Any actual experience using HDTV as primary monitor?

[John Doe]

Is anyone currently using or has anyone actually used an HDTV as their
primary monitor? How is/was it?

Thank you.

 

[Mike T.]

Is anyone currently using or has anyone actually used an HDTV as their
primary monitor? How is/was it?

Thank you.

Interesting question. You do realize that the primary differences between
computer monitors and HDTV monitors are usually aspect ratio and selection
of video inputs, right? Heck, I've seen HDTV LCD sets with DVI and even
D-Sub (SVGA) inputs.

That said, it should work as good as any ordinary LCD computer monitor,
depending on where it is placed in reference to where you are
itting. -Dave

 

[Johanna]

I have a Sharp Aquos 26" which I believe is HDTV? I sometimes use that
as a PC monitor and it has a super resolution.
Sometimes I download HDTV recordings of TV shows and they look fantastic
on the Aquos, whereas the cable TV leaves a lot to be desired. .

Before I got my other monitors, this was my only PC monitor. I sat on
the floor when I used it. This was the big problem. You usually sit in a
different way when you use a TV to when you use a PC. So you have to
decide which of the two to optimise the TVs position for. Mine was
optimised for TV viewing which was why it was invonvenient. However at
the time I hardly used the PC at all at home because I was so sick of it
after a whole day at work in front of one!

Some of these high end tv monitors have a number of different input
channels, for example mine has Analogue and Digital TV, 2! DVD, VCR and PC.

I had a party a while back and put on some music with a really cool
psychedelic screensaver on the PC. All my (non-techy) friends thought
that was really cool.

You'll have no trouble using your HDTV as a monitor - ideally check the
manual before you buy it to confirm that it has PC DVI or VGA in.

Johanna

 

[johns]

I tried a Viewsonic LCD TV ... I think about 36 inch. It was
awful. Unreadable at monitor viewing distance. I tried
picture in picture, but again unreadable. TV monitors
don't have enough native resolution capablilty along
the horizontal axis to be used for text. I can clearly
see all the vertical lines in the text. TV relies on moving
images for smoothing, and also, TV assumes much
greater viewing distances.

johns

 

[Mike T.]

I tried a Viewsonic LCD TV ... I think about 36 inch. It was
awful. Unreadable at monitor viewing distance. I tried
picture in picture, but again unreadable. TV monitors
don't have enough native resolution capablilty along
the horizontal axis to be used for text. I can clearly
see all the vertical lines in the text. TV relies on moving
images for smoothing, and also, TV assumes much
greater viewing distances.

johns

You could have a point there. The cheapest HDTV I could find at walmart is
1366 x 768. At anything larger than about 24" screen, that might look a bit
fuzzy if you sit too close. -Dave

 

[Slackeyed]

Is anyone currently using or has anyone actually used an HDTV as their
primary monitor? How is/was it?

Thank you.

The problem with using your TV as a monitor is that you need a "dongle"
that will upscale your resolution from your video card to the
appropriate resolution for your TV.

Just plugging in your S-video from your vid card's output to the
S-video input on your TV will look horrible.