so I’ve been wanting to buy a new TV for a while now but I dont want a conventional type of setup. From the research I’ve done online, I’ve come to the conclusion that an LCD TV can double as a computer monitor? Is this true? An article I just read, also confirmed this and said that most LCD’s can pickup (and display) HD signals (with a tuner).
Basicly what I wanted to do, is get a decent sized widescreen LCD (maybe 35-40") and mount it on my wall. Run both my computer(wireless keyboard/mouse/remote), and cable thru it. How possible is this and how will the computer output look? This way, because of space limitations, I dont have to worry about a bulky computer desk, nor do I have to worry about a table/stand for a TV.
anyone have any experiance with anything like this? Also… about the HD thing… are LCD’s (with the right equipment) HD ready? I figure if I’m gonna spend alot of loot, I might as well do it the way I want it.
I’m looking to spend maybe 2K tops… any input appreciated.
Ok, I’ve got a setup like this so here is what I’ve found out. I’ve got a 32" Sony Bravia XBR.
Yes you can use an LCD TV as a monitor, but there are a few things to consider.
First thing you’ll need to figure out is how you plan on connecting the computer to the TV and what the TV can support. Some LCDs have a “PC” input which uses an Analog RGB input (same as a normal computer monitor.) If you have a video card with a DVI output, you could run a DVI cable from the computer to the TV. In my case my TV only has an HDMI input, so I had to buy a converter.
You’ll also need to look at the native resolution of the TV. Mine runs 1360x768. That might not be high enough for some people, but its just fine for me.
Now if you use the PC input, its very straight forward - just plug it in like you would a monitor and adjust the resolution up to the native resolution of the TV.
If you want to use the DVI output of your video card, it gets a little strange… at least it did for me. When I connected the DVI->HDMI cable, my video card realized I was using the digital output and made its default adjustments. I went into my video options and selected “treat LCD as an HDTV” and “only display resolutions this TV can handle” so instead of choosing resolution by say 1024x768, my choices were now 420p, 720i, 720p, 1080i.
But here is where I had a problem - I could choose 1080i, and view 1080i, but the sides were very slightly clipped. Neither my video options or my TV options would allow me to adjust the image so that I could view the whole picture. Oh well. I tried working in windows like this and after a few minutes realized the image was kinda shitty - and that’s because I was looking at an interlaced image (1080i) where as all other computer monitors are progressive-scanned images. So I went to 720p resolution. It looked better, but didn’t fit the whole screen. Again, I can’t adjust it so I decided to just use the PC input feature of the TV. This way I was able to see a progressive-scanned image and use the entire screen of the TV.
And that’s what I’m using now. PC input feature.
I don’t think so. If the resolution of the LCD TV can support it, then it can be HD ready. But if you don’t have a tuner, you won’t be able to get the signal to the TV. My LCD has a built in HDTV Tuner, so I just plugged my adelphia cable into it and I can watch HD channels. So if you want an LCD TV to watch HDTV on, just make sure it says “HD Ready” on it.
Here is my setup:
Now you can see that in the picture, this image doesn’t fit the whole screen; that’s because Battle Field 2 doesn’t support widescreen… so I play the game in 1024x768 - the resolution of the image you can see in the above pic. That’s another thing to consider if you play games on your PC.
And this is what this thread looks like on my TV size-wise, with some $$ for scale. In person, it looks awesome. The colors are amazing and the viewing angle is very wide. I love it.
I buy everything Sony so I only breifly shopped around to see what else was out there. I know Dell has a $37" right now with specs comprable to mine for $2k.
thanks man… one more thing though… if you set your monitor resolution a little smaller (to make the text a little bigger), how easy is it to read from say, 5 - 15 feet away?
Like I said, I wont even bother with a desk so I’ll probably be doing most of my stuff from the couch
Easy to see from 5’ at my current resolution, so at 10’ on a lower res you should still be able to read it. I have mine on my desk and I’ll be sitting 2-3’ away at any time.
:tup: