Since I'm not completely conversant with all the different connectors, can this TV: a) be physically connected to a Mac Mini b) does OS X know how to handle a TV like this as a display?
For an UHDTV you'll probably need to go with HDMI or use a DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor via a Thunderbolt port. You'll only get ~30Hz at 4K 3840x2160 though due to HDMI 1.4 bandwidth limitations.
From my personal experience I find that ~30Hz isn't an issue for me and my use case. My Wife is a programmer / developer so I don't expect it would be an issue for her either. My experience is fairly similar to the linked youtube video review:
Will be using the 4k monitor for a guy who has vision problems (macular degeneration & other vision issues). I'll be using the zoom feature in the Accessibility area of System Preferences to bump the text size up for him as wel, so he can navigate around the Mac by himself. Will the Mac gui 'flicker' at 30Hz refresh rate?
The tv will also be used by the rest of his family for movies.
I'd agree with HiVolt (though obviously, if this is what the person wants then go for it). He likely won't be able to see the details that 4K would offer above 1080p since his decreased vision would make it harder to distinguish detail. Just something to consider before dropping that much money I occasionally play games via my laptop or desktop on my 55" 1080p from about 8' away and have a hard time seeing the individual pixels from there with corrected 20/20 eyesight.
This is a "kill two birds with one stone" situation.
It will be wall-mounted. The 4K is for the people in the family with normal vision. The 55"-65" screen size is so the vision impaired person can blow up the font size (he still has 'some' vision out of the corner of an eye).
Recap.... primary purpose of the 4K is for movies, secondary is for using it as a display for the Mac to view the iTunes library by the vision-impaired person ( until Siri can let you control a Mac-based iTune library using an iPod/iPad as the voice controller and let you control WHICH version of Beethoven's 9th you want to listen to).
Will be using the 4k monitor for a guy who has vision problems (macular degeneration & other vision issues). I'll be using the zoom feature in the Accessibility area of System Preferences to bump the text size up for him as wel, so he can navigate around the Mac by himself. Will the Mac gui 'flicker' at 30Hz refresh rate?
The tv will also be used by the rest of his family for movies.
I've never used the Zoom feature in OS X but I trust your understanding of it means that it will suit your needs as well as the needs of people you're considering.
To answer your question, no there will be no "flicker" at 30Hz. Modern panels don't refresh like old CRT displays. Most 4K media (what little of it there is) is likely shot at ~24 to ~30 frames and this doesn't cause a problem. So playing media should look great.
What you do see at ~30Hz is some, IMO, minor mouse lag on screen and other objects that you might manipulate onscreen (like sizing a window or moving a window) wouldn't be as smooth as it would be at 60Hz. I suspect this is somewhat subjective though since I hardly notice it at all and I have fairly good vision. OS X animations seem very smooth though. Playing games at 30Hz would be less then optimum to say the least but you could sidestep such limitations by lowering the resolution which should automatically raise the frequency.
I'm not complaining. I paid about ~$498.99 for my Seiki UHDTV. My only real issue with it is I don't absolutely need to have it and it is a bit too big for a desktop monitor neither of which is a failing on the part of the manufacturer.
The mouse lag isn't an issue for most people with low vision. They need time to process where they are on the screen anyway, and they get used to moving cursors slowly so they can read sentences word, or letter, at a time. And 30Hz would be no issue for playing Solitaire or Bridge.
I've learned a ton about helping people with vision loss over the past couple of years, and I really hope that Apple steps up their game with Siri....it's great so far, but needs a lot more work to make it better. That work will not only benefit vision-impaired users, but also the Apple 'Connected Car', or any other situation where people can't access a keyboard/mouse either due to space constraints or safety reasons.
Commercially, it would be great if Apple sold/leased a Siri "appliance" (like a Google search appliance) so companies could install them behind their firewalls.
Sorry I feel like I'm not exactly being clear. The 30Hz experience is a difficult one to describe. Mouse lag isn't exactly what I mean to say because its not really a delay or something that should or would effect accuracy when using the mouse. Its more an issue of smoothness with the motion of the pointer but as I said I hardly notice it.
quote:Second, if you are tying to decide whether or not a more expensive 60Hz 4k display is worth it over a 30Hz display, consider what you will be using it for. If it is primarily for watching 4k movies, a 30Hz display is likely just fine as most 4k movies are only played at 24FPS. For almost anything else, however, the 30Hz refresh rate is going to be very noticeable. One tool we've found to be useful for comparing refresh rates is the Frames Per Second website. Simply set the baseballs' FPS to 60 and 30 FPS, turn off motion blur, and play around with the velocity to see how much choppier a 30HZ display is compared to a 60Hz display.
Once again though, OS X animation is somehow very smooth and videos play fine.