Time to get an HD monitor

[zinger]

I'm getting a 360 soon, which will be my most modern system yet. I've had the luxury to play older games on PVM and NANAO monitors, but naturally they will not suffice for modern gaming. The most important factors, I guess, are HDMI input, 16:9 aspect ratio and low input lag. I've looked around on various websites, and generally it seems a lot of TVs are more expensive and have higher input lag than PC monitors. So although I wouldn't mind the extra input connectors usually provided by TV screens, a computer monitor seems like a better bet to me?

Opinions? What do you guys use for HD gaming?

[evil_ash_xero]

I'd put this in the hardware section, if I were you.

Lots of really helpful people, that don't really go to this area of the forum.

[zinger]

Doh, forgot about that section. Maybe one of the mods could just lift this topic over there for me?

[Ghegs]

Yoink.

I actually use one of those half-monitor/half-TV things for my PC and 360. Works really well, and I haven't noticed any input lag. You can activate Game Mode which I assume helps with that. Can't recall the model at the moment, I'll edit it in when I get home.

EDIT: Samsung SyncMaster TA550.

[FinalBaton]

For a somewhat cheap but great looking option :

try to hunt down a Sony Super Fine Pitch CRT (a consumer tv).
They output 480p and 720p natively, so NO input lag in those modes. Some models have HDMI inputs while others have DVI ones. There are like 4 or 5 widescreen models. These sets also go up to 1080i, but this adds a bit of input lag. But from what I've read, it's not too much. BazookaBen on here says that 480p in widescreen stretch mode has a bit of lag, maybe he can drop here to confirm and give details(don't know if he was talking about native480p 16:9 content, or native 480p 4:3 content that is stretched to widescreen).

They have 1440 lines of vertical resolution and the colors are very good. They can be found for as low as $100, but sometimes they fetch more in the $200 to $300 range.

There's also the professional monitor route, but that's a way bigger investment. If you want I can put up a list of models that handle 720p and up.

But be assured that the super fine pitch ones won't leave you unsatisfied : they have a gorgeous picture and good specs, they are quite awesome for 480p and 720p sources.



If I had no HD crt and was looking for one to play XBOX 360, I would absolutely go with a Sony SFP

[charlie chong]

pc monitor with low lag should do the job.asus is the brand i went with and i use it for pc/xbox360/ps4 but i imagine any reputable brand with low lag should be good.my one has 3 hdmi inputs 1 vga 2ms lag etc.
one problem with the pc monitors tho is (if they even have it) the built in speakers are usually terrible and never any way near loud enough.i just run the audio out to my mixer anyway so no probs for me but mebes a consideration for yourself

[Ed Oscuro]

Check out this list:
http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/

From the drop-down list, select 1080p for resolution (some 1200p monitors might work, but some won't, and they'll be older anyway), and you can also add years (pull down both 2014 and 2015 to just get monitors from the last two years). Ditto for monitor (you can add f-sync and g-sync to the list for whatever good that'll do; there aren't many 1080p adaptive sync monitors out there). Likewise you can add sizes.

The thing you should notice right away is that there are lots of 24" and 27" monitors fitting these criteria. Some are IPS panels, some are TN. Unfortunately, the most impressive new IPS panels seem to be coupled with adaptive sync modules that don't scale 1080p output, and are much more expensive than TN panels.

You can find a good 1080p 27" monitor with a TN panel for as low as $160.
Edit: One can find the Dell S2715H, a 27" IPS with 6ms advertised G2G response time, with code EMCKAPA37. You can find the TFT Central review of the U (ultrasharp) version here:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2715h.htm

If it shares the same characteristics, it has pretty good input lag (11ms) and blur is fairly well controlled.

Brand doesn't really matter so long as you're dealing with the panel lottery.

[zinger]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Ghegs, sounds good though I cant't seem to find it here in Sweden. Probably not availiable anymore.

FinalBaton, interesting. I never knew there were HD CRT monitors! I have just moved to a very small apartment though, and will probably want to get something that's a bit less bulky. Especially since my PVM already takes up quite a lot of space. Very tempted though...

charlie chong, yeah I will be using a mixer and a pair of studio monitors for my setup, but thanks for the heads-up!

Ed Obscuro, that list will probably come in handy! Thanks!