thinking of buying a desktop for gaming and watching movies etc and I want to use my 32" TV instead of buying a monitor..... will it work if I use a HDMI cable? does anybody use a tv instead of a monitor? if it will work do I just connect the hdmi cable and i'm good to go or do I need a monitor first to set up the desktop or can I just use my TV from the start? thanks
can i use a TV instead of a monitor?
- Thread starter RyanSAFC
- Start date
vanthus
Member Resting in Peace
Worth a try anyway,it might suit you fine.
I have the TV in the living room hooked up,but only really use it to stream from BBC iPlayer when the mrs misses eastenders or something.
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Grimezy
Prolific Poster
Like Vanthus said, perfectly do-able, just plug in and you're all set.
I will warn you I used to use my 32 inch monitor sat from about 6 feet away and it was pretty appalling for general desktop usage. Text would often be too small and blurry and things like Steam weren't always TV friendly (changing now with Big Picture Mode becoming more and more decent). Just a heads up, you may find when you plug it in and set the resolution to 1920x1080 that the sides of your screen are cut off. This is often caused my Overscanning or Zoom settings on your TV and can easily be fixed in the TV's picture menu.
For gaming, graphics weren't great on my TV, there wasn't a huge difference from console gaming and it felt sluggish and delayed (especially online!). If you plan to do any multiplayer gaming then I would say a monitor is critical, if you just plan to play single player games then you may find it ok.
Without ranting too much, to experience the full effect of your PC I really would recommend a monitor. I changed from my 32 inch tv to a 19 inch, 7 year old square office monitor that didn't even support HD resolutions. I enjoyed gaming SO much more being sat at a desk and everything felt so much smoother despite having terrible graphics. Now I have a decent monitor and I'd never go back. Console gaming is fine on a tv, PC gaming just didn't suit it at all for me.
That's just my opinion though Steam are pushing big picture gaming now and making everything controller friendly, etc so it may be a lot better than when I last tried.
I will warn you I used to use my 32 inch monitor sat from about 6 feet away and it was pretty appalling for general desktop usage. Text would often be too small and blurry and things like Steam weren't always TV friendly (changing now with Big Picture Mode becoming more and more decent). Just a heads up, you may find when you plug it in and set the resolution to 1920x1080 that the sides of your screen are cut off. This is often caused my Overscanning or Zoom settings on your TV and can easily be fixed in the TV's picture menu.
For gaming, graphics weren't great on my TV, there wasn't a huge difference from console gaming and it felt sluggish and delayed (especially online!). If you plan to do any multiplayer gaming then I would say a monitor is critical, if you just plan to play single player games then you may find it ok.
Without ranting too much, to experience the full effect of your PC I really would recommend a monitor. I changed from my 32 inch tv to a 19 inch, 7 year old square office monitor that didn't even support HD resolutions. I enjoyed gaming SO much more being sat at a desk and everything felt so much smoother despite having terrible graphics. Now I have a decent monitor and I'd never go back. Console gaming is fine on a tv, PC gaming just didn't suit it at all for me.
That's just my opinion though
Steam are pushing big picture gaming now and making everything controller friendly, etc so it may be a lot better than when I last tried.
bigben
Master Poster
Like the others said, monitors are better, but my mate has a 42" TV which he has his PC plugged into and he gets on ok with it, he is planning on getting a proper monitor when he can afford it though.
Also a heads up that even though you are using HDMI, it will not carry sound as it has to be plugged into the graphics card, so you will need either speakers or headset.
Also a heads up that even though you are using HDMI, it will not carry sound as it has to be plugged into the graphics card, so you will need either speakers or headset.
vanthus
Member Resting in Peace
HDMI will carry sound to the TV,at least mine does.
bigben
Master Poster
HDMI will carry sound to the TV,at least mine does.
Oh right, that's weird, didn't on my mates pc or my laptop :S
Out of interest what brand is your TV? My mate and I both tried it with Panasonics...
vanthus
Member Resting in Peace
I have a Sony TV,one thing I noticed is it only works on the one HDMI port on the TV,HDMI 3 I think it is.
Also of course you need to set the correct playback device as "default" in Sound Panel.
bigben
Master Poster
Wonder why it didn't work for me then :S. I put my mates GTX670 in for him, installed all the drivers and the sound didn't work - so I sold him my old Turtle Beaches Odd.
edit: just seen this:
Odd.edit: just seen this:
Thanks. I may try my laptop with my different HDMI ports later.
vanthus
Member Resting in Peace
Have a read at your TV manual as well,sometimes there are sound settings you need to change.Wonder why it didn't work for me then :S. I put my mates GTX670 in for him, installed all the drivers and the sound didn't work - so I sold him my old Turtle Beaches
edit: just seen this:
Thanks. I may try my laptop with my different HDMI ports later.
Androcles
Rising Star
Mine works fine for the sound 40" Tishiba, but only if i use the onboard HDMI, if i try and use the HDMI on the Radeon 6770 it doesn't produce sound, i assume that the card is supposed to have a cable to connect to the motherboard for the sound but ive never had a cable for it.
baron75mk2
Banned
Be perfectly fine on a tv.
