Mini-Review: Samsung 40KU6400 as a monitor

[ColinD]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering if it used PWM?

I've had a search around and other samsungs have, as have many, but nothing concrete on this.

Does anyone know, or any owners able to quickly test it, this would be really appreciated.

TY.

 

[Pyr0m@nI@]{]

Thanks for the mini-review, it swayed my decision to try a 4k tv and I had one of these delivered yesterday for £379.
Updated it to 1150 as soon as I received it and it was flashing with some blue corruption on screen which made me think i had to return it, but it stopped shortly after the upgrade finished

So far I think the picture looks great compared to my old Dell 3007WFP-HC, if a little glossy/reflective. It was more colour accurate out of the box with whiter whites and blacker blacks and much better contrast levels.

Has anyone had any issues with the wifi disconnecting? I have a Virginmedia Hub3 in the same room *shrug*
I can be watching youtube when it starts showing the spinning circle. it also happens with plex. checking the connection settings says it's disconnected

Also been looking for replacement stands..
Don't suppose anyone has had any experience with an Ergotron Neo Flex? are they any good?
http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/242/Default.aspx

Thanks for the review. I was wondering if it used PWM?
I've had a search around and other samsungs have, as have many, but nothing concrete on this.
Does anyone know, or any owners able to quickly test it, this would be really appreciated.

TY.

@ColinD how do I test for PWM?

 

[p4radox]

Does anyone know how this would compare to a Wasabi Mango UHD400? I know that the Mango is actually a monitor, and the Samsung is a TV - but I like the idea of having Freesync which the Mango has.

 

[spiralz]

Absolutely no different IMO, I've just measured mine to confirm and compared to the Philips BDM4065 UC as measured by TFT central: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/philips_bdm4065uc.htm)

Philips BDM4065UC:
Manufacturers Quoted Consumption = 77.6W
Measured at manufacturers settings = 81W
Measured at Calibrated Brightness (120 Lumens) = 45W

My figures:
Samsung 40KU6400 Quoted = 62W
Measured at manufacturers settings = 66.5W
Measured at Calibrated Brightness (120 Lumens) = 47.1W




No probs:

PC Setup
Input set to 'PC' (Highlight the HDMI 'source' icon and press up, then edit, then select PC)
Picture Mode - Standard
Special Picture Mode - This says 'SPORTS' but is actually turned off when you drill down in that menu.

Expert Picture Settings:
Backlight - 8
Brightness - 49
Contrast - 99
Sharpness - 50
(Everything is now greyed out between this and the next option)
HDMI UHD Colour -> HDMI the PC is connected to is 'ON'
(more greyed out stuff)
Colour Tone - Warm 2
White Balance -> 2 Point ->Red Gain 14 / G Gain -3 (all others 0)
Gamma - 0

When you select 'PC' as the input type a lot of stuff is greyed out so there isn't any other adjustments to make.

This is for 2.2 Gamma, 120 Lumens, D65 white point which is the normal monitor calibration target as per TFT Central etc.

these setting have helped me thanks

 

[Jonny L]

Hi Gents,

Hoping somebody can help.

Picked up the Samsung 40KU6470 over the weekend. Have hooked it up to my pc via hdmi and runs great but obviously at 30hz as my 390 does not have hdmi 2.0. Picked up an active display port to hdmi 2.0 adaptor from the rainforest to resolve this, however, when connected i am only offered a resolution of 640 x 480 @ 60hz.

I have googled extensively but can't seem to find a fix, can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

Jonny L

 

[titaniumx3]

Where is the cheapest place currently selling this TV? Can't seem to find this model anywhere for the prices you guys have claimed to purchase it for.

Also I'm seeing slightly different models being listed, but they seem identical feature wise. Which models should I be looking at?

 

[Balb0wa]

Prices have gone up since black friday/cyber monday by £50, bet it comes down again in the sales.

 

[this_is_gav]

Where is the cheapest place currently selling this TV? Can't seem to find this model anywhere for the prices you guys have claimed to purchase it for.

