26" LCD TV to be used as a monitor. Help!

[Jason B]

Hey guys, I have this video card: ATI 9200, 128 mb "All in wonder" card. I bought a 26" Vizio LCD, which has a resolution of 1366x768.
Now, in my properties of my video card, I can only find 1360x768. I put it to this setting.

I copied this from the Vizio manual online if this helps.
http://www.burtmanindustries.com/images/xyz/lcd_res.jpg Specsheet from Vizio

http://www.vizio.com/media/products/pdfs/VW26LManual.pdf

It does not look right on the new 26" lcd!!! I see less on the screen than I did with my 17" square LCD. I don't get it. Everything is much bigger, my email program gets cutoff and I see less of my in/out box, everything it too big.

If I change the resolution to 1360x1024, it helps images and my email program, but text is fuzzy, and print looks weird.

Here is what my screen looks like on a square 17" LCD monitor

Here is what my screen looks like on a the widescreen 26" LCD monitor

What can I do to get this 26" monitor to look right??? I don't want to see less area with this bigger monitor. Help.

[Chewy]

will it go to 1280 x 720(or lower) adjust the refresh rate and display properties to get clear text

[admin]

Displaying at the native resolution will always be clearer, otherwise some scaling will be performed (by your video card/Windows or your LCD monitor). In your ATI drivers, there should be an option to set the scaling to be by your monitor or by your display adapter ... you might find playing around with these settings might help. Also research into "Cleartype", which helps with text clarity on LCDs:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx

You are using 1280x1024 resolution for your 17", and 1360x768 for your 26" - if you do the math, you are actually using 25% less pixels on the 26" due to it being widescreen, but having a less vertical resolution than your 17". So seeing less is normal. Because this is a LCD TV, the resolution will usually be a little lower. If it was a LCD monitor (eg. the Dell 24" for $669), then the resolution will be much higher for PC usage (for the Dell, it's 1920x1200 - which is beyond the resolution for even HD DVD/Blu-ray/HDTV).

[Jason B]

Ahh, thank you for explaining this. I think I jumped the gun too quick and should have investigated the resolutions more and what they mean. SO, it seems using this 26" Lcd TV as a computer monitor for 8 hours a day isn't going to be a good idea. Looks like I will have to return it and buy an actual "PC" monitor with a higher res. When I run this 26" it feels like I'm looking at 800x600 almost, hehe.

[admin]

If computer work is the primary use for the monitor, then get a computer LCD monitor, and you can always add an external tuner to the monitor to turn it into a TV.

Since you are going to look for a new monitor, probably a few things to look out for:

1. Obviously, the resolution is important ... for 26", 1920x1200 should be the resolution you are looking for, or at least 1600x1200

2. See if it has the right connectors. I would aim for one that has DVI/VGA, HDMI and possibly even component input. Having speakers would help if you want to use it as a standalone TV

3. If it only has a DVI connection, make sure it supports HDCP for Blu-ray/HD DVD playback