Budget PC and monitor for 4k editing and color grading.

[Krotor]

EOSHD has been the 'Go-To' website for people who want to know what's the best camera on the market on budget for their needs or to better understand about things related to video and this forum has lots of people, comprising of amateurs, enthusiasts to professionals. Everything's great! I was wondering if someone could come to this website, which is already a very good one, and get to know better about what kind of other equipment on budget would suit that individual needs; like what's the best pc on budget for certain needs and what monitors would be great for video editing or just to watch films at home. Monitor does play such a big role, after all when one is so much concerned with a camera's color science and all, and then viewing the files captured in 10 bit in an uncalibrated, 6-8 bit monitor wouldn't make sense. If topics like pc on budget for 4k video editing or what are some of the best monitor for the price have been already discussed in one of the forums here then I'd appreciate if someone would link me up to that particular forum or let's discuss about this. I guess there isn't much input or discussion to put forward from my side since I'm the one who doesn't have much idea about this and have been actually seeking some suggestions and recommendations on a budget 4k video editing pc and a good monitor on budget. Well the term, 'on budget' can be kind of vague at times I guess. My budget at the moment for pc is about $1300 and I think I can stretch that out to $1500 and I'm willing to invest about $800-$1100 in a 27 inch 10 bit monitor. I've been hearing 4k HDR movies are great so I'd like to have a monitor that does support 4k HDR movies. I need to buy a pc within a week so I don't have much time left. 

[TurboRat]

Since you're willing to invest on a monitor, I've been looking at this the Predator X34p. I dont know about your needs but that's the ultrawide I've been researching to pair up with the monitor that I currently have - Dell P2715q a nice budget 4K monitor that I plan to rotate vertically when I get an ultrawide. For the PC build, this was my reference - http://www.thesagery.com/builds/ since I can choose between med - high end depending on what my needs.

[1Ale82]

I recently acquired a Eizo CS270 for a little less than 600 euro used on the bay but in a brand new condition. It's a very good monitor, good colors but QHD resolution. Before using this monitor, I have never been thinking the difference between images displayed in sRGB vs Adobe RGB would be so noticeable. A good thing of the Eizo monitors is the (totally free) Color Navigator software, quite simple to use yet very performing and comprehensive.

Real 10 bit monitors are not so many, many are 8 bit + 2 frc. 

[KnightsFan]

We talked about monitors not too long ago here, though there weren't a lot of recommendations.

I'd be interested to hear what you end up going for and how you like it, I'm still in the market for a monitor myself. I did a bunch of research and finally picked up an Asus PA329Q on Amazon, but it ended up being a scam (I got my money back, fortunately). I would ideally like LUTs, DCI coverage, and HDR if possible. The PA329Q doesn't have HDR, but what I like about it is that you can manually set it to different color gamuts when you use them. I think many cheaper wide-color-gamut monitors can't easily switch between wide and sRGB gamuts.

Out of curiosity, do you use Resolve? I think a Decklink is required to view in 10 bit and/or HDR. For Resolve it almost makes more sense to get a cheap 4k monitor for the UI and then a top quality HD monitor + decklink for viewing. However, that would be really annoying for all other uses, like gaming, photo editing, etc.

21 minutes ago, 1Ale82 said:

Real 10 bit monitors are not so many, many are 8 bit + 2 frc. 

Yeah, unless it says otherwise, 10 bit always means 8 bit + 2 frc. But for the most part they are indistinguishable, and in any case 8+2frc is vastly superior to 8 alone.

 

If you edit ProRes, you should very easily find a PC build that edits 4k nicely. If you edit 10 bit H.265, though, that might be tough and you might consider a proxy workflow. I've got a 6yo i7-4770 and a GTX 1080, probably in your budget ballpark or a little lower, and 4k 10 bit H.265 has some hiccups every now and then even without an effects.

If you edit sound at all, my recommendation is to get a large PC case with a bunch of 120 or 140mm fans, and use SSDs.

[bigp]

Hi,

I ended up getting a BenQ32U: https://www.benq.eu/en-uk/monitor/designer/pd3200u.html

The first one I got was faulty but no problem replacing it from BenQ .. just took a bit of time. When I hooked it up initially I was a bit disappointed but downloaded drivers for the graphics card and monitor and looked much better. I am coming from a 2013 iMac without the retina screen and really think its still great... The BenQ is a matt screen so a bit more subdued .. the colours are very natural, but its still taking a bit of getting used to as it seams duller than a gloss screen. The size is great as well for general work with multiple apps open. Editing is great as you got a nice section  of the timeline and spend much less time zooming in and out. Also the room I work in can get bright so the matt screen gets washed out... never a problem with my iMac. Overall I like the size of the screen and its accurate colours but may have preferred a different finish (something you cannot see from buying online).

If only my new computer was as good... it seams to crash a lot... not sure if its Windows or the computer itself. A bit annoying

 

Thanks

padraig

[Kisaha]

I got the LG 32UD99. Super happy with the factory calibration, the real estate is amazing for a 4K monitor, the price is going down and the newer monitor from LG is getting lesser reviews. I believe it is a great buy.