4k Display, but not for gaming.. for monitoring..

MrGuvernment

MrGuvernment

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Aug 3, 2004
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I have fallen behind on the 4k scene and reading most threads people seem mainly interested in 4k gaming (i dont blame em)

I am thinking about a 4k screen for work for displaying stats and alerts on my desk, i am going to be doing some massive re-working of our infrastructure and so i want to be on top of things for a few weeks when it happens.

I am thinking 4k as i could fit several of my systems on 1 screen while still using my 2 x 24 for work.

I do not want TV's mounted somewhere, i want a monitor on my desk, in my face as i will have audible alerts and emails.

Another reason for this is me and my team of web and dev share an office area and so i don't want something that will distract them hanging in the room. (that is also part of another project to come later)

This would solely be monitoring things like Pingdom / PRTG / some SSH sessions, GFI and so on, basically as many as i can fit on the screen.

With that i could deal with a 30Mhz one as that seem's to be what most of them are, and TN panel would be fine as well.

Any suggestions from those who know?
 
If monitoring is text-based, the 50" or the 39" Seiki might be a good choice. They are 30hz, but they are big enough for text at 4k to be fully legible.
 
with the 39 Seiki thought how is the warranty lately? Also is it a crisp screen?

i guess i need to head over to the Seiki thread to see how they are doing..
 
For monitoring, where requirements for refresh rate seem way lower, i'd also go for whatever cheapest and biggest, as for such use 30Hz of HDMI 1.4 should be sufficient. So yes, 39" or 50" (given resolution imho 50" is preferable) seiki. No need to use for monitoring small screens like those Dell/Samsung/Asus ones, and no need to overpay many times for 1st tier vendor 4K TVs.
 
I'm in the same boat. I kind of want to get the 39" Seiki but have heard the lag and/or refresh cause issues even with "work", e.g. mouse delay.

I wish Seiki would wake up and make a 60Hz 39" 4K TV, I'd be willing to pay a few hundred more. 39" seems about the perfect size for a work monitor at 4K, though I'd go as low as 32" probably.
 
Make sure you get a bigger one if that's what you are using it for. Remember that 4k @ 24" is about 200DPI which means that you either enable DPI scaling, meaning you get no extra stuff on the screen or it is so small you'll have to get right up next to it to read anything. At least a 30" probably and that 39" people are suggesting would be even better. At that size, should be nice and readable at desk distances.
 
Another vote for the Seiki 39". I think it's a perfect size for using as a desktop screen.
 
I will be sitting this on my desk like a normal monitor. I had forgotten about scaling..

How well are browsers scaling with this res? i know 3rd party apps in windows have been horrible with scaling...
 
MrGuvernment said:
I will be sitting this on my desk like a normal monitor. I had forgotten about scaling..
Click to expand...

DPI scaling is generally really crappy. You might consider a desk clamp arm. I know you said you don't want it mounted anywhere but a desk clamp arm doesn't require any fancy mounting. It just clamps to your desk as if it were sitting on it with a base stand and attaches to a standardized VESA mount. This allows you to bring your monitor closer to your face rather than getting an absurdly big monitor or utilizing the rather broken DPI scaling function, or the rather ugly zoom features found in many types of software.
 
MrGuvernment said:
I will be sitting this on my desk like a normal monitor. I had forgotten about scaling..

How well are browsers scaling with this res? i know 3rd party apps in windows have been horrible with scaling...
Click to expand...

Scaling is horrible, but you don't need it on a 50" 4k screen. The DPI is more than comfy enough for reading.
 
Another +1 for 39 inch seiki. 50 inch is going to be too big for most for monitor use.

I don't see why you need scaling with 4k @ 39 inches, its barely smaller pixels than 1440p @ 27 inch and those are already pretty darn huge.

My dad has three 39 inch seiki's and I have two. All five have no dead/stuck pixels and have had no issues at all. The oldest one was bought the first day the 39 inch was available.

I also had two of the 50 inch seiki's. Also no stuck/dead pixels on them either. The first one I bought a few days after it was first released (paying $1199) but it sadly was stolen when my house was broken into during Thanks Giving last year and thus I bought another 50 inch to replace it (second one only cost me $650).

