Other than having to take a
oliverredfoxOther than having to take a hour and half off to watch the 50th Doctor Who special, I’d mucked around with the TV a bunch today. My take is at 39″, for a normal viewing distance, a 1080p set will get you the same viewable results at couch/bed distances. Up close, the few 4k videos I checked out looked really stunning with some incredible details. It makes me want a 4k projector ,to replace my current one, once content comes out (but that gets run at ~130″ and the details will be noticible from a distance). The PQ on the set after a few tweaks to settings was good, not as stunning as my old plasma, but more than acceptable.
For my main use of productivity, it works really well. Going from 3x 1080p monitors to a single 4k is sweet for photo editing. It’s a little awkward with multiple windows open since I liked having my side monitors at slight angles to make it easier for viewing. I like being able to set up 3 windows effectively in portrait mode or 4 windows in landscape without having to rotate screens based off what I’m doing.
For gaming, I found the extra pixels for detail really nice. The 30hz cap might really bother some people though and I’d probably prefer 60hz from HDMI 2.0 or Display Port. My video card could barely push over 30 FPS, so it might be a while until that’s plausible for people to run without expensive rigs.
Overall, I’d say, it’s worth it as a replacement for a multi-monitor desktop system, but I think it’s of limited use for HTPC usage right now. By the time Netflix and others start pushing 4k videos out, I expect Seiki (or another company) to have a newer set in the same price range with HDMI 2.0 or Display Port. And I really think that the larger screen sizes or projectors is where the extra resolution will shine. I could see getting a 55″+ set in the next year, but I’d want passive 3d (I think it’d hide the interlacing lines at this res) and something better than the 30hz HDMI limit.