24" Monitor for PS3 Gaming?

P1Fanatic

P1Fanatic

P1Fanatic

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I currently have an older Samsung 22" LCD with PS3 connected via DVI port (HDMI to DVI converter) and PC connected via analague port. I do all my gaming on the PS3 and would like a bigger screen and one with HDMI connectivity as I'm not convinced the HDMI to DVI setup is the best.

I often flick between PS3 and PC inbetween games so would like something that has an easy to use source button like my Samsung. Soundwise on the PS3 I break out headphones from the AV port and will probably get some Turtlebeach bluetooths headphones at some point so not really concerned about monitor audio.

Its been a while since Ive shopped around for a monitor. IIyama and Asus seem to have good reps from what Ive read so far. LED and LCD versions are pretty comparable price wise. Is there a benefit of LED other than size/depth of actual unit? Is one better for gaming?

Ideally Im looking to spend under £200 but is there any benefit whatsoever of 120hz for PS3 gaming or would that just be a waste of my money?

Cheers
Simon
 
Hi there,

To answer a couple of your questions

- Using a HDMI to DVI connection to your current monitor offers the same quality image as if your monitor had a native HDMI port. DVI and HDMI both transmit the same video signal (hence why passive adapters work) - the only important difference between DVI and HDMI is that HDMI can carry sound (which you have got round using your PS3's AV out). Therefore, I wouldn't limit your choice of monitors to ones that only have HDMI inputs - that said if you want to run a PS3+PC on the monitor then a monitor with DVI+HDMI is better than one with DVI+VGA as both of the inputs use the higher quality digital video signal.

- "LED" monitors are just standard "LCD" monitors with a LED backlight instead of a standard CCFL one. In their current edge-lit implementation LED monitors offer no real image quality benefits over a standard "LCD" (they are often more vibrant but the colours are less accurate). Instead, the benefits they offer are sleeker designs, lower power usage and fast turning on. So as with HDMI - I wouldn't use LED as a selection criteria.

- As for 120Hz - your 8800GT graphics card will be able to drive a 120Hz monitor at full speed using a Dual link DVI connection - this will offer a smoother feeling experience during motion in the desktop and games. If you plan to play a lot of fast-paced games on your PC then a 120Hz monitor (like the Asus VG236H(E)) is worth a look. However, the PS3 is incapable of driving a 120Hz monitor at anything more than 60Hz since it is limited by the bandwidth and specs of HDMI.

If you want a larger, solidly performing 60Hz TN panel monitor the I would recommend this Iiyama. If you want to try out 120Hz PC gaming then I would recommend buying the ASUS VG236H and sell on the 3D vision kit.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply andi - most appreciated and makes things a lot clearer. I doubt I will be doing any gaming on the PC any time soon so paying double the price for 120hz to futureproof myself seems a tad excessive at this time.

Could moving up to a 24" screen make my gaming experience worse in terms of the PS3 gaming output is 720p so if thats the same and the monitors are both at the same view distance would things look less sharp on the larger monitor? Hope Im making sense. Dont really want to fork out £150-200 if PS3 gaming looks worse?

Cheers
Simon
 
Ah, that's fair enough - if you don't plan to do any PC gaming in the near future then a 120Hz monitor would be a bit of a waste.

As for PS3 gaming on a new 24in screen, it really shouldn't look any worse. In fact assuming the the monitor you currently have is 16:10 1680x1050 then going for a 1080p 16:9 1920x1080 monitor should look a bit better as it can output at the same resolution as the PS3 and the image isn't being stretched vertically (or scaled down). As for sharpness, It shouldn't really matter that much since PS3 games are usually rendered at sub-720p resolutions then upscaled by the PS3 hardware - so you can't expect PC-like sharpness even on a nice quality 1080p screen.

Also, please bear in mind that a 24in (really a 23.6in) 16:9 monitor isn't really much larger than a 22in 16:10 monitor (see here) - so the pixels won't really be any bigger than on your current monitor. Though there will be slightly more of them (17.5%) and they will be arranged so that the PS3 will be able to make proper use out of all of them.
 
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