Disadvantages of using a TV as a monitor?

Cheetah Designs

Cheetah Designs

Cheetah Designs

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Given you can get 1080P cheap 32" TV....why shouldn't I use this a monitor?

I should note, I don't do anything really fancy, but would like to read text without struggling.
 
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Many TV sets dont have auto adjustment features so the picture may not be central, may not fill the screen and the picture may even be cut off. Ie: the taskbar will be cut off the screen etc...

Also, some TV's dont have as good framerates. All in all, dedicated PC monitors are better.


Cam.
 
Cheetah Designs said:
would like to read text without struggling.
Click to expand...

I used a samsung 32" tv as a monitor for a week or two on my desk and it was absolutely horrible. The text is so fuzzy and hard to read - it really hurt my eyes after a few days. It isnt like on a monitor where 1 pixel is 1 pixel, on a TV that Pixel gets smudged to the surrounding pixels and caused me some serious eye strain.

(this was after adjusting the settings to those recommended online for the sharpest image)
 
TVs are horrid as monitors especially as said with reading text. The words are blurred, not sharp at all and really is a struggle.

Games are ok, (ish) but they are not designed for it. They may have VGA, HDMI inputs, but really they are for photo and presentation display only.
 
I'm using a 40" Toshiba HDTV as my main monitor and two/three 24" HP 2405wg as side monitors.

Picture wise between the two? None. Input and response rate? No difference again.

Text is fine, not blurred and there is no other problems. Connected by HDMI and was pretty much plug and play.

I wish I didn't buy my HP monitors now and bought two more HDTV's because gaming is so awesome with something so big.
 
Using a 40" Bravia and it looks great, there's no noticeable lag, text is perfectly legible etc.

Buying a cheapo screen may yield different results, but then it depends on what you use it for and critical/sensitive you are :)
 
panyan said:
I used a samsung 32" tv as a monitor for a week or two on my desk and it was absolutely horrible. The text is so fuzzy and hard to read - it really hurt my eyes after a few days. It isnt like on a monitor where 1 pixel is 1 pixel, on a TV that Pixel gets smudged to the surrounding pixels and caused me some serious eye strain.

(this was after adjusting the settings to those recommended online for the sharpest image)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a BAD TV. Now I'd never want to use a large TV with big pixels as a monitor, but I have a 42" 1080p TV and when I run my PC through it, the image is sharp and clear. Text looks good, it's sharp and crisp and easy to read. A 32" would be sharper so I think it's just a poor TV with a poor panel, or some dodgy "IMAGE QUALITEEZ" setting on the TV that makes everything look like ass when you run a proper 1080p signal through it.

So to summarise, bad TVs are bad. Bad monitors are also bad, it's just harder to notice because the pixels are so small. I wouldn't take my 42" TV over my current 27" 2560x1440 monitors, but I've seen PLENTY of monitors that I'd definitely take my TV over. My friend's got this oldish Asus monitor. 22" and the image quality is ASS on it, it wasn't particularly cheap either.
 
TVs are just cheap tacky and nasty in my eyes I always throw up when I walk past them in a store, those glossy stands and bezels eww. TVs are good from far away and the further you are from a TV the better.
 
You might get problems with underscan within games like I did and had to make tweaks using a registry file I found online. I can't imagine the response time being great on them either.
 
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