HDTV instead of monitor?

[guillaume]

My 21" CRT will soon be retired, and I think I want to go for a large widescreen LCD, 27 to 30". Which makes me wonder...Anyone using an HDTV instead of a monitor, and with what result? Some HDTV seem to have 1080p native resolution, how would that look when playign games? I remember reading somethign about the resoluton being 1300x768 or something like that. I think that would be fine for games, provided that the response time is good enough.

for instance, I was intrigued by this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824234002


Then again I'm pretty ignorant on the subject. Any insight would be great!

[ajrettke]

1080p is a seriously awesome resolution, it's actualy 1920x1080! Make sure you get 1080p and not 1080i.

I wouldn't get an LCD TV, I would get a rear projection DLP but that's just me.

I think it's a good idea as long as you make sure to get 1080p with DVI input

[Serraph]

I've used my 32" HDTV several times as a HTPC at 1366x768 resolution (native) and it looks great. Text on websites if very easy to read. I never had a chance to play any games on it though, but I'm sure it would be fine. You'll probably want to get Powerstrip to add the custom resolution of your HDTV.

Here's the model I have: Syntax Olevia LT32HVE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824022006)

[mcoleg]

hehe, i am using an older 30" olevia to type this... all around nice as a monitor 24/7. good thing about this one is that i don't need lots of gx power to run the relatevely low resolution.
if you go 1080p, it will look better, no qustions; you'll might need to invest more in gx cards though, depending on what you play.

[guillaume]

I hope my 7800GTX will do because a video card upgrade is not on the list :)
I will look for 1080p sets. I'm going LCD because it has to sit on my desk ;)

[mcoleg]

another thing to keep in mind - 1080p lcd tv's go from 37" and up while 1080i can be bellow that. make sure you have enough space on that desk of yours :P . try westinghouse brand - their 1080p models really work great as pc monitors and have enough connectors to hook up anything else you've got to them.

[guillaume]

will keep that in mind :)
37 is actually overkill - 30" would be perfect.
So 1080i has lower res?

[mcoleg]

well, my 30" is a 720p so i run it at 1280x720 or 1280x768 (it's a native resolution for it, a bit non-standard). the 1080i is a bit more, 1366 x 768 or something like that. some 1080i tv's would have in specs 1920x1080 but the picture itself would still be 1080i. i guess it depends on the innards as much as on the pannel itself.

still, if you can fit 37" 1080p that should be the best all-around solution. this model:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EYZ994/sr=1-2/qid=1156143188/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-2989070-0489442?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video

seems to be pretty popular for ppl who want to use it for pc monitor. i have 42" version of that, it's pretty sweet.


edit:

here's a link to check on what's what in lcd's:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=40

[e6600]

Television sets are locked at 60 refresh rate aren't they?
So it would be more of a quality > performance thing for HDTV gaming?

[spd4life]

i have the LVM-37w1 for a monitor and i love it. games look amazing at 1920x1080... cant wait til i upgrade to a new system, then it will be even better:)

[ajrettke]

1080i is an interlaced signal...it displays 1920x1080 but only changes half the lines each refresh instead of all of them.
I think screens that say 1080i say that because it's a technicality...720p and 1080i use the same bandwidth IIRC so they can say thier screens can display 1080i. The thing is though the screen is only capable of displaying 1280x720 resolution.

[mcoleg]

Television sets are locked at 60 refresh rate aren't they?
So it would be more of a quality > performance thing for HDTV gaming?

that applies to most any lcd with a digital connection state-side, not only tvs. it's not a problem if you don't sinc. fps and the screen has low enough response time. plus, it varies - i did 75 on a couple of the ones i have. not much benefit though - lcds just don't work the way crts do.