How good are Ultra HD curved TVs for gaming? Any recommendations for one?

Thought about getting an Ultra HD 4K (or 8K when it is available commercially) Curved TV for a future game room. Planned on pairing it with modern consoles, a 4K custom gaming PC i want to build one day, an upscaler for retro consoles, and a modern surround sound system. Are they good for gaming? If so, any recommendations on a specific brand/model? What inputs do they have and what is the lowest resolution they support?

 

Anything 4K is bad for old games, mainly Samsung TVs though... Probably have to fuck around with many settings to get them to work.

 

I was going to use an upscaler like the xrgb mini or something similar for older games. I've never owned a 4K TV before so the only things I heard about 4K TVs and gaming are PC games with 4K texture replacers (mostly Skyrim) and PC games with 4K support.

 

You should be right with an upscaler then. In terms of ports, well, not many. I've only had experience with Samsung TVs, and basically they're only good for watching TV and nothing else. The stupid adapters you need to use on them is stupid.

 

Nothing is even broadcast in 4k yet and by the time it is, 8k TVs will be on the scene and by then we'll all be watching Holograms stick with 1080p HD.

 

I'm not convinced about the curved TV thing, sounds massively gimmicky. I mean, we had 'curved' CRTs for years and then all of a sudden it was "Hey, our CRTs are *better* because they are flat".

The only situations where I see curved screens making any sense at all are on simulators, not for watching TV.

 

It's like audiophile douchebags INSISTING their $50,000 tube speakers are better, because it's more expensive and no other reason.

 

Curved screens are a gimmick. Like 3D.

4K isn't great for anything older, needing upscaling. And you need HDMI 2.0 to carry full 4K signals. As said before, there's hardly any support, and it will be old technology by the time you actually get broadcasts and plentiful media. So it's a complete waste of money.

 

I would wait about 2 more years to get a 4K TV. The prices will be acceptable and the market will be much larger by then.
If we're talking about PC monitors, that's a different story.
Using a 4K monitor for a PC is amazing both for work, entertainment and games.

 

As everyone else has stated, you should probably just wait on the TV. Not enough content available in that format. I saw the prices on some and it made me shudder.

 

Thank you guys for the info! I don't have enough money for one and it would be years before I get a 4K or 8K TV.

You guys are right about the lack of 4K content. AT&T U-Verse only has a couple shows in 4K, they aren't worth watching though. Some YouTube videos can do higher resolutions than 1080p but there aren't that many other than a few from big name content creators.

I don't have anything that supports 4K yet so I will wait and see what the future holds for us.

 

At this point, the XB1 and PS4 barely run games at 1080p, maybe they'll manage 4k in a few years when devs figure out the hardware, but anything less than those (Wii U on down) there's no point moving past 1080p.

 

I've got an older Samsung TV and it has 3 HDMI inputs, two component inputs a VGA input and two S-Video/RCA inputs, by using a couple of switch boxes I can hook pretty much everything to it, I haven't paid attention to more recent TVs (mine is around 6 years old), it's too bad if they no longer have these options.

 

Wrong again GoH...Comcast and DirectTV are debuting 4K channels in 2015. Direct TV is already distributing their cable box 4K "genie" to enable the content. However, cable adoption rate is at an all time low in the history of cable, and the disconnection rate is rapidly rising. More and more people are choosing to just stream content, which is useful for 4K because they just have to stream (which all 4K TVs currently can do, as they are all "Smart" TVs). Netflix has shows in 4K, Amazon does as well, and if you have a Sony 4K TV you can access Sony's video on demand service, which currently has the largest library of 4K content.

My main reason for not jumping on the 4K line yet is because their upscalers aren't impressing me yet, Sony's new processor for 2015 looks promising and Samsung is running an "Octocore" processor but today during a meeting with Samsung's representatives I asked them if it was actually Octo or if it was two dual cores running in series (it is 2 dual cores). Some movies look great but there's multiple times the scenes look like the upscaling can't keep up. Panasonic's Ultra Blu-Ray player comes out hopefully by Q4 2015, and then I'll look into it.

Sony's XBR X950B is their flagship model from 2014 and in 2015 they're going to keep it the same. Their other new TV's are going to run Android TV and use their 1-Chip design, while Samsung's new JS series has the JS9000 and JS9500 as their flagship models.

Gaming wise, coworkers are loving their 4K's - multiple Sony XBR X850Bs (avoid the X800B), and a few Samsung HU6950 models. I'm a little more picky than them though, I've heard mixed results as far as gaming goes with a curved screen. I've heard it's more immersive but also can be more nauseating.

Only 2 companies make curved TVs, Samsung and LG. LG has IPS panels, but their curve is only on their OLED - so expect to pay $3-4,000 for a 55" 1080P model. The 4K OLED comes out at the end of April and is only available as a 65" for $9,000USD.

Samsung has a bunch of models from 2013, but currently on the market are the HU7250, HU8700, HU9000 from 2014 and brand new (last week!) the JS9000 and JS9500. Ranging from average of $1,500-4,000 for a 55" depending on the model (the JS9500 is only available as a 65" and up)

 

It's not a recent 4K TV though, which is the discussion. Any TV 3-5 years old will have proper inputs, it's just Samsung making their TVs thinner and less practical.

 

I've been thinking about this lately. I've specifically been looking at 4K monitors. One major issue is that a lot of 4K monitors and most 4K TVs (I think) can only do 30Hz at 4K. Some monitors support 60Hz, though I don't know if any TVs support 60Hz. One monitor I looked at had support for 60Hz, but it was a TN panel. Supposedly IPS has wider viewing angles. Some monitors had 60Hz and used IPS, but were a little more expensive.

Another issue is that even the most powerful computers available have difficulty playing modern games at reasonable framerates at 4K. Some setups can reach 60fps in some games, but only around 40-50fps in others. QHD is different, though. QHD is a lot more easily achievable with current hardware. So maybe it would be better to get a QHD display, though there are still benefits to having a 4K display. For example, you could still run games at QHD upscaled on the monitor. You could also play a lot of older games and emulators, etc. in 4K.

Another concern is that currently you really need a device with DisplayPort to get 60Hz on a 4K display. Most newer video cards have DisplayPort, Macs have Thunderbolt which is also Mini DisplayPort. The newest version of HDMI supports this too I think, but I don't know if it's actually being used in consumer products.

It's still a pretty new technology, so I think it'll be a while before all of the problems are fixed. I think in maybe 5 years or less computers will be able to run most games at 60Hz at 4K. For right now it's difficult to say whether or not 4K is worth it, will it be widespread, etc. I could probably say more on the topic, but I'll end here. END.

 

All newer Tvs are like this. You seem to be jumping to a lot of conclusions in a lot of threads recently. With you being a moderator, it makes people believe you more too.

My TV is a 2 year old Panasonic - you need adapters for the older inputs (as the connectors are too thick to fit). but it plays everything just fine - so its no problem for retro gaming and isnt just "good for TV".

More facts please.

 

These are all going the way of the Dodo when 8k hits in a few years.

 

With that logic you can never buy new technology, seeing that an succeeder is always around the corner.

 

Besides, when 8k comes out we will just be saying "There is no 8k content, might as well stick with 4k for now"