Seiki SE50UY04 3840x2160 50" TV ($1300)

[houkouonchi]

How about 3840x1080 @ 60Hz?

My reasoning is that its firmware may currently be more friendly to horizontal halving rather than vertical halving. In theory, you could do 3840x2160i interlaced (yuck) at 60Hz, but I won't even ask you to try that.

Haven't tried that but I can later today.

I actually tried to do 2160i but it wouldn't let me. Nvidia linux drivers wasn't able to do the scaling or something (it gave me some error in Xorg.log to do interlacing at that resolution).

 

[notarat]

Mine is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow between 12pm - 4pm

Anything of note I should be aware of with this TV? other than checking that the box is undamaged, that is...

 

[traumadisaster]

Mine was supposed to arrive today but looks like it wl be monday now. im intefested in how the upscaler performs on 1080 content. For me dvd upscaling is worth it so if its on that level oc improvement i will be glad. also only have a 580 and will do 1440p for now until i see the new cards next month.

 

[mikeo]

Mine should be arriving Monday too, I have an old 8800 gt for it in my htpc but have read some people have been able to drive it at 4k with older cards using dvi - hdmi cables. Will test that out when I get it.

 

[traumadisaster]

What is it you are wanting to do with yours? Im also hoping to get a bump of a point or 2 on broadcast tv and consoles.

 

[notarat]

I'm on mine now. It's hella sweet.

color is even, just a very little light bleed on the right side (we're talking a $1300 tv, not some home theater marvel of engineering) everything runs at 30Hz fine (FONV, Bioshock were the ones I tested so far)

Unengine Valley...3840x2160 Extreme HD chokes my cards once I reach test 9/18. It runs fine, then all of a sudden, it's like a slideshow, but slower...lol

At 3840x2160 2xAA High settings I score:

Brave (Blu Ray Rip) was frikkin' great, Prometheus looked great. Surfing is fine, too.

I don't think I'm going to connect my U3011 again unless this TV dies in like a day/week, lol.

 

[houkouonchi]

What is it you are wanting to do with yours? Im also hoping to get a bump of a point or 2 on broadcast tv and consoles.

For me its just a computer monitor. it will be nice when 4k video content comes out too but for now its just about getting more desktop real-estate.

 

[l88bastard]

My blood would boil, my skin would bubble, my eyes would bleed, my brain would melt and my hair would fall out if I had to endure a 30hz display for longer than ten secounds

 

[KeggeR]

finally got mine delivered today. Im going to open it up this weekend and take some pics

 

[KeggeR]

has anyone looked at the manual page 9?

it shows an hdmi 1.4 cable split output split to two hdmi inputs?

 

[robmarti25]

I was wondering about the HDMI split. Has anyone bought a splitter and tried to push a 60Hz connection to it? I am not sure what the best resolutions to try and push it? HDMI doesnt give you that how of Hz anyway so you would have to do displayport to HDMI to work?

 

[houkouonchi]

has anyone looked at the manual page 9?

it shows an hdmi 1.4 cable split output split to two hdmi inputs?

I noticed this from watching the first youtube review that was like over an hour long. Had high hopes but nothing I tried works.

I was wondering about the HDMI split. Has anyone bought a splitter and tried to push a 60Hz connection to it? I am not sure what the best resolutions to try and push it? HDMI doesnt give you that how of Hz anyway so you would have to do displayport to HDMI to work?

What kind of splitter? I can't think of any 'splitter' that does what you seem to be implying one might do? Have an example of exactly what kind of hardware your talking about?

Display port -> HDMI adapters that can even do the same bandwidth of HDMI 1.4 (which this TV takes) are not yet being sold so an adapter is not going to help you out with this one.

 

[Mark Rejhon]

For me its just a computer monitor. it will be nice when 4k video content comes out too but for now its just about getting more desktop real-estate.

This actually would seem to be a practical single panel replacement for a multi monitor setup, provided you could live with 30 Hz.

