I bought a TV and use it as monitor - Things you should know before buying
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- In 2022 I bought a TCL 43P735 43" 4K TV to use as a PC Monitor. I am mostly satisfied, but there are some settings that need adjusting and there are some issues that one needs know. In the video I show you how I setup the TV to get the best experience.
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Next episode: Connecting your 4K TV to a Windows 98 machine.
It was running DOS in a previous video just fine 😅
@@philscomputerlab Yea but now we gotta fiddle with the Nvidia or ATI drivers in 98.
Fiddling is what we do best 😃
@@philscomputerlab but can you fiddle on the roof?
I did. Resolution and refresh rate incompatibilites appear.
Initially my ATI 9600 Pro would install Windows 98 just fine, but when its 3.2 or 3.4 drivers were installed, it would send a 640 x 480 @ 120 Hz signal to the LG C1, which had no idea what to do with it other than say the signal format was invalid, which made the system unusable because I never found a way to change those settings via a way that didn't load the display driver.
I then switched to a FX 5500 on 56.64 drivers and found some resolutions were incompatible despite being an option (not being able to use 1600 x 1200 made me angry), but mainly HDTV resolutions (720p, 1080p etc) would make the TV behave like nothing was connected to it. It wouldn't even say the format was invalid. Absolutely bizarre.
Also 120 Hz was selectable, but the signal was always @ 60 Hz. And selecting GPU scaling didn't work, again making the TV think nothing was connected to it if the setting was applied.
If you are considering using a TV as a 4K monitor, verify that it can accept YUV4:4:4 or RGB. Many years ago my employer got a good deal on 4K TVs. Only later did we realize that the most they could do at 4K was YUV 4:1:1 and the color fringing on terminal text was quite noticeable.
Some older Dell Ultrasharp Monitors were "Hybrids". My Ultrasharp from 2008 for example has normal monitor stuff, but also TV stuff. It has displayport, HDMI and VGA inputs, but it also has S-Video, component and cinch video like a TV. For Audio there is a soundbar add on and it has picture in picture with one button. And it all comes in a 1920x1200 16:10 Format with a nice stand.
I wish 16 : 10 1920x1200 monitors were still made.
Sign me up for a 40 inch if 120hz!
With Custom Resolution Utility you don't need to restart the PC everytime. You can use the restart exe they provide which will restart your GPU drivers. This is especially useful if you're using a CRT monitor and you're trying to find the proper resolution and refresh rate combo.
I agree, I am about 80% happy with my 50" 4K TV as a monitor. I love the picture quality and the price I paid (got it used for only $200 USD several years ago). But I am jealous of the silky-smooth gameplay people get from high refresh rate monitors. I will probably upgrade to another 50" 4K TV in the next few years, this time making sure to get one that is 120Hz.
I’ve been using a 32” 1080p TV as a monitor for years simply because I had it spare & it’s served me fine. Sure a proper monitor would be better but it’s doing fine for my purposes.
I have done a lot of research about getting a new TV as a monitor as I want features that really only high end TVs have.. At least for moment. The one thing that comes up time and time again, is that a lot of high end TVs use a non-standard pixel layout, Normal is RGB, but things like OLED is WRGB, meaning an extra colour in the pixel and therefore the displayed text on screen may not be displayed in a crisp way as ClearType / Cleartext hasn't been updated to take this into account. This is even worse on Quantum Dot display, Neo QD or OLED QD for example, they are very different layout of colours in a triangle, with one large Green and a smaller Red and Blue underneath, this leads to a visible green outline on text, you can hide this to a degree with text scaling, but not ideal. I would strongly suggest anyone getting a TV for anything outside Pure Gaming to make sure and test them first, it is not a simple 1 for 1 replacement to a monitor. All that being said, I have a cheaper 4k Samsung as my 2nd display and has worked well as my "media" monitor, while my work monitor is a proper monitor.
