Home audio & video forum: best TV for both computer and television use

And been disappointed to discover that the TV is all of 1080 pixels across that 42 to 50 inches. The PC display is not sharp and the owner ends up back to the normal PC type display.

Bob

Please put your hi-def where it belongs in your living room. add a nice 5.1. audio system along with a good hi-def satellite or cable system a sweet blue ray player, Then while your family is watching your home theater system you can play with your computor all nite long Some folks do try to interface there computor to there home theater system but its usually problems all the way good day steweeeee

If you're really sunk on this idea, it can be done. I do it,, but there are limitations and things to consider:

1. PC content. If you're going to be mostly browsing web sites and writing papers in Word, you can pretty much eliminate plasmas from the equation unless you go upto 65", because you'll be limited to 768 pixels vertically. On your 19" monitor, I'm guessing that it's got a resolution of 1280x1024 or something. Take a piece of paper and cover up the bottom 1/4 of the screen, and then slide it up a little more because you have to account for the Task Bar, and that's how much room you'll have. Personally, I don't think it's enough room to do very much. I mean, you'll be able to see it from plenty far away, but you'll probably feel constricted by the lack of space vertically. And possibly not know what to do with extra space horizontally... The exception is $5000 Pioneer PRO-HD1 which is 50". If you're willing to spend that kind of money, it's one heck of a tv, for sure. But if you're not, you're going to have to go LCD, specifically, one that has 1920x1080 resolution. A top of the line 52" from Sony will run you about $3700, and is also a marvel. You don't need to spend that much money, of course, on a 1080p monitor. You can grab a 37" Westinghouse for $1100, which works as a great monitor because you calibrate the color through the computer, but won't offer as good performance when it comes to TV, as you're limited by the TV's controls for calibration. In terms of sharpness, though, I can't imagine it being any sharper. It's a giant computer monitor... But here's the catch: (which brings me to the second caveat)

2. Viewing distance: The 1080 displays are SO sharp, that you'll be limited to a relatively close viewing distance. Sure, you can lower the resolution for the computer, but that defeats the purpose of getting a high-res lcd in the first place. Even with a 52" lcd, even with excellent vision, because of the density of pixels, I wouldn't expect to be able to view type and such comfortably more than 7' away, which if you actually get up and measure it, isn't very far. And that may be pushing it... But maybe you have eagle eyes. My guess is, though, that 12pt type will look like 9pt. It'll be sharp as a razor, but it'll still *appear* smaller than on your 19".

So if you can live with those conditions (and are willing to shell out an additional 25% if you plan on buying this at a store), then I would respectfully disagree with my colleagues here and say go for it. Otherwise, a TV card for you pc sounds like a much better idea.

Best,
Ben

I have been thinking about this for quite a wile i already have the TV tuner card for my computer and a 5.1 system (KLIPSCH WOOOHOOO! and it kicks butt i dont care what people say more people complain then praise) and all i need is a nice HDTV but i am way to low on cash for it but i really beleive its a good way to save money because it costs what like $60.00 for a decent DVD player for a computer? you then get a $200.00 video card witha nicely matching computer and vula! you whole HD home theater essentialy and your computer is capable of producing extreamly hi-res pictures and video clips. I really think this is the way of the future(And the cheapest) and if you spend the money on a good PC it will be as good if even better then any DVD player you could buy and it can also play games and have all the audio capabilities of an expensive decoder and all you need is an amp and some speakers. but thats my 2 cents cya later all.

I have a sony bravia 32inch and a computer moniotr 22inch on dual display and i find that the computer moniter looks alot more crisp and if you use the tv for writing and documents that the words are a bit blurry.

Anyway its still pretty good.

I have a graphics card with HDMI DVI and VGA
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
and Running both screens on highest resolution

Since you mentioned putting this in your office, you should consider viewing distance, since a large screen would overwhelm your field of vision at close range. If a 19" monitor is "just right" at the present distance, you would need to sit 2-3 times as far away (2.21 for 42", 2.63 for 50") for the same effect. In short, a large screen would be a waste in a close-range desktop application. If you do back up, however, your eyes will experience less strain from focusing on a more distant object. In that case, you would need a wireless mouse and keyboard, and would have to make some furniture adjustments (i.e., seeting up a "remote desktop").

In the discussions I've read concerning 720p vs 1080p, it seems the general consensus is that the difference is largely inperceptible unless you are sitting unreasonably close. You should also experiment with the maximum resolution on your present monitor/video card combination, and see how the text, icons, etc are affected. You'll probably find that more resolution is not necessarily a good thing, even if you can increase the text pointsize, etc. somewhat, and that 1366x768 (typical pixel count for 50" plasmas) is perfectly fine.

Getting down to brass tacks, I can tell you that I have a 50" Panasonic "industrial" plasma connected to a PC (via VGA) in our family room. The PC is primarily dedicated to TV tuning and DVR functions (this warrants a separate discussion), but I sometimes use it for browsing, etc. and encourage the kids to play their computer games on it for the eye-saving rationale given above. Most of my serious work, however, is done on another computer in the office.