Looking for a TV that can be used as comp. monitor as well

phutu

phutu

CAGiversary!
Hi guys,

Well the title says it all. Preferably 30" or slightly smaller. I plan on getting a cpu soon and i want the monitor to be a lil more functional. Any help is appreciated;)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Well, as far as TVs as comp monitors go, you can find various LCD TVs with VGA ports so they can function as monitors, but they're not all that good.
Additionally, most decent hdtvs today will have HDMI ports, can you can hook a PC up to with a DVI to HDMI adapter/cable. Note that most laptops won't have a DVI out port, though any desktop with a decent video card should. (not even a powerful one, just a discrete, non-integrated one)

Alternatively, you can get computer monitors with built in TV functions, and these will be much better as computer monitors, though their ability to function as TVs may not be as good. I'd recommend checking newegg.com or Dell for their lines. Any of them that are expensive enough to have built in TV tuners will be good monitors.
 
Do a search on olevia syntax theres been a few discussions about them lately on CAG

My 27" can get my pc hooked up to it and there is split screen + Picture in Picture option if you want to do something else at the same time
 
Just a note if you plan on using your PC heavily with it, especially with text heavy apps like Firefox for web browsing and word processing, the text on TVs are a bit blurred.

I had been using a Samsung HDTV also as a PC monitor and as great as the screen is, it still doesn't compare to an LCD monitor. The latter has far better resolutions especially for the size.

Unless you're going for a 1080p capable screen, then I'd seriously think about the useage of the monitor. Go to a local store and take a look at a PC hooked up to an HDTV and you'll see what I mean. I was in the same boat as you a few weeks ago. I wanted to get an HDTV for gaming/PC use, but went ahead with an LCD monitor in the end.
 
If this is going to be your primary monitor for your PC, definitely get a 1080p set. Don't even consider looking at anything else. Take a laptop into a big box retailer and hook it up to 720p set to see why.

There's a reason why modern computer monitors are capable of at least 1280x1024. Anything less looks really bad, especially text.
 
[quote name='Koggit']If this is going to be your primary monitor for your PC, definitely get a 1080p set. Don't even consider looking at anything else. Take a laptop into a big box retailer and hook it up to 720p set to see why.

There's a reason why modern computer monitors are capable of at least 1280x1024. Anything less looks really bad, especially text.[/QUOTE]


Im in the same place looking for a tv that would function w/ my pc as well.
I see texts are very burred on TVs not sure about 1080P.

How is the PC gaming and watching movies through the TV?

Only 1080P series look good?
 
I don't have firsthand experience with this one, but I've heard good things:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4335

It seems to fit your requirements well, is fairly cheap, and sometimes is available refurbished for $100 savings. The only downside is that (as far as I know) it doesn't have a tuner or speakers, so you'll need to arrange for that separately. But as far as bang for your buck goes, I doubt you could do much better.

Oh, and I've seen pictures of it running XBOX 360 and it looks fantastic.
 
The reason you don't want to use a TV display as a PC display is because most PCs are meant to use at least 800 horizontal lines these days... so even if you get a 720p display, you'll only have 720 horizontal lines meaning that your computer will have to shrink the image down and that's why it'll look like crap. With 1080p (which is hella more expensive than a 720p display), it will look fairly good because then the computer can display up to 1024 (current day standard) horizontal lines.

A 720p will work just fine for normal TV, DVD, and console gaming but computers normally use a much higher resolution that any of those things.
 
A normal 1080p TV set won't fit for the OP, especially if he's looking for 30" or smaller, you'll never find an actually 1080p panel that small from someone like Samsung or Sony with tuner and all. The only way you'll hit that size mark and still have that high resolution is to go with a montior like jerfgoke linked and get an external tuner.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']A normal 1080p TV set won't fit for the OP, especially if he's looking for 30" or smaller, you'll never find an actually 1080p panel that small from someone like Samsung or Sony with tuner and all. The only way you'll hit that size mark and still have that high resolution is to go with a montior like jerfgoke linked and get an external tuner.[/QUOTE]

I think Dell may have some 1080p plasma tvs with internal tuners. Though an external tuner isn't that big of a deal, just grab an old vcr and do it.
 
Size is the issue. If it was an 11" screen or something, then fine, go with 720p, but 15" or larger and 720p will not look good as a PC monitor.

I have a 56" 720p set and PC input looks bad, even from pretty far away (17'). Here are the resolutions of Apple's cinema displays-

20" - 1680 x 1050 pixels (optimum resolution)
23" - 1920 x 1200 pixels (optimum resolution)
30" - 2560 x 1600 pixels (optimum resolution)

You'll notice nearly all computer monitors in these sizes have the same resolutions. There's a reason for it. A 30" 720p TV will have less than a fourth of the amount of pixels as one of these 30" computer monitors. Don't think the computer monitor's pixels are there just for fun. These resolutions are expensive to manufacture, but it must be done to maintain a clean image.

Go 1080p. Don't even consider anything else. 720p is only good for games, movies, images, etc. For text and small icons, you should have AT LEAST 1080p. You'll regret anything else.
 
[quote name='Koggit']If this is going to be your primary monitor for your PC, definitely get a 1080p set. Don't even consider looking at anything else. Take a laptop into a big box retailer and hook it up to 720p set to see why.

There's a reason why modern computer monitors are capable of at least 1280x1024. Anything less looks really bad, especially text.[/QUOTE]

actually, i have an rca mm36100 as a primary monitor (36", vga in, 800x600 native) and it looks great!

also, as far as resolutions go, most current cards can be sized to 720p, 1080i/p already, so no scaling is used. now you may want to get vga or dvi/hdmi over component in though...
 
Interesting set. Seems the resolution is actually pretty high.

"Digital TV Compatible with: - Up to 864,000 Pixels - 930 lines of Horizontal Resolution*"

http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetail/0,2588,PI637-CI105,00.html

I've never heard of this "Digital TV resolution"... I don't know much about CRTs, to be honest, but I do know they scale really well. So theoretically, you could output 1024 to this 930 and hardly lose any quality. Your set will give a better picture than a fixed-pixel display though, and much better than a 720 fixed-pixel display.
 
Dell flat panels. 2407FPW or their 30inch model works well too. I use mine as a monitor and a DVD/Xbox 360 player in my bedroom.
 
Just picked up a BenQ FP241W a few weeks ago. I use it on the side for 360 here and there. It has DVI, VGA, component, S-Video and HDMI. Nice set can be had for around $800 shipped.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top