It's a rabbit hole 😫
My LG C2 OLED TV uses WRGB and here's my experience: Text definitely doesn't look as good as a typical LCD with a standard subpixel grid, BUT it's roughly 90% as good. I use my TV for design work so i'm very picky and care a lot about this sort of stuff, but it really isn't a big issue and doesn't bother me much. I've also tried QD-OLED and that is absolutely awful for monitor use. It's not just text, it's the *entire* desktop. The triangle shaped subpixels of QD-OLED make everything look like there's a chromatic aberration filter applied to the whole screen (those awful filters you see in so many modern games which replicate poor quality camera lenses for some bizarre reason). It's around the edges of desktop icons, window borders, text, UI... Everything has it. It's dramatically worse than WRGB and i'd never recommend QD-OLED for monitor use. I could even notice it in any games i tried, especially the UI and menus, although it's not as obvious.
But as for WRGB, all the benefits of OLED more than make up for the tiny reduction in text rendering quality. When you use options like Windows Scaling (mine is set to 175% on a 77" TV) it becomes even less noticeable and generally looks good.
@@Serial_Thriller I will bring a USB microscope to the shop next time I'm shopping for a TV 😅
Thank you for this video! I started using a 4K TV as a monitor about a year ago, replacing a dual monitor setup. But the fringes on text made me think the TV didn't really use 3840 pixels across, like how a '720p' projector I bought two years ago turned out to really be 1024 pixels across and this really showed up on text. But your explanation of the ClearType issue matched the problem I was seeing, and trying Better ClearType Tuner myself confirmed the use of BGR pixels and finally fixed it.
windows has a built in 'adjust cleartype text' utility too that shows you different texts for you to choose if you're not technically oriented, you just choose from few textboxes on which it looks best to you several times.
I know, but I doubt any of the variations in the samples include subpixel inversion (BGR instead of RGB), so it might not be very useful with a TV.
@@BilisNegra I think that's the first a-b test of the series of choices it makes you do looking at the pixels it makes you choose between which includes small l's with b swapped between the two samples.
if the cleartype system didn't have the rgb bgr variation the more advanced tuner wouldn't probably let you adjust that either.
12:08 VRR was also a must-have for me when I got a "TV as a monitor" 1.5 years ago, because I just hate tearing.
In the end I got an LG C1, because the HDR presentation and the 120 Hz support in combination are just insanely good and I doubt there was a better monitor at that time, maybe even today.
Actually, the best audio delivery--when used with any source--is had with a good component stereo system. I recall the 6-speaker/5-channel setup I used in my room, which included a pair of tune-able 3-way floor speakers w/12" poly cone & foam surround woofers. The receiver had a "bass boost" function that negated the need for a sub-woofer rather well, while a pair of Bose compact "reflectors" handled the rear channels. The result was that when a friend poked his head in, as I was streaming Christmas carols, he got a look of impressed surprise to his face.
BTW: My "monitor" is a 4K 65" JVC... which hangs upon the wall, as I sit across the room on my bed.(Gotta love Bluetooth accessories!😉)
Thankyou for the upload. I connected my Hyundai 55inch smart tv to my laptop with HDMI cable and now I keep playing games all day long.
It's logical to reduce the size of the gaming window since you sit so close to it, and using the full resolution for desktop applications gives you much more space to work with, so it's the best of both worlds. And thank you for the 2 applications, I didn't know about them and they will certainly be useful.
Given all the cruft they add to modern TVs, I'm far more likely to use a monitor as a TV than a TV as a monitor. Last time I bought a TV, it took me (no joke) two hours to turn all that crap off and set things up to look like it all should-- this had to be done once for every input AND every app! :/
Funny how they spend so much time on processing features and we turn them all off 😅
@@philscomputerlab There are people that actually likes all the processing crap, no joke! 🤣🤣
You are right, but with Android TV, the advantage is that (for now) you can debloat your TV with ADB and have a very responsive experience as a result. However, I totally agree with you that having all that stuff in the firmware of a freaking TV nowadays is a nightmare compared to older "dumb" models that I loved just for that. But you can still (again, for now) totally disregard "smart" capabilities, not connect the TV to Internet and use it as an old "dumb" TV with other connected device to do the "heavy lifting" in a more controlled way by the user.
