Large TV as your monitor

[HL117]

So I was bored last night, kids were on the PCs , I grabbed an old PC not being used and plugged it into the 56" TV and was surprised at how well everything showed, of course I had immediate attention of my three boys  , I am sure many of you have or do this but not me up till this point, not sure of the specs of the old machine but the general question is does AH have any issues running like this on a TV I believe the best resolution was supporting something like 1980 x 1020 or similar.


Thanks

[Bizman]

There's few to none issues in using a TV as a monitor. Yours seems to be a FullHD model like most current ones are, with a resolution of 1920x1080. You know what? Most desktop monitors and many laptop ones run the exactly same resolution! So that is really no problem at all. When comparing a 56" TV to a 22" monitor, the main difference is the size of an individual pixel. You can see those pixels on a large enough screen when you're close enough - or should I say too close...

There is one major issue, though, using a large TV as a monitor and that's the input lag. TV's often have some kind of picture enhancing technology, which will add some delay between the computer and the picture. Thus your TV may show you being 200 behind an enemy while in reality your computer already knows you've rammed him. When using the TV as a gaming monitor for fast paced games like AH, every image enhancing function should be turned off for best results. There's also great variations between different TV models concerning input lag. The best way would be to connect a tube monitor (no lag) and the TV to the same video card (they usually have multiple outputs) side by side in mirrored mode, running a stopwatch showing 1/100 seconds. If you take a photograph of them, the time difference should tell whether there's input lag or not. Of course that's only a homespun test, real testing would require a high speed video camera synchronized with the stopwatch so you could tell the amount of input lag per any given time.

If you want to impress your boys or any other audience with your AH skills, you can connect the TV as a secondary monitor to your main gaming rig in mirrored mode for the audience to see and play your game on your gaming monitor. In that case any input lag shouldn't matter because you'd be making your decisions based on what you see on the no-lag screen.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

And even regular computer monitors may have considerable input lags. It's something you should always check before buying.

[The Fugitive]

I play on a 42 inch tv. Runs great.

[danny76]

I play on a 42 inch tv. Runs great.

I play on a 40" TV I bought for 90 pounds last year because the case was scratched, this runs fine, can't hit anything, but then I couldn't on the 22 inch monitor I had previously

[zack1234]

Do you switch it on Danny this might be your problem?

[Randy1]

And even regular computer monitors may have considerable input lags. It's something you should always check before buying.

The lag really doesn't become an issue till the closure speed is high like on a high speed merge  best I can tell.  You may get shot thinking you have cleared the red's target zone if the high speed attacker has less monitor lag.  Not 100% sure on this point.

The answer to that is give high speed passes more room.

Not sure I would use a smaller monitor just because of TV lag.

If the tv has a VGA then the lag issue becomes mute since much of the processing is on-board the PC instead of the TV.

On my TV when I use the VGA connector, much of the TV's Advanced processing features are blanked out.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

The lag really doesn't become an issue till the closure speed is high like on a high speed merge  best I can tell.  You may get shot thinking you have cleared the red's target zone if the high speed attacker has less monitor lag.  Not 100% sure on this point.

On AH this is true, however many people game first person shooters also using the same computer.

[HL117]

The TV is the BESTBUY in house brand " INSIGNIA" nothing special does have multiple inputs; digital, VGA, HDMI, I    just used the HDMI since the Xbox one was laying there, not sure how you would turn off the TV enhancing modes though, the video button does have a game mode option along with the theater mode, engery savings and what not modes, not sure if that would do it , will have to read up on that, was kinda of a spontanous effort, think I would have to make a chair or something to hold the stick throttle, holding the stick in my lap seam like it would be less than desirable.

Thanks for the responses, will be fun to mess with.

[Randy1]

    just used the HDMI since the Xbox one was laying there, not sure how you would turn off the TV enhancing modes t

Try the VGA, if you can.  That should take the tv processing out.  After that it is a personal choice.  Should be perfect for AH.

[danny76]

Do you switch it on Danny this might be your problem?

 

[Warmongo]

Try the VGA, if you can.  That should take the tv processing out.  After that it is a personal choice.  Should be perfect for AH.

I respectfully disagree. I have tried both and the VGA cable looks like *&%^ IMHO.

[morfiend]

The TV is the BESTBUY in house brand " INSIGNIA" nothing special does have multiple inputs; digital, VGA, HDMI, I    just used the HDMI since the Xbox one was laying there, not sure how you would turn off the TV enhancing modes though, the video button does have a game mode option along with the theater mode, engery savings and what not modes, not sure if that would do it , will have to read up on that, was kinda of a spontanous effort, think I would have to make a chair or something to hold the stick throttle, holding the stick in my lap seam like it would be less than desirable.

Thanks for the responses, will be fun to mess with.

  I've been using a large screen TV for a monitor for several years now,I started with a 47 in model but it was 3d and I didnt like how it worked with my setup so I convinced the wife that she really needed that TV in the family room,afterall we can watch 3d movies on it.....

 The she said but you'll want a better one for your comp,which I told her I would buy a cheaper 1 to replace the 3d unit,which I did but it was much larger even though it was cheaper!


   I'm thinking I will go with an 80 or 90 inch unit in a year or so when the 4k tv's come on mainstream,those older units will be cheap compared and the 4K TV's dont work with gaming!


   

[WWhiskey]

I use a 42 inch Samsung led ,, works great!

[Bizman]

<snip>--- the 4K TV's dont work with gaming!

I can't see any reason why not. Of course it's very much depending on the game, but AFAIK at least AH supports even 4k resolutions already now. The triple monitor guys run them all the time! And IIRC there was a picture of someone's gaming surroundings with five monitors in portrait mode, which in FullHD means 5400x1920. A large 4k TV would look very nice in AH, if I only could afford that!