Added bonus is it will do 120Hz @ 1080p which means if you still want fluid/good gaming but are ok with it not being 4k then its an excellent compromise to the 30hz @ 4k.

With my firmware the seiki has reduced input lag @ 4k and if you are using linux or Mac OS X then you can have vsync disabled pretty easily making the mouse *way* more responsive than windows. On windows this unfortunately requires disabling aero to get a responsive mouse. The lag is not even really noticable @ 4k desktop with no vsync but the aero vsync really adds to the lag.
 
houkouonchi said:
Another +1 for 39 inch seiki. 50 inch is going to be too big for most for monitor use.

I don't see why you need scaling with 4k @ 39 inches, its barely smaller pixels than 1440p @ 27 inch and those are already pretty darn huge.
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that for many people those pixels are small to read, which is the reason the BenQ 32" 2560x1440 (and other products using the same panel) is attracting so much attention.
Plus, OP said he needs the screen as a monitoring screen, which means it's a tool on which the writing has to be easily readable on a glance, rather than giving time to the eyes to adapt.
And for that purpose the 50" would be a much more comfortable option. ;)
 
+1. Monitoring != gaming or generic work. And DPI of 50" is close to common FHD 24".
 
kache said:
Keep in mind that for many people those pixels are small to read, which is the reason the BenQ 32" 2560x1440 (and other products using the same panel) is attracting so much attention.
Plus, OP said he needs the screen as a monitoring screen, which means it's a tool on which the writing has to be easily readable on a glance, rather than giving time to the eyes to adapt.
And for that purpose the 50" would be a much more comfortable option. ;)
Click to expand...

A 39 inch display is very easily readable on a glance unless you have crappy vision. I have no problems with the same resolution on a 22 inch let alone 39. IMHO you have to have pretty bad vision to have issues with a 39 inch 4k display.

Also a 'monitoring' screen I would think the #1 reason for 4k is increased screen real-estate especially with the way the OP described things in which case increasing fonts/dpi's lowers screen real-estate.
 
houkouonchi said:
A 39 inch display is very easily readable on a glance unless you have crappy vision. I have no problems with the same resolution on a 22 inch let alone 39. IMHO you have to have pretty bad vision to have issues with a 39 inch 4k display.
Click to expand...

I disagree.
I have in house a 27" 1080p, a 24" 1080p, a 21" 1080p and a 17" 1200p screen. Out of all these the only one that doesn't take any adaptation from the eyes for comfortable use is the 27" 1080p. Even the 24" 1080p takes a fraction of a second for the eyes to adapt to.
Now, I have pretty bad vision, despite my age, so I guess I'm not the right benchmark for this, and from asking around it seems most of my friends find themselves comfortable at the DPI of a 24" 1080p screen, which is why I suggested the 50" 4k Seiki, instead of the 55" version.
 
kache said:
I disagree.
I have in house a 27" 1080p, a 24" 1080p, a 21" 1080p and a 17" 1200p screen. Out of all these the only one that doesn't take any adaptation from the eyes for comfortable use is the 27" 1080p. Even the 24" 1080p takes a fraction of a second for the eyes to adapt to.
Now, I have pretty bad vision, despite my age, so I guess I'm not the right benchmark for this, and from asking around it seems most of my friends find themselves comfortable at the DPI of a 24" 1080p screen, which is why I suggested the 50" 4k Seiki, instead of the 55" version.
Click to expand...

Not wearing glasses? My dad only recently started having problems with 96 dpi font sizes on his 22 inch 4k displays due to the focus point being very small even with reading glasses (age 56) but he still could manage ok. He has absolutely 0 issues with the 39 inch seiki and also had 0 issues with the 22 inch 4k display when he first got it when he was under 50.

Even when I had botched lasik and almost 1 diopter of astigmatism correction (like 20/40 vision) I still had no issues with a 39 inch seiki and that is far from prime conditions.
 
I'd like to think I have 20 / 20 vision but that may no longer be the case.

