720 LCD Screen for occasional PC use in LR

[marcplante]

Going to upgrade the 27" CRT to a 32" LCD in the LR. Given the life expectancy of these devices, I assume this screen will start to live in a converged world where we bounce back and forth from TV to web activities. We'd be sitting 8-12 feet away. Any reason to hold out for a 1080 unit? or does a good PC video card do an adequate job forcing the extra detail into the existing pixels? Good would be the 8800GT in my PC or the 230 in my wife's new notebook. HDMI input.

Also any brand preferences? Leaning towards Samsung. Sony seems to have spotty pics, Panny spotty sound. Visio, Spotty quality and longevity.

Thanks

 

[jtvang125]

Video material will be fine with 720p at that distance but text will be pretty awful though.

 

[sivart]

I have a hard time reading the text on my 720p 42" from 8 feet away. Forget about trying to read text on a 32" from 12 feet away. Even at 1080p, I think it would still be too small.

 

[marcplante]

K thanks, It's a TV and gaming machine. Looks like a Samsung 720p TV from Costco is in the works.

 

[kalrith]

Is there some reason you're limiting yourself to 32"? That's incredibly, incredibly small at that distance (i.e. I'm 9 feet from a 50" and wish it were bigger). In fact a 32" is the 4:3 equivalent of a 26.1" TV, so any 4:3 content will look smaller on your 32" than your 27".

I had a 27" CRT and originally thought that upgrading to a 32" would be perfect. After going to the store and auditioning different screen sizes from my viewing distance, I quickly found out that the 32" was way too small. I wanted to go with a 60", but couldn't afford it and went with a 50" instead.

Edit: It's usually recommended to get a 1080p TV if it's going to be used as a computer monitor, but it'll be difficult enough to read any web content on a 32" 720p let alone a 32" 1080p.

 

[s44]

I agree: 8-12' should be 50".