Anyone using a 32" 1080p LCD TV as PC LCD?

P

PostmanPot

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Hi all

I'd like to discuss using a 32" 1080p LCD TV as a PC screen.

I realise some are good and some are very bad, especially if sitting close up. Things like input lag, text sharpness, etc. are of concern.

Let's hear what you guys have to say? :)
 
Hmmmmmm.. I think I used mine on a 42" some time last year.

Gaming and things were fine, though I mainly used it to show some Full HD Movies to some people we had over with the HD cable...

Can't say for sure, but if you can sort out the things with the text sharpness and refresh rates (Refresh rate you'll get easily, the sharpness bugged me)..

In my opinion it worked fine,but how far are you going to sit..? You have like a dedicated gaming room...?:p
 
Yeah that makes sense. Would need to be sharp for doing work on. :(

Lol nope, but viewing distance would be about 85cm. :)
 
take a lappie and head on down to game/makro/hifi corp.... hook it up and decide from there...
 
I used a 47" 1080p LCD TV last year as my permanent PC screen. Had my PC in the lounge though and I sat 2m away on the couch with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I will do it again once I put together another PC. Sharpness was fine with an HDMI connection. VGA connection had some ghosting.

This was the setup before I sold the 32" screen. Can't really tell the sheer size of the 47" from the pic. If I stood next to it it was almost shoulder height.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/album.php?albumid=623&attachmentid=3276
 
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Having it linked with an HDMI cable made the world of difference for me, especially with the clarity.
 
I've used my 40inch ex400 with my PC for games before and it was great! So I'm sure that the 32ex400 will be fine. :)

One thing I had to do was to turn the sharpness up in the picture options to about 7, to sharpen up the text
 
Ono'rach said:
I've used my 40inch ex400 with my PC for games before and it was great! So I'm sure that the 32ex400 will be fine. :)

One thing I had to do was to turn the sharpness up in the picture options to about 7, to sharpen up the text
Click to expand...

Yeah not too worried about games, I'm sure they'll be great. Just worried about text/working. I'd imagine you sat a bit further back than 85cm?
 
PostmanPot said:
Yeah not too worried about games, I'm sure they'll be great. Just worried about text/working. I'd imagine you sat a bit further back than 85cm?
Click to expand...

Oh right. Haha dude, I pulled the couch right up close, probably way to close for my health! With the sharpness turned up, text was as crisp as can be. I can't remember if I connected with an HDMI cable or a vga cable though. HDMI I think.
 
Libertas Computers said:
I've got the 42LD460 at home that I got in December. Haven't tried hooking it up to the PC yet, but the TV itself really looks amazing.. I'd say go for it..
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info man, that sounds good. I read quite a detailed review and after a lot of tweaking the reviewer was quite happy. If you have an opportunity to test with PC ASAP I'd appreciate it. ;)
 
PostmanPot said:
Thanks for the info man, that sounds good. I read quite a detailed review and after a lot of tweaking the reviewer was quite happy. If you have an opportunity to test with PC ASAP I'd appreciate it. ;)
Click to expand...

Sorry, I won't be able to test with the PC for quite some time... Don't have the PC here any more, only working from the laptop and no VGA cable here.. My apologies.. :cry:
 
ooo nice topic.

this was also pondering on my mind as my parents want to get a small TV that they could take on holiday and the previous 32", now being used by my sis, was just right. (could have even been smaller)

so I was looking around and found the Samsung P2770H with the HDTV tuner included, but ofc at the R5000 mark. (may go for that will decide closer)

obviously you can get an actual LCD TV for cheaper but I wasn't sure on how it was going to be for PC, as I will be taking it when they don't use it.
(plan on wall mounting it and using as a secondary screen for TV stuff, so no real main pc usage will be done on it.)

I don't however want to go for the cheaper stuff like the Sinotec or Hisense, although people seem to rate the Sinotecs as the "budget series killers".

want to stick to Samsung, but as last resort will either go for a Sony or LG.

PP that LG one you showed looks pweddy and so does the price :D
 
I've done it extensively. One issue to look out for is overscan. Sometimes the ability to disable overscan is hidden or missing completely. Then the TV manually compensates for it, which causes the "unsharp" look that some people are reporting.

Ok, I just re-read what I said above, and it's tough to understand...

Basically, you have
Code: 
|TV| ---[hdmi]--- [PC]

Now, even over HDMI, some TVs will force overscan. You don't always realise that it's overscanning, because sometimes the image is auto-scaled to fit the dimensions of the display. if you disable the auto-scaling, text appears crisp, but then the viewable desktop runs off the edges of the display.

Possible solutions:
1) Use your video adapter to compensate
2) Find a way to completely disable all scaling and overscan

Option 2 would be the ideal. On some Samsung Series 5 LCDs, you need to rename the "source" from "HDMI" to "HDMI/PC". Then overscan is disabled (obscure, I know).

For an example of the issues that may be seen:
Comparison of common interpolation methods
Note especially the ellipse surrounding the text. For very thin edges, you'll begin to see degradation like that if overscan is enabled.
 
I've been using my Sinotec 32" 720p LCD tv as my main PC monitor for the last 3 years. Never had any issues with it, bar resolution ranges. It's only now started screen burning, but that's mostly from playing MMO's where you have icons sticking to the screen in a fixed position for hours and hours on end. I sit about 1m away from the screen and my eye sight is still perfect after 3 years. It also works lovely for my Xbox etc.

I still use a small 17" CRT on the side for browsing / watching series etc. while questing...
 
@Off-The-Chart: Yeah the P2770HD is pricey. A definite down side is that it is a TN panel, where many LCD TVs - at least branded ones? - are IPS/PVA panels, which improves colour/viewing angles but also increases response time (although they are fine these days it seems).

@sn3rd: Thanks for the input. Makes sense. In the article I read, the guy talked about enabling/disabling options in the ATI Catalyst control panel. Also of course about changing options on the TV (similar to Samsung's HDMI/PC mode I'd imagine, although the LG 32LD460 doesn't seem to have a "PC mode").

@Voicy: Sounds like it serves you well. I'd also like to try be about a meter from the screen, let's say 85cm - 95cm. How's working in Windows/OS of choice on the 720p screen?
 
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