we know not everyone is willing to spend $500 on a specialty monitor. Although higher priced monitors are usually better, you should be able to enjoy a cheaper monitor as long as it has the specs you’re looking for.
Speakers
- When we were hunting for the best monitors for watching movies, we included some extra features into our decision. Features like an adjustable monitor, speakers, and wall mounts were all part of the criteria we considered. We also took into consideration other features like refresh rates and warranty.
As important as the size of the monitor you’re investing in is, color accuracy is the most important thing when it comes to finding a monitor for professional color grading. The bottom line is, you should make sure you’re investing in a monitor with quality color coverage such as 99% DCI-P3 or 100% sRGB, since this helps ensure you’re getting the most accurate colors on your screen. As long as you look for features that boost color accuracy and picture quality and buy a monitor from a reputable brand, you should be good to go.
FAQs
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions when looking for the best monitors for watching movies.
What is the best monitor mode for watching movies?
Monitor modes are settings found in your computer monitor. You can adjust the number of colors, brightness, maximum resolution, and other traits when choosing a monitor mode.
Most monitors that have monitor modes have modes for movies or videos. It will have more remarkable contrasts and use all the possible colors to create the most pleasing images. The film or video mode is what you’re looking for in monitor modes.
What is the best size monitor for watching movies?
As with any question of this sort, it’s ultimately up to you to figure out what size works for you, but there are a few things to keep in mind. If you think you’re going to be far away from your screen, you may want a larger one. If your desk is too small, it won’t fit, though.
We recommend getting a 32-inch or larger screen. If you get a screen that’s too small, you won’t be able to watch movies comfortably. In contrast, make sure you can handle a large screen if that’s what you choose. You don’t want it to arrive and not have room on your desk!
Which panel is best for movies?
The best panel types for movies are VA or IPS panels. VA panels are what modern TVs use because they have the best contrast and don’t have IPS glow. These two features make watching movies even better since you don’t miss any details.
IPS panels are also good for watching movies, although they usually have IPS glow. IPS glow causes darks to have less contrast. Although they produce a glow, IPS panels are still among the best because they produce the highest number of visible colors, which makes images brighter.
Is a curved monitor good for watching movies?
Watching movies on a curved monitor is excellent since the curvature makes it seem like the whole screen is larger. The downside comes when you have mutable people watching from different angles.
Curved monitors are best if one person sits directly in front of it. That gives the viewer the best image. If you sit at an angle, the monitor’s image gets distorted due to its curvature. If you plan on using a monitor for group activities, you shouldn’t get a curved one.
What is the best monitor for watching movies?
The best monitor we reviewed is the Dell U4320Q monitor because of its excellent 4K resolution and a massive 42.5-inch screen. The screen makes watching movies comfortable since you don’t need to strain your eyes to see the screen from far away.
The Dell U4320Q monitor also comes with all the features you’d expect from a top-of-the-line Dell product, like Dell Display Manager, over one billion color gamut, and an adjustable stand for ease of use.
Although the other products we reviewed were incredible, we think anyone who enjoys watching movies will love this display. The Dell U4320Q monitor is the best multimedia monitor if you watch a lot of movies!