* Although ‘2.2’ is reported in the OSD, the monitor actually switches to ‘2.4’ for the gamma setting if ‘User Define’ is selected for ‘Color’. If you cycle to a different gamma setting and then back to ‘2.2’, the monitor will use ‘2.2’ as reported. If the monitor is switched off and the ‘User Define’ setting is being used, gamma will again revert to ‘2.4’ even if ‘2.2’ is displayed. In other words, you have to cycle the gamma setting to something else and then back to ‘2.2’ if you wish to customise the colour channels and also have correct tracking of the ‘2.2’ curve.

** Although ‘6500K’ is reported, the monitor actually uses ‘User Define’ with its extremely high white point if ‘SmartUniformity’ is used. If you cycle to a different colour setting and then back to ‘6500K’, this setting is used as reported and the colour temperature drops to around 6300K (as measured by our colorimeter).





Out of the box the BDM4350UC had a bright and vibrant look to the image, with a slight but not overbearing cool tint. Gamma handling was good, too. For those who require strong uniformity across the screen, at the expense of contrast and brightness, a ‘SmartUniformity’ setting is included. This is calibrated in the factory, with a calibration report included. As noted above there is a bit of a bug with default white point handling, but this is easily corrected.







After simply reducing brightness, the image was actually very pleasing on our unit. The white point was a touch on the cool side, but not uncomfortably so. Obsessive and thorough as we are, though, we decided to make manual adjustments to the colour channels for our ‘Test Settings’. Unfortunately, this meant putting up with the need to manually re-select the ‘2.2’ gamma setting when turning the monitor on, as above. But that became part of the routine and was only a slight inconvenience really. Following these adjustments, the gamma tracking was good, tracking quite close to the desirable ‘2.2 curve’ as shown below.





Gamma test settings



As mentioned above we reduced brightness and made (significant) adjustments on the ‘User Define’ ‘Color’ setting. Be aware that individual units can vary, so these settings aren’t necessarily going to be optimal. Also be aware that we had to re-select ‘2.2’ for the gamma every time the monitor was switched on, as noted previously. If the monitor lost signal for any reason it was not necessary to re-apply this – if you don’t want the hassle of this, the default ‘6500K’ setting was actually pretty decent on our unit and will hopefully be quite usable on most units. Assume any setting not mentioned here was left at default.





Brightness= 40 (according to preferences and lighting) Brightness= 40 (according to preferences and lighting) SmartResponse= Fast Color= User Define R= 100 G= 84 B= 52



A BasICColor SQUID 3 (X-Rite i1Display Pro) was used to measure the white and black luminance using a range of settings. From these values static contrast ratios were calculated, as shown in the table below. In this table blue highlights indicate the results under our ‘Test Settings’ and black highlights indicate the highest white luminance, lowest black luminance and highest contrast ratio. Assume any settings not mentioned in the table were left at default, with the exceptions noted in the calibration section. This includes the gamma of ‘2.2’ being re-selected and a colour temperature of ‘6500K’ re-selected where appropriate.

With only brightness adjusted the average static contrast was 750:1, which falls some way short of the specified 1200:1. The maximum static contrast recorded, using ‘Color = User Define’, was 881:1. These are certainly lower static contrast ratios than we’ve seen on quite a few IPS-type models recently and falls short of the specified value. The good news is that the glossy screen surface aids perceived contrast and black depth in all but dark rooms. It certainly doesn’t look noticeably weaker in that respect than typical IPS models with matte surfaces and higher measured contrast ratios and if anything tends to look better. Following the significant adjustments made for our ‘Test Settings’ a contrast ratio of 732:1 was recorded, which is reasonable. Using the ‘SmartUniformity’ setting decimated contrast, dropping the static contrast ration to 325:1. The highest luminance recorded was 317 cd/m² whilst the lowest white luminance was 73 cd/m², yielding a brightness adjustment range of 244 cd/m².

A Dynamic Contrast mode called ‘SmartContrast’ features. This can be activated alongside changes to other settings, aside from brightness. The brightness setting is not greyed out, but when the scene changes this is automatically overridden regardless of any adjustments you may make here. The brightness tended towards an uncomfortably bright value where there was mixed or brighter content on the screen. Where most of the content was dark, the monitor did dim fairly effectively.





PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

The Philips BDM4350UC does not use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) at any brightness level and instead uses DC (Direct Current) to regulate brightness. The backlight is therefore considered flicker-free, as advertised by Philips. This will come as welcome news to those worried about visual fatigue or other side-effects of PWM usage or are otherwise sensitive to flicker.





Luminance uniformity

Observing a black screen in a dark room, using our test settings, revealed some backlight bleed. There was a bit of clouding in places but nothing severe – this is shown in the image below. Note that this image was taken a few metres back from the monitor to eliminate ‘IPS glow’. This ‘glow’ is visible if you’re sitting in front of the monitor and using it normally (i.e. not sitting a few metres back). It manifests itself as a sort of silver sheen towards the corners of the screen. From in an ergonomically correct viewing position the glow is most intense towards the bottom corners. Given the size of the screen it is certainly visible, but not actually as extreme as some people might fear. As usual the ‘IPS glow’ blooms out if the screen is viewed from sharper angles, as demonstrated in the viewing angles video later on in the review.





