Televisions as monitors: What are you using, and why?

Santilli

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What I've found so far is there are just a couple that use a 10 bit screen and processor, and, they aren't cheap.

Sony Bravia comes to mind, and the Vizio Extreme 40" are the two I have to choose from...

Been thinking about that or two Vertex Turbos or more vertex turbos...
 

Pradeep

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If you have light control in the room then plasma will deliver better blacks. Panasonic g10 is the bees knees.
 

Stereodude

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I wouldn't recommend any Plasma TV for PC monitor use. Burn is is quite real and the changing white luminance tied to power saving would drive you nuts.
 

Santilli

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Went with the Vizio 37" XVT, 120 hz, 1080P, 10 bit screen.
Pretty bright. Playing with it, and typing on it right now.

Think I'll watch a movie or two...

629 at Costco, and, I've got a 90 day window to return it...
 

timwhit

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Went with the Vizio 37" XVT, 120 hz, 1080P, 10 bit screen.
Pretty bright. Playing with it, and typing on it right now.

Think I'll watch a movie or two...

629 at Costco, and, I've got a 90 day window to return it...

But, didn't you have to pay that recycling tax?
 

Santilli

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But, didn't you have to pay that recycling tax?

Weird.

The tax was, IIRC, 16 dollars on 629?

It was near twice that on a 250 dollar monitor. VERY strange, as is this state....Plus, nearly 9%, or more, in state
sales tax, so that's what, nearly 20% in tax?

I can always return it in 3 months, and get all my money back, and get the Hell out of this state....
 

Santilli

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James Bond videos opening sceens are freaking incredible....

Watching Quantum Solice. INCREDIBLE.

I MAY HAVE TO GET A PANASONIC BLUE RAY PLAYER, JUST TO REALLY TEST THIS THING...
 

Santilli

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The depth, and 3D that this screen brings out, and shows, is really incredible. It's a VERY different experience from using the 21" Samsungs to watch movies.

It's very BRIGHT and white, have to turn the backlight down from 85 to 25, but, that's very easy to do with the remote.
 

Handruin

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Planet Earth on BR looks incredible. Also, anything Pixar would look really good.
 

Santilli

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Work I'm about 4 feet away when typing.

Watching stuff, 5-7 feet.

The keyboard pulls out of my desk, 13" Desk is 26" from TV to edge of desk.

Oddly, it still looks better with my computer glasses on. I seem to loose part of the 3D
aspects if I take them off, which bothers me...

MacGillvery Freeman IMAX films are on the way, and, it did a pretty incredible job
with Quantum of Solice and JAG last night.

Thinking about returning both Samsung 2233's...

In side by side, the monitors are really starting to look like a poor value. RIP OFF comes to mind, when I compare what you get, and, what appears to be artifically high prices for poor screen quality, and obvious 8 bit panels on the monitors.
 

Pradeep

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I assume you are talking about a DVD input?

Plug in the bunny ears and you should be able to pull in some admittedly low bitrate (max of 18mbit/sec) OTA HDTV in 1080i or 720p. Should look significantly sharper than the DVDs, will do until you pick up a blu-ray player (which can deliver you 40mbit/sec of AVC encoded 1080p).

I would recommend the PS3, about 100W of power consumption and silent, makes a decent streamer for any files on your PC, in addition to some awesome games. The lower end blu-ray players tend to suck when it comes to Java performance (aka PS3 takes seconds to do what a standalone may take minutes to achieve). I hear the LG 370 has snappy performance as well if you are set on a set top box. Of course with 3D blu-ray players to be announced next month wait a little.
 

MaxBurn

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I normally sit about 25-30 inches away from my Samsung LN32A550 32" set which seems perfect.

I also sit about 9 feet from my HTPC LG 47LH40 47" monitor and frankly I am disappointed in myself for settling for only a 47" set. True HD content looks so amazing I am constantly leaning leaning in being impressed with the smallest details. Another niggling detail which bothers me on this set is the black level isn't as good as it could be and the dynamic backlight, when enabled, is slow to respond and super annoying in action scenes. Also the motion compensation has some pixelation issues so I turned that off too. It was a spur of the moment purchase when my old 52" rear projection set died, I was initially pretty happy with it but discovered these two things well after the return time.
 

Pradeep

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Which model ps3 are you talking about? Launch models from 2006 with 90nm cell/gpu can get loud - 200W of heat to reject, especially when upconverting dvds. I have a 40gb model which is 65nm cell and 90nm gpu. It is silent, even running folding at home in it's spare time. The current ps3 model - the slim 120/250gb models are 45nm for cell and gpu, use less than 100W, and also silent. Proviso is a climate controlled environment.
 

