[GTALUG] war story: fixing an LCD TV

[Giles Orr]

On Fri, 31 May 2019 at 13:46, Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

>
> I'd like to take the opportunity of this thread to ask about the
> suitability of using a TV as a computer monitor.
> Right now I have a dual screen setup with one 24" and one 22". The colour
> doesn't quite match between the two of them and some thick bezels prevent
> useful work with a window that spans both monitors.
>
> Now, it's possible to replace them with a single 32" widescreen monitor
> <https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01BMES072/> for about $550. For $477 I could
> get what looks to be a top-tier 43" Samsung 4K.
>
> I am wondering if the lower price is because of greater volumes and
> consumer orientation rather than any inherent quality of the screen. As
> Fathers Day approaches I expect some deals a-coming here.
>
> How viable Is it to use a TV as monitor, ignore the "smart" crap and just
> plug in the HDMI? Are there features or specs needed for a TV to make it
> usable for close viewing?
>

Someone once told me a couple things (colour behaviour, maybe response
time) are different between TVs and monitors - but many people use them
interchangeably without much difficulty.  If you're worried about colour
correction for photography ... a TV is probably not as good as a
"monitor."  But most people don't really notice.

For a while Best Buy sold a 43" 4K monitor (not TV) made by Phillips.  It
was about $500 a year and a half ago, and I jumped on it.  It has some
weird ghosting issues (hard to see, temporary, but can last minutes), but
in every other respect I love it.  Of course it completely dominates my
desk ...  But for the first time in my life I'm not routinely looking for
another monitor to park my next window on.  I don't game, and I seem to
recall its response time probably wouldn't have been great for that.  But I
do all my day-to-day work on it, and occasionally watch movies on it.  It's
great, I recommend the experience.  I would recommend that you go 4K at
that size, not 1920x1080.  Even if your eyesight is poor, higher resolution
gives you more choices and better future-proofing (for almost no increase
in price these days).

-- 
Giles
https://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr at gmail.com
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