HDTV/PC Monitor

I'm decorating my room and I'd thought instead of putting my 17 inch CRT which takes an obscene amount of desk space I'd purchase a new monitor.

The thing is I also have an Xbox 360 and I would like to play it in HD in my room, so of course I have come to the conclusion that I should by a HDTV which can double up as a PC monitor. What I have in mind is this 20" Philips: CLICK ME

Of course I will game 360 wise. But in terms of PC gaming I only play sparingly, usually Halo, Guild Wars and Americas Army and so on and I'm not sure how it would stack up here in terms of ghosting but the reviews I have read have not hinted at that. But luckily the place I'm ordering from will refund me within 14 days. I would of gone for something by Samsung but I am on a budget, and its not really worth me spending £500.

So of course any advice you could give me on my chosen screen or choice althogether to get a HDTV over a PC Monitor would be most appreciated.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

That's okay if you're fine with HD only up to 720p. Its native resolution, 1366x768, is one of those weird "midway" resolutions (like 1440x900 or 1680x1050) that are fine for PCs but really useless when it comes to TV/Video/Games, as nothing actually runs natively in that resolution, 720p content will be stretched, and 1080i/1080p will be downsampled to fit.

I recently picked up an Acer 2423w (now discontinued, but they replaced it with a 25" model) for about $530 off of Newegg that runs at 1920x1200 and can do all HD resolutions, up to and including 1080p (1920x1080, so I have a little breathing room above and below, but width matches exactly). For something comparable, try this one. It has the heinous, evil, deceptive, corrupt, tyrannical HDCP, but as long as you stick to pirated content that won't be a problem. It's kinda steep at $519 (after rebates), but it's the cheapest 1080p-capable display NewEgg has.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The problem with me getting a PC Monitor is then hooking up the speakers to my 360 and my PC, and the space a subwoofer, speakers and cabling would take. With a HDTV I can just use the built in ones, i'm not really an audiophile so its not much of an issue to sacrifice my current Logitech system. To be honest I don't really want anything over 20" it seems the perfect size for my desk.

Also I live in the UK so Newegg really isn't an option. I would go for a better HDTV but anything over 23" costs way too much, same goes for anything over 22" for a good gaming PC monitor, I just don't see the point in spending so much for personal use in my bedroom.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Two things. First off CelticWhisper you talked about stretching images. If I'm not mistaken (and I don't think I am, but I could be) the monitor you have will strech them as well, just vertically. If it's giving you fullscreen content then it's 16:10 not 16:9.

Secondly El Ray Fernando, you mention speakers. I don't know what your setup is, but I'm going to assume you have PC speakers. If that's the case all you have to do is buy a simple "Y Adapter" goes from RCA (the red and white for audio) with a stereo miniplug (headphone jack) then buy an extension for the headphone jack part, run that to your mic-in on your PC and you can use the same speakers. This is what I do and it's quite convinient as I can control the level of my games and PC audio separately (which is better than just a straight split signal). This way I can play a game and have my music up, or whatever I want via my computer's volume sliders.

Unless you don't have a TV, and don't want to go with the TV card route PC monitor is the way I would recommend as well. As CW said you get higher resolutions so should you ever get something that supports 1080p you have that option.

The only way that a PC monitor is not the better purchase is if you need it to have a tuner. And for that it's worth considering a TV tuner card for your PC or finding a monitor with one built in.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Hotobu

Secondly El Ray Fernando, you mention speakers. I don't know what your setup is, but I'm going to assume you have PC speakers. If that's the case all you have to do is buy a simple "Y Adapter" goes from RCA (the red and white for audio) with a stereo miniplug (headphone jack) then buy an extension for the headphone jack part, run that to your mic-in on your PC and you can use the same speakers.

The problem is a Sub Woofer and 8 speakers take too much room, and I just want to keep it a bit more simple moving my PC from my study to my bedroom.

What sort of resolution/screen size am I looking at to achieve 1080p. I've seen this monitor CLICK ME but it can only manage 720p, anything above that size is simply too expensive for me and I might just opt for the TV simply because I can try it and if I don't like it I can just send it back.

I was speaking idiomatically.

OK I've decided to opt for the 22" Samsung Monitor with a 1680 x 1050 resolution but will it stretch the image at 720p, I have the xbox 360 VGA Cable.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Hotobu

Two things. First off CelticWhisper you talked about stretching images. If I'm not mistaken (and I don't think I am, but I could be) the monitor you have will strech them as well, just vertically. If it's giving you fullscreen content then it's 16:10 not 16:9.

Secondly El Ray Fernando, you mention speakers. I don't know what your setup is, but I'm going to assume you have PC speakers. If that's the case all you have to do is buy a simple "Y Adapter" goes from RCA (the red and white for audio) with a stereo miniplug (headphone jack) then buy an extension for the headphone jack part, run that to your mic-in on your PC and you can use the same speakers. This is what I do and it's quite convinient as I can control the level of my games and PC audio separately (which is better than just a straight split signal). This way I can play a game and have my music up, or whatever I want via my computer's volume sliders.

Unless you don't have a TV, and don't want to go with the TV card route PC monitor is the way I would recommend as well. As CW said you get higher resolutions so should you ever get something that supports 1080p you have that option.

The only way that a PC monitor is not the better purchase is if you need it to have a tuner. And for that it's worth considering a TV tuner card for your PC or finding a monitor with one built in.

Right, the aspect ratio on mine is 16:10. I'm not actually using it for games directly (have a 32" HD CRT in the living room for that, big sound, comfy chairs, etc.), but VLC has an option to stretch or not stretch the image it's showing to the full size of the display. Sometimes the stretching is noticeable, other times not. 2.35:1 stuff tends to get ugly, but 1.85:1 content is usually okay. Sucks to have to put up with black bars when I'm running a widescreen display, but oh well, c'est la vie.

El Ray, glad to hear you found one you liked. Samsung is a decent company, so that display should serve you quite well. Hope you're enjoying it.

FELIPE NO

My only gripe its a 16:10 with a 1680 x 1050 resolution which the Xbox 360 does not support.

With the VGA cable it supports the following resolutions:

Resolution (pixel width x pixel height)

Megapixels (MP)

Width/Height

Aspect Ratio

Standard

640x480
0.31
1.33
4:3
VGA

848x480
0.4
1.76
16:9
Widescreen 480

1024x768
0.79
1.33
4:3
XGA

1280x720
0.92
1.78
16:9
720p

1280x768
0.98
1.66
16:10
WXGA *

1280x1024
1.31
1.25
5:4
SXGA

1360x768
1.04
1.77
16:9
WXGA *

So if I try to play it at 1280x768 for example which is 720p there is going to be some strectching and I'm not sure how it will look.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Hey guys Im planning to buy a new monitor as well... with a limited budget.
The monitor is going to be used for Digital Painting purposes so reolution is important. But then I also enjoy watching dvds so one that can connect to a dvd standalone player and tv cable would also be nice if there is such a feature.

With regard to digital painting, whats the best screen size to get? Is 20" ok? Im currently working on a 17" CRT monitor and at high resolutions I cant read the menus aanymore without moving closer to the screen coz its so tiny.

Jam it back in, in the dark.