Monitor vs TV?

[U53r]

Hey Guys,

So been hearing alot of people lately saying how monitors arent worth it and that a TV is a better option but I've always found TV's to have really poor text reproduction personally and just not being well suited to graphics.

What are your guys thoughts on it?

 

[Mark Rejhon]

Hey Guys,
So been hearing alot of people lately saying how monitors arent worth it and that a TV is a better option but I've always found TV's to have really poor text reproduction personally and just not being well suited to graphics.
What are your guys thoughts on it?

Many TV's make quite poor monitors, but there's many ways to make them quite decent monitors (if you don't sit too close):

1. 4:4:4 Capability. Choose a good quality 1080p LCD TV with 4:4:4 capability; see hardforum thread
2. Disable Overscan. Adjust a TV to perfect 1:1 pixel mapping at 1920x1080. Disable "overscan". If your TV does not have that, different "zoom" or "aspect ratio" settings, until text becomes perfectly sharp and the whole Start Menu Bar shows up. Some televisions make this difficult to adjust.
3. ClearType Tuner. If you have a B-G-R pixel array (e.g. Sony KDL46EX703). Use ClearType Tuner (Use Internet Explorer for that page) to swap the ClearType renderer to switch from R-G-B subpixels to B-G-R subpixels. Use a magnifying glass at leftmost edge of a bright white screen; if you see only red subpixels, you got R-G-B. If you only see blue subpixels, you've got B-G-R which interferes with Microsoft ClearType unless you tune it.
4. Game Mode. Reduce lag by enabling Game Mode (unless you you need to temporarily use a special motion mode for video stuff, etc)
5. Calibrate! Finally, calibrate your TV for proper computer monitor color and brightness. Most TV's will scorch your eyes if you sit close to them. Lower the backlight brightness (Sometimes called "Backlight Brightness", "Luminousity", in OSD etc.) Use www.lagom.nl/lcd-test. You could also use a Spyder sensor to help you adjust the picture perfectly. Alternatively, if you have Windows 8, it includes the "Windows 8 Display Calibration" utility.

If you follow all the above properly, your TV will become a decent computer monitor if you sit a bit farther back from it. As a result, you get a big screen computer monitor superior to a lot of 1080p monitors (unless you wanted zero motion blur like a LightBoost monitor, such as Sony HX950, which has a LightBoost-like mode that eliminate motion blur). For a 46" HDTV, sit twice as far back as you would a 23" monitor; proportional viewing distance. Or a bit further back. This becomes much easier on your eyes; assuming proper HDTV calibration. This is still fairly close to the TV, so choose a TV with a stable picture. Plasmas can be good too, but if you're sitting close, you may see the noisy look in dark colors especially when you dim the plasma to proper computer monitor levels, so certain plasmas can sometimes be a bit harsher to sit really close to (e.g. 4 feet away for same proportional field of view as sitting 2 feet from computer monitor).

NOTE: If you want native 120 Hz from your computer, get an Active 3D HDTV even though you will use only 2D; those Active 3D TVs are more successful with 120 Hz native from computer, using the HDTV Refresh Rate Overclocking Guide. But for the most part, that is an advanced trick that is not always guaranteed to work (and sometimes only at 1280x720). No 120Hz guarantees!

 

[crispy79]

great post!

 

[oneforspeed]

great post!

Double that. I will be making adjustments this evening.