I need help to find a "hybrid" PC monitor?

[Tanukitsune]

My monitor (Samsung Syncmaster) was never the best, it has a dead pixel and every once in a blue moon it would give me an error saying the resolution isn't right and forcing me to restart several times until it worked.

 

Not only has it started to get worse over the years, sometimes when my PC comes out of sleep mode the monitor just blinks and forces me to restart, which usually starts in the "Um, this is the wrong resolution, restart several times, OK?" thing all over again.

 

Since I can't see what's going on, sometimes I restart at a bad time, and I have to waste 30 minutes to an hour for a system restore.

 

 

No big deal, Christmas is around the corner, I'll just ask for a new one, right? The thing is, I don't really know what they call this monitor type, apparently "hybrid monitors" don't show any results in online stores and I'm weary to buy one of the same brand, specially since from the description they don't seem to do what I want.

 

Do monitors or TVs even come with components input anymore? All I need is a VGA input for my PC, and HMDI one for the PS3 and a component one for all the older consoles. 

 

Is there such a thing anymore? Should I look for an external component that would turn a normal TV monitor into a PC one or viceversa? 

 

Come to think of it, my graphic card has an HMDI output, but I could never get it to work with this monitor, I just see the desktop wallpaper, not even the mouse. The monitor is too old to have new drivers or active tech support, so I could never solve these problems. 

[Tanukitsune]

Apparently, I am dumb and didn't know the VGA input is now called D-sub...

 

This is the cheapest I could find with the features I want, but it is the same brand, I still don't even know what to ask for if I want this from another brand.

[Joewintergreen]

If you could see the desktop wallpaper and nothing else it sounds like it figured it was supposed be a second monitor for some reason, set to extend the desktop.

Anyhow, I have a couple of Dell Ultrasharps which have basically every input - HDMI, VGA, DVI, displayport, component, svideo, etc. I can recommend the hell out of them but you may not be able to get one on the cheap.

[Thrik]

You're just looking for a monitor with the ability to handle multiple inputs. There's no real name for what you're after, and to be honest the inputs vary on a per-monitor (and per-computer for that matter) basis. Nowadays people often use HDMI or DVI out of their computers, so it's not like the inputs are specific to computers or TVs.

 

The real distinction between a monitor and a TV is the resolution support and image processing. TVs often only support standardised TV resolutions, meaning that if you try to run some old game that only runs in a certain resolution you've potentially got problems. Conversely, monitors tend to support just about any resolution. As for the image processing, TVs usually have more advanced chips and software inside them that handles upscaling standard-definition broadcasts and such really nicely — but it can easily introduce input lag, as well as colours and contrast that don't quite look right for desktop computer use. Unless you get a really good TV it's best to just go with an honest-to-god monitor for games and computing.

 

In terms of recommendations, if there's one component I advise people to spend a lot of money on it's a monitor. While I spent about £450 on my Dell 2407 six–seven years ago, it really does look as good as new despite unbelievable amounts of use. And even today its colour rendition and general quality surpasses the majority of monitors I see in workplaces and other peoples' houses.

 

I highly recommend waiting for a while if need be and investing in a monitor that'll both look great and last. Cheap consumer monitors are a false economy because you end up replacing them more often and have to live with sub-par visuals. TN panels in particular are to be avoided if strikingly better image quality matters to you (it doesn't to everyone, notably competitive gamers).

 

Edit: Worth reading this as it explains why some panels are so much better — http://reviews.cnet.com/monitor-buying-guide/

[dibs]

If I want to get a medium size tv (~30 inch maybe) to put at the other side of my room from my computer and play Steam Big Picutre mode on, will just about any mordern tv with a hdmi do? Is apple TV the best choice for a netflix box these days (available in ireland) if i wanted a seperate box to do so?

[Thrik]

Any will do, it just comes down to what level of picture quality, built-in speakers, and extra HDMI slots you're willing to pay for. In terms of pure features they're fairly equivalent across the entire price field now. The only small thing to make a note of is the actual version of HDMI the TV supports, as this does vary and it is possible to get problems between old TVs and new Blu-ray players if you're wanting to show 4K imagery or 3D for example.

