LCD or LCD TV?

[imported_Septimus]

Posted something like this in the LCD thread but it's less a "is this a good LCD" question and more a general, philosophical ignorance on my part.

I'm moving up from a 21" Viewsonic widescreen LCD. I need a decent all-rounder -- I an a developer (programming - not graphic art) but since this is my home/home office, it needs to be able to handle games, movies, and (one day) console support. Probably a 360.

My budget is anywhere up to $1000 or $1100, but I'm having trouble with all of the options out there these days. I've read that it's best to stay away from TN panels, even though they are routinely $300-$400 less than MVA/other counterparts (say, the VX2825 or Hanns-G 28" vs. the Dell 27" - huge price difference).

I don't care about things like speakers or USB inputs. I care about video inputs (variety!) and visual quality, in that order. I am not a videophile by any stretch but if TNs are really that egregious, I'm happy to avoid them. I do plan to watch some TV on my monitor though I'm going to pick up a TV card so I don't care about built-in tuners.

That seems to leave two choices:

- A proper, large-ish widescreen LCD, ala the Samsung 275T or Dell 2707WFP. Both seem like fine products, though they are definitely on the expensive side.

- An LCD TV, ala the Spectre X37SV-Naga - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824112174 - At first, I didn't even realize that people used these primarily as PC monitors at all, but it seems that they do. How practical is this? Can you actually sit a few feet away at a desk and work on a 37" display? The inputs are great and the native resolution is pretty high, but I'm a neophyte when it comes to TVs as I've never really owned a decent one.

It's possible that this is a no-brainer and I should be looking exclusively at LCD monitors and not TVs, but I'd like to understand a little bit more about why that would be the case. Since I need a sort of dillettante, does-everything-more-or-less-OK solution, what should I do?

 

[Drexl]

A TV should be fine, but first make sure it doesn't have overscan on the input(s) you will be using with the PC. Overscan isn't bad for standard television since it can hide imperfections on the edges, but for the PC it's very bad because it will hide things like the taskbar, title bar, etc.

Also, bear in mind that you'll be using a 16:9 ratio which differs from the PC standard of 16:10. I don't know why the PC industry didn't adopt 16:9, but there you go. Anyway, the ratio/resolution shouldn't be a problem in Windows as long as the video card supports it (which it should). Games might be a different story, as some may support 16:10 but not 16:9. So, be sure to select the option for "NVidia scaling with fixed aspect ratio" in the video card configuration to avoid stretching (unless you want that).

 

[imported_Septimus]

I guess I'm just suspicious of the utility of such a huge screen. If it was at all practical to have a 37" LCD instead of a 26" or 27", and it cost less, why wouldn't more people do it?

What are the drawbacks to using such a large screen, assuming it doesn't have things like overscan?

 

[gorcorps]

Because you can't set it on your desk, and the resolution on the TV is lower. You normally have a TV in your living room, and that's generally not where people want to be gaming. They want to sit at a desk where they can properly use a KB/M. There are always exceptions to this, and with a wireless KB/M you could certainly make due on your couch.