Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

4k Seiki 39" TV display corruption flashing on bottom half of screen

O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
I've been able to get my 2013 MBA (i5/HD5000/128/8GB) hooked up to the Seiki 39" 4k TV and the signal accepted at 4k (14hz, which is fine as this is just for coding work), I get corruption on the bottom half of the screen flashing on and off at 3840x2160@14hz.

Any ideas to resolve? I have tried both active and passive MDP to HDMI adapters. Everything works fine at 1080p with either adapter, and the behavior is exactly the same at 4k with either adapter.

KY7fN11.jpg
 
T

The-Pro

macrumors 65816
Dec 2, 2010
1,453
40
Germany
im amazed at how cheap this tv is. I didnt think it were possible to make 4k tvs for under 1000 yet, the 50" models is under 1000 too.

Anyway.
I just read there is a firmware upgrade available. But I dont know for what or what it fixes.
here are the instructions:
[FIRMWARE UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS]
1. Download firmware from Seiki site (seikidigital.com/support/downloads.php)
2. Unzip firmware to FAT32 formatted USB stick
3. Put the thumb drive in USB port 1 (bottom of TV)
4. Turn the TV on
5. On your remote press the "menu" button
6. Then on your remote press "0" 4 times, that will take you into the service menu.
7. In the service menu choose the software upgrade option
7. Screen will display upgrade animation
8. Patiently wait for the upgrade to finish
9. Turn off TV when finished
10. Disconnect thumb drive

I also read something about the HDMI 1.4 plug in the TV not being able to support a high enough bandwidth at 4K and the TV should have HDMI 2.0. Dont know how relevant that is :D
 
M

Mac.User

macrumors 6502
Aug 25, 2013
348
6
My Retina does that under 10.9 sometimes. but not under 10.8 I think it may be a video driver issue.
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
I have tried with internal display both off and on, same result.

There's no firmware update for the 39".

Haven't tried Windows, boot camp sounds like a waste of a few hours of my life... Is it reversible easily?
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
Hmm, turns out I missed the firmware update. I completed it, with same result. Ugh. So beautiful, so unusable.
 
MacPoulet

MacPoulet

macrumors 6502a
Dec 11, 2012
544
371
Canada
Can the Air even drive a 4K monitor? I thought it had a less powerful Thunderbolt controller than other macs? http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/07/latest-macbook-air-features-half-sized-sff-thunderbolt-controller/

Also found this: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/157319-asus-4k-monitor-is-just-4k-but-dont-get-too-excited-your-computer-isnt-powerful-enough-to-use-it which would imply that the MBA doesn't have the graphics chops to run that screen, or that any Apple laptop would.

Maybe we really do need Thunderbolt 2 for these things?
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
HDMI 1.4, which the adapter (passive or active) should provide from TB, should work with 4k @ refresh rates up to 24hz.
 
EthanNixon

EthanNixon

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2007
645
97
New Jersey
MacPoulet said:
Can the Air even drive a 4K monitor? I thought it had a less powerful Thunderbolt controller than other macs? http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/07/latest-macbook-air-features-half-sized-sff-thunderbolt-controller/

Also found this: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/157319-asus-4k-monitor-is-just-4k-but-dont-get-too-excited-your-computer-isnt-powerful-enough-to-use-it which would imply that the MBA doesn't have the graphics chops to run that screen, or that any Apple laptop would.

Maybe we really do need Thunderbolt 2 for these things?
Click to expand...

They are using a MacBook for their demo...smh

Thunderbolt has way more than enough bandwidth for a 4K monitor, on any Macbook. I suspect the issue is in an Intel driver or with the HDMI adapter.
 
MacPoulet

MacPoulet

macrumors 6502a
Dec 11, 2012
544
371
Canada
EthanNixon said:
They are using a MacBook for their demo...smh

Thunderbolt has way more than enough bandwidth for a 4K monitor, on any Macbook. I suspect the issue is in an Intel driver or with the HDMI adapter.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the resolution is scaled from 2560X1600 and they say that it runs like crap. And that's plugged into a rMBP with a dedicated video card.
 
O

omvs

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2011
495
20
Did you try running it without the internal display (close lid mode?)

I ran into a corruption problem when trying with my coworker's mac mini 2012 if there were two monitors connected - apparently the drivers couldn't handle that wide of a merge display (3840 + 2560). My 2011 mac mini work fine (AMD 6630), but you have a similar video set to the other mini (Intel)

Thx for others pointing out there's a firmware update! Hopefully this will fix the issue where it won't do 4k after about a week, and needs to be physically unplugged and replugged. Kinda annoying....
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
MacPoulet said:
Yes, but the resolution is scaled from 2560X1600 and they say that it runs like crap. And that's plugged into a rMBP with a dedicated video card.
Click to expand...

