Monitor for Xbox and PC

silvine

Can someone recommend a monitor to me that can be used for my pc and for an xbox 360 - preferably with integraged speakers, so to keep the cost down.

Many thanks.

8T8

Generally speakers are fairly crappy built into monitors so your better off getting a cheap external set to begin with.

How much money you looking to spend ?

silvine

Two to three hundred maybe.

8T8

Well you have a few choices at hand as you can get a very nice 22" widescreen like this LG which is a great display for your PC.

But the Xbox 360 does not support 16:10 resolutions in other words 1680x1050 the native resolution of the display and most displays these days now you can select other resolutions but things may get squished in the aspect ratio so if that bothers you...

This Samsung 1280x1024 19" is supported by the Xbox 360 VGA cable so it would be playing at the native resolution though 1280x1024 is not a wide resolution.

Alternatively you could go with a 19" widescreen that has a 1440x900 resolution again the Xbox does not support this but at 1280x720 or 1360x768 the resolution is closer to the native res then it would be if it were 1680x1050 getting you a sharper picture. It also leaves you with money for a modest but decent set of speakers.

shanethemofo

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/8V7bGnOhfcKgHc/2/articledetail.jsp?agid=603&aid=8798&lid=2

Im thinking of getting this.

8T8

Thats the same LG I linked to just black instead of silver though it does come with HDMI/component inputs which could be useful for other game consoles/items but all you really need is VGA/DVI.

shanethemofo

yea i know it is, just thought the added connnections would be better. u could have

pc - dvi
xb360 - component
tv tunerbox - vga
hd dvd player - hdmi.

and its only a tenner more

silvine

8T8 wrote:

Alternatively you could go with a 19" widescreen that has a 1440x900 resolution again the Xbox does not support this but at 1280x720 or 1360x768 the resolution is closer to the native res then it would be if it were 1680x1050 getting you a sharper picture. It also leaves you with money for a modest but decent set of speakers.

I'd be happy to go with the above monitor or http://www3.hardwareversand.de/8V7bG...aid=8798&lid=2.

Would I be playing in HD with these monitors? I'm going for the X Box Elite in August.

I also have a HD telly with HDMI connection but realistically I would only be able to use that for gaming after certain people (my girlfriend!) go to bed.

8T8

That link is broken.

Would I be playing in HD with these monitors? I'm going for the X Box Elite in August.

Yes, there is no voodoo around HD all it means are two resolutions in the video/audio world 1280x720 (720p) and 1920x1080 (1080p) ones with i at the end like 1080i are the same resolution just interlaced.

Your PC has been running in "HD" for the past decade anytime you played something at a higher resolution than the above.

The Xbox 360 has a built in scaler so games are internally rendered at a resolution set by the developer and then the scaler takes that and outputs it at the resolution set in the dash so even though you may have 1080p set in the dash the game is not really being rendered at that.

When running on VGA the principle is the same just instead of 720p,1080i etc you get 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1280x720, 1360x768, 1920x1080 etc as your resolution options.

The HDMI version is rather pointless if you are using this with a monitor as the HDMI link does not enhance picture quality vs VGA they have been tested and shown to be the same.

silvine

8T8 wrote:

Alternatively you could go with a 19" widescreen that has a 1440x900 resolution again the Xbox does not support this but at 1280x720 or 1360x768 the resolution is closer to the native res then it would be if it were 1680x1050 getting you a sharper picture. It also leaves you with money for a modest but decent set of speakers.

If I get this monitor and these speakers, do I just plug the speakers into the back of the X Box 360?

8T8

Sort of the official VGA cable for the Xbox 360 comes with the red/white RCA connectors plus it should come with an adapter that turns it into a male 3.5mm connection.

So you plug whichever fits into your speakers. The speakers I linked to use a 3.5mm connection I believe.

You can buy the adapters that turn it into 3.5mm as well just in case.

Oh yeah this online manual for the display may come in handy if you go through with it as it shows all the setting in the display which is good to know and how to switch sources from VGA to DVI.

Anti

8T8 wrote:

Well you have a few choices at hand as you can get a very nice 22" widescreen like this LG which is a great display for your PC.

But the Xbox 360 does not support 16:10 resolutions in other words 1680x1050 the native resolution of the display and most displays these days now you can select other resolutions but things may get squished in the aspect ratio so if that bothers you...

