TV versus monitor

[capera]

Been considering purchasing a flat screen TV, to replace my monitor for playing AH.

Is this possible? If so....what should I look for in the TV, prior to purchase.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Bizman]

Yes, it is possible.

Although TV's and monitors are basically the same, the image enhancing features of a TV will add so called input lag which happens between your video card and the screen. In normal use you won't notice it, but in online multiplayer games like AH it makes a huge difference to the worse. Whether you (get) hit or not takes place in the video card which may have a totally different situation going on to that of your monitor.

So what to look for? Check that there is a possibility to bypass all the enhancement circuits. You can even test the input lag with a computer: Simply plug a known fast monitor (preferably a tube type one) and the TV into your video card in clone mode side by side to see whether a moving image runs synchronized on both. Even better would be if you could use a video camera viewing them side by side while having a stopwatch running on the screens.

More information here: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/input-lag

[Skuzzy]

Most modern televisions have a "game" mode setting, which can be applied to a specific connection port of the television.  Some have a dedicated port for computers, which automatically by-pass all the overhead of the normal television port.

If neither are true, then there is a good chance you are not going to have fun trying to use that television as your monitor, due to all the visual lag.

[Bizman]

BTW you hopefully noticed the 157 entries of tested televisions in the link?

[mikev]

well i dont know about anybody else but i run this game on a sony 60 inch tv with out any problems or lag . i have a gforce gtx750 video card with 2 gigs video memory and a hdmi cable connection. my framerate hangs in the 58 to 60 range ALL the time unless there are server problems.my guess is if your video card has the horsepower and your cpu is up to snuff (2 core 2.8 ghz or better) and a steady good high speed internet connection get as big a tv as you want, the experience is worth it.

[Bizman]

mikev, just for you to know it, if you use a Full HD television as a monitor, inches don't mean a thing regarding your computer. The amount of pixels is what counts speaking about how much of a load will be put to your system. Thus a 27" 2560x1440 will strain your video card more than your 60" TV at a resolution of 1920x1080.

[mikev]

mikev, just for you to know it, if you use a Full HD television as a monitor, inches don't mean a thing regarding your computer. The amount of pixels is what counts speaking about how much of a load will be put to your system. Thus a 27" 2560x1440 will strain your video card more than your 60" TV at a resolution of 1920x1080.

oh your right but i was thinking of a more normal type setting as i run the 1920 x1080 .i was just responding to capera and his wish to up size his viewing after upgrading my computer which you helped me back in may 2014 .thank you again

[Bizman]

Mikev, you're absolutely right in saying that on a bigger screen everything is bigger and thus more visible. 

[715]

Here's another source for lag information for TVs:  http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/

[Zimme83]

Uses my TV as monitor (50 in LED), have a HDMI-cable and its works perfect. Visibility is a lot better compare to a computer screen. CV can be spotted at their dar ring, aircraft at around 10k and GV.s can be found from a few miles out.

[SirNuke]

Recent Sony LED TVs like the W805B have ~23ms input lag in gaming mode, which is a single frame in 60Hz. Hardly anything your average AH pilot would notice. Samsung TVs are much dirtier tho.

[bustr]

Uses my TV as monitor (50 in LED), have a HDMI-cable and its works perfect. Visibility is a lot better compare to a computer screen. CV can be spotted at their dar ring, aircraft at around 10k and GV.s can be found from a few miles out.

When I finally swapped my PC video connector for an HDMI on my Samsung T24C550 TV\Monitor. Same thing happened here. Helps to set a custom FoV to the widest possible. Mine is at 120. With a wider screen you catch a lot of things peripherally that you didn't notice as quickly on say a 20inch flat panel monitor at 106-110.

Somewhere in the specs for the TV you need to find the GTG or response time. 2-5 ms is fine for our game.

You might not want to use the audio component in the HDMI but, stay with your sound card in your PC. There are arguments about the HDMI sound processing causing lag in the game.