What should I look for in a TV for just computer-based inputs? (or any recommendations?)

[JediPadawan]

Having a hard time with Google keywords trying to find this out but I figure you lot will probably know...

 

I'm looking to get a TV that is most suitable for computer-based inputs.  Basically I never watch terrestrial/cable TV, everything is either:

• Gaming Console output (Games and Blu-ray/UHD)
• Mac Mini output (4K)
• Apple TV output (4K)

.... and I hate with a passion those TVs that come loaded with apps that seem to slow the UI down.

 

In the past I've had some TVs where text from a computer was blurry, and/or resolutions were limited (or didn't seem to scale properly), and in one case where audio/picture seemed desynced (like it was trying to do something to the image maybe, but couldn't keep up, so it lagged behind).

 

Is there any keyword I should be looking for, like a certain spec, or a type of display etc, that can help me narrow down suitable TVs?  Or are most new TVs thesedays just good at every type of input?

 

Also as I want to use the above for home theater, does the TV spec play an important part in the audio output?  I don't want to get an amp, so I figure having 3 inputs to the TV could mean the sole audio output from it may play a part (e.g. using a simple 5.1 soundbar setup or similar).

 

Thanks!

 

 

[adm0n]

I would go to rtings.com, then select the table tool (-> https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/table) and sort by PC-Monitor.

 

[JediPadawan]

3 minutes ago, adm0n said:

I would go to rtings.com, then select the table tool (-> https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/table) and sort by PC-Monitor.

 

Holy crap that site looks awesome... Those ratings by categories help so much!  TY!

[adm0n]

4 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

Holy crap that site looks awesome... Those ratings by categories help so much!  TY!

Happy to help!

To answer some of your questions

 

16 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

and I hate with a passion those TVs that come loaded with apps that seem to slow the UI down.

Fell the same way. I'm actively using a TV as a PC monitor, as it was just way cheaper. I just don't connect it to wifi, so the only thing I have to deal with, is going through a few steps to change the brightness. Otherwise you shouldn't really need to access the UI all that much.

 

18 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

In the past I've had some TVs where text from a computer was blurry, and/or resolutions were limited

I cannot speak for all TVs, but newer ones usually have an option to allow an input to be full RGB instead of being subsampled, and use full range instead of limited range.

The one thing, you might need to contend with is the subpixel layout, which might be different from what your PC expects. For example my TV has a BGR (blue green red) instead of RGB (red green blue) layout, which could make text look blurry. But luckily it being 4k makes up for that.

 

23 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

Is there any keyword I should be looking for, like a certain spec, or a type of display etc, that can help me narrow down suitable TVs?  Or are most new TVs thesedays just good at every type of input?

You should probably consider whether your want to get a LED or OLED TV, the latter is susceptible to "burn in", which basically means, that if the same image is shown on the screen for a long time, it might be slightly retained on the screen. UI elements of an OS are a likely culprit for this, but you will likely get multiple years out of your TV until this becomes a problem, if you buy a newer one.

 

26 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

Also as I want to use the above for home theater, does the TV spec play an important part in the audio output?  I don't want to get an amp, so I figure having 3 inputs to the TV could mean the sole audio output from it may play a part (e.g. using a simple 5.1 soundbar setup or similar).

You likely will need some kind of AMP, because whatever audio output the TV provides, it won't deliver enough actual power to power any kind of speaker. So either you will need powered speakers (with a build in amp) or a dedicated one. The most seamless experience would be using eARC. You can read up on that if you want!

[Blue4130]

24 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

Having a hard time with Google keywords trying to find this out but I figure you lot will probably know...

 

I'm looking to get a TV that is most suitable for computer-based inputs.  Basically I never watch terrestrial/cable TV, everything is either:

• Gaming Console output (Games and Blu-ray/UHD)
• Mac Mini output (4K)
• Apple TV output (4K)

.... and I hate with a passion those TVs that come loaded with apps that seem to slow the UI down.

 

In the past I've had some TVs where text from a computer was blurry, and/or resolutions were limited (or didn't seem to scale properly), and in one case where audio/picture seemed desynced (like it was trying to do something to the image maybe, but couldn't keep up, so it lagged behind).

 

Is there any keyword I should be looking for, like a certain spec, or a type of display etc, that can help me narrow down suitable TVs?  Or are most new TVs thesedays just good at every type of input?

