Introduction and Specifications
Seiki announced the Seiki Pro 40-in 4K display last year and we have a review ready for you! Is 4K at 40 inches the way to go?
Seiki has spent the past few years making quite the entrance into the display market. Starting with LCD TVs, they seemingly came out of nowhere back in April of 2013 with a 50” 4K display that was available at a very competitive price at that time. Since then, we’ve seen a few more display releases out of Seiki, and they were becoming popular among home theater enthusiasts on a budget and for gamers who wanted a bigger panel in front of them. Last June, Seiki announced a desktop line of 4K monitors. These would not just be repurposed televisions, but ground-up designs intended for desktop professionals and gamers alike. The most eagerly awaited part of this announcement was promised 60 Hz support at 4K resolutions.
Just under a year later, we are happy to bring you a review of the first iteration on this new Seiki Pro lineup:
Those with a good memory will recall that Seiki’s original announcement included HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.3 support. These features did not make it into the display we are reviewing today as the necessary scaler technology has not yet caught up to the demands of the feature set included with this panel. Seiki has promised a future revision of this product line is in the works and will include HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.3. 4K60 *is* possible, but with this model that feature is restricted to the pair of DP 1.2 capable ports.
Specification highlights:
- 3840×2160 @ 60 Hz (DP1.2 ports only)
- 350 nits Brightness / 5000:1 Contrast Ratio
- Inputs: DP 1.2 (x2) / HDMI 1.4 (x2) (one MHL) / DVI-D (x1) / VGA (x1)
- VESA 100 mm x 100 mm
Here is the full spec sheet from Seiki. More details are available at their associated product page:
Nice review!
Out of
Nice review!
Out of curiosity, could you game on this by sending it a signal lower than 4K? 2560×1440 for example. Would the scaler handle that input and would it look really fuzzy?
The productivity aspect looks really appealing, but understandably, the graphics horsepower needed to game at 4K is beyond me right now.
Yeah, you can game at 1080p
Yeah, you can game at 1080p or 2560×1440 and both of those scale really well; they don't look fuzzy, etc. We were really impressed by the scalar in this display.
was it capable of doing over
was it capable of doing over 60hz at 1080p
With custom resolutions,
With custom resolutions, yes.
You are forgetting its main
You are forgetting its main competition!
Philips BDM4065UC 40″ Class 4K Monitor UHD 3840 x2160 Resolution, Speakers, USB Hub, VGA, DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, MHL-HDMI
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-BDM4065UC-Resolution-Speakers-DisplayPort/dp/B00SCX78JS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
Wow- that is a big “almost”
Wow- that is a big “almost” for me. I’ve been thinking more around 35″ to 36″ and HDMI 2.0. I’m with Allyn- the stand is also non-starter- but I assume it has a standard mount?
Regardless, thanks for the look.
VESA 100 from the looks of
VESA 100 from the looks of it.
Why did you not mention
Why did you not mention awesome Philips BDM4065UC in the competition breakdown? That one is even sub-$1000.
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/philips_bdm4065uc.htm
Just no hands on with this
Just no hands on with this one, honestly.
Great review! I’m excited
Great review! I’m excited about 4K at this size. If possible, you should check out this one as well. Its the Korean version, priced at only $600!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMH-A399U-UHD-39-5-3840X2160-16-9-4K-LED-Monitor-60Hz-DP1-2-HDMI2-0-/321724749333?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae84a1615
That looks like a pretty good
That looks like a pretty good panel for the money actually.
Right! Highly considering
Right! Highly considering taking the leap for that one. I’ve enjoyed the 1440p korean montior I have, but this was given such high praise by Wendell from Tek Syndicate and for the price, its on my list!
Unless of course I can win the ones in the giveaway 😉
Teksyndicate makes Pcper look
Teksyndicate makes Pcper look objective and unbiased. At least with Pcper, you know where everyone’s loyalies lie (Josh-ATI, Ryan and Allyn-Nvidia, etc.) and you can keep that in mind when listening, but Teksyndicate will just shill anything they’ve been given, so their opinions are completely worthless.
That said, these monitors do look pretty good. Maybe they will kill those ridiculous ultrawide monitors since they are just as wide but at a more usable aspect ratio.
You will have to pry my 21:9
You will have to pry my 21:9 monitor from cold, dead hands!!
Yeah I plan to get a 4K
Yeah I plan to get a 4K monitor and run games at 21:9 letterboxed. Slightly higher resolution than 3440×1440 and a usable aspect ratio for productivity and video.
Have you been able to find
Have you been able to find anything on this monitor?
Does this monitor do 4:4:4
Does this monitor do 4:4:4 chroma @ 10 bit?
It is straight RGB 10-bit,
It is straight RGB 10-bit, which is generally superior. You can choose 10 bit YCbCr 444.
