Full HD TV instead of a Monitor - What a great vision!

[Olham 164]

Only recently I had the idea to get me a MUCH larger monitor with "full HD resolution".

When I compared prices, I saw that they get quite expensive above 24" size.

 

Among the comparing monitors, I also saw flatscreen TVs - and I thought: why not?!?

 

I tried it out with my TOSHIBA REGZA 37" TV - and the result was AMAZING!

My eyesight is not as in my youth anymore, and I need to wear glasses.

But even with glasses, I never saw everything so clearly before.

 

I had expected a pixelated view, as the TV pixels are larger than on monitors.

But not at all!

Sitting ca. 1 m away from the screen, I get a wonderful huge "cinemascope vision"

of everything. My cockpit is now real life-size. The clouds are huge and soft;

the skies around me endless, and the landscape wonderfully detailed.

 

My spotting of E/A and my shooting improved a lot!

 

I will now fix a wall holder, so that I can move the screen forward or back.

For my graphic jobs I will still use my 22" monitor.

But for flying I will use the "Cinemascope" vision from now on.

 

For my living room I ordered a new 39" full-HD TV - a WAREHOUSE DEAL from AMAZON

for 320,- Euro. That is my Christmas present to myself.

(I had been a good boy most of the year - Mmuahahahahaaa!!!)

 

 

EDIT / IMPORTANT NOTE: I have now received the new flatscreen TV for my livingroom;

a newer TOSHIBA model. I tested it both as TV and for sim flying, and it didn't look any

good on both. So if you want to fly with a 37" TV monitor, make sure you get a good one.

There seem to be huge differences!

Edited December 5, 2013 by Olham

[Hauksbee 103]

This is sounding like a wonderful idea!

[Olham 164]

Hauksbee, you'll be in heaven!

[Hauksbee 103]

That clinches it! I'm off to do some shopping.

[rjw 48]

That clinches it! I'm off to do some shopping.

That's what my wife keeps saying!!   May I suggest that after you are finished shopping, hide the plastic!!

[+Stary 2,427]

you guys just discovered it? Meh

[jwrich 0]

How do you connect it to the computer?  Is there any settings that needs to be set on the TV or the computer?   This sounds great!   I think I just found my Christmas present to me.

 

Thanks

  Rich 

[Olham 164]

(Nasty nasal plastic voice, immitating original speaker:)

"Yeah, we just discovered it!"

Hey, you "political modder", we don't need that kind of people who only come in

to make their funny remarks, okay? Huh!

[Tamper 9]

I think it's a great idea, but I also think it's responsible and fair to include a healthy dose of "Your Mileage May Vary".

 

Actual monitors cost more, size per size, because they are designed to be viewed from up close - the range normally occurring in a typical desktop PC setup.

 

"Big screen" TVs, OTOH, are designed to be viewed typically from much further away.

 

As Olham correctly states, the pixels will generally be bigger on TVs, since the number of pixels is the same as for a smaller monitor (I use a 27" that's 1920x1080).  If you look at larger monitors, the pixel count increases with the size, beyond what most HD TVs currently offer.  Only now are TVs starting to go to higher-then-full-HD resolution, and even then the highest definition content you can get is still 1080, so most TVs are still 1080 to keep the price down.  Monitors, because they are designed to be viewed much closer, have higher pixel counts per size and less spacing between pixels.

 

It's also not just the size of the pixels, it's the space between them as well.  Over the Black Friday shopping weekend, my wife and I were looking at big (really big...80") TVs, and even from a good 20 feet away, she said the cheaper brand's picture looked grainy/pixelated, compared to the same size and resolution Sharp and Samsung TVs.  In part, this is because of pixel size and spacing.

 

Will it matter to you?  It varies.  I tried it and didn't care for it (with a FULL HD, 1920x1080 TV, as well as HD resolution or 1280x720).  Some people seem to like it bettter, and some notice the difference.  There is a definite difference in screen quality, too.

