Monitor v Televison

[ell46]

I've got a Samsung 19" wide screen monitor, I think my games and graphic programs etc look fine nothing in your face wrong, but OH thinks I should get a 22" HD television as a monitor and I'm afraid the words 'it will look better' just don't quite do it for me. I've not had this monitor that long it seems stupid to change it.

 

What's the consensus of opinion on this? and if anyone can expand on 'it will look better' I'm eager to know why, who knows I might get one.

 

Ops forgot in case it's important I use a PC not a console.

[JimboUK]

It might look better or it might not, depends on the TV. Do they do 1080p TVs that size? a 720p will be a bit rubbish. It does seem a bit of a waste of money if your happy with what you have. What resolution is your monitor?

[evilneko]

What he said.

 

One thing to keep in mind is if this will be your primary display, some TVs don't like certain resolutions which older (and heck, even some newer) games default to. My friend who uses his 52" LCD TV as a monitor sometimes runs into trouble with this and ends up borrowing the smaller monitor from his wife's computer long enough to switch the resolution.

 

The one you are looking at is small though and I think it might not have that problem. Donno, though.

 

Also, things look awesome on that TV of his.

[JimboUK]

Overscan is something else to think about, overscan is where a TV slightly enlarges a picture so the edges aren't displayed, this is to hide the garbage that can sometimes be seen on the edges of TV broadcasts. Some sets don't have the option to turn that off so when it zooms in slightly to lose the edges your taskbar will end up off the screen, a cheap HDTV we bought for the bedroom did it. You can compensate by fiddling about in your display settings but it's a real pain in rear end.

[Paxan_1]

Hi Ell,

 

i was thinking about this option same time ago, too. The 22" TV like the Samsung Syncmaster Lapfit LD220HD is the same panel like the "normal" monitors. The advantage of it is the stand alone TV option.

So if you don't want to have two displays in your room you can buy a "TV".

 

I haven't done it that way. After a little search i decided for a 23" IPS Panel monitor (1080p) and for TV i bought a 32" (1080p). Both are connected with my PC. So i'm using the 23" for working and gaming and if i want to watch a video i can have it on the 32".

 

Paxan

[TheTerminator2004]

It depends on the resolution of the TV, and of your current monitor. 720P is considered HD for TVs, but is actually only a resolution of 1280x720 - so probably lower than your current screen. 1080p on the other hand is 1920x1080, which is much higher.

 

There are of course other problems (overscan, blurriness, etc). TVs are designed to be viewed from a distance, so they are often not as sharp as a PC monitor, which are designed to be viewed from close up.

 

All in all, if you plan to use it for regular PC stuff (browsing the web, work, etc) instead of your current monitor, it's probably a worse idea. If you want to use it only to play games on, while using your current monitor for work etc, it might be a good idea - but you'd probably do better just getting an equivalent sized monitor, if the price is right.

[DarkeWolf]

kinda sorta on topic question. what is the emissions difference? would a tv be harder on the eyes at the closer range due to different light and stuff?

[RedVexHK]

Biggest issue by far resolution aside..... many Monitors have a refresh rate of 5ms or lower.... good ones 2 to 2.5 ms most LCD and Plasma TV's have a refresh rate of 8ms and higher. doesn't sound like much..... but believe me you'll notice..... if you want incredible browsing.. fine idea........ gaming.... at 8 ms or worse you WILL suffer image lag ghosting

[ell46]

WOW so much information on this, a little a knew already but a lot I didn't, thank you everyone for all the input on this. I'll have to take time to sift through it all before making a decision.

[JimboUK]

If your thinking of a 720p set (seriously don't) then a VGA input is pretty much a must. An awful lot of 720p sets are not 720p at all, the panels tend to be something like 1360x768, chances are it won't accept anything other than 1280x720 over HDMI so the TV will upscale from 1280x720 to 1360x768 and the result will be fuzzy text and other nastiness. VGA will let you set the output to the panels native resolution.