TV or Monitor

[Noah Barbee]

For PC gaming i was going to buy a 32"1080p 120hz with my desktop which uses a radeon HD 7850 GPU but someone said using a monitor would be better than a tv

 

[gopher1369]

An LCD monitor and an LCD TV are essentially the same thing. The only real difference is that a TV has a tuner integrated, whilst a monitor does not.

I personally do both - I have a gaming PC in my living room hooked up to my plasma TV via HDMI (using a Radeon 7850 as it happens) and a gaming PC in my bedroom hooked up to an LCD monitor via a DVI cable.

 

[MauveCloud]

Some things to keep in mind:
1. 32 inches may feel too big with 1080p, depending on how close you sit to the monitor/tv. If less than 3 feet, even 27 inches can feel big. However, that's very subjective. There are monitors that support higher pixel density (like 2560x1440 at 27 inches or 3840x2160 at 32 inches), though they can get expensive.
2. A TV might take a bit more calibration, especially with the sharpness setting, since it often scales differently on a TV. I've used a couple TVs as monitors temporarily, and I think I found they looked best with sharpness set to zero. http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/sharpness.php can help you get the right setting for that. I've read some claims that TVs have different subpixel shapes, but I haven't seen any explanation of how said shapes are different, so I suspect those people might have just had excessive sharpness settings.
3. A TV with 120hz might only do that internally, and still take a 60hz signal, so it won't have the same advantages as a 120hz monitor.

 

[gopher1369]

2. A TV might take a bit more calibration, especially with the sharpness setting, since it often scales differently on a TV. I've used a couple TVs as monitors temporarily, and I think I found they looked best with sharpness set to zero.

This, absolutely.

Yes, sharpness is mainly for sharpening up soft, fuzzy, low resolution, low bitrate TV transmissions. I also have sharpness set to zero.

My TV has a "Gaming Mode" preset built in that automatically calibrates for having a console / PC plugged in. If you get a TV (mine's a Samsung and I think all Samsungs do) make sure it has a Gaming Mode option.

The Gaming Mode also turns off most of the video processing which reduces lag, and also adjusts the black levels - very black blacks are great for movies but terible for gaming so Gaming Mode increases the brightness in dark areas.