Using an LCD TV as a monitor...

[nips]

I'm looking into a new monitor, I'll probably be taking it to Uni next year too so it'll have to be TFT. I'm wanting a huge one and I was fannying around in Dixons today and loads of LCD TVs have inputs for PCs along with scarts and everything. Now, that would be perfect for me. Being able to simply change from one to another, putting my TV, my consoles and my PC all through one item sounds like heaven. There are loads of really good quality LCDs as well. I used to think they were crap, but they really seem to have come along in leaps and bounds. There is this really good Toshiba that I have seen in work, 20" and even looks good up close.

Do you guys have any comments on using one for the above purposes?
Are there any really good quality ones you can suggest?
Any potential problems?
Anything I should be aware of?
Any good online retailers?

[csuzw]

I have a 22" Samsung (check in the Gaming Setup thread - I posted recently) which until recently I used for my PC. THe refresh rate was excellent but its max resolution was only 800x600 normal and 1280x720 widescreen (which lots of PC stuff don't support). I had problems with a lot of PC games defaulting to 1024x768 and it not being viewable. Also for some reason when I went to display options and doing some other odds and ends the screen would go black for a few seconds.

All in all I really couldn't recommend doing this at all. It would be better to go for an LCD monitor and get a TV Tuner for it of some sort (PCI card, external USB device etc), or perhaps a very large LCD TV which can support 1024x768 but thats going to cost an arm & a leg and I still don't reckon there any of good enough quality.

[evilmatt]

When you say you'll be wanting a huge one - are we talking 30" + ? Cos if so then I would think most of that size and above will do 1024 x 768 - my Samsung 32" (couple of models up from csuzw's) does and the picture quality is great - and I've not had other problems like his at all. I've played Far Cry and Homeworld 2 and stuff on it and it looks great - picture quality is easily as good as a monitor Just wish Homeworld 2 would support the 1280 x 768 widescreen mode!

[nips]

Nah, I meant huge compared to monitors, so atleast 19" and above. Depending on the price of course, size will vary. I'm hoping for something about or above 25", but unless I can reach some kind of agreement with the old man, it would appear 19" - 25" is the appx size.

The feeling I'm getting from the limited responses to this thread is that the larger the size the better and less inhibiting.