More and more users tend to pair the TVs with their game consoles, such as Xbox One and PS4, so as to make the most of what once were exclusive PC gaming features. Both TVs and the monitors have some advantages and disadvantages. Some people are wondering which is better when it comes to gaming. That’s what I want to talk about on this page.
TVs and monitors share a lot in common; they are both used frequently to display information for us. Some users think a TV is better than a monitor when playing games but others may find monitor better than TV for gaming. The following content will compare TV vs monitor for gaming; please choose one according to your actual needs.
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TV vs Monitor for Gaming: 4 Most Significant Differences
Though TVs are similar to monitors in many aspects, there are a lot of differences between them, such as display size, response time, input lag, refresh rate & adaptive sync, and image quality & HDR. This part will discuss monitor vs TV for gaming in terms of these aspects.
One: Screen Size
The size of the screen is one of the most obvious differences people will think of when talking TV vs monitor.
- The size of modern monitors is ranging from 21 to 32 inches generally (the 24-27-inch range is the most common one).
- The size of TVs these days is ranging from 32 to 65 inches generally.
That is to say, the screen of a monitor is often smaller than that of a TV. But it’s not absolute; there are both smaller & larger TVs and monitors out there.
Two: Response Time
Response time refers to the pixel response time, which reflects the speed of changing color of a pixel from black to white or from one shade of gray to another. The faster the response time is, the better the viewing experiences (during fast-paced scenes) will be. The response time is measured by milliseconds.
The response time speed of average IPS panel monitor is about 5ms while that of the IPS panel TV is around 15ms.
If you want to use a TV as monitor for gaming, please make sure it has a slower response time; otherwise, you may be bothered by the visible ghosting and trailing of the fast-moving objects while playing games.
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Three: Input Lag
The input lag refers to the time needing for the signal received by the display to be finally processed and shown on your screen. Filters are widely used on TV to improve image quality, reduce noise, and upscale when watching TV; these actions need extra time so that they will finally lead to input lag.
In general, the input lag of TVs is much more obvious than that of monitors. You’ll need to check whether the TV has some sort of image post-processing bypass mode, such as “Game Mode”, which will lower the input lag considerably.
In this aspect alone, the monitor is a better choice than TV. But there are still many more factors to consider when discussing monitor vs TV.
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Four: Refresh Rate & Adaptive Sync
Refresh rate refers to how many times a machine can change the image on its screen every second.
- The refresh rate of a normal monitor can be up to 360Hz, which can bring you the most responsive and fluid fast-paced gaming experience.
- The refresh rate of TVs is limited to 60Hz or 120Hz. Though some TVs have features like LG TruMotion120 (which was said to convert 60 FPS content into 120 FPS), they are actually fake frames and even influence users’ image and gameplay experience.
The adaptive-sync technology or variable refresh rate is offered by some gaming monitors (such as NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD FreeSync) to provide a variable refresh rate, which helps to remove all screen tearing and stuttering issue.
Five: Image Quality & HDR
The resolution of modern TVs is generally 1080p or 4K while that of monitors includes those options as well as 1440p. Though TV manufacturers pay more attention to a better viewing experience, the battle between TVs and game monitors is becoming less with the recent influx of IPS monitors.
HDR refers to High Dynamic Range, which can offer users the brighter and more vibrant image quality for the content it can be compatible with.
- Currently, a high-end 4K TV is supposed to support HDR, but the HDR monitor is just getting started.
- Correspondingly, there is little HDR content for TV, but much HDR content is designed for the game consoles (like PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X).
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In addition, OLED, price, comfort, interface, and many other factors may be taken into consideration when talking about TV vs monitor for gaming.