A 1080p LCD TV as a Monitor? How good is it compared to an LCD Monitor

[MraK]

I have seen LCD TVs used as monitors, in Youtube and seen How capable it is when using an LCD TV. I also read that LCD monitors could produce a 1080p resolution as long as your video card has the capability.

My questions are:

1)Are 1080p LCD TV's better than high quality LCD monitors??
2)What is the actual resolution of 1080p LCD TV when used as a computer monitor? (for ex: the resolution for a 1080p LCD TV is 1900x1080), but when converted into a computer monitor whats the actual resolution? (1900x1200 or higher/lower?)

comparison ex:

Brand X 37" inch 1080p LCD TV vs Brand X 30" inch High quality LCD Monitor

Which would you take?

 

[MraK]

I'm sorry for the "noob" question, guessing that the reason why no one till now has said anything... I was hoping anyone who could help me.... what so wrong or stupid about my questions? people help people, especially here at Anandtech, but still no one has cared to share on what they know about my curiosity regarding LCD monitors and LCD TVs... I was just using the ex question of brand x with the other brand x. I'm just stating that i see so many people buying LCD monitors as well as LCD TVs for their computer and that i wanted to know what advantages you could get over the other and the whole saying that you could get a 1080p resolution on a 24-30inch monitor, if that was possible (in which case people have been claiming on reviews and post alike) wouldn't that monitor be more expensive than an LCD TV?


Thats all Im asking....

 

[MraK]

oh and btw for those who have read my thread on the $4500 system, this question is not intended to further help with my build. For your information I already ordered a Planar 26'inch IPS LCD monitor. I was just curious about the what LCD TVs could do on a gaming pc and how *if possible* can you actually get a 1080p resolution on a monitor. I know it may sound very stupid to ask such a question, I'm just curious.

I hope that clarifies things..

 

[lousydood]

My friend has a 37" LCD TV as his monitor and he likes it. Frankly, it's too big for me, makes it hard to read text. In any case, consider what a TV is optimized for: long distance, non-interactive viewing, no reading. LCD computer monitors will be better adapted to computer users. For example, a TV viewer doesn't care about input lag, but a gamer might. While watching the Superbowl, I had the odd experience of seeing both regular and HD broadcasts. The HD broadcast was a full 5 seconds behind the regular. I don't know where this lag came from (probably not only input lag), but normally it would be irrelevant for TV viewing.

 

[Scotteq]

My understanding/experience, in a general way, is that:

(1) The resolution shouldn't change just because it's a TV - If you're using your TV as a monitor, then you should set the screen resolution on your computer to 1900*1080. If you are using your TV in a dual monitor setup, then you should specify the native res on both.

(2) The difference is more that individual pixels on a television are much larger than on a computer monitor. You can sit right on top of a 24" monitor and not really see the little dots. But they're clearly visible when you move very close to a TV.

(3) A TV isn't necessarily comparable to a monitor in the context of a game - Tn 'gaming' monitors have VERY high response rates (2MS on the newer ones), but depending on the individual, you may or may not notice the difference. For some, the difference is clearly visible (and often annoying). Other people? naaaah...

(4) Expect more "true" color on a TV when compared to a (TN) Monitor. This may be compensated by software (OK, depending on the user) or hardware (Best) calibration in both cases. The TV should generally still be superior at the end of the day in this regard.



More/better advice on the subject would be welcome - Since my own TV is getting long in the tooth, I am intending to go to a dual monitor setup using the new TV (not completely decided on exactly what) for a 'Main' monitor (for gaming and video) and continuing to use my current 24" as the secondary. Eyeing a 40" Samsung (LN40 650 series) at the moment, since it can run a 120Mhz refresh rate. But still comparing...

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: MrAK
I'm sorry for the "noob" question, guessing that the reason why no one till now has said anything... I was hoping anyone who could help me.... what so wrong or stupid about my questions? people help people, especially here at Anandtech, but still no one has cared to share on what they know about my curiosity regarding LCD monitors and LCD TVs... I was just using the ex question of brand x with the other brand x. I'm just stating that i see so many people buying LCD monitors as well as LCD TVs for their computer and that i wanted to know what advantages you could get over the other and the whole saying that you could get a 1080p resolution on a 24-30inch monitor, if that was possible (in which case people have been claiming on reviews and post alike) wouldn't that monitor be more expensive than an LCD TV?


