The display can automatically upscale normal quality video

Oct 31, 2014 09:52 GMT  ·  By

We already covered the Samsung 850 Pro SSD and how it's selling in a bundle with a certain game that Ubisoft will soon release. Now we're bringing you the other product that will ship in a similar package: the U28D590D monitor, or UD590 for short.

As a 28-inch display, the product wouldn't stand out all that much. While it's in the upper half in terms of consumer display size, there are plenty of larger models out there.

However, being smaller than the best Full HD monitors out there is going to work in the product's favor, because this is not, in fact, a Full HD product.

Instead, it is a monitor with a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 4K. This image quality isn't that easy to cram on such a small surface. Eight million pixels isn't a small number after all.

But with 40-inch or larger screens (some even of 100-110 inches) having prices in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars (some even over a hundred thousands), few people are going to buy those. By extension, offering a game for free with them isn't going to really affect likelihood of sales at all.

The good and bad of the Samsung UD590

First off, the native resolution automatically makes this one of the best monitors in the world. The upscaling technology that can increase the resolution of Full HD films and games to that level is a bonus too.

It won't be the same as if the films/games were rendered in UHD level to begin with, but it will still show a difference. And Assassin's Creed Unity supports 4K mode anyway, so you're covered on that front.

The “bad” part is that, no matter how much display makers try to hide it, the advantages of 4K resolution kind of fade when the screen size goes below 40 inches.

It's one thing to install a 4K panel on a large screen. Low resolutions render pixels large enough for them to be visible to the naked eye, causing oblique lines to show up as slightly ridged. So 4K actually does have an obvious effect there.

On small screens, though, pixels are already pretty small, so a further increase in resolution doesn't have many shortcomings left to eliminate. Nevertheless, an improvement is still an improvement at the end of the day.

Availability and pricing

The Samsung U28D590D 28-inch monitor with Assassin's Creed Unity can be found for sale through Best Buy, Amazon, NewEgg, Microcenter, Sam's Club, ABT, Fry's, Tiger Direct and Electronics Express. Its price is of $578.44 / €578.44.

Show Press Release