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Seiki SE50UY04 50-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV (Discontinued)

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 372 ratings

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Screen Size 50 Inches
Brand SEIKI
Display Technology LED
Resolution 4K
Refresh Rate 120
Included Components TV, Remote, Batteries
Connectivity Technology VGA, USB, HDMI
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Product Dimensions 9.84"D x 44.8"W x 28.66"H
Supported Internet Services netflix, Amazon Instant Video

About this item

  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz (Native), 30Hz (4K)
  • Backlight: LED (Edge-Lit)
  • Smart Functionality: No
  • Dimensions (W x H x D): TV without stand: 44.80'' x 26.65" x 2.09'', TV with stand: 44.80'' x 28.66'' x 9.84''
  • Inputs: 3 HDMI, 2 USB, 1 VGA
  • Accessories Included: Remote w/ batteries
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Important information

Visible screen diagonal

50" / 127 cm

What's in the box

  • Remote
  • Batteries
  • TV
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    Technical Details

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    Warranty & Support

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    Seiki SE50UY04 50-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV (Discontinued)


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    Customer reviews

    3.9 out of 5 stars
    372 global ratings

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    Customers say

    Customers are satisfied with the television's picture quality, functionality, and value for money. They find it looks better than native 1080p, works well for programming tasks, and is a good value for the price. However, some customers have reported issues with the sound quality and brightness.

    AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

    162 customers mention "Picture quality"126 positive36 negative

    Customers like the picture quality of the TV. They mention it looks better than native 1080p, has sharp clear images, and minimal lag. The color is good, and the pixels are perfect when driven from computer. Some reviewers also mention that the layout is better and the 4K TV is a great 4K monitor.

    "...As far as colors and such, everything looks good to me. I went through the recommendations I had seen here, and the Windows calibration tool...." Read more

    "...after a bit of tweaking- picture quality is decent if you're willing to put a couple of hours into tweaking the colors..." Read more

    "...Wow best describe it. On the AMD 7750, text is super sharp, colors seem decent although perhaps not good enough for professional graphics/..." Read more

    "...While this TV has it's drawbacks I am still in love with the picture clarity...." Read more

    108 customers mention "Functionality"84 positive24 negative

    Customers find the TV's functionality good. It works well for programming tasks like poster design and VMware vCenter. The monitor is suitable for this purpose, as it can be switched between HD and UHD modes. While the 30fps is not ideal, it's fine for most games. Overall, customers consider it worth trying and appreciate its excellent performance.

    "...PROS:o This makes for an incredible computer monitor! The 4K resolution lets it function like 4-6 monitors, all on a single screen. Wow!..." Read more

    "...The batteries were still wrapped, the TV screen was perfect and still had the plastic wrap on the bezel around the screen...basically it was Brand..." Read more

    "...The screen has been a great monitor for all these months except for the irritation of dealing with turning the screen off and having to reset the..." Read more

    "...Digital tuner is good, very good HDTV output from Over the Air (OTA) channels ABC, CBS, FOX, PIX11, ION even when using a cheap RCA ANT1400..." Read more

    89 customers mention "Value for money"81 positive8 negative

    Customers appreciate the television's value for money. They say it offers a good quality 4K TV for the price, with an incredible picture and worth the upgrade.

    "...o An HDMI 1.4 cable was included (a pleasant surprise)o The price is right; I can justify the price for the increase in my productivity..." Read more

    "Great value for money- MAY run 1080p@120hz (doesn't drop frames, but might drop the signal completely- read on for further details) after a bit of..." Read more

    "...In my opinion is the best possible value you can buy in a UHD TV at this time as long as you have reasonable expectations on what you are buying,..." Read more

    "...You'd think this was a $5,000 set. This is where it becomes worth every penny and so much more. It pretty much becomes a giant iPad...." Read more

    37 customers mention "Lag"12 positive25 negative

    Customers have different views on the lag. Some find the refresh rate amazing and the response time 6ms. Others mention 30Hz feels incredibly slow, with a 300ms delay in the display when displaying 4K content. There are also reports of mouse lag and video feed lag in Xbox One games.

    "...4K at 30Hz is horrible and tears...." Read more

    "...high quality LCD panel with a ridiculous number of pixels, a native 120Hz refresh rate and a ~6ms response time...." Read more

    "...some slightly strange behaviors from a few apps, like Photoshop CS6 seems to slow down for the first minute after being opened, and only refreshing..." Read more

    "...Don't even try it. There is about a 300ms delay in the display when displaying 4k content...." Read more

    31 customers mention "Build quality"19 positive12 negative

    Customers have different views on the build quality. Some find it good as a computer monitor with rich and vibrant colors, a sturdy stand, and solid gaming performance. Others mention issues like cheap plastic parts, poor quality control, and broken TVs after a short period of use.