You do actually get more DPI on this 50" HDTV than a 27" 1080p computer monitor! ... That makes this a massive 50" computer monitor, though I'd slide it slightly further back on my desk (~3 feet view distance).

The refresh rate (30Hz) is a killer, though.
But it does 1920x1080p at 120Hz when you need more motion clarity during competitive gameplay rather than slow solo 3D exploring, and has ultra-low input lag when gaming at that. So that's a bonus even if not 4K. Now if we could only get 4K stroboscopic (LightBoost) at 120 Hz. Then that'll replace Vega/l88tbastard setup. Probably not within 5 years, though.

 

[Mr__Death]

I am looking forward to receiving my Seiki, and I'm really not that worried about the 30 Hz limitation. It will be far less noticeable then the bezels I currently have with my three monitor surround setup.

For desktop usage refresh rate is not a huge issue with LCD's; these are not CRT monitors. Back in the day any monitor under 60 Hz would cause eye strain; you really wanted at least 75 Hz.

With NVidia's adaptive Vsync technology the 30 Hz really will not be that bad even in a lot of games. Granted for games with fast movement 60 FPS is definitely preferable. Also a lot has to do with an individuals sensitivity to frame rates. I do wonder at times if the higher frame rate is actually just making stutter less noticeable. The higher the rate, the faster another frame is coming to make up for a flaw in the rendering.

If everything is rendering in perfect synchronization is there really a detectable difference between 60 and 120 FPS ?

The fact that this display is capable of 120 Hz at 1080p will be a nice bonus however

 

[Godmachine]

My blood would boil, my skin would bubble, my eyes would bleed, my brain would melt and my hair would fall out if I had to endure a 30hz display for longer than ten secounds

Pretty much how I feel at the moment. Waiting for the HDMI 2.0 standard to start getting widespread usage then I'll drop some bones for a 4k TV that can do 60hz to my PC.

 

[traumadisaster]

Did you trying a splitter?

 

[notarat]

My blood would boil, my skin would bubble, my eyes would bleed, my brain would melt and my hair would fall out if I had to endure a 30hz display for longer than ten secounds

Pretty much how I feel at the moment. Waiting for the HDMI 2.0 standard to start getting widespread usage then I'll drop some bones for a 4k TV that can do 60hz to my PC.

To each his/her own. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Nothing wrong with that.

I could purchase one of the 32" Sharp 4k2k LCDs for $5k today and have it overnighted, or I could use my Seiki for a year while 4k2k TVs are improved and introduced with far more capabilities than mine currently has. By purchasing the Seiki I'm betting this happens

While I've played games and watched movies on this Seiki, the main reason I got it was the massive increase in screen realestate for productivity apps.

I do a lot of database/spreadsheet integration work which requires me to link multiple tables to multiple spreadsheets, and it's great to have enough room to have 3 large spreadsheets open and Access open while I create the external links to the spreadsheet tabs/cells without having to minimize one spreadsheet to maximize another.

It's also great to be able to surf the net in 1 what-would-be-full-size-window on any other monitor while watching a movie in a window that's larger than a 30" dell LCD (including Bezels) Just for reference, I grabbed a tape measure and checked. My VLC window is 39" Diagonally while having a full size Browser window open.

There is a core of people who either ignore or adopt new tech early.

If they don't adopt the tech, it remains low quantity and expensive, and eventually dies off. If they adopt it in sufficient numbers, it reaches the critical mass necessary for the industry to pour in the resources needed to bring it to the market in vast numbers and at a price point that ensures it's adopted widely, quickly, making profit for the company and satisfying the need of the general public.

Seiki put out a product at a pricepoint that I will pay, so they get my money. You've no doubt seen that HiSens and at least one other mfgr (Sky-somthing) are already introducing a 50" 4k2k TV at the $1500 price point so it seems that the migration to 4k2k will happen sooner rather than later. I bet that in a year, we'll see 60Hz and 120Hz TVs that have either Native Display Port or HDMI 2.0 (or both)

When that happens, I'll spend another $1300 and get one of those, throw my Seiki in the trash, and not think twice about it because I'll still have saved $2400 over purchasing a 32" Sharp for $5k.

