I get that when you say "affordable" in front of a color grading monitor, this is like saying "affordable luxury car". The real deal is expensive for a reason. Just looking for something that can get me close as I can to color accuracy as an indie filmmaker. And something good for a playback / client monitor.

Looking for 2k (most everything I create is going to be at that resolution, plus I hear there is aliasing when playing 2k on a 4k monitor)

Aiming for that $750 - $1500 range for budget. 

I'll have the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3g breakout box.

Any suggestions?

Maybe good enough?

Blackmagic Design SmartView 4K.

Marshall Electronics 17.3" Professional LCD

ck123:

Maybe good enough?

Blackmagic Design SmartView 4K.

Marshall Electronics 17.3" Professional LCD

For grading I'm afraid not. It's only an 8 bit monitor, unfortunately. BMD make many fine products at unbelievable prices but perhaps wisely monitors are not among them. These monitors are for gallery or OB use really.

It's very difficult to advise, since good and affordable, when it comes to even adequate specs, for this purpose, are somewhat mutually exclusive. The reason being that whilst mass produced consumer TVs can be amazing value, bespoke pro monitors are small yield expensive ones.

If this is for your own stuff, internet and some corporate, some consummer TVs would be my preferred choice over any PC monitor. My client Panasonic TX-40JX850B is a very creditable companion to my grading reference monitor, yet it cost £500 as opposed to £4.5k ( for a monitor which is only 17" and HD). It is VA panel as opposed to IPS and therefore has a narrow viewing angle but that shouldn't matter on an edit desk. It is 10bit, 450nits and 3000:1 contrast and calibrates well. Quite remarkable for the price and size and hey I watch Netflix on it too

For dedicated video monitor you are really looking at a good deal more than your budget, to get a good one. Currently the LG Ultrafine 31.5" Oled seems to be highly recommended but it is £3.5K. Eizo make some creditable monitors and Flanders or FSI are the yardstick, but again prices go up alarmingly.

I was thinking the LG OLED C2 42-inch for the playback/color correction monitor... Thoughts on this? 

Do you folks know if there will be any quality issue playing 1080p or 2k footage on the 4k playback/color correction monitor? (how does that work? Windowed? Upscaling? Does upscaling cause any aliasing issues, etc?)

The LG consumer OLEDS yield nice images, I find you have to turn off all the factory enabled picture "enhancements" in advanced settings, lower the contrast and chroma levels, then you get a very "honest" display.

Sims Carter:

Aiming for that $750 - $1500 range for budget. 

I'll have the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3g breakout box.

Any suggestions?

I use the same Blackmagic box with an EIZO ColorEdge CG247X monitor, and it's worked well for me.

Nice, camoscato.

However, sounds like I'll need to upgrade to a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4k Mini for the LG OLED 4K 42-inch.

Yes, I think you're right if you want to monitor higher than HD.

Look at Flanders B stock - it is a good idea to get a brodacast calibrated monitor.  But Pricey

UPDATE: went with the LG OLED C2 4k 42-inch.

(via Blackmagic UltraStudio 4k mini breakout box)

Turned on filmmaker mode. Getting it calibrated.

Should work great for my purposes.

Love it.