Using a 32" LCD as a monitor?

kingy666 · 27 Nov 2010 at 22:57

Hi, i currently have a DGM 24" monitor which is around 3 years old and the picture quality has recently started to degrade. I was wondering whether to buy a 32" 1080p LCD t.v as a replacement.

Would there be any major reasons why i should buy a monitor instead of a 1080p t.v. Are the response times a lot slower on t.v. compared to monitors? Thanks in advance.

lucid · 28 Nov 2010 at 02:07

The main issue is scaling. Domestic TVs chuck a load of processing electronics between the source input and the panel. This means it's harder (and sometimes impossible) to get pixel-to-pixel mapping that you take for granted with a monitor. The result is a softer picture.

kingy666 · 28 Nov 2010 at 15:26

Thanks lucid, i guess thats the reason that when i put my pc onto my 1080p plasma the text is not as sharp as on my monitor. Think i will start saving and see if i can get myself a 27-28" monitor (which is gonna be tough as i lost my job a couple of months ago :mad:

)

lucid · 28 Nov 2010 at 16:34

It's worth having a look in the TV menus. There are some settings that are easily accessible and that may help you:

(for the PC input only)

Overscan - switch this off
Aspect ratio - choose Direct or Native or whatever that manufacturer calls it when the TV doesn't change the picture shape

Beyond this you might be looking t running custom timings with your graphics card to get the TV to pixel map properly. I've set up home cinema scalers with Fujitsu screens in the past. Some of their models only do pixel-to-pixel at 60.01Hz refresh rate. Pioneers can be tricky too. Have a look online for your specific make and model to see if anyone has successfully run it at its native resolution.