Seiki SM40UNP + Problems

[Rich.Cohen]

I bought this from Amazon about a week ago. I'm using this as my primary display with a 2013 Mac Pro. I have two other monitors attached as well.

I'm very happy with it and would buy it again BUT. This is my second monitor. The first one had problems recognizing presses to the touch sensitive buttons on the lower right of the bezel. At first I couldn't get it to turn on because it did not sense the "On" button. (Yes the hidden switch in back was On.) After about a day, it stopped recognizing touches to any of the buttons and I requested a replacement from Amazon. By the time the replacement had arrived 4 days later the first monitor had failed more dramatically. The screen would not display and every time I connected it to my Mac the Mac froze. Not even mouse moves were recognized.

I called Seiki for information and help on the first day. The people on the phone (I tried twice) had no information. "We know nothing about this because it is a new product." BUT new products are the ones most likely to need help! I was told the only detailed help was by email. 5 days later, after I had already returned the defective monitor, I received the following from Seiki:

The five "buttons" on the front of the TV are touch sensors and do not require any force to use. They should function with just a light press.

1) If any of the buttons are not working, try resetting the TV by powering it off completely. To remove all power to TV, press the power switch on the back of the TV.

Leave power off for a few hours or more to completely lose charge.

2) There is also an option to do a factory reset on the TV, but this requires the use of some of the buttons. So you may not be able to perform this reset:

While monitor is completely powered on, press the Power and Menu button at the same time.
A service menu should appear on screen. Select the "Factory Reset" option using arrow and menu buttons.

3) Make sure that you have no devices near the monitor that may cause electrical or magnetic interference with the monitor.

If you continue to have issues, you should return the item to the retailer.

****

You all may find items 1 and 2 useful if you have problems. Item 3 is very upsetting. My monitor is on my desk with lots of electrical devices of all sorts and some are only inches away. If this is really a problem then the Seiki SM40UNP has some serious design problems. However, I suspect item 3 is just a CYA (cover your a..).

The replacement monitor has now been in use for 3 days. The touch control "buttons" seem to work about 75% of the time. It this gets worse, I'll be exchanging this monitor for a third.

Both monitors arrived in boxes that had been taped shut. I'm not sure if this means they had been previously opened or not. The cables were in sealed packages. I'm not sure if the monitors themselves had been open or not after leaving the factory. The protective packaging for both monitors had some tears. The second monitor was missing a screw on the back panel. I took a matching screw from the first, defective, monitor to replace it.

Because of the menu touch control problems I had some difficulty switching both monitors from DP 1.1 (as shipped) to DP 1.2 (needed for 60Hz). Eventually I accomplished this.

 

[rdav]

Seiki Pro SM40UNP /Upgrade.

Two thoughts.
1) The Seiki monitors are generally cheaper than the alternatives. So there are bound to be some compromises in quality & support.

2) Seiki Pro have announced an upgrade to the SM40UNP.
http://hd-report.com/2015/01/07/seiki-intros-pro-4k-monitors-at-ces-2015/

Quote: "Right now, the monitors only offer HDMI 1.4, but Seiki promises HDMI 2.0 will be available in 2015/Q2. And the DisplayPort 1.2 will be replaced by DisplayPort 1.3 - So we advise waiting to purchase one of these monitors until those ports are updated."

 

[Rich.Cohen]

More news about my Seiki monitor.

1. It is very slow to activate (3-5 seconds after the other two monitors light up) I'm not sure if the Mac Pro or the Seiki is the cause.

2. Every so often, maybe once a week, the monitor goes black for 1-2 seconds and then returns to normal with no action on my part.

3. For the second time the monitor fails to come on at all when waking from sleep. This happened about 2-3 weeks ago and just now. In both cases turning off the monitor and turning it back on with the power switch near the power connector solved the problem.

4. The touch buttons on the front bezel have gradually become less responsive.

Has anyone out there had similar problems? I like the physical and pixel size of this monitor, but I'm beginning to think its a lemon.

 

[Rich.Cohen]

This is an update. I've now had two displays fail completely.

