Video Editing Monitors (Top 6)

Review of the Best Displays in 2017

We would be looking at the some of the better monitors for video editing currently available. When it comes to video editing the main features that you need in a monitor are:

• great true colors,
• large display, and
• high resolution.

Rarely, you will need a high refresh rate (mostly required by gamers and not a photo/video editor).

Monitor Tech Specs

TN, VA, and IPS which one Should I Buy?

TN panels are the cheapest of the lot. On the flip side, they lose color accuracy very quickly as you look at it from even a slightly skewed angle. Even when you are looking at them straight on color accuracy is not satisfactory at all. Though you would hardly be editing your videos from an angle of 145˚, the option to display and let clients or employees look at your presentation in a much more comfortable way is not bad to have. In that sense, VA and IPS displays are better.

8-bit or Higher?

Generally speaking, a monitor that supports an 8-bit LUT (Look Up Table) is a much better option than something lower than that. If your camera is capable of producing images that are 14-bit or even 16-bit that means you are capturing nearly an unlimited number of colors. But what’s the point of all colors if your monitor is incapable of showing them? A monitor that supports 10-bit LUT might just be prohibitively expensive. An 8-bit LUT is a better compromise. These days the best monitors for video editing have even higher LUT tables.

Monitor Size and Resolution

These days everything is getting bigger and sharper. With larger display sizes you can get the advantage of higher resolution displays. Plus, larger screens means you can see the full timeline of your videos while editing. Most video editors use Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro or some such applications for their video editing work. A larger display size allows them to have complete access to what they need to see in a single window, including an extended timeline.

Full HD is the core minimum if you are a photo and especially if you are a video editor. If you need higher resolution video editing, you need a better resolution. A higher resolution monitor with a display ratio of 21:9 (which is larger than the traditional widescreen resolution of 16:9) is a better choice.

These ultra-wide and ultra-high display resolution monitors also come with split screen features. Split screen feature allows you to do two sets of work at the same time.

Let's look at a few monitors for video editing. This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list. So feel free to suggest your own if you feel we have missed out on anything that should have been on this list.

6 Great Monitor Buying Options

1. Dell UltraSharp U3415W

A large size sized monitor without a higher resolution is like an anti-climax. It is inexplicable. With the Dell UltraSharp U3415W, there is no inexplicability, just pure joy. A 34″ ultra-wide monitor with a resolution of 3440 x 1440 (WQHD).

Thanks to the ultra-wide size of the monitor it also comes with a large 21:9 aspect ratio. And thanks to the higher pixel resolution the display has a respectable 109 ppi concentration which allows you to use multiple application without any issues.

The largeness of the monitor’s size means you have that extended real estate which comes in handy for editing videos and for displaying timelines of videos in a much more convenient way.

The Dell UltraSharp U3415W comes well calibrated out of the assembly line. That means no time wasted for calibrating the monitor after you get it out of the box. The one thing that we don’t like is the capacitive buttons which often don’t respond to the first touch.

2. LG 34UM59-P 34″

A large 34″ monitor with an In-Plane Switching technology that makes up its core technology, the LG 34UM59-P is a monitor with a resolution of 2560 x 1080. A34″ monitor is a vast area and one that gives you ample real estate to comfortably multi-task. In this case that large real estate means you have more room for a larger timeline when editing your videos.

Getting used to it, however, would need some time. You would also require time to also getting used to its ultra-wide aspect ratio of 21:9.

A large 34″ monitor needs to have a large viewing angle as well. And this is where the LG 34UM59-P’s 178 ˚ viewing angle comes in handy. The display supports 100% of the sRGB color panel. It supports a total of 16.7 million colors.

Though not necessary for video editors, the LG 34UM59-P of some with the FreeSync technology. This is the same NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology and prevents the monitor for showing display tearing when the refresh rate of a fixed refresh rate monitor tries to match that of the graphics card.

Look-wise the LG 34UM59-P is miles ahead of something like the old fashioned Dell P2715Q we discuss shortly. The LG 34UM59-P has almost a bezel-less design which makes it very slick looking and thin.

There are some disadvantages to the LG 34UM59-P. One of them is its resolution, for such a large screen size.