One of the reasons TVs are so cheap is that those app vendors subsidize the cost. It's much like how pre-installed software worked during the heyday of PC sales, late 90s through mid-00s. Only, you don't get the option to wipe and reformat a TV.
that is why I prefer to be 'dumb' with my tv
One nice thing about TCL is the image quality of the analog inputs, if your model has them. The component inputs are one of the best I've ever seen (32" TCL TV from 2019 with 1080p panel), even better to my taste when I compared against a couple of Panasonic and LG TVs. The PlayStation 2 looks fantastic on component signal, AND TCL supports 240p over component! So PS1 games also run and look great. Very compatible and scales nicely to a 1080p panel.
One bad commonly known issue with TCL is that the backlit and/or related circuitry goes haywire quite easily. It is usually the led strips themselves, a resistor in the motherboard or finally but rarely the motherboard. If your TV goes black then it's easy to tell if it's the backlit by using a flashlight. I'm seriously thinking to use a 3rd party externally powered led strip just grafted into the TV.
It does have composite, but I didn't test the input. Also didn't test the analogue tuner, curious if it would pickup old home computers? My previous TV is also TCL and it's now over 10 years old I believe...
Something extremely important to consider, is to avoid still bright images like the plague. Switch your theme to dark on Windoze or Linux, install Dark Reader (Static mode) or Midnight Lizard for your internet browser, change your desktop wallpaper to a dark one, if you are watching a movie and need to pause it, pause it during a dark frame. If you need to leave the room for more than five minutes, use a screensaver or just turn the TV off. Also, don't forget to set your TV backlight setting to 50 or at least 65. You will have a huge monitor that will live forever and without any bright spots. Been using my old LG 3DTV as a monitor since 2014, still working like a champ in 2023.
YES. I use a Vizio 32" as a monitor and I love the added real estate and beautiful image and sound. I highly recommend it. This was super informative though.. I have some settings I need to check after watching this. The RGB part was all news to me. Great video.
One of the most useful channels in the tech space - Phil knows just what tech enthusiasts are interested in tinkering in.
I've been using a very cheap (~$100) 32 inch TV with 720p resolution for retro gaming and arcade play. Works lovely with most Win98 games and there has not been a lot of negatives with the active adapting of VGA to HDMI (connected to sound output). TV speakers are decent, so I completely agree with your assessment. These cheap TVs seem to also like having composite connectors too. Great video!
and you get those TVs that record Live TV
Basically what I did with my old 32" Samsung 'smart' tv when I built my retro gaming space in a corner of the basement.
I also plan on running cables so both of desktops can switch from my dual monitors to my 4k uhd tv
I have a 43" TCL Roku TV with HDR and it is fantastic as a monitor. using fancy zones on Windows makes it 4 21" monitors. have had it since 2020 and I would highly recommend. I wired the TV headphone out to bose computer speakers so any of the 3 computers I have connected play the sound to the Bose speakers. I have no issues with text display. Looks great
Man this info is pure gold. Thanks and cheers from Madrid.
Lots of great information. Thanks, Phil!
Thanks, Phil! In this era of the last of the few remaining CRTs becoming harder and harder to get at any sane price, I'm always on the lookout for monitor options and alternatives that might be useful.
I was planning on this but did not know what model. Thanks!
I've been using TVs as monitors for nearly 15 years. I mostly use them as a HTPC, but I did use a smaller flat TV for a desktop replacement. Overall, they are great for watching media, playing most games, and good for browsing the internet. The biggest issue I've experienced is that usually TVs display some less common resolutions such as 900p or 768p worse than monitors, and on few TVs they won't display them at all. The other drawbacks are that some games would have unreadable text (to me) when played on a TV, and some games are designed for keyboard and mouse in mind which is not ideal when you are sitting on a sofa/couch, then again those are drawbacks when using a TV that is far from me.
I always solved that problem with wireless keyboards and mice.
Also simply don't use uncommon resolutions. ;) Nah, that's flippant. In reality, 768p is the bane of my existence. That resolution has annoyed me since Mechwarrior 2.