A few points though
1) as others have mentioned on a smaller screen when you sit ferther away from it you will have difficulty in reading text etc & general web brousing ,
im on a 40" at the moment & sat approx 2 meters away - fine when im playing games , but with anything else half the time im sitting forward or on the floor to see text etc , so ether aquire the biggest screen you can or be placed closer to the screen , im used to a 55" & being sat about 1.5 meters away , so im going to have to get at leased a 50" & move half a meter closer to be comfortable.
2) of course you cant get a pc monitor thats as big as a tv can get ( or if you can it will probably cost gazzillions ) , but if you sit closer the pc monitor will always be better quality than any tv , its specifically desighned for pc unlike tvs , this brings greater benifits for gaming in particular - better response times (eliminating rip effects that tvs can suffer from) , input lag ( one that not many people consider when gaming on tvs ) but believe me tvs can really suffer from this , this is the time (in ms) that it takes the tv to process the signal form the hdmi to the screen , 30ms may not sound like a lot , but in an online shooter for example you will get owned , thinking "i shot him first !!" , you didnt ! , the time it took for your command on the controller/mouse to the actual screen was lagged by your tvs input lag ,effectively meaning he shot you 1 half a second before you shot him , meaning your tv has effectively made you hit the fire button 30ms to late (gets really confusing i know) .
this samsung im on ( & im only speaking of this particular model i own before i get pounced on by angry samsung owners - lol ) at the moment is a great tv , one of the best pictures you will see , but thats the problem , all that proscessing to get you that great picture takes time to process , sure you can turn things off to reduce it & even engage "game mode " to further cut it down , but it never gets rid of it completely , my rule of thumb is if you see a game mode on a tv avoid that tv like the plague for online gaming , look for really basic stripped down software in the tv , the less the better , toshiba , sony , technica & panasonic dont suffer input lag at all ,these are the few brands i have used for online gaming at leased so they are the only ones i can vouch for ( but bear in mind software changes over time & all but the sony were quite a while ago that i owned them)
So im sure that modern pc screen manufactureres would make this a priority to eliminate before anything else (stands to reason really)
3) you will definately get the sound through the HDMI prot on your GPU to your tv , the place where you can get tripped up is if you use a dvi to hdmi converter , i know that on one or the other (nvidia & ati) in the past the audio would not come through the dvi , only the hdm1 , but i cant remember which one of them it was & its probably been corrected by now i would have thought
Hope this has given you some insight ( a bit long winded i know , i just wouldnt want anyone to get stung with input lag as i did with this tv as there is no way to know untill you have purchased it & gamed on it & you cant return a tv for input lag as the tv is functioning perfectly as a tv)
A few points though
1) as others have mentioned on a smaller screen when you sit ferther away from it you will have difficulty in reading text etc & general web brousing ,
im on a 40" at the moment & sat approx 2 meters away - fine when im playing games , but with anything else half the time im sitting forward or on the floor to see text etc , so ether aquire the biggest screen you can or be placed closer to the screen , im used to a 55" & being sat about 1.5 meters away , so im going to have to get at leased a 50" & move half a meter closer to be comfortable.
2) of course you cant get a pc monitor thats as big as a tv can get ( or if you can it will probably cost gazzillions ) , but if you sit closer the pc monitor will always be better quality than any tv , its specifically desighned for pc unlike tvs , this brings greater benifits for gaming in particular - better response times (eliminating rip effects that tvs can suffer from) , input lag ( one that not many people consider when gaming on tvs ) but believe me tvs can really suffer from this , this is the time (in ms) that it takes the tv to process the signal form the hdmi to the screen , 30ms may not sound like a lot , but in an online shooter for example you will get owned , thinking "i shot him first !!" , you didnt ! , the time it took for your command on the controller/mouse to the actual screen was lagged by your tvs input lag ,effectively meaning he shot you 1 half a second before you shot him , meaning your tv has effectively made you hit the fire button 30ms to late (gets really confusing i know) .
this samsung im on ( & im only speaking of this particular model i own before i get pounced on by angry samsung owners - lol ) at the moment is a great tv , one of the best pictures you will see , but thats the problem , all that proscessing to get you that great picture takes time to process , sure you can turn things off to reduce it & even engage "game mode " to further cut it down , but it never gets rid of it completely , my rule of thumb is if you see a game mode on a tv avoid that tv like the plague for online gaming , look for really basic stripped down software in the tv , the less the better , toshiba , sony , technica & panasonic dont suffer input lag at all ,these are the few brands i have used for online gaming at leased so they are the only ones i can vouch for ( but bear in mind software changes over time & all but the sony were quite a while ago that i owned them)
So im sure that modern pc screen manufactureres would make this a priority to eliminate before anything else (stands to reason really)
3) you will definately get the sound through the HDMI prot on your GPU to your tv , the place where you can get tripped up is if you use a dvi to hdmi converter , i know that on one or the other (nvidia & ati) in the past the audio would not come through the dvi , only the hdm1 , but i cant remember which one of them it was & its probably been corrected by now i would have thought
Hope this has given you some insight ( a bit long winded i know , i just wouldnt want anyone to get stung with input lag as i did with this tv as there is no way to know untill you have purchased it & gamed on it & you cant return a tv for input lag as the tv is functioning perfectly as a tv)
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