Non-Coax: Monitor Choices?

[PeteCress]

I've had it with pulling coax.

From now on it's going tb strictly Ethernet feeding HD200's.

Which leads to my question: Has anybody gone both ways with the "Monitor" vs "Television" choice?

i.e. Has anybody A/B'd a regular TV and a computer monitor of similar screen size - each connected to an HD200?

I'm looking at Vizio's new offerings where they have a 26" 1920x1200 monitor for $430 and a 26" 1366 x 768 TV for $450.

http://www.vizio.com/product.aspx?id=2730&pid=2608 and
http://www.vizio.com/product.aspx?id=2729&pid=1508 respectively

Seems like neither one has speakers, so the tradeoffs appear tb presence/absence of tuner (moot in my case) and native rez.

My bias is towards the monitor bc it can also be used with a PC at my preferred rez.

My assumption is that the video quality when connected to an HD200 will not be any less than the "real" TV - or do Bad Things happen when Sage force-fits 720 into 19x12?

Or is that last one moot bc maybe 19x12=1080i (whatever "1080i" is....)

Am I missing anything?

[sic0048]

Actually the TV does have speakers which depending on your setup could be pretty important. Otherwise you'll have to use amplified speakers to hook up to the HD-200.

However, the monitor has much better PC resolutions available and a higher overall resolution (1080p and better vs 720p on the TV). Of course at only 26" you have to ask yourself if the difference in total resolution is really going to make a difference.

Personally I think it comes down to usage. If it is going to be use for primarily TV with the occational PC use, then the TV with build in speakers might be nicer. If it is going to be used as a primary monitor for a well used computer as well as TV viewing, then the extra flexibility in choosing PC resolutions might offset the lack of internal speakers.

Just my 2 cents.

[Clift]

Originally Posted by PeteCress

Seems like neither one has speakers, so the tradeoffs appear tb presence/absence of tuner (moot in my case) and native rez.

Not true. The VA26L - 26" Class LCD HDTV does, in fact, have built in speakers.

My assumption is that the video quality when connected to an HD200 will not be any less than the "real" TV - or do Bad Things happen when Sage force-fits 720 into 19x12?

Well in that case the TV would scale the picture to it's native resolution of 1920x1200. OR you could have the HD200 output as 1920x1080P in which case the HD200 would use it's internal scaler.

Or is that last one moot bc maybe 19x12=1080i (whatever "1080i" is....)

Okay resolution tutorial:
720p = 1280x720 P = progressive, all 720 horizontal lines displayed at every frame
1080i = 1920x1080 I = interlaces, half of the horizontal lines displayed at every other frame. In effect, each frame has 1920x540 with 540 horizontal lines displayed and the next frame has the other 540 lines displayed.
1080p = 1920x1080 P = progressive, all 1080 horizontal lines displayed at every frame.

Full HD = 1080p

The TV can accept up to 1080i, but it is all displayed/downres to "720P". I put that in quotes because the TV output resolution is 1366 x 768, to account for overscan.

The monitor can accept 720p, 1080i and 1080p. 720p will be scaled up to 1920x1080 by the monitor's internal scaler. 1080i will be displayed as 1080i, likewise for 1080p. With the monitor you WILL get letterbox bars at the top and bottom on account of the monitor is actually 16x10 not 16x9 as broadcast HDTV is. That is, since the resolution is 1920x1200, you get 120 lines extra (60 top, 60 bottom).

Another thing to consider, the monitor will show ALL lines, meaning you may see "garbage" at the top and bottom of your picture that a TV normally hides due to the overscan nature of TVs.

Am I missing anything?

Just a little bit, but if you still have questions I suggest you read stanger89's aspect ratio 101: http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...78&postcount=5

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by Clift

Okay resolution tutorial:
720p = 1280x720 P = progressive, all 720 horizontal lines displayed at every frame
1080i = 1920x1080 I = interlaces, half of the horizontal lines displayed at every other frame. In effect, each frame has 1920x540 with 540 horizontal lines displayed and the next frame has the other 540 lines displayed.
1080p = 1920x1080 P = progressive, all 1080 horizontal lines displayed at every frame.

Full HD = 1080p

The TV can accept up to 1080i, but it is all displayed/downres to "720P". I put that in quotes because the TV output resolution is 1366 x 768, to account for overscan.

I read Stranger's tute a couple of times..... eventually it will sink in.

Until then - maybe at the risk of over-simplification; would it be correct to say that there are two optimal TV resolutions (i.e. sizes that require minimal re-sizing of the incoming picture)?

If so, would they be 1366x768 and 1920x1080?

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by PeteCress

I read Stranger's tute a couple of times..... eventually it will sink in.

Until then - maybe at the risk of over-simplification; would it be correct to say that there are two optimal TV resolutions (i.e. sizes that require minimal re-sizing of the incoming picture)?

If so, would they be 1366x768 and 1920x1080?

Close, the two "standard" HD broadcast resolutions are 1920x1080 (also referred to as 1080i or 1080p for progessive scan - but broadcast material is only 1080i) and 1280x720 (also called 720p because it is broadcast in progessive scan).

However, those two numbers are just what is broadcast. Each TV has a native resolution and will scale any accepted resolution into the native resolution. So the TV that you listed has a native resolution of 1366x768 which is close to 1280x720, but not exact. So it will be scaling all signals to the 1366x768 resolution.