Topic: HD Below 32 Inches: HDTV or Monitor?

[requiem]

There's a small room in the house and niece requests that I buy her an HDTV.

Was looking for a 24-inch TV from Sony, LG and Samsung but the smallest screens with the decent (I think) specs mostly start with their 32-inch models. Aside from that, most of the 24-inch HDTVs I could find are only HD Ready.

She'll be sitting around three to four feet away from the HDTV so we couldn't really do with the 32-inch and above models.

Then there are the monitors from LG and Samsung. These monitors are full HD despite their size.I'm gravitating more towards the LG IPS ones.

Would using a 23-inch to a 27 or 28-inch monitor instead of an HDTV work? Since most have HDMI nowadays (the cable digibox for her TV content) anyway. Would using a monitor as her "TV" have a bad effect or something?

Please do advise. I need help.

[Philander]

Advantages of LED Monitor:
Better Pixel Pitch/Size Ration for sharper viewing of text/images
Lower power consumption
Full HD
*Usually Lower Contrast ratio: 1000:1

Advantages of HDTV LED:
Better contrast ratio
Better in video performance
More Features
Better Audio/Sound with stereo speakers
with TUner
with USB for Video playback
with Remote
with analog input
Usually higher contrast ratio: 3000:1
*-Fewer choices for FULLHD model (for 24")

[pekspert]

Led monitors are ok but some dont even come with speakers. Or if they do, the speakers are very small you can barely hear anything at all.

You can remedy this by getting a small compo or boombox which has an "audio in". It will be more complicated since you will have to turn on/off both monitor and boombox. In return you get good sound.

[Arnel E.]

To some people, having no remote control (in case of a monitor) can be an instant deal breaker.  So it's up to you if that's important.

Also since it looks like this is only going to be used for cable TV (if I understood correctly), do you really need Full HD (reason for the monitor)?  Granted you'll subscribe to HD channels, for 24" screen viewed from 3 to 4 feet, 720p (on "HD Ready" TV) is already great.  In fact, the non-HD (SD) channels tend to look bad on high-resolution monitors that do not upscale nicely.  As for TVs, those small HD Ready TVs tend to handle SD video better than Full HD ones anyway.  More importantly, monitors show you the image as it is, while TVs are designed to do image processing that can enhance picture quality.

Plus if you plan to use it other than for cable TV, which seems to be the only reason to need Full HD, a monitor doesn't have a USB port, so you would need a separate player.

[requiem]

@Philander Thanks for fleshing those out.

@pekspert, my niece already has a 2.1 speaker system which she uses for her music. Might work, right?

@Arnel E., I forgot to tell that my niece watches a lot of 1080p digital content, too (mostly romcoms LOL) so she insists that full HD is what she wants. Yes, 1080p romcoms. LOL So really it's a mix of cable shows which aren't all in HD and more 1080p digital content.

Hmm... Is the diff between 720p and 1080p content on a 24 to 28-inch really unnoticeable? Despite and in spite of the nearness to the TV?

Also, I'm really having a difficult time finding an HDTV that's below 32 inches AND is full HD. Given the 3 to 4 feet of distance to the TV, would getting a 32-inch TV be ok? Wouldn't it overwhelm you when watching? Or will it still be ok?

I'm sorry for being a noob. I read/google an article or two about these but sometimes they just confuse me more.

[biggus_dickus]

Hmm... Is the diff between 720p and 1080p content on a 24 to 28-inch really unnoticeable? Despite and in spite of the nearness to the TV?

Also, I'm really having a difficult time finding an HDTV that's below 32 inches AND is full HD. Given the 3 to 4 feet of distance to the TV, would getting a 32-inch TV be ok? Wouldn't it overwhelm you when watching? Or will it still be ok?

Yes, the difference from 24 to 28 on 720/1080p will be really unnoticeable.  Even on a 32" you will almost never see a difference except for sharper text on menus and subtitles.  But as far as the video quality goes, you will not see it.  You will see a slight difference when you get up into the 40-42" and above range.

3-4 ft for a 32" is still ok.  It's not that close.  Try to keep it to 4 ft if you think it's still too close.

[Arnel E.]

Believe it or not... THX experts recommend 40" diagonal as optimal screen size for 4 feet viewing distance:

48" distance * 0.84 = 40.32"  where 0.84 is to achieve an ideal 40 degrees viewing angle (cinematic experience)

So yes, 32" is well within recommended size for 3 to 4 ft. distance.  Keeping close to 3 ft rather than 4ft distance will actually be better cinematic experience.    Just have to keep good control of the backlight levels to avoid eye strain.

[pekspert]

@pekspert, my niece already has a 2.1 speaker system which she uses for her music. Might work, right?

it will as long as it has AUX input or audio-in.

btw if you decide to go the monitor route. Im disposing new samsung 27" monitors. As low as P5k.

[Philander]

@Philander
Also, I'm really having a difficult time finding an HDTV that's below 32 inches AND is full HD. Given the 3 to 4 feet of distance to the TV, would getting a 32-inch TV be ok? Wouldn't it overwhelm you when watching? Or will it still be ok?

I prefer 40" in 4ft viewing distance. Myview 40" Full HD is sometimes costs less than 12K


As for 24" Full HD, here are some of  your choices:

http://www.lazada.com.ph/westinghouse-24-le24-gx01-full-hd-led-tv-130097.html

http://www.lazada.com.ph/xenon-24-full-hd-led-tv-black-le2468-304230.html

http://www.lazada.com.ph/haier-24-led-tv-black-le24m630p-2349922.html

http://www.lazada.com.ph/tcl-24-full-hd-lcd-tv-black-lcd24d10-260420.html

http://www.lazada.com.ph/samwon-24-full-hd-led-tv-sw-e24k6-196228.html

[pekspert]

If you decide the 24" led tv, intead of getting something from lazada, ill sell you a new one for P5k.