I bought a TV and use it as monitor - Things you should know before buying

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Next episode: Connecting your 4K TV to a Windows 98 machine.

[@philscomputerlab]

It was running DOS in a previous video just fine 😅

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

@@philscomputerlab Yea but now we gotta fiddle with the Nvidia or ATI drivers in 98.

[@philscomputerlab]

Fiddling is what we do best 😃

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

@@philscomputerlab but can you fiddle on the roof?

[@InAndersonWeTrust]

I did. Resolution and refresh rate incompatibilites appear. Initially my ATI 9600 Pro would install Windows 98 just fine, but when its 3.2 or 3.4 drivers were installed, it would send a 640 x 480 @ 120 Hz signal to the LG C1, which had no idea what to do with it other than say the signal format was invalid, which made the system unusable because I never found a way to change those settings via a way that didn't load the display driver. I then switched to a FX 5500 on 56.64 drivers and found some resolutions were incompatible despite being an option (not being able to use 1600 x 1200 made me angry), but mainly HDTV resolutions (720p, 1080p etc) would make the TV behave like nothing was connected to it. It wouldn't even say the format was invalid. Absolutely bizarre. Also 120 Hz was selectable, but the signal was always @ 60 Hz. And selecting GPU scaling didn't work, again making the TV think nothing was connected to it if the setting was applied.

[@thelogician9879]

I agree, I am about 80% happy with my 50" 4K TV as a monitor. I love the picture quality and the price I paid (got it used for only $200 USD several years ago). But I am jealous of the silky-smooth gameplay people get from high refresh rate monitors. I will probably upgrade to another 50" 4K TV in the next few years, this time making sure to get one that is 120Hz.

[@FoxMccloud42]

Some older Dell Ultrasharp Monitors were "Hybrids". My Ultrasharp from 2008 for example has normal monitor stuff, but also TV stuff. It has displayport, HDMI and VGA inputs, but it also has S-Video, component and cinch video like a TV. For Audio there is a soundbar add on and it has picture in picture with one button. And it all comes in a 1920x1200 16:10 Format with a nice stand.

[@Radeo]

I wish 16 : 10 1920x1200 monitors were still made. Sign me up for a 40 inch if 120hz!

[@Tallyanyer]

With Custom Resolution Utility you don't need to restart the PC everytime. You can use the restart exe they provide which will restart your GPU drivers. This is especially useful if you're using a CRT monitor and you're trying to find the proper resolution and refresh rate combo.

[@saveddijon]

If you are considering using a TV as a 4K monitor, verify that it can accept YUV4:4:4 or RGB. Many years ago my employer got a good deal on 4K TVs. Only later did we realize that the most they could do at 4K was YUV 4:1:1 and the color fringing on terminal text was quite noticeable.

[@Banderpop]

Thank you for this video! I started using a 4K TV as a monitor about a year ago, replacing a dual monitor setup. But the fringes on text made me think the TV didn't really use 3840 pixels across, like how a '720p' projector I bought two years ago turned out to really be 1024 pixels across and this really showed up on text. But your explanation of the ClearType issue matched the problem I was seeing, and trying Better ClearType Tuner myself confirmed the use of BGR pixels and finally fixed it.

[@nicholsliwilson]

I’ve been using a 32” 1080p TV as a monitor for years simply because I had it spare & it’s served me fine. Sure a proper monitor would be better but it’s doing fine for my purposes.

[@userperson5259]

YES. I use a Vizio 32" as a monitor and I love the added real estate and beautiful image and sound. I highly recommend it. This was super informative though.. I have some settings I need to check after watching this. The RGB part was all news to me. Great video.

[@msthalamus2172]

Given all the cruft they add to modern TVs, I'm far more likely to use a monitor as a TV than a TV as a monitor. Last time I bought a TV, it took me (no joke) two hours to turn all that crap off and set things up to look like it all should-- this had to be done once for every input AND every app! :/

[@philscomputerlab]

Funny how they spend so much time on processing features and we turn them all off 😅

[@franciscoserralvo6349]

@@philscomputerlab There are people that actually likes all the processing crap, no joke! 🤣🤣

[@GYTCommnts]

You are right, but with Android TV, the advantage is that (for now) you can debloat your TV with ADB and have a very responsive experience as a result. However, I totally agree with you that having all that stuff in the firmware of a freaking TV nowadays is a nightmare compared to older "dumb" models that I loved just for that. But you can still (again, for now) totally disregard "smart" capabilities, not connect the TV to Internet and use it as an old "dumb" TV with other connected device to do the "heavy lifting" in a more controlled way by the user.

[@dycedargselderbrother5353]

One of the reasons TVs are so cheap is that those app vendors subsidize the cost. It's much like how pre-installed software worked during the heyday of PC sales, late 90s through mid-00s. Only, you don't get the option to wipe and reformat a TV.

[@arlandi]

that is why I prefer to be 'dumb' with my tv

[@wettuga2762]

It's logical to reduce the size of the gaming window since you sit so close to it, and using the full resolution for desktop applications gives you much more space to work with, so it's the best of both worlds. And thank you for the 2 applications, I didn't know about them and they will certainly be useful.

[@erikmerchant567]

I've been using a very cheap (~$100) 32 inch TV with 720p resolution for retro gaming and arcade play. Works lovely with most Win98 games and there has not been a lot of negatives with the active adapting of VGA to HDMI (connected to sound output). TV speakers are decent, so I completely agree with your assessment. These cheap TVs seem to also like having composite connectors too. Great video!

