New York – Seiki, the brand that hit the U.S. market last year with one of the most aggressively priced Ultra HDTVs yet seen, revealed Wednesday that it has similar plans in mind for the desktop PC monitor business.
During CE Week here, the company showed 16:9 4K Ultra HDTV monitors in the 28-, 32- and 40-inch screen sizes that it intends to market under the Seiki Pro brand.
All display up to 3,840 by 2,160 native resolution and include the latest input standards including DisplayPort 1.3, HDMI 2.0, USB 3.0, MHL 3.0, DVI and VGA. The monitors will also support HDCP 2.2 content protection.
Sung Choi, Seiki’s marketing VP, said the company decided to add the monitor line after receiving numerous requests to put DisplayPort 1.3 in its Ultra HDTVs for use with PCs.
He said the capabilities will enable advanced high-speed (up to 60fps) video game play at resolution levels not seen before. They will also support demand professional and business applications including: intensive graphics production, programming applications and photo and video editing.
Choi said Seiki plans to support the PC monitors with a new marketing strategy, employing direct-to-business distribution on large quantity orders, in addition to typical IT channels, and office supply retailers.
“The whole world is going to 4K now, and the same thing we did in the TV world, we want to do in the PC world,” said Choi.
Seiki has designed the monitors with a picture-in-picture mode and the ability to daisy chain monitors together.
The monitors will use Innolux-produced Vertical Alignment (VA) LED panel technology, which Choi described as melding the benefits of wide viewing angels, like those in IPS displays, but with better black-and-white contrast levels, and with the price efficiency close to that of TN display panel technology.
Seiki expects to be one of the first finished product manufacturers to market products using Ultra HD VA-based displays, Choi said.
The technology will be carried in both the new Seiki Pro UHD TVs, which were discussed in January, and in the new monitors.
He said the panel producer developed the VA technology, in part, to enable one display technology to address both applications.
The monitors will include three USB 3.0 ports, one upstream, and two downstream.
Cosmetics include black bezels with silver-finish stands and will incorporate upscaling technology.
Choi said Seiki isn’t ready to announce monitor pricing or exact shipping dates, but assured that the company is using the same value proposition for monitors that it has for its TVs.
Choi said he expects the monitors to be ready within the first quarter of 2015.
As for next-generation Seiki Pro branded UHD TVs, Choi said the company elected not to bring a lot of the line to the U.S. at this time because “we wanted the HDMI 2.0 standard to be a little more mature. We don’t want to market a product that our customers won’t be absolutely happy with.”
Instead, the company will make “running changes” within the current Seiki UHD line using the features of the previously announced Seiki Pro models, including HDMI 2.0 inputs.
When it comes time to deliver Seiki Pro branded UHD TVs in the U.S., Choi said the company is now looking to add new wide color gamut panels. He estimated that order taking on those Seiki Pro items could start around the first or second quarters of 2015.