Also I'm seeing slightly different models being listed, but they seem identical feature wise. Which models should I be looking at?

The UE40KU6020 is basically the same TV but with a slightly narrower colour gamut as Demon said above (quoted below), but it wasn't enough of a factor for me so I originally bought the 6020, so you may be able to find that at a more agreeable price (though certainly not the £299 of Black Friday (or £349 at John Lewis (5 year warranty) and Richer Sounds (6 year warranty).

There is a great deal of similarity in terms of features.

The main difference is in the Crystal Colour (I think this is part processing, part pixel drive circuitry), this gives it a slightly wider colour gamut (86% vs 83% DCI-P3) and as stated above, slightly increase PQI (1500 vs 1300)..

It also has slimmer bezels if that counts for anything.

There also no bluetooth on the 6020, so no wireless headphones through the TV itself (and no headphone jack on either model, but you could in theory use the RCA ports for headphones or a bluetooth adapter).

I found that to my cost when John Lewis's site said the 6020 had bluetooth, but when I did a bit more digging nobody else was saying so. John Lewis checked and said it was apparently added in an update in Holland, and so possibly here too, and advised that I kept the order rather than upgrade to the 6400. Turned out definitely no bluetooth with most recent software, so I've just had it exchanged for the 6400 (though they honoured the Black Friday price of £399 for the 6400).

The other difference is that the 6400 comes with the funky smart remote as well as the standard one.

 

[ColinD]

@Pyr0m@nI@]{ thanks for asking and I hope this helps.

The way I've been doing it is, with my mobile on camera mode. At full brightness you won't see anything of note, there is no on_off pulses of note. Then as you lower the brightness, keep looking through the camera view. If you get to <10% and no change then we're good, the PWM side of it uses a high enough frequency not to be an issue.

If not, so it begins to change, you may see a set of bands scrolling as the brightness lowers. Then the PWM isn't using a great frequency. Most of the thinkpad laptop line are in this boat sadly.

So what?
This pulsing can be detected by some and cause headaches/eyestrain etc. Only by like 10% or so of the users in a report I read... I was fighting with headache and tiredness for 3 years before discovering this 'feature'. Swapped monitor from a nice dell 27 1440p and voila day #2 much better and still better now. Not 100% but a darn site better, any screen use over looking at mountains hurts my eyes .

I'm tempted to keep an eye out for this tv as 2017 begins.

 

[Pyr0m@nI@]{]

@Pyr0m@nI@]{ thanks for asking and I hope this helps.

The way I've been doing it is, with my mobile on camera mode. At full brightness you won't see anything of note, there is no on_off pulses of note. Then as you lower the brightness, keep looking through the camera view. If you get to <10% and no change then we're good, the PWM side of it uses a high enough frequency not to be an issue.

If not, so it begins to change, you may see a set of bands scrolling as the brightness lowers. Then the PWM isn't using a great frequency. Most of the thinkpad laptop line are in this boat sadly.

So what?
This pulsing can be detected by some and cause headaches/eyestrain etc. Only by like 10% or so of the users in a report I read... I was fighting with headache and tiredness for 3 years before discovering this 'feature'. Swapped monitor from a nice dell 27 1440p and voila day #2 much better and still better now. Not 100% but a darn site better, any screen use over looking at mountains hurts my eyes .

I'm tempted to keep an eye out for this tv as 2017 begins.

Hi @ColinD,
Unfortunately I'm returning the KU6400 to JL as I've had a couple of instances of blue lines/corruption which could happen randomly when watching or when the TV/CPU was busy - doing firmware updates for example.

I did test with my phone (s7 edge) before packing it away and only saw flicker on the camera with the backlight at 0 or 1.

Today I picked up a 43" KS7500U instead.

 

[this_is_gav]

Hi @ColinD,
Unfortunately I'm returning the KU6400 to JL as I've had a couple of instances of blue lines/corruption which could happen randomly when watching or when the TV/CPU was busy.. doing firmware updates for example.

I had some blue lines appearing 2 or 3 times for a few seconds each time at the bottom of the screen when watching a film the other day (powered by the PC so the TV CPU shouldn't be doing too much).

