43" Samsung 4k TV as a monitor

Norm - W7CK

I'm thinking of picking up a 43" Samsung 4k TV and using it as a monitor.  Looking at some of the reviews, folks are claiming it is a wonderful TV and also works well for gaming.  I'm wondering if anyone here on the Flex Community has done this and if so, what were the results?  Especially for SmartSDR and some of the other apps like FRStack, SRD DM780, DDUTIL etc.  I currently have two 27" ASUS monitors, but one of them is giving me fits and may be on its way out.  My video card, an AMD Radion HD 7800 series, is rated for 4k but I haven't had the opportunity to use it with a 4k monitor or TV yet.  I'm not sure if I could continue to use one of my 27" monitors as a 2nd display if using a 4k as the primary. 

Anyone have any experience, suggestions or comments?

 

G4YDO

i have 2 benq 4k 32in monitors they work very well.

Lewis Cheek

I used a 39 inch 4k for a while, but found font size too small for my old eyes. Increasing font size would have resulted in less overall space on monitor. I ended up going back to dual 24 inch monitors.

Lew
N4CO

Bill W2PKY

I like the 4K monitor; Smart SDR, 4 instances of JT65, DAX, Profile manager plus a browser fits fine. Using the Dell 28" model. Find mousing across screens annoying so prefer everything directly in front of my operation position.

KM6CQ - Dan

Hi Bill,
you may have already used this feature but if not,
1. select mouse on your control panel.
2. select pointer options TAB
3 enable "Show location of pointer when I press CTRL key"

This helps a lot but it's not the cat's meow. 
Mac handles this by shaking the mouse and the pointer get much larger, still not great.

Dan

Jim Gilliam

Don't know if this is out of realm of this thread but have been using any TV for quite a while using the Flex wirelessly. If anyone has a Apple TV it makes a wonderful medium to talk between the client be it a computer or Apple device. With a portable client like a computer there is  a program called AirParrot that links the Flex to the TV. With the Apple device you just use AirPlay.

Jim, K6QE

Bill W2PKY

Hi Dan- Yes have that option enabled. Was referring to mousing to the other monitor where you have to be in a certain area [on the edge] of the current monitor in order to move into the other monitor. Sometimes run out of table space to get to the application on the other monitor. Seems a lot easier if everything is directly in front.

EA4GLI

The HD 7800 will run the 4K monitor but it won´t do that well with gaming. I think you would be very hard press to use a 4k and an HD monitor out of that card. However, you can easily add a USB Video Card to run the 27 inch monitor. Something like this http://www.amazon.com/Ideashop%C2%AE-Quality-Adapter-Converter-Laptop/dp/B010S09TPI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&...
It´s the first one that pop in an amazon search. I wouldn't necessarily get that one.

Jerry W4UK

I use a seiki 39" 4K here. Just like having a quad array of 19.5" ones. There are some demos of it on the net.

Details at http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8430969

I use a Radeon xfx r7 240 video card with it. It supports two monitors and I am running a 1080 monitor simultaneously with the 4k.

Love it. I will never go back to a puny 1920x1080 as my main monitor.

Jerry

EA4GLI

just having a 1920x1200 instead of a 1920x1080 already makes a big difference. I can't wait to setup a 4k as my main monitor. Can't get them in Barbados yet.

Reg

I'm using a pair of ASUS PB-287Q 28" 4K monitors with complete satisfaction.  I was previously using 24" Dell UltraBright 1920x1080 monitors: first 2, then 3, then 4.  Focus was a big problem because of the large area both vertically and horizontally.  The pair of 28" 4K monitors contain the same pixel detail as 8 of my previous monitors.  I had a pair of reading glasses made for use use with the monitors.  I measured the distance from my eyes to the surface of the monitor and my opthamologist wrote a prescription that works great.  I can see the small font just fine and the scan area is manageable.

Reg

EA4GLI

If you have win8 and above you can increase the DPI to something like 250 for bigger icons and make it more readable

Norm - W7CK

Jerry,
If I'm not mistaken, my 7800 series card has the same HDMI 1.4 port as yours and it only supports 30 fps at 4k.  Is this what your experiencing and if so, do suffer from the low frame rate?   I know gaming wouldn't do very well at 30 fps, but I'm not sure about all of the other every day tasks and SmartSDR.
Norm

Norm - W7CK

This Samsung TV appears to have HDMI inputs only.  I have not been able to find out if they are HDMI 2.0 or not though.  I'm guessing they are since it is a 4k TV and the HDMI ports are the only inputs available.

My video card has HDMI 1.4 which is limited to 30 fps but it also has DisplayPort 1.2 which is 4k at 60 fps.   I've have found a few converters that go from DisplayPort 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 and they are very reasonably priced.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff?

If I'm NOT able to convert to HDMI 2.0, I'll be stuck with 30 fps.  Is anyone using 4k monitor or tv and driving it with HDMI 1.4 at 30 fps?   I'd like to hear some reports as to how well it does.

Bill W2PKY

I have a Dell 28" 4K 30 fps. Displays panadapters just fine even at the fastest display fps and lowest average settings. Not a hint of smearing on anything. Using DVI to HDMI converter blocks on the display card.

EA4GLI

30 fps is the highest refresh for SmartSDR so it should work fine. As long as you don't want to play fast paced games you should have a beautiful screen.

Jerry W4UK

The Seiki monitor is limited to 30 fps at 4k. I don't know if the video card is limited to 30.

I use the 4k monitor daily for email/google/news, and never think about the 30/60 difference unless somebody asks me. I don't play video action games. I have excellent resolution and speed with the SSDR panadaptors.

Repeating myself: I will never go back to a puny 1920x1080 as my main monitor.

Jerry W4UK

Norm - W7CK

I'm sorry if it seems I'm belaboring this topic, but can a couple of you post a couple pictures of what SmartSDR and a few other ham related apps looks like on a 4k monitor?

If SmartSDR is in one of the 4 corners of the screen (1/4 of the screen) do you see all of SmartSDR?  Does it scale nicely?   How about other apps like DDUtil, Digital Master, Logbook, etc.

Any screenshots would really be nice.

Thanks folks.

EA4GLI

The search feature is your friend!

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/using-a-uhd-tv-as-a-computer-monitor

K6OZY posted some nice pictures in that thread.

Talon

At some point you may want to try a single 4k monitor again at a bigger size (48" is very close to the same font size as my old 24" 1920x1200 monitor) but get a curved screen. Of course this is not cheap right now, my 48" Samsung was on sale for $1,200. IMO, curved screens are only useful when there is only one person using the screen which is exactly the case when used as a computer monitor.