Andre Klein

Q: Samsung U28D590 4K Display: Blurry, chromatic edges. No HiDPi mode.

Being so in love with the Retina Display on my 13 inch MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 (16 GB RAM, 512 MB SSD), I just purchased the new low-cost Samsung U28D590 display. It has a TN panel, so the color accuracy is mediocre when it comes to viewing angles, but I was expecting that. Also the 30 Hz doesn't come by surprise, although I was hoping for more (it is connected HDMi Port Mac -> HDMi Port display). I'm aware that the GPU in the MBPr probably hasn't enough steam to do more (compared to the more powerful GPU in the 15 inch MBPr).

 

There are two things however which really bug me, and which makes me consider getting rid of the display:

 

1. No HiDPi

 

Despite running 10.9.3, there is no HiDPi mode. I also tried it with closed lid on the MBPr, but nada. 3,840 x 2,160 just renders the GUI a bit too tiny to fell comfortable. This is all I get („Niedrige Auflösung“ is german for „low resolution“; I can get more resolutions to choose from by pressing the option key when clicking on "Scaled", yet none of them are HiDPi).

 

Bildschirmfoto 2014-05-21 um 18.07.57.png

 

It would be interesting to know whether this is a limition in Software (namely Mavericks) or caused by GPU limitations. Ideas?

 

2. Chromatic halo (aberration) around text (and some graphics, too)

 

The rendered content (text and certain graphics) has a nasty reddish or blue halo. When viewed on the MBPr internal display it looks fine, when moved to the Samsung U28D590 it immediately becomes colorful blurry and annoying. See here (ignore the different pixels per inch, just look at the halo):

 

Samsung-U28D590-Chromatic-Aberration.jpg

 

Click image for full resolution. I made a photo rather than a screenshot to better show the annoyance.

 

Disabling LCD Font Smoothing in the System Preferences are not a viable solution to me, as I'm then back to jaggies rather than razor-sharp, super-smooth text. I also tried the "defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 1/2/3" trick, but that did not improve the situation either.

 

I remember that long time ago, Mac OS X had the option to adjust the red/blue halo/shift in the Font Smoothing/Anti-Aliasing, which could be handy here.

 

The next thing I'll try is the procedure described in here (force RGB mode), although I'm not sure whether it describes my problem or not. Other than that, I'm clueless. Keep in mind that the text shown is really tiny at 4K on 28", which makes the halo really annoying.

 

Any ideas?

 

Sidenote: Like most Korean displays, the U28D590 has a silly sharpness setting (IMHO 1 pixel should be 1 pixel. Boom. No image altering sharpness adjustment needed), however it is set to the default value of 60 and changing it, does not remove the chromatic halo, but only makes the image more blurry or ridiculously sharp.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.3), Late 2013, 2.6 GHz i5, 16/512 GB

Posted on May 21, 2014 10:15 AM

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Q: Samsung U28D590 4K Display: Blurry, chromatic edges. No HiDPi mode.

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  • by Daniel E. Holmes,

    Daniel E. Holmes Daniel E. Holmes Sep 26, 2014 5:10 PM in response to Adam757
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 5:10 PM in response to Adam757

    I also have the Seiki 39" 4K tv, SE39UY04, and turning the contrast down to zero (0) in the TV's picture menu fixed the blurriness / grainy display. Now I just need to install the firmware update to it from Seiki to enable the ability to turn down the panel's brightness.

  • by ppitton,

    ppitton ppitton Oct 3, 2014 2:21 AM in response to Andre Klein
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2014 2:21 AM in response to Andre Klein

    Hi André,

     

    funny I do have a MBPr (as below)

     

    MPB.tiff

    but Display shows ONLY these modes and forced 60 Hz (greyed out).

     

    Saw in you later post that you sold the display, but do you remember if it showed "as TV" in System???

     

     

    U28D590:

      Auflösung: 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz

      Pixeltiefe: 32-Bit Farbe (ARGB8888)

      Synchronisierung: Aus

      Eingeschaltet: Ja

      Rotation: Unterstützt

      Verbindungstyp: DisplayPort

      Fernseher: Ja  meaning TV: yes

     

    U28D590.tiff

    Wondering how to activate the modes you had?