I've not seen it since, but I hope it's not sign of things to come.

 

[Pyr0m@nI@]{]

I'd seen it enough times to be slightly concerned so I took advantage of a refund within 30 days while I had the chance.

 

[scooby555t]

ive the coverd version of this screen wall mounted

 

[theDUFF]

I'm coming round to the idea of taking the plunge and buying once of theses screens when I get a new (Ryzen 8c / nVidia gFx card) PC in the new year. My question is the lack of Gsync you get on "real" monitors a significant omission? Currently I have a ATI-6950 and 3x 23" Asus 236HE lcd for desktop work and I play Overwatch for a few hours a week (Reinhard!!) I've never use the 120Hz features if the monitors or run an FPS triple head so I'm just looking for a nice gaming/desktop experience that is easy to setup rather than chasing a massive frame rate.

The money saved on this screen over an 1K ultra wide can go on the gFX card of course.

 

[Buckster]

I've jsut gone back from my experiment (42 inch Panny 1080p) to my 24 inch Dell 1920x1200p - and oh - too too too small lol!

tempted with one of these 6400s now

 

[Buckster]

mmm the 6400 or a 43 inch curved 7500 for £749

 

[AMDPower]

Hi @ColinD,
Unfortunately I'm returning the KU6400 to JL as I've had a couple of instances of blue lines/corruption which could happen randomly when watching or when the TV/CPU was busy - doing firmware updates for example.

I did test with my phone (s7 edge) before packing it away and only saw flicker on the camera with the backlight at 0 or 1.

Today I picked up a 43" KS7500U instead.

how are you finding the 43" KS7500U instead? I am thinking of getting this as a monitor but only issue for me is that I like to have my monitor on very low brightness usually 1 or 2 from the lowest setting. Just wondering if you could test whether you notice flickering on such low setting for brightness?

also being the Samsung panel is a VA how do you find the viewing angles at the edges of the screen when sitting quite close. i would be about 80-90cm away from the screen as my desk is quite small.

thanks

 

[mraerosmith1981]

I had some blue lines appearing 2 or 3 times for a few seconds each time at the bottom of the screen when watching a film the other day (powered by the PC so the TV CPU shouldn't be doing too much).

I've not seen it since, but I hope it's not sign of things to come.

Ditto I have seen this too, not frequent, but the fact that it happens does worry me

 

[Brocky36]

Had this TV for just shy of 2 months now and I really like it. It's been mainly used for the PC and only occasional TV watching.

I have also seen the flickering blue lines near the bottom of the screen for a second or two. It usually happens not too long after turning on but will then go for hours without happening again. I'm not too worried about it at this stage but if it becomes more frequent, I will consider getting a replacement.

Anyway, I'm picking up a PS4 Pro tomorrow and so will likely be switching between that and the PC quite regularly. As the TV only has 1 (of 3 total) HDMI port that will allow selection of the 'HDMI UHD Colour' setting, ideally, I need a way to run and switch between both machines via the one HDMI port, preferably - though not essential - remotely, but definitely without losing any image quality.

Can I just be looking at any regular male to 2x female HDMI splitter or do I need to be looking at something more elaborate, so as not to have to compromise on image quality?

 

[BallisticGT3]

Great review Demon.

I'm considering getting the 6400 to use for Pc and XB1s gaming (driving games), so in this respect I'll be in the same boat as Brocky and looking for a solution to connecting two cables into the one HDMI port on the TV.

I'm currently using a IIyama Prolite XB2779QS 27" IPS monitor which I'm happy with. It's just that I fancy a bit more real estate with HDR capabilities.

Before I got this monitor I tried a Samsung UE32F5000 32" 1080P TV which was ok for the XB1 I had a the time but looked terrible when connected to the Pc.

Will I be making the same mistake again if I go for the 6400?
Looking at the screenshots and reading this review is leading me to believe that I won't be. I just need a bit more convincing.

As a heads-up, JL will currently price match the 6400 for £429 against C&M