Computer monitor/tv for office

[Rondar]

If any of you were considering getting a tv and using it for a pc monitor 90-95 % of the time, what would you guys get?  I was thinking of getting a 32-37" tv of some sort, mounting it on wall, and cleaning up desk area.  I have an old 13" crt tv on desk and it is like a 2ft square box taking up lots of desk top.

When I play Aces High, I usually sit approx 30" from my current 20" monitor.  If I mounted the 32-37" tv on wall, I would be in the 48" area for distance. 

If I mounted this critter on the wall, would I want to get one of the newfangled led lcd thin tv?  I would like to keep this under 500 if I can.

I have seen the refresh rates on the lcd's of 60, 120 and 240, at least for the bigger tv's.  Is 60 enough and also I assume I do not want a 720p screen, 1080P is what I want, right?

Thanks for any recommendations you guys might have. 

[columbus]

i have used a 32, 40, 42 and 55 inch tv as a monitor to play AH your biggest thing is native resolution, 720P or 1080p isnt gonna make a difference for the game, if you use it to watch HD movies/tv  yes it will.  of course contrast and  brightness are other factors to consider. your 120 mhz refresh rate will be better then a 60 mhz one usually

[Rondar]

Right now I am using a GeForce 8800GT video card.  Current setting on my Optiquest 20" Q201wb monitor is 1366x768, if this helps any.

[RTHolmes]

720P or 1080p isnt gonna make a difference for the game

1080p is 4x the resolution of 720p so it will be a very noticeable difference.

[columbus]

1080p is 4x the resolution of 720p so it will be a very noticeable difference.

no it wont the game doesn't run at 1080p or 720p only if he is running HD related stuff will he benefit from running  1080p and then its gonna depend on his Video Card and the resolution and texture he is running

[RTHolmes]

ok to be specific:

AH running at 1920x1080 on a 1080p TV is 4x the resolution of AH running at 1280×720 on a 720p TV, so it will be a very noticeable difference.

[Tigger29]

no it wont the game doesn't run at 1080p or 720p only if he is running HD related stuff will he benefit from running  1080p and then its gonna depend on his Video Card and the resolution and texture he is running

Columbus, for that statement to be true, both a 720p and a 1080p television would have to have the same resolution and the only difference being in "TELEVISION MODE".  This is not the case.  Like RTHolmes stated, a 1080p has a much higher resolution than a 720p television.

Assuming the 1080p standard is 1920X1080, then a 1080p television has 2,073,600 pixels.
Assuming the 720p standard is 1280X720, then a 720p television has 921,600 pixels.

This means that a 1080p television has approximately 2.25 times HIGHER resolution (or 2.25 times more pixels) than a 720p television.

While the terms "High Definition", "720p", and "1080p" are relatively new terms, the simply fact is that computer monitors have supported a "High Definition" for a much longer time.  In essence, the numbers part of a High Definition standard simply means the number of 'rows of pixels' on the screen.

If we go back in time to the old CRT television sets, their resolutions were often as low as 320X200.  When the VGA standard came out for computer screens, it was a HUGE IMPROVEMENT, supporting 640X480.  As CRT computer monitors continued to evolve, 800X600 became common... then 1024X768... then 1280X1024.. 1600X1200 and so on and so forth.

Since Television broadcasts continue to be strictly standardized (and analog) their resolutions continued to stay very low.  It wasn't until they decided to move on to Digital Broadcasting and a higher definition movie format (Blu-Ray VS. HDDVD) that higher television resolutions began to become standardized, hence 480p, 720i/p, 1080i/p.  I'm sure that number will continue to grow in the future.

But generally speaking, the 1080p standard is really nothing more than a computer monitor running 1080 rows of pixels (and 1920 columns of pixels), and generally speaking, playing Aces High at a resolution of 1920X1080 is the same as watching 1080p television.  Playing Aces High at a resolution of 1280X720 is the same as watching 720p television.

And believe me, there is a BIG DIFFERENCE.

[RTHolmes]

indeed


where the hell did I get 4x from?

[Tigger29]

indeed


where the hell did I get 4x from?

LOL I dunno but it got your point across!  LOL

To demonstrate the difference, I created two images.  It is a simple diagonal line, black on white.  The first one was created at a resolution of 200X200 (and then stretched out to 800X800 for clarity):


The second one was created at a resolution of 100X100 (and then stretched out to 800X800 for clarity).  You'll see how much 'blockier' the edges of the line is, which reduces it's quality.  Granted this is an extreme example, but it makes the point:


Simply put, the higher the resolution, the better the quality.  Now if you were sitting 20 feet away from a 20 inch screen, chances are you aren't going to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p anyway, but typically speaking while playing a computer game (especially Aces High) you're likely going to be up close and personal... less than 4 feet away... and yes you WILL notice the difference at that distance.

[columbus]

okay the question next is are you gonna be using a VGA , DVI or HDMI cable.