    "...a Seiki 4K screen with dead pixels; that suggests that these TVs are well made.CONS:..." Read more

    "...felt nervous putting the TV on the base since it appears to be made entirely of cheap, easy to flex plastic...." Read more

    "...that will natively accept an input over 60hz- and the build quality of the unit is pretty good...." Read more

    "...the individual RGB pixels from 3 feet away, so there is an illusion of better quality...." Read more

    20 customers mention "Size"12 positive8 negative

    Customers have different views on the TV's size. Some find it large and easy to use, fitting six large windows easily. Others feel it's too large as a monitor, with limited features like a short gamut and low refresh rate.

    "...Wow!o The monitor is huge..." Read more

    "...The 4K display still feels sluggish as a monitor. Also, the monitor is so big, sitting 2-3 feet away, the focus to the four corners is quite and..." Read more

    "...All icons are so small now and there are so much real estate. I was in heaven...." Read more

    "...1.4, this monitor will display it like a champ, and the 50" version is the perfect size for someone wanting to play video games from the sofa while..." Read more

    51 customers mention "Sound quality"10 positive41 negative

    Customers are dissatisfied with the television's sound quality. They mention it sounds like it's in a can, and there's no fine control at low volumes.

    "...difference between 0 and 1 is quite a jump-- so there's no fine control at low volumes-- it just won't happen. This linear approach effects..." Read more

    "...And the volume of the headphone is very low.Anyone who has upgrade the FW, could you please check yours ?" Read more

    "...I should also say the sound is not very impressive, but sound on HDMI does work...." Read more

    "...and dark scenes look much much better. Also the sound is amazing compared to seiki. the benzil is much thinner and the unit over all is much thinner...." Read more

    36 customers mention "Brightness"6 positive30 negative

    Customers are unhappy with the TV's brightness. They say the backlight constantly gets brighter and darker, and the picture fades from bright to dark intermittently. The screen brightness is not very even, with the edges noticeably dimmer than the center. The dynamic backlight is too dramatic, often overpowering the screen. There were issues where the TV screen went to black frequently, and the backlight intensity shifts.

    "...For some reason, when set to 30Hz and the screen went black, Intel would show it as 29Hz...." Read more

    "...The dynamic backlight is far to dynamic in my opinion. Dark scenes become very dark, and if a TV commercial puts up a all white screen behind their..." Read more

    "...4. Suffers from horrible overscan and gamma/brightness issues if you're using it at 1080p@60hz- the internal picture controller behaves differently..." Read more

    "...There was one issue, the TV screen went to black frequently. After upgrade the firmware (downloaded from seikidigital.com) it went away...." Read more

    Mac Mini 2012 supports Seiki 4K 50" (2014 March update)
    5 out of 5 stars
    Mac Mini 2012 supports Seiki 4K 50" (2014 March update)
    UPDATE: (March 2014) Now that Mavericks has been updated to version 10.9.2, there is no screen startup problem. The highest resolution 3840x2160 pops up at every startup. So only read the below instructions if you are running an older version OS on the Mac Mini. The screen has been a great monitor for all these months except for the irritation of dealing with turning the screen off and having to reset the resolution every time the screen was turned on. Adding the appropriate scanning rate using SwitchResX is still required. All in all, much improvement.Title sums up why the TV was purchased.In short, it works beautifully as a Mac Mini monitor. My caveat is that this is a fussy endeavor, and not for everyone.What hardware is required?1) Accell B086B-008B UltraAV Mini DisplayPort 1.1 to HDMI 1.4 Active Adapter - AMD Eyefinity Certified (Blister Package) which is required to be plugged into the Thunderbolt port.2) you'll have to use the supplied HDMI 1.4 cable that comes with the television. Non-1.4 cables will not work, but you never know.What are the settings?1) I used SwitchResX to open up a few optional resolutions. Yes, another piece of purchased software, but I have had this software since I upgraded to a 1080p home theater screen years ago. It definitely paid for itself, when using it a 2nd time. When looking for a functioning refresh rate, initially set it up in 1 Hz steps from 30 down to 15 and see what will work for your computer. Fastest I could do was 18 Hz. Yes, 18. Using SwitchResX requires adding types of resolutions and refresh rates and then rebooting, to see if they will work.2) the Seiki will NEVER function as a 3840x2160 monitor if the overscan is set to anything other than 0 in the monitors preference panel.3) MAJOR ISSUE: (UPDATE) I have said that the Seiki will have to be switched from lower resolution at 0 overscan to its highest resolution. That it will not be able to be turned off and on at full resolution, because it will not reconnect at the higher resolution. After I am finished with work for the day, I leave the resolution at a 1279x720 at 60Hz. Then I can turn off and turn on the Seiki. The update is that I do find that the monitor will auto connect at 3840, but it either just pops on or it will take a long time. That long time could still be never, so I still think that switching resolution is a sure way of controlling the monitor.4) I upgraded to 10.9 Mavericks. It maybe that the improved monitor handling is required for 4K resolution success. I upgraded before testing.5) the refresh rate I use is 18Hz. But since I'm not a gamer, this is not a problem. There is no strobe-effect of the screen. It is very readable and excellent looking. If you open a window of a video, it will be watchable, but will not be perfect.This is what I had to do to get the Seiki up and running. Your mileage may vary. For me this was a best buy monitor, that ended the multiple monitor desk setup. It's the nicest display I have ever run in a computer environment. But I have not calibrated this for photo work, so I have not experienced it's full potential or limitations.
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    Top reviews from the United States

    • Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2013
      *** UPDATE #2 ***

      I ended up buying the 39" version when the price dropped one day.

      It is really awesome. I am still using my old monitor as well, until I adjust to the 39" 4K monitor.

      I did have problems with the 39" with it intermittently losing the HDMI connection or something (using Intel HD 4600 with a 4770k processor), causing a black screen for a few seconds. This would happen frequently, often a few times a few seconds apart, never going more than 30-60 minutes without it happening. It would not happen at 1080p, or using it as a TV. I updated the firmware, with no luck. For some reason, when set to 30Hz and the screen went black, Intel would show it as 29Hz. At one point, I tried 24Hz and after the screen went black Intel reported it as 23Hz. It was strange; I think there may be an Intel driver issue. I happened to try changing the refresh rate to 25Hz, and it has worked flawlessly for several days.

      So if you have an issue with intermittent black screens, you may want to try setting your computer to use a 25Hz refresh rate.

      *** UPDATE #1 ***

      After about a week, I returned the TV/monitor. I loved it -- but for some reason, as soon as I started using it, my eyes started hurting. After several days, the problem didn't go away. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence, the 30hz refresh at 4K, my eyes moving more due to the large size, or something else. It was tough returning it, but I didn't have much of a choice. Since I cannot see that issue being Seiki's fault, I'm keeping the rating at a full 5 stars. I thought it would be helpful to update the review to include this, however, just in the off chance that other people have a similar issue (if so, please comment...).

      *** END OF UPDATE ***

      This review is about this TV as a computer monitor (for non-gaming use). That said, if you are buying this as a TV, make sure that you understand that [1] non-4K content (almost everything today) needs decent upscaling by something other than the TV, and [2] you may need to calibrate the TV (at the very least, try turning off noise filtering).

      PROS:
      o This makes for an incredible computer monitor! The 4K resolution lets it function like 4-6 monitors, all on a single screen. Wow!
      o The monitor is huge
      o The service menu lets you lower the backlighting (I cut the power from around 130W down to 45W, and my eyes like it better)
      o An HDMI 1.4 cable was included (a pleasant surprise)
      o The price is right; I can justify the price for the increase in my productivity
      o No dead pixels. I haven't seen a single report of a Seiki 4K screen with dead pixels; that suggests that these TVs are well made.

      CONS:
      o It takes a few seconds to start after the power is turned off.

      SETUP TIPS ['borrowed' from other reviews]:
      o For gaming, you may want to disable ALLOW GPU SCALING in your video card, which may cause lag,
      o For 4K gaming, if there is lag, try turning off VSYNC (which may add tearing, but reduces lag),
      o If you have audio lag, have the audio go through the TV,
      o Set video card to RGB 4:4:4 LIMITED (rather than FULL), which may provide better grey scale gradients,
      o Turn off noise reduction and sharpness (set it to 0) for use as a computer monitor,
      o Go to the Seiki website and download the latest firmware,
      o In the service menu, try turning down the backlighting,
      o Turn off 'Blue Screen' for a better experience when the computer shuts off the video

      I think it is amazing that Seiki came out with a 4K TV for just 4% of the cost of the first mainstream 4K TV less than a year after it was released (the Sony XBR-84X900). This is brand-new technology, and Seiki was very quick to come out with a very cost effective TV/monitor.