[@BMPK]

and you get those TVs that record Live TV

[@MP-uk1yc]

I have done a lot of research about getting a new TV as a monitor as I want features that really only high end TVs have.. At least for moment. The one thing that comes up time and time again, is that a lot of high end TVs use a non-standard pixel layout, Normal is RGB, but things like OLED is WRGB, meaning an extra colour in the pixel and therefore the displayed text on screen may not be displayed in a crisp way as ClearType / Cleartext hasn't been updated to take this into account. This is even worse on Quantum Dot display, Neo QD or OLED QD for example, they are very different layout of colours in a triangle, with one large Green and a smaller Red and Blue underneath, this leads to a visible green outline on text, you can hide this to a degree with text scaling, but not ideal. I would strongly suggest anyone getting a TV for anything outside Pure Gaming to make sure and test them first, it is not a simple 1 for 1 replacement to a monitor. All that being said, I have a cheaper 4k Samsung as my 2nd display and has worked well as my "media" monitor, while my work monitor is a proper monitor.

[@philscomputerlab]

It's a rabbit hole 😫

[@Serial_Thriller]

My LG C2 OLED TV uses WRGB and here's my experience: Text definitely doesn't look as good as a typical LCD with a standard subpixel grid, BUT it's roughly 90% as good. I use my TV for design work so i'm very picky and care a lot about this sort of stuff, but it really isn't a big issue and doesn't bother me much. I've also tried QD-OLED and that is absolutely awful for monitor use. It's not just text, it's the *entire* desktop. The triangle shaped subpixels of QD-OLED make everything look like there's a chromatic aberration filter applied to the whole screen (those awful filters you see in so many modern games which replicate poor quality camera lenses for some bizarre reason). It's around the edges of desktop icons, window borders, text, UI... Everything has it. It's dramatically worse than WRGB and i'd never recommend QD-OLED for monitor use. I could even notice it in any games i tried, especially the UI and menus, although it's not as obvious. But as for WRGB, all the benefits of OLED more than make up for the tiny reduction in text rendering quality. When you use options like Windows Scaling (mine is set to 175% on a 77" TV) it becomes even less noticeable and generally looks good.

[@philscomputerlab]

@@Serial_Thriller I will bring a USB microscope to the shop next time I'm shopping for a TV 😅

[@scroopynooperz9051]

One of the most useful channels in the tech space - Phil knows just what tech enthusiasts are interested in tinkering in.

[@lasskinn474]

windows has a built in 'adjust cleartype text' utility too that shows you different texts for you to choose if you're not technically oriented, you just choose from few textboxes on which it looks best to you several times.

[@BilisNegra]

I know, but I doubt any of the variations in the samples include subpixel inversion (BGR instead of RGB), so it might not be very useful with a TV.

[@lasskinn474]

@@BilisNegra I think that's the first a-b test of the series of choices it makes you do looking at the pixels it makes you choose between which includes small l's with b swapped between the two samples. if the cleartype system didn't have the rgb bgr variation the more advanced tuner wouldn't probably let you adjust that either.

[@holgerwikingsen713]

One nice thing about TCL is the image quality of the analog inputs, if your model has them. The component inputs are one of the best I've ever seen (32" TCL TV from 2019 with 1080p panel), even better to my taste when I compared against a couple of Panasonic and LG TVs. The PlayStation 2 looks fantastic on component signal, AND TCL supports 240p over component! So PS1 games also run and look great. Very compatible and scales nicely to a 1080p panel. One bad commonly known issue with TCL is that the backlit and/or related circuitry goes haywire quite easily. It is usually the led strips themselves, a resistor in the motherboard or finally but rarely the motherboard. If your TV goes black then it's easy to tell if it's the backlit by using a flashlight. I'm seriously thinking to use a 3rd party externally powered led strip just grafted into the TV.

[@philscomputerlab]

It does have composite, but I didn't test the input. Also didn't test the analogue tuner, curious if it would pickup old home computers? My previous TV is also TCL and it's now over 10 years old I believe...

[@belzebub16]

12:08 VRR was also a must-have for me when I got a "TV as a monitor" 1.5 years ago, because I just hate tearing. In the end I got an LG C1, because the HDR presentation and the 120 Hz support in combination are just insanely good and I doubt there was a better monitor at that time, maybe even today.

[@AmazingPhilippines1]

Options here in the Philippines are also a bit limited but I will have to check further based on your recommendations. I do not play games and now just use a 15.6 laptop screen and really would like a larger screen.

[@PurpleSanz]

Something extremely important to consider, is to avoid still bright images like the plague. Switch your theme to dark on Windoze or Linux, install Dark Reader (Static mode) or Midnight Lizard for your internet browser, change your desktop wallpaper to a dark one, if you are watching a movie and need to pause it, pause it during a dark frame. If you need to leave the room for more than five minutes, use a screensaver or just turn the TV off. Also, don't forget to set your TV backlight setting to 50 or at least 65. You will have a huge monitor that will live forever and without any bright spots. Been using my old LG 3DTV as a monitor since 2014, still working like a champ in 2023.

[@Drebin2293]

I've been using a tv as a monitor since about 2008 with an old 47LG70. They're great in that you don't have to sit next to them. I use mine with my recliner and a piece of shelving board as a keyboard/mouse tray. I've had a few others but I picked up a 49nano85una most recently about two years ago. It's gsync compatible. Supports HDMI 2.1 and can display 4k at 120Hz. Lastly it has rudimentary HDR which can really brighten things up if your settings are right. I paid 600usd for it. I mounted it to the wall with a set of arms that gives me everything but pivot and height adjustment.

[@Angry_Indian24]

Thankyou for the upload. I connected my Hyundai 55inch smart tv to my laptop with HDMI cable and now I keep playing games all day long.

[@DarkWorldQ8]

I've been using TVs as monitors for nearly 15 years. I mostly use them as a HTPC, but I did use a smaller flat TV for a desktop replacement. Overall, they are great for watching media, playing most games, and good for browsing the internet. The biggest issue I've experienced is that usually TVs display some less common resolutions such as 900p or 768p worse than monitors, and on few TVs they won't display them at all. The other drawbacks are that some games would have unreadable text (to me) when played on a TV, and some games are designed for keyboard and mouse in mind which is not ideal when you are sitting on a sofa/couch, then again those are drawbacks when using a TV that is far from me.

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

I always solved that problem with wireless keyboards and mice. Also simply don't use uncommon resolutions. ;) Nah, that's flippant. In reality, 768p is the bane of my existence. That resolution has annoyed me since Mechwarrior 2. To be clear, none of the following involves trying to feed a 768p signal to a TV. I'm just ranting about this resolution in an unrelated way. Feel free to ignore the rest of this. First my PC wasn't fast enough to run the mode well. Actually it didn't even run 640x480 well. Also my 15" CRT could barely display that mode clearly. Some time later, I got a laptop with a 15" LCD, but it had a crappy scaler and I think 640x480 was kind of ugly on it... also too slow for 1024x768... Then 15" LCD monitors came out and it was sharp because that was its native resolution, it had a decent scaler for the low res modes, and I think I had a PC that could run it at 768p, somewhat, but by then no one was playing online. Fast forward to playing MW2 in DOSBOX today, and I can't for the life of me set it up so it will happily and cleanly display all three modes - 320x200 for the cinematics, 640x480 for the interface, and 1024x768 for the game. It wants you to set up the resolution to one mode so I set it to 1280x960 with a 2X nearest neighbor scaler so I can run it at 640x480 internally and the subsampling of YUV 4:2:0 doesn't screw up the clarity of a QSV-powered video capture. But 2048x1536 is a non-starter for QSV (I think), but definitely with my 1080p display. So yeah, eff 768p.

[@Lionsidiot]

Get a tv with bluetooth capabilities and your keyboard, mouse, and headphone issues go away. The LG B2 OLEDS are fairly priced. I use one as my daily driver for home entertainment and for pc gaming. It handles all of the resolutions of games with ease (most likely helped by having an Nvidia 3080TI connected to it). Someone said stop using uncommon resolutions and I agree. The only place I seemed to find uncommon resolutions are in options for ripping my own movies to keep in a digital library. I don't find those resolutions in any modern games from the last 15 years. So use common resolutions only. VIZIO makes a decent QLED line of TVS, and TCL does also if one is looking to save a buck. You can find 43in TVS with 120Hz refresh rates relatively easy. I am considering one for my office setup.

[@ilmudunia3142]

Nice. I've considering buying a TV for my PC but had 'not so pleasant experience' before. I know there may be some setting that I may need to configure. Thank you for sharing. Will try these later.

[@chucktrier9586]

If you want over the air TV, try a coax cable with just the center copper wire exposed at the other end for a few inches. If you are in a city, you will be surprised at how many channels you get. You can easily switch between TV and Monitor with the input. Also put a BeeLink computer on the back a few years ago and that has run a lot since a few years ago. 1080p 24" TV. Nicely done and informative video, by the way!

[@AetCount]

You look so much more comfortable talking to the camera compared to the first video where you showed yourself. Glad to see you so confident!

[@natrajkamboj]

I have been using TV as monitor for last 10 years with no problem

[@EdwardRLyons]

I'm looking to upgrade back to a desktop computer later this year, from my current gaming laptop, and I've contemplated using a TV as a monitor for the larger screen size for flight simming. The pointers in this video are very useful for that. Thank you!

[@Lionsidiot]

Flight simming on a 65in OLED using the whole screen is amazing. Any game looks beyond fantastic on a good OLED.

[@pancudowny]

Actually, the best audio delivery--when used with any source--is had with a good component stereo system. I recall the 6-speaker/5-channel setup I used in my room, which included a pair of tune-able 3-way floor speakers w/12" poly cone & foam surround woofers. The receiver had a "bass boost" function that negated the need for a sub-woofer rather well, while a pair of Bose compact "reflectors" handled the rear channels. The result was that when a friend poked his head in, as I was streaming Christmas carols, he got a look of impressed surprise to his face. BTW: My "monitor" is a 4K 65" JVC... which hangs upon the wall, as I sit across the room on my bed.(Gotta love Bluetooth accessories!😉)

[@00tich]

I have a 43" TCL Roku TV with HDR and it is fantastic as a monitor. using fancy zones on Windows makes it 4 21" monitors. have had it since 2020 and I would highly recommend. I wired the TV headphone out to bose computer speakers so any of the 3 computers I have connected play the sound to the Bose speakers. I have no issues with text display. Looks great

[@captain_zed]

I use a TV for my main monitor, a 55" OLED. I'm quite happy with it, but it's used primarily for games. My secondary monitor is where I do most of my productivity and web browsing to avoid any image retention issues with the OLED. Some people would be hesitant to use 55", but I find it quite enjoyable to be so immersed in what's going on.

[@IntelCoreI77700K]

I use a c1 48" as my only monitor, 1 year in no sign of burn in.

[@wasd____]

Thanks, Phil! In this era of the last of the few remaining CRTs becoming harder and harder to get at any sane price, I'm always on the lookout for monitor options and alternatives that might be useful.

[@eirinym]

I do have a TCL 55" 4K TV. It looks decent for the price, which was less than $300. That said, it doesn't have a very good backlight I can easily tell. Depending on the image, you can easily see the bleed around the edges. Most of the time, no, but on occasion, yeah.

[@atari2600b]

You probably have the 4-series. The 5-series slapped. At least until they changed to Google & China started nerfing the panel calibration profile on exports

[@johnarnold893]

I've been using a 46" Sharp TV as a monitor since 2006 and it works perfect. I also have a 52" Sharp as a monitor in another room. They both work great. Streaming using a TV only sucks compared to using a Computer for the internet link.

[@Trance88]

I use an LG 4K TV as a monitor for my living room multimedia computer setup. I took some of your advice and changed the video settings to "Game" mode. I have a datacolor SpiderX to properly calibrate the colors and brightness etc so now it looks really good!

[@Konkretertyp]

I'm using my Philips HDTV as a PC monitor since around 9 years now and haven't had huge issues with it. Because it has a PC Mode in the settings, the picture is as good as on a standard HD monitor with almost no inputlag and the sound of the speaker is really good for my taste (it's a slightly thicker TV, that has nice speakers build in). Only issue now, is that after all these years, the brightness of the Monitor has gotten darker, but it is something i would expect after 10 year of use.

[@iGh43]

Great! I use a mac mini m2, with a 50" Philips 50PUS8505/12 (MVA Panel, 60Hz). Thanks a lot, have a great Sunday!

[@ilovemonkeyos]

I’ve using a 43” Vizio TV as a monitor myself for the last couple of years and I’m perfectly happy with it. I run 1080p for my games at 60FPS, and it’s great. It is a “smart” TV but it’s an older model that just… works. It doesn’t have nearly as much hassle and crud as new, current Smart TVs. Hopefully, when it comes time to replace the thing, there will still be models that are relatively basic for this purpose. That, or maybe we’ll have monitors that are 40” and under $700 USD (staring at you, Aorus FV43U).

[@ClearerThanMud]

I have been using a 49" curved Samsung TV as a monitor for years. Lots of fiddling with settings, of course, but it has worked out pretty well. The curve increases the area that I can see head on and at the same distance (so my glasses can focus on them well). It was surprisingly inexpensive, something like $300; just wait until early spring for closeouts on last year's model.

[@Skott62]

Last December I bought a LG 42inch C2 Oled 4k tv and use it as a pc gaming monitor. I love it!

[@philscomputerlab]

Very nice!

[@o.b.7217]

40 years ago, I ran my C-64 exclusively on my TV.

[@cyberloner]

😆😆😆

[@RedChevy79]

I have went through several rounds of using a TV as a monitor. I finally found the perfect albeit expensive solution. LG OLED is the way to go! The clarity is unbelievable, and there is an app to controll turning it on and off when the computer goes to sleep or is turned off and on.

[@mistermudpie]

I've been using an LG LD465 32" TV as my main monitor for almost 12 years now. No issues, solid experience. I will keep happily using it until it gives up the ghost, at which point it will be a bit of a puzzle to decide on the best choice for its successor.

[@taxineil1]

I have 3 TV's around the house and all of them have an old desktop PC plugged into the back of them which I find very useful.The only one with a slight issue is my JVC 40" android TV which displays the screen slightly to large.I drag each browser or program in a bit to overcome this as I haven't been able to do it via settings.I have a 65" Samsung TV in living room with a 2014 HP Pavillion 500 series plugged into the back which works perfectly. I use an HDMI splitter from amazon to swap from PC to Xbox due to lack of HDMI inputs on TV.also display port to HDMI adapters to connect the older PC's. Its a lot better use of old PC's rather than just dumping them. Editing to say I sorted JVC settings by manually adjusting the screen via properties/advanced setting.

[@bigbadjohnpesek9894]

I use my 65" led tv as a monitor for my android box. Love it. Its just the right size.

[@dadgamer6717]

Another thing I used to do was turn it into ultrawide. Set up a custom resolution for 21:9 with back bars top and bottoms. Was great for football games as I could see more of the pitch and where my players were!

[@philscomputerlab]

Great tip!

[@ran2wild370]

I stared using 47"as a monitor 11 years ago, when I bought then new 3D LG. And it is still running as a KZbin viewing panel, being connected to a PC. I switched back to a 24" budget Dell monitor with matte screen.

[@SansNeural]

I've been using a 43" TCL 4k TV as my monitor since at least a year before the pandemic and I love it. It cost me US $198 (before sales tax). It's great for coding or any other task that benefits from having many windows or documents open.

[@ronk9830]

I have two desktop computers, one in my living room, and one in my office, both connected to TV monitors. Very happy with both. I had little trouble setting the resolution on both, you just have to experiment with it a bit if you don't like the "recommended" settings. It wasn't as involved as the "tweaks" in the video, which may be desired for gaming.

[@helidrones]

I am using a 65“ Panasonic industrial plasma display as a monitor and tv. The downside is that it is just 1080p and pretty power hungry. On the positive side it works reliably without any defect since more than 15 years and it keeps me warm on cold winter days

[@shaneeslick]

G'day Phil, I have a LG 42" 3D (1080p) Tv connected to a PC in my bedroom, it was my lounge room Tv until my old bedroom tv died & I upgrade the lounge room to an LG 55" C1. I have not bothered with any setting but after watching this video I will look into it.

[@mbraun777]

I splurged a while back on a large LG OLED TV for a PC monitor. Other than the text issue you mentioned, I am quite pleased with it's performance. Though it has several HDMI ports, I would prefer that it had at least one Display Port input. I know there are a few large monitors available, but I will wait for them to become more commonplace, and the technology to mature.

[@mbraun777]

EDIT. Forgot to mention. If someone is considering using an OLED TV as a PC monitor, it can be prone to pixel burn-in. Therefore, I do these 3 things to minimize this. 1) Use a solid black background. 2) Set the taskbar to auto-hide. 3) Set up blank screen saver for 3 minutes - no password.

