Smaller LCD TV vs Larger LCD Monitor

[dmw16]

I am finally fixing up the 2nd bedroom into a place to setup a decent computer and also be able to watch TV, dvd's, and maybe play xbox.

So I need to get a TV or monitor.

I am trying to decide between a larger widescreen LCD like a 22" or 24" Dell or NEC OR a 26" or 32" LCD TV w/ PC inputs.

The monitor/TV will be used mostly for PC stuff (little bit of gaming maybe) and DVD watching.

Any thoughts? Pros? Cons?

 

[ultimatebob]

Personally, I'd get a separate TV and an LCD monitor for your new PC, since you'll probably want watch TV while you're using your computer.

Sure... you can get TV tuner card for your PC, but you'll probably have trouble displaying video in a window or a secondary display while playing DirectX games. There are workarounds for this, but they're a pain in the ass to implement and you're still going to take a performance hit if your running a DVR on your computer while using it.

 

[dmw16]

I wont be doing more than one thing at a time and the budget doesn't allow for both.

 

[ultimatebob]

What is your budget, anyway? If you're thinking about getting a 32" LCD TV, I'm hoping that it's at least $500.

 

[dmw16]

I think I am actually going to scale back to something like a 24" Dell LCD monitor. I doubt I'll watch many DVD's, but my Macbook screen is totally inadequate for doing school work so I am focusing more on that need and the DVD viewing is a distant 2nd.

 

[krotchy]

Do not even consider a 720p TV for computer work, it is awful. 1366x768 is smaller than a 19" normal LCD in total pixels and much smaller in vertical height. If you did go the TV route, 1920x1080 is a pretty darn good amount of real estate for computer usage, and theres a plethora of new 32" 1080p TVs out right now. However most of them are around $1000 or so, but the can have an ATSC/QAM tuner for picking up TV from your cable or over the air.

The Dell 2408 on the other hand has slightly higher resolution than a 1080p TV (1920x1200), so it will benefit you more in computer usage having the extra vertical real estate. Also it has a lot of different types of inputs so you can connect plenty of different things to it. It does lack a tuner though, which a 32" TV will have.

 

[The Stigenator]

get teh dell, and add an 'add on tv tuner' for 60 bucks.. they work with monitors and work pretty well. Its called a stand alone tv tuner.