Thats all Im asking....

You're bitching because nobody answered your question in 4 hours?! :roll:

Neither you nor anybody else have a monopoly on the internet. I see this a lot, no one responds to a thread, and then the creator gets emotional as if no one cares. Because I'm sure absolutely no one here really wants to help you, no one at all.

 

[BassBomb]

30" LCD will also have much higher resolution than 1080P

they are normally 2560x1600

 

[Fallen Kell]

Being someone who has a HTPC and uses an LCD TV as the monitor on that system, let me give you some help.

Not all 1080p LCD TV's will accept a 1080p signal. You need to read the fine print here and look at what the inputs accept. Many will only accept a 720p or 1080i signal and upconvert it to 1080p. A true 1080p TV will be 1920x1080 resolution. Now, you will have to watch out for a lot of things.

LCD TV's usually have a lot high input lag as well as motion blurring compared to what you will see in the 30" LCD monitor range (since there is no such thing as a budget 30" LCD monitor, they are almost all top of the line with the latest technology and best panels. A budget 37" LCD TV will have a much worse image quality than a 30" monitor. The color space of almost all LCD TV's are horrendous compared to a monitor. However, a high end LCD TV can be on par. That said, you don't see very many high end 37" LCD TV's because the high end usually stops at 40". If you go for the LCD TV, I would recommend looking at the Samsung 81F series. This uses LED backlight, which allows a much finer tuned gray-scale because it dims the individual LED's behind portions of the screen which are dark, and brightens the ones behinds areas that are bright. Traditional CCFL backlight can not do this, as it is either on for the entire screen or off. The LED's also produce a specific wave-length of light, which means the manufacturer's can do the math and get exact color outputs from the LCD crystals. Again, with CCFL backlight, it produces multiple wave-lengths of light, all of which will have their own slightly different color, which means when it passes threw the LCD crystal, slightly different colors will output, as well as the inability to generate other colors where were not part of the incoming light's color spectrum (since all the LCD crystal does is filter out colors except the green wavelength component for the green sub-pixel, the red wavelength component for the red sub-pixel, and the blue wavelength component for the blue sub-pixel). If the light that is being filtered thru the liquid crystal does not have equal parts of blue, red, and green wavelengths, the display will be shifted towards one or more of those colors, and as a result will not be able to produce certain combinations of color output, and its color space will be limited.

I use a 46" Sharp D92 series, which was their top of the line model when I purchased. You really need to look at the top of the line LCD TV's if you hope to even compare against a monitor.

 

[heyheybooboo]

720p (1366x768) seems to be the sweet spot for me. You can adjust your desktop settings for the resolution and viewing distance without too much difficulty. I bump up the text size in my browser windows/tabs - it can however fook with some web pages but it's not too bad ...

1920x1080 makes it really tuff to get a really good overall tweak - you can get close but ...

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
720p (1366x768) seems to be the sweet spot for me. You can adjust your desktop settings for the resolution and viewing distance without too much difficulty. I bump up the text size in my browser windows/tabs - it can however fook with some web pages but it's not too bad ...

1920x1080 makes it really tuff to get a really good overall tweak - you can get close but ...

Again, this is all dependent on what TV you have. I have much better image quality at 1920x1080 on my TV than I do with other resolutions, because my TV is a native 1920x1080 panel and it accepts a 1920x1080 input resolution. I can even connect with a DVI-I on my TV, and as a result they included PC compatible resolution inputs on the TV (in other words, it will take 640x480, 1024x768, 1280x1024, etc., input resolutions). Again, this is TV specific. Not all will do this. The top of the line ones usually do.

 

[ctark]

Get the samsung A550

/end thread

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: Scotteq
My understanding/experience, in a general way, is that:

(1) The resolution shouldn't change just because it's a TV - If you're using your TV as a monitor, then you should set the screen resolution on your computer to 1900*1080. If you are using your TV in a dual monitor setup, then you should specify the native res on both.

