INTRODUCTION

   For good or bad i was born in the early 80's so by the early 90's when PCs really started to "bloom" there weren't many screens for one to choose from. Sure there were plenty of CRT models (previous technology) up to 20 inches but on one hand most were mediocre at best while on the other if you wanted to get an 20+ inch one you only had very expensive models with EIZO standing at the top of the industry (their Golden ERA according to many). Fast forward to today and well just like most areas of the industry things have changed for the best so right now not only do consumers have a very large number of screens to choose from but even 40 inch models are extremely affordable (just for the record the FlexScan T966 21 inch CRT Monitor by EIZO set me back over 1200Euros back in 2003). Philips recently released one of the largest curved LCD displays in the market the 40 inch 4k UHD Brilliance BDM4037UW model which has been with us for almost 3 weeks now.

   MMD is a wholly owned company of TPV established in 2009 through a brand license agreement with Philips. MMD exclusively markets and sells Philips branded LCD displays worldwide. By combining the Philips brand promise with TPV’s manufacturing expertise in displays, MMD uses a fast and focused approach to bringing innovative products to market. MMD serves the Western European markets from its headquarters in Amsterdam. The Eastern European and CIS markets are served by a local office in Prague. Through its network of local sales teams MMD works with all major IT distributors and resellers. The company’s design and development center is located in Taiwan. www.mmd-p.com

   The Philips Brilliance BDM4037UW offers a massive diagonal length of 101.6cm (40 inch) and is based on a flicker-free LED-backlit 10-bit (1.07 billion colors) VA (Vertical Alignment) panel (TP Vision TPT400UA-FN06) that features a maximum resolution of 3840x2160p at 60Hz (4k UHD), horizontal viewing angle of 178 degrees, contrast ratio of 4000:1 (deep blacks), 300cd/m2 maximum brightness (this number is quite low so it's not very ideal for bright environments) and a grey to grey pixel response time of 4ms. The BDM4037U is also well equipped since it comes ready with two 5W speakers, VESA 100x100mm compatibility, joystick menu button (JOG), 2 MHL HDMI (v1.4/2.0) ports, 2 DisplayPort (v1.2) connectors, VGA port, 4 USB 3.0 ports (hub), fast charging USB port, audio line-in port and a 3.5mm headphones output. Unfortunately although this is one of the best looking LCD monitors in the market today due to its silver base (offers 5 degrees forward and 10 degrees backward tilt) and curved (3000R) screen it does lack several features not only basic ones (such as height adjustment) but also some that we find mostly with gaming models including support for FreeSync and G-Sync. Ontop of that add the fact that VA panels are not quite as "responsive/fast" as IPS and TN ones and thus it's quite evident that Philips didn't develop the Brilliance BDM4037UW with gamers in mind. Then again the same was told about the MultiSync 3090WQXi monitor which we've been using for over 6 years now and we never had a problem with games so let's see what applies to the brand new Brilliance BDM4037UW.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Brilliance BDM4037UW arrived inside a large blue box that just has a large product picture on both sides along with a product description in French and English (the main product features are also listed).

Although the box arrived pretty beaten up thanks to several foam spacers and pieces of cardboard the sample and its bundle arrived without issue.

Contained inside the box (aside the Brilliance BDM4037UW) is the semi-circular aluminum base, power cord, HDMI cable, DisplayPort cable, VGA cable, quick start guide, warranty information paper and a software CD.

THE BRILLIANCE BDM4037UW

The Brilliance BDM4037U may not be as large as my 55 inch LED TV but it's by far the largest monitor to ever reach our lab (yes it's that massive).

Philips has only placed a single screw at the base so attaching it to the aluminum stand is very easy (looks great if you ask me).

Curved TVs may not be ideal when there are more than just a couple of people looking at them from several directions but it's a whole different story when it comes to monitors.

Philips has placed their logo at the center of the bottom bezel.

The top and side bezels measure 12.35mm in thickness while the bottom one is a little bit thicker at 19.61mm.

The rear is almost entirely taken by a glossy white plastic cover (the holes here support the VESA 100x100mm standard).

Here we find the menu joystick (quite flimsy - press it for 3 seconds to turn the screen off), power port, MHL-HDMI v1.4 and MHL-HDMI v2.0 ports, 2 DisplayPort ports, VGA (D-Sub) port, Audio in and headphones output (3.5mm), 3 USB 3.0 ports, fast charging USB port (for mobile devices), USB 3.0 host port and a Kensington lock.

