Philips Brilliance 329P9H review: A quality monitor with a price tag to match
A modern screen that can double as a docking station and it offers excellent image quality where it matters
Pros
- Excellent image quality
- Well balanced screen contrast
- Broad range of features
Cons
- Expensive
- Slight colour deviations
- No HDR support
When you can head to Amazon and pick up a 31.5in, 4K monitor for less than £300, Philips needs to work hard to justify the Brilliance 329P9H’s relatively high price. And while this monitor isn’t perfect, it delivers excellent image quality alongside a broad range of features.
Philips Brilliance 329P9H review: Specs
The excellent image quality comes courtesy of an IPS panel and 10-bit colour, with some outstanding results in our tests. For instance, its average sRGB Delta E of 0.92 is fantastic: low enough that people just won’t be able to tell the difference and not far off the Dell and Eizo panels. Unlike the Eizo, this panel isn’t optimised for Adobe RGB or DCI-P3 colour spaces, a fact reflected by its 96.2% coverage of the sRGB gamut but relatively low 70.5% Adobe RGB figure and 77% in the DCI-P3 test.
The Philips’ contrast ratio of 1,379:1 is good – easily high enough for photo and video work – and it’s well balanced between a solid brightness measurement of 331cd/m2 and a deep black point of 0.24cd/m2. It’s enough to cope with bright office lights while handling darker shades with depth and subtlety.
This screen’s biggest weakness is its uniformity. The panel lost 14% of its backlight in the top-left corner and 17% on the right-hand edge, but these aren’t outliers. The left, right and top edges regularly saw backlight deviations in double figures, and the bottom edge wasn’t far behind. Reduce the brightness and such variations become far less obvious, but we expected better.
While we’re on weaknesses, we should also note that the Philips recorded a maximum Delta E of eight. However, that figure was only recorded when measuring one shade of red – in the vast majority of colour tests this screen delivered a Delta E below one. So, while that maximum figure is worth remembering, it’s hardly ever going to be an issue.
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Philips Brilliance 329P9H review: Features
Then we come to all the features Philips includes for the price. First, there’s an ambient light sensor that can also dim the screen when it spots you’ve moved away from the desk. We also like the webcam that pops up from the top bezel. This is compatible with Windows Hello and can be tucked away when you want to be guaranteed privacy.
Then there’s the 180mm of height adjustment – more than any other professional screen here – along with 30° of tilt movement and a 340° swivel. This latter figure means it’s easy to show work to your neighbour or even someone sitting on the opposite desk. And unlike the Eizo, it can swivel into portrait mode if necessary.
Its port selection is also excellent. The Philips has four full-size USB 3.1 ports and a USB-C connection that can be used for display outputs and to provide 65W of power. There are two HDMI connections and a DisplayPort input. And, impressively, this screen also has a Gigabit Ethernet port. In short, this screen could double as a docking station: permanently plug in your peripherals and Ethernet cable, then hook up your laptop via USB-C. In fact, we have just one criticism: none of the ports are installed on the side of the screen, making them tricky to reach at the rear.
The Brilliance 329P9H’s on-screen display is smart and fast, and uses a column of snappy buttons – there’s no sign of a joystick here. The only slight issue is that the power button is included in this column, meaning it’s too easy to accidentally turn the screen off.
The OSD includes plenty of options. Philips has included an sRGB option alongside more conventional office, movie, low blue-light and eco modes, and there are lots of colour temperature settings that range between 5,000K and 11,500K. There are no Adobe RGB or DCI-P3 modes, though, and note the absence of any HDR support on this screen.
Philips Brilliance 329P9H review: Verdict
Those gamut and uniformity figures prevent the Philips from being used for high-end colour work where colour accuracy and gamut ability are key, but it’s excellent elsewhere. It has a huge resolution, loads of features and good enough image quality to handle day-to-day work – including photo and video tasks. If you’re after something large, versatile and with good image quality, this screen is worth the higher price and worthy of its Recommended award.