[Rondar]

Looks like my 8800gt has 2 dvi outputs plus the vga dpin, which I am using that now... (the regular computer plug in thingy).

[Tigger29]

Keep in mind that you'll be hard pressed to find a new TV/Monitor that accepts the VGA connection anymore.  You're definitely going to be using the DVI.. however if you find a TV that only has HDMI inputs, you can purchase a DVI to HDMI cable, as DVI carries the same exact information that HDMI does, except for sound.  I've used that exact cable to hook the DVI output of my video card to an HDMI monitor, and also to hook up the HDMI output of my blu-ray player to a DVI input of my HDTV in the living room.

As for a recommendation of what exact TV to purchase, I really can't help there.  I have a 24" HDMI monitor in my office for my computer, and a 47" Westinghouse 1080p monitor in the living room.  It is considered a monitor instead of a TV because it does not have a tuner built in.  Since I've always planned on having it hooked up to a cable or satellite box, the tuner isn't necessary.  It's actually pretty nice... has one HDMI input (cable), has two DVI inputs (one blueray, other not used), two component inputs (one Wii, other not used), a VGA input (not used), and a composite input (VCR).  I have yet to hook a computer up to it, but from what I've seen it's a simple plug and play ordeal.

Just make sure you do some research, I've heard of some TV's that introduce a tiny bit of "lag" as it processes the image.  This could be a problem for computer gaming, but I've heard of some having a "gaming mode" that eliminates the processing.. but I'm sure others will chime in on this...

[columbus]

also vga will not give you 1080p, you will have to diffently use the the DVI-HDMI adapter. i know on my old 50 inch i run DVI and it does 1080i over the DVI, but i dont play AH at that resolution cause my FPS sucks, the 42 inch i run 1080p but i dont run AH at 1920x1080 again cause the FPS sucks and thats with a ATI 4850 ,  i did notice that when i installed my GTX 260 (212 core) it actually gave me 720p option on my 20 inch but havent used it and run 1400x1050 and get 60FPS, and will AH even run  at 1920X1080  well with a 8800GT?

[RTHolmes]

VGA supports up to 2048x1536 @85Hz, ie more than the required 1080 lines, but its much better to use DVI/HDMI to keep the signal dig all the way.

I was getting 45-60fps in AH at 1920x1080 using a 9800GT, everything on except self-shadowing. you could run it at less than native resolution for higher fps, but it will look worse.

[Tigger29]

also vga will not give you 1080p, you will have to diffently use the the DVI-HDMI adapter. i know on my old 50 inch i run DVI and it does 1080i over the DVI, but i dont play AH at that resolution cause my FPS sucks, the 42 inch i run 1080p but i dont run AH at 1920x1080 again cause the FPS sucks and thats with a ATI 4850 ,  i did notice that when i installed my GTX 260 (212 core) it actually gave me 720p option on my 20 inch but havent used it and run 1400x1050 and get 60FPS, and will AH even run  at 1920X1080  well with a 8800GT?

Yes I don't think VGA has a problem with those resolutions, but IIRC the biggest difference is that VGA is analog (similar to Component), whereas DVI is digital (like HDMI).  So for the clearest picture possible, you would definitely not want to use VGA.  Keep in mind computer standards DO differ from TV standards, so even though VGA can support HDMI resolutions, it still may not support other standards required for 1080p.

My question to you Columbus, is about you claiming the 4850 won't stay up to par at 1920X1080?  Now I have no experience with the 4XXX series of ATI cards so you may be entirely correct, but when one makes a decision regarding screen resolution, they have to keep in mind the LCD screens typically look VERY POOR when forced to use a non-native resolution.  Because of that, in the past I had gladly turned down graphics options in Aces High in order to maintain the screen's native resolution (in my case 1920X1200), because in my case, lowering the resolution to.. say.. 1440X900... made the image look worse than 1920X1200 with less graphics eye candy turned on.  Of course, this is all based on opinion.  Simply put, there is a lot more information to factor in than just screen resolution.  I would imagine that if you turned down some graphics options, your 4850 would easily handle a 1920X1080 resolution.

To put things into perspective, my old 9800GTX+ card (comparable to the 8800GT) had no problems handling 1920X1200 providing that I didn't turn on shadows.  This was with a first generation C2D, 2GB DDR2 ram, and Windows XP.  You also have to remember that a lot of it has to do with the rest of the hardware too.  It is easy to be CPU limited in which case even the best graphics card in the world won't help much.

Now I have an E7400 C2D (slightly overclocked to 3.0GHZ), 4GB DDR3 ram, Win7 64, 5830 ATI card, and a Velociraptor Hard Drive.  I can run full settings, 2048 textures, 1920X1200 resolution, 2048 self shadows, and two notches of AA and still maintain 60FPS 99% of the time (dropping to 50-55 on rare occasions).  I still can't turn on 'other planes shadows' but c'est la vie.