The first monitor was unreliable in recognizing button pressed for the touch-sensitive “buttons” on the lower right bezel. (Yes the hidden switch in back was On.) Over 1 day it went from occasionally recognizing a button press to never. I needed to uses these buttons to access the control menu to calibrate the screen and to set it to DP 1.2 mode. I contacted Amazon and they sent a replacement FEDEX.

By the time the replacement arrived 4 days (a weekend) later the original monitor had failed completely with a black screen.

The replacement monitor worked fine at first. The buttons worked every time I used them.

I continued to test the buttons once or twice a week and after a few weeks they became less reliable. Over 2.5 months the button reliability continued to diminish until a week ago they stopped responding at all. This was beyond Amazon’s return time-frame so Seiki was my only recourse. If I’d known about Amazon’s limit, I’d have asked for another exchange when I first started noticing unresponsive button behavior.

THE REALLY BAD:

When I first had problems with the first monitor, I called Seiki to see if there was a technical fix. The telephone “support” like is geared entirely to supporting TV’s. Back in April they told me the monitor was a new product and they knew nothing about it. They suggested that I send an email for tech support. I took 5 days to get a reply by which time Amazon had already replaced the first unit. That replay had some useful information and is at the end of this review.

On Thursday, July 1, the monitor failed with a black screen. The next day, July 2, I called Seiki and they still were geared only to support TV’s. I was put on hold and then disconnected. I sent an email to Seiki describing my problem. I received an automatic reply on July 3, a US holiday. By noon Tuesday, July 7, I had not received any form of follow-up from Seiki, so I called again. The first call was put on hold and then disconnected. For the second call, I insisted that they not put me on hold and they complied. WARNING: They will do nothing without the serial number. They requested that I take two photos front and back so they could see if there was any physical damage to the unit. They also needed a photo of the label on the back of the monitor with both the model number and serial number readable. Finally they needed a copy of my proof of purchase. Amazon’s, order confirmation email was acceptable. I sent all this and, at first, it didn’t seem to go through. After about 15 minutes they found my reply.

Here is what I now expect to happen. After a day or so, they’ll send me an email telling me where to ship the defective unit (at my expense). After they receive and examine my unit, they will ship me a replacement. This should take 4-8 weeks!

8 weeks without my main monitor is unacceptable, so I asked if there was anything I could do to speed up things. I asked if I could pay extra for expedited overnight delivery. I asked if I could pay them for a new unit with the expectation that they would refund my money after my warranty claim was approved. The support person said such options did not exist. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he said he had no authority to take such action. I asked to speak to someone with authority. At first he insisted I should write them a letter, not an email, a letter. (To China?) After I insisted on talking with someone, he said he’d try to get someone to call me back in 1-2 days!

That’s where I am right now… waiting.

 

[rdav]

This is an update. I've now had two displays fail completely.
...
8 weeks without my main monitor is unacceptable, so I asked if there was anything I could do to speed up things. I asked if I could pay extra for expedited overnight delivery. I asked if I could pay them for a new unit with the expectation that they would refund my money after my warranty claim was approved. The support person said such options did not exist. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he said he had no authority to take such action. I asked to speak to someone with authority. At first he insisted I should write them a letter, not an email, a letter. (To China?) After I insisted on talking with someone, he said he’d try to get someone to call me back in 1-2 days! That’s where I am right now… waiting.

Your experience seems horrendous, thanks for posting. Note to self, avoid cheap monitors, like the Seiki. Can I suggest that you post a clear, negative review on Amazon. (And place a link on this thread). Then they might take notice & respond.

 

[adiaz7531]

Just came across this post and though many years have passed and Seiki is now defunct, I've owned this display since 2016. I've wall mounted it and tried different software with it and since I've used it with a Mac Pro from that era I've found that the built-in Apple drivers handle this display just fine. There were some issues when using DP 1.2, HDMI and DVI-D and as much as DP 1.2 sounds great, my old tired eyes dealt with it best via DVI-D at a slightly reduced resolution with a 60hz refresh rate. At this setting I've had zero issues and it's now 2024. Take it for what it's worth.