To be clear, none of the following involves trying to feed a 768p signal to a TV. I'm just ranting about this resolution in an unrelated way. Feel free to ignore the rest of this.
First my PC wasn't fast enough to run the mode well. Actually it didn't even run 640x480 well. Also my 15" CRT could barely display that mode clearly. Some time later, I got a laptop with a 15" LCD, but it had a crappy scaler and I think 640x480 was kind of ugly on it... also too slow for 1024x768... Then 15" LCD monitors came out and it was sharp because that was its native resolution, it had a decent scaler for the low res modes, and I think I had a PC that could run it at 768p, somewhat, but by then no one was playing online.
Fast forward to playing MW2 in DOSBOX today, and I can't for the life of me set it up so it will happily and cleanly display all three modes - 320x200 for the cinematics, 640x480 for the interface, and 1024x768 for the game. It wants you to set up the resolution to one mode so I set it to 1280x960 with a 2X nearest neighbor scaler so I can run it at 640x480 internally and the subsampling of YUV 4:2:0 doesn't screw up the clarity of a QSV-powered video capture. But 2048x1536 is a non-starter for QSV (I think), but definitely with my 1080p display.
So yeah, eff 768p.
Get a tv with bluetooth capabilities and your keyboard, mouse, and headphone issues go away. The LG B2 OLEDS are fairly priced. I use one as my daily driver for home entertainment and for pc gaming. It handles all of the resolutions of games with ease (most likely helped by having an Nvidia 3080TI connected to it).
Someone said stop using uncommon resolutions and I agree. The only place I seemed to find uncommon resolutions are in options for ripping my own movies to keep in a digital library. I don't find those resolutions in any modern games from the last 15 years. So use common resolutions only.
VIZIO makes a decent QLED line of TVS, and TCL does also if one is looking to save a buck. You can find 43in TVS with 120Hz refresh rates relatively easy. I am considering one for my office setup.
If you want over the air TV, try a coax cable with just the center copper wire exposed at the other end for a few inches. If you are in a city, you will be surprised at how many channels you get.
You can easily switch between TV and Monitor with the input. Also put a BeeLink computer
on the back a few years ago and that has run a lot since a few years ago. 1080p 24" TV.
Nicely done and informative video, by the way!
Nice. I've considering buying a TV for my PC but had 'not so pleasant experience' before. I know there may be some setting that I may need to configure.
Thank you for sharing. Will try these later.
Thanks for the great video, you answered all the questions I had about using a TV as a monitor.
I use an LG 4K TV as a monitor for my living room multimedia computer setup. I took some of your advice and changed the video settings to "Game" mode. I have a datacolor SpiderX to properly calibrate the colors and brightness etc so now it looks really good!
I have the same brand and was just wanting some tips for this exact usage and you delivered, as always! In my case I'm very happy with the TV, mainly because the possibility of debloating the O.S. with ADB, and having a very responsive experience as a result. You're right about the 60hz refresh rate, however I didn't have any issues so far connecting a notebook and some retrogaming consoles to the TV. Very sharp image, nice colors, low latency. I'm very satisfied with the price / quality relationship. That being said, I yet have to try to use it as a "monitor" in a proper full PC experience.
Last December I bought a LG 42inch C2 Oled 4k tv and use it as a pc gaming monitor. I love it!
Very nice!
I'm looking to upgrade back to a desktop computer later this year, from my current gaming laptop, and I've contemplated using a TV as a monitor for the larger screen size for flight simming. The pointers in this video are very useful for that. Thank you!
Flight simming on a 65in OLED using the whole screen is amazing. Any game looks beyond fantastic on a good OLED.
I've been using a tv as a monitor since about 2008 with an old 47LG70. They're great in that you don't have to sit next to them. I use mine with my recliner and a piece of shelving board as a keyboard/mouse tray. I've had a few others but I picked up a 49nano85una most recently about two years ago. It's gsync compatible. Supports HDMI 2.1 and can display 4k at 120Hz. Lastly it has rudimentary HDR which can really brighten things up if your settings are right. I paid 600usd for it. I mounted it to the wall with a set of arms that gives me everything but pivot and height adjustment.
really good analysis of something I've often wondered about. He covers the subject in great detail and I'm going to save this video!!!
