Using a flat panel TV as a computer monitor?

[ambam]

I've built an entire gaming rig which I have not put together yet. I don't have a monitor, I was wondering if it was possible to use a relatively new 720p HD flat screen television as a computer monitor via HDMI wire.

HD Televisions have much larger screens than any retail computer monitor in existence.

My PC specs are the following, I'm not 100% sure if using a TV as a monitor is compatible with this hardware. A TV won't mess up any of the drivers or hardware will it?

Core i7 930
ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard
6GB 1333MHz DDR3 tri-channel RAM
Two ATI Radeon HD 5870's (1GB) in CrossfireX
Corsair TX850 850W PSU
Hitachi 2TB 7200RPM HDD
DVD-ROM
CM HAF 932 full tower case
ZALMAN CNPS9900 CPU cooler
Windows 7 HP 64-bit

 

[buwish]

Yep, an HDTV will work just fine via HDMI. I have my 5830 rigged to a 720p HDTV for blurays and such and it gets the job done just fine. However, when it comes to gaming or just casual use, the downside is that a slow refresh rate can make things look like they are almost flickering.

 

[Plumble]

I would agree with buwish. Games don't always work well on TVs.

There is a problem call input latency. A one second delay between graphics input and screen output is fine for watching movies, but that could make a lot of games unplayable. Manufacturers don't normally advertise the input latency so you will need to find if other have tried the same TV succsefully.

You would also need to find the response time (how quickly the pixels change colour) This is normally given in grey-to-grey to aviod the flickering problem.

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

720P is not exactly very high resolution either. Even typical 21.5" monitors can pack 1080P. While larger 27" and 30" monitors can pack twice that of any TV.

 

[boblite]

I've built an entire gaming rig which I have not put together yet. I don't have a monitor, I was wondering if it was possible to use a relatively new 720p HD flat screen television as a computer monitor via HDMI wire.

HD Televisions have much larger screens than any retail computer monitor in existence.

My PC specs are the following, I'm not 100% sure if using a TV as a monitor is compatible with this hardware. A TV won't mess up any of the drivers or hardware will it?

Core i7 930
ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard
6GB 1333MHz DDR3 tri-channel RAM
Two ATI Radeon HD 5870's (1GB) in CrossfireX
Corsair TX850 850W PSU
Hitachi 2TB 7200RPM HDD
DVD-ROM
CM HAF 932 full tower case
ZALMAN CNPS9900 CPU cooler
Windows 7 HP 64-bit

 

[boblite]

I get a really lousy picture on my 42" Panasonic flatscreen from my powerful Lenovo quadcore desktop PC running XP through HDMI port of an ASUS 8400GS videocard.

I get a really good picture on the same TV from my teeny weeny Acer Iconia tablet running WIndows 7. Presumably because of better drivers.

Can anyone tell me of drivers that would improve the picture from the desktop running XP ?