Is this monitor flicker free,
Is this monitor flicker free, Allyn?
The backlight is PWM, so
The backlight is PWM, so technically yes, but it is fast enough that I did not notice it until I was measuring it.
I would love to view a
I would love to view a webpage in portrait mode with this monitor 🙂
Allyn – Thanks for that great
Allyn – Thanks for that great review!
Typically, how far away were you sitting while using this display?
The typical distance – I did
The typical distance – I did not put it any closer on the desk than the last display that was there. My eyes to the panel range 24-32".
Okay funkydoodle here. Can
Okay funkydoodle here. Can you split the screen with say 3840×1080 to game with and 2x 1920×1080 above or below that to monitor desktop or is it just a 4 way split?
The monitor was nice but it
The monitor was nice but it was WAY too reflective for my taste. A monitor should have an appreciable amount of anti-glare coating.
Allyn, please measure
Allyn, please measure contrast ratio and reevaluate where the monitor stands against IPS one more time.Nothing beats VA panel.
We did not do precise
We did not do precise measurements but the blacks were noticably deeper than a typical IPS panel.
Is there an option to just
Is there an option to just run this at 1080p until I get a computer that can do 4K
Sure, and because the
Sure, and because the monitor’s resolution is exactly 2x 1080p in each dimension, you won’t get any scaling artifacts: each pixel of 1080p can be displayed as a 2×2 box of 4k pixels.
That’s the theory, but often
That’s the theory, but often the on-board scaler doesn’t actually do what you describe…
I haven’t had to much trouble
I haven’t had to much trouble using all digital connections. I have seen some of older and cheaper displays that had absolute terrible scaling with VGA inputs. I had one that didn’t even seem to be able to handle the native resolution properly via VGA, but that was a while ago.
You guys have any experience
You guys have any experience with the new Samsung JU6500 or JU6700 4k tv’s on the market? I thought I heard Allyn allude to Ryan maybe having one at home in a podcast. Wonder how this compares?
Somebody, please send
Somebody, please send reviewing request for this baby to TFT Central, ASAP!
In the past year or so I’ve
In the past year or so I’ve blown through displays: HP ZR30W -> Dell UP3214Q -> ASUS ROG Swift PG278 -> Dell U3415W -> LG 34UC97. Now’ve you got me adding this one to my Amazon cart. Haha.
Well I ended up picking one
Well I ended up picking one up. Arrived today and wouldn’t even power on. No lights or anything. Amazon is shipping another to me via 1 day air but I’m not holding my breath. I tried calling their “support” line… yea… don’t even bother. I didn’t expect much but they still managed to under perform.
There’s an “on” switch on the
There’s an “on” switch on the power brick. It’s set to off by default. There was nothing wrong with the one you had.
i wot win the TV
i wot win the TV
I don’t know if I would like
I don’t know if I would like this. I have a 30 inch display at 2560×1600, and this is almost too big for how close I like to sit. I think I would rather have a smaller size at a much higher pixel density. This display sounds like they just used the same mother panels as 20 inch 1920×1080 displays, but they just cut it 4x larger. This doesn’t get you any higher pixel density. I guess I will have to wait for IGZO displays or something. I actually would like at least a 4k display when I upgrade. A 5k display would be nice.
Thanks for the review. Do you
Thanks for the review. Do you know if the monitor uses PWM or DC for backlight control?
What equipment hardware do
What equipment hardware do you use for calibrating the monitor?
Thanks for your time and all the reviews
Does the panel use Single
Does the panel use Single Stream Transport or Multi Stream Transport scalers ?
I just returned the Phillips
I just returned the Phillips 4k monitor, it was nice but when in windows on a solid color background when you selected a window and drag it around it always had these vertical lines above and below the windows that moved with the window. Even in Photoshop they were there.
Does this 40″ 4k have this same issue?
I only notice this effect
I only notice this effect when I am intentionally trying to cause it, and it only is visible *while* the window is being moved.
HI, did anyone tried this
HI, did anyone tried this monitor in portrait mode (90 degree rotation) Don’t ask me why I need it configured this way 🙂
My question is, did it stay the same 4k 60hz over display port on a mac, I have a macbook pro 15″ mid 2014 and wanted to know an answer for this before purchase.
Thanks in advance,
Hello, how does “text” look
Hello, how does “text” look on this display when doing 4K @ 60Hz?
I’d like to use this as a display for audio production work(Pro Tools HD 10).
Thanks!!
Text is just as sharp as it
Text is just as sharp as it would be on any other LCD, just a tad smaller as this panel ends up with a slightly smaller pixel pitch than most panels. In native 4k mode, there is no aliasing / resizing / blurring of the image at all, so cleartype works properly, etc.