Using a UHD tv as a computer monitor

N4AB

I just bought a Vizio M43-C1 UHD TV for the house but before using it for TV watching I tried to use it on my radio desktop computer as a monitor. Works fine as in HD (1080) mode however, I can't figure out how to set the computer up to drive the TV monitor to anything except 1920 x 1080 (or lower). Checking the screen resolution on Window 8.1 only shows that 1920 x 1080 is the recommended setting. I am using a HP desktop, I7-4770K quad core with a Nivda GeForce GTX 745 Graphics video card and using a HDMI cable. Do I (or can I) set some thing (hardware or software) on the video card, the computer, the TV or some settings in WIN 8.1. Not much of a modern computer Geek so I need some help. Al, N4AB

George KF2T

I suspect that 1080 will be your maximum real resolution using a TV monitor. Not sure what provisions your computer has for 4k, or if the monitor really supports it.

Jon_KF2E

Al,

Check out this article for some info on what you are trying to do...

http://www.tmproductions.com/50-uhd-tv-as-a-desktop-computer-montior/

Jon...kf2e

K6OZY

I am successfully using a 48" UHD 4K TV as my primary screen in SmartSDR.  I am driving it with a GTX 980M GPU in an Asus gaming laptop.  To drive a 4K TV at 60Hz, the same refresh rate as most monitors, it requires HDMI 2.0.  Make sure your video card can do that.  Any Nvidia GPU 780 or newer supports HDMI 2.0.

It is amazing.  I picked 48" because 4K at 48" is ~ 100PPI.  100PPI is roughly the same PPI as most 1080p 24" or 1440p 27" screens.   This means that I do not have to run any DPI scaling in the OS to make it usable.   It simply looks like 4 24" screens tiled together and is glorious.  

Please be aware that buying any 4K screen is not the answer. Many 4K screens trick consumers by selling a TV that has 4K resolution in the luminance channel but only 1080p in the Chroma (color) channels.   This may be barely noticeable on 4K movie content, but it is extremely noticeable when used as a 4K monitor.   Do avoid this, you must have a video card and a TV that is capable of doing Chroma Subsampling 4:4:4.  The TV I selected was a bit more than some 4K screens, but it has very low input lag and proper 4:4:4 support.  It is the Samsung UN48JU7500.

Samsung TVs have a PC mode to turn off all the horrible processing that makes a screen bad for computer use.   This also reduces the input lag.  This TV has 23ms of input lag in PC mode.  Some TV's are as high as 80-100ms.  This would be unusable as a computer monitor.

Bob G W1GLV

Al, if you right click on the screen you will get a choice for screen resolution. See what that gives you.

N4AB

Bob, I already tried that, but the MAX resolution that is displayed is 1920 x 1080 I need to get the system to recognize that the display is a 3840 x 2160 display. If that is what it really is. Getting help from Vizio is not going well. Thanks for the suggestion. 73 Al, N4AB

EA4GLI

It could be the cable. You either need to use display port or hdmi2 or dvi to go beyond 1080.

EA4GLI

Looks awesome!!

Al K0VM

AL,
  It may also be dependent on your graphics adapter...  Does it support a higher resolution ?
Iniitailly I had the same problem but I was able to go into the Nvidia adapter control panel and add a customized resolution (2560x1440)...  But their warnings included faulty selections MAY cause damage..
YMMV
AL, K0VM

K6OZY

DVI will not do 4K.  You need DisplayPort or HDMI2 to do 4K 60Hz

K6OZY

According to this review:

http://www.rtings.com/reviews/tv/lcd-led/vizio/m-series-2015

The TV is best used on HDMI5 with "Game Low Latency" enabled.

The TV will not do Chroma SubSampling 4:4:4 at 30 or 60 Hz, so this thing will be a blurry mess in 4K on a PC.  This goes to exactly what I was saying above about not all TV's being equal.

Many comments at the bottom say HDMI5 can do 60 Hz, but because its not 4:4:4, colors will be messy.   For those wondering why that is so important, read this article:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/166-lcd-flat-panel-displays/1381724-official-4-4-4-chroma-subsampling-...

Nvidia's website says that video card can only do 4K over Display port:

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-745-oem/specifications

"3840x2160 at 30Hz or 4096x2160 at 24Hz supported over HDMI. 4096x2160 (including 3840x2160) at 60Hz supported over Displayport. Support for 4k tiled MST displays requires 326.19 driver or later."

This means you need a Displayport to HDMI cable.  I cannot guarantee that the cable will support HDMI2 as I have never tried it.   You may have to try it and find out:

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters®-Gold-Plated-DisplayPort/dp/B004C9P9TM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qi...

I hope the helps!

O.S S.O.

To  K6OZY, Elmer:
Confused: first you stated that TV is glorious and we are talking here about TV as monitors. Later you stated that all processing make screen bad for computer use.

So what steps are required in order to make Samsung TV valuable option as computer monitor?
Is it just turning ON PC mode? 

Larry - WA7LZO

To achieve true native UHD support, you may want to use an appropriate high end graphics card, along with a purpose built UHD PC monitor, such as the Samsung 32 inch UHD monitor.

O.S S.O.

Don't you find that icons/text on 32 inch monitor are very small when you work in at least 3440 by 1440 or even 3820 by 2160? The TV set with such native resolution (40 inch) offer 110 PPI and much more comfortable working environment especially for your eyes. I am talking about real PC usage (not games)

K6OZY

You must turn on PC mode and purchase a screen that has 4:4:4 Chroma Subsampling and HDMI 2.0 for 3840x2160 60 hz.  The Samsung I mention above does, most cheaper models do not.

K6OZY

A 32 inch screen is too small to use a UHD display at native DPI scaling.   Most modern OS's perform a DPI scaling technique to make the GUI elements larger.   Unfortunately, that also scales SmartSDR and then you aren't really gaining anything. This is why I picked a 48 Inch screen.  It maintains ~100 PPI that we are used to using on most screens.

K6OZY

I highly recommend this website for quickly calculating PPI for devices that you use.  Then try to purchase additional equipment that is close to the same PPI if you do not wish to use DPI Scaling in the OS (Which I hate in Windows).

https://www.sven.de/dpi/

G

I just bought the same model after spending quite some time online making sure to make the right choice. Your answer was actually taken into account so... Thanks! excellent choice. I'm using my laptop for gaming; do you have any recommendations in regards to the best settings on the TV for computer gaming ? I looked online a lot and cant find anything satisfying. Sharing your settings would be a massive help

Top Dawg

Where do you find the info about Chroma Subsampling for any particular set? Some online stores offer very little in the way of specs.

K6OZY

I'm glad it helped.  I liked the TV so much, I picked up a second 55" version to replace my main screen.  So now I have a 4K UN55JU7500 on the left and the UN48JU7500 on the right.

First thing you must do is change the input name to PC.  To do this, hit source on the remote, highlight the input you are using on your PC, hit the down arrow.  Pick “Edit Device Type” and then set it to PC.  This is crucial as it enables PC mode.

Next go into the normal Menu and enable the following:

System -> Eco Solution , Set everything to Off

Picture: 

Picture mode: standard

Backlight 20

Contrast 100

Brightness 50

Sharpness 50

Picture Size: 16:9

Picture Options: 

Color Tone: Warm1

HDMI Black Level: Auto

HDMI UHD Color: On (select the input being used as a PC)

As long as you are using an HDMI 2.0 connection, hooked up to an nvidia GTX 700 series or newer, you can pick 3840x2160 @ 60Hz.

Enjoy!  I love them.

K6OZY

Robert, I google a ton knowing its a requirement, but I really love AVS Forum and this site:

http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-usage/pc-monitor/best


UHD ( Chroma Subsampling 4:4:4) is listed as a column on this page.

EA4GLI

Great site. This is very valuable information. Thank you Chris.

EA4GLI

This is a great thread if anyone is interested in 4k at the radio shack. I jsut though I would bump it and add some additional info.

I just came across this adapter which is great

http://club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/displayport-12-to-hdmi-20-uhd-active-adapter...

This is a DisplayPort 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 adapter so you can actually use an older video card instead of having to buy one of the new NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti, 960, 970, 980 and TitanZ.

The adapter will do chroma subsampling 4:4:4

I have a NVIDIA GTX 670 that can drive a display up to 4096x2160 only over DisplayPort and with that adapter I can use that card with a 4K TV.