Getting a 32" Full HDTV as a PC monitor

Margaret said:
Make sure you aren't sacrificing quality for the resolution, I made that mistake with my LG and it's light years behind my Sony despite the higher resolution it has.
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thanks for the tip, but i REALLY dont think i can cope with 720p on a 32" regardless of image quality.

I will be selling the 22" monitor, so i will need the TV for 60% desktop/15% PC gaming / 25% console gaming

I have the 37" 720p in the living room, but the missus could use that for telly, and so the 32 (bigger would be too big) 1080p for my uses i think is a must.

Plus, the £450 price i posted is on offer, on other sites its nearer the £650-mark so i think i'll be happy...

That said, i may just stick with the 37 i have in the lounge and send the missus upstairs to watch telly on a spare Virgin box (£5 a month)
 
Definitely trawl through avforums regards to that Toshiba (whats the model number?) - any shortcomings you can live with when it comes to gaming (well apart from lag) - but due to the very nature of desktop work (you have to sit relatively near the monitor/TV) youll pick up issues with contrast and poor text clarity quite quickly...

Personally if I wanted a 32" 1080p TV Id pay the £700, if I couldnt afford that then Id just get a 24" monitor - for something you look at every day while doing all your pc/console stuff its well worth paying for. Its one of the two things I wouldnt skimp on when it comes to a PC - the other is a PSU...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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ps3ud0 said:
Personally if I wanted a 32" 1080p TV Id pay the £700, if I couldnt afford that then Id just get a 24" monitor - for something you look at every day while doing all your pc/console stuff its well worth paying for...
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But would you get a TN, or be prepared to spend around £400 on a VA panel?
 
fair point mate :)

The model in question is a

Toshiba Regza 32" 32XV 505 DB HD 1080p Freeview Widescreen LCD TV
 
Well I bought a 24" 2405FPW the week they came out and spent £800+ on it ;). Its your 'window' into your PC so weigh up the differences in the tech and see what matters to you. Ive not had that many monitors so I cant really give you a decent opinion - I just know that I would pay the extra if I knew there was perceptual differences, but my PC has been my TV for 10years, my console player for 3 and my music player for god-knows how long - I use it so much that in reality that extra few hundred quid works out to be pennies per day more...

Its one of those very few things in PCs where even if you overspend you can appreciate it tangibly all the time - I cant say the same for a top-end GFX/CPU over a mid-end one...

Im not trying to upsell you or manipulate your decision - Im just saying what my POV is - at the end of the day, spend some time reading (avforums or maybe trusted reviews), breakdown your usage and what you part of the tech is vital for you and definitely get to have a look at them in RL if possible and if you do muck around with their settings since its very unlikely theyll be setup correctly in the majority of showrooms...

P.S. Have a look at the first post on this page BassPwr

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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I personally feel that while its more costly and taking more space/electricity it would be nicer to have a 24" PVA or IPS panel for Gaming/Surfing, and then a 32inch+ PVA/IPS LCD TV for Movie/TV/Console Viewing.

Think about it a 24" is massive for surfing, the Screen size and its packed with 1920x1200 resolution, its just perfect and right, and then a proper BIG LCD for your Movie/TV and Console Experience too be fully enjoyed. I think its gonna be hard to enjoy doing the opposite on either screen....

I too had 24" Samsung TN panels and yeah the Viewing angles while not too bad I was always left wondering why are people raving about PVA/IPS and higher quality panels apparently its not just the Viewing angles but the Panels offer much better clarity/quality overall also.

I guess if one was a tad rich could go for the Hazro or HP IPS 24" panel for PC stuff and then an Panasonic 32" for TV/Movie viewing, that would literally be the ultimate setup only issue is that will set one back 1.1k ;)
 
I do agree, 1920x1200 is just fantastic, I was on holiday last month with my laptop (1280x800) coming back to this screen just seemed brand new and amazing, like I first got it all over again.
 
HighlandeR said:
I guess if one was a tad rich could go for the Hazro or HP IPS 24" panel for PC stuff and then an Panasonic 32" for TV/Movie viewing, that would literally be the ultimate setup only issue is that will set one back 1.1k ;)
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Replace that Pana with that Pioneer 32" LCD and now you are talking ;) - talking another £700 :eek::p

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Is that Toshiba Regza 32" 32XV any good looks very nice the design and slim... 480 quid is a tempting price as well !