 

TBH what most often drives this choice is the fact that bigger TVs are much cheaper than larger monitors - not because it's a better display.

 

To each his own, of course.  I'd say if you decide to do it, try one you already own first, or make sure you can return one if you buy it for this purpose expressly.  My own advice is I never buy displays of any sort without being able to see it, first hand.

 

Of course, thanks to Olham for mentioning a good idea to those who may not have thought of it :)

Edited December 3, 2013 by Tamper

[Olham 164]

jwrich,

- you connect the TV's HDMI input (select HDMI 1, if there are more) with the graphic card's HDMI output (make sure it has one).

- you then switch from "TV" to "HDMI 1" via your remote control (the button is the one to switch through the TVs modes)

- you then right-click on your monitor's desktop, open your graphic card's menue, and go on "Desktop Management" (or similar);

- and there you select "Create and arrange Desktops" (or however it is called in English)

- you should now see your monitor as "1", and a second monitor (your TV) named "2"

- now you right-click on the second and make it the priority desktop

- after that, you make it "only desktop" - or find a line to deaktivate the other (monitor)

 

That last bit is necessary to receive a full picture

 

- you can now right-click on the (new) desktop and give it the right resolution (if it hasn't detected it already)

 

Tamper, as I said: I'm watching it from ca. 1 Meter distance. Maybe you could still see pixels then - I can't.

You'd have to retreat a little further then, I guess.

Maybe with a youthful eyesight, you'd prefer a small-pixelated high res monitor.

To me it works wonders - I am flying in a wide open sky, with a life-size Albatros....

What more could I want?

Edited December 3, 2013 by Olham

[Olham 164]

Hey, Stary, I was just joking, okay?

Perhaps you can explain in better English and more detail

how to connect and activate the new desktop?

[rjw 48]

 

Will it matter to you?  It varies.  I tried it and didn't care for it (with a FULL HD, 1920x1080 TV, as well as HD resolution or 1280x720).  Some people seem to like it bettter, and some notice the difference.  There is a definite difference in screen quality, too.

 

TBH what most often drives this choice is the fact that bigger TVs are much cheaper than larger monitors - not because it's a better display.

 

To each his own, of course.  I'd say if you decide to do it, try one you already own first, or make sure you can return one if you buy it for this purpose expressly.  My own advice is I never buy displays of any sort without being able to see it, first hand.

 

Of course, thanks to Olham for mentioning a good idea to those who may not have thought of it :)

Tamper, I'm with you on this one. I have tried my Samsung LCD TV (Series 6 Mod LN46C650L1F) and it doesn't compare to my Samsung Monitor (Syncmaster 2450L) for quality.

I still prefer my monitor for resolution and clarity. That is not to say the newer TV aren't or won't be much better.

 

Best Regards;

[von Baur 54]

Been doing (and recommending) this for 2 1/2 years. Mine is a Vizio 32" LED, which I would also recomment (the LED part...not that there's a problem with the Vizio, just that I would never recommend one brand over another) because of the lower weight and better contrast than normal LCD. I chose the size because its height is nearly the same as the widths of the two 19" 4x3 monitors I already have. My goal is to use them in portrait mode as obliquely aligned wings to the TV so as to get a wrap-around effect, though I haven't been able to make it work yet. I haven't given up though, and anyone who has that working, please IM me. I apparently need some more direct coaching.

 

 

OTOH, the Oculus system may make fixed displays as passe as using a hat switch or mouse for views. (no offense meant to anyone who still uses them)

[Olham 164]

As for contrast and colour: I just realised that my Toshiba TV has 5 settings;

"Standard", "Film", "Dynamic", "PC" and "Games" - I chose "Games".

 

I don't want to talk anyone into this sort of thing though - I'm not getting any

percentage from Amazon or a TV producer.

And I guess there may be big differences between TV screen qualities.

Mine seems to be perfect for this, but it's not being built anymore.

