Seiki SE50UY04 3840x2160 50" TV ($1300)

Try shutting off your pc. unplug hdmi cable. go into service menu by pressing menu on your remote followed by 0000 (zero four times) while aiming directly at the seiki logo. go down and select factory reset. redo seikis basic setup. turn on your pc and wait till windows boots up. then reconnect your hdmi cable.
 
Last edited:
Easy like a sunday morning.

there should no need of a factory menu reset to get back 4k. turn off TV, wait until windows recognizes the tv is gone, then turn it on again. if the tv appears at 1080p, it is a software problem inside windows and no amount of factory menu resets would solve it.

Go inside CRU or NVDIA custom resiolution menu, put 4k as first resolution and reset the PC. Forcing a refresh/monitor detection is trickier under NVIDIA but CRU is the almight tool when it comes to resolutions. Using houko's old .inf here still, dont know if new .inf still works OK.
 
Just wanted to verify that houkouonchi's 120Hz firmware does not work with Intel integrated graphics (as expected). The 1080p mode loses 60Hz, and is locked to 30Hz no matter what (Intel graphics does not output at 120Hz over HDMI anyway, so the maximum 1080p profile is 30Hz). This is verified in the HD Graphics Control Panel as well as the device driver settings. I will try to create an override to see what happens if I try forcing 1080p@60Hz via the Intel Custom Resolution Utility.
 
Just wanted to verify that houkouonchi's 120Hz firmware does not work with Intel integrated graphics (as expected). The 1080p mode loses 60Hz, and is locked to 30Hz no matter what (Intel graphics does not output at 120Hz over HDMI anyway, so the maximum 1080p profile is 30Hz). This is verified in the HD Graphics Control Panel as well as the device driver settings. I will try to create an override to see what happens if I try forcing 1080p@60Hz via the Intel Custom Resolution Utility.

Ok thanks for reporting. What about 1280x720 @240Hz? The difference is 1280x720 is a detailed timing in the EDID where 1080p@120Hz is a CEA EDID mode standard. I could try putting detailed timings in for 120Hz@1080p as well.
 
Ok thanks for reporting. What about 1280x720 @240Hz? The difference is 1280x720 is a detailed timing in the EDID where 1080p@120Hz is a CEA EDID mode standard. I could try putting detailed timings in for 120Hz@1080p as well.

Nope, 1280x720 now no longer even appears in the list of supported resolutions in the driver control panel, and in the Windows Resolution setter, it appears but things just go bonkers when it is selected (screen flickers madly until it restores 2160p). I think the Intel drivers just ignore any resolutions over 75Hz regardless of where they're found because they simply don't support anything higher.
 
Nope, 1280x720 now no longer even appears in the list of supported resolutions in the driver control panel, and in the Windows Resolution setter, it appears but things just go bonkers when it is selected (screen flickers madly until it restores 2160p). I think the Intel drivers just ignore any resolutions over 75Hz regardless of where they're found because they simply don't support anything higher.

That would be weird....

well I updated the firmware on my site to include detailed timings for 120Hz now @1080p.
 
That would be weird....

well I updated the firmware on my site to include detailed timings for 120Hz now @1080p.

Could you include the normal 60Hz mode for 1080p as well? It seems our chipsets aren't playing well with the "120Hz only" profile, but it would still benefit folks like us to have a YCbCR-free, reduced-lag-4k custom firmware. ;)
 
Could you include the normal 60Hz mode for 1080p as well? It seems our chipsets aren't playing well with the "120Hz only" profile, but it would still benefit folks like us to have a YCbCR-free, reduced-lag-4k custom firmware. ;)

Yeah. I will make it as a seperate firmware file. Probably going to have to wait until Monday though.
 
Yeah. I will make it as a seperate firmware file. Probably going to have to wait until Monday though.

TYVM for your efforts.

I believe that it will take the work of more than one user until we actually manage to transform this Seiki,engineered as a TV to work properly as a monitor.

I am still pixelfckng the manual calibration while waiting for the Spider4. This time using QuickGamma and messing with the color temp, trying to find which color temp behaves better under sRGB. So far my results made me change from warm and normal color temp to cool, which mitigates the Blue Gamma being too low.
 
