HDTV to use as a monitor

[natsfan99]

I have done a little research and may head in the direction of getting a 37-40" tv to use as a monitor for my pc. I am a gamer and was wondering how using a tv would effect lag. I have found this info

http://translate.google.com/transla...html&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1#pagina-1

Does anyone currently use a hdtv as a monitor for gaming? How is it? Thanks.

 

[Rhezuss]

What is that?!!?!??

Dude clean that post ASAP hahahah!

As far as gaming on a HDTV goes I think it's doable but depends how far you'll be from the tv. I have a 37" at home and sometimes game on it but nothing permanent...still find it better on my 23" LCD screen.

Playing in the couch with a controller can be fun from time to time though...

 

[natsfan99]

What is that?!!?!??

Dude clean that post ASAP hahahah!

As far as gaming on a HDTV goes I think it's doable but depends how far you'll be from the tv. I have a 37" at home and sometimes game on it but nothing permanent...still find it better on my 23" LCD screen.

Playing in the couch with a controller can be fun from time to time though...

I tried the controller thing but it didn't work out so well. I haven't used them in 20 years and it's to late to get started. I am keyboard and mouse guy.

 

[Wag]

I use my 60" Sharp Aquos LCD as a display and it's awesome. I especially like it for video playback because it supports 24Hz refresh. It might be worth investing a little more in a display that supports 24Hz if you plan to watch a lot of videos/blu-ray.

 

[natsfan99]

I use my 60" Sharp Aquos LCD as a display and it's awesome. I especially like it for video playback because it supports 24Hz refresh. It might be worth investing a little more in a display that supports 24Hz if you plan to watch a lot of videos/blu-ray.

Do you play any games on it?

 

[Soundmanred]

I use a 42" 1080p in the living room and a 32" 720p in the bedroom, and game on both of them without noticeable lag, etc.
They work just as good as any monitor I've ever had.

 

[Anomaly1964]

I. You need a 1080p plasma so there is no mouse lag...
2. GREAT for gaming, HORRIBLE for reading text while surfing the net...

 

[aigomorla]

120HZ HDTV will work.

And yes i know its not a true 120hz, but they do offer a more crisp picture then a standard 60hz.

The key thing is look at response time. Anything generally under 5ms is considered gaming class.

Also id go LED with IPS, like the LG one u can find on sale.
However i heard that TV is a lotery, some come IPS, some dont.

 

[natsfan99]

120HZ HDTV will work.

And yes i know its not a true 120hz, but they do offer a more crisp picture then a standard 60hz.

The key thing is look at response time. Anything generally under 5ms is considered gaming class.

Also id go LED with IPS, like the LG one u can find on sale.
However i heard that TV is a lotery, some come IPS, some dont.

Will this clear up the issue with surfing and reading text as the precious poster stated? I spend 90% of my timing either playing or surfing.

 

[Wag]

Do you play any games on it?

Yes, I do. Specifically it's a LC-60E78UN, 120Hz 60" Sharp Aquos. It has a "gaming" and "PC" mode. The "gaming" mode is really good. PC mode is quite excellent as well, text is crisp and sharp- it has a 4ms response time. Best Buy often has this model on sale for $1199 (that's where I picked it up).

 

[darkswordsman17]

It will depend on the specific TV, and even plasmas can have a bunch of processing going on, which is what the gaming (and other modes) are intended to help. Ideally you want one that has a PC Mode where it won't apply processing or anything so that its up to your computer to handle that aspect and it just displays the signal its given by your computer.

I'd find a list of TVs that appeal to you (size, price, quality, specs, etc) and then google search for them being used as PC monitor. I'd also check out the specific model on places like AVSforum.

 

[yh125d]

I use an older 60hz 52" DLP on my desk. For movies, internet, games of all types, its great at them all

No lag or anything, playing shooters is fine (CoD, borderlands, etc)

 

[Mr. President]

What you want from a TV for desktop use is one that a) allows you to turn off all image processing (aka game mode that actually works), b) allows for 1:1 pixel mapping, and c) an IPS rather than PVA.

