Using a 4K TV as a Desktop Monitor

[Julio Franco]

I had toyed with the idea of using a TV as a monitor on a couple of different occasions in the past decade with no success, but with the advent of affordable 4K sets using a TV as a desktop monitor is finally feasible. Here's my experience during the past few months.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1439-using-4k-tv-as-desktop-pc-monitor/

 

[asclepius]

Great read. This is exactly the sort of thing that makes me keep coming back to TechSpot; not the copied-over-verbatim articles from Kotaku and Who-Knows-Where on Digital Transformation and whatnot.

 

[MarkHughes]

Great stuff, I have long been pondering the idea of using a TV for my work, I guess things have progressed to the point where it is viable now with 4K. I guess the lines between TV and Monitor will eventually blur to insignificance.

 

[Jyrkz]

What about Input lag??

 

[Greg S]

What about Input lag??

If you aren't gaming, it won't matter in my opinion. Most 4k tvs now have pseudo 240Hz appearance so as long as you don't need extremely low input lag, you won't notice it.

 

[merikafyeah]

Burn-in huh? Interesting. I thought those days were behind us but I guess not. The more things change the more things stay the same lol.

 

[ViPeRMiMiS]

But... everything is so SMALL, can you see anything? The letters? I am using a 32inch tv (1080p!) and need to zoom say to +200% on chrome, and I am using the Magnifier (+200% too) to see the letters and stuff and no I don't have eye problems! I am like 2 meters away from the tv that's why probably (if I get even to 1meter my eyes hurt), so on a 40 inch how far do you sit from the tv? Don't your eyes hurt if you are close ?

 

[Todd G]

What range of viewing would you consider comfortable for a 40" screen on a desk? What was your final viewing distance?

 

[Forebode]

Could you post timelines? I ask because, there have been several articles like this in the past that start out stating how great it is... but once the initial love is over, many return to Monitors (could be related to eyesight as well). Please have a revisit after 2 months of use.

It seems much of the viewing public avoid corrective lenses and thus can't see the difference between 720p and 4k. Similarly to those who can't see the difference between 30 to 60 to 120(144)hz.

 

[Arkkelliss]

Great stuff, I have long been pondering the idea of using a TV for my work, I guess things have progressed to the point where it is viable now with 4K. I guess the lines between TV and Monitor will eventually blur to insignificance.

If you are doing color sensitive work like photography or video editing TV's dont support digital color spaces like sRGB/AdobeRGB.

 

[Nero7]

But... everything is so SMALL, can you see anything? The letters? I am using a 32inch tv (1080p!) and need to zoom say to +200% on chrome, and I am using the Magnifier (+200% too) to see the letters and stuff and no I don't have eye problems! I am like 2 meters away from the tv that's why probably (if I get even to 1meter my eyes hurt), so on a 40 inch how far do you sit from the tv? Don't your eyes hurt if you are close ?

Windows has a zoom function. I am using it and it works well.

 

[Nero7]

What about Response Time?

 

[seeprime]

This was an excellent read. Thanks.

 

[tr0n09]

I've been using the AMH 399a for a while now. Its a 4K 40" 4:4:4 screen. I switch between this screen at my main office and a dual monitor setup at my other satellite office on a regular basis. Over time I've come to prefer the separate monitors more. I tend to find that the corners of the larger screen are harder to read because of the flat screen creates sharp viewing angles . I wonder if a curved screen would help alleviate the distortion I notice. The colors tend to shift at the corners too. When using the multiple monitor setup, I'm always tilting in the screens to face me more directly. One other benefit is the ability to compartmentalize my work in a screen. I work mostly on word documents, emails, and excel for project management. There's never really a need to expand a page to the full 40" screen.

 

[Adhmuz]

40" is a little big, 28" works just fine at 4k for me, also leaves room for two additional monitors clamped to my desk. Some font can be a little small at times but for the most part it works really well, but what comes in real handy is being able to watch a movie/show on my 24" 1080p, game on my 28" 4k and have chat and other accessory windows on a 19" in portrait orientation. I thought about the idea of getting a larger single 4k TV instead, but limiting factors being desk space and not wanting to loose my two auxiliary screens made it easy to make up my mind. The big 4k is going to be saved for the living room one of these days.

 

[Reehahs]

My biggest concern has always been the potato quality of text that HDTV's display. I didn't think of the 4:4:4 uncompressed thing.

 

[Julio Franco]

Could you post timelines? I ask because, there have been several articles like this in the past that start out stating how great it is... but once the initial love is over, many return to Monitors (could be related to eyesight as well). Please have a revisit after 2 months of use.

I'll let Shawn respond in more detail later, but I know for a fact that he's been using the TV for at least 8 months.

 

[12kb34]

I use a 65" curved 4k samsung tv for my primary monitor now....runs 4k at 60hz ..my rx480 dont run to many 4k games over 60fps at max settings anyways so it works out good mostly play at 1440p ...I love the extra space!
I dont notice input lag ...but I dont play fps competitively anymore just for fun ..mostly open world games witch works great for!

 

[12kb34]

But... everything is so SMALL, can you see anything? The letters? I am using a 32inch tv (1080p!) and need to zoom say to +200% on chrome, and I am using the Magnifier (+200% too) to see the letters and stuff and no I don't have eye problems! I am like 2 meters away from the tv that's why probably (if I get even to 1meter my eyes hurt), so on a 40 inch how far do you sit from the tv? Don't your eyes hurt if you are close ?

Windows scales everything up right...as do most games...sometimes the in game chats can be small at 4k ..

 

[i3kingwizardop]

I've been using a Samsung 50" Ju7100 for over a year now, and have loved every minute of it. Awesome for photo and video editing!

 

[Shawn Knight]

But... everything is so SMALL, can you see anything? The letters? I am using a 32inch tv (1080p!) and need to zoom say to +200% on chrome, and I am using the Magnifier (+200% too) to see the letters and stuff and no I don't have eye problems! I am like 2 meters away from the tv that's why probably (if I get even to 1meter my eyes hurt), so on a 40 inch how far do you sit from the tv? Don't your eyes hurt if you are close ?

Just measured and I sit on average around 28 inches away from the screen. I could probably scoot back another foot or so and comfortably use the monitor at native resolution. My eyesight is pretty decent and no, I've had no issues with eye strain.

 

[Shawn Knight]

Could you post timelines? I ask because, there have been several articles like this in the past that start out stating how great it is... but once the initial love is over, many return to Monitors (could be related to eyesight as well). Please have a revisit after 2 months of use.

It seems much of the viewing public avoid corrective lenses and thus can't see the difference between 720p and 4k. Similarly to those who can't see the difference between 30 to 60 to 120(144)hz.

Hey, I've been using the Samsung for close to a year now (wow, how time flies!). Purchased at the end of September 2016. No intent on reverting back - I'm 100% sold.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

I've been looking at this myself... now is the time to start considering it for sure. I've tried smaller 4K monitors and at native resolution things are just too tiny. Windows 10 scaling still doesn't work great in my opinion so I'll have to stick to about a 40" or larger. I do use a 40" 1080p TV at home for my monitor and am happy with it but sometimes it feels a bit overpowering. Plus I really would like to enjoy the extra space 4K gives you. My next computer upgrade may include a 40" 4K TV...

 

[copasetic]

Is this the smallest true 4K you can find? I realize bigger is usually better, but I keep looking and hoping for a 32," and now a 32" with the 4:4:4 Chroma you mentioned. All I can currently find is 2K4K. Maybe there is just no market for them...

 

[Jeff Schmidt]

Bigger displays are very nice to use. Since the writer didn't want games I think he got a good tv/display for the price. But a lot of us use there computers for gaming. And looking into Korean panels is a huge money saver. I've owned two 27" Achieva Shimians. Which are 1440p monitors that cost around $300 when comparable Asus/Lg/Samsung etc where close to $1000.

I know own a Crossover 324k, which is a 32" 4k monitor similar to a Dell 32" one. I got for $440 when the Dell was around $1200. I know a few people who got different brand 40" 4k korean panels and love them since they saved a fortune and can play games with very little input lag. Ebay has some good deals. Plus they always come in 2-3 days from Korea which is insanely quick.