High End HDTV as monitor - suggestions? Viable?

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RanceJustice

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 9, 2003
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Hey guys. I'm coming into a little bit of cash and have been wanting a new monitor for some time now. Something with good color, resolution, refresh rate etc... A friend recently asked me if I should just get a HDTV and use it as a monitor, and the thought really hasn't crossed my mind until now. Is this a sound idea?

I guess I would need a high end HDTV that supports 1080p, in order to get a better than my current VX2000's 1600x1200 resolution, huh? I'd also want the latest and highest number of video options available. DVI (D or I? dual link), Component etc... I've not well versed in the current high end TVs, so could you guys provide some suggestions and/or tell me if this is even a good idea?

Also, I wonder if I should wait for SED displays? Some of the first, large HDTV styles are coming out this month are they not?
 
The new Sony SXRD sets are 1080p, and supposedly have solved almost all of the problems inherent in other fixed-pixel designs, i.e., they have excellent black levels, no ghosting/blurring, no burn in, no rainbows/flicker, accurate color, etc.
 
NulloModo said:
The new Sony SXRD sets are 1080p, and supposedly have solved almost all of the problems inherent in other fixed-pixel designs, i.e., they have excellent black levels, no ghosting/blurring, no burn in, no rainbows/flicker, accurate color, etc.
Click to expand...

There are currently NO HDTV's on the market that support 1080p input. These TV's, like all other "1080p" TV's, upsample a 720p signal or a 1080i signal to 1080p. That said, Sony TV's are one of the *worst* values on the market. You'll get much more value from a Samsung or Mitsubishi, at a lower price and-in most instances-a better quality unit.

I've using a 61" Samsung HDTV widescreen, and I use the 720p mode because it looks the best. Bear in mind that on such a large display, though, the pixels are MUCH larger than they are on a 19" monitor, and it shows. For a large 50"+ display to have the clarity of a PC monitor you'd have to have probably 8000x5000 resolution or something similar. We're still a ways off from that, sadly, but a 720p HDTV does a pretty good job and is *fabulous* for gaming.

Jason
 
DragonMasterAlex said:
There are currently NO HDTV's on the market that support 1080p input. These TV's, like all other "1080p" TV's, upsample a 720p signal or a 1080i signal to 1080p. That said, Sony TV's are one of the *worst* values on the market. You'll get much more value from a Samsung or Mitsubishi, at a lower price and-in most instances-a better quality unit.

I've using a 61" Samsung HDTV widescreen, and I use the 720p mode because it looks the best. Bear in mind that on such a large display, though, the pixels are MUCH larger than they are on a 19" monitor, and it shows. For a large 50"+ display to have the clarity of a PC monitor you'd have to have probably 8000x5000 resolution or something similar. We're still a ways off from that, sadly, but a 720p HDTV does a pretty good job and is *fabulous* for gaming.

Jason
Click to expand...

First of all, you have no clue what you are talking about with the first comments. There are a number of true 1080p sets on the market that actually can take a 1080p signal, the Westinghouse/Sceptre LCDs for one, this Sony for another. I will agree with you that Sony sets in general are not the best value, but Sony currently is the only company making SXRD sets, and it _does_ make a huge difference. It is a variant of LCoS, and a three chip system without a colorwheel like DLP, so no rainbows/flicker, they've done something that lets them virtually solve the light leakage issue, so you have black levels as good as, if not better than plasma, almost as good as CRT. This is the same tech used in the Qualia 006 (or maybe it is 007) set that goes for $10,000 and has been unanimously hailed by any HT mag reviewing it to be the best digital display they have seen.

Now, Samsung does make a decent DLP set, and if you are willing to live with the flicker/rainbow/noise inherent to single chip DLP, well, they are some of the best. Mitsu's high end Tube TVs always rank high, though I prefer Hitachi or Pioneer there just because you get more for your money. I'm not saying that you should buy any Sony set, I personally wouldn't touch one of their CRT RPTVs and have never been very impressed by their LCD offerings, but the new SXRD sets do have it over everybody else in the market, and for someone wanting to use it as a computer monitor, the extra resolution (which you can get through the HDMI port DVI->HDMI converter) makes it worth it.
 