 

Von Baur, a triple setup was it, what first made me think of using a TV.

The size, the better vision and overview.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Olham

[von Baur 54]

For a fixed display system, multiple displays is definitely the way to go...the more, the merrier (to a point, I suppose).

 

What I don't understand is, if someone can come up with a third-party program that will allow Eyefinity (and probably one for NVidia cards, too) to operate on displays of various sizes and orientations why can't...or won't the manufacturers?!?! If it were me, I'd want my customers to use my approved software, developed and tested by my inhouse people, rather than something someone else came up with and maybe blaming the hardware when it doesn't work properly.

[Tamper 9]

ATM, I am using (3) 19" 1280x1024 4:3 monitors, which gives a total screen area of 4080x1024 (horizontally, that's 1280 x3 +240 for 'bezel correction' to account for the space occupied by the monitor frames).  This is the only orientation supported by Nvidia's "Surround" display scheme, which their driver supports without too much fuss.  *BUT* (and it's a big but, at that...) they don't support different sizes or orientations of monitors; also, you cannot mix digital (DVI) and analog (VGA) display types.

 

What this means is that PLP ('portrait-landscape-potrait'; the most obvious choice using 3 of today's widescreen monitors) is not supported (**DAMMIT**).  AMD may support it, I don't know.  And I tried using SoftTH for a while, but never could get the display to do what it should; always either losing part of a screen, or having desktop showing even while in a 'fullscreen' app (like a game).  I finally gave up and did the Nvidia Surround thing, which works OK, but still has a few small issues, and I was lucky to have the 3 old-style (non-widescreen) monitors, so you don't wind up with a screen so wide (three 'landscape' widescreens) it distorts the image badly.

 

VB, I think this is roughly where you are with your setup, but you may have other ideas/options I haven't thought of.  Me, personally, I am seriously considering going back to my single 27" 1080p Viewsonic.  I really only decided to try this multiple monitor thing because fortune dropped three 19" 4:3 monitors in my lap, but the behavior when I'm not flying is often annoying in a few ways.

 

(Added for VB: I think the reason they won't do what you're talking about is simple - cost.  They don't want to have to support it, because - if there's one thing I've learned - you run into all sorts of odd behavior concerns when you're not running that one game that seems to make it all worthwhile.  Like for instance, in spite of the very public begging for it, why not support PLP??)

 

Like Olham, I'm not motivated by sales or any such thing, just my own observations and experiences with various monitor setups.  The three-wide setup I use right now is definitely awesome for flightsim immersion, and I definitely agree that a bigger display can add a lot to the experience.

 

*edit: I should add that, not long ago I saw a 29", 21:9 2560x1080 single-display "ultra-widescreen" monitor I thought was clever...all the benefit of widescreen gaming, but a single screen so no 'funny' business with windows, etc,...maybe(?)

Edited December 3, 2013 by Tamper

[von Baur 54]

I have AMD video cards, Tamper, and their Eyefinity (three displays acting as one) is the same...i.e. only three identical displays and resolutions, making a PLP setup impossible. SoftTH is supposed to allow it and I've read of others who've used that successfully for quite some time. Unfortunately, I'm apparently not smart enough to get it to work for any time at all. I temporarily set up a three-display system using my 32" in the middle, a 27" on one side and a 24" on the other, all native 1920x1080 so Eyefinity liked it. However, the 24" was my son's and besides the height of each was different and the whole mess was just too darned big to use for anything more than a test.

[corsaire31 7]

I often use my TV screen with my laptop to play some Total War games, which allows me to sit comfortably in my favourite armchair, as I only need a wireless mouse to play. Also the sound goes over my home cinema !

For flight sims I prefer a close up view on my 27" Iiyama monitor.

Edited December 3, 2013 by corsaire31

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I have been using a full HDTV for a couple of years now...I was worried at first, because I thought it might not be good for Photoshop...How wrong I was!

