Does anyone here use an LCD monitor to play games on their 360?

I'm about to head on out to college for good and I really want to pick up a nice LCD monitor that can pump out some high resolutions to enjoy my 360 gaming on. For the last few years, I have been console gaming on an Apex 27-inch flatscreen tube TV. For the most part, it's great and gets the job done. Whenever my brother, friends, or people online told me I'm missing out by not having an HDTV, I dismissed it because all my games looked pretty damn amazing on my TV. That is, until I went over to my friend's and played some Gears of War on his Ben Q LCD Monitor...it really does make a distinction.

Anyway, I have been looking at monitors for some time now, and I am pretty much sold on the Samsung 206BW. It's a maximum res 1680 by 1050 monitor with 2ms response time and an 800:1 contrast ratio. For my personal preference, the 19-20 inch zone is my "sweet spot" for gaming; especially, Halo. I plan on having my Asus G1S also plugged into the monitor so I can switch from gaming to computing (or some source/bf2) on the fly.

Does anyone here use an LCD monitor to play their 360? If so, what kinds do you suggest? And, from personal experience, is it worth shelling out $250? Before I jump in and purchase the 206BW, I just wanted to see if anyone else here has had experience. Thanks in advance!

 

if you are getting an LCD monitor specifically to play with the xbox 360 (or the ps3)

you should almost certainly get a 1280x720p monitor. even the ps3 that can do 1080p would be well matched with a 720p monitor because (catch me if im wrong) but 720p is the lowest common denominator for those games. only some run at 1080p.

you want to avoid interpolation, and you want to play full screen.

 

ms response time is over rated. 2ms is fine, just don't pay EXTRA for it. 8ms, 12ms, is still great. do feel free to pay extra for a high contrast ratio, that will improve the image quality.

edit: sorry for double post

 

if your going to college...save your money for booze and girls....not video games....sorry, somebody had to say it.

 

awesome, thanks a lot for the advice! i'm gonna spend some more time looking through monitors on newegg.com before i make my final decision.

 

ha, this reply made me laugh; booze and girls are definitely top priorities for college life. as for the girls, i already have a girlfriend, but she is definitely pricey, so i will be working to pay for countless dates and gifts and etc.

for the booze, i will definitely be teaming up with my roommate (who has been my best friend for years) and we're going to be setting aside some money each month to make a badass bar in our condo; bottles of mount gay rum and jack are bound to add up to a lot of money.

but at the root of it all, i still love to game a little bit whenever i can to relieve some stress from work/studying/social life and i would love to do it in high definition lol.

great post. =]

 

Hmm.... I wonder what "etc" means?



I don't have any consoles, but a friend has a 360 with a 20" screen he hooks up to it. Widescreen. I think it has about the same resolution as you stated. It looks great on Oblivion, Burnout Revenge, and Perfect Dark Zero. And yes, response time is very overrated. Try to find a nice screen with 2000:1 contrast ratio. Not sure how pricey they are, but it's worth it.

 

Off topic, I know.

Paying for a nice dinner, OK. Paying for a nice gift or outing, well thats fine. But when you consider your girlfriend "pricey", that should be a red flag.

You shouldn't have to keep buying these people trinkets to keep their attention, thats ridiculous. [/rant]

 

i use the samsung 226bw and its great.since i first bought my 360 i been using a monitor instead of tv.although the 360 doesnt support the native res of the screen,youll just have to set it to 1280x720 and it will look good.

 

haha, it's cool, and i totally understand. i don't consider my girlfriend an "expenditure," but i am aware having fun by spending time with her can add up. going out to the movies, renting movies, helping each other out for gas money, road trips, theme parks, going to the beach, dinner, lunch, occasionally and impulsively buying each other little things just because it can mean a lot DOES add up.

but, i am very fine with this. i know we could get along without spending ANY money, but (call me a capitalist) i love spending time with my girlfriend. we spend plenty of time together without spending money (going to the park, just hanging out, going to friends' houses, etc.), but because of the consumerism-drive culture we live in, spending money is inevitable.

i never feel i have to buy her things in order to keep her around; the fact is, she randomly picks me stuff up all the time just because she thinks i'll appreciate it. we don't do this in order to ensure the longevity of our relationship, but just because we like doing it.

when i consider expenditures, i group all the things i do with my girlfriend in my own separate section i like to call superfluous, yet inevitable, purchases. this includes gaming, buying cigarettes, occasionally throwing money down for booze, buying books, etc.

it's all about the mindset of the relationship; if you feel the need to spend money on a significants other in ORDER to keep them around, that's detrimental altogether. however, if the two partners are at a state where none of that matters, you act together; therefore, the expenditures of both parties become grouped together. that's how a marriage works too. but what do i know? i'm ranting too.

 

leave the man alone. dont make him explain himself anymore.

 

Actually I'm pretty sure no PS3 game runs on Full HD (1080p) yet. It's probably going to be a while for that. And you won't be able to tell the difference between a 1080p vs a 1080i/720p on any monitor smaller than 40in.

 

Your thinking of HDTVs in which case that's true since you sit so far away (or are supposed to). But in the case of monitors as long as it's say 17" (some even argue 15") or greater you will be able to notice the difference between a native resolution of 1280x720 vs 1920x1080 quite easily. Also the interpolation on TVs which I believe has already been mentioned helps in making 720p and 1080p look much more similar.

And to the topic creator, I've seen the Samsung 206BW in person connected to an Xbox 360 and it looks fantastic! I'd definitely recommend it!

 

thanks to everyone for all their advice! i think i'm pretty much decided on the 206bw and i am looking forward to purchasing it sometime in the upcoming weeks.