HP Envy 34c Monitor Review

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HP’s new 34-inch curved Envy 34c sports a high-contrast SVA panel and DTS-tuned speakers; features that set it apart from the competition. Today we check out its performance in our benchmark suite.

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Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Response And Lag

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.

The other VA monitors we’ve photographed haven’t looked quite as good off-axis as this one. Obviously the Samsung-sourced panel part is a little better in that regard. You can see some brightness reduction to the sides and vertically, as well as a slight red shift. But there is no loss of detail and the overall result is on par with most IPS screens. We also think the curvature helps here.

Screen Uniformity: Luminance

Our sample of the Envy 34c shows superb uniformity in both the black and white field tests. There is no visible light bleed and there are no hotspots in evidence. When black levels are this low, any flaws are magnified so we’re glad to see such a solid result.

Here’s the white field measurement.

The white field test comes in slightly higher due to 8cd/m2 of extra output at the screen center. You can’t see the variation with the naked eye and all other zones are within 4cd/m2 of the average brightness value.

Screen Uniformity: Color

We were able to see faint red areas in two places on our sample. They were only visible in a white field pattern, not in any content we viewed. We also couldn’t see them in any photos we took so we’d call this flaw extremely minor.

Pixel Response And Input Lag

Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

The top two screens here run at 144 and 75Hz respectively so it’s logical they’d draw a little faster. At 60Hz the rest of the pack is in the same 20-25ms range as an IPS or TN monitor. HP’s overdrive function helps a little with motion blur and doesn’t add ghosting to moving images so we recommend leaving it on all the time.

Here are the lag results.

If you have very fast reaction times, the Envy 34c may not be the ideal gaming screen for you. Casual gamers like us won’t have a problem but there are faster displays out there. Obviously upping the refresh rate makes the greatest impact on lag. At 60Hz there’s only so fast you can go.

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Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • vic20
    I was considering a 40" 4K TV for my PC, but this may be a better option. Looks slick.
    Reply
  • vic20
    Looks really a really slick display. Will be on my short list for sure.
    Reply
  • HideOut
    I'd like a 2K version of one of these things. Speakers not needed. I have a DTS 5.1 in the office already. But my GPU isn't going to drive a 4k well. Even 2K will be hard but its cheaper to upgrade to a 2K capable card.
    Reply
  • monsta
    still waiting for ASUS to release theirs!
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    Guys for this price, if you're not going to go above 60 Hz, as I see this is a more a workstation thing, 10-bit colour at least ;-;
    Reply
  • cknobman
    This is not worth a penny more than $500.
    Reply
  • picture_perfect
    I'd like a 2K version of one of these things. my GPU isn't going to drive a 4k well.

    Yea. It's less than 4K but it's still too much. Lower frame rates are innately blurry on LCD, which makes spending money on quick pixel response times pointless. Also throw those low input lag numbers out the window when frame rendering takes this long. And of course enjoy some low frame rate jitters (with or without G-sync). I would spend another grand on dual gtx980s to get this monitor working like expected...well no, actually I wouldn't.
    Reply
  • zthomas
    I agree this is a work monitor.. and not yet a gaming option..
    Reply
  • MetzMan007
    Free Sync, Almost makes me want to switch from Nvidia to ATI. Very Good looking screen, Almost Sexy in its own way.
    Reply
  • Merry_Blind
    I'd really like to see a VA panel designed for gaming, with lowest input lag and response time possible. To me it's the technology that looks the best between it, TN, and IPS, but it seems to be the worst in terms of speed... which isn't good for gaming.
    Reply