I do have a TCL 55" 4K TV. It looks decent for the price, which was less than $300. That said, it doesn't have a very good backlight I can easily tell. Depending on the image, you can easily see the bleed around the edges. Most of the time, no, but on occasion, yeah.
You probably have the 4-series. The 5-series slapped. At least until they changed to Google & China started nerfing the panel calibration profile on exports
Happy Friday Phil! Thanks for sharing 👍
Thank you!
I stared using 47"as a monitor 11 years ago, when I bought then new 3D LG. And it is still running as a TH-cam viewing panel, being connected to a PC. I switched back to a 24" budget Dell monitor with matte screen.
My old Samsung (Series 6 iirc) pixel order is RGB.
Checked it with a magnifier. Set my font hinting accordingly.
Thanks for the nudge!
Actually such an informative video!
Good info! I've been using a 32"for a while. I've been thinking about getting a video card and putting a second one up as well.
This CRU utility solved a long standing issue i had with my laptop. That being that it had 2 refresh rate options, 120hz and 48hz. And it had this option that turned the refresh rate down while on battery, which makes sense but going from 120hz to 48hz is too jarring. But also it caused problems with some games that wanted a not 120hz refresh, i had one that wanted 60hz, and since 48 is closer to 60 than 120 is it would set that run at 48fps and be running at only 80% of full speed it was weird. I was able to remove the 48hz option and install a 60hz option and now it's perfect. Thank you so much Phil! And thank you so much ToastyX!
Awesome 😍
When I got my screen tvs were the only ones with the feature set I wanted anyways. OLED,120hz,4k
Another thing I used to do was turn it into ultrawide. Set up a custom resolution for 21:9 with back bars top and bottoms. Was great for football games as I could see more of the pitch and where my players were!
Great tip!
Doing it myself for the time being. Cheap 32 in. TCL from Walmart, but still full HD.
I have been using TV as monitor for last 10 years with no problem
Thanks, this is very helpful.
Cool vid guide, thx for making it👍
I use my 65" led tv as a monitor for my android box. Love it. Its just the right size.
I have went through several rounds of using a TV as a monitor. I finally found the perfect albeit expensive solution. LG OLED is the way to go! The clarity is unbelievable, and there is an app to controll turning it on and off when the computer goes to sleep or is turned off and on.
I’ve using a 43” Vizio TV as a monitor myself for the last couple of years and I’m perfectly happy with it. I run 1080p for my games at 60FPS, and it’s great. It is a “smart” TV but it’s an older model that just… works. It doesn’t have nearly as much hassle and crud as new, current Smart TVs.
Hopefully, when it comes time to replace the thing, there will still be models that are relatively basic for this purpose. That, or maybe we’ll have monitors that are 40” and under $700 USD (staring at you, Aorus FV43U).
You look so much more comfortable talking to the camera compared to the first video where you showed yourself. Glad to see you so confident!
I have two desktop computers, one in my living room, and one in my office, both connected to TV monitors. Very happy with both. I had little trouble setting the resolution on both, you just have to experiment with it a bit if you don't like the "recommended" settings. It wasn't as involved as the "tweaks" in the video, which may be desired for gaming.
been using 42inch phillips tv for years and for gaming being able to game from comfort of the futon in a large room with directional surround sound sent to the home theater system is really enjoyable
Wow....for more comprehensive than I expected. You made an exceptional guide and are convincing me to just buy a TV for my computer.
Great to hear!
I have a sharp quattron 3d 46in and it works great. It can detect pc input as well as the graphics card used. The sound is awesome too.
I've been using a 46" Sharp TV as a monitor since 2006 and it works perfect. I also have a 52" Sharp as a monitor in another room. They both work great. Streaming using a TV only sucks compared to using a Computer for the internet link.
