• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

720p TV Claims to Have a 1080p Native Display?

Everything on that page says 720p. There isn't anything anywhere in the specs or the description (that I can see) that says anything about 1080.
 
Understood but I just looked at the manual (downloaded from retrevo) and it says under ACCEPTED SIGNAL FORMATS that it takes 1080p at 1920x1080 at 30Hz instead of 60Hz. There was a separate entry for 1080i (at 60Hz).

What exactly does that mean?
 
I think it just can input the resolution and therefore it can display a signal coming from 1080 but it will still downsize to 720p since it physically doesn't have more pixels
 
Zen Ninja said:
Understood but I just looked at the manual (downloaded from retrevo) and it says under ACCEPTED SIGNAL FORMATS that it takes 1080p at 1920x1080 at 30Hz instead of 60Hz. There was a separate entry for 1080i (at 60Hz).

What exactly does that mean?
Click to expand...

I have a TV that will accept 1920x1080p and downscale it to 1366x768. Its not uncommon in the TV world.
 
Zen Ninja said:
Would this monitor be good STRICTLY for gaming on PC?

I have another screen I use for school/internet.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

If you're using a TV, you need to make sure that your gfx card can be the one to scale instead of the TV - a lot of TVs only scale broadcast resolutions well. I think at one time nvidia had that option in their drivers.

Along the same lines, you may have issues with things like Windows setup and your BIOS.
 
Zen Ninja said:
Would this monitor be good STRICTLY for gaming on PC?

I have another screen I use for school/internet.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

No it would be awful, 720p over 32" screen is incredibly blocky, even 1080p at those kind of sizes isn't very nice. Proper PC monitors at 30" tend to be 2560x1600 to give you some idea how how low 1280x720 is in comparison.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
No it would be awful, 720p over 32" screen is incredibly blocky, even 1080p at those kind of sizes isn't very nice. Proper PC monitors at 30" tend to be 2560x1600 to give you some idea how how low 1280x720 is in comparison.
Click to expand...

The real issue is viewing distance. A 30" monitor at 2560x1600 is going to be 1.5 to 2' away. A 32" TV at 1080p could be 3-4' away and look great. I agree that a 32" at 720p would look awful (unless 5+' away, at which distance it would be too small). There can also be resolution problems since 1366x768 is not a stand PC resolution. If the OP has enough desk space, then 1080p might be a viable resolution (native 1080p, not 1080p input such as the OP's link).

OP, I paid $380 including tax and shipping for a 32" 1080p TV with IPS panel 2-3 years ago. I wanted an immersive gaming monitor. My choices in that budget were a 24" computer monitor or 32" TV. I actually bought a nice Dell 2408wfp, but it wasn't immersive, even if I sat 1.5' from it. I sold it and bought the 32" TV, and like it 100% more for the exact same price. The only other option in my price range was a 28" TN monitor, but I hate TN panels.

I use it as my gaming monitor about 3.5' away. It looks great at that distance. Some people can handle being about 2' away, but IMO 3' would be the absolute minimum for the "low" resolution for the screen size. If your desk isn't deep enough to have the screen at least 3' from your eyes, then I wouldn't go the TV route.

Also, when looking for a TV to use as a computer monitor, there are many things to consider. What is the input lag? It will be lower on an IPS screen (what I have) than a PVA or MVA screen (what I think your link is). An IPS screen will have 178° viewing angle.

Can it do 1:1 pixel mapping? If it can't, then it's an absolute no for computer usage. In layman's terms this is turning the scaling off so that it displays the 1920x1080 perfectly, pixel by pixel.

To a lesser extent, displaying font is a problem with many TVs. I had to play around with my settings a lot to not have blurry red fonts. I notice it more in regular desktop use, but I have noticed it in a few games as well. It's hardly noticeable since I got the settings how I want them.

To summarize, definitely don't get the TV in the OP. Measure your viewing distance from your normal gaming position to where your TV would be. If it's less than 3', don't get a TV. If it's more than 3', then research 32" 1080p TVs with IPS panels that can do 1:1 pixel mapping and don't look like crap when hooked up to a computer. Here's a link with lots of good info on using TVs as computer monitors: http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=78. It's where I found most of the info and settings for my TV.
 
If humanly possible, buy 1080p.

I really don't understand why 768p displays started coming out in the first place, since there is no content for them. 720p displays are better for 720p content (such as anything coming out of a current gen game console). Lower res has to be cheaper to build than higher res.
 
Pia said:
If humanly possible, buy 1080p.

I really don't understand why 768p displays started coming out in the first place, since there is no content for them. 720p displays are better for 720p content (such as anything coming out of a current gen game console). Lower res has to be cheaper to build than higher res.
Click to expand...

Probably because it made it easier to scale to 4:3 PC resolutions - 768 vertical is to match the PC resolution of 1024x768.

Or because it was cheaper to manufacture than even 720p.
Or both.
 
A lot of cheap TV's are labelled 1080p native but what it really means is they just passthrough a native 1080p signal and downconvert it to 720p. Don't be fooled by false advertising.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top