What's the largest TN monitor the displays good text?

Sitting about 5ft from monitor and sometimes 10ft for movie watching.

Generally speaking, as long as you are using the monitor's maximum resolution text should be sharp. Which monitor has the sharpest text? Don't know, you will need to buy several different monitors to determine which looks best, then return the rest. Largest size is probably 27". Checkout Newegg and filter on 27" monitors.

At 5 feet, what you are asking for doesn't exist.

At that distance, you're better off with a television. $400 won't get you over 37" and regular computer sized text will be too small for you to read comfortably.

You'll need to crank up the text size for it to work.

36"-37" would be a perfect size for viewing movies. And cranking up text size seems doable. Are there any brands that have crisper text than others?

I suppose I'd look at VA or IPS panels. Samsung uses VA, and Panasonic is making some nice 37" IPS panels under the viera name.

You could also consider a projector.

Ideally a monitor should be 18" to 24" inches from your eyes. Your eyes refocus/re-converge whenever they look at something at a different distance. So glancing from a keyboard 18" from your eyes and then to a monitor 60" away will cause eye-strain.

That's a good price for such a big ips panel. Thanks. Do you know which series Samsung have the VA panels (I love va panel blacks.)

I should probably elaborate on how's it's going to be used as it's not typical. It will be on a pivoting wall mount behind a desk (where the current 21" crt sits now.) the main chair is a swivel tub type chair in the living room. Mainly this is just a family room setup, not used for work or long term text reading (though clear text is important.) No cable going thru it, just some netflix streaming movies, dvds thru the computer, and youtube videos for the little one while he eats in his high chair etc. There's a couch about 10ft away. Wireless mouse and keyboard, usually just sat in lap or on desk. Very casual usage. That Viera fits the bill and could easily be the one though I've read some issues with them dying after the one year warranty. Ideally I'd like something that's going to last LONG term like what I'd think of a commercial NEC. Thanks for the help.

I have a long standing gripe with Samsung because they don't make it clear what type of panel tech they use. I think all their TVs are VA, but the only way to know is if they list either the viewing angle (VA is 176) or the static contrast ratio (VA is 4000).

Sadly, they choose not to.

So the only way for you to tell is to see it in the store and manually check the viewing angle. Look at it from as steep an angle as possible and see if the image looks normal. If it does, it is either VA or IPS; and because Samsung doesn't make IPS and the only other screen tech they have is PLS (only used on one monitor, and it's not that good), you'll have your answer.

That's strange, I wonder why not? The 37" Panasonic Viera is in our local Sears and they offer a 5 yr extended warranty so that would take care of my concerns of them being short lived. I'm going to give it a few more days before making a decision. Have you personally had any experience with the Viera hooked up to a computer? You've really given me some useful information, and I'll be sure to check out that viewing angle on the Samsungs. Thanks!

No, I don't own a Viera. I'm just thinking of getting one if they ever make a 50"

I've hooked a Samsung VA TV up to a computer (I own one of those). It's alright but nothing I'd right home about.

Well, we're finally about to make a purchase and it's between that 37" panasonic viera and a 40" TCL (L40FHDF12TA) that has a samsung spva panel. Do you think that ips panel is going to be nicer for what she's using it for compared to the va? Thanks for all the help!

Yes, IPS will be best for her purposes.

Do you think that panasonic is the one to get then or shoud I consider any others in this price range? It's going to run right around $500 with their extended warranty. I know this is the time of year the new models come out so maybe their are going to be some deals on last years models. I'm going to buy the mount first and have it already set up so we've got another couple of weeks before purchasing. Thanks again!

I wouldn't get an HDTV for a monitor. It probably can't support 1080p when connected to your GPU, and probably has a pretty high response time and high input lag.