LG 32LD450 as PC Monitor

Amraam said:
The blacks really that bad? Or is it just relative to more expensive panels??
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Compared to most PC monitors I reckon they are pretty good - however my main monitor uses a VA panel, which has many failings but one thing it does do well is high contrast ratio and deep blacks - so my point of reference is skewed.

Compared to TVs the black levels are not too great - but most TVs use either VA panels, LED local dimming or plasma technologies which may provide deeper blacks but are generally poor for PC use (high input lag) or just much more expensive.

That said, the black level doesn't really bother me too much and is almost nitpicking at a generally very nice TV (used as a monitor) with a very nice IPS panel.
 
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cmndr_andi said:
Compared to most PC monitors I reckon they are pretty good - however my main monitor uses a VA panel, which has mainly failings but one thing it does do well is high contrast ratio and deep blacks - so my point of reference is skewed.

Compared to TVs the black levels are not too great - but most TVs use either VA panels, LED local dimming or plasma technologies which may provide deeper blacks but are generally poor for PC use (high input lag) or just much more expensive.

That said, the black level doesn't really bother me too much and is almost nitpicking at a generally very nice TV (used as a monitor) with a very nice IPS panel.
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Thanks mate. My Dad's Toshiba downstairs does very poor darks - they tend to look green most of the time, but normally I tend to ignore it anyway. I had a look at one at Dixons, and wasn't overly impressed, but they always use a crappy demo screen split between 30+ screens, so you can't gauge the quality well anyway. I'll see if Tescos are any better. Hopefully I'll be able to pick out the right serial number.
 
Managed to check one out at Currys. I was lucky and it had one plugged directly into a blu-ray player. Looked good, blacks weren't terrible. I had a play about with the menus and my God, there are lots of things to play with! The only thing holding me back is I gotta decided if 32" is too big for PC use and what monitors are coming out in the near future.

All the stock had the golden "W" in the code, so they were S-IPS panels :)
 
Gah, I'm pulling my hair out now. Was pretty much set on buying the 32LD450, but now I read up on the Samsung LE32C530.

This is driving me mad. The downside of the LG is the weak black levels, and it's fugly. The Samsung however doesn't have as much "tweakability" and isn't quite as good for PC game - nor is it S-IPS.

I think I should just close my eyes and have you guys pick for me!
 
The Samsung looks like a good TV, it uses a VA panel - so black levels are great, also it has really low input lag (on-par or better than the LG). However, looking at this review there are issues with ghosting:

The downside of gaming on this TV was the motion blur, particularly evident in high contrast area’s. For example, I could literally see the players ‘dragging’ against the pitch whilst engaged in a game of FIFA. This is something I can certainly forgive but I’d advise anyone with a real aversion to this aspect of LCD technology to check for themselves before installing it as their gaming TV.
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Hence I would still go with the LG, especially if you can guarantee that you will get an S-IPS one.
 
cmndr_andi said:
The Samsung looks like a good TV, it uses a VA panel - so black levels are great, also it has really low input lag (on-par or better than the LG). However, looking at this review there are issues with ghosting:



Hence I would still go with the LG, especially if you can guarantee that you will get an S-IPS one.
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Cheers. Maybe I just don't have the eye for it, but the blacks looked black to me in store. The ghosting is a massive NO NO for me, I know that much haha.

How is text on it?
 
Yea, the blacks aren't bad - it's just when comparing it to a VA monitor in a dark room where you can start picking holes - but it remains a really good TV to use as a monitor, hence why I recommend it.

As for text, I have mine set up mainly to watch SD and sub-1080p video at the moment, so its not set as sharp as it could be, but I know that it can do text pretty well.
 
Cool thanks. I underestimated the distance I sit. I reckon I'm about 1m away from the screen, so I'm hoping 32" won't be too big. I'm actually tempted to get a big ass bit of card board, cut it to shape and prop it up to see if the screen would be too big for every day use!
 
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Yeah I saw that. Good. The blacks on this old screen arn't brilliant but it doesn't bother me in the slightest lol. Hmmm... :D
 
Just bought it, seems OK so far. Straight out the box, I notice text is poor compared to the monitor, but I will get used to it.

When I have it set to anything other than 'Just Scan', the picture goes off the screen, as if it's too big for the TV to display. Is that normal, or have I just not calibrated it correctly yet?
 
You want to keep it at "Just scan", this is the correct setting as this prevents any underscan/overscan - so the picture fits the screen properly.

Have you had a go with the picture wizard to do some basic setup? (not really a substitute for proper calibration, but it should help)

Also, have you tried it in any games yet?
 
Yes to all of the above. Great in games, Toy Story in 1080p looks amazing. I've done a fully calibration run through, going of a mix of settings from AVSforum and it looks great. Whites are very white, dazzlingly so! Might need to tweak it a bit, but so far I'm impressed :)
 
bought the tv a while ago for use as a monitor and was somewhat worried about the possibility of a **** poor picture but was pleasantly surprised (once i turned it to just scan and fiddled with the picture settings), think text is displayed well enough for my taste and games/movies look great.
 
Yeah text isn't as good as I was hoping, but then I think that I'm running a slightly lower resolution (1200 -> 1080) but on a much larger screen - what did I expect?

Still though, HD movies and games look amazing - trade off was worth it :)
 
Holy ****! I was concerned and confused as to why red text looked really bad. I remember reading something about the 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, but that it would not likely be an issue when using DVI->HDMI. Well I was obviously one of the unlucky rare few that wasn't getting 4:4:4, so I installed the fix and wow, the difference is immense!
 
Amraam said:
Holy ****! I was concerned and confused as to why red text looked really bad. I remember reading something about the 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, but that it would not likely be an issue when using DVI->HDMI. Well I was obviously one of the unlucky rare few that wasn't getting 4:4:4, so I installed the fix and wow, the difference is immense!
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Do you mind letting me know what this fix is and what settings you are using?
 
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