 

[Mark Rejhon]

If everything is rendering in perfect synchronization is there really a detectable difference between 60 and 120 FPS ?

Yup.
Perfect sync'd motion still as motion blur. Even if the motion is perfectly smooth, it still contains perceived motion blur caused by the sample-and-hold effect of LCD. Also, long-time gamers have noticed that perfect 60fps@60Hz on a CRT has less motion blur than perfect 120fps@120Hz on a standard LCD. Stroboscopic backlights avoids that, and produces a CRT clear-motion effect. A stroboscopic backlight can bypass persistence as the motion blur limiting factor.

On a 120Hz non-LightBoost, perfect sync'd 120fps is 50% less motion blur than perfect sync'd 60fps. (2x less motion blur)

For 120Hz LightBoost, perfect sync'd 120fps is 85% to 92% less motion blur than perfect sync'd 60fps. (7x to 12x less motion blur)

It's REALLY very noticeable during VSYNC-ON gaming (vsync on allows perfect sync if you can cap out at fps=Hz -- doable on older games -- if you have the GPU power) and especially much, much, much moreso for LightBoost for motion-blur-sensitive people. I prefer fast panning motion that looks as crystal-clear-sharp as stationary images.

 

[mikeo]

I got mine, but my old 8800gt in my htpc can't properly drive it. I can set 3840x2160 in windows and it is detected as a valid monitor resolution but the text is blurry and the tv lists it as 1920x2160. What's weird is that things are still sized as if its running at 4k, but the tiny text looks blurry. Might be time to move my old mini itx sg05 zotac 9300 - q9450 @3ghz box to a sg10 with a ati 7970 ghz

 

[KeggeR]

is anyone else having issues with the input source switching off randomly? Seems like things are working great for about 30 mins, then black screen and it has to autofind the input source again? Thanks

 

[haitian1]

I got mine, but my old 8800gt in my htpc can't properly drive it. I can set 3840x2160 in windows and it is detected as a valid monitor resolution but the text is blurry and the tv lists it as 1920x2160. What's weird is that things are still sized as if its running at 4k, but the tiny text looks blurry. Might be time to move my old mini itx sg05 zotac 9300 - q9450 @3ghz box to a sg10 with a ati 7970 ghz

I had the same problem using a 9600gt sli setup,I fixed this by updating my drivers and using a custom resolution of 3840x2160 30hz in the Nvidia control panel. Hope this helps.

 

[KeggeR]

thanks, I didnt mess with my video card drivers or custom settings or timings. I will give that a go and report back.

 

[mikeo]

I had the same problem using a 9600gt sli setup,I fixed this by updating my drivers and using a custom resolution of 3840x2160 30hz in the Nvidia control panel. Hope this helps.

Did you have to change the timings at all? I have it set to a custom resolution of 3840x2160 in the NVidia control panel with newest drivers (windows display settings list that as well) but google chrome browser resolution detection is showing 2560x1440, supposedly the max my card can support is 2560x1600 according to the NVidia website. If I manually set 2560x1440 though the picture is only displayed in a small box in the middle of the screen.

 

[houkouonchi]

I got mine, but my old 8800gt in my htpc can't properly drive it. I can set 3840x2160 in windows and it is detected as a valid monitor resolution but the text is blurry and the tv lists it as 1920x2160. What's weird is that things are still sized as if its running at 4k, but the tiny text looks blurry. Might be time to move my old mini itx sg05 zotac 9300 - q9450 @3ghz box to a sg10 with a ati 7970 ghz

Sounds like you are using a DVI -> HDMI adapter. That won't work.

DVI goes to dual link DVI (which is kind of like interlacing) which is why you see 1920x2160 instead of 3840x2160 because its outputing to the display in dual link DVI when it should be single TMDS (not dual) via an actual HDMI port.

