[SOLVED] 30”-32” HD TV for computer monitor

[Kayeye]

I have a very old 19” viewsonic monitor for my computer and was interested in possibly getting a newer HD tv to replace it. My computer is my main source for entertainment so I wanted to get something that was fairly nice for the size I’m looking for. I don’t play games on it, so it’d be mostly for movies. I don’t have a budget but I really don’t know what’s worth getting and what to stay away from in terms of the type of technology or manufacture. Also, I don’t need a smart TV.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[madmatt30]

Do you actually need a TV with tuner etc & speakers?

The reason I ask us because LG, dell & Asus have some very nice budget 32 inch ips monitors out there depending on your location?

 

[lhughey]

You will probably be disappointed in a TV as a monitor unless its either a very big TV seen from a distance and at least 2x scaling. Another option might be a larger OLED tv. The reason being is that TVs aren't nearly as detailed as monitors also they give off more "light heat" and glare which makes it harder to sit in front of them for extended periods. You'd do much better by getting a monitor and making that your TV, provided that you don't need it to have a built in tuner.

 

[Kayeye]

Ah ok. I won't be needing a tv tuner as I will be streaming stuff from my computer directly. I don't have an audio system, so I would be ok with built in speakers. Being able to go into portrait mode would be a big plus as well!

I actually thought that going with tv would give me more quality, but I guess I was mistaken. What type of technology should I look for in regards to HD computer monitors? Not that I have a budget but, in terms of comparisons, computer monitors seem to cost way more than TVs in the same sizes.

 

[lhughey]

Ah ok. I won't be needing a tv tuner as I will be streaming stuff from my computer directly. I don't have an audio system, so I would be ok with built in speakers. Being able to go into portrait mode would be a big plus as well!

I actually thought that going with tv would give me more quality, but I guess I was mistaken. What type of technology should I look for in regards to HD computer monitors? Not that I have a budget but, in terms of comparisons, computer monitors seem to cost way more than TVs in the same sizes.

Definitely do a 4k monitor at that size. Anything past a 27" is going to have poor pixel density and will look bad at 1080p. I'm not a big gamer, but if you are, you'd probably want to stay away from ips monitors due to the lower refresh rate. I wish I knew more about the particular monitor technologies right off my head, but I hope this helps a bit.

 

[lhughey]

Ah ok. I won't be needing a tv tuner as I will be streaming stuff from my computer directly. I don't have an audio system, so I would be ok with built in speakers. Being able to go into portrait mode would be a big plus as well!

I actually thought that going with tv would give me more quality, but I guess I was mistaken. What type of technology should I look for in regards to HD computer monitors? Not that I have a budget but, in terms of comparisons, computer monitors seem to cost way more than TVs in the same sizes.

Definitely do a 4k monitor at that size. Anything past a 27" is going to have poor pixel density and will look bad at 1080p. I'm not a big gamer, but if you are, you'd probably want to stay away from ips monitors due to the lower refresh rate. I wish I knew more about the particular monitor technologies right off my head, but I hope this helps a bit.

 

[madmatt30]

I think 1080p is fine if your use is just a a general desktop & htpc & your watching movies etc from a fair distance (+2 or 3 feet away) & your video content is 1080p.
Theres very little point buying a 4k screen & upscaling 1080p content, it doesn't look any better, if anything the scaling will take detail away.

@kayeye - whether a TV suits you better really depends on your location & budget. The cheap sets tend to have low response & low quality panels complred to monitors, on the other hand monitor speakers will be pretty much unusable for entertainment use, the sound quality is generally awful.

What country are you in exactly & what kind of budget are we looking at??

 

[Kayeye]

I'm in the US and I have no budget. I'm actually ok with monitor speakers. I've used another computer with a somewhat newer dell monitor and it seemed fine. I watch a lot of movies and youtube videos, so my main thing is to look for something that will provide great picture quality. I'm not a gamer so I'm not too concerned about frame rates. Even when I gamed on my old rig, I was fine with that. The 4K was mostly for the movie aspect of it. Most of the youtube stuff I watch is at 1080, with the exception of a few 2k stuff.