Sears is now selling the remaining stock of current Seiki 4K cheap, 50" for $599.88 & the 55" for $599.99. The 39" is $499.99. no delivery, store pickup only.
 
Sears is now selling the remaining stock of current Seiki 4K cheap, 50" for $599.88 & the 55" for $599.99. The 39" is $499.99. no delivery, store pickup only.

From what I've read, you should avoid the 55". The 39" has hit $400 twice in the past few months. Can't speak to the 50" price as I haven't been keeping an eye out for it.
 
Sears is now selling the remaining stock of current Seiki 4K cheap, 50" for $599.88 & the 55" for $599.99. The 39" is $499.99. no delivery, store pickup only.

Is Sears no longer carrying the TV after they sell out?
 
From what I've read, you should avoid the 55". The 39" has hit $400 twice in the past few months. Can't speak to the 50" price as I haven't been keeping an eye out for it.


$599 and $624 are the cheapest ive seen the 50 inch go for so those are good prices IMHO.

IMHO even at the same price I would still go with the 50 inch model over the 55.
 
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I recently updated to windows 8.1 and whenever I chose the 1080p option with 3D it always reverted back to 1080i at 60hz. I managed to get it working with CRU, but now at 120hz I have this weird white "static" around the borders of objects in some images and wallpaper.

Here are my timings:

http://imgur.com/QeyIDW7

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

edit: went into nvidia cp and changed to cvt-reduced and now there's no static. Is this setting safe?
 
Houkouonchi...

I spent some time with your adjusted firmware on OSX with an Nvidia 680gtx.

1080p@120hz does not show as a default resolution available to select. Choosing it from SwitchResX hard locks the OS.

The display is in native RGB mode.

Using the default color profile or Generic RGB seems to preserve colors the best. Although Default color from the display has a green push that can be corrected in the firmware and is easily adjusted in the service menu. Taking red and green: 119 and blue: 128 contrast:49. Brightness:54. Saturation:41.

The display wakes instantly from sleep when in the blue screen. There were delays and flashes in the past. This may be an improvement from the 50" firmware or OSX

Thanks for your efforts.
 
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I recently updated to windows 8.1 and whenever I chose the 1080p option with 3D it always reverted back to 1080i at 60hz. I managed to get it working with CRU, but now at 120hz I have this weird white "static" around the borders of objects in some images and wallpaper.

Here are my timings:

http://imgur.com/QeyIDW7

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

edit: went into nvidia cp and changed to cvt-reduced and now there's no static. Is this setting safe?

If it runs stabily it should be safe. I pretty much am using the timings you were above. I sometimes get a small amount of noise on the edges of stuff to and its not only at 1080p@120hz but also @4k but its very slight and doesn't happen very often for me.

If its working without blanking with cvt-reduced timings I would say go for it.
 
Houkouonchi...

I spent some time with your adjusted firmware on OSX with an Nvidia 680gtx.

1080p@120hz does not show as a default resolution available to select. Choosing it from SwitchResX hard locks the OS.

The display is in native RGB mode.

Using the default color profile or Generic RGB seems to preserve colors the best. Although Default color from the display has a green push that can be corrected in the firmware and is easily adjusted in the service menu. Taking red and green: 119 and blue: 128 contrast:49. Brightness:54. Saturation:41.

The display wakes instantly from sleep when in the blue screen. There were delays and flashes in the past. This may be an improvement from the 50" firmware or OSX

Thanks for your efforts.

When did you download it? I released another one that has 1080p@120Hz in detailed timings instead of just being the CEA HDMI standard which could make a difference. The new one was uploaded at 4:48 PM on feb 23rd (PST).

Or if you do an md5sum if what you have downloaded:

897b445e9a229180bd614cb865cfa5d6 install-02-21-14.img
f12840c57babdc1d22354973410ba439 install.img

Sometime this week I will be releasing another firmware which has the 60Hz modes in it as well.
 
When did you download it? I released another one that has 1080p@120Hz in detailed timings instead of just being the CEA HDMI standard which could make a difference. The new one was uploaded at 4:48 PM on feb 23rd (PST).