This Philips monitor was assembled in China back in December 2016 and the base model name is BDM4037U (this tells us the W at the end stands for white so Philips should also have a black version available somewhere).

As mentioned earlier the aluminum base only offers a tilt adjustment of 5 degrees forward and 10 degrees backwards as seen from the above pictures.

SCREEN OSD

The screen menus are operated by the Joystick at the rear of the screen and from here you can adjust the language and OSD settings, check information about the screen and reset it to its factory state, change the selected input, change the picture format, adjust the brightness/contrast/sharpness levels, setup the SmartResponce and SmartContrast features, enable PIP (Picture In Picture) and PBP (Picture By Picture), set the volume levels and the audio source and you can also choose between several available color temperatures, sRGB or you can define your own color settings.

You can also access the SmartImage feature via the menu joystick which allows you to pick one of the 6 available picture presets.

VIEWING ANGLES AND PICTURE QUALITY

VA panels may not be just as good as IPS ones when it comes to viewing angles but they are definitely a lot better compared to TN ones and as you can see from the above pictures (and a stunning Harley Quinn in 4k) the Brilliance BDM4037UW does extremely well.

The same applies to pixel response times (also refresh rate for this specific model) and although VA panels are the slowest of the bunch lately that's not a big issue (at least nowhere near to what it was 5+ years ago) and so we had no problems using it to play Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, Mass Effect Andromeda, Dreadnought and Star Citizen (yes all in 4k).

TEST RESULTS - POWER CONSUMPTION

Power consumption may not be what we look for when out to get a brand new monitor but at the end of the day it's an important factor so we hope this is interesting to some of you (our next review will also include Color Gamut and perhaps also brightness level and contrast ratio measurements for all these monitors - we just couldn't test them all in time for this review).

CONCLUSION

   Using a Datacolor Spyder5ELITE+ colorimeter (review soon) we measured 100% of the sRGB gamut and 85% of the Adobe RGB color space while the maximum brightness level was measured at 258cd/m2. Unfortunately even at 300cd/m2 the Brilliance BDM4037UW is not the best monitor for use in really bright rooms so at 258cd/m2 that becomes even more evident (although i can't say we had any issues with its brightness levels during our tests). What most potential buyers however will undoubtedly look is the massive size of the Brilliance BDM4037UW along with its 4k resolution and of course its very good design. Certainly the lack of height and pivot/swivel adjustment are things that professionals will probably not overlook but you can always opt for a wall or desk mount to get all these so i wouldn't say it's a party crasher. The same applies with the lack of more available menu options since although most people will find themselves not even using the ones available professionals may expect more (and unfortunately this time over there's no solid workaround). Last but not least build quality may not be the best we've seen to date from a monitor (or a TV screen for that matter) but at the same time it's much better than some models we've seen so we really can't complain (at least not when we're talking about an affordable 40 inch 4k UHD model).

   So just how much affordable is the Brilliance BDM4037UW? Well currently you can find it for USD799.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 673Euros inside the EU (Insight UK) a price tag which actually puts the Brilliance BDM4037UW right between several 35 and 42 inch 4k models. At the end of the day it all comes down to whether or not you need the extra space offered by a 40 inch 4k monitor or if your needs could also be covered by a 32 inch one (or even smaller). Personally having used 30 and 34 inch models these past 6 years for my primary test rig i think that 34/35 is the ideal size for me even after using the Brilliance BDM4037UW for a total of 3 weeks. Overall however we can't deny that the Brilliance BDM4037UW offers a very good bang for your buck so that along with the fact that this is one of the largest curved 4k monitors in the market today (if not the largest) are more than enough to bestow it with our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Overall Build Quality
- Curved Design
- 4k 3840x2160p UHD Resolution
- LED Backlit VA Panel
- Very Good Image Quality
- 4ms GTG Response Time
- 4 USB 3.0 Ports
- Stereo Speakers (5W Each)
- Available Connectors (HML HDMI v1.4/v2.0, 2xDisplayPort v1.2, VGA)
- Power Consumption

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Not Ideal For Professional/Hardcore Gamers
- No Height/Pivot/Swivel Adjustment