Mercutio

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All the home consoles are objectionably loud to me, even the Wii. Based on my experience, I'll say PS3 > Xbox > Wii, but that's fairly subjective.

I'm at a point where even the noise from optical drive mechanisms annoys the crap out of me, but PS3s and Xboxes are both about as loud as a typical desktop PC with a stock CPU fan, which is not exactly what I'd call quiet and a long goddamned way from silent.
 

ddrueding

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OT: Just bought a Wii and about $500 worth of accessories (Fit plus, wireless bar, induction charger, Sport Resort, motion plus, component cables, etc). Capable of playing at the phenomenal HD resolution of....480P! :roll:
 

Handruin

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The xbox 360 can be fairly noisey. I'm actually surprised to read that you'd put the PS3 as a noisier device, granted it is subjective.
 

Mercutio

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The xbox 360 can be fairly noisey. I'm actually surprised to read that you'd put the PS3 as a noisier device, granted it is subjective.

I've only had to put up with a couple of them, and only once when they were both in the same place where I could subjectively compare the two. I thought the PS3 was louder, both for drive and for fan noise.

No I don't know what model it was.
 

Handruin

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No big deal. I don't own a PS3, but my friend has one and I've never noticed noise from it, but I can notice the fan noise from my xbox. I just thought it was quieter.
 

ddrueding

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DD, if you have money burning a hole in your pocket, I'll take some.

'fraid not. Just put in another offer on a house, and I need a new car (mine tends to turn itself off at random, like on the freeway). This is what my wife wanted as a gift, so she gets it.
 

timwhit

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I got my fiance a Nintendo DS + Mario Kart. What was baffling is that I couldn't buy Tetris for less than $55 used. I couldn't find it new at all. I can't believe they would stop making one of the most popular games of all time. I would also like to get New Super Mario World. But, I already went over budget with the DS plus some other things, so it will have to wait.
 

Stereodude

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'fraid not. Just put in another offer on a house, and I need a new car (mine tends to turn itself off at random, like on the freeway). This is what my wife wanted as a gift, so she gets it.
Check your battery terminals for tightness.
 

ddrueding

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Swapped the battery completely, and checked for tightness. I'm afraid it is part of a larger gremlin. Something to do with grounding, from what I was told. The AM radio no longer works, and FM is almost gone. I can start the car without depressing the clutch. Engine stutters when there is less than 1/4 tank, but there is no debris in the tank or the line. Turn indicators work as expected, but the "tick tick" thing runs double time at random for up to 30 mins after I've stopped signaling. There is a handful of other issues, and at 210,000 miles, I don't feel like chasing them down.
 

Stereodude

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Remind me never to buy a used car from you if you're too lazy to change the oil at regular sane intervals.
 

Handruin

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Wow, 20-50K miles for an oil change?! Do you even check to see if it's low after that many miles?
 

udaman

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Wow, 20-50K miles for an oil change?! Do you even check to see if it's low after that many miles?

Guess the low oil warning light is not working either :p. Should have come on, don't know of any car that has such tight rings that it would lose less than 2qt in 25k mi.

Is this the new SR tread???
 

udaman

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Well, it is German. :p

To be fair, many an Asian made (not just Sub's made in Amer) car get plagued with such gremlins too. Just the luck of the draw...now go buy an UK made car if you want electrical hell to visit upon you.:twistd:
 

udaman

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I got my fiance a Nintendo DS + Mario Kart. What was baffling is that I couldn't buy Tetris for less than $55 used. I couldn't find it new at all. I can't believe they would stop making one of the most popular games of all time. I would also like to get New Super Mario World. But, I already went over budget with the DS plus some other things, so it will have to wait.

Geez, I *hope* U did not have to get permission (legal) from her parents to marry her...she's not that young is she?

If yer really, *really* geek bored, you could play with Jessica (year + old contest):

http://www.ibeatyou.com/competition/86a130/the-stare-no-blinking
 

Santilli

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Going through the same thing. Besides my mother passing at 10:30 Monday,

The Mercedes 89 died next to the Mercedes dealership. It's a rather nice, 300E that was abused by my girlfriend, but, has relatively low miles.

First mechanic said the compression was shot. Second has spent 120 in labor, wants another 500 approved, and, for me to buy a 120 dollar rotor cap, and, I still won't know what's wrong with the car...

The sad part is the car parts, except for engine parts, are pretty reasonable, brakes, shocks, etc. It does have a few electrical gremlins as well, but, with excellent condition Mercedes going for between 3000-7000, I'm not sinking anymore money in it.

If you like automatics, it's a nice car...
 
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