I have a LCD monitor AMW brand 19 or 21 inch cant remember, Max resoloution is 1440. I was told computer monitors have way better quality than TV's but what about HD tv's? What i wanna know is with this $200 monitor can i watch HD movies and get HD quality?

Yeah wrong section but i didnt see a monitor section, and at least ill get a faster answer this way .

You can only run HD films on HD ready equipment.
If your LCD can output resolution equal or greater than 720p or 1080P then yes.

You need to watch out for HDCP compatibility too.

How can you tell if you monitor can put out 720p and 1080p?

I know nothing about HD TV if you have a link that would educate the stupid (me) than please post it.

The number (720/1080) is the number of pixels vertically.

I believe...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p

A 19" monitor is typically capable of outputting a maximum resolution of 1280*1024 so it would be able to output an HD res of 720P but not 1080P.
A 24" monitor is usually 1920*1200 native so theoretically be able to output both 720P and 1080P.

The HD number refers to vertical resolution - The second number in the screen resolutions we use would be the corresponding. 1920 is the horizontal rez, tho. So you'd need a widescreen computer screen that does 1920 x 1080. You start finding those at around 22" widescreen - $300~ish for a good one.

Yes you can watch 1080p/720p video on a computer monitor (if the resolution supports it).

Standard widescreen resolutions:
17"-19" : 1440x900
20"-22" : 1680x1050
+24" : 1920x1200

Only way you can watch 1080p video is if you get a monitor thats 24" or above. Otherwise your stuck with 720p. (still much higher quality than DVD)

Actually, 22" monitors are incapable of displaying 1080p as they generally have a native resolution of 1680x1050. 24" monitors and up are the only ones with resolutions of 1920x1200 and they're usually around $700, although some can be found for a little over $600.

First. Wrong section.

Second. As many people have stated you will need a 24" LCD to watch 1080i HD content without loss of qaulity. The Lenovo 22" ThinkVision L220x is the only 22" LCD with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200. It also is the first consumer level 22" LCD monitor that uses a 8-bit S-PVA panel rather than those cheaper 6-bit TN panels.

Third. If the HD media you are watching is protected (like Blu-Ray and HD DVDs) then both the video card and the monitor must support HDCP. HDCP = High bandwith Digital Copy Protection.

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In general, it is recommended that you avoid watching HD video content on any monitor using 6-bit TN panels if possible. 6-bit TN panels technology will show more image artifacts than other types of LCD panel technologies (S-PVA, P-MVA, A-MVA, H-IPS andS-IPS) due to the fact that these panels can only produce 256k colors and is upscaled to "16.7m" colors using a process called dithering. Image artifacts will most likely appear in low light scenes and underwater scenes.

TN panels make up the vast majority of monitors out there and are much less expensive than LCD using the other types of panel technologies that I mentioned which are capable of truly displaying 16.7 million colors.

Nice summary.

Now i get it, my monitor can handle 720p. Sweet.