32" LCD Recommendation

[t_aitch]

IM thinking about building a Media Centre for my living room, but was stuck on what LCD to buy.

I dont particularly want to buy anything above £850.

And id like it to support HDTV and have a DVI input also, im not sure if this is completely possible though?

Ive seen some with HDMI ports on them (these look like usb ports right?) but with these i dont know how i will connect the panel to my pc through DVI.

The two panels ive looked at are:

Samsung LE32R41B
Sharp Aquos LC32P50E

These two screens look great, and ive heard from different places that the Sharp one has better resolution.

I would just like recommendations from anyone else that has a 32" LCD that use it for the same purpose?

Another thing i dont understand is what the lines mean, should i be looking for a panel which supports 1080 lines?

I know that i should be posting this in a Home Cinema forum or something but i trust everyone here at Hexus for support.

Id really appreciate some help!!

[8bit]

The lines are to do with vertical resolution. You'll most often see them written as 780i, 1080i or 1080p. The i means Interlaced, which means the screen draws alternate lines in each pass like a normal TV does, i.e. draws only odd numbered lines on one pass, then even numbered lines on the next, then back to the start again. This can give a "flickering" look, most easily noticable when using it with something like Media Center or in games.

The p means progressive scan, which means the screen draws each line in turn from top to bottom, then starts again from the top like a PC monitor does. This is preferable because the flickering effect of interlacing does not occur.

Thus (as I understand it) the current "best" standard for HDTV is 1080p.

I don't know much about HDTV besides that, I use a large TFT monitor on my PC for watching TV, DVDs etc. but from what I gather, so long as your monitor supports at least 1080 vertical resolution then with the right DVD player, software and graphics card, it is effectively an HDTV-spec display. Since all PC TFT monitors are progressive scan, if you get a TFT that will do at least 1080 vertical resolution then you're sorted once you get the rest of the stuff in place.

A 32" TFT monitor would probably cost a lot less than a 32" TFT TV and give a far higher resolution as well; TFT and plasma TV's only give a low resolution since they are not designed for use with a PC.

I got a Dell 2405fpw TFT monitor, it's 24" Widescreen and goes up to 1920x1200 resolution. I'm very chuffed with it, I realise it's a bit smaller than you're interested in but Dell are doing a 30" model soon (if not already) which may turn out to be a better buy in terms of price and resolution over an equivalent size TV.

If you're building a media center PC then you will (I presume) be installing a TV tuner (or video capture card to take input from a Sky or Freeview set top box), in that case you won't need the TV tuner built into a large TFT TV so I'd save myself some cash and get a monitor of around the same size instead. Not only do you get a better res with a monitor of the same size with the TV you're paying for the tuner and the (usually rubbish) internal speakers as well. You'd still spend less on a monitor plus a decent soundcard and surround speaker set than on a TFT TV.

If anyone knows any better than me on the points about HDTV resolution and supporting it with a PC monitor please shout!

[RDL]

I don't actually think there are any 32" TFT Monitors available 8bit?

I would recommend the Samsung, I'm thinking on getting it myself and have played about with it on numerous ocassions, looks brilliant to me. Of course I've never tried the sharp.

[Nemeliza]

I would recommend the Samsung, I'm thinking on getting it myself.

Same here! Im struggling to stop myself from buying one with the money i dont yet have.

Apple do a 30" monitor if you have £2000 to spare. Dell also have one but i dont think its available for the UK market yet.

[t_aitch]

Yeah im kinda looking for under £1000, the dells gonna be way over that.

I went into dixons today and they were actually quite helpful for a change.

They explained the HDMI ports and, i think im gonna be needing one with both HDMI and DVI(HDCP) ports on.

Ill use the DVI for my PC then and have the HDMI port free for whenever sky release their HDTV.

Now to try and find a 32" LCD that will support both.

Thanks for the help though everyone, if anyone still wants to recommend a 32incher please feel free!!!


Oh yeah, apparently the dude in dixons mentioned that all of the Samsung LCDs are being recalled at the moment.

[5cupa]

i have the Sumsung, its not bad for the money nice picture, half decent sound. i wouldent get too hung up on good or bad reviews. just go to a store and check them out.

[t_aitch]

I cant find anywhere on the web that says what inputs the samsung has.

Does it have HDMI/DVI or both??

[Nemeliza]

Here you go:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/t...Specifications

As for HDMI/DVI - It has DVI i believe

[t_aitch]

Yeah i looked there before, and i couldnt make out if it had DVI and/or HDMI.

Thanks though.

[Nemeliza]

I takes HDMI via the DVI port.

1 port does both.

Bit it is a DVI-D port, meaning it only take a digital signal.

Some more info taken from avforums:
"The Samsung, Or any DVI/HDMI
television will not accept PC DVI straight out of the Box. The reason
for this is HDMI/DVI AV equipment us DVI-D signals which is a pure
digital Signal. Most Video cards from PCs use DVI-I which carries a
digital and anlogue signal. A DVI-D enabled device will not accept this
signal. There are 2 Ways around this, Some high end PC DVI cards can be
configured to output only the DVI-D signal, thus the picture will be
displayed. If this is not possible you may be able to purchase a
DVI/HDMI cable that is only wired for the digital signal and not the
analogue. This would rectify your problem also."

[Rack]

I don't know much about HDTV besides that, I use a large TFT monitor on my PC for watching TV, DVDs etc. but from what I gather, so long as your monitor supports at least 1080 vertical resolution then with the right DVD player, software and graphics card, it is effectively an HDTV-spec display. Since all PC TFT monitors are progressive scan, if you get a TFT that will do at least 1080 vertical resolution then you're sorted once you get the rest of the stuff in place.

A 32" TFT monitor would probably cost a lot less than a 32" TFT TV and give a far higher resolution as well; TFT and plasma TV's only give a low resolution since they are not designed for use with a PC.

A large TFT monitor will be £1000+, a 32" 780i you can get for <£600. Is it worth double the cost? I wouldn't want to spend 5 times the cost of my PC on a monitor, when it is for a media PC and will mostly be used for SD TV

[t_aitch]

Id rather pay the extra &#163;200 for a 720p 1080i 32incher really.

[Butcher]

If anyone knows any better than me on the points about HDTV resolution and supporting it with a PC monitor please shout!

Main problem with a monitor vs a tv is lack of an HDMI port, which may restrict what you can plug into it in the future.
For just connecting to a media centre PC though, a monitor would do just fine.