3. Dell P2715Q 27″ UHD / 4K Monitor

This monitor has almost everything that you need for editing your videos. To start off the Dell P2715Q is a large 27″ monitor with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 dots that makes it a UHD / 4K display. In other words, the pixels per inch density is 163 ppi.

The advantage of higher resolution is best attained when you are using a large monitor size. Incidentally, the display ratio is 16:9 which makes it suitable for editing with a large timeline without having to scroll.

The Dell P2715Q is capable of looking displaying 1.07 billion colors. For any good monitor, it is mandatory that you have a wide viewing angle. Even when the monitor is your primary display. The Dell P2715Q has a wide viewing angle of 178˚.  Additionally, the monitor is factory calibrated to display 99% sRGB color accuracy and 79% of the AdobeRGB color gamut.

Among some positives, there are a few negatives as well in the design of the monitor. In fact the design. Well, that is the one point which you will not quite like the Dell P2715Q. It is quite an old-fashioned design. Functional still, but old fashioned.

Old fashioned still is the over indulgence on physical buttons. If you have been bred on clunky film cameras and retro styled DSLRs, you wouldn’t mind that. Physical buttons provide a much better feedback compared to touch buttons. On the downside, however, is the lack of complete control.

4. LG 27UD88-W 27″

The LG 27UD88-W is a 27″ Monitor with a UHD / 4K display resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. It covers 99% of the Adobe sRGB color spectrum and a much higher color accuracy. Additionally, the monitor comes with a built-in calibration hardware and software plugged into it for better and much more convenient calibration from time to time.

Viewing angle of the monitor is 178 ˚ which should be good enough for you to see the screen from even an acute angle. FreeSync technology ensures that the camera works better for entertainment like playing games with a smoother display. Something which is not the primary utility if you are a video editor.

The ergonomics of the monitor and the ease by which you can tilt the screen and or rotate it is superb. If you have a large portrait-oriented image to edit in full screen, it can be difficult to do on screens that won’t rotate. Not so much on the LG 27UD88-W. There are no complicated knobs or buttons or levers to fight with. Just turn it around in any position that you need it to be.

5. The ASUS PA328Q 32″

The ASUS PA328Q, as the name suggests, is a 32″ monitor with resolution 3840 x 2160 dots. That makes it a UHD / 4K monitor. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio which is probably not what we would want on an ultra-wide angle monitor (we want 21:9) but is nevertheless quite good.

The monitor comes with IPS technology and the display surface is on glare. Glossy or shiny surfaces are hard to work in under bright light as they tend to reflect quite a lot. Being an IPS display the viewing angle on the monitor is a good 178˚.

A 12-bit LUT means this monitor is capable of displaying a much larger number of colors. As an absolute measure, the monitor is capable of displaying about 1073.7 million colors. Plus, you also get a 6 ms gray-to-gray response time.

There other features of the monitor include a 90˚ pivoting option for space saving purposes, a thin 0.25″ black bezel for an extra display surface, Rec.709 support for video editing and 100% sRGB Color Coverage for complete color editing solutions.

There are a few downsides too: the speakers for example. These are not exactly top notch. At higher volumes, you hear a lot of trebles. You will need a good quality soundbar for mixing and editing soundbites.

6. NEC MultiSync PA322UHD

At nearly $2,800 apiece, the NEC MultiSync PA322UHD is a huge investment for your video and photo editing business. But let me waive any apprehensions that you might have here by mentioning that this is worth every penny you spend. This is one of the best monitors for video editing.

To start off the NEC MultiSync PA322UHD has a 31.5″ screen real estate and comes with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 dots. It has a 14-bit lookup up table allowing you to work easily with native 10-bit signals go even beyond that. The monitor covers 99.2% of the Adobe RGB color space.

The NEC MultiSync PA322UHD is factory calibrated. That means you don’t have to do any extra calibration as the monitor is born ready. The monitor supports DisplaySync Pro controls. Meaning you can control two computers with the help of only one keyboard and mouse combination. Plus, the Picture-in-Picture mode ensures that you can simultaneously play two or even four displays at the same time.