Economics of monitors

[blueonblack]

Ok, so I just got my first flat-panel television. It's a 42-inch plasma, and I just got done playing a couple of games and Web surfing on it with my PC. The picture was awesome. My question is, why can I buy a 42-inch plasma television that functions extremely well as a monitor for less than half of what I would pay for a 30-inch monitor? I'm missing something in the economics.

[d_stilgar]

The 30" monitors are higher resolution, so there are very few made. There are only a few companies that manufacture the LCD. Most of the electronics, no matter what brand they are, are usually made in the same place in mass in China. These places make tons of these as they sell a whole lot, so the price goes down with quantity.

I agree though that it doesn't make much sense. Soon though we can have nice 32" 4K monitors that are only a few mm thick. Let's see how our video cards hold up to that.

[OvRiDe]

Basically what d_stilger said .. but its all about pixel density.

Here is an example to put it into perspective.

Normal 720p HDTV has a resolution of 1280X720 which equals 921,600 pixels.

Normal 1080p HDTV has a resolution of 1920X1080 which equals 2,0730600 pixels.

Standard widescreen 30" monitor has a resolution of 2560X1600 which equals 4,096,000 pixels.

So when it comes to a 720p HDTV there are more then 4X's the pixels on the monitors panel, which means the pixels are alot smaller and much closer together. Very tight tolerances. Then on top of that there is all the electronics needed to drive all those pixels.

The idea behind Larger TV's is a larger picture so it can be viewed with ease at a distance. The idea behind a large monitor (30") is for more real estate to display more things on the screen, and not necessarily so that you can sit further away.

[Twigsoffury]

I've got two 28" 1920x1200 (1200p) LCD computer monitors 1st for 379.99 i think, 2nd was 359.99$

both really sweet deals, 800:1 (2600x1 w/ X-contrast) 2ms response time, huge 1920x1200 res.

http://i48.tinypic.com/dpioec.jpg

my particular model isn't for sale anymore. this is its replacement

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254043

319.99

You'll need a powerfull video card to say the least.

[x88x]

d_stilgar and OvRiDe hit it pretty much on the head. I'm pretty sure the refresh rate on TVs is lower than on modern monitors, though that may no longer be the case. Mainly though it just all boils down to having twice as many pixels :D

[Twigsoffury]

d_stilgar and OvRiDe hit it pretty much on the head. I'm pretty sure the refresh rate on TVs is lower than on modern monitors, though that may no longer be the case. Mainly though it just all boils down to having twice as many pixels :D


The refresh rate is pretty much the same (60hz) but most televisions have a 5-8ms response time, while monitors have 4-2Ms response time.

but that being said, new 120hz/240hz panel televisions will blow you out of the water like its pearl harbor.

image shift as smooth as a CRT. no blurs...and i mean "no blurs"

[x88x]

The refresh rate is pretty much the same (60hz) but most televisions have a 5-8ms response time, while monitors have 4-2Ms response time.

Yeah, sorry, I meant response time. Thanks.

[blueonblack]

Well, I must be blind because playing Mass Effect, Farcry 2, Fallout 3, and Crysis I can't see any difference between this set and my 22" monitor. I might be able to if I was sitting a foot away like I do at my desk, but even at three feet it is awesome. I don't see myself buying another monitor to replace this one, when I can get a 42" television for $500 and hang it on the wall in my office. :D

Thanks for the info all!

[mDust]

I just thought I'd add that super high resolutions aren't necessarily as beneficial for games and watching movies like they are for editing photos/videos or other multimedia editing. I personally would take a larger 1080p screen over a smaller, higher resolution screen any day (for games). Crysis was awesome at 56"...and lounging on a couch only added to the experience.:)
It would be even greater if I could find a 1080p projector that had a decent response time and was under 2 grand. Mmm, mmmm...gaming on the wall...

[x88x]

It would be even greater if I could find a 1080p projector that had a decent response time and was under 2 grand.

Yeah, we can do that. That'll just be $1,999.99 ;) (See, under $2,000 :P ) In all seriousness though, you can actually get them for a good bit under $2k now. IDK about the response times though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2013430513+1114317814&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&Subcategory=513&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=1&srchInDesc=

[Twigsoffury]

I just thought I'd add that super high resolutions aren't necessarily as beneficial for games and watching movies like they are for editing photos/videos or other multimedia editing. I personally would take a larger 1080p screen over a smaller, higher resolution screen any day (for games). Crysis was awesome at 56"...and lounging on a couch only added to the experience.:)
It would be even greater if I could find a 1080p projector that had a decent response time and was under 2 grand. Mmm, mmmm...gaming on the wall...


resolution makes a difference in First person shooters i can say that.

when your attempting to shoot a dude walking from 400+m with a open sight rifle, you need every single pixel possible.

Some of the things i shoot at on wwiiol (www.wwiionline.com) are no ****ting you, four or five pixels wide.

While a giant huge monitor is nice, it sucks when you've got a low resolution and moving the mouse just makes it hop across 13 pixels instead of 4.


oh i might add that televisions typically don't have built in scalers like PC monitors do, so the majority of them will only do the defined resolutions like 1920x1080,640x720 and so on. And not in between resolutions. But it seems that most televisions have just become PC monitors with a coax connection and integrated TV tuner, so that seems to becoming a thing of the past.

42" screen must be sweet.