Monitor or TV?

Brumboy

Brumboy

Brumboy

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I've recently bought a decent gaming setup (i5 2500k overclocked to 4.2ghz, GTX 460 graphics card/4gb 1600 ram).

But the thing that's letting me down is my monitor, it's a semi old 19 inch monitor which can do 1440 x 900 resolution.

I do watch a lot of HD films and play decent games like call of duty/crysis which have great graphics, I also watch TV on my computer.

Now I can't figure out what to buy as a new viewing screen, a TV or a monitor? I do have a xbox 360 which I play on a regular old TV so I'm looking to buy one screen that can be used to play xbox 360 aswell as watch tv/HD films/pc games on my computer.

So which one is better to get? and what size is good?
 
Can somebody help me? I really like this BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor.

But it only has a DVI-D input. My graphics card has a mini HDMI and two DVI-I connectors. So what would be the best & cheapest way to connect my monitor to my computer? can somebody find me a cable please? I don't really know much about this!

Also, I want to be able to connect my Xbox 360 to this monitor, the Xbox has a regular HDMI connector, so how would I connect it to the DVI-D monitor (I can't find the right cable).

Thanks.
 
Hi there,

Of the ones you highlight in post #6 - I would go for the samsung. It is a good monitor for a good price.

As for LED vs LCD - please bear in mind that LED is just the backlight type, "LED" monitors still use a standard LCD panel - it is just that the backlight is made up of LEDs along the edge instead of a CCFL lamp.

I would strongly suggest having a read of this.

May I ask how you will be getting the sound out of the XBox (as PC monitors usually don't have speakers).

Also, you may want to consider an IPS panel monitor like the Dell U2311H, these monitors are a bit more expensive than standard TN panel monitors, but in many situations they are much better. This article discusses the differences between panel types.
 
Thanks for your reply. I've done a little more research and I think this monitor is better as it has a lot of connections - BenQ E2220HD.

These are the connections Terminals for the monitor - D-sub / DVI-D / HDMI 1.3 x2 / Headphone Jack / Line in / Line out.

Yeah I was just about to research into that (about the Xbox 360 sound).

This monitor has built in speakers but I'm guessing they won't be sufficient enough for the Xbox so is there a way to connect the Xbox to my computer speakers (Creative Inspire p580)? My speakers have - Connector Type: 1 x headphones ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) ¦ Digital 5.1 channel audio line-in

Picture of the connections - http://www.emarket.gr/uploaded/21166197/conexiones.jpg
 
Aye, the BenQ has many connections - but I would strongly suggest you ask yourself what connections you really need. Also, since you have spend a large ammount of money on a top-end gaming PC, it would be a bit of a shame to sacrifice on the monitor and just go for 21.5in one.

As for the speakers - with a 5.1 PC speaker set connecting this up to 360 is tough if you want to make use of all your speakers. Your best bet is probably to hook up the speakers up to your sound card as normal - then route the Xbox 360 sound into the PC via the 3.5mm line-in port. The only issue with this - is that you will need the PC on to get sound out of the xbox and how "surround" the xbox sounds depends on the quality of your sound card.

Alternatively - you could just connect the Xbox to one of the three 3.5mm speaker connections (I would suggest the green "front" one) either directly or to a monitor with audio pass-through. However, this will not give any surround sound when used with the Xbox and require reconnection to get surround sound working on your PC.
 
Oh sorry, it is a 5.1 speaker system but I only use the subwoofer & 2 of the small speakers.

My Xbox came with an adapter which has a red and white connection for audio.

Is this guide correct then? http://www.overclock.net/xbox/363405-how-connect-your-xbox-360-your.html

Would I need to buy http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-026-OK&groupid=1929&catid=1685&subcat= and connect the red/white cables to the red/white connection on the Xbox adapter then plug the 3.5mm stereo into a microphone slot on my computer? then the sound would go through my computer to my speaker set up like you said?
 
Yes, that guide is correct, so long as you have the xbox audio adapter that gives you the L/R Phono audio (red/white) connections. If you do have one of these - are the Phono connections coming out of the Xbox male or female type?

