[GTALUG] cheap today: 43 inch UltraHD TV

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

tl;dr: if you yearn for monitor resolution, have I got a deal for you!

<http://forums.redflagdeals.com/real-canadian-superstore-rcss-haier-uhd-4k-tv-43-55-298-468-no-tax-june-24th-2096245/>

I use a cheap and nasty 39" UltraHD TV as my desktop monitor.  I am very 
happy with the experience.

Real Canadian Superstore is selling 43" UltraHD TVs for $298 + EHF but 
with HST already included in that price ($263.72 before taxes).  I expect 
that it is a better TV than my 3 year old 39".

I imagine 43" is a good size for a desktop monitor, but I'm not sure.  I'm 
happy with 39"

- I can view it at monitor-distance (25"?  I haven't measured) and see 
  text on it at normal pixels/character

- I don't get whiplash looking around on my screen (but I do have glasses 
  dedicated to this task -- a great investment)

- it fits on my desk

- it has multiple inputs so I can connect several computers at once

There are flaws with my monitor.  At full resolution (the only one I every 
use) it only refreshes at 30Hz.  I don't find that bad (I don't game) but 
I think that the 43" monitor does not have this limitation.

Many TV sets do "chroma sub-sampling"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_subsampling>
This means that the colour (not brightness) on adjacent pixels is not 
totally independant.  My monitor uses 4:2:2 sampling and that creates 
"artifacts" in some cases.  I really dislike this in theory but I have 
rarely found it to be a problem.  I have no idea what chroma subsampling, 
if any, the 43" TV does.  I would guess 4:2:2.

I expect to replace my TV when a cheap one comes out with HDR (High 
Dynamic Range) and no chroma subsampling.

TV sets don't have DisplayPort inputs.  Too bad.  HDMI has struggled to 
keep up with the bandwidth of UltraHD.  My TV's 30Hz limitation came from 
that (the HDMI standard has since been upgraded).  Not all video cards can 
handle this.

Nouveau doesn't drive my monitor properly so I'm using the proprietary 
nvidia driver.  Nouveau may have been fixed but I only test every year or 
so.  I don't have a powerful enough ATI card to test.  I haven't tried 
Intel GPUs.