 

Also as I want to use the above for home theater, does the TV spec play an important part in the audio output?  I don't want to get an amp, so I figure having 3 inputs to the TV could mean the sole audio output from it may play a part (e.g. using a simple 5.1 soundbar setup or similar).

 

Thanks!

 

 

Unless you get a specialty display for signage/boardrooms, you are going to have to deal with a smart TV, but once you are on the computer/colsole input, the smarts are not used. I've been running a 4k 120 hz tv as a monitor for years and it works great.

 

As for the audio inputs, you will be using HDMI for it. For output and things like DTS, atmos etc, you will be at the mercy of whatever soundbar you choose to go with. Did you have one in mind?

[JediPadawan]

5 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

As for the audio inputs, you will be using HDMI for it. For output and things like DTS, atmos etc, you will be at the mercy of whatever soundbar you choose to go with. Did you have one in mind?

Will be my first soundbar.  I have an amp right now and it takes up a lot of space, and the cables and separate speakers were a pain to setup, so I told myself next time I want to keep it clean and simple, and having watched lots of recent soundbar reviews on youtube (Sony, JBL, Samsung, and Sonos kept coming up as good), they seem on par with a basic amp+speaker setup, but much easier to place and use.  They also seem to do really well at mimicking surround sound, but without separate speakers??!?!  Not sure if that is just the awesome state of tech thesedays, but if it can give me a decent movie/cinema feel, I'd rather keep it simple than get an amp+speakers.  I saw a few that do Atmos as well, so like 5.1.2 I think?  Crazy.

[Needfuldoer]

For me the most important feature is low input latency in Game mode. Nothing will get on your nerves faster than a half-second delay between moving the mouse and the cursor moving on-screen. I've seen that on many a conference room TV that was left with all its motion smoothing "picture enhancement features" enabled. 

 

My "monitor" is a relatively inexpensive 4k TV, and in game mode I don't perceive any more input lag than the LCD monitors I'm used to.

[JediPadawan]

16 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

For me the most important feature is low input latency in Game mode. Nothing will get on your nerves faster than a half-second delay between moving the mouse and the cursor moving on-screen. I've seen that on many a conference room TV that was left with all its motion smoothing "picture enhancement features" enabled. 

 

My "monitor" is a relatively inexpensive 4k TV, and in game mode I don't perceive any more input lag than the LCD monitors I'm used to.

Oh that's exactly like what I had with my previous TV - like a sluggish delay and I couldn't seem to turn whatever was causing it off.  All this info is exactly what I needed, as I wasn't sure what the right term/definition was to watch out for - but now I see (like on that rtings site) they score specifically for input latency (even at various resolutions which is handy!).

[ChrisLoudon]

2 hours ago, JediPadawan said:

Is there any keyword I should be looking for, like a certain spec, or a type of display etc, that can help me narrow down suitable TVs?  Or are most new TVs thesedays just good at every type of input?

Hi buddy,

 

Its a tricky one.

 

Firstly, its probably best to know what size of screen you are looking for? PC Monitors and TVs tend to keep themselves to different ends of that spectrum. My TVs are anything between 42" and 65" with my office PCs at work using 27" screens. Now, that's not to say you can't get larger PC monitors, but their quite niche products and either hard to come by or very expensive for what you get.

 

With regards to the various inputs its also worth noting that Display Port or USBc (with DP alt-mode) is reserved for PC displays ONLY. TVs from Samsung / LG et-al and home audio / theatre equipment like sound bars or AVRs will be HDMI ONLY.

 

Personally, I like the larger screen and since I'm not into competitive multiplayer gaming and <1ms latency isn't a consideration, I prefer going down the TV route rather than the monitor route. Also, if you use your screen for displaying images that AREN'T at the native resolution of the screen then (at least in my experience) TVs tend to make other content look better than a PC screen. While this doesn't help with the latency, the additional image processing that TVs are capable of do tend to make SDR / non-native resolution content look better. 

 

My living room gaming PC is connected to a 65" LG OLED CX and my bedroom PC which is also a gaming PC but I do office work on it as well is connected to a 42" LG OLED C2. I know burn-in is a potential issue but I'm pretty diligent with turning my screen off when I'm AFK and I have my screen saver turned on with a pretty aggressive timer.