      I wanted to buy the TV to use as a computer monitor to increase my screen "real estate". Before this, I had a 22" 1,920x1080 monitor and a 19" 1,280x1024 monitor. I now have about 2.5x as many pixels, with a single monitor. I oversee 7 servers, so I am often connected to multiple computers, have many programs running, and have to wait for various tasks to end. Switching between computers/programs gets very tiresome -- and without being able to see all windows/computers I am working on, I can easily forget about something I am doing. Using this TV as a monitor, I can have 3 1280x1020 windows on the top half of the screen, with one good-sized 1920x1080 main screen on the bottom right, with even more space on the bottom left.

      In my opinion, this usage is going to be where 4K TV's really take off -- to me, it seems a much, much better value than using it as a TV (where there is so little 4K content available yet). It's really like getting 4-6 monitors built into one screen.

      As far as colors and such, everything looks good to me. I went through the recommendations I had seen here, and the Windows calibration tool. I am far from an expert as far as colors on screens go, however.

      I did go into the service menu, which I highly recommend for reducing the backlighting (Others->Backlight; the default is 100, but I set mine to 15). Just be careful in the service menu, do NOT press the left/right arrows except when changing a setting. Twice in the service menu when I didn't think I was setting something, sure enough there was a change. Just going into the overscan settings (without changing anything) caused problems. If all else fails, power off the TV with the button on the side, and/or reset to factory settings. If in doubt, pressing the "MENU" button on the remote (more than once if in nested menus) gets you out of the service menu. To get to the service menu, press MENU followed by the zero button 4 times, but be careful.

      One other setting I changed was the Blue Screen option to OFF. That way, when the computer turns off the display (power management settings), the screen is black (with "NO VIDEO" on the screen), and eventually the TV is smart enough to turn off. And the TV does only use <1W when off (it registers 0.0 on my Kill-a-Watt). It takes a few seconds to power back on (versus less than a second for my old monitor), but you can't really fault a TV for that (it isn't marketed as a monitor).

      It is an entry-level TV, but that isn't an issue for a monitor. And it is made by a company that many people are unfamiliar with. But between the 1-year replacement warranty and no reports of dead pixels, I've got quite a bit of confidence in the product. When I ordered, I did purchase a 4-year warranty with SquareTrade, to be on the safe side.

      One final note -- if you buy this as a monitor, make sure to check out gigapixel pictures (often 100s of images stitched together, totaling billions of pixels; search for 'gigapan'). You can zoom in/out of these pictures for incredible detail. They look nice on a regular monitor, but on a 4K monitor using the full screen they look incredible.
      18 people found this helpful
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    • Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2014
      OK, some important information before you will consider it 5 stars also.
      All of the controls on this SE50UY044 -- SEIKI --function in linear fashion as opposed to the correct logarithmic setup; For example, most of the volume increase occurs in the first 10 points of the 100 it has. So the difference between 0 and 1 is quite a jump-- so there's no fine control at low volumes-- it just won't happen.
      This linear approach effects All of the controls, which leads to uncommon results when you try to fine tune the picture; therefore, what you know about adjusting LCD screens has to be ignored and, you have to re-learn how to adjust this SEIKI, e.g., typically most manufactures controls are set up for bright rooms. At home, I don't always keep my place brightly lit, so the first thing I typically do is turn down the brightness of my displays-- on this unit that is a mistake. The brightness control starts out centered at 50; and even there, the deep charcoal blacks are already crushed to black, so turning down the brightness (using the brightness control) below 50 just makes it unwatchable in my opinion. Typically the next logical step would be to adjust the contrast. Again with 50 being center, typical contrast controls decrease the "Contrast" of the image equally, but not here. Turning down the contrast seems to crush mid to bright detail, making faces look unnatural, but does little to help decrease the dynamic range of deep blacks.
      All of this aside, it's not my biggest complaint about this SEIKI. My biggest complaint about the design of this unit; is the dynamic backlight and, the utter lack of control over it. Even when you access the factory settings, there's no way to adjust or disable the automatic dynamic backlight. The dynamic backlight is far to dynamic in my opinion. Dark scenes become very dark, and if a TV commercial puts up a all white screen behind their logo, light rays will beam from every window in your home!
      There is a glimmer of hope, I have learned how to access to the factory settings. In there I can lower the backlight's power and make this TV actually watchable in rooms that aren't brilliantly light! -- Here it is. -- With the unit on of course, press the menu button, once the menu is displayed, press the zero key four times. A "Factory menu" will pop up in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the remote, navigate to the last item of the menu titled "Others" and select it with the OK button on your remote. The fourth item down will be the backlight setting, you'll notice it is maxed out at 100. Highlight the Backlight option and use the left right arrows to adjust it, while watching your favorite image or video. Now remember; as I previously stated, the controls are not logarithmically based. Settings near zero change drastically and changes near 100 have little effect. So in order to effectively decrease the TV's brightness and prevent my home from becoming a landmark for local air traffic, I have to lower the number significantly-- I chose 64. The setting is automatically saved as you press a key. To exit the menu press the menu button until it all goes away. Once the backlight is lowered, now I can recover some of the crushed blacks by turning up the brightness control, I find a value of 53-56 to be the best.
      I also turn down the sharpness control below 25 when ever it's not greyed out.
      With the backlight adjusted and the brightness and contrast controls counter intuitively turned up, the image is improved. It's far from a plasma screen but at least I can see the pinstripes on a black suit now without being blinded by ridiculously bright images.
      Whew! I hope this makes sense. I have every reason to believe the SE39UY04 has the same controls and suffers from the same engineering mistakes.
      Hey, SEIKI engineers- Two things: Make your controls Logarithmic and give us some control over the dynamic backlight. --Thanks.