Or if you do an md5sum if what you have downloaded:

897b445e9a229180bd614cb865cfa5d6 install-02-21-14.img
f12840c57babdc1d22354973410ba439 install.img

Sometime this week I will be releasing another firmware which has the 60Hz modes in it as well.

I downloaded the firmware this morning. OSX shows 24, 30 and 60hz timing as default for 1080p. All I them do indeed work. At 60hz, the image is cleaner than the original 39" firmware, just not at clear as an image with a clean 2x H & V scale. Clearly image scaling needs more work to be properly dialed in for a clean image. We need access to more than a single register for sharpness. Has anyone been able to keep the settings from the engineering menu persistent?

Back to then is x crash, SwitchResX shows two timings for 120hz. One may be a previous timing that worked on a seiki sourced firmware. When the resolution is selected, the screen turns black.
 
I downloaded the firmware this morning. OSX shows 24, 30 and 60hz timing as default for 1080p. All I them do indeed work. At 60hz, the image is cleaner than the original 39" firmware, just not at clear as an image with a clean 2x H & V scale. Clearly image scaling needs more work to be properly dialed in for a clean image. We need access to more than a single register for sharpness. Has anyone been able to keep the settings from the engineering menu persistent?

Back to then is x crash, SwitchResX shows two timings for 120hz. One may be a previous timing that worked on a seiki sourced firmware. When the resolution is selected, the screen turns black.

Was this over native HDMI? I want to try with the DP -> HDMI adapter to see if that makes a difference. I assume other people have done 120Hz on OS X in general and that the OS does/should support this?
 
Was this over native HDMI? I want to try with the DP -> HDMI adapter to see if that makes a difference. I assume other people have done 120Hz on OS X in general and that the OS does/should support this?

Just tested on the 680GTX, 1080P @ 120 Hz works on the aforementioned adapter. 120Hz over HDMI on the 680 GTX is the issue. Manual 120hz result ions and the one contained within the firmware both work without issue. Thanks for the poke to give it a try. The refresh rate on the display is shown as 120Hz in the OSD and my eyes con confirm it's running well beyond 60Hz. Lets just say, motion is smooth as glass....
 
Just tested on the 680GTX, 1080P @ 120 Hz works on the aforementioned adapter. 120Hz over HDMI on the 680 GTX is the issue. Manual 120hz result ions and the one contained within the firmware both work without issue. Thanks for the poke to give it a try. The refresh rate on the display is shown as 120Hz in the OSD and my eyes con confirm it's running well beyond 60Hz. Lets just say, motion is smooth as glass....

Well that is good to know. It sounds like their driver is still broken then if using a DP adpater makes it work. I know what sucks about using the DP adapter is then the display is slower when switching modes... The good thing about it is it runs at high resolution (for me) when u first power on including the boot loader and including 4k terminal with efifb when I load grub on my macbook as I primarily run linux on my macbook.
 
Well that is good to know. It sounds like their driver is still broken then if using a DP adpater makes it work. I know what sucks about using the DP adapter is then the display is slower when switching modes... The good thing about it is it runs at high resolution (for me) when u first power on including the boot loader and including 4k terminal with efifb when I load grub on my macbook as I primarily run linux on my macbook.

Almost.... Once I set 120Hz 1080P, I can't switch back.. Resolutions no longer are shown for selection in the display preference pane. Changing resolutions in switchResX has no effect except for a failed attempt black screen flash and a failed resolution change.

Rebooting I came up in 640x480. Jumping to HDMI, I was able to restore back to 4k. Hot plugging back into the Active adapter, OS X jumped back to 120Hz and hard locked.
 
Almost.... Once I set 120Hz 1080P, I can't switch back.. Resolutions no longer are shown for selection in the display preference pane. Changing resolutions in switchResX has no effect except for a failed attempt black screen flash and a failed resolution change.

Rebooting I came up in 640x480. Jumping to HDMI, I was able to restore back to 4k. Hot plugging back into the Active adapter, OS X jumped back to 120Hz and hard locked.

