Using your HDTV as a PC Monitor

Getting your PC on the big screen

Compare prices on all sizes of HDTV's

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Response Time

The response time of an LCD screen relates to the speed in which the crystals in the display can change state in order to display a moving image. In order for an LCD panel to change its pixels, each one must change its state from active to in-active and back to active again. The time it takes each screen to do this cycle is called the response time and is measure in Milliseconds (ms).

The problems that a slow response time can cause are mainly motion blur, static images and video at the speed of normal TV are not normally affected but in the case of using a TV for gaming purposes an inferior response time would have an effect on the quality of your gaming experience. Motion blur in games is not desirable

The fact is that Monitors have much better response times than LCD TV's making them far superior in this category. However don't despair, As each generation of LCD TV's comes to the market the issue of response time gets better and better. The Top TV's can get very close to the response timings of Monitors. Just remember when buying an LCD TV for PC use to check the response timings as one of the factors when making your choice.

Response time is not a factor if you are using a Plasma Screen as these screen use a different method of displaying pixels which the response time is negligible.

Refresh Rate

The refresh rate of a screen shows how many lines can be "refreshed" per second. As you can imagine the higher the refresh rate the better. With PC monitors the accepted minimum refresh rate would be 70hz. Some LCD screens only have a 60hz refresh rate and are not really suitable for use as a PC monitor. Look for an HDTV with at least a 100Mhz refresh rate to ensure that this does not cause any viewing problems.

Connection Types

There are a few available connection types available to use to connect you HDTV to your PC. The most modern method is via HDMI, but methods such as component video, DVI or VGA may be available to you with your PC's and HDTV's setup. If your graphics card and TV have both got an HDMI port then physically setting up your HDTV as your PC monitor is as straight forward as buying an HDMI cable and connecting one to the other. What you will need to do is match the graphics card output resolution to that of the native resolution of the TV. Unlike PC monitors which can seamlessly change resolutions, a TV has a native resolution which it will display the best quality. Check your HDTV's manual to see what the native resolution is.

Most mainstream graphics cards have a digital output called DVI (Digital Visual Interface). The DVI port allows a completely digital to digital connection (like HDMI) for a better quality picture. Most TV's however don't have a DVI input for a direct connection., In this instance the best solution would be to buy a DVI to HDMI converter. As both are digital interfaces this connection should not cause any problems beyond the usual resolution matching which is required for all connections.

The standard a while back for connecting Graphics cards to PC monitors was the VGA adapter. VGA was an analogue signal and is not as sharp as the digital connection. However my experience with VGA connections to HDTV's that will accept them is that it was far easier to set up. I've recently setup a Geforce 7600 to a 32" Sony Bravia HDTV and no tweaking was required, the TV was recognised by the graphics card software as an HDTV and all the setting were pre applied. This does not seem to be the case with the higher quality connections.

Picture in Picture (PIP)

Picture in Picture or PIP really has nothing to do with whether a HDTV will make a good monitor or not but it does give you one more reason on the plus side of using said HDTV. If you purchase a HDTV with the PIP function installed you will be able to watch the TV on a small screen while using your PC. This will obviously be inconvenient some of the time but say your just idly surfing the net with no real purpose, you can also have the TV available for you to watch. You might even have a sports channel set up just to keep an eye on the score while you work. This is only possible because by the nature of your screen being a TV, it has a tuner built in.

Of course it is possible to have this setup on a computer with a computer monitor as normal but you would require to have extra hardware, such as a TV tuner/receiver and it would take extra hardware resources off your main PC.

3D TV as a 3D monitor?

Can it be done. Well yes it can but it takes a bit of work and the help of some software from Nvidia called 3DTV Play. The problem is that TV's and Monitors use different ways of producing the 3D effect. The problem when connecting a PC to a HDTV for 3D is the fact that your PC is relying on your graphics card to produce the 3D effect. Your 3D HDTV is already built with its own 3D technology and if its an active 3D TV then its already synced with its own active shutter glasses. Nvidia has its own 3D technology called 3D Vision. the software from Nvidia acts as that bridge between the two providing the compatibility required in order to use 3D Vision on a TV.

Do you use a HDTV as your monitor then?

With the progression of the technology regarding HDTV's the option for using a TV as your PC monitor is definitely a valid one. I would suggest however that you don't think about replacing a monitor with a TV if the main use of that screen is going to be for PC based activities. But if your PC is located in the living area of your house and you find a way to be able to use the PC next the TV without much hassle then its definitely worth thinking about. The size benefit is nice and the PC can become a source of entertainment for more than one person at a time. It can become a family activity. Price obviously will have a lot to do with the decision and on that front by having an HDTV and monitor in one, you could save yourself a few hundred pounds by buying a versatile HDTV. For regular PC use however I don't think a TV will ever replace the monitor. There is a reason why similar size monitors to TV's cost more and that's because they are built for a purpose, they offer a far better crispy and higher resolution screen than a TV. The TV doesn't need to have its pixels as tightly packed because the viewing distance is meant to be further away and the input signal is capped at full HD of 1920 x 1080.