You should see our Retina Macbook Pro 15 drive this 4k display. It works perfectly, in conjunction with the internal display as well.
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
omvs said:
Did you try running it without the internal display (close lid mode?)

I ran into a corruption problem when trying with my coworker's mac mini 2012 if there were two monitors connected - apparently the drivers couldn't handle that wide of a merge display (3840 + 2560). My 2011 mac mini work fine (AMD 6630), but you have a similar video set to the other mini (Intel)

Thx for others pointing out there's a firmware update! Hopefully this will fix the issue where it won't do 4k after about a week, and needs to be physically unplugged and replugged. Kinda annoying....
Click to expand...

Tried with internal display closed, no go. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
MacPoulet

MacPoulet

macrumors 6502a
Dec 11, 2012
544
371
Canada
obrienmd said:
You should see our Retina Macbook Pro 15 drive this 4k display. It works perfectly, in conjunction with the internal display as well.
Click to expand...

Interesting. And it's running it at native resolution?

And yes, I would love to see that thing run, especially in an edit suite.

I still think the MBA isn't powerful enough to run it, but it's just a guess. Let's hope I'm wrong.
 
O

omvs

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2011
495
20
obrienmd said:
Tried with internal display closed, no go. Thanks for the suggestion!
Click to expand...

Since you can drive just fine with another machine, hopefully its just a driver issue. Maybe 10.9 will fix.... If HD4000 can drive 4k successfully, the HD5000 should be able to do it.
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
omvs said:
Since you can drive just fine with another machine, hopefully its just a driver issue. Maybe 10.9 will fix.... If HD4000 can drive 4k successfully, the HD5000 should be able to do it.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Hoping that's the case!
 
Y

Y So Jelly

macrumors regular
Sep 14, 2013
126
6
omvs said:
Since you can drive just fine with another machine, hopefully its just a driver issue. Maybe 10.9 will fix.... If HD4000 can drive 4k successfully, the HD5000 should be able to do it.
Click to expand...

Yep.. well that's intel is claiming anyway.


haswell_graphics_03.png
 
O

obrienmd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2013
9
0
Well, crap... Installed latest DP release of Mavericks and it's the same story. Hoping I have a bad MBA, anyone have the ability to give this a shot with a 4k TV at 15hz with SwitchresX?
 
S

sporklift

macrumors newbie
Oct 14, 2013
1
0
I have the same issue with 50" Seiki display. Tried two 2013 Macbook Air machines (i7/8GB RAM/256GB disk) under Mountain Lion. Mavericks was of no help either.

I did try booting a Linux live distro, which did work properly with native 3840x2160 resolution. This appears to confirm that the issue lies somewhere in software.

All my testing was done with lid open. I have also tried some intermediate resolutions (between 2560x1600 and 3840x2160). Curiously enough, the closer I got to 2560x1600, the smaller was the corrupt part of screen.
 
C

cohiba88

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2014
1
0
Lagos, Nigeria
MBA + 39 Seiki

I have the same half screen flicker. I found that closing the lid and restarting the computer will solve this issue. But frequently after 1-2 hours of use the screen would just shut off.

I managed to get only 15Hz working using the active adapter. This was with Switchresx and a custom resolution: (This can be pasted in)

PowerStrip timing parameters:
3840x2160=3840,117,388,505,2160,3,5,13,158500,1

Generic timing details for 3840x2160:
HFP=117 HSW=388 HBP=505 kHz=32 VFP=3 VSW=5 VBP=13 Hz=14

VESA detailed timing details:
PClk=158500.00 H.Active=3840 H.Blank=1010 H.Offset=101 HSW=388 V.Active=2160 V.Blank=21 V.Offset=3 VSW=5

# XFree86 modeline parameters:
Modeline "3840x2160" 158.500 3840 3957 4345 4850 2160 2163 2168 2181 +hsync +vsync


When I try to increase the Hz to 16 or anything higher, switchresx will show it as being inactive.

This is a wonderful display, I wish it could work at 30Hz, as 15 is very slow and similar in experience to a USB-VGA adapter, or like using Terminal services / Citrix.
 
U

uxperts

macrumors newbie
Feb 17, 2014
3
0
I have a simiiar problem on my MacBook Air 2013 (HD5000); I got it running with 30Hz even with a little patch (https://code.google.com/r/douglas-mac-pixel-clock-patch/source/browse) from a thread in the forum https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1651886/) but still have the display corruption like OP. I sometimes even get half the screen interlaced (left side) and right side green ... weird.

Especially weird - the MacBook Air (MBA) 2012 with Intel HD4000 has no such problems.

If anyone comes up with a solution ... Running 10.9.1 on both systems, interlace, hsync/vsync has no effect in SwitchResX
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom