Television for PC gaming

JamesEW

JamesEW

JamesEW

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2013
Posts
83
Does anyone play PC games on a television at all?

I'm looking to upgrade my really old samsung hdtv to something new and up to date - preferably 32" - 40" or thereabouts.

Obviously I'm buying as I need a new tv, but I would also like to hook up my pc via hdmi and game on it when not using my dell monitor in the other room.

I want pc gaming to look decent on a tv / as good as or better than ps4 or xbone, but I dont need the absolute top refresh rates that online fps players would require.

Is there anything you know of to fit a budget of £500?

Am I right that no pc monitor exists that can accept a digital tv arial?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers
 
Maybe i could just get a cheap freeview box, connect TV arial to box and connect freeview box via hdmi to a decent pc monitor. No need for TV. Don't need tv smart features.

What do you guys think?

I'm hoping pc monitors can display digital live tv as well as a television does?

The choice of tvs that support pc gaming well seems limited, and pc monitors that support tv is something i'm confused about tbh.

Ideally want a pc monitor at 32"

Not sure 4K £1000+ tvs are the way to go or not? Also don't want to use tv tuner cards of tv streaming websites.

Any thoughts?
 
I occasionally hook up my rig (see sig) to a 42' Panasonic 1080p TV (it's in the bedroom on a desk less than 2m away) so it's super convenient.

42' screen, Wireless Keyboard, Wireless Xbox pad, comfy bed...AWESOME. :p

It's just a budget AS520 that cost £400 and it plays lovely with my PC in terms of ease of setup, plug HDMI in, set sound output to TV and all set to go.

I tell you, Metro Last Light Redux at max detail, 50-60fps on a 42' screen is something else.:D
 
I used to use two 40" 1080p TVs as monitors, it was nice but I missed my 30" 1600p monitor for the density.

TVs are good, you have a couple of games that drop down to 24hz and can't be set to 60hz if you are on AMD as you can't override in drivers like nVidia (Crysis 1 for example).

If you go 4k TV, you want either displayport or a 970/980 for HDMI 2.0 or you are stuck to 30hz.

Edit: the only issue with a freeview box on a monitor really is the sound output, you need a monitor that will pass the sound (line out) to the pc/speakers, or a freeview box that has line out. Or, use TV Catchup or iPlayer to watch TV over IP.
 
How well your pc (Inc gaming) on a lcd TV will perform depends greatly on your actual TV. I have connected mine to a 42" 1080p LG HDTV (200 htz motion processing) and it performs great. No ghosting or anything that I can visually notice on game's. Also I've connected my pc to a 32" lcd 1080p LG standard affair 50/60 htz and again it appears to me great at gaming (I noticed nothing out of the ordinary) Desktop and other use you can seriously tell the drop in density and crispness but it's all in the minds eye. It's a case of try and see for yourself.
 
Its pretty good on my Lg 42" even desktop is very clear, just make sure when you do you disable the tv's built in processing usually by renaming or changing the input name.
 
Cheers guys

Yeh I thought about the sound issue with pc monitors after I posted. TV is the way to go for me. I'll most likely be using a 970 card. It would be just for gaming and maybe amazon prime streaming. No desktop work on a tv or anything.

Is there any overscan issues using tv for pc i.e cutting of borders?

I hope to have my graphics card connected to tv and my pc monitor at the same time and set to mirror so I can easily go between them both without fiddling with settings.

Does this put extra resources on graphics card or cpu, or simply just output same display image to whatever monitor device is connected, if that makes sense?

Any decent tvs at 32" to 42" you know of apart from the ones you mentioned? Revised budget of no more than £800. Less than that the better really.

I'm confused by all this 4k, 60hz vs 120hz, input lag, etc so not sure what i'm looking for or what to avoid when buying tv for pc gaming.

Cheers
 
JamesEW said:
Cheers guys
Is there any overscan issues using tv for pc i.e cutting of borders?
Click to expand...

You can take care of that via the Nvidia control panel, another thing is make sure you set the resolution to 1080p 60Hz via Nvidia panel as well, because when you first plug the pc in, it will usually default to 1080p 50hz PAL, resulting in the cropped borders.

Configured properly I get the full 60hz, 1080p resolution with no cropped image.
 
Cooper said:
You can take care of that via the Nvidia control panel, another thing is make sure you set the resolution to 1080p 60Hz via Nvidia panel as well, because when you first plug the pc in, it will usually default to 1080p 50hz PAL, resulting in the cropped borders.

Configured properly I get the full 60hz, 1080p resolution with no cropped image.
Click to expand...

I think that's just your TV. There's no reason setting 1080p/50hz should give any kind of border.
The thing to make sure that's set right and may give overscan is if you don't have your tv set to display 1:1 pixel mapping. Nearly all TVs these days can do 1:1 pixel mappy usualy comes under a weird name like "Full Pixel" in my case on a sharp 80 inch but a Panasonic 60 inch had an equally stupid name can't can't remember off top off head a few years ago.

That should be all you need to set to avoid overscan unless you're unlucky then as you say messing around in display panel will be needed.
 
So i am looking at Sony or LG televisions and trying to get something that will play nice with my new GTX 970 and look great.

Is there any sort of baseline minimum specs I should be considering when looking at tv specs for gaming?

Full 1080p (4K is too expensive)
Motion Scan? 60hz, 100hz, 200hz?
HDMI 2.0?
Pixel Mapping?
Lag delay ms? what should I be aiming for here? under 30ms?

Anything else to watch for?
I guess using any sort of game mode is essential and calibration is a must to get the best picture from gaming on a tv

If anyone has any model recommendations for 32 to 42" televisions or could advise me on specs and potential problems, that would really help me out.

Seems much easier picking monitors than televisions these days.

Cheers
 
JamesEW said:
So i am looking at Sony or LG televisions and trying to get something that will play nice with my new GTX 970 and look great.

Is there any sort of baseline minimum specs I should be considering when looking at tv specs for gaming?

Full 1080p (4K is too expensive)
Motion Scan? 60hz, 100hz, 200hz?
HDMI 2.0?
Pixel Mapping?
Lag delay ms? what should I be aiming for here? under 30ms?

Anything else to watch for?
I guess using any sort of game mode is essential and calibration is a must to get the best picture from gaming on a tv

If anyone has any model recommendations for 32 to 42" televisions or could advise me on specs and potential problems, that would really help me out.

Seems much easier picking monitors than televisions these days.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Don't worry about motion scan, it's just extra processing that increases lag, so you'll probably want to turn the feature off anyway. HDMI 2.0 is only required for 4K, standard HDMI 1.4 is fine for 1080p. I'm not clued up on pixel mapping but I'd be surprised if it was an issue on a decent 2014 model.

Lag is very subjective; I actually struggle to notice it until it gets to about 80ms, but the general guidelines that I've read are 75ms = very noticeable, 50ms = somewhat noticeable to the average user, 30ms = noticeable to a competitive gamer, 15ms = only noticeable to elite twitch gamers. For reference, TVs seem to average about 50ms these days.

This page has lag values and reviews for some 2014 TVs: http://www.rtings.com/info/input-lag-tvs
 
Last edited:
JamesEW said:
So i am looking at Sony or LG televisions and trying to get something that will play nice with my new GTX 970 and look great.

Is there any sort of baseline minimum specs I should be considering when looking at tv specs for gaming?

Full 1080p (4K is too expensive)
Motion Scan? 60hz, 100hz, 200hz?
HDMI 2.0?
Pixel Mapping?
Lag delay ms? what should I be aiming for here? under 30ms?

Anything else to watch for?
I guess using any sort of game mode is essential and calibration is a must to get the best picture from gaming on a tv

If anyone has any model recommendations for 32 to 42" televisions or could advise me on specs and potential problems, that would really help me out.

Seems much easier picking monitors than televisions these days.

Cheers
Click to expand...

The only tv's worth buying for gaming are Sony. They have monitor type input lag, use good quality VA panels with deep blacks and have the option of full range rgb or limited. They calibrate perfectly and you can set to full pixel for no overscan. I had a W6 model 42" a few years ago and it had 6ms of input lag. Try hdtvtest.co.uk for reviews. Be aware that sometimes different sizes use different panels or have different input lag. My W6 at 32" for example had 30ms. This years models still have low lag by the looks of it.
 
VEGACORTEZ said:
I had a W6 model 42" a few years ago and it had 6ms of input lag.
Click to expand...
That would be using older testing methods. No way would that be a true 6ms panel. The modern (Leo Bodnar I think) method is more accurate. You're right that Sony do have some of the best TV's for input lag though, although there's some debate how noticeable it is on the likes of LG and Samsung anyway, some models of which are still very good.
 
Legend said:
That would be using older testing methods. No way would that be a true 6ms panel. The modern (Leo Bodnar I think) method is more accurate. You're right that Sony do have some of the best TV's for input lag though, although there's some debate how noticeable it is on the likes of LG and Samsung anyway, some models of which are still very good.
Click to expand...

It did have 6ms of actual input lag (not including panel response times) and it measured 15ms on the bodnar which accounts for adding on the VA response times on top of lag for the total input lag and response times. My benq and samsung TN gaming monitors measure around 4-5ms input lag normal methods and measure 10-10.5ms on the bodnar. Either way they all feel as lagless as each other at 60hz. Sony produced a really great tv for gaming.
 
Cheers for the advice guys.

I am now toying between

Sony KDL42W829

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/kdl42w829b-201409143910.htm

Sony KDL42W705B

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/kdl42w705b-201402233639.htm

To be honest, both look as good as i'll get for a gaming tv but I just wanted to know if anyone might spot anything in the tech specs that might make one of the tvs slightly better than the other?

The W7 seems just as good but is cheaper than W8.

I hope these new model led tvs let you disable that smooth motion which makes films look like Home & Away or Neighbours (soap opera effect). Looks so weird to me with anything that is not animated.
 
Do you mean 5B? thats the same link i posted. edging towards this as I still think the 3D on W8 might be gimmicky and not something i'll use, plus lag times look decent.

Have you PC gamed on it yet? Look stunning?
i'm looking forward to GTA V at max settings on a new Sony and hoping i'll be impressed :-)

i've heard the sony tvs take about 30 secs from boot to become operational.
Any gripes?

Any tips on calibration?

I'm hovering over buy button for this but keep comparing to W8.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom