HDTV as Monitor?

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Brewder

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Hello,

I am using a 42" Samsung HDTV connected to my Windows 10 computer as my primary monitor. For using Windows, Office Apps, and Surfing the web it is fantastic.

Within LR, it seems a bit strange. When I process picture, they seem a bit "blurry" and "dull". I thought my picture taking took a setback or that I had a problem with my lenses. Not knowing what to do I converted my pictures and published them online as normal.

Looking at them now from multiple other devices (some computers and some tablets/phones), the pictures actually look pretty good and have vibrant colors.

I read a7 year old threads on DPReview about this problem but I'm curious on what current thinking is or if there are other recommendations. I always have my computer, including all firmware/drivers, up-to-date.

//Brew
 
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Brew,

The "blurry" is likely due to the size of the screen. I have a 21" monitor with slightly more pixels than HDTV, so each of your pixels is more than 4 times the area of one of mine. That will surely cause blurriness.

You don't mention having calibrated your TV with a hardware calibrator. Not doing so will cause your colours to be inaccurate. So that perhaps explains the "dull".

I suspect that you'd be happier editing photos on a "real" monitor.
 
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Fair enough and pretty much the response I expected! Maybe I'll treat myself to the best of both worlds and simply add a monitor to my existing setup and move LR to it when working with images (I assume this is a reasonable solution?) Now for the million dollar question, what's a reasonably good monitor for an enthusiast photographer? I'm thinking in the $200-300 range.

//Brew
 
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An HDTV is 1920X1080 pixels. This is considerably fewer pixels than a typical HiDPI computer monitor. To make it worse, those 1920X1080 pixels are dispersed over a 42" diagonal surface. With a width of approximately 36" that 1920 pixels works out to a 54 PPI about half the resolution of a standard (not HiDPI) monitor and ~1/5 that of a HiDPI screen.
 
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Using a tv is not a great idea. The ergonomics of watching the screen, handling the keyboard, mouse or pen.

My advice to people who are using 2 screens is to use screens of the same size and resolution. As you drag documents or images from one to the other (which you will), the change in font size, image size and image quality becomes a real barrier to efficient workflow.
 
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I ran into the same problem with a quality 27" 1920x1080 HD computer monitor I purchased.
The pixels were easily visible. The resolution was a bit fuzzier than I expected for Lightroom work.
I returned it, and purchased a 25" computer monitor with rez of: 2560x1440.
It's not 4K but it is ultra sharp!
Fact: Most flat screen TVs are designed to view from across the room. Thus 1080p HD looks sharp at 6-9 feet away.
But if you stand close, you will see the pixels are not so small they disappear.
The new 4K TVs main selling feature is people can stand inches from them and see no pixels. They are so small and tight.
Thus,the new 4K TVs might be an interesting option. If you can find a small size model.
A perfect size screen is one you can sweep with your eyes, not sweep with your neck.
 
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In the near future monitors may be obsolete.
Already there are semi-hi quality Virtual Reality headsets and programs, that place you at a desk with a monitor as large as you like,
and possibilities of any shape. Instead of multi-screens joined horizontally, you could design a wide virtual seamless screen, that would hold multi opened programs.
Imagine sitting in a comfy chair. No desk or screen takes up room. No wires, no large office. From the outside you look ridiculous sitting there in front of nothing.
The only problem is, at the moment the highest quality VR headsets are not extremely hi rez. Even 4k "glasses" show artifacts.
But this will change as sure as those huge 1980 cellphones changed.
 
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Thank you everyone for the education! Looks like I'll be redeploying my HDTV to another room in the house and looking for a new IPS monitor. Definitely interested in any solid entry level recommendations. In the past, I have been a big fan of ViewSonic so I may start there.

//Brew
 
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We never imagined the,
HDTV is actually being relegated to the rumpus room!
How many remember the days of yore, when a COMPOSITE monitor was the cats meow?
How about AMIGA 500? :eek:
 
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LOL.. how true!

In case anyone cases, I had a bad experience ordering some "refurbished" Viewsonic monitors, so I decided to return them both and get two Dell UltraSharp U2414H's and a Dell MDS14 stand. Hopefully, this is the cats meow.

//Brew
 
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Any update on the Dell Monitors?
 
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Actually I LOVE them. Great monitors. They are supposedly color calibrated from the factory.

I still think my pictures look at tad bit "dull" as I process/view them in LR... yet when viewed from say my wife's iPad or even other computers the colors seem to really pop. Sometimes a bit too much as if I over processes them.

I need to really dig in a spend some time looking into this and doing a side-by-side comparison.. Maybe I can better adjust my monitors.

But again, the monitors have been awesome for me.

//Brew
 
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