Using a TV for a monitor...

tomsdesk

...?

A couple of people I know use 1080p HD TV's for monitors but there's a couple of things I don't understand:

My little 22" monitor (which is now too often sounding like a 50cc scooter with a bad timing chain and starting to spaz out occationally so will need to be replaced as soon as someone finally pays me) has a max res of 1280x1025, close to the 1080 vertical already: so how can stretching 1920x1080 over 32", or 42" as one of my buddies uses, give good res...I don't get it?

Also...60hz or 120hz: how important for computer use?

solo

A few things...

What GPU do you have?

I would suggest a 1080p (HD LCD's are progressive and not interlaced)

You will need these:

$http://www.jdr.com/interact/..\images\products\C\cbl-hdmi-dvi.jpg$

And a native supported resolution monitor of 1920x1080

James Fraser

I actually worked out that for what I wanted I could save money doing things the other way around. I wanted an HDTV, but was not overly impressed by the prices, so I got myself a 24" 1080p iiyama monitor and a freeview tuner box (digital terrestrial for the non-brits), making sure that both had HDMI ports. The monitor does have speakers and gets the signal through the HDMI, but I used the phono outs on the tuner to go through my hifi. It's not the tv in the lounge, so 24" is fine, but you could go for a bigger screen if you wanted.

I don't know whether there are big differences between the ways of quoting refresh rates, but mine was quoted as 5ms (because it is a monitor), which should be 200Hz, I would think, but they could be referring to different things, so don't just take my word for it. Whether that matters probably depends on what you want it for: just doing things in SU it shouldn't be an issue, but if you like to play fast racing games and things too, then I would go for a faster screen.

I'm not an A/V engineer or anything like that, so I can only talk about my case, which is that it still works (very nicely) as a high spec monitor, but is also a pretty good tv and a great screen for my xbox 360. It is only very slightly more complicated than just buying a tv off the shelf and is probably easier if you also want it to be a monitor, I don't remember the figures, but I think it did save me a fair amount, especially through shopping around.

HFM

@tomsdesk said:

...?

A couple of people I know use 1080p HD TV's for monitors but there's a couple of things I don't understand:

My little 22" monitor (which is now too often sounding like a 50cc scooter with a bad timing chain and starting to spaz out occationally so will need to be replaced as soon as someone finally pays me) has a max res of 1280x1025, close to the 1080 vertical already: so how can stretching 1920x1080 over 32", or 42" as one of my buddies uses, give good res...I don't get it?

Also...60hz or 120hz: how important for computer use?

Simply put,... It doesn't. But keep in mind that you'll often sit about 2 meters away from your TV and maybe half a meter away from you LCD screen. Your LCD TV simply has bigger pixels [and bigger spaces between 'em] because you sit further [farther?] away...

As for 60Hz or 120Hz for your PC screen... No need. TV needs it because of ghosting [flow behind moving objects] and 100Hz instead of 50Hz will make all the difference. But with your PC you probably don't need it.

And James, as far as I know your ms and Hz's aren't directly linked

Ecuadorian

Before someone makes the mistake of buying overpriced Monster cables, I must say that I get all my HDMI, DVI and HDMI-DVI cables from Monoprice, a company in California that delivers by mail all over the US. High quality and unbeatable price.

BTW, nothing beats plugging your PC to an HD projector... You'll feel like an evil genius working in his secret lair. Oh yeah, and Blu-rays look superb in a big screen, too.

tomot

Here is another option:
Most if not all Net books have a VGA plug in the side of the unit.

Plug a spare VGA cable from the NET book directly into the back of the LDC TV's VGA port.
Plug a male to male mini RCA cable from the speaker output on the Net book to the speaker input on the TV
Adjust the video resolution on the Net book to maximize output to TV.