Downscaling 4k Television to 1440p

[Cody Broyles]

So, I have browsed threads and called Samsung, Sony, Vizio, and LG for about 3 hours now. I cannot get an answer.

Question: Am I able to downscale a television from 4k to 1440p and maintain the native refresh rate?

Example: Sony 55' inch television. 4k @ 120HZ. I want to downscale to 1440p, while maintaining 120hz.

Issue: I have read countless threads on doing this on a 4k monitor, and this does not seem to be an issue. When doing this on a television, most will actually only output @ 30hz when down scaling to 1440p. From what I can gather, this could potentially be caused by manufacturers using special techniques to artificially increase the refresh rate offered by televisions, but they have only invested the effort to allow this to be done @ 4k and 1080p since that is what 99% of people are using on a television. No product info, or customer service is able to answer if this is the only refresh rate offered at a custom resolution. I know I may be able to force this through Nvidia Control Panel, but I don't want to go and blindly do this, damaging my brand new television. I don't have a specific model in mind, but Samsung is my preferred brand. So if you have a recommendation, or personal experience with a specific television that can do this without capping the refresh rate, I am all ears.

Thank you for all of your help,

Cody

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

You're partly right.

You want to select the refresh rate and the resolution manually, because like you said, FHD and UHD are indeed the two standards. You can change these two the same way you would overclock a display, in either NVIDIA or AMD control panel. You cannot damage your TV by doing this. If it doesn't work, it'll simply reset.


All the best!

 

[Cody Broyles]

Thank you for your response, but it doesn't provide me with the certainty that I need before purchasing the television. You stated that if it doesn't work, it will just revert to the previous display settings. What I am trying to find is a specific television that is known to support the custom resolution at the desired refresh rate, or if it is something that I just shouldn't worry about, because it can be done on any 4k display.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

It should work on all 4k TV's, because the GPU is scaling not the TV. Edit: I just had this verified with Samsung, they guarantee it works on their TV's, and so it should work on all TV's, because the TV's scaler is ignored when you override it with GPU scaling.

You might be interested in this TV:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0148OZLOS?tag=rtings-tv-bs10b-20&ie=UTF8

$ 998,00
-55"
-120 Hz native
-4k 60 Hz 4.4.4 (PC)
-1080 120 Hz (PC)
-VA
-17,7 ms input lag

It doesn't support HDR or 3D however, which may be a deal breaker for you.

I'll be more than happy to help you find a new TV!


All the best!

 

[Cody Broyles]

I am not too concerned over 3d, but HDR is something I may be interested in. Have you had personal experience with this feature? To my knowledge, it helps with displaying true blacks mostly, which is great. Is it really worth the price hike though, especially in gaming? Is it a feature that games or films have to be optimized for, in order to take advantage of, or does it just have a better color pallette overall? I am purchasing a gtx 1080 upon release which is why I am really digging deep into this tv situation. I'm not interested in 4k for gaming at this time, due to the difference between 1440 and 4k being small, compared to the fps hit. It's just nice being future proof for my next gpu upgrade.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Yep, I look at a lot of TV's. 😛

HDR is night and day compared to no HDR, however with that said, you definitely want UHD blu-ray for the full effect. Yes, content needs to support HDR. It doesn't improve your perceived contrast, that remains static as per specs. You will not get HDR out of games, but movies look great, some streaming offers HDR as well.

What improves perceived contrast is a feature commonly called (manufacturers name it different) "Local Dimming", which is fantastic. I've seen LCD's that are going to rival OLED very shortly, which is interesting to say the least, apart from viewing angles of course. LCD's can also get way brighter than OLED, but I digress.

So, are you interested in me helping you find a TV?

Where are you buying from?
Budget/Currency?
Features (HDR, 3D, etc)?
Size?


I'm personally not on the 4k hype train yet, I much prefer view games and movies on my 1080p projector instead. I take a big screen over resolution any day, besides DLP projectors don't have PPI issues which LCD's do, which you hear people talk about a lot when recommending PC monitors. As soon as 4k projectors become affordable, I'm going to jump over to 4k. By then there will be a lot more 4k content out there as well.



All the best!

 

[Cody Broyles]

Yeah, help would be greatly appreciated. I went to Best buy and they have a floor model marked down from 2000 to 1400 and may come down further. It's a 4k LG with HDR. Should I invest in a floor model if the deal is good enough? Is LG a good brand for televisions? I have only purchased Samsung in the past, and avoid Sony at all costs. I will post the model number soon. Edit: Just researched it. It is an LG 65UF8500. Apparently there are notable issues with this television. On to the next I suppose.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Do you need an IPS TV, i.e really wide viewing angles without contrast loss, in exchange for a very low contrast ratio? If not, there's also VA, but none the less, 65" at that price with HDR is a very good price.