LCD TV as Main Monitor?

newbusiness

Hi, I'm considering a 32 inch (approx) LCD TV to use as a main PC monitor as well as a TV.

Most are in the region of 1300 x 760 pixels so that should be fine as my current laptop (old but good) runs at 1024 x 768 and is perfectly acceptable.
Obviously I'll need a g. card with HDMI.

Am I overlooking something?

GrumPy

Dont need a card with hdmi. Most lcd manufactures include VGA inputs on there tv's (bar philips)

Max res you can get on 32"'s is 1366x768. beware though, some tv's
(Sony's new s3000range)will only goto 1280x768 over vga, prolly not important though if its just being used as monitor.

Fnz

newbusiness wrote: »

Am I overlooking something?

Perhaps.

The image won't be as sharp - for example:
- the native resolution of a 24 inch widescreen monitor is 1920 x 1200.
- the native resolution of a 20 inch widescreen monitor is 1680 x 1050.

A (1300 x 760) 32 inch display will be made up of less pixels per inch than these smaller PC monitors.

Shiny

Yeah I absolutly wouldn't do it unless you want your eyes to bleed.
I have a 24 inch (1920x1200) and as it is i have to look at different
parts of the screen, ie you cant look at the "whole" screen at the one time.

But if use the 32 inch, say a word document, would have to be streteched
across the width of the entire screen!!!! Seriously, typing a sentence would
be like watching tennis! Trust me, try it and you will see!!!!!!!

Hope this helps :P

dazftw

Yea I agree with others but I dont think it should put you off.. Just you think the res on your laptop is fine but what size is your laptop? 17 - 19"? Compare that to a 32" Saying that if you played games it would be fine! You should try if you can get a tv hooked up to a computer just to see if it wont be a pain to use..


Though saying that I think you should do it.. Its going be my plan over the next couple of years building a sort of home media type thing I dont know what there called at the moment just for movies and music etc etc.. I already have the tv :P

newbusiness

Surely if I double the distance between me and the monitor it should halve the arc which I'd have to move my eyes/head in order to observe the entire screen, no?

So if I sit at my laptop, 14inch, with my head at 2 feet away, I should be able to comfortably sit at a 28 inch screen 4 feet away.

The TV pixels (at the same resolution) will directly proportional in size to the monitor so that shouldn't be an issue either.

I guess what I'm really looking for is an opinion from someone who's tried it.

Archytas

PCFormat magazine just did a pretty good review of a gaming on LCD tv's. You could check that out?

newbusiness

Archytas wrote: »

PCFormat magazine just did a pretty good review of a gaming on LCD tv's. You could check that out?

Nice one - I'll pick up a copy :-)

Sqaull20

newbusiness wrote: »

Surely if I double the distance between me and the monitor it should halve the arc which I'd have to move my eyes/head in order to observe the entire screen, no?

So if I sit at my laptop, 14inch, with my head at 2 feet away, I should be able to comfortably sit at a 28 inch screen 4 feet away.

The TV pixels (at the same resolution) will directly proportional in size to the monitor so that shouldn't be an issue either.

I guess what I'm really looking for is an opinion from someone who's tried it.

My brother had the same idea as you and I must admit it looks the business...He has a 4 year old p4 destop hooked up to his 32" samsung to play films,youtube a bit of word etc and he loves it....

He sits on the couch with one of these...



http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=47XB&CategorySelectedId=11117&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11117,11,4294959998,42410000

He had a wireless keyboard and mouse,but found it awkward....

Fnz

IIRC text can look a little funny on a TV that size at the 720p resolution. It's not too bad for short spells... but if you plan on using it regularly for browsing the web and reading/composing text documents, it could be irritating.

Remember, even if a regular 17" widescreen monitor, with a 1440 x 900 native resolution, was stretched out to 32", it would still have a higher resolution than a 720p display.

If you can find a 1080p (with 1920 × 1080 native resolution) 32" TV then that would be a lot better. However, Irish GrumPy reckons that the max res you can get on 32"'s is 1366x768.

newbusiness

Fnz wrote: »

If you can find a 1080p (with 1920 × 1080 native resolution) 32" TV then that would be a lot better. However, Irish GrumPy reckons that the max res you can get on 32"'s is 1366x768.

I'll have a look see. Full HD would be nice...