I see that the thread has become even more interesting due to the addition of “technical” posts: in this regard, I thank all those who have intervened. I would like to go back, for a moment, to the question “which monitor” to buy, starting from the post by Cyber (above) that showed some proposals.
As I said previously, I did lot of research the past few weeks and came to the conclusion that currently the two best monitor 4K for (retro) gaming available are:
- INNOCN 27M2V / Nubia RedMagic GM001J (same panel from INNOCN)
- KTC M27P20 Pro / Cooler Master Tempest GP27U (same panel from KTC)
I watched many videos and read many reviews / tests about of all these monitors, here my note (DISCLAIMER: I’m going by memory!)
About 1):
First, there is also a 32" panel version but it performs worse, in several respects, than the 27" counterpart.
Second, I must say that I’m really impressed by the HDR performance of the INNOCN27P20, which seems to rival an OLED panel in most situations! This despite the number of dimming zones being decent but not incredible (1152). It probably means that the zones implementation and the management algorithm have been well done (and, as ridiculous as it seems to say, this is good news compared to the rubbish seen so far in the Mini LED / local dimming field).
Obviously, the OLED is still superior in critical scenes, especially those made to highlight the technology, but from the videos it seems to me that for the contents that 99% of users could view, the differences between this monitor and an OLED do not are noticeable (even more so in gaming).
Another very positive aspect is that the clear superiority of the LCD in terms of average and peak brightness even gives it an evident advantage in different types of scenes (and use-case, I would say).
Colors are vibrant and everything else you need is there (see reviews for any spec you want to check) … so does it have at least some flaws?
Unfortunately, yes: the viewing angles are poor, which may or may not be a deal breaker for some. Another cons is that the motion handling is far from best, IMHO … actually is quite worse than previous panels I saw, with similar specs (some 4K 144hz for ex.). VRR can work at the same time as local dimming/HDR without any flickering issues, tho.
What about the “RedMagic” version? There are very few “reviews / videos” (one of the best : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHJ0yUUuPkE&pp=ygUNSU5OT0NOIDI3TTJWIA%3D%3D) but for what I remember, it seems to be even a little better than the INNOCN version, in particular for aesthetics, color calibration and even a little better in motion handling.
However the after-sales support is an absolute unknown and even worse the software support (development of new firmware): it is well known that Nubia/RedMagic is among the worst companies ever, in terms of software development / support of their products. Actually, their main products (gaming smartphones) although excellent on paper and in terms of price / performance ratio, are systematically plagued by a terrible user experience. This is also their very first monitor.
About 2):
compared to 1), this monitor has better viewing angles (better but far from perfect…) and above all has much better motion handling. It performs much worse in HDR contents, tho (it also has half the dimming zones - 576).
Between the KTC and CoolerMaster version, KTC is better at the moment (motion handling is better for sure, also a couple of other things I don’t remember). CoolerMaster monitor was released plagued by software bugs but they provided a firmware upgrade that solved most of (NOT ALL!) the issues.
However, it must be said in favor of CoolerMaster that there is most likely a better after-sales support (especially in the West) compared to KTC and I also believe there is more commitment to guaranteeing future firmware updates that bring further benefits (I am very skeptical about KTC in this regard): this could be an important reason to buy the CM version instead of KTC.
@Cyber
About Huawei MateView 28" 4K 3:2
It’s a very nice monitor, very stylish (Apple-inspired? 
). Size is good and aspect ratio is super good for retrogaming (being 16:9 one of the worst aspect ratio ever IMHO, second to only obscenities like 18.5/9,20/9,21/9, etc.) since we gain precious vertical resolution.
The problem is that it’s an office monitor…brightness it’s just passable (500 nits) but it’s an old edge lit without any local dimming / HDR feature and above all the refresh rate it’s only 60hz which is an absolute no-go for retrogaming.
It lacks all the features - even the most basics - which would be desirable in a gaming monitor.
About Dough (ex Eve) Spectrum 4K
On paper, it seems to deliver all the dream features we retro-fans always wanted.
However, the panel is already old (produced by LG and used in their 27GP950) plus I’ve read tons of negative feedback from users or (above all) potential users, i.e. people who paid good money in advance and who after months (or years!) still hasn’t even seen the box of their precious monitor.
Adding fuel to fire, on Dough own forum, the (few) who have so far managed to physically hold the monitor in their hands go crazy about countless bugs and the non-functionality of some of the main features they paid for (especially those concerning motion handling!!!).
It also appears that multiple fake accounts were created to vote in favor of Spectrum on RTINGS website, which adds to the long list of dark sides of this story: many, on the web, have been talking openly about scam for months now.
Personally, I will stay far away from this company.
Going back to the ideal 4K monitor for retrogaming, until Micro LED monitors of reasonable size and “human” price are available, I think it should have these characteristics:
-
MiniLED IPS with lot of dimming zones: at least 2K, ideal 4K+, with hopefully (and finally!) good to very good HDR management.
-
peak brightness of at least 1000 nits, better if 1200. SDR max brightness should be increased, too, compared to current standard
-
refresh rate of 240hz (bare minimum), 360hz is “sweet spot”. More is desirable, but implies major technical difficulties regarding the implementation of technologies for CRT-like motion clarity (read below)
-
very good viewing angles! Lately, IPS panels started to literally sucks in this regard … and think that this was one of the selling points of the entire technology!
-
32" size (27-28" it’s also ok). No curved, no weird aspect ratios, no giga-monitors.
As you can see, we are far from reaching all the goals I listed. One of the problem is that GPU manufacturers, especially NVIDIA, refuse to support DP 2.1, which means that panel manufacturers aren’t incentivized to produce 4K panels with very high refresh (240hz+) since no GPU can support them currently (except RADEON RX 7000 series, sold at outrageous prices as far as I’m concerned).
IMO, 240hz it’s the bare minimum theshold because you can use BFI and get a 75% blur reduction without crosstalk, which is already good. Also, with 1000 nits panels becoming more and more common, the corresponding brightness reduction is not an issue anymore.
With 360hz BFI we get 83% blur reduction and I think this is the sweet spot because above this you need at least 540hz to get significant improvements (90% BR). Moreover, 1000 nits are already barely sufficient for 360hz BFI, while with 540hz BFI you need at the very least 1200 nits. Not to mention that both GPU and monitor manufacturers won’t see the need to pump up to those refresh rates for who knows how many years yet.
Another unknown is crosstalk: for what I read / understood, with BFI software-implemented it’s practically not existent, at least at frequencies up to 180Hz. Not sure if it stay the same @ 360+ hz. Also, we can forget about hardware BFI, since it produces tons of crosstalk at high frequencies and would be unbearable at 540hz.
I end this very long post talking about future releases: I read that just today AUO presented the first 4K 240hz panel, but it is a “trivial” HDR400 and also has blooming problems, especially when viewed from an angle: it is something that has been noticed during the presentation by those present, so AUO made a not so great first impression!
Also, I read long time ago (August of last year?) that BOE was developing many interesting MiniLED panels, also including a 4K with 4608 zones (!!!) and 240hz refresh that it should have gone into production in November / December 2022 … but of which nothing more has been heard.
The same goes for other big announcements with great fanfare by BOE, that I remember reading in recent years, which never materialized in real products … so I matured a big doubt about a tendency to bulls*** by this company.
…so I’m here to ask those who have a lot of practical experience in the field, having owned several monitors from FHD to 4K.
). Size is good and aspect ratio is super good for retrogaming (being 16:9 one of the worst aspect ratio ever IMHO, second to only obscenities like 18.5/9,20/9,21/9, etc.) since we gain precious vertical resolution.
