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Buying a new HDTV...is this a good choice?

M

Malus

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
299
0
Hello everyone,

I have recently grown out of the SDTV's and now am venturing into the HD phase of my entertainment.

Heres, the plan. It will be mounted on my wall of course, and I would enjoy using it as a monitor for my macbook here. I think that would be pretty neat.

I went to best buy today, but all of their TV's are really ugly looking and very expensive (plus the specs aren't that great). So I went online shopping and found this gem for a reasonable price.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3120541&CatId=37

Now my major concern is this, will my display be nice when using it as a monitor for my mac? it supports up to 1366 x 768 and 1080i....

I'm not that great with all these new resolution settings and all of that. But if anyone can point me in the right direction, or if this is where i should be, tell me that I should buy this one, then that would be super swell.

Its almost 1:30am and I am an insomiac, wowzaaaaaaz. :eek:
 
I've heard from quite a few people that hdtvs don't quite make really good monitors... and in my experience when I hook up to them I can see that... although I don't quite know the reasoning behind it, something about how they are made to function (i'm sure someone here will bring it up)

I'm sure if you are just thinking of usin it part time to make things bigger and have fun with your macbook (not doing any really super serious screen graphics work on it or whatnot) it will make a decent second screen assuming I am right in thinking the macbook can handle that (once again someone pipin up) but if you are really thinking of maingly using it as a second monitor for intensive work... you'd be better off with a display.

Looks like a nice tv though... decent specs, decent price. Not bad. I'd look at circuit city, a friend of mine got a really good bargain on a 32inch lcd with good specs for just a teeny bit over that price from them.
 
I Would Recommend The New Sharp Models

Sharp Aquos is leading the pack for ultra fast refresh (4ms) and double frame rate 1080p @120fps. You can get top of the line 46" LC-46D92U for only about $1900 online. If you plan on using a HDTV for a monitor you should only consider 1920 x 1080 models not the lower resolution of a cheapie at Tiger.com.

I have last year's Samsung 40" LN-S4095 and I can tell how obsolete it is when I watch it.
 
Go for something with full, proper HD (1080p) if you can. And yeah, unless the resolution at least matches the screen you use for your computer it's not going to look too hot in most cases.
 
I'm not convinced the quality differential of getting a full HD screen of 27" is worth the higher price. Because the screen is quite small you'll hardly notice any difference between 720p resolution and 1080p resolution, unless you sit really close.
Using anything besides a 1080p resolution as mac monitor won't work. You'll be very disappointed with the sharpness of the picture.
Just to give you an idea:
My powerbook's 15" screen runs at a resolution of 1280 x 854.
So just imagine doubling the size of the screen but holding the resolution more or less constant. It won't look pretty!

Oh btw, I have a Sony Bravia 32" which is now just over a year old. Very satisfied!
 
I'm in a similar position - I need an HDTV for my Xbox 360, that I can use as a monitor as well.

So I'm now going for a 24" Dell monitor (2407wfp), that has full 1080p, and shed loads of inputs (VGA/DVI/Component/Composite/S-Video) as well as a 4 port USB 2.0 hub and a multi-card reader.

I can then hook up my 360, laptop and a digital TV box to it, solving all my problems. :)
 
Wow, thanks for all of your replys and help!! I'm liking that Aquios a lot, however I'm only looking for something around the 600-800 mark. Perhaps I will just save up a little longer and purchase something that will last a long time.
 
I think there are a couple of other things to consider.

First, you need to be sure of the input resolutions supported by the port you'll use to attach your Mac (DVI/HDMI/VGA/whatever). It's often not the same as the native screen resolution, oddly enough.

Second, remember, if it's a TV too, you'll likely be farther away when using it with your Mac, so, while it might not look great 1' away, it might look fine from a typical viewing distance.

I have a 37" Westinghouse 1920x1080 hooked up to a mini. It's in a family room shared by kids, so a higher-end system wasn't a good idea, and this was a good price (over a year ago, at least). TVs do work well as monitors, at least as ones for non-professional use, if you choose wisely.
 
I have the VX32L. The information says it supports upto 1080i but it will do 1080p. I run my 360 at 1080p for games and HD DVD.
 
Malus said:
What kind of tv do you have, mkrishnan?
Click to expand...

I have an Insignia NS-LCD32 -- I got it during Best Buy's post-Thanksgiving sales (online order and in-store pickup). It's an off brand, but I've really liked it. I use it primarily with component (DVD and DVR) and much more extensively recently, with VGA from my iMac. It has 2x component, 1x VGA, 1x HDMI (I don't use right now), and composite (to which I have a VCR plugged that I've used once). Especially with the advantage of OS X screen calibration in VGA mode, the DVD-ish resolution H.264 files from iTunes and DivX files from the net look really great.

jane doe said:
I have the VX32L. The information says it supports upto 1080i but it will do 1080p. I run my 360 at 1080p for games and HD DVD.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, got it. It's not a 1080p set, but it's definitely nice that it will downconvert the 1080p signal to show on the 720p screen. :) I'm actually not sure if mine will do that or not, since I don't have any 1080p sources.
 
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