AFAIK you need atleast a geforce 400 series with an actual HDMI port to run this display.

 

[houkouonchi]

is anyone else having issues with the input source switching off randomly? Seems like things are working great for about 30 mins, then black screen and it has to autofind the input source again? Thanks

Are you using HDMI3? it seems people have had better luck on the other inputs (HDMI1/2). I get it too sometimes but I have only been giving it weird/custom modes and running near the limits of my active DP -> HDMI adapter.

 

[mikeo]

Sounds like you are using a DVI -> HDMI adapter. That won't work.

DVI goes to dual link DVI (which is kind of like interlacing) which is why you see 1920x2160 instead of 3840x2160 because its outputing to the display in dual link DVI when it should be single TMDS (not dual) via an actual HDMI port.

AFAIK you need atleast a geforce 400 series with an actual HDMI port to run this display.

Yeah, I figured my card was too old. Time to get a 7970 for some 4k gaming. I've read the 3gb helps a lot at higher resolutions.

 

[robmarti25]

I was thinking of getting this as a monitor but I am hoping someone finds a way to push 60Hz to it. Above someone got the 1920 by 2160 resolution. Was that at 60Hz? If that was, I wonder if we can somehow go to the second HDMI with the same resolution and make it show both as a dual monitor. I no it isnt perfect but still better than bezels. People have tried though and see no way of getting the monitor to use 2 inputs at once. I will keep a close eye. May have to wait another year before seeing a decent priced 4K60Hz monitor.

 

[Xinmosni]

May have to wait another year before seeing a decent priced 4K60Hz monitor.

Another year?

Try 5+ years, based on how long the 30" 2560x1600 IPS price gouging bullshit went on (and continues to this day).

I think you meant HDTV, not monitor (which is what this Seiki is -- an HDTV).

 

[Redshirt #24]

Theoretically, the current DisplayPort standard allows for 4K@60Hz, but nothing appears to be able to actually handle that. And, obviously, you won't get 50" HDTVs with DP connectors in the first place (okay, there might be some crazy Chinese manufacturer that will do one, but it'll almost certainly never see the light of day in this hemisphere). On the HDTV side, you'll be waiting for the next revision of HDMI for this....and that means new display devices as well, since nothing right now with an HDMI port can do above 4K@30Hz...

(Hmm. This is why I should get into bitcoining.)

 

[Mark Rejhon]

Theoretically, the current DisplayPort standard allows for 4K@60Hz, but nothing appears to be able to actually handle that. And, obviously, you won't get 50" HDTVs with DP connectors in the first place (okay, there might be some crazy Chinese manufacturer that will do one, but it'll almost certainly never see the light of day in this hemisphere). On the HDTV side, you'll be waiting for the next revision of HDMI for this....and that means new display devices as well, since nothing right now with an HDMI port can do above 4K@30Hz...

(Hmm. This is why I should get into bitcoining.)

At $1500, it's cheap enough that you could hire a different chinese manufacturer to create an alternate motherboard for this SEIKI 4K HDTV, that does 4K 60Hz via two links. Wonder if SEIKI would do them, and how much a small run of 100 motherboards would cost.

 

[Godmachine]

At $1500, it's cheap enough that you could hire a different chinese manufacturer to create an alternate motherboard for this SEIKI 4K HDTV, that does 4K 60Hz via two links. Wonder if SEIKI would do them, and how much a small run of 100 motherboards would cost.

Only one way to find out...

Get started Mark!

