Finding a display that will suit potentially opposing needs.

I've been in the market for a new TV to be used as a computer monitor for a while now. I am currently using a 42" Westinghouse that has been great, despite being a "cheap" brand, but my model had an S-IPS screen and has had no issues since I bought it for $1,200 6 years ago so perhaps I was lucky. However it IS getting old and has pretty cruddy black levels. I am a web designer and photographer, but also run a very large gaming clan. As such I need another IPS display for color fidelity (unless PVA technology has made some type of major leap I am unaware of) as well as decent refresh rates and input lag. I use a TV for this purpose as it doubles as an actual television when not being used as a computer (and most of my content is watched with all the lights off and blackout curtains drawn, thus the need for decent black levels). Here is a picture of my current setup(TV looks washed out do to the glare from my lights):



I would like to upgrade the size a bit to a 55" and get something with decent 3D. Unfortunately IPS is a bit of a "slow" technology so as I understand it, active 3D isn't really an option as none of the TVs run beyond 60Hz. Passive doesn't bother me particularly other than that I am going to be sitting very close and the spatial resolution is halved by the interlaced lines. Since this is being used as a monitor and has a lot of stationary imagery (taskbar, icons, etc.) I can't use Plasma due to the burn-in. It's a bit annoying that my needs seem to oppose one another such as:

Great picture quality (usually goes to plasma, on a per $ basis) - vs. - Stationary Imagery (anti-plasma, burn-in)
Color Accuracy/IPS display (slow refresh rates) - vs. - 3D/Gaming needs (high refresh rates)

I was hoping that someone on here might be able to help my juggle some of these issues and pick a suitable display. I'm not in a big rush, and could wait around until next summer with whatever gets launched at CES 2013 if need be, but want to upgrade soon. Here is a more concise list of my needs/wants. If any of this seems unreasonable that would be great to know as well.

TV Requirements
====================

• 55"
• LED
• IPS/S-IPS/H-IPS/α-IPS
• Great black levels
• Even backlighting
• Passive 3D with minimal cross-talk
• Low input-lag
• <$2,200

TV Wants
====================

• Full-array backlight
• Attractive aesthetics
• IR input jack (for computer control)
• <$1,500

Don't Need/Indifferent
====================

• Apps (will already have a whole computer to utilize)
• Sound (hooked up to a few grand in sound equipment)

Edited by thatguyyoulove - 8/18/12 at 12:12am

I was a bit afraid of that. Then again the black levels may still be significantly better than the TV I have. With my current TV whenever it is showing a black screen I still have to get up and turn it off because the screen is so bright I can't sleep (and that's with the backlight at 0 percent haha).

Local dimming doesn't really work for a computer monitor unless there is a LED for each pixel (never gonna happen) due to the precision needed and haloing.

I do however wonder if maybe I should just drop the IPS requirement and use a second monitor for color work. That would really open up my options. The kdl-55hx850 looks tempting.

Yeah I'll definitely check those out. I will be calibrating everything via computer anyway so I don't need too much in the way of TV controls. Just get it as close as possible and then my calibration units will do the rest via the computer color profiles. Also I am a bit lucky in that horizontal off axis viewing is all within a 30 degree range. My desk, chair, and bed are all directly in-axis as you can see by my rough layout below:



I tilt the TV a bit vertically to split the difference in what would be on-axis vertically between the computer position and bed position.