 

You're point about Smart TV Apps and sluggish performance is a valid one and I can't argue with that. Not much more to add on that one apart from learning to live with it if it starts to become an issue.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, JediPadawan said:

Will be my first soundbar.  I have an amp right now and it takes up a lot of space, and the cables and separate speakers were a pain to setup, so I told myself next time I want to keep it clean and simple, and having watched lots of recent soundbar reviews on youtube (Sony, JBL, Samsung, and Sonos kept coming up as good), they seem on par with a basic amp+speaker setup, but much easier to place and use.  They also seem to do really well at mimicking surround sound, but without separate speakers??!?

I don't believe a word when people say that, I suspect its people who aren't doing an A to B comparison, possibly never even heard a good home setup. 

 

There's just no way a couple of front speakers can properly make things sound like they come from behind you, only speakers strapped to your ears can. (though personally 3D audio never works for me, my ears must be very different to the basic model they used)

 

On the other hand a 7.1 Atmos setup beats any cinema I've ever been to.

[ChrisLoudon]

9 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

They also seem to do really well at mimicking surround sound, but without separate speakers??!?

Unfortunately, as a man that has both, Soundbars DON'T do a particularly good job at mimicking surround or height speakers.

 

I have the Sonos Arc + Sub gen 2 and while its front soundstage and bass are very good for what it is, I rarely get anything from the rear or height channels.

 

For comparison, I have a 5.1.4 discrete system in another room driven by a Yamaha RX-A6A and the difference is night and day.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the Sonos for every day watching and gaming but when my girlfriend and I watched Dune a couple of days ago to refamiliarize ourselves before watching Part 2, its was in the cinema room. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

5 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Unfortunately, as a man that has both, Soundbars DON'T do a particularly good job at mimicking surround or height speakers.

 

I have the Sonos Arc + Sub gen 2 and while its front soundstage and bass are very good for what it is, I rarely get anything from the rear or height channels.

 

For comparison, I have a 5.1.4 discrete system in another room driven by a Yamaha RX-A6A and the difference is night and day.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the Sonos for every day watching and gaming but when my girlfriend and I watched Dune a couple of days ago to refamiliarize ourselves before watching Part 2, its was in the cinema room. 

You might want to fix that quote to be from OP.

 

But yeah, my TV has Atmos support and its definitely better than not having it as increasing the perceived sound stage, but its more that it makes the sound appear to come from around the TV rather than from where the speakers are located.

 

Sound bars should be a bit better still, but except maybe in very controlled conditions where they are somehow bouncing it off the walls, its not going to be anything like surround.

[ChrisLoudon]

1 minute ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

You might want to fix that quote to be from OP.

 

Sorry buddy.

 

2 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Sound bars should be a bit better still, but except maybe in very controlled conditions where they are somehow bouncing it off the walls, its not going to be anything like surround.

Yeh, I do get flickering glimpses of rears and heights but nothing more than a cheeky, 'what was that'? moment. Just a shame its not consistent. I'm waiting patiently for Sonos to release a battery powered wireless solution to add to the Arc for rears but it doesn't look like they're interested!

[Alex Atkin UK]

4 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Sorry buddy.

 

Yeh, I do get flickering glimpses of rears and heights but nothing more than a cheeky, 'what was that'? moment. Just a shame its not consistent. I'm waiting patiently for Sonos to release a battery powered wireless solution to add to the Arc for rears but it doesn't look like they're interested!

I honestly was sceptical about height speakers, but when I removed my rear speakers and mounted them to the ceiling half way between me and the fronts, pointing at me (its atypical for Atmos but I had seen reports on forums of others doing this instead of down-firing from the ceiling) I was blown away at the difference. 

 

Somehow Atmos is able to give a more convincing impression of something right behind me from the rear left, rear right speakers, than the speakers right behind me did.  It was so convincing I turned to look behind me a few times, I've never had surround that good before despite going from 4.0 to 5.1 to 7.1 over the years.

 

Height speakers are a mixed bag, can be terrific when used (usual suspects of helicopters flying overhead etc).  Sometimes I think they are in use because the effect is so utterly convincing with just the 5.1 speakers, Atmos really lives up to the hype with the right setup.

 

Buying the cheapest speakers in the high-end speaker range made the biggest difference though, had always used a mix of cheap speakers before and I couldn't believe how much they had been holding back my surround receiver.

[ChrisLoudon]

2 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I honestly was sceptical about height speakers, but when I removed my rear speakers and mounted them to the ceiling half way between me and the fronts, pointing at me (its atypical for Atmos but I had seen reports on forums of others doing this instead of down-firing from the ceiling) I was blown away at the difference.

