Need Help Selecting a TV as a Monitor

scott55tt · Jan 21, 2011

Hi,
I read that many people nowadays are using TV as a Monitor.

I need to have 10 to 12 charts open at any given moment. Most traders achieve this using multiple monitors. For me this is not possible because I canât find a video card that will do this where I live. And I canât afford 10 Monitors.

So the other solution is to use Very Large 46 inch Flat TV.

If anybody is using TV as a monitor, I need all the help I can get. What should I be looking for in a TV ? We have Samsung & LG & Philips TVs available.

Few Samsung models I looked at had following.

1. Full HD
2. Clear Motion Rate was either 100 OR 400. I donât know what that means.
3. Dynamic Contrast 4 Million to1 and 5 Million to 1.
4. Some Internet Ready & others not.
5. LCD or LED

What does Clear Motion Rate Mean ? How important is contrast Ratio ? Is LED better than LCD ? LG or Samsung or Philips ?

What else should I be looking for ?

Any explanation & suggestions would really help.

Thank You.

r-in · Jan 21, 2011

I don't have the time to search at the moment, but there was a thread about this topic not long ago. If I have time later I'll post a link, otherwise try the search function. I am also interested, and will be doing more research. If I recall one poster implied they only found a particular Sony that worked.

Scataphagos · Jan 21, 2011

Quote from scott55tt:

Hi,
I read that many people nowadays are using TV as a Monitor.

I need to have 10 to 12 charts open at any given moment. Most traders achieve this using multiple monitors. For me this is not possible because I canât find a video card that will do this where I live. And I canât afford 10 Monitors.

So the other solution is to use Very Large 46 inch Flat TV.

If anybody is using TV as a monitor, I need all the help I can get. What should I be looking for in a TV ? We have Samsung & LG & Philips TVs available.

Few Samsung models I looked at had following.

1. Full HD
2. Clear Motion Rate was either 100 OR 400. I donât know what that means.
3. Dynamic Contrast 4 Million to1 and 5 Million to 1.
4. Some Internet Ready & others not.
5. LCD or LED

What does Clear Motion Rate Mean ? How important is contrast Ratio ? Is LED better than LCD ? LG or Samsung or Philips ?

What else should I be looking for ?

Any explanation & suggestions would really help.

Thank You.

What operating system are you using? With any version of Windows you can have 50 charts open and displayed if you wish. "Multiple charts" is not a function of the video card.

A 46" flat screen TV has a resolution of 1920x1080... same as a 24" monitor... therefore, both of them will display the same amount of stuff. (Actually, a 24", 1920x1200 monitor will display more than a 46" TV.)

PIPMAGIC66 · Jan 21, 2011

Quote from scott55tt:

Hi,
I read that many people nowadays are using TV as a Monitor.

I need to have 10 to 12 charts open at any given moment. Most traders achieve this using multiple monitors. For me this is not possible because I canât find a video card that will do this where I live. And I canât afford 10 Monitors.

So the other solution is to use Very Large 46 inch Flat TV.

If anybody is using TV as a monitor, I need all the help I can get. What should I be looking for in a TV ? We have Samsung & LG & Philips TVs available.

Few Samsung models I looked at had following.

1. Full HD
2. Clear Motion Rate was either 100 OR 400. I donât know what that means.
3. Dynamic Contrast 4 Million to1 and 5 Million to 1.
4. Some Internet Ready & others not.
5. LCD or LED

What does Clear Motion Rate Mean ? How important is contrast Ratio ? Is LED better than LCD ? LG or Samsung or Philips ?

What else should I be looking for ?

Any explanation & suggestions would really help.

Thank You.

No matter what size your tv it will never hold more charts because the resolution is equal to a monitor.

Pekelo · Jan 21, 2011

The OP made me curious, so I hooked my laptop to my Hitachi 42" plasma TV with HDMI and put up some charts. The surface area of the TV is 36 x 20, so when I put up 9 charts, they are 12" x 6.5" each. They can be read nicely with the resolution 1336 x 768, but the TV is flickering noticably. It is actually so disturbing that I wouldn't look at it for hours. The TV is rather old, so it might not be an issue with newer ones or other types, but that is something to keep an eye on...

Scataphagos · Jan 21, 2011

Quote from Pekelo:

The OP made me curious, so I hooked my laptop to my Hitachi 42" plasma TV with HDMI and put up some charts. The surface area of the TV is 36 x 20, so when I put up 9 charts, they are 12" x 6.5" each. They can be read nicely with the resolution 1336 x 768, but the TV is flickering noticably. It is actually so disturbing that I wouldn't look at it for hours. The TV is rather old, so it might not be an issue with newer ones or other types, but that is something to keep an eye on...

Apparently sometimes a laptop's video system doesn't run TVs perfectly. You might want to try your laptop on another TV or 2.

Bolimomo · Jan 21, 2011

Quote from scott55tt:

Hi,
I read that many people nowadays are using TV as a Monitor.

It's hard to lump all "TV" into consideration because they use different technologies. The older CRT, rear projection and DLP technologies are definitely not usable as computer monitor.

The current technologies: LCD and LED may work. Plasma is marginal.

I have a 50-inch plasma monitor. While it can display the 1080p resolution, when I hook it up to a desktop with a DVI output display card (to view Netflix movies)... while it works the text displays are very blurry. If you need to depend on reading the text values accurately to trade... it is quite painful.

LCD and LED mons may work.

The post referenced upthread is here: zanek said a Sony Bravia TV was used.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=210254&perpage=6&pagenumber=4

Pekelo · Jan 21, 2011

Another message board, same topic:

http://www.bigmiketrading.com/off-topic/5054-using-big-screen-tvs-monitors.html

Here is how I would approach the problem:

1. Determine what is the smallest size of a chart that you can still see and work with. For example I can put up 4 charts on a 19" monitor and still see them, each being 8 x 5. So you might only need to get 3 monitors and the size of the monitors comes out of your prefered chartsize.

2. What is the budget? Again, 3 monitors can be cheaper and better on your eyes than 1 big screen TV. You can get 24" monitors for $200, so the whole display is around $600. Or 2 monitors, one 27" with 9 charts, the other 24" or smaller with 4 charts, still under $500.

3. If you really want to go with the TV solution, I would take a laptop to the store and hook up different TVs and see how they look. Nothing beats real life experience....

traderharley · Jan 21, 2011

I have a Dell 30" monitor, and usually have 9-12 charts on it without problem.

J.P. · Jan 21, 2011

Quote from traderharley:

I have a Dell 30" monitor, and usually have 9-12 charts on it without problem.

I agree; this is the way to go. One of my screens is a 30" HP with 2560 X 1600 resolution. I highly recommend it. It would be difficult for me to go back to a smaller screen now. Text is very sharp. It is also excellent for charts, Blu-ray movies, whatever you want.