If you are only using the speakers as a 2.1 set (via one 3.5mm stereo connection) then I would strongly suggest you connect the speakers up directly to the monitor. This means you don't need to buy a bunch of new cables and switch over audio connections all the time, it also means you can run the xbox audio when the PC is off. A monitor like the samsung bx2450 would be ideal for this use, just connect the PC and XBox to the monitor via HDMI and connect the green speaker connection to the "audio out" on the monitor.

Just make sure you have a mini HDMI (male) to HDMI (male) cable - so you can connect your graphics card up to the monitor via HDMI.
 
Here is a picture of the audio adapter, I'm not sure if it's male or female - http://www.gzkana.cn/proimg/201069165131.jpg

Could you possibly find me the right cable for this connection (Xbox 360 audio adapter to 3.5mm microphone on my computer). So the sound will go from my Xbox through my computer and out my speakers?

My computer is on most of the time anyway so I think this option is better than connecting it directly to the monitor.
 
Aye, those are female phono connections - so if you wanted to connect it directly to the PC audio input then the cable you linked to before would work.

However, If you have the choice - I would go for the direct monitor connection if I were you - as there may be a sound lag if you connect it through the computer, as well as needing the PC on all the time to use the Xbox.
 
Sorry for being so stupid at this haha.

The direct monitor way, I basically connect the Xbox to the monitor via HDMI (which I have). But how do I connect the speakers to the monitor (I don't think I have a cable for that) and will the sound actually come through the speakers instead of the monitor speakers?

I cannot find the adapter what the guy used in his guide.
 
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If you go for a monitor like the Samsung BX2450 (a really nice quality 24in LED backlit, TN panel LCD monitor) - this has two HDMI input ports and one 3.5mm stereo audio-out port.

You plug the XBox and PC in via HDMI (which carries sound as well as video) and then you plug the green 3.5mm stereo input plug from the speakers into the monitor. Hence a very simple solution with a small number of cables.

As with most decent monitors the BX2450 doesn't have any speakers - so you don't need to worry about turning the built-in ones off.
 
That monitor is out of my price range unfortunately so I think I'll buy the 21.5 inch BenQ monitor that has the same connections as the Samsung (I think), but thanks for the information mate.

Oh right now I understand, I have plenty of HDMI cables so that's ok. And all I do is simply take the 3.5mm stereo cable out of the computer and into the audio in on my monitor and it should work!

Thanks a lot for the help, you've made this a lot easier!
 
Aye, that 21.5in BenQ has the correct connections for the same thing to work fine.

However, considering how much you have spent on your system and what you will be using it for - It seems like a travesty not going for a 24in. Would you be able to afford the 21.5in's bigger brother - the BenQ E2420HD? That extra size really does make a difference and the cost isn't huge (certainly much cheaper than the samsung).
 
Uhh maybe, will it make a big difference though? that extra size. I have a 19 inch right now so 24 will seem HUGE haha.

Also bad news, the green 3.5mm stereo cable that runs from the speakers to the computer is closely attached to the other cables (red/white) so I can't just plug it into the monitor so it looks like I'll have to buy http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-026-OK&groupid=1929&catid=1685&subcat=? this is the right cable yeah?

With that cable I'll just connect it to the red/white audio connections on the Xbox 360 audio adapter then connect the 3.5mm into the microphone input on the computer and play the sound through my computer to the speakers?

It's not too much of a hassle to buy the cable so I guess I'll have to do it this way, I just hope that cable is the right one before I buy it.
 
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Sorry, I thought you said you only use the subwoofer and two of the small speakers. For this arrangement you only need to connect the green 3.5mm cable to the sound source (PC, Xbox, monitor - whatever) to get the proper sound output.

If you are running the speakers in this arrangement then you only need to connect the green plug into the monitor and you can leave the black and orange cables unconnected.

As for the size difference - it is very noticeable. A 24in monitor actually has 24.6% more screen area than a 21.5in monitor.
 
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