(2) The difference is more that individual pixels on a television are much larger than on a computer monitor. You can sit right on top of a 24" monitor and not really see the little dots. But they're clearly visible when you move very close to a TV.

(3) A TV isn't necessarily comparable to a monitor in the context of a game - Tn 'gaming' monitors have VERY high response rates (2MS on the newer ones), but depending on the individual, you may or may not notice the difference. For some, the difference is clearly visible (and often annoying). Other people? naaaah...

(4) Expect more "true" color on a TV when compared to a (TN) Monitor. This may be compensated by software (OK, depending on the user) or hardware (Best) calibration in both cases. The TV should generally still be superior at the end of the day in this regard.

Thank you for your thorough input regarding LCD TVs and LCD Monitors.

(1 and 2)wouldn't 1900x1080 make everything look big on a 32+inch LCD TV? So basically a 1080p LCD TV cant reach higher resolutions to see things in more detail?

3) As you have read that i already have ordered a 26inch PLANAR IPS LCD Monitor, seeing thats its not a TN monitor (panel most used for gaming on a pc) could it bring out a 1080p resolution when watching Blu-ray? And with this kind of LCD monitor, could it be comparable to an actual 1080p 32 inch, if there ever was one?

4) How about with an IPS Monitor?

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: RapidSnail

Originally posted by: MrAK
I'm sorry for the "noob" question, guessing that the reason why no one till now has said anything... I was hoping anyone who could help me.... what so wrong or stupid about my questions? people help people, especially here at Anandtech, but still no one has cared to share on what they know about my curiosity regarding LCD monitors and LCD TVs... I was just using the ex question of brand x with the other brand x. I'm just stating that i see so many people buying LCD monitors as well as LCD TVs for their computer and that i wanted to know what advantages you could get over the other and the whole saying that you could get a 1080p resolution on a 24-30inch monitor, if that was possible (in which case people have been claiming on reviews and post alike) wouldn't that monitor be more expensive than an LCD TV?


Thats all Im asking....

You're bitching because nobody answered your question in 4 hours?! :roll:

Neither you nor anybody else have a monopoly on the internet. I see this a lot, no one responds to a thread, and then the creator gets emotional as if no one cares. Because I'm sure absolutely no one here really wants to help you, no one at all.

actually it was 6 hours and before I slept 7 hours ago it was already 40+ views (how could there not be anyone who would know something about high-end Monitors and 1080p TVs within those 40+ people? Thats when i decided to post a response

Thank you for you "Bitching" statement btw, I am pretty sure your so professional about it. and its not Help that I need, i was just curious to see what the fuss between LCD monitors and LCD TVs and to see how and why one is better suited that the other and that if you read clearly, you could see that I already had ordered a monitor, so there i was not asking for help.

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
30" LCD will also have much higher resolution than 1080P

they are normally 2560x1600

Could an LCD at, bring out an actual 1080p resolution just as a TV can? regarding a 30'inch, as it brings out the best resolution out of any LCD monitor so far, it could give out a 1080p resolution easy right?

What I am trying to clarify is, I have been always pro-monitor when it came to movies or games, then i hear about 1080p (around a year and a half ago) on LCD TVs, then i though huh only 1900x1080 resolution, heck a 24inch could beat that since it has a 1900x1200 and then i heard that when they mean 1080p resolution for Blu-ray, the picture quality is much more enhanced. I dont know if that makes sense but yea

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
Being someone who has a HTPC and uses an LCD TV as the monitor on that system, let me give you some help.

Not all 1080p LCD TV's will accept a 1080p signal. You need to read the fine print here and look at what the inputs accept. Many will only accept a 720p or 1080i signal and upconvert it to 1080p. A true 1080p TV will be 1920x1080 resolution. Now, you will have to watch out for a lot of things.

