TV or Monitor?

[TIMELESS]

Good [insert time-relevant expression here] guys and gals!

 

I need some help. Within a 10 foot radius I have a collection of monitors and TVs which over the past few years have all broke (never buy Toshiba btw, that's 2 in 2 years), so anyways I need some help with what to buy next.

 

Right now, I'm just wondering what's the difference between a monitor and a TV? Which should I buy, all I use it for is my computer (work, Netflix, gaming), so I couldn't give a toss about it being smart or having freeview or a built in DVD player. I just want a good quality screen and preferably from a brand that won't break after 18 months.

 

:hmmm:

[Ryzza5]

Well you know all that stuff that monitors advertise... response time (2ms), refresh rates, adaptive v-sync, 4k 60Hz, etc, etc.... most TV's don't have this. I think I may have once read that a TV had something like 40ms response times.

 

A number of these advanced features require a recent version of DisplayPort and do not work over HDMI.

 

Of course, a top of the line gaming monitor will cost as much as a much larger TV, so the question is, what's more important to you? If you were planning on buying a cheap monitor then maybe it won't be as bad to buy a cheap large TV. I have found it a lot harder to play on my old Gen5 LCD TV, especially when there's traffic that needs avoiding. I'd crash far more often compared to when on PC.

 

 

Also I've worked with hundreds of (business-grade) Toshiba notebooks over the years and they've been pretty stable. Only their early (revolutionary) ultra-books had cooling problems, which weren't helped by the reseller putting their support sticker over a bunch of breathing holes.

[Ozzmcom]

Good [insert time-relevant expression here] guys and gals!

 

I need some help. Within a 10 foot radius I have a collection of monitors and TVs which over the past few years have all broke (never buy Toshiba btw, that's 2 in 2 years), so anyways I need some help with what to buy next.

 

Right now, I'm just wondering what's the difference between a monitor and a TV? Which should I buy, all I use it for is my computer (work, Netflix, gaming), so I couldn't give a toss about it being smart or having freeview or a built in DVD player. I just want a good quality screen and preferably from a brand that won't break after 18 months.

 

:hmmm:

if you're going to do some gaming on it I'd go with a monitor. Much quicker response time and remember, all games are developed on monitors not tvs.

[killalldude]

I would go with a monitor as well. I use an LED TV at school with my computer. The image is just not as crisp as my monitor at home.

[Eudemon]

I will always sing the praises of an iiyama monitor, love the things. As for what to use for computing, tv and gaming though I don't know, if you can stretch it I'd get both, if it needs to be just the one then I'd definitely take into account what Ry said and make sure your set has at least some of that going for it.

[TIMELESS]

Was just looking at those iiyama monitors, they look good and cheap :panic: Which means I can buy 2 and go dual screen :lol:

 

So I'm definitely looking for something with a DisplayPort connection then? I've never heard of this before :o I assume my GTX970 has a hole for this :hmmm:

[Camel]

Modern TVs aren't that far behind monitors in terms of input lag.

 

A monitor may use 1ms or 2ms response time as a selling point but in reality that's just the time it takes for a pixel to change. They don't include any input lag with this which is the time it takes for the signal to get from the input to the screen.

 

Here's a database of monitors and TVs that have been tested for input lag and as you can see the lowest is 9ms. But I'd hazard a guess that you couldn't tell much of a difference between 10ms and 40ms when gaming. I don't think I'd be able to anyway. And modern TVs are now not too bad for input lag, especially when you turn off all the picture "enhancements" that they offer these days.

 

Having said that I would still recommend a proper monitor if you're not bothered about watching TV on it or planning on sitting more than a few feet away from the screen.

[Ryzza5]

I'd agree with you for games like Crash Bandicoot (precision not imperative). And new TV's are probably much better than the one I bought ~6 years ago. Also if your TV has a 'Game' mode you should definitely use it, according to various developers. Thanks for the link.

[TIMELESS]

I will always sing the praises of an iiyama monitor, love the things. As for what to use for computing, tv and gaming though I don't know, if you can stretch it I'd get both, if it needs to be just the one then I'd definitely take into account what Ry said and make sure your set has at least some of that going for it.

 

I hope you were right :p

 

 

So far it's brilliant, beautiful screen, very vibrant, I just wish it had 2 HDMI ports to tide me over until I can afford another one just for my PC :lol:

 

 

I did look for something with DisplayPort, but couldn't find anything I could afford, they were hundreds of pounds more expensive than this was, so I'll do without. For £150 you can't go wrong!

[Eudemon]

Awesome! I hope you find them to be as good as I do mate. What size is it?

[TIMELESS]

Awesome! I hope you find them to be as good as I do mate. What size is it?

 

27"! Bloody massive thing! Genuinely think 24" would have done, but we'll see when I'm watching TV from the other side of the room later :lol: It's serious bang for your buck and looks quite nice too, so I can't complain!

[Eudemon]

Woah 27! Haha I remember how overwhelming my 24 seemed compared to my older one, but thankfully you get used to it. It does take a while though.

[Ryzza5]

I'm tempted by the curved 34" super-widescreen monitors but there's a couple of problems:

* I'd need a new desk - won't fit on mine between the uprights for the top shelf

* The Elgato won't record above 1080p60, and ShadowPlay is still flakey in its reliability

* Concerns as to how a console's 1080p display would look on it

* They're really not affordable :lol:

[Andreas¹]

Nice one, it's not 4K is it? If not, DisplayPort doesn't really matter. You'll need it to use 144Hz refresh rate but if that's what you wanted then you'd know. Never heard of the brand tbh, could I get a link with some specs?

 

I changed to a 24" (23.6"...) monitor this summer and size wise there's no difference as my old monitor was as big with the bezels as this one is without. :lol:

[TIMELESS]

Yeah Ry, those Samsung ones look mighty pretty... but then there's the price tag :lol:

 

@Raspberry Just 1920x1080, and yep, 60hz will do me! iiyama