39 inch Seiki SE39UY04-1 4K LED TV via Amazon
Seiki SE39UY04-1 is the new 2014 model 39 inch 4K Ultra HD TV with the most reasonable price on the market- it is the recently updated version of the 2013 model SE39UY04 (without the -1 at the end) with minor changes. 4K means four times the resolution of 1080p and 8 million individual pixels (3840 x 2160 resolution) for super clarity and vibrant colours. It comes with the 120Hz refresh rate and 6.5ms response time for reduced motion-blur during fast moving things (but no smoothing effect) and 16:09 image aspect ratio.
Seiki SE39UY04 -1 has a minimalist design with very thin bezels and a standard stand that doesn’t swivel- when you think of it as a PC or Mac monitor but the stand is attached differently in the 2014 model and kind of better. It comes with a standard remote with sensor and power light on the left and with many buttons- some for navigating USB photos and music (improved remote layout in the newer model). It has a good range of connectivity inputs, including 3 HDMI ports, a VGA port, 2 x USB slots that can handle JPEG pictures and MP3 Audio only, Component, Composite, 3.5mm Audio- in, 3.5mm Headphone-out, Digital Coaxial Output, RCA input and RCA output (the optical output is replaced with the RF SPDIF output in the new model). It is mountable on a wall with the 200mm x 200mm VESA standard.
If you connect this TV to a computer, you will experience the added benefit of 4K more- there is not much 4K content out there yet but with a 4K upscaling HDMI cable you get pretty good results. And hard core gamers will be pleased with this TV with sharp and clear image quality despite the 30Hz refresh rate at 4K, the black levels are a bit light and scaling is softer though. It offers very nice sharp picture- no dead pixels or light bleeding with great vivid colours and upscaling seems to be quite OK- some things are better upscaled than others. When you’re using it as a computer monitor, the text is extremely clear but small. With things shrunk down everything will fit in, it stretches the picture to fill the gap, it is really clear but may be hard to read.
The low price is the most attractive feature of this Seiki, 4K offers amazingly sharp and clear image and you see the finest details very well and we like the variety and the number of inputs and outputs. On the other hand quality overall is probably not that great with plastic around the side, screws are screwing into the plastic but this is improved in the updated 2014 model, port placement is not great as it causes putting pressure on the port- HDMI, 30Hz refresh rate at 4K is not good and yr mouse may feel slow or the cursor may start jumping around- some say you can’t get away with gaming and that 30Hz should be moved up to 60Hz but others say this set is just fine for great gaming despite the 30 frames per second rate as at the ordinary FHD 1080p resolution they can play games like Battlefield, Call of Duty and older games at 60Hz or 120Hz refresh rates with no lag or issues.
When unboxed it is heavy as compared to much larger TV sets with 1080p resolution so it doesn’t move around easily but you may also look at it from build quality perspective and point it out as a pro (It weighs 28.60 lbs without stand and 30.58 lbs with stand). For a TV set the picture looks amazing- like you are looking out of window and seeing things- picture quality is superior. The boot-up time is a bit long- takes quite a while, menus are easy to navigate- nothing extraordinary there with the standard remote, menu screen and options. One of the customers reported not being able to use it with their Mac Mini comfortably but otherwise a great TV at a very low price for 4K UHD resolution. The problem is not the TV at such a low price level but finding yourself the 4K content quality to price ratio is very high. But think of it as 4 monitors in one- each with Full HD resolution and it is the cheapest 4K TV out there on the day of this review.
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