Do you no longer have any rears?

 

Have you tried something directly behind your seating position?

 

I used to have the typical 'bookshelf' speakers for rears, sitting on stands at each rear corner of my sofa however, a house move and a poorly placed door caused me to rethink.

 

After a bit of research, I found Monitor Audio's FX range (I have a pair of older FX Silvers). They are very neat as they wall mount and work in either Bi-Pole or Di-Pole depending on whether they are setup as sides or rears. 

 

I have them directly behind me on the wall and only inches away from the seating position and I can't recommend them enough.

 

 

[OddOod]

3 hours ago, JediPadawan said:

Holy crap that site looks awesome... Those ratings by categories help so much!  TY!

rtings is bae

Honestly, I adore my LG C1. The OS is simple enough, and the hardware is powerful enough, that I never have sluggish response from it. I also *never* see the OS as I'm just running a windows PC into it. Further, I know that some people to this day complain that OLEDs are "not bright enough", but I genuinely don't know what they are talking about as I have that screen in my living room with a south facing picture window. I've gamed on it during a cloudless with the sun hitting it directly and ~did not notice.

 

If you have the cash, I recommend buying whatever last gen LG OLED is on clearance.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Do you no longer have any rears?

 

Have you tried something directly behind your seating position?

 

I used to have the typical 'bookshelf' speakers for rears, sitting on stands at each rear corner of my sofa however, a house move and a poorly placed door caused me to rethink.

 

After a bit of research, I found Monitor Audio's FX range (I have a pair of older FX Silvers). They are very neat as they wall mount and work in either Bi-Pole or Di-Pole depending on whether they are setup as sides or rears. 

 

I have them directly behind me on the wall and only inches away from the seating position and I can't recommend them enough.

 

 

With Atmos you have rear left and rear right which are pointing at  me diagonally, nothing directly behind me.   It creates dummy rears which somehow are better than having real rears was.

 

Basically with real rears they were kinda too close to me (narrow room) so it didn't create convincing positioning.  With the dummies it gives the full illusion of where behind you something is.

[JediPadawan]

9 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Firstly, its probably best to know what size of screen you are looking for? PC Monitors and TVs tend to keep themselves to different ends of that spectrum. My TVs are anything between 42" and 65" with my office PCs at work using 27" screens. Now, that's not to say you can't get larger PC monitors, but their quite niche products and either hard to come by or very expensive for what you get.

Oh it's definitely more for TV living room setup/home cinema setup - so I'll be going at least 55", hopefully more.

 

I'd say 50% of my time is via Mac Mini though, hence its important latency/text clarity is good for me.   The rest of the time is either Gaming or watching Movies via console, or Movies/TV via Apple TV - so on that side its equally important to have good visuals (color/HDR etc).  But everything is technically coming in via a "computer", and yes as you mentioned, all would be via HDMI - no need to use DP.

[JediPadawan]

9 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I don't believe a word when people say that, I suspect its people who aren't doing an A to B comparison, possibly never even heard a good home setup. 

 

There's just no way a couple of front speakers can properly make things sound like they come from behind you, only speakers strapped to your ears can. (though personally 3D audio never works for me, my ears must be very different to the basic model they used)

 

On the other hand a 7.1 Atmos setup beats any cinema I've ever been to.

I'm a bit suspect as well - that's why I'd rather read opinions here than on Youtube (who might be affiliate linking etc and have bias).  I don't think they really present them as A to B comparison, just that for what it is (a much simpler setup with less speakers/cables) it can give you a good surround "feel".

 

I was looking at the rtings site mentioned earlier for TV options, and saw they have a soundbar section which was awesome   I saw one of the better ones (Samsung HW-Qxxxx) had actual real speaker separates that came with it - which honestly sounds amazing as they seem wireless? Pricey, but simple and clean setup for me if I went down that route.  I really hate cables lol.

 

I'm not looking for a perfect home theater like Linus has in his videos (but so jealous....) - just want an easy/simple and clean setup that works for a small/medium living room and gives a good cinema "feel".  As I rent I can't really make permanent fixture changes, hence the simpler/wireless setup would work better for me.

[Omon_Ra]

Between the fact you're renting, it's a family/living room, and everything else, it seems like a beefy soundbar is going to be the solution for you. The next question is budget.