The largest problem with a 1080p set is one of speed, not inputs. DragonMasterAlex is somewhat correct in that the RPTV 1080p sets out there right now don't accept 1080p via a digital connection. Most do, however, have a standard analog input for computers. Is that the best way to connect? No, but it will allow you to pass a 1920x1080 signal. So this problem isn't a show stopper, it's just annoying. Also, Nullo is correct. There are several panel sets that will allow 1080p via a digital connection (mostly plasma, but the high res LCDs are hitting the market).

The problem with all of these sets is ghosting. I'm not just talking about normal LCD ghosting due to response times that we're all used to. No, the new 1080p sets simply don't have the horsepower to display the information fast enough. So, even if you have a pure digital path, you get stung by the sets' ability to "paint." Note that this problem is less evident in the plasmas, but they have a different type of ghosting problem. The large 1080p LCDs have the familliar ghosting problem as most of them end up being >25ms response time (regardless of what the manuf. claim).

From my experience, ghosting makes 1080p sets almost useless for anything other than text/web, but I'm very picky. I'll also say that the new DLP 1080p sets seem to be the worst at this, even though I think they look the best for most other applications. Your choices are to live with the ghosting, go with 720p, or wait a bit.
 
kamikazichaser said:
The largest problem with a 1080p set is one of speed, not inputs. DragonMasterAlex is somewhat correct in that the RPTV 1080p sets out there right now don't accept 1080p via a digital connection. Most do, however, have a standard analog input for computers. Is that the best way to connect? No, but it will allow you to pass a 1920x1080 signal. So this problem isn't a show stopper, it's just annoying. Also, Nullo is correct. There are several panel sets that will allow 1080p via a digital connection (mostly plasma, but the high res LCDs are hitting the market).

The problem with all of these sets is ghosting. I'm not just talking about normal LCD ghosting due to response times that we're all used to. No, the new 1080p sets simply don't have the horsepower to display the information fast enough. So, even if you have a pure digital path, you get stung by the sets' ability to "paint." Note that this problem is less evident in the plasmas, but they have a different type of ghosting problem. The large 1080p LCDs have the familliar ghosting problem as most of them end up being >25ms response time (regardless of what the manuf. claim).

From my experience, ghosting makes 1080p sets almost useless for anything other than text/web, but I'm very picky. I'll also say that the new DLP 1080p sets seem to be the worst at this, even though I think they look the best for most other applications. Your choices are to live with the ghosting, go with 720p, or wait a bit.
Click to expand...

Ghosting on the LCDs yes, but not on the new SXRD tech. I swear this is about the most perfect solution right now, screw waiting for OLED, I am about to jump on it even though I love CRTs....

Roffle - Yes, that or the 60" version
 
kamikazichaser said:
The largest problem with a 1080p set is one of speed, not inputs. DragonMasterAlex is somewhat correct in that the RPTV 1080p sets out there right now don't accept 1080p via a digital connection. Most do, however, have a standard analog input for computers. Is that the best way to connect? No, but it will allow you to pass a 1920x1080 signal. So this problem isn't a show stopper, it's just annoying. Also, Nullo is correct. There are several panel sets that will allow 1080p via a digital connection (mostly plasma, but the high res LCDs are hitting the market).

The problem with all of these sets is ghosting. I'm not just talking about normal LCD ghosting due to response times that we're all used to. No, the new 1080p sets simply don't have the horsepower to display the information fast enough. So, even if you have a pure digital path, you get stung by the sets' ability to "paint." Note that this problem is less evident in the plasmas, but they have a different type of ghosting problem. The large 1080p LCDs have the familliar ghosting problem as most of them end up being >25ms response time (regardless of what the manuf. claim).

From my experience, ghosting makes 1080p sets almost useless for anything other than text/web, but I'm very picky. I'll also say that the new DLP 1080p sets seem to be the worst at this, even though I think they look the best for most other applications. Your choices are to live with the ghosting, go with 720p, or wait a bit.
Click to expand...


Dude, you don't know jack.


setupmonitor.jpg



Does not ghost in games
 
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