Answered Budget 4k panel, PC/Gaming use.

junneh

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Hello,

Looking for some buying advice, want to buy a 49 inch 4k screen, going for a budget model. It will be used mostly for simgaming on pc and some movies from time to time.


Im looking at Sony x7000e and Samsung Mu6100, both will cost me about 500 Euros. (US models: Sony x720e, for Samsung I think its MU6300 over in the states. not 100% sure)


Currently leaning towards the Sony (good previous experiences) and it should support 1440p @ 60 hz (according to Rtings, emailed Sony Europe and they had no clue...) (Which will be better with my video card in some games, cant quite push 4k with a gtx1070) (I read online 1440p upscaled will look better then 1080p upscaled.... is this truth?)


However I worry about the Sony's poor contrast and black levels. (and am not totally sure about the 1440p60hz thing, I wont use this resolution as main but I will need to go lower then 4k for some games to get decent frames)


The smarttv platform is not interesting for me, my pc will be hooked up to the screen at all times, plenty smart there.

I went looking in the shop and both looked alright in terms of picture quality for my needs, I thought my decision would become clear by lookint at it irl but that was not the case.


Can anyone recommend me a good budget model? Why the Sony or why the Samsung?


ps: Another option for same price is LG 6300 series but that is worse as fasr as ive read with the rgbw panels etc?
 
Is there a reason you are looking at TVs with IPS panels in general? Wide viewing angles perhaps?

If you want superior picture quality at the front there are better value options at 50" such as models from Samsung, Hisense, Panasonic and Philips.

I would not look at 49" models at all unless you need wider viewing angles.

1440p is not a problem for any TV, whilst no TV will accept that exact resolution from your video card, if your video card is HDMI 2.0 compliant you can always send the TV 2160p and have the card render only at 1440p whilst the card performs the rest of the upscaling itself.

But really I would not worry about 1440p or anything above it unless you view very close to the TV.
 
Thanks for your reply.

In racesim i do sit quite close, to get a max realistic FOV, It will be around 80cm-1meter.

This is also the reason I was looking at IPS. Another reason is my appartement has huge windows everywhere, there is alot of light.

The way you put it, it sounds like VA (mu6100) would be far superior?


About the resolution,
I bought a TCL p6006 before and returned it, it was cheap but there was enormous macroblocking no matter the content/resolution. When trying to feed it 1440p input it would also fall back to 30hz. it did 4k60hz 4:4:4 okay, besides the macroblocking / pixelation in darker scenes (it was unwatachable really)


What model would you recommend? Should I go for VA panel (it will be the mu6100, with the sony these are my 2 cheapest options, Hisense is not commonly available here and input lag seems quite high on most models from what I can find).

From previous experience I also want the upscaling to be good and the motion atleast decent, that and the listed supported 1440p@60hz on rtings for the US X7000 make me want to buy the Sony.

I did not really look at Philips offerings I have to admit. My dad always buys Philips (Dutch, granddad worked there) but it has always been problems with them.
 
I bought a TCL p6006 before and returned it, it was cheap but there was enormous macroblocking no matter the content/resolution. When trying to feed it 1440p input it would also fall back to 30hz. it did 4k60hz 4:4:4 okay, besides the macroblocking / pixelation in darker scenes (it was unwatachable really)
No TV will accept 1440p at 60hz, TVs aren't like computer monitors and have varying resolution/refresh rates they can accept, they only have set defined ones. The TCL will be no different to any TV, in fact I'd wager when rtings.com tested 1440p the TV was displaying 2160p and it was the video card upscaling anyway.

You just need to send 2160p to the TV in the control panel and enable a custom resolution for it to only send 1440p.

What video card do you have because the 30hz restriction sounds like it may only be HDMI 1.4 complaint rather than HDMI 2.0?

Being able to send 1440p directly really isn't any different from sending 2160p and letting the video card scale up.

The models I would suggest are in the best buy guide here: My best value TVs, 2017 Edition

There are 50" models from Hisense, Samsung and Panasonic and they will all give you superior picture quality (blacks, contrast) to the Sony from the front.

Input lag is nothing to worry about nowadays, all TVs have low enough input lag.
 