OH the glory of using Apple and never facing OS crash/fails.:rolleyes:
 
OH the glory of using Apple and never facing OS crash/fails.:rolleyes:

Hahaha...So true. That's the 1st time I've seen an actual crash on the OS in I can't remember when. :D It's great to run on a system not clogged with anti-virus, anti-maleware that can run for weeks / months at a time without needed into shutdown or reboot. For my professional endeavors, the mac is a great platform for my needs. My heavily upgraded macPro boots in under 15 seconds off of a Samsung XP941 NGFF M.2 SSD, the fastest Flash available that puts any 6G ssd to shame with 880MB/Sec writes and 1200MB/Sec reads :eek: So a one crash testing a modded driver is no biggie.

That said, Windows makes a great entertainment platform. I just wish they didn't bring those damn tiles across to the 360 and the Xbone. I run a my theatre with WMC7 and have PC's dedicated to gaming, development and 3D modeling. This is where I'm used to lockups, BSOD's, sleep works sometimes until it eventually breaks for no good reason. It's been 34 months or so since I ran the Microsloth update last, at last count, I have 46 critical updates I should install.. LOL.

IMO, the 38" Seiki really shines in OSX with HiDPI 1080P in a manner that Windows 7/8 can't be adjusted to support. Like most attempts at MS to copy apple, it s a debauchery of an implementation. Apple's use of High-res textures across the OS, coupled with crisp font rendering on the 3840x2160 is hella easy on the eyes works so much better than the Redmond attempt where too many items are scaled up or just scaled wrong.

Again - thanks to ]H[oukouonch for the efforts he has put forth above and beyond the blokes at Seiki who are still dragging their feet.
 
Last edited:
heh, I honestly hate HiDPI. It seems like a really bad hack and when stuff doesn't support it your just wasting away those pixels. On such a big display (39 inches) I really don't see why anyone would want stuff bigger to begin with. Hell I don't even want things bigger on a 22 inch 4k display let alone 39...
 
That's why I dial the font size to a minimum.

Called seiki today to poke them on the vapor firmware. Was told "within 2 weeks".
 
39" OOS on most sites, are they done making it? Was waiting for it to fall to $399 on Amazon again.
 
39" OOS on most sites, are they done making it? Was waiting for it to fall to $399 on Amazon again.

Considering seiki is not coming out with a new 39 inch model to replace it (no 39 inch seiki pro hdmi 2/60 Hz capable one) I don't think they will stop selling it anytime soon especially when not that long ago it was the #1 selling LED HTV being sold on amazon.
 
Considering seiki is not coming out with a new 39 inch model to replace it (no 39 inch seiki pro hdmi 2/60 Hz capable one) I don't think they will stop selling it anytime soon especially when not that long ago it was the #1 selling LED HTV being sold on amazon.

According to tigerdirect, they have more ordered, but don't know when they are getting there. Amazon wouldn't tell me though, they didn't seem to know.

I'd buy a used one from Amazon if the pricing was more reasonable.
 
According to tigerdirect, they have more ordered, but don't know when they are getting there. Amazon wouldn't tell me though, they didn't seem to know.

I'd buy a used one from Amazon if the pricing was more reasonable.

One could always call seiki and ask. Their number is available on the website. IMO, the price drops after CES appeared to be the clear out of last years model. Opening the channel for the new products in manufacture and ordered in Vegas.
 
I've seen this mentioned in passing before. Do we have any info on what the update is meant to address?

I should have asked. Lol. I've called in the past with a long laundry list of items that needed correction on the 39". It included poor scaling, limited color depth, 120hz 1080p, access to additional image scaler registers for fine tuning the image.

I also Pointed then to this thread as a good source for consumers discussing issues on the display.
 
i would have asked for the removal of features, always an easier task for engineers than modifying or adding one.

-Removing all locks and failsafes on the 31.1Hz limit.
-No scaling other than 1:1; 2:1; 3:1 at 2160p,1080p,720p. Blackboxing of all other resolutions.
-Removing YCbCr from EDID.

On the long run, Seiki could take the work on the 28" monitor they are devoloping and release a monitor-like firmware for the TVs. 24hz+Black frame insertion comes to mind and is probably within the hardware limits on the 39". If i was seiki, i would be selling a DiY kit for these panels with HDMI 2.0 and milk money from the users. I bet people would be willing to fork out half as much money as they payed for the TV on the first place just for HDMI 2.0.
 
i would have asked for the removal of features, always an easier task for engineers than modifying or adding one.

