The 6 Best Multimedia Monitors - Summer 2022 Reviews

The Dell S2722QC is the best monitor for movies with a 4k resolution that we've tested. Although it's mainly designed for the office, the high resolution helps deliver sharp and crisp images, and it has great performance as a multimedia monitor. It's well-built and has great ergonomics, so you can easily place it in an ideal viewing position.

It has an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, so the image remains accurate when viewing from the sides. Our unit also has excellent gray uniformity, meaning you won't notice any uniformity issues in movies, and although this can vary between units, it's rarely an issue on monitors. There are a few ways to connect to the monitor as it has two HDMI ports with HDMI 2.0 bandwidth, and it has a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode. It even has two USB 3.0 ports so you can charge your devices while watching content.

Unfortunately, like any monitor with an IPS panel, it doesn't perform well in dark rooms. It has a low native contrast ratio and lacks a local dimming feature, so blacks look gray in the dark. On the plus side, it's a good choice for well-lit rooms because it has great peak brightness and good reflection handling. Overall, it's the best 4k monitor for consuming multimedia content.

If you're looking for something bigger for better immersion, then you're better off with the LG 48 C1 OLED. As it's a TV marketed as a monitor, it doesn't have the same great ergonomics as the Dell S2722QC, so it's not easy to place in an ideal viewing position. The 48 inch model should fit on most desks, but you can also wall-mount it with a VESA 300x200 mount if you don't have enough space. Its OLED screen is fantastic for dark room viewing because it can produce inky blacks without any blooming, and it can get very bright to deliver a great HDR experience and make highlights pops. Sadly, there's a risk of permanent burn-in with static content, but we don't expect it to be an issue for people who watch varied content.

If you only want a standard desktop monitor, go with the Dell. If you want a large screen for a more immersive viewing experience, go with the LG.

The MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD is the best 1440p monitor for multimedia that we've tested. The large, high-resolution screen delivers sharp images and an immersive movie-watching experience, but with a 1440p resolution, you won't get the same sharpness as on a 4k screen. It has wide viewing angles and great ergonomics, so you can easily share your screen with a friend.

This monitor has an impressively wide color gamut, with complete coverage of the sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces, which is great if enjoy rich, vibrant colors. It supports HDR, and it can display an amazing color gamut in HDR thanks to its quantum dot technology, but unfortunately, HDR content doesn't look as good as it should, as it can't get bright enough for small, bright highlights to pop. It also has great visibility in a bright room, with impressive peak brightness in SDR and decent reflection handling, ensuring it can easily overcome glare.

Sadly, it doesn't look as good in a dark room, as it has a low contrast ratio, just alright black uniformity, and there's no local dimming feature to improve the picture quality in dark scenes. Thankfully, these issues aren't noticeable unless you're in a completely dark room. Overall, it's a great monitor that should please most people, regardless of how you choose to use it, and it's the best monitor for watching movies with a 1440p resolution.

If you want a monitor that's better suited for dark room viewing, then check out the Samsung LC32G75TQSNXZA. Unlike the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD, it uses a VA panel, which has much better contrast, so blacks look black instead of gray in a dark room, but this comes at the expense of viewing angles, so it's not as good for watching videos with other people sitting next to you. It's still a very good monitor for watching videos, with a large, high-resolution screen that delivers an immersive movie-watching experience. It supports HDR, and it has okay peak brightness in HDR, so some highlights stand out, but not all. Also, its local dimming feature is terrible and causes backlight bleed in dark scenes.

Overall, the MSI and the Samsung are both good for media consumption, and choosing between them depends on what you need. If you want wide viewing angles, go with the MSI; otherwise, the Samsung is better for dark room viewing.

The Gigabyte M34WQ is the best ultrawide multimedia monitor we've tested. Ultrawide monitors like this one offer something different than typical 16:9 monitors because the 21:9 aspect ratio provides more horizontal screen space, and cinematic movies with this aspect ratio will fill the entire screen. It's designed for gaming, but it's versatile enough to use as a multimedia monitor.

It has a few features if you want to connect multiple devices like your laptop and desktop PC so that you can do work and watch content at the same time. It has Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture modes, meaning you can view images from two sources at once, and with a keyboard video mouse (KVM) switch, you can control those two devices with one set of a keyboard and mouse. Our unit has excellent accuracy out-of-the-box, so you may not need to get it calibrated, and it has remarkable gradient handling. The 3440x1440 resolution helps deliver clear images, and the 34 inch screen provides an immersive viewing experience.

In terms of its dark room performance, it has an IPS panel with low contrast, so it's not the best for watching movies with dark scenes. The black uniformity isn't bad, but there's no local dimming feature to improve it. On the other hand, it gets bright enough to fight glare in a bright room, and it has great reflection handling. Overall, it's one of the better multimedia monitors we've tested.

The Gigabyte M27Q is the best multimedia monitor in the budget category that we've tested. It's a 27 inch IPS model with a 1440p resolution and wide viewing angles, which is great for sharing content with others as images remain accurate when viewing off-center. It has decent reflection handling and great peak brightness, meaning visibility won't be an issue even in bright, sunny rooms. However, it isn't ideal for dark room viewing because it has a mediocre contrast ratio that makes blacks appear gray.

It has full sRGB coverage, the color space used in most web content, and the accuracy is outstanding out of the box, so you get accurate, life-like colors. It has an impressive HDR color gamut, but unfortunately, it doesn't get quite bright enough to deliver a true HDR experience. It has an exceptional response time that results in clear images in fast-moving scenes and a backlight-strobing feature to further improve motion clarity with fast-moving objects.

Sadly, the stand only allows for height and tilt adjustments; however, it can be VESA-mounted if you need swivel adjustment or pivot to portrait mode. It has Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture modes, a KVM feature that lets you control devices with one set of keyboard and mouse, and a USB-C port that supports Display Port Alt Mode. The backlight is flicker-free, and there's also a blue light filter to help reduce eye strain. Overall, it's a great and versatile monitor that should please most people.