The Day of the Monitor is nearly at an end I think, as larger, clearer Better, Cheaper HDTV's come onto the market

[von Baur 54]

...The Day of the Monitor is nearly at an end I think, as larger, clearer Better, Cheaper HDTV's come onto the market

 

Day of the Monitor? The day of the PC may not be at an end, but it's certainly declining in popularity. With laptops, tablets and even smartphones that are millions to billions times more powerful than the computer systems that saw Neill Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon and back the desktop PC will be more for work and gameplay and less for day-to-day users. And all of them can be plugged in to any HDTV, at this point.

 

Let's face it, guys. Our computers are (or will soon be considered) the biplanes and airships of digital evolution. To quote Agent K in Men in Black, "Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

 

*edit*

 

Let me change "declining in popularity" to "declining in relevance".

Edited December 4, 2013 by von Baur

[corsaire31 7]

I don't care about what the rest of the world is doing with tablets or smartphones ...  I just invested in a good new desktop PC for the 5 next years at least and got my HP laptop repaired (had to change the thermic paste under the GPU...) I use the laptop mainly to display maps when I fly multiplayer missions in RoF, or when I fly FSX or Condor Soaring.  My telephone is not smart at all and I make photos with my Nikon Reflex camera system. May be we will be the last ones, but I don't see me flying on anything else than a good PC with Track IR, joystick, rudder pedals for military sims and yoke / multi throttle and trim wheel for civilian aviation.

[Hauksbee 103]

 May be we will be the last ones, but I don't see me flying on anything else than a good PC with Track IR, joystick, rudder pedals for military sims...

I'm with you 100% on that. Tablets (unless it can run Windows) are just internet portals and I don't need to be connected every waking second of the day. I too, keep a Nikon SLR for photos. Phone cameras are just the new Brownie Box Camera, (circa 1910).

[von Baur 54]

And I agree with both of you (although smartphone cameras are capable of taking some extremely clear pictures). I'm just saying that the vast majority of what most people used to do with their home computers...which is[i/i] internet related (check emails, social media, shopping, etc)...can be done with cell phones and tablets and the like. People like us, whose games aren't available on consoles, and those who use their PC's for work...drafting, serious video and audio editting, etc.)...will soon be the only ones who will keep these clunky boxes and their associated equipment.

 

And Corsaire, my cell phone is a five- or six-year old flip phone. I can call in a pizza order or text/call my son in Texas to chat on it. I'm good.

[corsaire31 7]

And I agree with both of you (although smartphone cameras are capable of taking some extremely clear pictures). I'm just saying that the vast majority of what most people used to do with their home computers...which is[i/i] internet related (check emails, social media, shopping, etc)...can be done with cell phones and tablets and the like.

 

Smartphone cameras can certainly take clear pictures, but for the moment you can't stick a 600mm f4 or an 18mm wide angle on them. They're ok to make "family pics" (although I'm aware some people made films with them, I didn't see any...) 

Reversing the second part, all internet related things that tablets and smartphones do, I can already do them on my home PC or my laptop, so why should I buy new stuff that does the same thing than stuff I already have ! And then they will convince you that your smartphone you bought 6 months ago is now outdated and you absolutely neeeed a new one. 

And then it gets so complicated that very serious people in the Silicon Valley start thinking that in a few years the human brain will not be able to follow the technology leaps and the information flow, and that we will need some kind of electronic implants (saw an interesting document a few weeks ago) The other problem is that all these things (mails, social networks, forums) use a lot of your daily time and until now days are still only 24 hours ! In fact you spend a lot more time these days gathering and sorting informations among 90% of which you don't give a damn !

Reminds me of the saying about couples : " Being married or living with someone else is about the ability of solving together all kinds of problems you wouldn't have if you were single."

[Olham 164]

Guys, I have added a note in the first post.

Received my ordered new TOSHIBA today, but it is crapp compared to my "old" one,

which I did the test flying with. So, before you buy anything: check the quality!

There are huge differences!