 

9 minutes ago, JediPadawan said:

I was looking at the rtings site mentioned earlier for TV options, and saw they have a soundbar section which was awesome   I saw one of the better ones (Samsung HW-Qxxxx) had actual real speaker separates that came with it - which honestly sounds amazing as they seem wireless? Pricey, but simple and clean setup for me if I went down that route.  I really hate cables lol.

Keep in mind the 'wireless' rears either have a single amp/'brain' box with speaker wire that you'll run out to the rears, or each speaker will have its own power cord. Kind of depends on your application as to which would suit better. What is the shape of the room like? Standard 'box' or are there lofted ceilings, exposed beams, etc? If it's a regular ol' box, I've installed some of the higher end Samsung speaker bars with the up-firing Atmos drivers. I was skeptical about it at first...but in a normal living room, it's pretty damn impressive. Not as good as a discrete 5.1.2 or 7.1 system, but for simple, ggez installation I was quite impressed. Also, a lot of the manufacturers sell the wireless rears as add-ons to a typical 3.1 soundbar system. So if you shop around correctly, you could get the main bar/sub, and then add the rears if you really want them later.

 

It's currently backordered, but this Klipsch system is at a really good price right now. My biggest issue with soundbars is two-fold. One, the lack of upgrade-ability. You can't swap out your speakers or amp. You're stuck with it. Two, the driver sizes. Soundbars physically don't have the ability to move as much air as a 5 1/4" or 6 1/2" speaker cones. But as with anything, it's tradeoffs. I've installed a ton of 5.1/7.1 discrete sound systems and soundbars. A mediocre discrete 5.1 implementation is about as good as a mediocre soundbar. Some people just want to be able to say they have 'integrated 5.1 surround sound' in a great room, who cares if it actually sounds good or not, they just want to tick the box.

[JediPadawan]

20 minutes ago, Omon_Ra said:

Between the fact you're renting, it's a family/living room, and everything else, it seems like a beefy soundbar is going to be the solution for you. The next question is budget.

It's a complete replacement of TV/Audio - and I want it to last for 4+ years - so I'd say those on rtings with highest scores would be fine for the budget.

20 minutes ago, Omon_Ra said:

Keep in mind the 'wireless' rears either have a single amp/'brain' box with speaker wire that you'll run out to the rears, or each speaker will have its own power cord. Kind of depends on your application as to which would suit better. What is the shape of the room like? Standard 'box' or are there lofted ceilings, exposed beams, etc? If it's a regular ol' box, I've installed some of the higher end Samsung speaker bars with the up-firing Atmos drivers. I was skeptical about it at first...but in a normal living room, it's pretty damn impressive. Not as good as a discrete 5.1.2 or 7.1 system, but for simple, ggez installation I was quite impressed.

Oh I definitely, 100%, do not want to run wires from the front to any rear speakers (if I go that route).  Power cord for them is fine.

 

Room shape I actually don't know 100% yet - I'm relocating (hence starting fresh), likely a condo/apartment, so box-ish shape is common.

 

20 minutes ago, Omon_Ra said:

It's currently backordered, but this Klipsch system is at a really good price right now. My biggest issue with soundbars is two-fold. One, the lack of upgrade-ability. You can't swap out your speakers or amp. You're stuck with it. Two, the driver sizes. Soundbars physically don't have the ability to move as much air as a 5 1/4" or 6 1/2" speaker cones. But as with anything, it's tradeoffs.

That looks pretty nice - definitely something I'd think of buying, and it scores pretty good on rtings.  Understood about the driver sizes - but not being a big room, hopefully it won't matter too much?  That's why it feels like a soundbar is a good compromise for a smaller room - no wires to run, easy setup, and good enough to make it feel like a cinema (i.e. that middle ground between decent TV speakers and a full blown amp/separates system).

[Omon_Ra]

1 hour ago, JediPadawan said:

That looks pretty nice - definitely something I'd think of buying, and it scores pretty good on rtings.  Understood about the driver sizes - but not being a big room, hopefully it won't matter too much?  That's why it feels like a soundbar is a good compromise for a smaller room - no wires to run, easy setup, and good enough to make it feel like a cinema (i.e. that middle ground between decent TV speakers and a full blown amp/separates system).

Yeah, it'll be fine. Way better than the shitty TV speakers. You're kind of the 'ideal' customer for a soundbar. Just gotta find one you like and in your budget with the features you want and you're good to go.