According to <A HREF="http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/feeds/infoimaging/2005/06/03/infoimagingcomtex_2005_06_03_ky_0000-6872-sharp.html" target="_new">this</A> article Sharp is going to release this gigantic LCD. I've been waiting for a long time for something like this to come along. Hopefully it'll bring prices down on the smaller LCDs over the next year or two. My first question is this: Are these LCDs good enough to play PC games on?

I've been hanging on to my trusty Hitachi 21" CRT for 8 years now. It occasionally gets a little wiggly and makes a harsh noise when you turn it on, but otherwise it still looks great. But, I believe it will soon be time to bury the old workhorse. I just hope it can hold out for another year or so. I would like to eliminate the need for a desktop LCD and would like to hang a monstrous LCD on my wall to use with my PC and as a stand alone TV veiwing device. Is the technology up to snuff yet? Has anyone had experience using LCD TVs as their monitors? Are there any reviews out there? I read one about an LG 32" that somebody posted here but it was rather vague. It did mention that there was no noticable ghosting which is my main concern with 3D games.



You've tried and failed. The lesson here is, never try again. -- Homer Simpson.

I have a 6 year old Hitachi 21" crt also. Works like new, I run it in a dual setup, but the colors are not as vivid as my Viewsonic PF790.

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Those old Hitachis are awesome. Back then, the only ones that looked better were the ones with aperture grills like the Iiyamas. But they were <i>really</i> expensive. I think I paid close to $800 for mine and that monitor owes me nothing. Two years ago I was putting a system together for my cousin and he wanted to stay on the cheap. I went to a local computer show and found a CM812 (mine's the older CM800) for $69 and a set of Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers for $16. He couldn't have been happier. I was going to give him my old monitor and keep the newer CM812 but that wouldn't have been cool. But the thought did cross my mind.



You've tried and failed. The lesson here is, never try again. -- Homer Simpson.

Hi BC, I just went through a learning experience with LCDs and I'll share what I've learned so far, first I bought a ViewSonic 19" LCD Monitor 25ms response time, it was advertised to be a gaming monitor and for the games my wife plays it would have been extreme, but for my purposes it sucked.

When you walked down a hall in a FPS game like Serious Sam for instance and turned a corner the scene smeared into place and then cleared up, totally unacceptable for any FPS game period.

The ViewSonic also only had the Analog input no DVI[Digital] input, took that back to the store and got a Samsung 19" SyncMaster 930B 8ms response time with Analog or DVI inputs, now we're talking, this Monitor is bad to the bone, no hesitation, no smeared scenes into focus, running higher screen rersolutions than I had ever run in some of the games I play.

So for a gaming LCD the response time is everything the lower the better, it doesn't matter whats advertised on the box, if the response time is not there its usless for intense gaming purposes, and Digital input is a must you want everyhting you can get out of the thing.

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=2541&st=0#entry20385" target="_new">My Puter</A>

Hey Ryan. Good to see ya back and thanks for the input. I don't really need a new monitor. What I need is a new TV so I was wondering if anybody was using their LCD TV as a monitor and how it looked with games.



You've tried and failed. The lesson here is, never try again. -- Homer Simpson.

Actually I had gone looking for a TV to use as a monitor, I wanted to play my games in true widescreen mode, some of the TVs [Looked at LCD and Plasma] have PC inputs but not all of them do, the reason I didn't go with a TV for a computer monitor developed when I was trying to find one that came in at the resolution I wanted to run at least 1024 x 768 but when you get to the TVs that run that res, and are PC compatable you're starting to get into some serious bucks, that would have been OK if I was going to dual purpose it and run it as a TV and a Computer Monitor, but for just a Computer Monitor I couldn't justify that much money to go the TV route.

At this point I don't regret going this route since I was after replacing my Monitor and Its specifically designed for the computer and running my games in 1280 x 1024, is like playing the games new for the first time, the games have so much detail at that resolution its really amazing the difference.

Since you want to use the TV as dual purpose you can definitely find what you're looking for just be real particular because some of the so called deals out there are just trying to unload the older technology, and a lot of them will only display at 800 x 600 resolution, watch out for that and whether its true High Definition or not. Ryan

<A HREF="http://forums.btvillarin.com/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=2541&st=0#entry20385" target="_new">My Puter</A>

If you can stand to part with the cash, plasma is the way to go. Ive got a 37" that doubles as my TV.

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Nah. I won't go plasma. Too much degredation in too short time.



You've tried and failed. The lesson here is, never try again. -- Homer Simpson.

I just bought the Viewsonic n2750w 27” 1280x720 widescreen LCD TV/monitor. I haven’t received it yet, but I went down to my local CompUSA with my HTPC in tow and hooked it up using both VGA and DVI inputs. Looked pretty good! Haven’t tried it for gaming yet, though. It’s perfect for HDTV and widescreen movies, due to its true 16:9 720p resolution. Also, there is currently a $100 rebate from certain retailers. You can get it for under $1000 shipping and tax included.

Let me know how it does with 3d games.



You've tried and failed. The lesson here is, never try again. -- Homer Simpson.

Been playing NFSU2 at 1280x720 @ highest settings with an ATI X800XL AGP. It looks incredible!

Can't vouch for any other games, and I don't think I'll be installing any more games on this rig. This is really my HTPC, not gaming PC.

Barley

Sweet! Well, if you do decide to play more games please let me know how they look. Any ghosting at all?



You've tried and failed. The lesson here is, never try again. -- Homer Simpson.