I'm currently using a TCI 43S435 as a second monitor for my desktop i9 based audio/video editing workstation. Been pretty happy with it so far, I mostly have problems with proper scaling of GUI of some programs. My primary monitor is a LG HDR WFHD.
Thanks for the video!
I use a TV for my main monitor, a 55" OLED. I'm quite happy with it, but it's used primarily for games. My secondary monitor is where I do most of my productivity and web browsing to avoid any image retention issues with the OLED. Some people would be hesitant to use 55", but I find it quite enjoyable to be so immersed in what's going on.
I use a c1 48" as my only monitor, 1 year in no sign of burn in.
I am using a 65“ Panasonic industrial plasma display as a monitor and tv. The downside is that it is just 1080p and pretty power hungry. On the positive side it works reliably without any defect since more than 15 years and it keeps me warm on cold winter days
Thanks for sharing
Thanks! that was very useful
Options here in the Philippines are also a bit limited but I will have to check further based on your recommendations. I do not play games and now just use a 15.6 laptop screen and really would like a larger screen.
Besides the awesome video. Wow. I see a face! For many years now I have been wondering what face was behind the voice and I’m so happy to see such a kind face matching perfectly with the kind voice. Nice to meet you! 😊😊
Thanks, I had no idea about the reasons for the Cleartype problem. I've been using a Panasonic 49" 4K TV for a few years now and I'm happy with it. It makes life so much easier for my work having all that space to avoid constantly switching windows. The only downside has been the slight colour fringing on the text. I could never figure out why this was happening and had just resigned to accepting it as it is. The BetterCleartype Tuner has now fixed that so everything is now just perfect :-)
As for the settings one can select different modes for each of the inputs. There isn't one which specifically says PC but I just set it to auto detect and everything worked fine, except the mentioned cleartype fringing. I also have a 22" secondary monitor on each side and those now have the fringes after running the tuner but it doesn't matter as they are secondary monitors and not what I am reading from most of the time.
I'm using my Philips HDTV as a PC monitor since around 9 years now and haven't had huge issues with it. Because it has a PC Mode in the settings, the picture is as good as on a standard HD monitor with almost no inputlag and the sound of the speaker is really good for my taste (it's a slightly thicker TV, that has nice speakers build in). Only issue now, is that after all these years, the brightness of the Monitor has gotten darker, but it is something i would expect after 10 year of use.
Cool! Great video as always! I never think of BGR inversion in TV screens!
But I knew about this PC thing. Even on TVs which does not have direct image settings, there is often an option, to give a name for you HDMI and other sockets. Well, I thought, what does that changes? And yes it changes everything. It is not for user to distinguish where you plug console and where PC. This is really how TV actually works with the socket. I renamed my HDMI to PC and image become vivid and without any distortion, input lag was also much lower.
Great video! I have used TVs as monitors since 2015, firstly two 32 inch full HD LED TVs from Samsung (UN32D5500) and from 2020 until now a single 43 inch 4K LED TV also from Samsung (UN43RU7100), my only problem with this configuration is the refresh rate and in some cases tearing. Today I use this configuration mainly for work (developing electronic products and coding) and gaming moments only through XBOX Cloud (that not requires much higher video monitor specs).
10/10 Tipp. Thanks.
Love your videos!
Hey! Good stuff. I live in a small apartment, and my 4k 48" TV is my monitor for 3 laptops via digital HDMI, also have HDMI from my Tablet. TV and tablet are Samsung. I am a photographer and You-tuber, and I love seeing my photos on the big 4k'er. I don't have cable so I stream to the TV. Also the TV is wireless to my router, so then I can watch whatever without turning on any computer. I'm an uber geek, and my house is networked like a small company and the TV is the central point of the network. BTW, everything set to 1920x1080 native, the best for my old eyes! Cheers!
I've been using 48" Tv's as monitors for probably 15 years with no issues. I do everything with them. Gaming, photo/video editing (I have to do final color on an IPS monitor), music production, movies, etc. The amount of space was my biggest motivation, and I cannot go back to a small monitor. I haven't noticed many issues at all. Some games can become laggy, but that's very rare. I like the full display resolution, as it's more immersive.
