TV as pc screen?

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Kleinkuif

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I am planning to buy a new desktop and need a screen to go with it. I understand that the resolution of a TV is not great if you sit too close. But say I still want to have a TV as a screen, any ideas of what my best options would be? The main reason for wanting a TV is to avoid unnecessary costs and additional hardware.
 
I had a 32" Sinotec TV as my main PC screen for years and although it didn't bother me much at the time, the day I swapped over to an LCD monitor I was amazed at how much I've missed out on.

TVs work OK for streaming movies and such, but for games the resolution sucked and when you have spreadsheets or websites open with lots of text on it, it never seemed quite crisp enough compared to pc screens.

Keep in mind that you won't be able to buy a tv anywhere without registering for a tv license too, so by that alone I'd go away from a tv as a screen.

EDIT: This was in 2008 with a 720p HD Ready TV.
 
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I use my 32" hd ready tv since my 23" full HD monitor kicked the bucket.

I find that the resolution of games is weird when you sit right in front of the tv. I do however play a lot of games using an xbox controler while sitting on the bed. When you are about 1m + away you will not have a resolution issue.

Pros :

Playing games from a distance is amazing because of the bigger screen
Watching/Streaming movies is better on a bigger screen.

Cons : Playing games sitting right in front of the screen makes the games look crappier because of the resolution.

since pc monitors cost a fook ton of money these days I am pretty happy to keep gaming on the 32". I also do not do much on my pc other then play games and watch movies.

For work purposes I will not recommend it.
 
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Been playing on 60" plasma for years, just sit far enough away from the screen and there won't be any issues.
 
Voicy said:
I had a 32" Sinotec TV as my main PC screen for years and although it didn't bother me much at the time, the day I swapped over to an LCD monitor I was amazed at how much I've missed out on.

TVs work OK for streaming movies and such, but for games the resolution sucked and when you have spreadsheets or websites open with lots of text on it, it never seemed quite crisp enough compared to pc screens.

Keep in mind that you won't be able to buy a tv anywhere without registering for a tv license too, so by that alone I'd go away from a tv as a screen.
Click to expand...

Not quite true - there is a company that has an app that allows you to get to checkout where they ask you for the tv license. You just quit the app and go back in and proceed to checkout and it voids the TV license check... *just saying*
 
Beware of cheapie tv manufacturers like JVC for smaller size screens, sometimes they advertise native 1080p on the box when its actually less.
 
I've tried a few TVs as monitors and would definitely stay away from anything that does not have a PC mode.
For best picture quality with text you can actually read, go for 1080p TV with PC mode (Most Samsung and LG TVs has it)

It adjusts pixels to make text and other objects on screen much less jagged.

With and HD Ready TV, you will notice that text is extremely pixilated.
 
I am using a Sony Bravia 32 inch FHD TV and a Samsung series 5 FHD 40 inch TV as primary screens on two desktop computers. Both have PC mode inputs and in addition set the over-scan to nil in your graphics settings. The advantage is that I sit about 3 feet away whilst working which I find to be a better work posture
 
In my experience, any TV without DVI (or VGA) with HDMI is HORRIBLE.

Whenever I connect to HDMI, it creates black box around image on TV or image larger than the screen. Looking up any info brings up:
...TV should have settings that will keep aspect ratio original...
Click to expand...
Which is not true on most TVs.
 
If the TV has a PC compatible HDMI input (the Sony and Samsung TV's that I use have them), then you should have the option to correct the overscan (your black border) in your graphics options. Both TV's that I use have a superior picture to the Dell and Samsung monitors that I use as secondary screens.
 
On my third TV display at the moment.

Have had: FHD 32" Sinotec LCD, FHD 43" Sinotec LCD and currently a FHD 42" Sinotec LED. (All with 5 year Warranty)
Display is about an arm odd away like a normal screen - crisp and perfect in windows and games, same as my old 23" Sammy.

Looking to get a 2k display though, since 4k requires an nvidia 1080 for most AAA games.

Edit: All using HDMI. You just need to tweak the display settings on the remote and PC to get it perfect.
 
ichigo said:
I have no problems with my Samsung 32" Full HD 3d TV and shows everything clear and crisp.
Click to expand...

I have issues with mine where the fonts of letters/words and things are ugly and skew.
I dont get this.
If i make the screen a primary screen and then make my monitor blank it is perfect.
When i extend my desktop it is crap also. unless i make the primary the TV and the secondary the monitor. I.e. the windows start button and taskbar is on the TV.

What can i do or what stupid thing do i need to do here to make fonts and stuff nice and sexy.

My work colleague says it is a setting somewhere in windows that i need to tweak or whatever.
I also need to confirm that i have the proper screen display drive installed for my monitor in Windows.
I know i have a Samsung Laptop so i guess the screen should have a Samsung something in device manager?
My TV is a Samsung also , series 5000 i think 39" not sure if this helps with my scenario or maybe it means bugger all.
The only rubbish thing about it, is that it does not have sound out on RCAs which is really weird, or maybe i dont understansd this technology well enough.

Thanks, for the advise
 
ichocolate said:
I have issues with mine where the fonts of letters/words and things are ugly and skew.
I dont get this.
If i make the screen a primary screen and then make my monitor blank it is perfect.
When i extend my desktop it is crap also. unless i make the primary the TV and the secondary the monitor. I.e. the windows start button and taskbar is on the TV.

What can i do or what stupid thing do i need to do here to make fonts and stuff nice and sexy.

My work colleague says it is a setting somewhere in windows that i need to tweak or whatever.
I also need to confirm that i have the proper screen display drive installed for my monitor in Windows.
I know i have a Samsung Laptop so i guess the screen should have a Samsung something in device manager?
My TV is a Samsung also , series 5000 i think 39" not sure if this helps with my scenario or maybe it means bugger all.
The only rubbish thing about it, is that it does not have sound out on RCAs which is really weird, or maybe i dont understansd this technology well enough.

Thanks, for the advise
Click to expand...

Strange I tried both ways and seems fine here, are you using a good HDMI cable?
 
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