What are drawbacks using 4K TV instead of monitor?

TimPhilippines wrote on 8/3/2015, 11:54 AM
What are the main drawbacks to buying a 49" 4K TV instead of a monitor for editing on Vegas Pro 13?

I like the Sony KD-49X8500B. It's has the beautiful Triluminous display. I can reduce the size Vegas 13 or any browser on the screen if anything would be too big.

Don't own any 4K equipment yet except for my Samsung Note 3 but undoubtedly will.

I currently use an HP x2301 with just the HDMI since none of my 3 computers have DVI and want something bigger. Also, all of my TV watching here in the Philippines is through a computer with Slingbox. Seems like any easy decision for $1,500.00 for a few years until good inexpensive 4K monitors are available & then I'd still own the TV. Also my chair is on wheels so I can easily adjust viewing distance.

Comments

astar wrote on 8/4/2015, 5:19 AM
Some TVs do not support computer displays with out a crop, they cropped the display with bezel or "overscanned" such that edges of desktop would not show. This is not likely a big of problem as it was in the past. Make sure to verify that a PC HDMI signal displays as you would like.


I think this is the other main problem with low cost 4K tvs as monitors:

KD-49X8500B - 3840x2160/60p (YCbCr4:2:0 8bit) over HDMI 2.0
4096x2160 will scaled to fit this display.
Triluminous backlight is a great idea to improve color saturation from the panel, but 10-bit color is what you are looking for with 4K displays.

Dell Ultra 5k - 5120x2880/60p Hz
Color Gamut (typical): Adobe RGB 99%, sRGB 100%
1.074 Billion colors (True 10 Bits)
Dual Display port support = higher bandwidth to support 10bit at 60p


JohnnyRoy wrote on 8/4/2015, 6:42 AM
The problem with TV's is that the manufacturers alter the output in an effort to look better than their competitors and get you to buy them. Each one has a different name for their technique to get "brighter whites" and "blacker blacks" and "sharper pictures" and "more vivid color" but whatever they are doing, they are not showing you the true image. That's why you want to use a reference monitor that doesn't alter the image in any way.

None of the HD TV's in my house look the same. The Toshiba upstairs looks very dark no matter how I adjust it while the Sony downstairs seems to look a bit washed out but the cheap Vizio looks very nice and bright. Which would you trust to color correct? Have you ever walked into a TV store and seen all of the TV's playing on the wall and noticed that each one looks different? How could you possibly trust a TV to adjust your video? This is why you buy a reference monitor because the don't try to make the picture "look better" they just show you what is really there.

I would use a TV as a reference of what your customer might see but I wouldn't color correct on it.

~jr