[@NautilusGuitars]

I've been using 48" Tv's as monitors for probably 15 years with no issues. I do everything with them. Gaming, photo/video editing (I have to do final color on an IPS monitor), music production, movies, etc. The amount of space was my biggest motivation, and I cannot go back to a small monitor. I haven't noticed many issues at all. Some games can become laggy, but that's very rare. I like the full display resolution, as it's more immersive. Today it's more common, but when I started doing this, so many people were impressed by the setup haha. I often had a dual monitor setup with a large format tv as my main monitor, and a smaller monitor as a secondary. I've never known about these issues, so I'm interested to try them out and see if it improves my experience. I've never really noticed anything at all that bothers me, but perhaps I'm complacent.

[@Jackpkmn]

This CRU utility solved a long standing issue i had with my laptop. That being that it had 2 refresh rate options, 120hz and 48hz. And it had this option that turned the refresh rate down while on battery, which makes sense but going from 120hz to 48hz is too jarring. But also it caused problems with some games that wanted a not 120hz refresh, i had one that wanted 60hz, and since 48 is closer to 60 than 120 is it would set that run at 48fps and be running at only 80% of full speed it was weird. I was able to remove the 48hz option and install a 60hz option and now it's perfect. Thank you so much Phil! And thank you so much ToastyX!

[@philscomputerlab]

Awesome 😍

[@blinkenlights]

I use a cheap TCL TV as a primary monitor (3 monitor setup) with HDMI pass-through from my Atmos reciever> It works fairly well, and makes watching movies or playing video games fairly pleasant. There are some hiccups (mainly when turning TV on and off, due to pass-through), but things like the clear-type tuner really does help text clarity, and I find it worthwhile.

[@Ki6465]

Ive been using a LG C2 OLED 42" as a monitor for my main gaming pc for about 2 months now. Once you go OLED, there is no going back. It’s a sight to behold every time I turn on my PC.

[@philscomputerlab]

Nice!

[@kadinzaofelune]

Doing it myself for the time being. Cheap 32 in. TCL from Walmart, but still full HD.

[@lukemarvin]

For Windows you've got to get Microsoft Power Toys and the Fancy Zones tool. It let's you create custom zone sizes and snap Windows into them. I use a TV at my stand up desk and split it up into the equivalent of 3 vertical monitors. Or you could make a smaller centre zone for playing games in windowed mode. I love it.

[@philscomputerlab]

I did play with the fancy zones tool but couldn't really find a good use. I use Window snap mostly, snapping windows into the 4 corners. I would love to have a snap that resized a window to 1080 or 1440 or something like that.

[@fuckgoogle3335]

@@philscomputerlab try using the canvas layout when creating a new template. It allows you to make any window sizes you want with over lapping etc

[@enosunim]

Cool! Great video as always! I never think of BGR inversion in TV screens! But I knew about this PC thing. Even on TVs which does not have direct image settings, there is often an option, to give a name for you HDMI and other sockets. Well, I thought, what does that changes? And yes it changes everything. It is not for user to distinguish where you plug console and where PC. This is really how TV actually works with the socket. I renamed my HDMI to PC and image become vivid and without any distortion, input lag was also much lower.

[@ridealongwithrandy]

Hey! Good stuff. I live in a small apartment, and my 4k 48" TV is my monitor for 3 laptops via digital HDMI, also have HDMI from my Tablet. TV and tablet are Samsung. I am a photographer and You-tuber, and I love seeing my photos on the big 4k'er. I don't have cable so I stream to the TV. Also the TV is wireless to my router, so then I can watch whatever without turning on any computer. I'm an uber geek, and my house is networked like a small company and the TV is the central point of the network. BTW, everything set to 1920x1080 native, the best for my old eyes! Cheers!

[@BandanazX]

The TV space is kind of a mess right now. HDMI 2.1 as a standard has been diluted by a bunch of TVs which only partially support the technology; only supporting 40Gbps, no 4:4:4, no VRR, etc. Also, as you discovered, anything less than IPS or OLED will have viewing angle issues... and of course OLED has burn in. Also features like screen turn-off for inactivity aren't supported on TVs. Once you take all that into consideration, you can either accept the TVs shortcomings, or decide to spend more, or even get an actual monitor. I bought a 32" 1440p monitor as a stopgap for a few years while waiting for standards to mature (DP 2.0), and product offerings to improve. That being said, you are spot on about that 44-48" UHD (not 4k) being the sweet spot.

[@GYTCommnts]

I have the same brand and was just wanting some tips for this exact usage and you delivered, as always! In my case I'm very happy with the TV, mainly because the possibility of debloating the O.S. with ADB, and having a very responsive experience as a result. You're right about the 60hz refresh rate, however I didn't have any issues so far connecting a notebook and some retrogaming consoles to the TV. Very sharp image, nice colors, low latency. I'm very satisfied with the price / quality relationship. That being said, I yet have to try to use it as a "monitor" in a proper full PC experience.

[@kjrchannel1480]

I use TV's with a still very useful VGA connector. Sure they are native 720 give or take. What I have issues with is a mismatch in true resolution tables between the Tv, operating systems and graphics drivers. Then there is the overscan hassles that can occur when using SBC's that have limited or poorly written generic graphics software. I would like to see the TV format to go to 16:10, or 5:3 Instead of follow the way too wide movie theater format. Remember the days when a 4:3 image would be fill a screen, Then wide-screen movie bars. Now there is UHD bars on the HD TV. Using TV's for a PC monitor is a good idea especially if they are early HDMI in my opinion.Not many people can say they can use a Rpi 3 b+ on a 60 inch Mitsubishi Rear projection 4:3 TV using composite and be perfectly happy with it. I can get it to appear to have 1024x768 resolution. It also has no LCD screen door appearance. I still game on CRT TV's because it looks better to me.

[@rightwingsafetysquad9872]

I tried to use a TV as a monitor before. I knew why text looked like crap but didn't know about the utility to fix it. Speakers that don't make you yearn for the glory days of silent movies are a definite plus.

