$: TV vs Monitor For Gaming – Which is best for PC and console in 2020?

TV vs Monitor for gaming

Tv vs monitor for gaming – which one should use for gaming? That is the question everyone is asking. If you look into a few years back, there are not many things to talked about whether you choose to monitor or TV for gaming.

Because at that time, we don’t have the technology on TV the most gamers want. If you had a PC, the only option is to have a monitor and play games on it. And if you had a console TV is what most peoples are looking for.

But, in 2020, it’s not like that. As TVs are getting more advanced, the differences between TV and monitor also decrease when it comes to gaming.

Next-gen consoles like the Xbox series X or PS5 are now capable to play games at 4k 60fps. Even graphics card for like 1st-gen RTX 2080ti and 2nd-gen RTX 3000 series GPU can play games up to 8k resolution.

So in this post, I compare Tv vs monitor for gaming and discuss pretty much everything such as resolution, latency or input lag, refresh rate, etc.
And why or why you shouldn’t get a gaming monitor and if a TV is the best option for you.

Tv vs Monitor for Gaming: Screen resolution

The next thing we have is resolution. Resolution is measured to describe how many pixels are have on the screen. The higher the resolution of the screen, the sharper and denser the image quality will be.

Now there are mainly three relevant resolutions for monitors.

Full HD or 1080p

Yes, there is a 5k or 8k resolution exist, but availability is very low right now. On the other hand, for TV, we also have mainly three resolutions types. Yes, even for TV 8k resolution is available, but the most commons are

Full HD or 1080p

Screen resolution — Source: https://www.mvps.net/docs/screen-size-and-resolution-comparisons/

let’s have a look at 1080p first, also known as Full HD. 1080p or Full HD is the starting resolution for most new gamers. 24inches screen size is the sweet spot for 1080p gaming.

The most 1080p TVs are available from 32 inches. Although it is a little bit bigger than 24 inches, visually it won’t make much difference. For 1080p it doesn’t matter whether to have a TV or monitor in terms of screen resolution.

Now, things getting quite interesting when it comes to 4k resolution. Your resolution isn’t gonna play a huge effect on what you buy unless you watch a lot of 4k content on that.

And we’re talking if you have an Xbox one X or PS4 Pro or plan to have next-gen Xbox series X or PS5 in the future. Or a PC that is capable of 4k gaming.

There’s a lot of new TVs which are quite good for gaming. If you plan to buy one of the newer gen consoles or already have one by the time you read this, then you should probably invest on a 4k display.

Most 4k monitors are about 32 inches. 4k is 4 times denser than a 1080p monitor. The image is incredibly sharp and dense even for a much larger screen. If you planning to buy a 4k display, investing on a 4k TV would be much resalable than a monitor at least in terms of gaming. You could also hook it up with a PC for 4k gaming.

Otherwise, it’s a waste of your money to have this 4k console in my opinion.

Tv vs Monitor for Gaming: High Dynamic Range

TV vs Monitor For Gaming - Which is best for PC and console in 2020? — Source: https://aws.amazon.com/media/tech/what-high-dynamic-range-hdr-video/

I am absolutely going to say that the right TVs are more than likely going to produce better color and higher color volume than your average gaming monitor. Otherwise known as HDR.

Now there’s a lot of TVs out there that say they’re HDR capable and all that really means is they can get brighter.

What determines whether or not you’re gonna get better color is the difference between 8-bit and 10-bit panels.

8-bit panels have roughly 33-36 million shades of color. Whereas a 10-bit panel, HDR true HDR panel is going to have more than 1 billion shades of color.

Color content really depends on the panel itself and whether or not it is an 8 bit or 10 bit. Yes, there are other factors but I’m going to leave it at that. Because it can produce more with a higher bit panel.

Tv vs Monitor for Gaming: Input lag

Input lag used to be very bad on TVs. Monitors are usually much better than a TV panel, because TV panels are made to take that signal and displaying it right away.

Samsung TVs are made using the same VA panels and a lot of the same technology, which they using for their gaming monitors. Which means they actually get as low as 4-millisecond input lag.

I believe LG has the same exact technology used in its auto game mode. So when you plug in an Xbox or you plug in a Playstation or even a gaming PC you get a 4-millisecond input lag.