 

[Robertmarcus]

At $1500, it's cheap enough that you could hire a different chinese manufacturer to create an alternate motherboard for this SEIKI 4K HDTV, that does 4K 60Hz via two links. Wonder if SEIKI would do them, and how much a small run of 100 motherboards would cost.

i think you would need more like 1000+ units to make it cost effective. You could look on alibaba for mobo's that would do it. They have tons from every manufacturer in China and Asia

 

[Murzilka]

Theoretically, the current DisplayPort standard allows for 4K@60Hz, but nothing appears to be able to actually handle that. And, obviously, you won't get 50" HDTVs with DP connectors in the first place (okay, there might be some crazy Chinese manufacturer that will do one, but it'll almost certainly never see the light of day in this hemisphere). On the HDTV side, you'll be waiting for the next revision of HDMI for this....and that means new display devices as well, since nothing right now with an HDMI port can do above 4K@30Hz...

(Hmm. This is why I should get into bitcoining.)

There may be some PC monitors made with DP connection that allows for 4k 60hz...

 

[l88bastard]

I can see your concern. If "my" girlfriend's last name was .jpg I'd want a 60Hz refresh too.

Uh oh looks like we got ourselves a super cool pussy pounding internet tough guy man of mystery on our hands. Do us all a favor and go buy a personality you stud muffin!

 

[notarat]

has anyone heard of splitting dual hdmi sources via dp and using split screen to combine them? I doubt the set has the built in functionality but until I get my 4k from tigerdirect I cannot give it a go. It would allow for 60hz refresh rate though.
snip

I ran the Refresh rate Multi-tool on this display and---snip---

I was wondering about the HDMI split. Has anyone bought a splitter and tried to push a 60Hz connection to it? ---snip---

At $1500, it's cheap enough that you could hire a different chinese manufacturer to create an alternate motherboard for this SEIKI 4K HDTV, that does 4K 60Hz via two links. Wonder if SEIKI would do them, and how much a small run of 100 motherboards would cost.

I know Mark mentioned a batch of 100, but I can probably swing 50 myself so I emailed Seiki Digital to inquire what a run of 150 motherboards would cost that enable a second HDMI connection to raise the refresh to 60Hz at 3840x2160.

SO....how many of you are interested? and what would you pay for one?

 

[Xinmosni]

Why not just Displayport instead of 2x HDMI?

 

[mikeo]

I know Mark mentioned a batch of 100, but I can probably swing 50 myself so I emailed Seiki Digital to inquire what a run of 150 motherboards would cost that enable a second HDMI connection to raise the refresh to 60Hz at 3840x2160.

SO....how many of you are interested? and what would you pay for one?

Maybe there will be a firmware update that adds 60hz over two hdmi ports, they do have that Y hdmi splitter diagram in the manual.

 

[Tom the MacUser]

I know Mark mentioned a batch of 100, but I can probably swing 50 myself so I emailed Seiki Digital to inquire what a run of 150 motherboards would cost that enable a second HDMI connection to raise the refresh to 60Hz at 3840x2160.

SO....how many of you are interested? and what would you pay for one?

This seems to be premature. Have we confirmed that a firmware mod would not be sufficient? Chances are that no HW mod will be necessary.

I couldn't find the firmware binary online. If you could get the firmware binary from Seiki, I and other developers could attempt to mod it.

 

[sharknice]

It would be nice if you could do 4x dual-dvi and have 4k 120hz. I would instabuy a display that did that.

 

[traumadisaster]

I got mine in this week and haven't been able to get my gtx 580 to give an option to put the TV in 1440p. It says the recommended resolution is 1280x720. I tried a custom reso but it didn't work. I tried new HDMI cables and the dvi port. Tried it on a friends rig with a 560ti sli and same thing. I tried using different HDMI ports too.

As far as blue ray up converting there is minimal improvement with what I assume is auto upscalling to 4k. It took side by side comparison to spot the difference.the TV itself is fair for viewing br and uverse. About as good as my 3 yr old plasma, minimal light bleeding, pretty uniform light distribution. Not as good as the perfect 2013 plasmas obviously.

If I can't figure out the 580 issue gonna be forced into a 780 of titan I guess. I really just wanted to do 1440 gaming on a 50 inch at 30 fps for awhile until the 60hzcome out and then give this to my wife.