April 14, 2020

A new TV

I recently bought a new TV -- a 4K 43 inch LG with and IPS panel. It is model number UM7300PUA and cost $319. This is reduced $180 from the "normal $499 retail price". One review calls it a "good entry level 4K TV". It is supposed to be "well suited for bright environments" which describes the room it will be used in.

I has a 60 Hz refresh and has a good, but not wide color gamut. It uses an IPS panel.

It replaces a Sony "Bravia" 32 inch that we have had for some time. The Sony is not a smart TV and the Amazon fire stick we use with it has become increasingly flakey -- so rather than dump money into another fire stick, it seems smarter to get a whole new TV, with better resolution and somewhat bigger in size. Apparently 32 inch TVs are not made any more. This unit is (was) a KDL-32EX521. This was a 1920 by 1280 display. This is what they call 1080P. This was from when edge lit LED displays were the hot thing. They are even bold enough to call it a "smart TV", apparently because it would stream Youtube. 50 Hz refresh. The panel is a TFT active matrix. It uses progressive scan.

My son has a Samsung UN50JU6401F that he bought on clearance at Walmart for about $300 and he likes it well. This is a series 6 Samsung, and my other son has advised me to go with a series 8 at all costs -- if I go with Samsung at all. The claim is that Samsung gives oversaturated colors which helps sell the TV's on display side by side in stores, but may or may not serve you well long term. I bought my new LG at Best Buy, and when I asked what they might recommend instead, the recommendation was a series 8 Samsung model UN43TU8000FXZA. This would cost $60 more (about $380) and was said to not perform so well in a bright room. So, I went with the LG.

The TU800 was not a bad recommendation. It has 120 Hz refresh and in game mode does give 4:4:4 chroma and is supposed to have very low input lag. The downside is that it is best suited to a dark room (fine for some people). The off axis performance is bad. The color gamut is limited. It is a VA panel.

Using a TV as a computer monitor

Given that you can get a 43 inch TV for $300 and a 43 inch computer monitor that gives the same 4K resolution for $800, you have to wonder. The general advice is don't fall for it. Another piece of advice is to try a specific monitor and see.

One reason is input lag. This will certainly be an issue for gamers, but the claim is that it may be annoying even when using a mouse with a web browser. Another issue is that chroma compression that works well for images, will be awful for looking at detailed text.

Not recommending using a TV as a computer monitor is not valid as a blanket statement. In the comments to the videos above, one fellow says:
I have the Samsung 6300 that does 4:4:4 4K/60hz with low lag. It's not my primary PC display, but it works great as a monitor.
So, it may boil down to doing careful homework, ensuring that the chroma compression is 4:4:4, and perhaps putting up with a big of input lag (or maybe not).

It takes some searching to find out just what a given TV does with regard to Chroma. My recently purchased LG TV is supposed to be quite good:

They have the same native 60 Hz refresh rate panel, but the UM7300 support more resolutions than the UM6900. The UM7300 supports all of the common 60Hz input formats including 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. It also can display chroma 4:4:4 content properly. On the other hand, the UM6900 only supports most basic formats including 1080p and 4K. But it can also display them with proper 4:4:4 chroma. But even so, the UM6900 doesn’t support 1440p resolution. Meanwhile, discussed about their input lags, they both have outstanding input lags in Game mode and their input lags are almost similar. Regardless of the resolutions, their input lags are around 11 ms. This certainly makes them are very responsive for any games, even for fast paced games that require fast reflexes.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!