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Need advise on new monitor or HDTV

ozmonoozmono Member UncommonPosts: 1,211
in Hardware
Okay so I'm looking at buying a new monitor that I need to be able to use with my current pc, my xbox one when it comes out and also to watch tv. I went with an xbox primarily because I prefer the kinect and as such I want to be able to make full use of it. Since you need to be a fair distance away from the screen with kinect games I'll be needing a larger monitor. I will also be needing atleast 2 hdmi inputs and a tvtuner. I was also considering a HDTV which would allow me to go bigger for cheaper and provide all the essentials but I don't want to sacrifice the quality especially since PC gaming will still remain most important to me. I want to try and keep the price under 500 dollars too if that is possible. Any advise is welcome.

Comments

  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383

    I don't know about the newer kinect, but the older kinect needed at least 6ft of distance from the camera - and presumably the camera would be sitting in or around the same place as the monitor would be.

    THX recommends an optimal viewing distance of 1.2x the Diagonal measurement of the screen, based on the viewing angle of the sides of the screen (4::0')::. So to get to a 6ft distance, we re-work the formula a bit and see what we get.

    Optimal = 1.2 x Screen
    Screen = Optimal / 1.2
    Screen = (6x12) / 1.2
    Screen = 60"

    So THX recommends a 60" screen. I don't think a $500 budget will get that.

    Now, to be fair, THX "recommendations" are a bit steep. ~Most~ home theater folks will recommend around 1.5x (3::0')::, and most manufacturers will recommend up to 2.5x (2::0')::.

    (6x12)/1.5 = 48"
    (6x12)/2.5 = 28"

    Just to give you some idea of the range. That's assuming your as close as the kinect sensor will track (or at least, the current sensor). That's a pretty big range. I have a 46" at home, it works well enough at a distance of about 9 ft. My wife, before we got married, had a 60", and her couch was at 8ft, and it looked too big to me, and trying to play Kinect on it we had problems with tracking because the sensor was a bit too close (around 6 ft by the time you stood in front of the couch) -- that gets to an important point; what looked too big to me was fine for my wife, so there's a large personal, objective part to this. What looks good to you looks good to you, and that's what you should go with over anything else really. Go look at some stuff in person, head to Best Buy or Sears or some place - you don't have to buy there, but look around. Get an idea of what looks good to you, and is within your budget.

    A TV will be cheaper than a monitor in that size range (monitors get really expensive over 24"). That being said, TV's are built assuming your going to be watching TV sitting on the couch, monitors are built assuming your going to be typing text sitting at a desk. While the screen sizes may be similar, it's very difficult to read small font text while sitting on the couch, and that's something to keep in mind.

    On my HTPC, I usually use 720p resolution and large font sizes just for that reason - so I can read stuff. I don't do a lot of "computer" stuff on it, it's mostly for watching Netflix and iTunes movies and such - it's very difficult to do standard web browsing or write email, and some MMOs are difficult to play on it (those that rely heavily on chat boxes or have UIs designed for computer monitors).

  • ozmonoozmono Member UncommonPosts: 1,211
    Originally posted by Ridelynn

    I don't know about the newer kinect, but the older kinect needed at least 6ft of distance from the camera - and presumably the camera would be sitting in or around the same place as the monitor would be.

    THX recommends an optimal viewing distance of 1.2x the Diagonal measurement of the screen, based on the viewing angle of the sides of the screen (4::0')::. So to get to a 6ft distance, we re-work the formula a bit and see what we get.

    Optimal = 1.2 x Screen
    Screen = Optimal / 1.2
    Screen = (6x12) / 1.2
    Screen = 60"

    So THX recommends a 60" screen. I don't think a $500 budget will get that.

    Now, to be fair, THX "recommendations" are a bit steep. ~Most~ home theater folks will recommend around 1.5x (3::0')::, and most manufacturers will recommend up to 2.5x (2::0')::.

    (6x12)/1.5 = 48"
    (6x12)/2.5 = 28"

    Just to give you some idea of the range. That's assuming your as close as the kinect sensor will track (or at least, the current sensor). That's a pretty big range. I have a 46" at home, it works well enough at a distance of about 9 ft. My wife, before we got married, had a 60", and her couch was at 8ft, and it looked too big to me, and trying to play Kinect on it we had problems with tracking because the sensor was a bit too close (around 6 ft by the time you stood in front of the couch) -- that gets to an important point; what looked too big to me was fine for my wife, so there's a large personal, objective part to this. What looks good to you looks good to you, and that's what you should go with over anything else really. Go look at some stuff in person, head to Best Buy or Sears or some place - you don't have to buy there, but look around. Get an idea of what looks good to you, and is within your budget.

    A TV will be cheaper than a monitor in that size range (monitors get really expensive over 24"). That being said, TV's are built assuming your going to be watching TV sitting on the couch, monitors are built assuming your going to be typing text sitting at a desk. While the screen sizes may be similar, it's very difficult to read small font text while sitting on the couch, and that's something to keep in mind.

    On my HTPC, I usually use 720p resolution and large font sizes just for that reason - so I can read stuff. I don't do a lot of "computer" stuff on it, it's mostly for watching Netflix and iTunes movies and such - it's very difficult to do standard web browsing or write email, and some MMOs are difficult to play on it (those that rely heavily on chat boxes or have UIs designed for computer monitors).

    Thanks for taking the time to respond, I appreciate it. That said I've already made my decision. The newer kinect operates at about half the distance as the old one, that's about 3-4 feet and I figured a 27 inch monitor would do because as I said I will still be primarily using it for my pc and didn't want to sacrifice quality.

     

    Again thanks alot for taking the time to give me some solid advise even though I went ahead and made a decision in the meantime. I apologize for not updating this thread earlier to spare you the effort.

  • syntax42syntax42 Member UncommonPosts: 1,378

    Televisions are designed for someone to sit on a couch while monitors are designed for a person only a couple feet away.  The pixel spacing is much higher on a television, and may not be acceptable for use with a computer, especially if you have to read text on the screen.  

     

    Maybe, if you find one of those super-HD displays that has 4x the amount of pixels from a regular 1080 display, you could use it as a monitor, but you would need a very good video card to handle gaming at that high of a resolution.

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