HDTV in lieu of a monitor
A friend has an expensive gaming computer and uses a 37" tuner-less Westinghouse HDTV for a monitor.
I have been planning on getting a 30" monitor, and he has suggested that I get an HDTV instead of a large monitor. He claims the HDTV is as good as a monitor and a lot cheaper. This guy was the chair of the FIU Engineering and Computer Science Department before retiring and should know what he's talking about.
His computer is state of the art. Why would he use a TV if it isn't as good as the rest of his system?
If he's right, why don't more people use HDTV's instead of expensive monitors?
Do any of you tech types use HDTV's? What's your opinion? What's the downside, if any? Will I be sorry if I do as he suggests.
BTW, I am not a gamer. I use my computer mostly for business - text and number crunching with some presentations and video.
I have been planning on getting a 30" monitor, and he has suggested that I get an HDTV instead of a large monitor. He claims the HDTV is as good as a monitor and a lot cheaper. This guy was the chair of the FIU Engineering and Computer Science Department before retiring and should know what he's talking about.
His computer is state of the art. Why would he use a TV if it isn't as good as the rest of his system?
If he's right, why don't more people use HDTV's instead of expensive monitors?
Do any of you tech types use HDTV's? What's your opinion? What's the downside, if any? Will I be sorry if I do as he suggests.
BTW, I am not a gamer. I use my computer mostly for business - text and number crunching with some presentations and video.
Comments
Why don't people use HDTVs instead of expensive monitors?
Resolution
Color accuracy
Speed/refresh rate/viewing angles of the panel
Don't want to have to sit six feet from the monitor
Your friend's PC likely has HDMI output too. To get this, you'd need a Mini-displayport to HDMI on a modern Mac or you can use a DVI to HDMI adaptor. Again, you may not get perfect results:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=258444
For gaming and video watching it makes sense to do this because it's good to sit back from the screen and relax. HDTVs have limited resolutions though - they will top out at 1920 x 1080 (a 30" computer display goes higher) and the PC input to them can be crippled or simply not recognize your video signal correctly. If you plan to do it, research which models will definitely display output correctly with your machine.
Your friend's PC likely has HDMI output too. To get this, you'd need a Mini-displayport to HDMI on a modern Mac or you can use a DVI to HDMI adaptor. Again, you may not get perfect results:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=258444
That's another thing- inputs. It'll be either HDMI or VGA- I haven't seen a TV with a DVI port in a long time. VGA is going to look crappy at 1920x1080, and HDMI sometimes has compatibility problems.
It shouldn't- theoretically, the video signal in HDMI is the same as DVI and a simple adapter should work- but in practice most TVs don't pass the EDID info or something like that. DVI to HDMI adapters are a pain, and DisplayPort has the added pain of actually changing the signal.