Lcd Tv Vs Lcd Monitor

[SoMeOnEnUlL]

Hi,

I am thinking to buy an LCD monitor supporting Full HD for my computer.

I was walking around at PowerMall by chance and found some LCD TV and they said support full HD. I checked the price and it's about the same with LCD Monitor - around 10K Baht. I was wondering if it would be better to buy LCD TV instead of LCD Monitor so that I can use it as a TV, too. But, I have heard TV are not good to use with computer because of the pixel on TV are much bigger? But, is the LCD TV different from normal TV? If it is, what would be the differences? Is it the same as LCD Monitor but with TV Tuner? Is it a good idea to buy LCD TV to use with Computer? Can some of you here help me out?

Thanks in advance.

[Daren]

Hehe... of course there is tons of info about this on the internet already, but I'll share a few ideas with you. Note that I am speaking generally about the comparison between TV's and computer monitors. Today there is an amazing range of products in both markets, but I have found these things to generally hold true.

First, TV's are meant to display moving pictures and be viewed from across the room, they aren't intended to function as you main display for text - thus they are not generally as sharp as a monitor. A monitor is a much more versatile piece of equipment, they're designed to display a very wide range of types of video to a viewer who sits much closer to the screen. This obviously necessitates clarity and sharpness.

Second, a TV has other hardware built-in that allows it perform functions other than simply displaying a video feed. Obviously one of those things is to be able to function as a tuner, receiving multiple signals and sorting them into channels. They also usually have a lot of input options in many different shapes and sizes, whereas a monitor will have 1 or 2, or rarely 3. Any half-decent TV will have stereo speakers built in, and might even have a video-out function. Monitors only rarely have these things.

If I were you, I would consider the primary function of the thing I was buying: do you need a pc monitor most of the time and a TV sometimes? Or are you mostly interested in watching TV and will do very little reading? If you want to read or write, do you eyes a service and get a monitor - PC TV cards are cheap and readily available in Thailand.

Trust the goog! The goog is your friend!

[SoMeOnEnUlL]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer.

Yea.. I could use the google to find info. I guess I wanted an opinion of another person who experienced it.

I think I will have to see what I need most. Thanks again.

[Veazer]

Daren covered much of it, but I would add that TVs are very picky about "timings" and are much harder to get a pixel-perfect image where the monitor shows the images without any resizing/stretching. You often need to use special software to get your pc to output exactly timings it needs or the image will have overscan or underscan, etc. PC monitors are much more forgiving.

[Daren]

I have experienced it - I use my LCD to watch videos form my computer all the time! It's pretty good, too. When I built my machine, I made sure to get a video card with outputs - quite common these days - so I didn't have to use a switch or anything messy like that.

Veazer makes a very good point, even with the very capable ATi catalyst software, I never got my pixel timings perfect. There was always some wasted space or missing pixels on the display. Not a big deal when you're watching a video, but very annoying if you're doing other stuff.

Lastly, I would never ever use my 37" LCD TV to read anything... ewww.

Good luck!

[TigertheCat]

I use a 32" Samsung Full HD TV as both monitor and TV and am very pleased with it,great for work and watching movies.