Using a TV as a PC Monitor?

[PushTheWinButton]

Yes - I know displaying a PC on a TV is just plugging a HDMI cable into it, however I'm more interested if there's any discernible difference between the two for my purposes.

 

I've been looking at getting a new monitor with speakers to replace my current 24'' PC monitor for some time. First, I want an increase in screen size, and secondly I don't want to use my current PC speakers anymore. They're old, hefty, and annoying to lug back to university during term. Another major reason is that I want to start using my monitor to play games consoles on - and having speakers built in simplifies this. That said - I know the process is straight forward for the newer consoles that support HDMI, but I also like to play slightly older games from the PS2 or GameCube - and these are more annoying to connect. Even though I have a decent rig, I hardly play any PC games aside from Bethesda RPGs - any competitive games I play on console because that's what my friends use. Basically I want a single display for all of them, however that doesn't mean that I'm willing to compromise PC display quality too much as I have to spend a lot of time at my computer for modding, gaming, and work.

 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'm considering getting a small TV to use as a display for my PC, so that I can also have an easier time with the consoles. I'm not that knowledgable about hardware and refresh rates, etc, so I was wondering if anyone can help me with this. Does anyone know if this is a good idea or not? What are the major differences I'd be looking at between monitor and TV? Of course, I'm only looking at 1080p, LED, 27''+ in both cases. It's also probably worth mentioning that I don't watch TV at all - haven't for years now - so I'd be buying for the sole purpose of using as a display for my PC and consoles.

 

From my research, TVs are generally cheaper, and usually come with all the connections I need in terms of consoles. They also have built in speakers which can be rare in PC monitors (I know I'd probably be dealing with an audio quality loss, but I plug a headset directly into my PC when I care about sound and my old speakers could always be plugged into my PC still). However I've read that monitors have a better response time, though I've also read that this is overstated in most cases.

 

Anyway, I'd be really grateful if anyone can offer some insight into the differences to help me choose. Thanks.

[RattleAndGrind]

The challenge you face when using a TV as a monitor is the startup drivers are for a VGA, DVI or Dataport monitor connection. So if you use a HDMI television as a monitor, you will not see the boot sequence messages. The solution is a VGA/DVI to HDMI cable.

 

 

Here, this article will explain it better than I can.

[JimboUK]

Make sure the TV has a way to disable overscan, it shouldn't be an issue with most modern sets but some still have it, look for something like "PC Mode" or "Game Mode", that should also help with response times, they're another with problem with TVs. At 1080p try not to go any higher than 27inch, up close the image will start to look visibly worse as the pixel density decreases. Your current display at 1080p will give you 91 pixels per inch, a 32 inch TV at that resolution will drop to 68 per inch, that's quite a decrease in quality.

[PushTheWinButton]

Make sure the TV has a way to disable overscan, it shouldn't be an issue with most modern sets but some still have it, look for something like "PC Mode" or "Game Mode", that should also help with response times, they're another with problem with TVs. At 1080p try not to go any higher than 27inch, up close the image will start to look visibly worse as the pixel density decreases. Your current display at 1080p will give you 91 pixels per inch, a 32 inch TV at that resolution will drop to 68 per inch, that's quite a decrease in quality.

 

Yeah, I've since realised the quality drop might be significant. I've decided it's probably better to get a larger monitor that has a 2560x1440 resolution. It can be expensive but I've managed to find a decent one that's within my budget. Connecting my consoles will be easier then I thought - now I just need to decide which one to take. The increased desktop space will be useful for my uni work anyway - oh, God, the thought of all those reports...

[FMod]

You're a bit late to the party - plenty of large monitor options these days too.

That said, I never had any issues with HDMI connection not initializing properly. Barring some special combination of needs and hardware, It's a non-issue.

 

Some TV play nice with PCs as monitors, others don't. Check the reviews (real text ones, not videos). For gaming only, feel free to go as large as you wish. For productivity, anything above 32", maybe 40" if you're pixel-tolerant, should be 4K. But you say you're looking for a small TV, which means 27-32", 1080p.

 

In that case, check if it really has any advantage over a monitor. Much cheaper? Something better? If not, a monitor is pretty much guaranteed not to have color convergence or input lag issues, a TV isn't.

[JimboUK]

 

Make sure the TV has a way to disable overscan, it shouldn't be an issue with most modern sets but some still have it, look for something like "PC Mode" or "Game Mode", that should also help with response times, they're another with problem with TVs. At 1080p try not to go any higher than 27inch, up close the image will start to look visibly worse as the pixel density decreases. Your current display at 1080p will give you 91 pixels per inch, a 32 inch TV at that resolution will drop to 68 per inch, that's quite a decrease in quality.

Yeah, I've since realised the quality drop might be significant. I've decided it's probably better to get a larger monitor that has a 2560x1440 resolution. It can be expensive but I've managed to find a decent one that's within my budget. Connecting my consoles will be easier then I thought - now I just need to decide which one to take. The increased desktop space will be useful for my uni work anyway - oh, God, the thought of all those reports...

 

 

I should move on from 1080p, at the moment my phone has a higher resolution than my monitor. :D I've been thinking about 4K but I worry about some 32bit games hitting the 4GB limit up that high, I already have trouble with New Vegas chewing through the memory, then there are games that don't go up to 4K, I'm worried about the scaling making them look bad.