4K or 1080?

[civers1]

I am going to purchase a new TV. My ultimate question is, should I get a 50" 4K or a 55"- 60" 10180? (I'm looking at the Visio P and M series) I consume all of my media from a desktop. Most of it will not be in 4K resolution, but I am wondering how well the conversion will be. Also, when using a TV for a monitor in the past, I have observed that text often comes out blurry or distorted making it hard to read. So, I am thinking that the upscaling to 4k might improve this?? But, I'm also worried about Windows scaling to 4k.
Is anyone using a 4k TV for a monitor?

Desktop:
i5 4650k
GTX 770
Windows 7
I will be sitting 13ft away from the TV.

 

[darkbreeze]

This: http/www.itworld.com/article/2832687/consumerization/don-t-buy-the-hype-on-using-a-4k-tv-as-a-computer-monitor.html

 

[dariens007]

using a 4k tv as a monitor? eh...i'd prolly get a 1080p tv. part of a issue is blurry text which can be solved on either the TV makers or for microsoft to change and perfect their scaling options in windows. neither party is doing anything at the moment. and plus 4k tv run at like 30hz i believe. for fast paced gaming like a fps i think you really need a 60hz. that's just a con i can think of

i'd wait a few more years before buying a 4k tv for a computer monitor. and if your going to buy a 1080p tv for a computer monitor...eh i think i would go with a IPS computer monitor 27 inches or above instead. they are pretty nice.

Edit: ah you mention that you had a tv before and txt was blurry before, yeah that prob hasn't been fixed as i stated up above, microsoft nor tv makers are doing their part. and upscaling to 4k wont improve it'll probably make it worse....

 

[darkbreeze]

using a 4k tv as a monitor? eh...i'd prolly get a 1080p tv. part of a issue is blurry text which can be solved on either the TV makers or for microsoft to change and perfect their scaling options in windows. neither party is doing anything at the moment. and plus 4k tv run at like 30hz i believe. for fast paced gaming like a fps i think you really need a 60hz.

I just looked at the top fifteen 4k TV's on Newegg and also on Amazon. Every single model was either 120 or 240Hz. So apparently this is a non-issue now.

 

[ssddx]

text is blurry on tvs even of the same sizes as monitors. its not just a scale factor issue but also that some tvs have a different pixel arrangement than monitors do which are better oriented for crisp display of shapes but not the horizontal and vertical lines of text.

the 30hz issue was for pre hdmi2.0.

now, would a 4k tv fix that? yes and no at the same time. at higher resolutions text will normally be smaller (and rather unreadable) however you can counter this by using higher than normal windows font sizes and internet zoom levels. not as big of an issue. the real kicker however is that icon sizes in programs and applications will be small and hard to see and some in-program text doesnt have an option for changing sizes which means it will be hard to read.

for this reason i would suggest 1080p in a television if you are going to use it as a pc monitor. i personally use a 40" 1080p tv myself and it works out fine. if you sit 5-7ft back from a larger 50-55 you should have a similar experience.

dont get me wrong... 4k displays are really nice but i'm not so sure it would work well for a pc monitor for anything other than desktop, web and gaming unless you bought one in a rather large size like 60"+ and sat rather close to it.

 

[civers1]

Thanks for the prompt replies. You have further convinced me against 4K, but I have a new problem. I came across a used Vizio M551D-A2R. This is a 2013 model, 55", 3D, edge lit, 1080 TV. It can currently be had new @ $850. The individual wants $600, which seems like a good deal. But I'm not all that interested in 3D. Has anyone used something like this for a HTPC or Monitor? Something tells me that I should look into Vizio's latest series with full array backlighting, and local dimming.
Thanks

 

[ssddx]

grid array backlighting gives better contrast.

vizios are generally rather cheap televisions so i'd hesitate against buying used since finding parts for them might be hard if they break.