Want an HDTV 32-37 Inch as my PC Monitor

[itgl72]

I'm looking to add a 32 to 37 inch LCD TV for my computer disk. Something that will help me get more immersed in my race and flight sims. I know I can't budget for a 3 screen setup, or anything too super high end, but something bigger with decent quality I can live with.

So, what do you recommend I look out for? Obviously connectors, for example looking at some of these HDTV units have HDMI ports, and PC RGB ports, but I don't think thats the connection you want to use to get the most out of this setup. I see HDMI ports on my video card, and obviously HDMI port on the LCD so I assume I would connect video vard to HDTV via HDMI cable, and game that way.

Anything else I should be aware of?

 

[-Fran-]

If you can get a 3D Plasma TV from Panasonic or Sony, you'd be very pleased with it. They're usually cheaper than a LED TV and perform either equally (in image quality) or better. They get a little hotter and use a little more energy though, but they last twice as much as a LED TV (100k vs 60k hours usually).

Thing is, Plasma TVs start in the 38" range, so I don't know if that would be good for you, but they are less costly than a 37" LED usually.

And all flat TVs from the past 3 to 4 years come with HDMI or DVI (in some cases), so you're good in that department.

Cheers!

 

[Hazle]

1) Input lag. depending on the individual, the game and the TV, you'll notice some bit of lag between when you press the button/key and when said action is performed. changing the tv mode to PC/game mode minimizes this lag, though sometimes, it just isn't enough and the lag is still noticeable. general rule here is to get a tv with fewer features, as tv post-processing are what cause these lag. Samsung tv's used to suffer severe input lag, though i'm not sure how the newer models are.

2) 4:4:4 chroma subsampling; even at native res, you may find that the image quality is severely lacking, and looks like an old jpeg image. this is the case with tv's lacking 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. this normally happens when you use HDMi to connect the PC to the TV and is fixable via an EDID Override fix, which disables the HDMI audio. some in-depth info on the subject, the fix, and tv suggestions with chroma subsampling support;

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1381724/official-4-4-4-chroma-subsampling-thread

3)indecipherable text; texts will look tiny or severely jaggy. try playing with the tv's sharpness setting. if that fails, you'll need to mess around with the PC's fonts.

4)ghosting; most modern tvs are HDCP compliant, but sometimes you can get unlucky and get one that aren't. this can result in ghosting, where you clearly see afterimages of moving objects in the screen. not aware of any fix on this one.

5)big pixels: clearly, a tv's going to have bigger pixels than a monitor, so if you're using it exactly like a monitor, with your face several inches away from the screen, back away. image's are far crisper and pleasing when you don't notice the pixels, and i'd reckon you'll have a more comfortable experience being able to see the whole screen w/o moving your neck a lot.

 

[SinisterSalad]

TVs have far cheaper/lower quality panels in them compared to monitors. I have a 50" Panasonic 3D plasma, and it's nowhere near as nice to look at compared to a standard 24" LCD monitor. The colors just aren't on the same level. If you're use to console gaming, you'd probably not notice it, but I'm a PC gamer.