Today it's more common, but when I started doing this, so many people were impressed by the setup haha. I often had a dual monitor setup with a large format tv as my main monitor, and a smaller monitor as a secondary.
I've never known about these issues, so I'm interested to try them out and see if it improves my experience. I've never really noticed anything at all that bothers me, but perhaps I'm complacent.
Great video bud 👍
G'day Phil,
I have a LG 42" 3D (1080p) Tv connected to a PC in my bedroom, it was my lounge room Tv until my old bedroom tv died & I upgrade the lounge room to an LG 55" C1.
I have not bothered with any setting but after watching this video I will look into it.
I've been using a 43" TCL 4k TV as my monitor since at least a year before the pandemic and I love it. It cost me US $198 (before sales tax). It's great for coding or any other task that benefits from having many windows or documents open.
Thanks, helpful
40 years ago, I ran my C-64 exclusively on my TV.
😆😆😆
I've been using an LG LD465 32" TV as my main monitor for almost 12 years now. No issues, solid experience. I will keep happily using it until it gives up the ghost, at which point it will be a bit of a puzzle to decide on the best choice for its successor.
For Windows you've got to get Microsoft Power Toys and the Fancy Zones tool. It let's you create custom zone sizes and snap Windows into them. I use a TV at my stand up desk and split it up into the equivalent of 3 vertical monitors. Or you could make a smaller centre zone for playing games in windowed mode. I love it.
I did play with the fancy zones tool but couldn't really find a good use. I use Window snap mostly, snapping windows into the 4 corners. I would love to have a snap that resized a window to 1080 or 1440 or something like that.
@@philscomputerlab try using the canvas layout when creating a new template. It allows you to make any window sizes you want with over lapping etc
I been using my living room tv as a computer monitor ever since computers could output to hdmi and keyboards and mice could be wireless. Couch computing is awesome. And most optical mice will work just fine on the arm of the couch.
I also put my phone hdmi'd to the tv whenever i end up playing a phone game, thanks to nearly universal compatibility of usb c docking stations.
But, you know, grats on putting a tv on your computer desk LOL so inovative man, you are blowing people's minds, i'm sure.
I use TV's with a still very useful VGA connector. Sure they are native 720 give or take. What I have issues with is a mismatch in true resolution tables between the Tv, operating systems and graphics drivers. Then there is the overscan hassles that can occur when using SBC's that have limited or poorly written generic graphics software. I would like to see the TV format to go to 16:10, or 5:3 Instead of follow the way too wide movie theater format. Remember the days when a 4:3 image would be fill a screen, Then wide-screen movie bars. Now there is UHD bars on the HD TV. Using TV's for a PC monitor is a good idea especially if they are early HDMI in my opinion.Not many people can say they can use a Rpi 3 b+ on a 60 inch Mitsubishi Rear projection 4:3 TV using composite and be perfectly happy with it. I can get it to appear to have 1024x768 resolution. It also has no LCD screen door appearance. I still game on CRT TV's because it looks better to me.
I have 3 TV's around the house and all of them have an old desktop PC plugged into the back of them which I find very useful.The only one with a slight issue is my JVC 40" android TV which displays the screen slightly to large.I drag each browser or program in a bit to overcome this as I haven't been able to do it via settings.I have a 65" Samsung TV in living room with a 2014 HP Pavillion 500 series plugged into the back which works perfectly.
I use an HDMI splitter from amazon to swap from PC to Xbox due to lack of HDMI inputs on TV.also display port to HDMI adapters to connect the older PC's.
Its a lot better use of old PC's rather than just dumping them.
Editing to say I sorted JVC settings by manually adjusting the screen via properties/advanced setting.
Very informative smart man
Finally a face to the voice! Maybe I'm oddly late to notice but no complains from here. Thinking you gathered quite a big public with only your hands, I can see how millennials will start building their 486 retro computers with your friendly face to guide them. I wish there was someone to do the same for me to build a proper PDP-11 or something.