[@PikaStu666]

I used a fairly low price LG 4k 43" TV as a monitor for a while. It turned out is wasn't actually native 4k due to the WRGB pixel layout. From what I could understand, it meant it only had three quarters of the 3840 pixels on the horizontal axis as it had to fit in the white subpixels. I now use a 1440p curved ultrawide monitor as I work from home, it provides a much sharper image.

[@philscomputerlab]

Interesting, haven't heard of this issue yet...

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Basically what I did with my old 32" Samsung 'smart' tv when I built my retro gaming space in a corner of the basement. I also plan on running cables so both of desktops can switch from my dual monitors to my 4k uhd tv

[@MechaFenris]

Great video. Back when 32" LCD computer monitors were quite expensive, I bought a cheap 32" TV for my PC. It was great... now that I have a 32" 2k monitor which I got at a great price, I use the 32" TV in the kitchen. :) And thanks to HDMI and RetroTinks, I can use my SNES and Genesis on my PC monitor. :) My computer desk is quite old and has a "portal" that won't put much larger than a 40" in the cubby hole. One day I might get a new desk, but this one has been so great, I don't want to change it. :) Plus it's too heavy to move without dismantling it. :) It would be nice though, to have a 4K TV on my computer desk... :)

[@00tich]

I've been using a TCL Roku TV 4k for 2 years . I have 3 computers 2 dell laptops and an Intel NUC and I switch back and forth without any problems. I don't play video games so for me its worked perfectly and looks fantastic. I use HDMI audio to the TV and a 1/8 audio out to my Bose computer speakers

[@H31MU7]

I use a Sony A80J 65" for a monitor on a PC, runs at 4K120hz and with a LP 1650 it's even alright for light gaming! I would love one of those RTX A2000 cards though...

[@victorlowe]

I been using my living room tv as a computer monitor ever since computers could output to hdmi and keyboards and mice could be wireless. Couch computing is awesome. And most optical mice will work just fine on the arm of the couch. I also put my phone hdmi'd to the tv whenever i end up playing a phone game, thanks to nearly universal compatibility of usb c docking stations. But, you know, grats on putting a tv on your computer desk LOL so inovative man, you are blowing people's minds, i'm sure.

[@LactoseIntolerant01]

I use a LG C1, it is awesome. You just need to use dark mode for most stuff.

[@klenchr3621]

Wow....for more comprehensive than I expected. You made an exceptional guide and are convincing me to just buy a TV for my computer.

[@philscomputerlab]

Great to hear!

[@PorscheRacer14]

The first time I got my ATI 64MB DDR VIVO installed in my PC, I played some Need for Speed. Once everyone went to bed I dragged it over to the 48" projection TV and played it until I passed out. It was only 1024x768 and not the 1600x1200 the CRT could do, but it was so cool seeing it on "the big screen" hooked up to the Hi-Fi. I see this as a natural progression, really. I was trying to remember that guys name that made that app. Apparently my memory was failing me so thanks for that. ToastyX!!

[@5226-p1e]

I've been doing this for roughly a full decade now, although you have some advantages that I don't, for example I'm not using a smart tv, I'm using old fashioned no network television system. But it's not too old that I can use an HDMI hookup to my PC. But I've been happy with it for this full decade, and I haven't thought of upgrading it either, it's an LED screen, and the reason why I got it was because someone convinced me to get it based off of what I was thinking of using, you see I thought that it would be cool if I got a projector, because I can make the screen as big as I want, problem with projectors especially at the time, they didn't last for very long, and the person who convinced me to get a TV instead recommended getting an LED screen specifically because it'll last much longer. The weird thing is I have seen people use smart screens, and I've noticed a lot of smart screens tend to die after 3 to 5 years, for example my mom she's gone through two separate smart screens, and that's within the 10-year bracket of my TV that's not a smart TV, something seems to be wrong with those Smart TVs where they don't last quite as long they're just not as resilient, I wish I knew what was wrong with them so that it could be fixed, but it's kind of bizarre they always seem to last three to five years, I keep wondering how much longer my TV will last, I mean there was a point in time when I was just using the light on my TV to create light in my room because I rarely use my overhead light in my room, but I have my TV set to turn itself off after a certain period of time to conserve the life of it, but I can't remember how many hours this thing was rated at, all I know is it was a crazy high number that I doubt I'll ever see the day, but who knows technology tends to go bad after a while including cell phones, nowadays cell phones have the problem with their battery dying the phone will still run, but the battery when it runs at the end of its cycle life, it's pretty much over at that point, this is why I don't like the built-in batteries and devices, with the older devices you could easily remove that battery for a new one and you could allow that device to last a lot longer, because believe it or not your device will actually last a fairly long period of time, but a lot of phone companies that make these cell phones pretty much engage in what's called planned obsolescence, and I've seen this on a few of my phones, they end up getting really slow after a while, you can do everything you can to make that not happen, but there's a limit to how long you can make the tech last. And that's just smartphones were talking about.

[@geraldmcmullon2465]

I used a 24" 1920x1200 main monitor and a 1920x1080 49" TV as second monitor. 4K films are becoming more available and I upgraded my camera to a 4K one. I changed to a 32" 4K monitor. I found that when moving a window from the main screen to the TV it was bouncing back unless I resized and moved it to the top of the screen before moving across. I decided I did not want a TV receiver so got a 65" touch panel as used in training and education. The advantage is that chance of screen burn is much lower than on most TV screens (Window frames and static content burn in OLED TVs). The disadvantages include not the best possible image and costing 2 to 3 times as much. Although these can be mounted on a wall I got a stand/trolley costing more than a 65" TV would. My 49" TV is still working well. Resale of this 1200 GBP is about 80 GBP now. So the 2500GBP on the display panel is likely to last over 10 years by which time 16k screens might exist. In using 4K Windows will recommend a 1.5x or 2x font size. Not every application scales correctly and some menu and drop downs are not scaled and difficult to select. If I switch on the 65" screen some time later (it times out if not used) some programs assume it is a 1080p screen and will fill a quarter of it instead of the whole panel or not scale the font correctly.

