Absolutely stunning as a computer monitor
8/3/2016
Customer review by Benjamin
5.0 stars by Benjamin
I bought this to tentatively replace a 4 monitor setup at work (2x Dell P2314H + 2 additional smaller displays) - with hope that it would be great, but the understanding that at this price I might be sorely disappointed. At the $229.99 purchase price, this was the least expensive 4K60 capable display in any size at the time. I run this with scaling set to 100% at a viewing distance of roughly 3ft. Windows 10 makes 4-window split screen a snap (as pictured). This is run on a Dell Latitude E5570 w/ Intel HD 530 graphics --> Dell E-Port docking station --> DisplayPort --> Club3D DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 adapter --> HDMI to achieve 4K @ 60hz. 30hz also works fine directly off the HDMI port on the laptop. Out of the box, as a computer monitor, the text is rough - even turning Sharpness down in the menu only helped a bit. The key is getting into the factory menu - Press "Menu" then the numbers 7343 while at the main menu - and changing the Sharpness curve to 0 across the board. Once that was complete, the text is completely clear in all situations I've encountered so far. Prior to figuring out the factory menu Sharpness settings, I ordered a 2nd display to compare this to - another budget favorite, the Seiki SE42UM, which was about $50 more expensive (bought on eBay, new). I figured the Seiki, with a long forum thread about it on an enthusiast forum and generally good reviews from many people using it as a computer monitor, had to be better than the Sceptre. The Seiki arrived 3 days into my using the Sceptre, so I had a good amount of time in w/ the Sceptre to compare to. I figured without a doubt I'd be returning the Sceptre once I hooked up the Seiki. Well, I hooked up the Seiki - updated the firmware (necessary out of the box to get rid of extreme input lag) - and I was blown away by how much better the SCEPTRE was! Viewing angles, text clarity, contrast, color, low input lag - in every single metric, the Sceptre was better. Within an hour of trying to calibrate the Seiki to be anywhere near the Sceptre (not possible), I knew the Seiki would be going back even though it was going to be more of a pain to do so. In short - the Sceptre excels for my purposes - fantastic viewing angles, great color, plenty of inputs, low input lag, great looks, etc... It feels like a much more expensive display than it is. Even the buttons and the faux brushed metal bezel felt much more high end than the Seiki. Except for being a little more reflective than I'd like for a computer monitor, I am beyond satisfied. The only con is that there seems to be adaptive backlighting based on what's on the screen, and no menu settings that I can find seem to disable it. It's a minor annoyance, and one I will happily live with for how great the rest of the experience is. I hope the display holds up in the long term getting 8+ hours per day of use - time will tell.
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