I’m starting to do some work from my home workstation and I decided I wanted to go with a larger monitor as I tend to be running 2-4 programs simultaneously and I have multiple windows open at once. My solution, use a 32" TV/monitor so I have more “acreage” to work with. Great idea but now I just end up with GIANT everything and the resolution blows. All the text appears fuzzy and rough. I was at a customers’ home a couple weeks ago and they were using a 50+ inch TV for their computer and the resolution was quite impressive.
I’ve gone and searched how to possibly solve this problem and none of the fixes seemed to work. I’ll list below the information on the system and components I have and maybe it’s just something simple I’m missing.
TV / Monitor: Samsung 32" (Model # LN32C350D1D) 1280 x 720 native display, HDMI cable. 60hz refresh rate Computer: Progrocker built sytem, 2-3 years old. Graphics Card: NVIDIA GE Force GTX660 OS: Windows 7 Professional
I spent quite some time in the settings trying to change anything that I though might have an effect. I also notice much of the screen (icons, tool bars, etc.) appear outside the border of the picture. Tried the “cleartype text tuner”, no change. Changing the resolution settings seems to make it worse and the best picture I get is with the “recommended” 1280 x 720 setting. Any advice would be appreciated.
You could try that. You’re not going to get a better resolution than 1280 x 720 though. You could output the computer in 1080i which would give you more perceived resolution, but while you’d have more screen space the picture will flicker because it’s an interlaced image. It would be harder to look at if you’re used to a computer monitor.
720p and/or 1080i is going to look fuzzy as described. Also the amount of “acreage” or “real estate” is governed by the rez, 4 things at once isn’t very realistic at that rez. My 39" 4k screen has the pixel density of 4-24" screens, it comes in amazingly handy for multitasking. The 4k rez can make text almost too crisp & small, but there are settings to get that sorted out of course.
Oh I thought we had this fixed, I’m sorry man. ^What @TradersBASE said is probably accurate. Andy is going out of the 660 with an HDMI cable. Your resolution should look like this:
You made the common mistake of confusing screen size with resolution.
A 1080p tv is going to display at a resolution of 1920x1080, the same as most average sized entry level widescreen computer monitors. You still get the same amount of room for open programs but they’ll just be bigger. And likely blurry. I’ve got a 100" screen at home hooked up to my home theater PC and while usable as a desktop PC I’d much rather sit in front of my 24" monitor running the same 1920x1080 resolution.
4k is a option if you have the video card to drive one or two. However I still am not convinced 4k is worth it compared to 27" 2560x1440 monitors or 30" 2560x1600 which can be had for great prices.
I picked up a 4k 39" Seiki for less than $350. I’m driving it with an $80, 2gb video card. If I was gaming or doing high end CAD type stuff of course the card would need upgraded…but for school work and surfing this has been a great setup for me (crisp as hell). Prior to this I ran 4-22" LCD and will say it’s nice having that hard division at times. My pixel density is giving me the equivalent of 4-24" LCD basically.
Still a TV which I am have to yet to see one that doesn’t drive me mad when doing 2d text based work, plus 30hz would drive me insane, most 4k’s right now are capped to 30hz.
Remember TVs are made to be viewed from a distance, monitors have a closer viewing design. Between VGA, DVI, and HDMI, obviously the digital ones look the best. Side by side I can pick out the VGA monitor in the bunch, HDMI vs DVI is a bit tougher depending on the monitor.
Text looks awesome to me on mine, that’s all I do other than watch training clips. For the money this has been a very good purchase so far. 4k over HDMI is not “still a TV” to me, it has proven to be functional as a quad monitor replacement.
Added—
I will say it took several hours to settle into the 30hz. It took even more effort to train myself to stop looking for the hard quad dividers. If I was gaming or doing anything requiring quick refresh this would be “still a TV”, but I’m not so…
