TV for Monitor

I was trying to decide between 2 monitors for my rig (i7 nVidia 580). I noticed that LCD TVs seem cheaper than LCD monitors of similar characteristics. Not sure why.


The other screen I was thinking about was $400.
Samsung
LED-LCD
1080p
60Hz
1000:1 Contrast
2ms Response time.
1920 x 1080 Resolution


LCD TV for $530.
Insignia (I think these are same quality as Samsung?).
42"
LCD
1080p
120Hz
6000:1 Contrast
6.5ms Response time.
1920 x 1080 Resolution
(Speakers, remote controller, and TV crap that I don't need.)



I don't have any sort of TV service. Just my PC with internet. So I use my computer for writing, surfing the web, watching HD movies on Blu-Ray, high-end gaming, web/graphic design, video editing, and 3D modeling.

I noticed that monitors don't usually go larger than 27". But I really prefer to have a screen that is larger than 27" for movies, gaming, and general use. The Samsung monitor I found was really good quality LED. I can pretty much do everything on that very effectively.

However, 42" LCD TV for $130 more is much larger. Thereby giving me
-Larger work space for everything I do.
-Larger movies and gaming.

The drawback is that the larger screen isn't LED. Thus, not as high quality. I'm not sure how significant the response time is. When I look at an HD movie playing on the 42" screen it actually looks really good. It also has a backlight feature in the menu that can be adjusted even though it's not LED. So I'm thinking it should be able to handle the highest settings on the latest games?

There's no length or height for the 42". The angle was 42.2". So I calculated it to be:
L = 36.78048766665598
H = 20.68902431249399

I would think a 6.5 ms response time is a no-go. Not as a TV nor as a computerscreen.. Have the shop try it out by showing you a football game. A ball kicked or thrown will show as a line/stripe instead of a sharply outlined ball...

+ be carefull what you think about workspace. That is not defined by screensize but by screenresolution which, in your examples, seem to be identical...

I am a bit baffled by the spec's on the TV though... I wouldn't expect 6.5 ms response on a seemingly modern TV w/ 120Hz. 120 is good enough for 3D if your video card can handle that....???

Crimson,
I believe you will find that the resolution on the monitors will still be higher than the TV/Monitor. That being said the main advantage with the led screens is energy consumption. I just switched from a 26" TV to two 23" led monitors and the clarity is quite a bit improved but with two screens I'm using half the energy of the one! As mentioned above the speed of the screen will also impact HD movies and high resolution gaming and all things being equal the lower the ms the better. Now with all this said manufacturers really can smoke these specifications and if you have a way of reading feedback of people using these as you intend to then I find that invaluable in making up my mind.

OK. I edited the OP with the resolution. And tried to calculate the length/width.

It's confusing. The 42" is 120Hz while the 27" is 60Hz. Yet the 27" has better response time. Is there a good way to test them? Like maybe a video or something to see how it can handle high settings on a game. Or lots of motion like in a sports video. Is 6.5ms really that bad for that?

Does the site where you are considering purchase offer a customer feed back section? If so read it, if not then go another popular site like Amazon and put in the model numbers your considering and read those. Weed out and be mindful of people blasting or super praising a item with out clear and demonstrated reasons !

It's hard to tell. One of the reviews said it had no motion blur. The other one said it had horrible motion blur.
Insignia™ - 42" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LCD HDTV - NS-42L780A12

The price is different on the site. Locally. It's $530 including tax.

How close to you computer/game from this screen? 42" screen for a normal desktop configuration is crazy IMHO. 32" would be as large as I would go and I wouldn't even go that large. Consider looking at 2 screens and then moving to three in AMD eyefinity with a better card later. I just picked up two led 23" screens for $320 usd and you would still have money left over for a TV PCI card.

I agree with Linnemeyer, and again.. believe me... don't go over 3-4 ms on any screen that you want to use on a computer w/ todays requirements on games etc...

OK Thanks.