The TV space is kind of a mess right now. HDMI 2.1 as a standard has been diluted by a bunch of TVs which only partially support the technology; only supporting 40Gbps, no 4:4:4, no VRR, etc. Also, as you discovered, anything less than IPS or OLED will have viewing angle issues... and of course OLED has burn in. Also features like screen turn-off for inactivity aren't supported on TVs.
Once you take all that into consideration, you can either accept the TVs shortcomings, or decide to spend more, or even get an actual monitor. I bought a 32" 1440p monitor as a stopgap for a few years while waiting for standards to mature (DP 2.0), and product offerings to improve.
That being said, you are spot on about that 44-48" UHD (not 4k) being the sweet spot.
Thank you for the advice, I own a 24" TCL TV, it's great because SCART YUV and Composite inputs, but also it has a terrible text rendering. I will try to tweak a little bit, including thr RGB vs BGR trick
I have 3 32 inch 1080p Vizio's hung on my work desk in front of my personal laptop and work laptop. I use the TV audio for my work laptop, and Eris 8 studio monitors on my personal laptop. They do everything I need them to.
Good stuff ty 👍
Great video. Back when 32" LCD computer monitors were quite expensive, I bought a cheap 32" TV for my PC. It was great... now that I have a 32" 2k monitor which I got at a great price, I use the 32" TV in the kitchen. :) And thanks to HDMI and RetroTinks, I can use my SNES and Genesis on my PC monitor. :)
My computer desk is quite old and has a "portal" that won't put much larger than a 40" in the cubby hole. One day I might get a new desk, but this one has been so great, I don't want to change it. :) Plus it's too heavy to move without dismantling it. :) It would be nice though, to have a 4K TV on my computer desk... :)
thanks, been using a tv as a monitor for many years but had never changed image settings 😅
The first time I got my ATI 64MB DDR VIVO installed in my PC, I played some Need for Speed. Once everyone went to bed I dragged it over to the 48" projection TV and played it until I passed out. It was only 1024x768 and not the 1600x1200 the CRT could do, but it was so cool seeing it on "the big screen" hooked up to the Hi-Fi. I see this as a natural progression, really. I was trying to remember that guys name that made that app. Apparently my memory was failing me so thanks for that. ToastyX!!
I did that back in 2012. Was very happy.. with a wireless keyboard + touchpad, long before they were the norm.. and basically did everything from the comfort of my couch situated about a meter from the 47 Inch TV (which sadly passed away last month). Later did the same with a 65 inch and even gamed on it.
Sounds similar to my story. Bought a 54" TCL in 2012 and used a Mini PC together with Logitech wireless keyboard (has integrated touchpad) and used it to drive the PC. Very good experience.
Great idea!
Thank you.
I use a cheap TCL TV as a primary monitor (3 monitor setup) with HDMI pass-through from my Atmos reciever>
It works fairly well, and makes watching movies or playing video games fairly pleasant. There are some hiccups (mainly when turning TV on and off, due to pass-through), but things like the clear-type tuner really does help text clarity, and I find it worthwhile.
I got a 32 inch TV i connect with PC via VGA which means no sound but i don't want crap TV sound so i put audio into the stereo system via auxiliary then get nice loud bassy spacious stereo.
I splurged a while back on a large LG OLED TV for a PC monitor. Other than the text issue you mentioned, I am quite pleased with it's performance. Though it has several HDMI ports, I would prefer that it had at least one Display Port input. I know there are a few large monitors available, but I will wait for them to become more commonplace, and the technology to mature.
EDIT. Forgot to mention. If someone is considering using an OLED TV as a PC monitor, it can be prone to pixel burn-in. Therefore, I do these 3 things to minimize this. 1) Use a solid black background. 2) Set the taskbar to auto-hide. 3) Set up blank screen saver for 3 minutes - no password.
You have a really nice complexion! Great skin!!
Ive been using a LG C2 OLED 42" as a monitor for my main gaming pc for about 2 months now. Once you go OLED, there is no going back. It’s a sight to behold every time I turn on my PC.
Nice!