This Samsung 1280x1024 19" is supported by the Xbox 360 VGA cable so it would be playing at the native resolution though 1280x1024 is not a wide resolution.

Alternatively you could go with a 19" widescreen that has a 1440x900 resolution again the Xbox does not support this but at 1280x720 or 1360x768 the resolution is closer to the native res then it would be if it were 1680x1050 getting you a sharper picture. It also leaves you with money for a modest but decent set of speakers.

My 360 does 1680*1050, It started working after the last release.

8T8

Thats good to hear I heard rumblings but no direct confirmation and was too lazy to drag my 360 to my PC display to find out.

But is the aspect ratio okay it may do 1680x1050 but is everything not sort of stretched out of scale ?

silvine

Are there any decent dell monitors that people would recommend for the PC and the X box?

8T8

No unless you are planning on buying Dell's high end models as they are the only good ones the basic models aren't worth it vs competing displays from LG\Samsung.

GenericName

I bought the BenQ FP222W. It cost me €210 in Malaysia, so it is probably a bit more expensive in Ireland

It's a 1680x1050 22" screen with DVI and VGA. There is a button on the side to allow one touch switching between inputs. Very useful feature if you are gonna run the Xbox 360 and PC in to the same monitor.

Vibrant colours and no problems with ghosting as far as I can tell.

For the Xbox 360 I found 1280x1024 to be the best resolution. That's not the best match for 16:9 but it looked the sharpest on my monitor. Also, i noticed that the monitor adds black bars on the top and bottom. This seems to keep the stretching and blurring under control. The black bars are only a few pixels so no big deal.

silvine

I bought the BenQ FP222W. It cost me €210 in Malaysia, so it is probably a bit more expensive in Ireland

It's a 1680x1050 22" screen with DVI and VGA. There is a button on the side to allow one touch switching between inputs. Very useful feature if you are gonna run the Xbox 360 and PC in to the same monitor.

Vibrant colours and no problems with ghosting as far as I can tell.

For the Xbox 360 I found 1280x1024 to be the best resolution. That's not the best match for 16:9 but it looked the sharpest on my monitor. Also, i noticed that the monitor adds black bars on the top and bottom. This seems to keep the stretching and blurring under control. The black bars are only a few pixels so no big deal.

Could I hook a PS3 up to it?

8T8

Only if it supports HDCP the PS3 requires that regardless of games or movies. So with a HDMI-DVI cable the display must have either HDMI port or a DVI port with HDCP support.

As far as I can tell the BenQ display does not have HDCP support but I'm not 100% on that.

For the PC/X360/PS3 probably the best option would be the LG display silvine linked to as it is a widescreen display with HDMI/DVI/VGA so all three devices could be accommodated for best picture quality.

If it is a case of being the PC/PS3 only then that is a tricky choice as the PS3 has no VGA output it's digital only so the PC could be stuck on VGA if the display has only a DVI/VGA input.

GenericName

There is a version of the BenQ that comes with HDMI. However, it's not sold in Europe as far as I remember because HDMI incurs some sort of tax. Basically your PC monitor is considered a TV if it has HDMI. Since the BenQ is sold on a budget, HDMI makes it less competitive.

GenericName

I think I'm wrong on that. DVI attracts a tax. So the monitor sold without DVI in Europe to keep it cheaper.

silvine

Are there any cheaper/smaller monitors I could use for a PS3 and the PC than the LG one? Around 19" say.

8T8

Yeah the 19" Samsung one will do just fine if you can live with the PC using the VGA link instead of DVI.

Although it does not say it on Komplett Samsungs own site says the monitor is HDCP compatible as do reviews.

The only way to get the PS3 off the digital link is to find a display with a component input which is analogue but monitors with that aren't too common usually high end only.

Alternatively get a little converter box which turns component video into VGA so that way you can plug the PS3 into the display though there may be a very small hit in picture quality for games you wont really notice it & you keep the PC on DVI.

silvine

Great that box could be handy. I take it if I keep the PC on VGA it will suffer from a small pic quality hit too? I could still game on the PC though?

To be honest it's not THAT much hassle to take out a cable when I want to switch from one to the other.

8T8

Yeah generally the picture will be a bit less sharp over VGA compared to DVI, for a games console that isn't a big of a deal but it would be more noticeable when using the PC for reading text writing on forums etc.

It may not bother you it's just one of those things you have to see in action.