[@Jondedy]

Besides the awesome video. Wow. I see a face! For many years now I have been wondering what face was behind the voice and I’m so happy to see such a kind face matching perfectly with the kind voice. Nice to meet you! 😊😊

[@Serial_Thriller]

I've used TV's as monitors for over 15 years. Right now i have a 77" LG C2 OLED TV (i sit far back). The viewing angle problem you mention is not an issue with OLED, or at the very least it's dramatically less of an issue than with any type of LCD display because OLED has vastly superior viewing angles. You also get 120Hz + VRR/G-Sync on the LG C2. I couldn't live without these things now... 9:50 That's not typical behaviour. Most TV's (even many older ones) will not have black bars when switching to a non-native res. I know you're ok with it but that would entirely put me off. My main issue with TV's in general these day is the glossy screens, especially for monitor use. No matter how dark the room is, you'll always see reflections on these LG OLED TV's and most competitors. Even in a pitch black room the light from the TV alone is enough to cause reflections on darker areas of the screen. RGB keyboards/mice have blatantly obvious reflections. The better contrast gained by glossy coatings is ruined by reflections, so you don't actually gain anything. Black levels are obviously excellent with OLED but they're never as dark as they can be because there's always reflections on them to some extent, and i mean literally always. There's also the issue with LG Display manufactured OLED's (which Sony, Panasonic, Philips and many others use) and how text is displayed due to the WRGB subpixel layout, as mentioned in your vid. Text isn't quite as good looking as a typical LCD monitor because of this. But it's a very minor difference that is blown out of proportion. Barely bothers me, and i do graphic design work so i'm very picky with this stuff, but it's really not a huge deal. It's nowhere near as bad as Samsung's QD-OLED TV's which are completely unusable as a monitor as far as i'm concerned. BTW if there's no Game mode or similar setting then i'd never recommend using a TV as a monitor because even just moving the mouse cursor will have blatant input lag. It's very important to always check this stuff out first on sites like RTINGS, and channels like HDTVtest or Hardware Unboxed/Monitors Unboxed. LG OLED's currently have input latency that is better than almost all gaming monitors currently available, including ones that have much higher refresh rates.

[@philscomputerlab]

Great points! I would love a glossy panel, my 2012 TCL TV has a glossy panel and it is beautiful...

[@TonyGarrett-p1c]

I use a Visio 32" TV as a third monitor. I use it mostly to watch KZbin videos and other, downloaded videos and movies. It seem to work quite well for that at least.

[@thundercat_pumyra]

I got an LG CS OLED 4k 120hz recently. It was on sale $1100 off. I couldn't be happier. Never had a good monitor before now. All my previous ones have been "good enough." But damn, this really makes a huge difference. Only problem is that the smallest size screen is 55". That wouldn't even fit on my desk and would be too large to look at. I wound up getting a plastic folding table and put it behind the desk for the TV to sit on. Now I have so much more desk space because the space taken by the monitor is freed up, and even have some extra room on the table. And the extra distance between me and the screen really makes the 55" screen seem not so large.

[@toms.1417]

You have a really nice complexion! Great skin!!

[@clintwedel5704]

I've been rocking a Samsung 40" 4k TV as my monitor for 4 years now. Highly recommend, tho now i want 50"! A seemless desktop far superior to a 2 or 3 monitor setup, I can scale and tile my programs as needed. And the sound is so much better than even descent PC speaker setups.

[@mrgtmodernretrogamingtech6891]

I've been using TV as Monitor for my Basic PC (Browsing Net and Office App) in my living room as entertainment device. You were right Phil about it's picture quality, kinda poor in text and acceptable in media and gaming. You have to set up the TV in PC Mode but Gaming Mode is better in Display Quality (Cinematic Mode is CRAP), but challenging if you have cheap crappy Chinese TV which it's really hard to setup it's resolution where the desktop view is missing in some parts (left, right, bottom, top) I experience that in my client's PC who's want to cheap out his parts, and boy that was a hard to fix I tell yah. Buy the way, thanks Phil for the Custom Resolution Utility!

[@XPLOSIVization]

Ive been using my 46 inch 1080p 60Hz TV for a few years now and still love it, I did have a 32 inch 4k monitor before but to be honest it was too small for me and to notice any benefits in the image i had to sit really close so i gave it away to a friend who appreciated it more, for me at 1080p and 74cm away from the TV it is perfect, and the only thing i recently upgraded was my Graphics card which is a AMD RX 6800, which should last me a few good years at 1080p and everything on ultra in my games

[@philscomputerlab]

Yup I felt the same with a 32" 4K monitor, had to use display scaling and I felt that a 1440p monitor would have been better.

[@cheater00]

i wish for BGR displays you could just give up two pixels of width and have like a 3838x2160 resolution that just shifts the subpixel pattern a little. it wouldn't make much difference for resolution but it would just make text look better and more compatible. also, bear in mind that it makes a difference in games - anti-aliasing is aware of subpixels and BGR will confuse it, making edges look more jaggy.

[@Leeki85]

Windows has built-in tool for setting different sub-pixel types. Windows supports RGB, BGR and their vertical variants to. Mac OS doesn't use sub-pixel smoothing at all. Mac OS has no UI scaling it can only do integer values 1x, 2x, 3x etc. For values in between it renders image at higher resolution and downscales it. You can see that in 13,3" Macbooks. They have 2560x1600 resolution, but their configured to work as 1440x900 points, so Mac OS is rendering image at 2880x1800 and scales it to 2560x1600.