I would also take all response times with a grain of salt. Seeing an IPS with an 8ms response time doesn't mean that it's going to be 'slower' than a PVA with a 4ms response time. Different manufacturers calculate these times using different criteria (grey-to-grey vs. black-to-white) or reach them using lag inducing overdrive methods. You would actually be safer with a 6-8ms IPS than a 2-4ms PVA because you can then be fairly certain that it won't be pushing that crap. PVAs often need to employ overdrive to reduce response times while IPSes generally don't suffer from input lag because they don't.

 

[Wag]

The problem with DLPs is that they all have a fairly large amount of overscan. My last TV was a LCD/DLP Panny and it had a huge amount of overscan- like 20%! My new LCD has no overscan whatsover, a 1:1 mode which is perfect for PC and Blu-Ray.

 

[yh125d]

Mine only has about 5%. Easy enough to adjust

 

[snuuggles]

120HZ HDTV will work.

And yes i know its not a true 120hz, but they do offer a more crisp picture then a standard 60hz.

The key thing is look at response time. Anything generally under 5ms is considered gaming class.

Also id go LED with IPS, like the LG one u can find on sale.
However i heard that TV is a lotery, some come IPS, some dont.

Whhaaaat?! Please tell me you aren't *recommending* to someone who wants a gaming display device to specifically get a 120hz TV.

OP, PLEASE ignore that advice - 120hz TVs will *increase* input lag, making them worse for *all* gaming. The single purpose of 120hz on TVs is to allow better matching for 24 frame-per-second fims.

On the other hand, there are 120hz *input monitors*, which are excellent for gaming. They are usually marketed as Nvidia 3d vision monitors (3d), but can be used in non 3d mode as *true* 120hz displays.

Honestly, not to flame you aigomorla, but this is the second time I've seen you post something wildly misleading about 120hz displays, and it's pretty annoying to know there is a moderator of this site doing that. Please don't mislead the people who come to this site - it's really really annoying to see!

To answer your question OP, I currently use a 60hz TV to game, I haven't measured input lag etc, but I'd call it "fine". It's old and unavailable, so I won't even bother to tell you about it. I'm personally waiting for large format (27"+) *true 120hz input* displays to come out, then I'm upgrading.

If you are in the market for a good, low input-lag TV for gaming, I recommend searching http://www.avsforum.com/, there are a number of excellent TVs for gaming, but as you might expect, it's tough to get good information on them.

 

[Mr. President]

^ That's not entirely true though. It's not 120hz monitors of themselves that cause input lag but the image processing designed to take advantage of them. These 120hz TVs often allow you to use frame interpolation to smooth over the framerate and that is what causes the input lag you speak of. But most/all of them allow you to turn it off and it is entirely independent of 24p playback (where 120hz is a necessity).

This feature can actually be quite handy for 30hz console games played with a gamepad but, either way, it's a non-issue. It's also one of the things I was referring to in my earlier post.

 

[Wag]

Considering that almost all HDTVs that can output 24Hz these days are also at least 120Hz, you really don't have much of a choice. That said, with most of the TVs (like mine) they have specific PC and Gaming modes which pretty much turn off all the processing. When I use gaming mode on my 120Hz Aquos pretty much all lag dissapears.

 

[snuuggles]

^ That's not entirely true though. It's not 120hz monitors of themselves that cause input lag but the image processing designed to take advantage of them. These 120hz TVs often allow you to use frame interpolation to smooth over the framerate and that is what causes the input lag you speak of. But most/all of them allow you to turn it off and it is entirely independent of 24p playback (where 120hz is a necessity).

This feature can actually be quite handy for 30hz console games played with a gamepad but, either way, it's a non-issue. It's also one of the things I was referring to in my earlier post.

You are absolutely right, I was careless. Otoh, if all you are using the tv for is pc gaming/browsing (like me and the op), then there is zero reason to get a tv that has a 120hz mode. You'll just end up turning that mode off.

 

[snuuggles]

Considering that almost all HDTVs that can output 24Hz these days are also at least 120Hz, you really don't have much of a choice. That said, with most of the TVs (like mine) they have specific PC and Gaming modes which pretty much turn off all the processing. When I use gaming mode on my 120Hz Aquos pretty much all lag dissapears.

True, but my point was that a site mod was specifically telling the op to look for a feature that would make gaming *worse*. The fact that you can turn that feature off is great, but considering the op specifically said he mostly games and browses why pay for it in the first place?