Using A Large LCD HD TV as a Computer Monitor??

I am going to be revamping my studio soon.

I want to replace my two six year old 19" flat monitors with a single 1080p 40"-42" LCD HDTV. Currently I am using a tower computer but just bought a Sony Vaio laptop i3 with 4gigs of RAM and an HDMI output. I'm thinking of replacing my single core AMD, 2 gig tower with the laptop as it's much more powerful. I travel with this laptop as well for my shows so it won't be a static setup.

One of my questions is: can I get away with 60hz or do I need 120hz? The display is pretty much static since I create music on it and zip around with the mouse. Or should I bite the bullet and go with a 120hz display? I do run some oscilloscope type programs which need to update fast.

Due to the size I'm going to have to mount the monitor on the wall. It will be about 24" from my face.

You can see my current workspace in the pic below.

My other question is this: will I be able to go beyond the max screen resolution that my new laptop's built in screen has? The laptop screen is approx 1366 x 768 at max res. Everything looks kinda "big" on my laptop screen. My tower (with the old 19" screens) is running 2560 x 1024. It would be nice to run near that resolution on a big 40" HDTV.

Would you run this kind of setup via HDMI or would you use a regular monitor cable and go that route?

RMX
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For starters, your 40" screen is going to be limited to 1920x1080 resolution... period. This can have odd side effects on how things look. The BIGGEST concern here is that you need to find a TV that has a 1:1 display ratio (IE if it is getting 1080 pixels... it displays all 1080), otherwise the TV will not display your entire desktop, cropping anywhere from 2.5 - 5 % of your realestate.

I suggest you take your laptop somewhere that will allow you to hook it up to one of their TVs BEFORE you go out and sink the money into it so you can decide if thats the kind of look you want...

As for refresh rate... I dunno, but IMO its doubtful you are going to need anything above 60Hz.

 

I think you'll wind up hating the pixel pitch of a 40 inch screen, especially at 2 feet. As ER said, your max resolution of an HD tv is 1920x1080.

As far as 60Hz vs 120 Hz goes, I've been using 60Hz LCD monitors for a while now and have never run into any shortcomings.

If you need real estate, decent 1920x1200 24-inch LCD's can be had for $300. Check your notebook's specs and see what the max res it can push, though.

 

+1

IIRC, the "consensus" for TV size is you want to be ~1.5-2x the size away from it.....

I'd go the "other way" - Get one or two ~27" monitors with the resolution you want - I like Apples, but there are many cheaper options (). These will display a great picture when you wanna watch TV, even if you're farther away.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Thanks for the replies. Judging by where I sit (and using a tape measure) I would be roughly 36" from the screen if I mounted it on a wall. That's taking into account 3-4" from the front of the panel (with mount) to my eyes.

Would a 32" HDTV accomplish what I need then??

24" is too small considering the screen area I have at the moment.

RMX

 

The real question is how much screen realestate you need... By switching to a single 1080 screen, you are going to be losing nearly 30% of your horizontal dimension (will this significantly impact what you can actually see in your important applications? You may end up having to scroll back and forth a lot more then you do now to take everything in... Etc)

32" (do they make these w/ 1080 resolution these days?) from 3 feet away is a judgement call, but personally I have found I'm not a fan of such a large screen that close... Requires lots of head turning to see different areas of the screen, increased eye strain due to the backlighting of the screen, etc... It looks awesome at the beginning, but I grew weary of it pretty quickly...

Sent from my DROIDX

 

hmmm to each his own, but I don't think many people would be happy with the system you're planning and I'm not sure you would either.... Unless you're paying $1500+ you're going to be stuck at 1080 pixels. And 1080 pixels really is only enough for about 24 inches.

What you're suggesting is spreading out those pixels on a 42 in screen then sitting far enough back that it looks like a 24 inch screen again. huh?

You can *double* your screen size for the same or less money. Ditch the 42" and get two 24s. That's what I have and it is a MUCH better solution.

 

What you really need to get is a 30" Dell monitors they run 2560 x 1600 native


or buy 2

Here is a good review of it http://www.anandtech.com/show/4070/dell-u3011-review-dells-new-30-inch-flagship




Yeah the price is a bit of a killer

 

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/monitors/gaming/LS23MUQHB/EN/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/monitors/gaming/LS23MURHB/EN/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail
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