hunting for LCD for computer/ general TV usage

[T2urtle]

I've been talking to a couple of people in the TV sections at most department stores to try and get an idea of what i should do but its rather pointless. Most of them don't know much about what i'm looking for so i turn to you guys.

I'm planning on setting up a rig for my bedroom where the computer is stationed currently i have a 17 flat CRT and i was looking to get something in the lines of a 17"- 20" LCD display. So that i can watch cable TV on it as well as just it as my Desktop moniter. Main reason why i'm going this way is because i need a little more space for other things. So I know a normal 20" LCD moniter is running 350$ about and a 17" LCD computer panel is about 250$. So i'm expecting to pay about $500 for this 20" panel to do both.

Some of my concerns were, did i need a TV tuner to watch my cable on the moniter? I'm adware that some have built-in tuners but they only have basic channels.

How simple is it to switch from computer moniter mode to TV mode? Is it just a flip of a switch or push of a button?

Do you guys have a recommendation for a $500 20" LCD that will do what i need? I don't plan on watching HDTV or anything. Just standard 120 basic cable setup and if i'm lucky a RCA setup so i can plug in my DVD player as well, but not super needed.

 

[erwos]

I bought this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...=7247277&type=product&id=1115365757753 . When I got it, it was $430 (on sale). It's only 19 inches, mind you, but I don't notice a huge difference side by side with a 2005FPW (except for the 2005FPW's slightly better image quality).

Basically, to watch TV or whatever, you just select the TV as a source. It's not exactly difficult, although cycling sources gets tiresome sometimes. I don't have cable, so I can't really comment on the precise quality of the tuner.

-Erwos

 

[TheCanuck]

Just get a decent LCD monitor and add a PCI tuner card to the computer. I just picked up this 19" LCD monitor for $199 and the picture is amazing (speakers are OK for general use): CMV 19" LCD

Then add a TV tuner card -- you can either go high quality like the Hauppauge which I'd recommend: Hauppauge PVR 150

Or you can get a cheap one for under $30: Cheap Tv Tuner

Either way you'll be able to use the computer to record TV shows to the hard drive / have your own personal TIVO box. The hauppauge would be the better card since it has hardware encoding and is supported by more 3rd party applications (meedio, beyond tv, etc).

 

[T2urtle]

thanks guys. would the TV tuner be exactly like watching it off a LCD or not? I've seen at the store one time when the AIW 9800 was the realease it was shown up 19in CRT and it didn't look like what i would see from a general TV. It looked like it was fuzzy. Not a great way to show off a new $400 video card at the moment.

Also i've read here and there of some issues reguarding TV tuners cards. I wont be recording anything really. I might but not the worst of my concerns. I just want a decent picture on my LCD moniter.



I have a dell 9300 right now. 17in wide screen with the brighter screen as well. And i love watching dvd's on this thing. Makes my 27in flat screen TV/dvd combo look like its a dated TV.

 

[TheCanuck]

Not sure about the 9800 but I did have an AIW 7500 attached to my 32" CRT WS monitor and people have commented that the TV is a very good picture. Right now its in a box though so I need to unpack the htpc and maybe hook it up to my LCD for a test.

Keep in mind as well that the AIWs use software decoding which supposedly doesnt give as good a picture as a hardware decoder like the PVR 150 / 250 series from Hauppuage.

Viewsonic also sells a box that you can hook up to LCD monitors to provide TV but I'd go with the tuner card since using a PVR type software to record shows can actually be pretty useful.

 

[T2urtle]

that is interesting i guess i would have to look at a hauppuage in person to see how that is.

i had a question, i'm not up to date with terms. such as htpc, i'm assuming home theater PC.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

I recently got a Samsung 204b 20.1" LCD from Frys. It is in your price range at 499 after rebate. I dont use it as a TV so I cant say how it would do for that. I will say it has backlight bleeding in Doom3 and also with my screensaver going which has a black background. Overall this thing does ok for gaming and the backlight is mostly around the edges and its annoying but hard to say if its BAD since this is the 1st LCD I have owned, I also dont like how this screen doesnt seem to fill completely to the bezels, I tried 2 different ones and both have what I call lousy border issues. It also ha a poor viewing angle which isnt really san issue if your sitting directly in front of it. I just would of expected this to do better for the price.

 

[T2urtle]

i never owned a LCD moniter as well. Just this laptop that i'm currently using. I planning on building a computer within this month. And i dont have a moniter as well, nor a tv in the room. i figure i'll kill 2 birds with one stone.

As for usages i already listed. Light gaming actually it doesn't matter to me how it looks for games. I'm about to quit Counter-strike. Just a nice TV watching and computer moniter. No photo editor or anything like that. I don't do anything serious with this computer.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: T2urtle
i never owned a LCD moniter as well. Just this laptop that i'm currently using. I planning on building a computer within this month. And i dont have a moniter as well, nor a tv in the room. i figure i'll kill 2 birds with one stone.

As for usages i already listed. Light gaming actually it doesn't matter to me how it looks for games. I'm about to quit Counter-strike. Just a nice TV watching and computer moniter. No photo editor or anything like that. I don't do anything serious with this computer.

I understand I would just hate for you to buy the one I listed and have backlight issues that could hurt your quality for viewing TV. Thats the reason I posted about this model. LCD's are very tough to buy and I was just hoping to help out your choices the best that I can. Reviews on 20" models dont seem to be floating in thin air. As for viewing wemb pages etc its color reproduction and text it clear and precise.

 

[T2urtle]

I understand exactly what your saying and i thank you for it. Backlight issues could be a big factor. When i got my laptop i made sure there was no dead pixels or frozen ones. I also made sure there were no hot spots and that it looked nicely showing a all black screen. I did a lot of personal tests on it. And i'm very happy with my laptop screen. The thing with that is there was a little amount of selection so i can work on the details of my laptop.

There is a huge market for LCD's and honestly a lot of you guys go with names that i personally never heard of and are extremely happy. And i ask only for you guys to either steer me into some of the better batch of LCD and/or to steer me away from the bad apples as well.

 

[T2urtle]

i was shopping today and saw these LCD's

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=226460

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/aseries/va1912wb/
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/aseries/va912b/

they aren't the 20in that i orginal wanted but the look like they would do nicely. I really like the 19wb. it looks nice but i'm a little bothered about watching tv on the widescreen angle that things might look a little deformed.

question that came to my mind. if i got a LCD for a computer would be it any worst in quatily then i got on design for a TV? How would i hook up my ps2 to the moniter in this case? i wanted to go with the happuage150 as my tuner card.

 

[T2urtle]

Any suggestions on wiether to get the viewsonic wide or reg. 19?