Thanks again, I did not know this about custom resolution. Will look into it. The video card is 2.0 compliant, since it rendered 4k60hz 4:4:4 without problems on the TCL. Its a GTX1070 so it should be anyway.

I had a look through your guide and I will go for the Samsung then. Im, just worried when sitting close in the simulator the edges will look a bit off color. (my 32" MVA monitor i already experience this abit)
 
Thanks again, I did not know this about custom resolution. Will look into it. The video card is 2.0 compliant, since it rendered 4k60hz 4:4:4 without problems on the TCL. Its a GTX1070 so it should be anyway.

I had a look through your guide and I will go for the Samsung then. Im, just worried when sitting close in the simulator the edges will look a bit off color. (my 32" MVA monitor i already experience this abit)
Indeed if you view more than a 30 degree angle to the side it can be a problem but I don't find it an issue with my 65" with narrow viewing angles even when I am glued to the screen.

However when I move more than 30 degree far away, it looks worse.

Yes, simply if you make a custom resolution in the nvidia control panel you can specify between the resolution you actually send the and the resolution that is rendered.

Like this:
YcdYIL8.png


Although of course that is on my laptop with only FHD display.

And here you choose the scaling you want, so you always send 2160p to the display and can have any lower resolution:
njWCJd1.png
 
So, here I am again.

50 Inch was too big, the screen will only be used for racing then which is a waste. (the mu6100 was good tho, stand could be more sturdy however, screen abit dark aswell, didnt really dive into settings.)

Im now looking at 43inch, so I can use it as main monitor too.

4 options;

LG uj635v (rgbw tho, bad for pc text?) great input lag, monitor level... only 385 euros, worried about SDR brightness and RGBW (rtings test only show 180 cdm in SDR content...
other budget models make 300~... tho LG also does when HDR input... weird. I know HDR is useless for the rest on these budget panels... just seems weird?)

LG uj670v - 438 euros... didnt do my homework yet on this one but I guess its RGBW too?

Sony KD43xe7096 - 500 euros - Seems the best choice, flicker free, alot more expensive tho.

Samsung mu6100/6120 - 450 euros - had this before but the 43 inch will be a lottery wether I get VA or IPS it seems.

Toshiba 43u5663DG - only 300euros!, cant find much info, guess upscale and smarttv will be bad, but those dont really matter for my usecase... Worried bout high inputlag (cant find data)


There is also Philips at this pricerange... with ambilight, pus6262 i believe... but inputlag over 30 ms is too much for me.

Again im leaning to Sony, but am not sure wether price difference is justified...


any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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No VA panels at 43" really so best out of those is probably the Sony.

At 40" TVs like the Panasonic 40EX700 and Samsung 40MU6100/MU6400 are better choices if you want better PQ from a VA panel...maybe higher contrast and blacks aren't important to you compare to 3" more though.
 
I would prefer the 43 inch. It is the perfect size after some measuring, it will be big for a monitor, but deep desk, and already used to 32 inch monitor.



Im pretty set on 43, even if it is IPS, It wont bother me too much, the room is always well lit, and IPS might be nicer for monitor use (color change on edges more prevalent with VA etc).

Watching movies / theatre experience is pretty much my last priority.


Ive eliminated the RGBW panels, it will give problems with PC text, after some more research.

Main question now: Is the Sony worth the 80 euro increase over the MU61 series?
 
It's not really worth the extra no, in fact it has more input lag than the Samsung's...although both TVs input lag should be low enough.

They are equal in specs otherwise.

Btw at least here in the UK there are many variations to that Sony TV. may be the same for you and there may be other variants other than xe7096 cheaper.
 
I've just done a ton of research on something very similar, but only on a very specific range of models...

If you can get your hands on a SAMSUNG UE40MU6470Uyou'd be looking at a 60Hz panel with a response time of 19 ms and a brightness of 400 nits. That's /almost/ the lowest response rate I could get at that size range, but certainly at that price point.

Full spec - 40" Samsung UE40MU6470 - Specifications
 
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Those specs sound really good. Its still in stock here in Holland. Does the 43 have the same panel or is that the one size with IPS/PLS again?


