TV vs. computer screen for HD

[Beirut]

Howdy,

I'm looking to get a small HD setup and I'm unsure about a few things. As usual.

It has to be full HD, 1980x1200. I'm perfectly fine with as small as 24" but might go to 32". Seems I can get a cheaper HD PC screen than a TV, but I don't know if there is really a difference other than built-in speakers or no. I don't mind so much if I can't use the screen with the PC, but I have to be able to plug a Blu-Ray into it. (I think)

My PC is a Win7-64 with a GTX560Ti card, that should handle a Blu-ray player, but then there is the Rube Goldberg thing about components working or not working. I'm thinking it's just easier to get a cheap HD DVD plater and use that.

Thanks for any clarity you can deliver.

[Tellos Athenaios]

TV monitors:

Pro:
- set up/configured so everything works OOTB, or nearly so. So easy to hook up to off the shelf players/DVR kit, coax/antennae and so on.
- viewing angles
- speakers if you don't have them, tend to be a bit better than what you typically get on a PC monitor

Con:
- resolution
- harder to hook up to a PC, though HDMI probably will work too. (Depends on the graphics card, really.)
- not so easy to make them useful for anything but content playback. Usually far too bright and so on to sit directly in front of, so your only option are the proverbial 30 foot high intefaces which waste huge amounts of screen real estate in order to be readable from a distance. with an already mediocre resolution at best.

PC monitors:
Pro:
- easy to hook up to a PC
- resolution
- good ones tend to have useful extra's like built-in USB hub
- price
- versatile.

Con:
- viewing angles and colors are rubbish by comparison to TVs unless you go for the relatively expensive ones. If you are going to use a monitor to double as TV screen at least make sure you get an IPS or M-PVA or similar panel, and stay well away from a TN panels. A 24 inch M-PVA panel last time I bought one was about €800,-, but that's a few years ago so prices will probably have fallen a lot since then.
- not calibrated, or often poorly so. More prevalent with TN panels, though, so if you took the above to heart you won't have much issues unless you do professional design work or the like -- in which case you probably already have calibration kit.
- not so easy to set up for regular TV playback over coax/antennae, though you can probably pick up tuners for not too much. Be aware that content may be encrypted, so you might have to buy additional CAM modules or the like to view all channels.

[Beirut]

Wouldn't the 1980x1200 res be the same on each if each had a res of 1980x1200? (Sorry, don't meant to be difficult.)

I like your point about viewing angles.

Good post, good info, thank you.

[Husar]

I use a 24" 16:10 Benq TN Panel for my PS3, both for games and Blu-Rays.

For a TN Panel, the colours are pretty decent, especially compared to the 22" Acer and my notebook screen, no match for the iPhone 4's IPS though.

The problem with it being 16:10 is that it needs to be able to crop pictures to 16:9 itself, a PC can do it all by itself, a PS3 or Blu-Ray player will just send the 16:9 image and let the monitor/TV handle the rest, which shouldn't be a problem if you get a 16:9 screen in the first place, just saw some 16:10 screens back then which failed to do this properly.

24p playback, I notice slight stuttering during slow pans in movies and sometimes during other scenes as well, since there is no way to put the 24 pictures a second of the Blu-Ray into the 60 a second of the monitor without repeating an image here and there. I blame Hollywood for using such an unusual picture rate for their movies, doesn't usually bother me though and can be problematic with TVs as well.

I think Tellos covered the rest pretty well.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Yes, but whether or not a resolution is good depends on the size of the screen. For instance a standard VGA resolution is pretty decent on a smartphone but not that awesome on a 15 inch laptop. PC monitors tend to pack a significantly larger resolution in a significantly smaller screen compared to TV screens. For instance on 32inch TV you'd be looking at something like 1080p (1920x1080) or thereabouts, but on a 30 inch monitor you'd expect 2560x1600 .

[Beirut]

And what - a bear of very little brain asks - does TN or M-PVA mean?

I guess if my plan is to watch movies, I should skip any PC schemes and just get a TV and a blu-ray player. Does the TN and M-PVA things still apply?

[Tellos Athenaios]

And what - a bear of very little brain asks - does TN or M-PVA mean?

Welcome to the wonderful world of where things get technical.

I guess if my plan is to watch movies, I should skip any PC schemes and just get a TV and a blu-ray player. Does the TN and M-PVA things still apply?

Yes, if you are looking to buy an LCD TV the same thing applies. Note that with TVs IPS tends/used-to-be reserved to high end TVs.

Of course at the end of the day you have to make the call: is IPS or M-PVA and so on worth the significant price markup compared to TN? (They're easily twice as expensive.) Do you intend to share the TV with others, watch a movie together with so many people not everybody can sit directly in front of the screen? If all you want is a big screen “which looks good” and “can display 1080p HD”, then pretty much any 22 inch or bigger monitor will do these days.

[Beskar]

I guess if my plan is to watch movies, I should skip any PC schemes and just get a TV and a blu-ray player. Does the TN and M-PVA things still apply?

I use a HD 1080p plasma screen which doubles for my PC monitor, hooking it up via hdmi. No need for speakers and it works really good at least in my opinion. Could ask Secura for hers since she has seen it set-up at mine.

[Beirut]

Welcome to the wonderful world of where things get technical.

I stopped breathing after the second sentence so I stopped reading. Then I started breathing again. But thanks anyway.

Yes, if you are looking to buy an LCD TV the same thing applies. Note that with TVs IPS tends/used-to-be reserved to high end TVs.

Of course at the end of the day you have to make the call: is IPS or M-PVA and so on worth the significant price markup compared to TN? (They're easily twice as expensive.) Do you intend to share the TV with others, watch a movie together with so many people not everybody can sit directly in front of the screen? If all you want is a big screen “which looks good” and “can display 1080p HD”, then pretty much any 22 inch or bigger monitor will do these days.

This TV will be my "Go away!" TV. Mine and mine alone. We have a big non-HD Sony downstairs but I want something for my private viewing. That's why I'd be perfectly happy with a 24" TV. My budget is about $400. And since I've seen HD PC screens and HD TVs of the same size but with a $100 difference, even from the same company, I thought I would ask what the differences were.

Thanks for the help.