Suffering from choice paralysis. Help needed

[balthtx]

Greetings Tom's Hardware community,

First-time poster. I am researching a new monitor that would be used primarily for gaming, specifically BC2 until the gorgeous Battlefield 3 comes out in the fall. Furthermore, I will utilize this monitor as a bedroom TV to be hooked up to a PS3 for games, Blu-Ray, as well as streaming video from Netflix and media servers. However, in my research over the past week, I have come to point where I am beleaguered by information overload, so I am looking for the community's assistance in helping me make a decision.

I am upgrading from a 17" CRT, but the rest of my rig runs BC2 completely smoothly at the highest graphic levels. I am planning to upgrade my rig in the coming months to enjoy smooth gameplay and beautiful visuals in BF3.

So far, my criteria for a purchase have been the following:
- $400 budget
- 23" - 24"
- Ease of connection for the PS3 & tower

I have "narrowed" my finalists a few times over the week, but just to give some idea of what I've believed were good choices:

Dell U2311H
ASUS VW246H
Samsung Syncmaster XL2370

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

 

[MauveCloud]

I would have suggested the Dell for being an e-IPS panel (the others are TN), but it has no HDMI input, so connecting a PS3 would be difficult (technically you could get an HDMI to DVI adapter, but most of those drop the audio). The XL2370 has an LED backlight, which may give a blue tinge to the screen. As far as ease of connection, I'd say the Asus VW246H has that honor, because the built-in speakers eliminate the need for a switch for the audio signals from your PC and extracted from HDMI. (if you don't like the quality of the built-in speakers, it has a headphone jack so you can attach your own speakers and let the monitor take care of choosing the audio input)

 

[varis]

BC2 on the Dell does look pretty, from personal experience. However I lack some comparison points beyond cheap TN panels...

 

[ssddx]

make sure that it is HDCP compliant if you want it to actually work with your ps3.

go with a monitor with 1920x1080 as this will work best with games, movies, and pc.

get a monitor with two hdmi connections if you can. the ps3 hooks up best via hdmi and your computer will run great on a "dvi->hdmi" adapter cable if your output is via hdmi. yes sound will travel through this cable (i had mine hooked up like this)

monitor speakers tend to be rather dull? are you going to get a monitor with internal speakers or do you have another solution ready for that?

 

[varis]

Hook it up to a set of 12+ liter high quality stereo speakers, I would say...