For now ive taken a gamble on LG uj635v. Getting it tomorrow, but can still cancel. 13 ms and reports of 120hz on 1080p aswell. Bit worried about the RGBW tho, but some users on PC forum said they use their with their PC and its not really noticeable
 
The 43" seems to be using a Samsung IPS type panel. 43" VA panels are almost nonexistent in uhd now.

Let us know what you think of the LG, be interesting what you think compared to the 50MU61 Samsung you had before.
 
I can only find the 40" here, I dont think there is a 43" for sale of that Samsung, or not anymore atleast. I came to the same conclusion about the 4k 43" size, everything is IPS it seems.

Wether I will like it, I honestly don't know since I've only had MVA/VA/TN before (monitors and some old tv). All were pretty budget aswell. Maybe I'm in for a surprise with IPS. but, to be fair, the only proper high end TV Ive owned was an old Philips Matchline CRT.

I will post my experience with it for sure.
 
So, I got the LG in and set up.

First impressions: Screen is a bit brighter then Samsung. Out of the box the colors are more lifelike (less saturation) then Samsung. Upscaling seems a tiny bit worse (1080p looks abit softer in video, minimal tho)

When turning the settings up, the colors also seem to "pop" more then on the LG (its weird this, much lower contrast on LG, but, I think anybody will say the same if they see both together)

I cant notice the RGBW, not in video, not in game, even with small text, on PC, was worried about this but its fine really.

Contrast is defintely worse, but its not really noticeable in my bright room.


My panel does not have IPS glow or baclight bleeding, maybe I got lucky.

Motion handling seems about the same, maybe tiny bit less blur on LG (all motion settings off)

oh, and Tizen is nicer then WebOS. Samsung Remote also nicer. Build quality about the same, maybe the Samsung feels abit more sturdy.
Honestly differences are pretty minor here..

For Audio, I use my yamaha setup, so no real detailed stuff here, but the speaker sounds fine for a flatscreen on both models

As a nice bonus in 1080p PC settings the TV can run 120hz natively! Big surprise!

For about 80 euros less then a Samsung 43", for my usecase (pc,games) I would buy the LG everytime.
 
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So, I got the LG in and set up.

First impressions: Screen is a bit brighter then Samsung. Out of the box the colors are more lifelike (less saturation) then Samsung. Upscaling seems a tiny bit worse (1080p looks abit softer in video, minimal tho)

When turning the settings up, the colors also seem to "pop" more then on the LG (its weird this, much lower contrast on LG, but, I think anybody will say the same if they see both together)

I cant notice the RGBW, not in video, not in game, even with small text, on PC, was worried about this but its fine really.

Contrast is defintely worse, but its not really noticeable in my bright room.


My panel does not have IPS glow or baclight bleeding, maybe I got lucky.

Motion handling seems about the same, maybe tiny bit less blur on LG (all motion settings off)

oh, and Tizen is nicer then WebOS. Samsung Remote also nicer. Build quality about the same, maybe the Samsung feels abit more sturdy.
Honestly differences are pretty minor here..

For Audio, I use my yamaha setup, so no real detailed stuff here, but the speaker sounds fine for a flatscreen on both models

As a nice bonus in 1080p PC settings the TV can run 120hz natively! Big surprise!

For about 80 euros less then a Samsung 43", for my usecase (pc,games) I would buy the LG everytime.
Nice! Glad you are happy with the TV and some interesting feedback there. I did not expect the tv to have better colour I have to admit. That is indeed a big bonus...its strange how it can accept a 120hz signal when its a 60hz panel though.
 
Its really strange, but its true 120 hz it seems, can set in desktop and in game, but only for 1080p.

Next to my AOC MVA panel on the desktop now, the screen is a bit darker. Also colors are worse, also darker then supposed to be, not able to improve it with exper settings even... the red abit too, cant get it any better it seems. Its not really a problem but side by side its noticable ;)


IS the Darker colors a limitation of RGBW panel since less rgb pixels?

Edit: ofcourse U will always see when I get the LG the Sony drops by 90 in price... My choice is clear now ;)
 
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