[Tanukitsune]

If you could see the desktop wallpaper and nothing else it sounds like it figured it was supposed be a second monitor for some reason, set to extend the desktop.

Anyhow, I have a couple of Dell Ultrasharps which have basically every input - HDMI, VGA, DVI, displayport, component, svideo, etc. I can recommend the hell out of them but you may not be able to get one on the cheap.

 

Hmm, I guess it's set to use the VGA input as the default. "Dual monitors" is something I know nothing about, but if it keeps thinking this, is there a way I can tell them to switch and use the "second monitor" as the primary? This might solve all my problems... I'm going to test if I can get the error again and switch to HDMI and see if that helps.

 

The only problem with this solution is that my monitor only has one HDMI input and I'd have to switch cables everytimes I wanted to use my PS3, but that sounds better than buying a new monitor.

[dibs]

Thanks Thrik. I'm just looking for a basic model really. I'll take note of what my video card outputs and make sure to match.

Deffo not 3D. I'm not sure i can see 3D very well:(

[Thrik]

Hmm, I guess it's set to use the VGA input as the default. "Dual monitors" is something I know nothing about, but if it keeps thinking this, is there a way I can tell them to switch and use the "second monitor" as the primary? This might solve all my problems... I'm going to test if I can get the error again and switch to HDMI and see if that helps.

 

The only problem with this solution is that my monitor only has one HDMI input and I'd have to switch cables everytimes I wanted to use my PS3, but that sounds better than buying a new monitor.

 

If you right click your Windows desktop, the 'Screen resolution' section allows you to control this kind of thing. Pressing Windows+P is also a good mode switching shortcut to be aware of.

[Tanukitsune]

OK, I managed to get it recognize it via the HDMI cable, but now it thinks it's a TV monitor and the resolutions is 1920+1080 and everything is so blurry I can barely read what I'm writing... :|

 

It also won't let me choose barely any resolutions at all, but it's still very hard to read what's on screen with all of them.

[Thrik]

Sometimes the resolution choice is limited when you have both screens running because your computer can't handle so much screen. You might want to experiment with disabling the screen you don't want to actively use so your monitor is the primary (and only) screen that's enabled.

[Tanukitsune]

It was always just one screen, it just somehow thought the HDMI one was a second one, it recognizes it as the primary one now, but I can't see a thing in this resolution.

 

EDIT: This is so weird, no matter which resolution I choose or how much I mess with the gamma or brightness, it's all a blurry mess.

 

EDIT EDIT: I switched back to the normal VGA cable and I just noticed something. While using this cable everything looks fine but the maximum resolution allowed is 1650*1080, but with the HMDI cable everything looks like a blurry mess BUT the maximum resolution allowed is 1920*1080 and changing it to smaller resolution just shrinks the screen and leaves a black border, so I think I can't really change the resolution.

 

[Hermie]

Thrik is spot on about monitors and TVs. Nothing to add.

 

If I want to get a medium size tv (~30 inch maybe) to put at the other side of my room from my computer and play Steam Big Picutre mode on, will just about any mordern tv with a hdmi do? Is apple TV the best choice for a netflix box these days (available in ireland) if i wanted a seperate box to do so?

 

At work we sell so-called "smart-TV dongles". It's just the innards of a phone/tablet, but with HDMI out instead of a screen. Stick it in a port behind the TV, power via USB or adapter, and you have Android running on your TV, with no extra box in your entertainment center. Has USB in too, for wireless keyboards/controllers. 

 

If I didn't have my computer near my TV, I would get one of these. If you like messing around a bit to set up things just right, you can make it boot straight into Netflix or XBMC, have a custom launcher, automatically power up when your phone is on the same Wifi, and other neat stuff like that. Plus, you can run emulators and games native to Android.

[Tanukitsune]

I've been experimenting for a while, I'm not sure, but it seem that simply setting my monitor to any other source than the VGA before it hibernates will prevent the blinking issue.

 

It takes a while for it to hibernate, but out of five hibernations, it hasn't done the blinking one once. If I can make sure I can avoid this issue I'll wait until I can afford a decent one.