LCD TV's usually have a lot high input lag as well as motion blurring compared to what you will see in the 30" LCD monitor range (since there is no such thing as a budget 30" LCD monitor, they are almost all top of the line with the latest technology and best panels. A budget 37" LCD TV will have a much worse image quality than a 30" monitor. The color space of almost all LCD TV's are horrendous compared to a monitor. However, a high end LCD TV can be on par. That said, you don't see very many high end 37" LCD TV's because the high end usually stops at 40". If you go for the LCD TV, I would recommend looking at the Samsung 81F series. This uses LED backlight, which allows a much finer tuned gray-scale because it dims the individual LED's behind portions of the screen which are dark, and brightens the ones behinds areas that are bright. Traditional CCFL backlight can not do this, as it is either on for the entire screen or off. The LED's also produce a specific wave-length of light, which means the manufacturer's can do the math and get exact color outputs from the LCD crystals. Again, with CCFL backlight, it produces multiple wave-lengths of light, all of which will have their own slightly different color, which means when it passes threw the LCD crystal, slightly different colors will output, as well as the inability to generate other colors where were not part of the incoming light's color spectrum (since all the LCD crystal does is filter out colors except the green wavelength component for the green sub-pixel, the red wavelength component for the red sub-pixel, and the blue wavelength component for the blue sub-pixel). If the light that is being filtered thru the liquid crystal does not have equal parts of blue, red, and green wavelengths, the display will be shifted towards one or more of those colors, and as a result will not be able to produce certain combinations of color output, and its color space will be limited.

I use a 46" Sharp D92 series, which was their top of the line model when I purchased. You really need to look at the top of the line LCD TV's if you hope to even compare against a monitor.

How about compared to an actual 1080p high quality tv? ($1400-$2000) Thank you for your recommendation on looking at the Samsung 81F series, but I already ordered a 26inch IPS monitor from PLANAR, as i was only curious to what the whole LCD TV to LCD monitor was all about, seeing that so many people use high end tvs and LCD monitors alike

 

[krnmastersgt]

Uhh you do know that views is tallied based on actual page views, not 40 people necessarily. You could have refreshed the page 20 times looking for responses and the views would be up to 20 + other people.

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
720p (1366x768) seems to be the sweet spot for me. You can adjust your desktop settings for the resolution and viewing distance without too much difficulty. I bump up the text size in my browser windows/tabs - it can however fook with some web pages but it's not too bad ...

1920x1080 makes it really tuff to get a really good overall tweak - you can get close but ...

Again, this is all dependent on what TV you have. I have much better image quality at 1920x1080 on my TV than I do with other resolutions, because my TV is a native 1920x1080 panel and it accepts a 1920x1080 input resolution. I can even connect with a DVI-I on my TV, and as a result they included PC compatible resolution inputs on the TV (in other words, it will take 640x480, 1024x768, 1280x1024, etc., input resolutions). Again, this is TV specific. Not all will do this. The top of the line ones usually do.

hmmm so since, a monitor that would have a 1900x1200 resolution, could easily bring out a 1080p signal? Its just I have read that other people have stated to have watched and gamed on an LCD monitor with a Xbox 360/PS3 and stated a 1080p resolution, even with a 24inch. If that is true wouldn't LCD monitors from size 24-30inchs, be a whole lot more expensive if it could actually bring out a 1080p resolution? (since 1080p TVs are a $600-$1500 more)

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: ctark
Get the samsung A550

/end thread

if you read closely, i already ordered a 26" IPS Planar LCD monitor and that I was just curious on whats the fuss about on a LCD TV over an LCD Monitor vice versa, since i have read that so many people have been using LCD TVs over LCD Monitors

Thanks for the recommend though, I like samsung brand TVs too

 

[MraK]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Uhh you do know that views is tallied based on actual page views, not 40 people necessarily. You could have refreshed the page 20 times looking for responses and the views would be up to 20 + other people.

I was just making a remark to the person who said i was "bitching", that was uncalled for, for I thought this forum was well mannered and professional with the sense that everyone here is willing to help others.

 

[xxceler8]

I will tell you in a couple of days when my Toshiba 52xf550 gets here. Gaming will be insane on this beast. Most of the new TV's have a 'gaming mode' that removes all image processing and give it very low lag. This monitor is SPVA 10bit panel.

Show me a PC monitor with a 10bit panel!

