Advice please: TV vs Monitor

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Beetnik

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In my den I have no TV. I do have a laptop with a TV tuner which I use for watching the odd programme or two.

I got an XBox360 for Christmas and want to get a new 'screen' at around 27" for (in order of importance):

1. Gaming
2. TV
3. Extra monitor for laptop

I've spotted a good deal on a Samsung Syncmaster T27A300 LED/1080p/TV Tuner/Freeview and all the required ports.

However it's a 'digital TV monitor' rather than a TV.

So my question is - am I better with a monitor or a TV in terms of 'viewing pleasure', refresh rates, picture quality etc?
 
If you've found a good deal on that, I'd go for it. Sounds like it'll do everything you want.

Or you can spend ages researching something else that you might not get such a deal on and only be marginally better.
 
TVs and monitors are rapidly heading down the road to convergence (i.e. one and the same) anyway.

I would also just go with that if you've done the homework about it suiting your requirements.

27" is pretty much in the middle i.e. a small TV / large computer monitor to be one or t'other anyway.
 
Sounds like a good little display. Gaming consoles have helped push digital TV's in terms of performance, there really isn't much difference these days except when it comes to screen resolution really.

Some of the more massive monitor displays will run at higher resolutions than HD, but that's your only real difference these days with any high quality TV/Monitor.

You tend to find that at smaller screen sizes, the reason some are sold as monitors is because the TV side of that screen size runs at lower resolutions that aren't as useful for computers (ie, 720p), so the only real use for a higher res is computing/gaming.
 
I use a TV as a monitor - as long as is 1080p and a decent panel you will be fine.. Have 5 LG's around the house from 32 to 55 and all work well as monitors..
 
We bought a Samsung Syncmaster LCD Digital Monitor TV about 2 years ago and never got around to hooking it up to the PC! Just use it as the kitchen TV - and it does a great job of that.
I'm comfy with all my Samsung TV's and their performance - only thing I'd warn about with this one is that the sound is weak (as is the case for most smaller sized flat panel TV's). So, if gaming is your priority, you'll need to use a separate speakers/sound set up, particulaly to get the bass tones.
 
I think this is an issue that affects all TVs due to the amount of space available and probably price reasons.

Games / movies require an external set of speakers of at least 2.1 I would say.

However, the sound is fine for us on our TV in the bedroom, which I watch at night and use as an alarm clock - and don't want booming sound for those particular applications!
 

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