     

    Anybody else with some tips?

     

    Brgds,

     

    Peter

  • by O Trap O,

    O Trap O O Trap O Nov 5, 2014 12:33 PM in response to kuanj
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 5, 2014 12:33 PM in response to kuanj

    Hey kuanj,

     

    I know it's been awhile since you posted and hopefully you have found a fix by now? Sorry for the late reply...

    I HAVE found a fix. Upgrading to Yosemite did the trick. I guess the update included more support for 4k displays (previously there were only four displays that were supported).

     

    Hope this helps.

  • by shapethelola,

    shapethelola shapethelola Nov 29, 2014 4:20 AM in response to Andre Klein
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 29, 2014 4:20 AM in response to Andre Klein

    Well Andre was running this with HDMI, which is just wrong. Samsung advised that if you want to get 60 hz you need Displayport to Thunderbolt(mini display port)

     

    And the cable needs to be able to handle 60 hz, not all cables do, this is very important

  • by petedgr8,

    petedgr8 petedgr8 Dec 8, 2014 8:15 PM in response to O Trap O
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 8:15 PM in response to O Trap O

    What version Macbook Pro do you have?  I have an early 2013 retina 15" and a late 2013 13" retina, and neither have hiDpi over displayport.  Through HDMI, I get full resolutions, albeit at 30hz, but over displayport, the highest resolution is 2560 x 1440 at 60hz.  Blurry as **** and I have Yosemite on both machines.

  • by shapethelola,

    shapethelola shapethelola Dec 9, 2014 1:03 AM in response to petedgr8
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2014 1:03 AM in response to petedgr8

    Im not sure about the early 2013 15 model but the 2013 13 retina can do 4k at 52 hz (Which needs some hacking with a third party tool) at least. Only the late 2013 15 inch can do it at 4k 60hz. You need a displayport 1.2 to mini displayport cable. Im using one by Lenovo from Amazon germany.


    There's no Displayport on Macbooks, just Thunderbolt which is compatible with Mini-Displayport

  • by kuanj,

    kuanj kuanj Dec 9, 2014 1:11 AM in response to O Trap O
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2014 1:11 AM in response to O Trap O

    Thanks your info and correct upgraded to  Yosemite did the trick

  • by philsurmac,

    philsurmac philsurmac Jul 6, 2015 3:01 AM in response to Adam757
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 6, 2015 3:01 AM in response to Adam757

    It worked for me... I receded a bit the sharpness and bye bye the white halo around the font (mainly on Safari's bookmarks bar).

     

    Thanks for the idea

  • by Jim Wilde,

    Jim Wilde Jim Wilde Oct 6, 2015 7:56 PM in response to philsurmac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 7:56 PM in response to philsurmac

    I know this information is a little late - but it may help someone.

     

    I have the Samsung U28D590 running on my 15" Retina Macbook Pro pretty well in HiDPI mode  - connected via either DisplayPort  @ 60Hz or GDMI at 30Hz (yuck).

     

    Recommend the following settings on the monitor:

    Brightness: 70

    Contrast: 70

    Sharpness: 48 (they won't let you choose 50) Sharpness setting is the one that makes everything either blurry or horribly jagged.

    Game Mode: Off

    Samsung Bright: Custom

    Samsun Angle: Off

    Displayport: 1.2

     

    I use a tool called RDM to let me choose specific resolutions on my monitor:RDM.png

     

    Note to Apple: my Windows PC doesn't die every time I plug/unplug a monitor. OS X shouldn't either.

     

    *EDIT: You can download RDM from this excellent EveryMac article: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pro-retina-display-faq /macbook-pro-retina-display-hack-to-run-… (works fine on Yosemite and El Cap)

  • by pudjam666,

    pudjam666 pudjam666 Nov 13, 2015 12:41 PM in response to Andre Klein
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 13, 2015 12:41 PM in response to Andre Klein

    I have a 40" Samsung 4k.

     

    Had the same problem.

     

    But like others have said, just turn the monitor's "sharpness" down a little. For me, setting it at 55% was the sweet spot. It's almost as if the monitor jumps from "halo effect" to normal at that contrast.

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