Anyway I tried a Seiki 39" briefly and found it the perfect physical size for the native 3840x2160 resolution. Very easy to read text off of without any need for scaling, however, I only tested it in OS X. In contrast I find the 28" Samsung U28D590D to be legible at its native 3840x2160 but this is really the smallest size serviceable without scaling. I usually switch between modes / resolutions depending on the task.

For what its worth I found the 30Hz refresh on the Seiki to be perfectly serviceable albeit somewhat noticeable. 30Hz on the Samsung U28D590D was surprisingly much smoother then on the Seiki and in fact looked more like 60Hz or perhaps 55Hz.
 
Just noting here i am looking again for the 4k monitors. Most of our tools have visual identifiers,like PRTG / Monitis.com and pingdom which use color coding, while readable text will be useful it will probably be more of a visual thing to see what things are wrong.
 
Guys I need some help, I own a pc with two Titan cards in SLI. I use 3 x 144 hz Asus monitors but wanted to transition to a 4k screen (large tv) or the Samsung U28D590D.

Do you guys know if it's possible to have the middle screen as a 4k screen, and two screens either side are 1080?
Or 3 samsung 4k screens? (I don't think dual Titans can run 3 x 4k screens?)

Or is it better to do away with these 27" or 28" monitors all together and get a larger 4k tv?
To make matters worse, I do have a 4k Tv in the sitting room but have never been able to see any 4k on the tv (Last year's sony XBR900A). The Sony cannot play any USB 4k, and there is no streaming device that can stream 4k.
How about these new Vizio 4k tv's?
 
Google on MHL 3.0. There are some adapters out there, for outputing from mobile gadgets to 4K@30Hz ..
 
You say you are using 2 x seiki Tv's side by side with a pc?
My problem is how to use the display ports out of the Titan cards into the seiki?
The display ports on the titans are 60hz. Hdmi out is only 30hz.
 
USB 4k is placing any 4k content directly on a thumb drive and plugging said thumb drive into TV.
Sony will not ALLOW any 4k content to be played with a USB thumb drive.
Of course when we bought these Tv's we had no clue that this was the case.
THE ONLY WAY to view any 4k content on a Sony tv is to bring your PC to the tv, and plug hdmi out of the video card into the TV.
I have tried a few You tube 4k clips in this way, at 30 hz.
The hdmi output on the GTX titans are only 30hz.
The titans will display 60 hz via the display ports. However tv's do not have a display port input.
 
Titan's HDMI support is only upto 1.4 hdmi specs (though then again so is seiki, as it is 1st gen 4K tv). For 60Hz@4K you need HDMI 2.0, thus never/more expensive TV with said HDMI standart version support & 970 or 980 cards as only ones with HDMI 2.0 for now. On some UHD TVs kepler+ nvidia gpus (titan included) with latest drivers can use gimmickry of using loosy compression via 4:2:0 chroma subsampling to get those 60Hz within HDMI 1.4's bandwith (with non crisp text due compression), but IIRC seiki wasn't among such TVs.It's simple bare bones cheap 1st gen UHD TV, which was nice that imho lowered 4K TV prices by a lot, but still has all the limitations of 1st gen. Only option to get full quality image @60Hz on UHD TVs from your titans is getting much more expensive Panasonic UHD TVs, that are only ones with DP port aswell.
 
Ah, I did not know the Panasonic 4k Tv's had a display port in. I do remember Panasonic coming out with the 4k tv in 2013, but there was a huge problem with vertical lines on the screen.
I think that the new vizio P series are HDMI 2, however they do not have a display port in.
You are correct, the only video cards presently with HDMI 2 is the 980.
Having said this, I do not think I am ready to sell the 2 Titans to buy a 980. I am abandoning the idea of gaming on a TV.
I am focusing on 4k pc monitors, such as the samsung or the Philips. Also i see LG has some pretty sexy wide screens (IPS) , however the 5ms really frightens me for gaming.
I do see LG have a 4k Ips panel, I need to investigate.
Another option would be to wait and do nothing, until all this HDMI mess clears.
Currently I'm using 3 x ASUS VG278HE monitors on the dual titans.
 
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