Which TV can be used as a monitor more adequately. I started reading the owners thread for both (quite a few pages). It seems neither are perfect and both have over scan issues.

This is what i think I know: The samsung is better for PC connection through VGA with little overscan with interoplation turned off. The sony wont display widescreen at all but has a very sharp 4:3 when using the "PC connection". If you use VGA to HDMI, then you can get a pretty decent widescreen desktop but nothing too close to 1920 x 1080.

I have a SXGA (1680 x 1050) 17" laptop with vista ultimate, s-video out, VGA out, and a ATI mobile radeon x600 (i know its ****** but its a 3 year old hp; it had a nvidia go5700 in it before). Im going to start to build a PC for one of these TVs once I purchase one. Anyways, I will prefer to use the VGA PC connection for better SD upconverting. I do want to run everything through this "HTPC" that Im building (gaming, audio,hd-dvd,blu-ray,dvd,downloaded content, cable and dvr functions).

1. Will I be able to run 1920 x 1080 resolution on any of these TVs with my current laptop I described above.

2. Will I be able to run 1920 x 1080 resolution with a specific video card, thats available now, for my soon to be built HTPC

3. If I cant get perfect pixel matching on these TVs (from what ive read on this site, you cant) whats the next best option I have for each TV (vga to hdmi cable).


thanks much in advance, didnt mean to write so much. I did use the search button and Ive read alot on this forum so I hope you guys arent thinking "use the search button." Its hard to read 500+ pages of the Samsung owners thread.

Read through the PC chapter of the Samsung Users' manual which is on their Website and you will see that you can get perfect or near perfect 1:1 pixel mapping of your VGA output. AFAIK it will do much better then the Sony will at function as a PC monitor
You will want a new Grahics card that supports HDMI with HDCP out in order to play protected content from HD or BR DVD drives. There are only a few availble so far and you can find them using Google.

thanks for the quick response, im buying a TV through Best Buy for business (25% off since i purchased 27 other TVs for business). The picture on the Sony looked better when i visited the magnolia store but I did want to be able to use the VGA to connect my comp with no issues. Its hard to decide between better quality display vs. better PC functionality. Well i only have one more day to decide.

It is very hard to judge PQ in a store since all of the units are shipped with their brightness set high in order to look better in stores and the stores don't change these settings.
If you are going to use it for PC use you would need to get BB to demonstrate it to you running applications from a PC since video and applications behave very differently.