-Removing all locks and failsafes on the 31.1Hz limit.
-No scaling other than 1:1; 2:1; 3:1 at 2160p,1080p,720p. Blackboxing of all other resolutions.
-Removing YCbCr from EDID.

On the long run, Seiki could take the work on the 28" monitor they are devoloping and release a monitor-like firmware for the TVs. 24hz+Black frame insertion comes to mind and is probably within the hardware limits on the 39". If i was seiki, i would be selling a DiY kit for these panels with HDMI 2.0 and milk money from the users. I bet people would be willing to fork out half as much money as they payed for the TV on the first place just for HDMI 2.0.

If somebody came out with a product to run these monitors at 4k 60hz, I would easily pay $300
 
If somebody came out with a product to run these monitors at 4k 60hz, I would easily pay $300

Unless you change the T-con and the motherboard, you will never be able to run 4K@60Hz by both 39" and 50" Seiki.

Why?
T-con: is capable only 4K@30Hz input. It is a hardware feature and you can not do anything about it!
Motherboard: The board needs to be capable of 4K@60Hz input and 4K@60Hz output with out any major modification of the passing video signal (may cause increase of input lag). In other words you need a board with 1 x DP 1.2 and/or 1 x HDMI 2.0 input AND output of 8ch LVDS or 8 lines Vx1 (both capable of handling 4K@60Hz stream).
(In other words given the fact there is currently only one manufacturer bringing the first HDMI 2.0 chip on the market and given the fact there are no graphic cards/peripheral devices with HDMI 2.0 output, HDMI 2.0 simply makes no sense yet and the only viable solution is a motherboard with DP 1.2!!!)

And now my question on you folks: How many of you would be ready:
1. to pay 300 USD for both (T-con and board) to achieve a true 4K@60Hz with 10 bit colors,
2. capable of replacing of both components in the TV by you at home?

I just ask because with 2 other folks we are about to make the above scenario a reality soon...

Sinuhet
 
i would have asked for the removal of features, always an easier task for engineers than modifying or adding one.

-Removing all locks and failsafes on the 31.1Hz limit.
-No scaling other than 1:1; 2:1; 3:1 at 2160p,1080p,720p. Blackboxing of all other resolutions.
-Removing YCbCr from EDID.

On the long run, Seiki could take the work on the 28" monitor they are devoloping and release a monitor-like firmware for the TVs. 24hz+Black frame insertion comes to mind and is probably within the hardware limits on the 39". If i was seiki, i would be selling a DiY kit for these panels with HDMI 2.0 and milk money from the users. I bet people would be willing to fork out half as much money as they payed for the TV on the first place just for HDMI 2.0.

Even if Seiki would start producing some kind of HDMI 2.0 kit where will you get a source of 4K@60 from HDMI 2.0 output??? The first company starting producing a proper HDMI 2.0 chip is Silicone Image announcing it a month ago...
The "HDMI 2.0 solution" in the last Sony and Panasonic TVs is a fake basically applying HDMI 2.0 specification on a chip with HDMI 1.4 bandwidth: basically they are sending 4K@60hz but with color degradation/subsampling of 4:2:0.
 
And now my question on you folks: How many of you would be ready:
1. to pay 300 USD for both (T-con and board) to achieve a true 4K@60Hz with 10 bit colors,
2. capable of replacing of both components in the TV by you at home?


The trick would be doing this in a way that preserves the current 120Hz@1080p, without introducing severe input lag.

I bet a lot of people are willing to do #1. But #2 depends on the equipment required to replace the components.

Anyway, if you've got 4k60Hz tcon and input hardware that interfaces with current boards, roll your own monitor brand. Even if it means buying Seikis at discounted retail, modifying and rebranding them, an opportunity exists right now. Seize it.
 
i wouldn't bet money on a indie company selling DiY that involved soldering, but an assemble/disassemble solution requiring only pliers + screwdrivers.
I was incorrect when i talked about HDMI 2.0. Even a DP solution would have a fair share of adopters. Heck, even a tiled display setup is welcome, just give us more than 30Hz, preferably 48Hz or higher.
 
Back
Top