      If you are thinking about getting this SEIKI unit or it's 39 inch little brother, consider the learning curve and you'll be fine. If you are in a position like me where you can also drive your SEIKI via your souped up computer and watch HD moves scaled up to Ultra High Def (4K) levels, do it.. looks great!! Plus, working on databases such as foobar2000 or a spreadsheet in LibreOffice is a whole new experience on this thing!
      Also, at the time of this writing, I cannot find a single HDMI amplifier that shows support for 4K content. So getting a stable image over a HDMI cable much more than 5 meters or 15 feet is a gamble. I know the 35 foot cable I tried was intermittent at best.
      To run this thing from a computer, here are a few things that may help:
      If you need to convert your computer's DisplayPort to HDMI, Accell's active DisplayPort to HDMI adapter is a good choice and does work at all the resolutions this SEIKI can display, with audio.
      I have found the minimum video cards to run smooth video are an AMD HD79xx or better or if you like NVIDIA, you'll probably need the GeForce GTX 680 or better. Either brand should have 2GB or more. Unfortunately these cards run in the $400+ range.
      I did test a HD7870 2GBD5 Gigahertz edition, in Linux Mint 16 and no matter the driver, playing a HD movie upscaled to 4K in Linux was 1 FPS, if the video showed at all. I honestly believe it would have faired much better in Windows and for $150 after rebate, it might be worth a try-- if anyone does try the 7870 2GBD5 Ghz Edition in Windows, please share your results.
      This SEIKI can be used as a monitor, it is sluggish turning on and off but it will shut off when there is no signal and turn back on when you move your mouse-- just don't expect it happen quickly-- we're talking over a half a minute on a good day.
      HDMI 1.4 and gaming: If you are thinking of playing fast motion games and are used to 60FPS, you are not going to like gaming on this thing. If you got a zombie on your tail, and you quickly pan around to see it, one frame it's on the left side of your screen, the next frame shows you've overshot and it's already disappearing on the right. It's a no-go for High Framerate games. This is a limitation of the technology of the HDMI ports used. Sorry.

      This SEIKI incorporates HDMI 1.4 protocol on it's ports, which is state-of-the-art and the best you can get even now (at the time of this writing). Right now HDMI 1.4 is a limiting factor for 4K. It can carry HD content all day long at 60 Frames Per Second (FPS) but 4K is literally double the height AND double the width of a Full HD so it requires four times the bandwidth! That's why you can only get 30 FPS through a HDMI 1.4 port. Make sense? Don't confuse the supplied frame rate with the displayed frame rate as they can be different. If you want to understand that more clearly, put these words in your favorite search engine and you'll find your answer, "What's the difference between 60hz, 120hz, and 240hz. And, why should I care"
      There are some HDMI cable manufactures that take advantage of this confusion, by putting your TV frequency on the package of the HDMI cable. That's like saying 89 octane gas is 200mph gas .. yea... OK.. in what vehicle.

      Hope this information helps and have a great life! :)
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