 

[Mwing]

I paired up my htpc with a samsung 1080p 40 lcd, i noticed the lag when like opening a new window or stuff like that, and the tv is 7' from my eyes and it makes it difficult to see the text cleary, game is fine if you dont chat, like mmorpg, but still not a good experience.

like what BassBomb said above, if you use 30" lcd tv, 1080p has lower resolution as a normal 30" lcd monitor, around the same price usually.

btw i found it 24" monitor 3 feet away from eyes is the sweet spot, larger than that you are like watching movie in theatre sitting at the first couple rows, not a good feel.

 

[RKDxpress]

I've been using a high end 37 inch lcd tv with my computer for almost two years now! It was meant to watch tv or use as a moniter through vga cord. Newer sets can use hdmi cables. I sit 3 feet in front of it and play the latest games, watch movies, surf the web, ETC. I will never use a little moniter again. Every one is in awe of it! Go high end and you'll love it. I know its true a quality moniter has higher resolution but bigger is better. RKD.

 

[sutahz]

First of all, you're first post was at 1am and a mere 4hr later in the early morning you are asking why no one has responded (though that would be 8am on the east coast so perhaps someone could have answered you by then). Give your post a day before bumping it would be on suggestion.
I use a 42" 1080p TV as my monitor and I like it. For surfing the web its a little harder on the eyes (a monitor is much better at this), for gaming it works just fine.
My 22" monitor has darker blacks and brighter whites. Also has better color reproduction.
1.) No (at least not a mainstream/budget TV, may need a bravia or equal to get monitor quality)
2.)1080P=1920x1080 => thats what your video card outputs.
(though im sure both answers have been given)

 

[SOSTrooper]

I'm current using my PC1 on my Viewsonic 20" LCD (1680x1050, 5ms) and my PC2 on my Samsung LN40A650 (40", 1080p, 120Hz, 5ms). I can honestly say that when playing intensive FPS games, I much prefer playing it on my Viewsonic than the Samsung TV. Even though both refresh rates are at 5ms, I feel like the Viewsonic is much smoother than the TV. Mind you that the 120Hz smooth motion doesn't work for VGA port, and I'm experiencing a significant lag issue using DVI-HDMI adapter, so I stuck with VGA.

I can read text on the TV perfectly fine at about 6 feet away. I often browse the web on it; but I cannot use it for regular day to day computer usage because the TV strains my eyes after about an hour of usage. This does not happen when I'm using the LCD for hours.

The colors produced on the TV is slightly more vibrant. I have an HD3870 in my PC2 connected to the TV, it runs at native 1920x1080 in XP, and many newer games will have many 16:9 resolutions selectable as they auto-detected the supported resolutions on the TV.

I'm probably not really answering your latest questions, but these are what I can chip in. I still much prefer using my 20" computer LCD over the TV.

 

[flexy]

i got a 50" Samsung 450, its resolution is 1360x768. Its outstanding as a monitor, although with TVs there's always a little bit of "grain" but this is only noticeable if you're VERY close to the set. I was actually VERY surprised about the sharpness and clearness using this big screen as a monitor.

There are some drawbacks, tho: Its a plasma, and you need to break them in and be careful about issues like image retention and "burn-in"....so for gaming maybe a LCD or DLP might be better to avoid things image retention. Also...the size and weight of my 50" here makes it literally impossible to quickly move the screen to my desk and use it as a monitor and back where we watch TV

As for resolution...the size of the screen does NOT mean it has "higher" resoultion. Usually, 720p sets have 1360x720p (which i can feed the set via HDMI/VGA)...or the 1080p sets have 1920x1080 as native resolution. You CAN feed those sets other resos, but then they scale...so i would defintly stay at the native reso.

MRAk, without reading the whole thread..yopu constantly mention 1080p....i think 1080p is irrelevant at sizes below 60"...even here on 50" there is literally no difference between 720p and 1080p visible....at least not for watching content like HD movies etc. The other question would be whether you insist that the set actually takes 1080p as desktop/gaming resolution. Here usual advice applies: That you need some serious hardware to drive any recent game at such a monster resolution like 1920x1080, especially with things like AA on. So...think at least 2x 8800 GTS or similar. Otherwise i am fully satisfied with "only" 1360x768..even on such a big screen...so personally for me 1080p is overkill, be it for gaming or watching content.