Any one using there TV as a monitor?

[Rob_the_scot]

Just wondering if any has used there tv for plugging upto there pc if you came cross any problems, just my monitor finnaly went pop dont have the funds at this moment just to go out and buy a new monitor.

My tv is a 32 inch 720p has hdmi and vga ports...I would test this out my self but Im lacking a vga cable and a hdmi cable (can easily borrow)

I did do a quick google but theres no real answer as such

 

[SieB]

My PC is hooked up to my TV through HDMI. You shouldn't have any probs, sometimes when you first connect it the picture may not be full screen and you might have a black boarder, if that happens you need to go in to CCC if you have an AMD card or whatever the Nvidia equivalent is and turn off GPU scaling.

EDIT:Forgot to say if you use VGA you may not be able to use a hi res resolution you will need a HDMI lead for that.

 

[sleepylilazn]

I do. I don't really like it for gaming though. I'm probably going to buy a proper monitor and use the tv as a second screen.

 

[SieB]

I do. I don't really like it for gaming though.

How come? There's no difference, on the TV's I have used anyway.

 

[sleepylilazn]

How come? There's no difference, on the TV's I have used anyway.

The largest detriment is the input lag. It's incredibly prominent. To the point where some games are unplayable to me. Well pc games at least. I don't feel it as much on console games with a controller.

 

[SieB]

The largest detriment is the input lag. It's incredibly prominent. To the point where some games are unplayable to me. Well pc games at least. I don't feel it as much on console games with a controller.

I forgot about input lag, lol. Yeah it can be quite bad on some TVs anything bellow 30ms is ok but anything over will be bad. If you have a game mode on your TV use that and turn any special features like truemotion off, that will lower the input lag quite a bit. 

 

[sleepylilazn]

I forgot about input lag, lol. Yeah it can be quite bad on some TVs anything bellow 30ms is ok but anything over will be bad. If you have a game mode on your TV use that and turn any special features like truemotion off, that will lower the input lag quite a bit. 

My previous comments were based on all the fancy schmancy stuff that add to input lag turned off. With stuff like trumotion turned on it become even further from what I would consider to by tolerable.

 

[Rastalovich]

Many people who've bought 'monitors' over the last so-many years are actually using tvs without knowing it. Especially with the manufacturers drip feeding of the 1080 being suitable for computers.

Pictures are ok->good, but there's reasons why actual monitors cost in excess of £400.

 

[dugdiamond]

i also have a large TV plug into my rigs via an HDMi splitter.

it does not harm the TV if used for a short time... i say this, as some TVs are prone to screen burn, and a desktop with its static icons can do just that

but, for using it for gaming (fullscreen) or apps that do not have large portions of the screen with bright colours (m$ word, etc), then it would be fine.

(if your TV, that you will be using, is LED backlit, then screen-burn will not be a problem)

 

[Ya93sin]

Some TVs are quite good for gaming, I've connected my PC to a plasma tv several times before I went off to Uni, and it was fine, a bit of input lag but I didn't mind at all. But that TV was pretty expensive, I'm not sure you'd get the same results on an average TV. Good for watching movies of course though.

 

[Master&Puppet]

When i pop back home to see the parents i use their 40" plasma and its excellent. Never had any issues - no screen burn or slow response time/input lag or otherwise.

Guessing your tv is too small for plasma (which has a good response rate as standard) so its led i guess? Dont know about the response time on your tv but that's not important unless you game. If its fine watching sports on it then it will be fine for gaming.

I forgot about input lag, lol. Yeah it can be quite bad on some TVs anything bellow 30ms is ok but anything over will be bad. If you have a game mode on your TV use that and turn any special features like truemotion off, that will lower the input lag quite a bit.

Id say 30ms is too high for gaming, not sure how much it is reduced using those settings.

If I've got this right then its quite simple to work out what response time you need on a screen, you divide 1 second by the fps you expect.

So 60fps requires (1/60=0.0166667) = 16ms response. However if you exceed 60 fps you can get screen smearing so you really need greater response.

8ms response is good for 125fps

5ms gets you 200fps. You can go lower but who games over 200fps? Better to choose contrast/light output (cd/m2) or other things like features and design.

Thing is, if you get too slow a response time then you get screen smear and waste the performance of your pc...but going below 5ms in unnecessary imo.

M&P

 

[nemesiszero]

I have never had problems using TVs as displays for my PC currently using my Samsaung 32" LED with HDMI at 1920x1080 as my only display works fantastic and works a treat with HD movies. Personally I prefer a TV over monitor as like bigger screens its mainly down preference really. For your situation I would just go out and buy an HDMI cable and use your TV.