Question about Monitors vrs HDTV's.

[Kingsnake661]

I wondering how an HDTV, say about 26in + or so, would stack up against a PC monitor of roughly the same size, for a computer display? See, i'm trying to turn my little "PC" cornor of the room into a full funciting gaming cornor of the room. I'd like to have a display i can also hook up, maybe a ps3 or an xbox too, along with one of my older systems, that use the old RCA video imputs.

I was reading about this a bit, but i think some of the information i was reading was dated, because it was mentioned that 1080P res in HDTV's were only really found in LARGE TV's, and smaller ones were stuck at 720. That isn't true anymore. I can get an HDTV that has a res of like 1920/1080, that's about 27 inches or so, about the same size and rez of the monitor i'm using now. Seems to me, I wouldn't lose anything using this HDTV instead of the monitor... but, i'm not really an expert in this reguards, and would like to know if there's some hidden factors i'm unawere of that would impact the situation.

Like, i keep reading something about 2 and 5ms speed on monitors, but nothing liek that is listed for the TV's. Is that an issue? I don't want to get a tv for a few hundred dollers and find it ghosts... you know what i'm saying? I'm just looking for more information, and any help would be greatly appreactied.

 

[Dastardly]

snip

1. Be absolutely sure about the resolution of the TV you're buying. And 720 ain't bad on a smaller screen, so I wouldn't scoff at it.

2. Check the hookups on your video card.

- If it's DVI (looks like old VGA, but a bit wider with the little plus sign to the side), you'll need a DVI-to-HDMI cable. This cable will not transmit audio, just video.

- If it's HDMI (the trapezoidal hookup most HDTVs use now), it'll send video and sometimes audio (depending on the card and computer). You could just use a standard HDMI cable in that case.

- If your computer only has a VGA out (the old blue trapezoid), you're not going to get a full picture.

3. Read up on "overscan." Your TV doesn't receive the same kind of video a monitor does. TV signal has a whole lot of extra information on the edges of the image and your TV cuts off from view (codes and whatnot). Since the computer isn't sending that, the result is sometimes losing the edges of the image. You'll need to see if your video card's control program has "overscan correction" to prevent that, or you'll end up having to use weird resolutions and zooms to make it work.

4. If you've got to do audio separately, as is the case with DVI-to-HDMI mentioned above, remember that the computer is what will need to hook up to your speaker system, so get the right cables/sound card for that if necessary.

5. Wireless keyboard and mouse. Get them, love them. Battery life on a lot of them is pretty phenomenal.

 

[Kingsnake661]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia%26%23153%3B+-+26%22+Class+/+1080p+/+60Hz+/+LCD+HDTV/9574098.p?id=1218127627562&skuId=9574098

Above is the TV i'm looking at. My videocard is a Nvidia 280 GTX. I use a DVI/HDMI cable to plug into my current monitor.

I'd be running my pc sound like i currently am, and any game system hooked into the TV i'd prolly end up using my earphones pluged into the tv, so as not to bother the others in the room. Does that look like it would work? Is that whole MS number importent to this equasion?

 

[psivamp]

snip

- If it's DVI (looks like old VGA, but a bit wider with the little plus sign to the side), you'll need a DVI-to-HDMI cable. This cable will not transmit audio, just video.

- If it's HDMI (the trapezoidal hookup most HDTVs use now), it'll send video and sometimes audio (depending on the card and computer). You could just use a standard HDMI cable in that case.

- If your computer only has a VGA out (the old blue trapezoid), you're not going to get a full picture.

SVGA (16-pin D-sub) is a pin-conversion away from DVI or HDMI video. You can get an adapter that literally just rearranges the signal from one to the format of the other...

OT:

-snip-
Is that whole MS number importent to this equasion?

That TV will work fine. It takes SVGA in as well.

"MS number"? Do you mean response time (frequently listed in milliseconds (ms))?

 

[Dastardly]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia%26%23153%3B+-+26%22+Class+/+1080p+/+60Hz+/+LCD+HDTV/9574098.p?id=1218127627562&skuId=9574098

Above is the TV i'm looking at. My videocard is a Nvidia 280 GTX. I use a DVI/HDMI cable to plug into my current monitor.

I'd be running my pc sound like i currently am, and any game system hooked into the TV i'd prolly end up using my earphones pluged into the tv, so as not to bother the others in the room. Does that look like it would work? Is that whole MS number importent to this equasion?

Insignia is great. My "monitor" is a 47" Insignia LCD, and it plugged right in, ready to go. As long as you've got the sound issue worked out, you're in good shape.

 

[Fenring]

Monitors typically give a better price/dollar ratio, but normally don't have built in speakers. They almost always will give more specs (like the delay time you mentioned), and probably will be better color wise. Also, 120hz 3D wooooooooooo Try and buy that. Or, if you want to spend hella bank, get an IPS or a 2560x1440 or some other prohibitively large resolution monitor.