Behold, Four Different Systems Running On A Single Monitor

You’ll probably never need to play Prey on PC, Wonder Boy on PlayStation 4, Mario Kart 8 on Switch and Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 on Xbox One all at the same time, but it can be done with Phillips’ 102cm 4K curved monitor with MultiView.

While I am still in the midst of evaluating Phillips model BDM4037U for review, the two-by-two MultiView feature was too cool not to share. Utilising four inputs on the back of the monitor — two HDMI, one DisplayPort and one VGA port — I was able to hook up all three of my consoles at once while still having room for my PC. A control stick on the back of the unit lets me quickly switch to any of the four or display two screens side-by-side or picture-in-picture.

Since the display is 3840 x 2160, each sub-screen is capable of running at 1920 x 1080 without any lag.

It was a little tricky to set up. Since there are only two HDMI ports on the back of the monitor I had to buy an active HDMI to VGA cable for the third console, which also requires an audio cable to run sound. If your cable management is strong, it shouldn’t be a problem.

For my purposes, this setup is ideal. I no longer have to worry about having a separate monitor for game consoles on my desk, plus I can play while still monitoring work chat. Another potential use would be hooking four computers up to the monitor for split-screen multiplayer.

It’s an expensive monitor, retailing for $US999 ($1,352), and there are some serious ghosting issues with the display that I am trying to resolve leading up to a full review, so stay tuned.