OT: TV or Monitor (40"), and which one?

Monitors don't have a remote control or co-ax input.

I posed the same question recently, can't remember if it was in here or the PC home built group. No definitive conclusion, you need to look at the specs of each in terms of resolution, refresh rates, inputs, speakers etc. and decide on that.

I bought a new 55 inch TCL TV a couple of weeks ago, £300, I only use it as a monitor via HDMI, although as well as standard PC stuff I do watch Video on it via the PC.

It works great, 4K, although I have to enlarge everything to 150%, for eye comfort.

I would have preferred a monitor, but I don't think there is much demand for monitors above 32 inch. So it comes down to cost.

The down side of the TV is that it takes a lot of time to start, due to its unused smart capability.

Energy saving was amazing. The old 50 inch TV used 160 watts the new one only uses 44 watts. The new one is also much lighter.

A DIY downside was that they moved the VESA mounting point to the bottom half of the back face rather than having it in the middle, so I had to move my wall bracket.

Monitors

- lots of ports - Displayport - sometimes VGA

- often USB hub / USB-C input / power delivery to charge laptops

- wide range of DPI / native resolutions

- colour calibration for printing, photo editing etc

- OSD for controls via buttons

- high refresh rate versions (120/144/240Hz, G-sync/Freesync)

- often wide viewing angles (eg IPS) - designed to be viewed from slightly above or below or (less often) side-to-side

- expensive

TVs

- cheap

- may be cheaper panels (VA not IPS) - viewing angles may consider side-to-side but not up-and-down

- typically 1080p or 4K, nothing in between

- smart stuff that you have to ignore / can't turn off - some smart TVs will pester that you haven't configured the internet yet (heard stories but not sure how common this is) - desperate to scrape your viewing habits to sell to ad networks

- 'helpful' 'improvement' modes ('football mode') that mangle your picture and may be annoying/difficult to turn off

- HDMI but no Displayport

- sometimes analogue SCART/composite inputs, less commonly VGA

- colour accuracy may not be good

- HDMI compression (4:2:2 or 4:2:0 can reduce chroma resolution over 4:4:4) can muddy fine details in the picture, eg coloured text in editors

- can lag, especially if the pixel processing is done on the cheap

- remote control, maybe no body buttons at all

- ~60Hz max, possible bandwidth limitations on some modes/inputs (eg you get 4K

- come in large but not so many in small sizes - small sizes are often compromised (eg "kids' bedroom TV" sold for cheap)

(some of my experience is a few years old, it's possible newer TVs are less compromised than those last time I was in this market)

Theo

Well that's not strictly true.

I bought a big one intended for walls of waiting rooms etc, and it does have a remote..

TCL you say? It would probably only use 32W if it was continually reporting everything you do to the CCP.

That is a strange remark.

AIUI, it is the owner of Telegram who is currently in jail for not spying on behalf of western governments. Presumably the other western companies avoid trouble by reporting on us to our governments. TCL reporting on me to China is a much lesser concern. China has much less power over me than the UK or US government.

I also don't see what route a TCL TV that is used as a monitor has to transmit data. Perhaps you think it can hijack my PC's internet link via the HDMI connection?

There are a few big devices kicking around.

There was a report a few weeks back, noting that some smaller displays, something was melting around the area where the edge lighting is, and that's one reason the properties of some of these displays, change after they're about six months old. There is distortion happening inside the thing, and it is caused by the heat.

Paul

You may also need to discover what control you would have over the picture and/or audio

The Samsung device is aimed at outdoor signage and has a "lite" processor for this purpose. You may find that the picture has over saturated colours, high contrast and overly high backlighting for its use in outdoor daylight operation. The set may not have all the bells and whistles of a dedicated TV in the way of picture control to obtain a more realistic colour/contrast picture required for indoor viewing under indoor lighting conditions

I have similar, as you, I only run it from an HDMI input from a computer. It works well, it also starts up quickly from standby.

Not really necessary, if it is only used as a display for a set-top box and controlled from the box's remote, via CEC.

Not cheap.

I'm using a 50" 4k TV as a monitor. I found the dot pitch to be about the same as my old 1920x1200 monitor. Just there an awful lot more dots :)

The only delays on startup I see are that it has to synchronise to the wireless speakers and subwoofer. You won't have those, they aren't sold in the UK.

And the logging only goes to my ex-employer, who gave it to me to test as a prototype, not to the Chinese.

Andy