Using HDTV as monitor

adindas

Dear All
I have seen sometimes, an HDTV is almost the same price with a PC monitor fro the the same size (inch( and resolution.

I am thinking of using an HDTV for my PC monitor but I wonder what is actually disadvantages of using HDTV as a PC monitor.

What is advantages of using usual display monitor as PC monitor

thank you for your time.

penrhyn

I used my 40" TV as a monitor whilst I set up my new PC and still needed the old one running whilst transferring files. It worked really well.
The only problem I had was that the screen was chopping off the top and bottom of the display. Turned out that I needed to set the resolution on the set to native 1080 *1980 (I think) to match the PCs output.

JulyKnot

penrhyn wrote: »

I used my 40" TV as a monitor whilst I set up my new PC and still needed the old one running whilst transferring files. It worked really well.
The only problem I had was that the screen was chopping off the top and bottom of the display. Turned out that I needed to set the resolution on the set to native 1080 *1690 (I think) to match the PCs output.

I hve a pc connected temporarily to my tv and also have bottom and top chopped off. I was able to change the resolution once. Since an update, The only resolutions seem to be the top of the scale and bottom of the scale with nothing between.
How can I fix this so that I have more options again?I tried a system restore to before the update but that made no difference. From memory I only need to change the resolution one notch down to see the whole window. The notches have disappeared.

penrhyn

Sorry don't know, I adjusted the TV to match the PC's output. I guess there is some handshaking over the HDMI to set the optimum resolution.

teleaddict

I've got my PC connected to my TV via the vga socket. I set the resolution to 1080 * 1690 for the graphics card and away I went. No problems at all with it.
If you use the vgs socket, you'll need an additional line from your sound card.

almillar

Best way to do this is HDMI to HDMI, or DVI to HDMI, which will need separate audio.
You need to know the resolution of your TV. The most common would be full HD, 1920x1080, and plain old HD 1280x720. There are some less common ones too. You want to set your graphics card for whatever resolution your TV is, then you need to set the TV to not overscan (which is zooming in slightly on the picture. This isn't possible in all TV, and it's a bit of a minefield settings wise. Read your manual. It's sometimes under the aspect ratio button (you know, 4:3, 16:9, zoom, auto etc) or sometimes deeper in the display or system settings. Might be called Just Scan (turn it on) or 1:1 pixel mapping, or umpteen other daft names.
adindas - you don't mention the size of the monitor, but if it's a little cheap thing, a TV won't be much worse than a computer monitor, and may evern be the same panel.

booler

I have been using this one for the last six months. It does a good job and gives me the option of watching telly on my monitor when I want to.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-T23B350-23-inch-Widescreen/dp/B007JSOMEQ

flashg67

I have a PC attached to my 32" TV - particularly great for iplayer etc... but, of course, you can't then do PC stuff and watch TV at the same time!!

Johnmcl7

JulyKnot wrote: »

I hve a pc connected temporarily to my tv and also have bottom and top chopped off. I was able to change the resolution once. Since an update, The only resolutions seem to be the top of the scale and bottom of the scale with nothing between.
How can I fix this so that I have more options again?I tried a system restore to before the update but that made no difference. From memory I only need to change the resolution one notch down to see the whole window. The notches have disappeared.

Look for overscan/underscan options on the TV and in the driver, that should adjust the picture to correctly fit the screen without the borders being chopped off. It's not in a consistent place, on some of the Samsung TV's it's part of the picture size cycle but I don't know where others put it if the option is even available.

John

Johnmcl7

adindas wrote: »

Do you need to buy a special cardso you could connect it using HDMI or DVI.

My PC is dual core but do not have HDMI port

I am sorry for my ignorance

You can buy converters but if possible I'd just stick with a TV that has a VGA port assuming that's what your PC has to keep it simple. You have the slight inconvenience of needing an audio cable as well but unless it's a very poor VGA cable you shouldn't lose out on image quality and I find VGA tends to be less hassle than hdmi (no overscan/underscan issues)

John

almillar

HDMI is best as it includes sound. DVI gives the same picture but you need to carry sound seperately, VGA is the last option. Still perfectly good if you have a good cable, but is analogue and more susceptable to interference, banding etc. AND needs to carry sound separately.