Upgrade to a TV as my Display, good or bad idea?

[mariostrousa]

Hi, I am thinking of upgrading my display to a 32" TV, most likely an 8ms Vizio, and I have a GeForce 8800 GT graphics card. I currently run two older 4:3 19" LCD's with around the same ms without any trouble.

I am still trying to decide whether the purchase would be a good choice. Could you please answer any of my questions that you can:

Would there be a performance drop off switching from 2 19's to a 32?
Is there anything i need to purchase to use the TV as a monitor besides an HDMI cable?
What image/video quality should i expect (better, worse, or the same)?
Any other advice on the topic?

Thanks for your time

 

[Nik_I]

using a tv as a monitor has its pro's and con's. for one, you'll get a very large screen that'll most likely look very nice. but on the downside, the highest resolution you'll get would be 1980x1080, whereas a 24" monitor would be at 1920x1200, and a 30" at 2560x1600. this depends on whether you prefer quality or quantity.

 

[petevsdrm]

The performance will be determined by the resolution of your screen, not the size or response time.

So, if you go from a :
12" monitor that has response time of 16 ms and a resolution of 1280 x 720
To a:
65" TV with a response time of 2 ms that has a resolution of 1280 x 720

the performance will be exactly the same.

Check the resolution on your old monitor and your new TV and get back to us with those numbers, and we can give you a better answer about performance.

To answer your other questions,

Many tv's today have a pc input with a d-sub plug just like your monitor, so you may not need an HDMI cable at all. Check the specs of your TV to be sure. Also, make sure you have the right adapter to plug an HDMI cable into your video card.

Image quality will most likely be much better on a new HDTV as compared to older LCD monitors, but this will depend on the quality of the TV in question.

I use my TV as a monitor in my living room and I love it, good luck!

 

[jalek]

I use a DVI-HDMI cable and bypass the VGA port on the television, both of which are warned against in the set's manual. I haven't had any issues, the video card detects the display and adjusts frequency and resolution automatically. A converter would be nice if it could take the DVI and couple it with digital audio to the television, but the cheap cable works and the computer's optical audio goes to my receiver.

At 44" though, there's a definite minimum distance, which can be awkward. I have a 22" for more detailed stuff.

 

[Ares_]

In my opinion. There is no reason to.

Comparing my extremely cheap Dell E248WFP to my Vizio 47' (cant remember model, sorry) LCD. I much prefer the dell. For one, the Vizio ghosts much more, it has worse color in my opinion, it has a huge aliasing problem because the pixels are so huge, and it is too big to play in front of. I would much rather fill my vision with the dell than sit back and see the vizio. The one trait that the Vizio has is its brightness, it has amazing brightness.

 

[aevm]

I suspect that the 32" TV has a lousy resolution of 1366x768, which makes it less useful for gaming than a $200 22" monitor (which can do 1680x1050). You might be better off buying a 22" monitor and a TV tuner card. It would cost a lot less and you get better resolution and you even get to record TV shows on the PC if you want.

 

[marcellis22]

The question to ask, and you should have already looked into, is, WHAT ARE THE SPECS ON THE MONITOR??? Why ask the rest of us to do the work YOU should have already done... Figure it out, MAKE a decision, my monitor is a 22" Samsung, gaming is GREAT, get a grip little guy, your penis will grow.

 

[bobbknight]

^ LOL I see buy your pro pic what you have.

 

[San Pedro]

It really depends on how far from the TV you plan to be. If you're going to be closer than 4 feet away that TV is probably too big. Usually I find that I have to sit to far away from my TV to do anything other than gaming (mostly with a xbox 360 wireless controller) and watching movies and tv shows. I use my 22" monitor for general use and keyboard and mouse gaming.

1336x768 would be a fine resolution for gaming on a TV. 1080p would be better, but it's still going to look good on 32" TV. It will also allow you to max out more games with your 8800gt.