Using a TV as a large monitor

[sbk1972]

Hi all

My second replacement monitor has now got black lines going through, always in the most used areas too.

Im tired of buying monitors and noticed that there are lots of old 2nd 42 / 45inch tv's on Facebook, and perhaps I could use these as monitors.

Surely you can use a smartish TV for a monitor ? My laptop has a hdmi port so as long as the TV has a hdmi port then cook yes ? What do I do about drivers on my laptop ? Do I need to try and download a driver for the TV ?

I like the idea of a 42inch tv as a monitor.

Simon

[RicksAlfas]

I did this a while ago as I didn't have room for a TV and a monitor in the room. Worked fine using an HDMI cable. Don't think I even needed a driver. But I did feel like it was too big a screen and it wasn't the most comfortable working with it on a relatively small table.

[bobthemonkey]

It works - but if its only a 1080p screen, it will look it bit rubbish, especially at close distance.

Plenty of people were/are using the 1st Gen 42 and 48 inch 4k LG OLEDs as monitors, and other than a bit of image retention, it works well.

[Freakuk]

My experience is that a large monitor doesn't have the resolution of a decent monitor, but that is coming from experience a few years ago on a 65" TV casting not HDMI

[Mr Pointy]

The pixels-per-inch number is going to be poor compared to a monitor & you'll be working much closer to it than you would when watching it as a TV.

[Alorotom]

I have 2x 32" Samsung Frame TVs to compliment my Mac and its a great setup IMO.

No drivers needed at all and just works seamlessly - my only issue (its with the version of Frames I have) is that there is an accelerometer in the TVs and I was wanting to use them vertically but its gets messed up between the accelerometer and MacOS settings (and ive been through the developer settings / hidden menus / etc. trying to resolve it unsuccessfully.

[LuS1fer]

I have an original X-Box which is fine on a 32" Samsung, even at distance.

[Mr E]

I ran a Sony 32 as a monitor for a while.
It was too big for the resolution. It was primarily for the console, with the pc as a secondary use.

I would not have liked to have used it for hours per day.

[BlackTails]

I’ve had a 43” monitor and found it not great. I found it quite difficult to use the whole screen efficiently.

2 x 30” or 32” is my sweet spot. You can pick up Dell Ultrasharp screens in this sizes on eBay pretty cheap if you’re patient. I’m currently sitting in front of a pair of 32” screens running pin sharp at 3840x2160. Both eBay buys.

[CDP]

I bought a 32" Acer 4k monitor for £200 from Currys a couple of weeks ago. Being so large there is a little bit of a viewing angle issue at the edges but it's not so bad as not to be a perfectly useable work monitor. Maybe an extra £100 or so on a curved Samsung or Philips would have been better but this is fine for the job I need and cheap. The internal speakers are very tinny but I use external items.

[bobthemonkey]

BlackTails said:

I’ve had a 43” monitor and found it not great. I found it quite difficult to use the whole screen efficiently.

2 x 30” or 32” is my sweet spot. You can pick up Dell Ultrasharp screens in this sizes on eBay pretty cheap if you’re patient. I’m currently sitting in front of a pair of 32” screens running pin sharp at 3840x2160. Both eBay buys.

Also, don't underestimate the benefit of getting a taller monitor - it adds a lit of usable space without forcing you to pan your head as much. Typical sold as a 3:2 aspect ratio as opposed to 16:9.

[TameRacingDriver]

34" ultrawides are cheap now and I find it about a perfect balance of size and resolution.

[OutInTheShed]

A few times, we've used our 43 inch 4k TV as a monitor.
It's good when 3 or 4 people want to discuss and edit something.

[sgrimshaw]

One if my customers used 42" and 46" LG TVs extensively in meeting rooms etc for presentations etc, were also used for MS Office/Projects and Visio etc.

All worked very well via HDMI, one thing was you needed to be further away from the screen than you would be if sat at a desk ... around 1.5m was a good distance to be comfortable.

[gangzoom]

sbk1972 said:

I like the idea of a 42inch tv as a monitor.

As others have said 42inches for working at a desk is massive, and I suspect your need 8k resolution to deliver resolution needed to make the display look good.

What are you using the monitor for? Screen are so cheap now go for something high resolution versus just size.

[wyson]

Someone in another thread posted something about how tv’s have been optimised to render colour and image for video and not static images, and you’ll get worse image quality for office work / web browsing etc.

I’d always go for the right tool for the job.

[reggie747]

I've been using my (cheapish) Hisense 65" TV as my only monitor with my Mac mini for about 4yrs now.
Admittedly, it's not right under my nose on a desk, it's wall mounted at sitting height about 10 feet away but it does everything I want it to do, surf, photo editing, word processing etc.

Bluetooth track pad and keyboard, can't really fault the set up.

[JoshSm]

43" isn't particularly extreme, I've got an LG monitor on my desk that size plus a couple of 16:10 24" ones, plus the laptop.

As a 4K screen it's basically directly equivalent in DPI to a 22" 1080p one, so fine for most normal use just extra space to play in; handy when you're running multiple VM consoles or have lots of code open or anything else that needs room.

The original party trick it was bought for was being able to tile four HDMI 1080p inputs at the same time at 1:1 which has been handy. Not sure any TVs support that, guess that's one reason the monitor cost a premium vs a TV that size.


If you are using a TV driven from a PC you'll soon become aware of any input lag if it doesn't want to play nicely; a mouse pointer is a great way to show up the tiniest delay.

[CDP]

JoshSm said:

43" isn't particularly extreme, I've got an LG monitor on my desk that size plus a couple of 16:10 24" ones, plus the laptop.

As a 4K screen it's basically directly equivalent in DPI to a 22" 1080p one, so fine for most normal use just extra space to play in; handy when you're running multiple VM consoles or have lots of code open or anything else that needs room.

This. I'm using mine for embedded software development Nice big code window plus plenty of space for serial terminal, Wireshark etc. It's the real estate that makes it so worthwhile. I could quite easily stick another 32" in if I needed more space. Admittedly I'm also using my laptop display underneath.

You'd need a very powerful PC for 4k gaming to be really good.

[maffski]

I use a 2nd gen LG OLED 42 inch.

For gaming & media consumption it's great.

For office work / development it's not so good, but OK if you get the settings right.

When developing I tend to work in the bottom 2/3rds of the screen and treat it like it's an ultra wide.