Or as low as. It’s not always the perfect condition. The same could be said about a good quality gaming monitor. If input lag isn’t an issue and you can get a TV that has a lower input lag for your console well then why would you get a gaming monitor?

Tv vs Monitor for Gaming: Refresh Rate

Okay, so one of the biggest things that most people look into a gaming monitor is Refresh Rate. So for a TV when you go from 60Hz to 120Hz, you’re going from about a $400 TV to a $600 TV.

So would you rather spend 600 on a TV or about 400 on a monitor and get a great refresh rate, a great panel, low input lag, and more personable viewing experience. Well, that highly depends.

You can get a good TV with a lot of the other technology built into it for a semi-reasonable cost that’s going to do more than just play video games for you.

Should I buy a gaming monitor for the console?

You should absolutely buy a gaming monitor or a 120 Hertz native TV. Let me explain, why should you do that.

The next-gen console is going to be released at end of 2020. Or maybe already released by the time you read this. These consoles are capable of more than 60fps gaming on a 4k resolution.
So spending on a 120Hz display is what I recommended.

Should I use Tv vs Monitor for Gaming on console or PC?

Well, it really kind of depends. If you’re more of a solo gamer by myself and want the best possible enclosed scenario. In that case, you can get a gaming monitor.

But if you enjoy playing with other people and you also stream content using your console, then I’m probably going to tell you to get a TV.

TV vs Monitor for Gaming: pros and cons of Tv’s

So let’s base this on a budget of about $500. And let’s say your TV is going to be at a maximum of about 50 inches for your gaming. And let’s say that your monitor is going to be about 24 to 27 inches and it max about $500.

Pros

In $500, whats you get is more than likely a super low-end 120 Hertz panel probably from LG, Vizio, or maybe Samsung.

The benefit that’s going to give you is if you buy the right panel it is gonna be a 120 Hertz panel, a low input lag, an auto game mode that’s going to comply with the Xbox. Sorry PlayStation you’re not included.

Cons

The cons of the TV is that you’re not going to get true HDR. You’re probably going to get an edge-lit not a backlit TV.

That means you’re gonna get a lot of a color Distortion. Because the edge lighting can’t definitively give you a high enough contrast ratio to determine between shadow detail and light detail.

TV vs Monitor for Gaming: pros and cons of Gaming monitor

A gaming monitor is going to give you everything you want to enhance your gaming pretty much out of the box depending on what you buy.

If you spend five hundred dollars you’re gonna get one of the better gaming monitors out there.

Pros

You could probably find a 10-bit panel from the Acer predator lineup for around $500 maybe six hundred at the most.

You’re gonna get one to 4-millisecond input lag. You’re going to get a whole host of gaming presets on the monitor itself.

You’re gonna get either variable refresh rate, G-Sync, or some sort of free sync capabilities.

So if you do use it with your PC from time to time it’s going to be phenomenal. And for consoles that use AMD graphics, you are going to be getting the free sync capability.

There are other pluses, such as if you’re playing by yourself you’re gonna get a much better viewing experience.

Cons

The gaming monitors are really only for one person to use at a time.

Even with traditional IPS panels on a gaming monitor the viewing angles aren’t nearly as good as some of the best TVs out there.

That being said most gaming monitors at the $500 range are only going to be about 24 to 27 inches.

So for console gaming, while that might be great up close but it’s terrible for further away.

Even at five hundred or even $600 you’re definitely not going to get 4k and HDR with variable refresh rate, Freesync or G-sync, as well as low input lag.

TV vs Monitor for Gaming: Conclusion

Monitors are primarily designed for gaming. And TVs for multimedia. Only you can decide whats is good for you.

As I said before some of the issues you might face with TV is High Response Time and potentially Aliasing. High Response Time can cause extreme motion blurring. And this can be a ruined the gaming experience for some FPS games.

However, this won’t be much problem with high-quality TVs. Unless you are used to playing games at 1millisecond response time, also you have quick reaction time, then it won’t be an issue.

So in conclusion monitors can never be replaced by a TV. But the same is true the other way around. Monitors are more responsive and provide a better image quality than TV. But it’s not true for some good quality TV in terms of HDR, color, or image quality.

If you don’t exclusively use your gaming console for only gaming, then I would absolutely recommend buying a much better TV.

Something like an OLED panel. That’s gonna produce true HDR. Give you a 4k resolution, a higher refresh rate.