[@cheater00]

@@Leeki85 the issue is it often doesn't work.

[@evergreengamer5767]

been using 42inch phillips tv for years and for gaming being able to game from comfort of the futon in a large room with directional surround sound sent to the home theater system is really enjoyable

[@AlexSeesing]

Finally a face to the voice! Maybe I'm oddly late to notice but no complains from here. Thinking you gathered quite a big public with only your hands, I can see how millennials will start building their 486 retro computers with your friendly face to guide them. I wish there was someone to do the same for me to build a proper PDP-11 or something.

[@sharg0]

Another thing that might be important are the stands. TV stands tend to be less stable - mine tipped over when a cable snatched something while adjusting desk height. Monitors are made to be in a more "active" environment (and add cats, kids...)

[@RudeRecording]

I'm currently using a TCI 43S435 as a second monitor for my desktop i9 based audio/video editing workstation. Been pretty happy with it so far, I mostly have problems with proper scaling of GUI of some programs. My primary monitor is a LG HDR WFHD.

[@listerdave1240]

Thanks, I had no idea about the reasons for the Cleartype problem. I've been using a Panasonic 49" 4K TV for a few years now and I'm happy with it. It makes life so much easier for my work having all that space to avoid constantly switching windows. The only downside has been the slight colour fringing on the text. I could never figure out why this was happening and had just resigned to accepting it as it is. The BetterCleartype Tuner has now fixed that so everything is now just perfect :-) As for the settings one can select different modes for each of the inputs. There isn't one which specifically says PC but I just set it to auto detect and everything worked fine, except the mentioned cleartype fringing. I also have a 22" secondary monitor on each side and those now have the fringes after running the tuner but it doesn't matter as they are secondary monitors and not what I am reading from most of the time.

[@erictrauman2879]

Been running a pc tv since w xp with vga. W7 with hdmi. Same. Turn off all tv settings. Sit on couch with control to relax or pull up card table to kb m.

[@gummansgubbe6225]

I used an old LG 49", it worked very good. So pleased that I got a TCL for another system. Big mistake! Powertools zones make for a very nice windows experience on the screen. Much better thanntwo or three smaller screens.

[@lexluthermiester]

@PhilsComputerLab I've been running Dual displays since 2007 and usually use a TV as the secondary display. This is so I can have my PC and game systems all plugged in at one location. 4k is nice, but I have found that for gaming a 27" 1440p display for the primary display and a 1080p TV for the secondary is perfect for most gaming situations.

[@stevekemble8911]

I got a Samsung 32" 1080p TV as my main monitor in 2011 and am still using it today (VESA wall mounted to free up desk space). In the past, I would use the extra HDMI ports to switch to my PS3 or connect up a PC on my desk that I was building or working on. I leave an HDMI cable plugged into the TV for those uses. I would love to find an affordable 4k in 40" to replace the 32". Then I can convert this 32" back to a TV and put it in a spare room.

[@glasslinger]

Modern TV's auto detect the proper screen resolution. If you manually set manually sometimes you will get a circle looking like an oval. Mine is a Roku Element set and it looks great!

[@tmilker]

I've been using a 4K 49-inch curved Samsung TV as a monitor since 2017 and it's been pretty great. Without the curve, 49 inches is probably a little too big for how close it is but with the curve it's just right for me. The LCD is getting worn out in spots where my static window layouts are and I'm going to miss it when I have to replace it.

[@ffwast]

When I got my screen tvs were the only ones with the feature set I wanted anyways. OLED,120hz,4k

[@davidg5898]

If your computer recognizes the TV, it should be doing the RGB/BGR conversion automatically to give best results. Unfortunately, this is less likely to happen on lower end TVs. A potential hacky fix for TVs not recognized/corrected for: VESA mount the TV upside down. Go into the TV's service menu and rotate it by 180° (many TVs have a rotate option for digital signage use, but some only offer 90° and 270° -- find and consult a TV's service manual before trying/buying if this is your intention). Instead of going into the TV's service menu, you could tell your video card to rotate the display 180°. But different OSs behave differently and it might automatically compensate for the flipped pixel orientation and still give you the same problem.

[@philscomputerlab]

Very good points! I read somewhere that certain features like g-sync have issues when rotated. But rotating in the service menu would solve all this, very clever!

[@wotdoesthisbuttondo]

I got a 32 inch TV i connect with PC via VGA which means no sound but i don't want crap TV sound so i put audio into the stereo system via auxiliary then get nice loud bassy spacious stereo.

[@Deathwatch31]

I picked up an apple cinema display 27" a couple years ago for free and it's been the best. Crisp, sharp 1440p and excellent colors. I adapted the mini displayport to regular DP to use on my windows PC. It's awesome for viewing youtube and not too bad for gaming. Can't complain. Really premium display and it still beats out most monitors available with the build quality/materials used for an almost decade old display. 9/10

[@romanrm1]

I use an LG 42" 4K TV as my monitor since 2014. Had no problem whatsoever, really happy. But of course it is only 60 Hz and no variable refresh rate too.

[@jedics1]

I haven't owned a tv for 20 years but I have also wanted a monitor with far better blacks for almost as long, I have been surprised at how long it has taken for any progress to be made in the monitor world. Ive recently been looking at the TCL C835 purely because I know its specs are the same world wide rather than the silly buggers they play with Australian models. I agree with sending a cropped 1440p image, especially now I need glasses and I need to be within arms length for them to be in focus and of course I don't need to take out a mortgage for a video card that can drive 4K@120hz. I still want an OLED monitor at 27"1440p or 32"4K with reasonable brightness. I will wait for the extra brightness of this years tv's to come to OLED monitors before I buy.

[@fred-youtube]

Have you tried far glasses

[@mesterak]

Happy Friday Phil! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@philscomputerlab]

Thank you!