Expert: Octane - 11/22/2008

Question
Hello Octane,
Since you seem pretty knowledgeable of game console hardware, I thought I would ask you a question that I'm pondering, especially since Black Friday deals are around the corner. I have an Xbox 360 and might get a PS3 soon. I was thinking of getting a new LCD monitor for my pc, since tigerdirect is having some pretty good deals for a student's budget. I would like to hook my 360/PS3 to the LCD monitor but I've heard to results are fairly bad compared to regular tvs. Is it normal for game console quality to be worse on a LCD monitor than a tv? If not, would I have to look into one of the expensive monitors? Thanks.

Answer
Gday Will,

Unfortunately LCD monitors that have a TV component built into it do have a not so great conversion simply because they are primarily designed to be a Monitor and not a TV.  (It is similar the other way hooking PC to TV compatible monitor.)

It's not that they are really bad just they are not designed to display it properly it kind of an add on.  (I have a top of the range Sony Monitor I use as a TV and it goes pixilated a bit while running PC graphic games it fine.)

Sometimes the cheaper ones do a job of it which may not sound right but unfortunately is.  The bigger screen wise it gets the worse you will notice it as well.  They are getting better at it but they are still not 100%.  If you find one with the HDMI hookups it may display it even better than just the Cable and AV ports.  I think the TV designed with a HDMI connection would be the best.

For space reasons they are great.  But what I would do is decide what the monitor is going to be primarily used for TV or Computer and get it based on that.  (If you just use the computer for school work and no gaming I would be more inclined to get a TV with a built in Computer adaptor.  But if you are a big WOW or other computer player I would get a Monitor with a TV plug in it)

If push came to shove I would almost be incline to wack my 360 in a back pack take it to a shop and test it to see the quality.  It is about the only way to really know.

Hope this helps.

Octane