Gonna hunt around and see what panels underneath, avforum time :)

Excuse me if ive missed that in an earlier post !
 
ps3ud0 said:
Replace that Pana with that Pioneer 32" LCD and now you are talking ;) - talking another £700 :eek::p

ps3ud0 :cool:
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You know I fell in love with the New Pioneer Kuro today it truely looked amazing and they had a black horse demo just too show off how good the blacks looked even on an LCD !

If I had the money.....
 
I see you been around avforums ;)

Am half tempted to attempt for the Kuro but I just know that around a year or 2 its gonna be replaced with something even better/much cheaper. Sony/Samsung arent that far behind and would catch up easily :)

I still cant decide a buy lol
 
HummuH1 said:
I would personally get the Sony. For no ther reason than I use a 32D3000 as my monitor and it works flawlessly. I have PC, PS2, PS3, Wii and 2nd Sky box all running through it.

The pixel mapping works fine so no need to fanny about with all sorts of settings.

1920 x 1080 from 1 metre away will look pretty good. I sit about 2m away and I'm about to upgrade to 40" 1080p for gaming.

Bear in mind the PC audio implications though (which I'm sure you have) unless you have a GFX card that does audio over hdmi.
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:0 how do you game on a 40"... Must be for WOW or something
 
HighlandeR said:
I see you been around avforums ;)

Am half tempted to attempt for the Kuro but I just know that around a year or 2 its gonna be replaced with something even better/much cheaper. Sony/Samsung arent that far behind and would catch up easily :)

I still cant decide a buy lol
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:o

Difficult decision youve got there - if you have the money then you already know the answer. I just couldnt forgive myself to drop that much coin into a LCD when I could get 2 of the next best. Or some cash for nice AV bits or console or whatever...

Considering youve seen them in RL I guess you can equate that better than most. I would buy a 1080p Kuro Plasma (even though thats £2000+) but not a 1080p Kuro LCD...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Hank_Marvin said:
i can confirm sony 32w4000 is amazing for pc use. set your games to 1920x1080 and its amazing, get 1
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Are you sure about that?

Why does it say this on the manual from the sony site then?

manual.bmp
 
BassPwr as Ive said before - no one who has bought this TV as a PC monitor would be connecting it to the PC for the majority of the time using VGA. I dont know anyone who would use a 1080p set without using a DVI connection or HDMI-DVI connector...

Definitely know it connects to the PC via HDMI @ 1920x1080 - far too many user opinions out there where I would expect such a disadvantage to be documented...

EDIT: Checked the latest manual and it has the same table - definitely think its out-of-date and wrong though and Sony have just added the W4 range to it. It would be quite obvious if it could only do 720p and not 1080p from a PC via HDMI (tbh its more the case it might not have the correct defulat VESA timings more than anything, but your GFX card via the DVI would provide that anyway)...

EDIT2: Why are so many reviews so obtuse that most of the time they just spout the specs but dont even bother to hook up a PC (like the one they are writing the review on :rolleyes: )to the TV to confirm the PQ/res.

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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The image I posted was ripped straight from the current manual from the sony site you just checked. It was posted mainly for the HDMI section, not intended to indicate a majority of vga use, not sure what gave you that impression!

How can you definitely know, if you don't own one?

I want some screenshot proof of the tv on desktop and the res from the pc if anyone can be bothered :)

I hope the manual is in error then, and missing the full hd res capability.

Only thing is being able to afford the £650 price tag :(

ps3ud0 said:
BassPwr are you going to keep the 19" monitor?

If you are then Id get the 32" 720p TV for gaming/movies and the 19" for desktop use - kinda ideal for both purposes. Personally the 1080p requirement only comes into the equation if you require it for desktop use...
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I was planning on keeping the 19" samsung yeah, set to the side of the tv.

I'm not so sure about getting a 1360x768 32" now, doubtful about the quality it will give due to some feedback from these forum topics.

I got to see someone's 26" sony bravia yesterday, it was only running a sky input, it looked alright and I don't think they know much about tweaking settings to get it looking better. I wasn't blown away by the quality, it definitely looks so much different to crt tvs, I have a 28" toshiba downstairs, and obviously the colour depth/blacks are much nicer than an lcd, and it also looks softer. Not sure I could deal with the quality of an lcd tv, I suppose I could get used to it, like I got used to my lcd tn monitor.
 
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