Hi everyone, I used to work in the field of Compositing, 3d Animation and Special effects professionally, and although still dabble in it as a hobby I have recently (2 years ago) moved away from that path and I have a few questions in regards to a "good monitor" setup.

What I will be using it (the display) for would be:

-Watching HD Movies / Videos
-Playing PS3/XBOX (when I can afford one or the other!)
-Special Effects and Compositing (simple personal or charity work, the output target for which would be either WEB (youtube, vimeo) or HD TV's (home tv sets).
-Occasional photo re-touch work (again nothing fancy, just simple touch ups or fun semi-pro little projects, posters)

What I have considered so far after some extensive research:

Monitors:
- Dell U2410 (wide gamut h-ips panel) can get it for around 450$
- Dell 2209WA (e-ips, wide gamut) can get it for around 300$

And what I have considered using instead, without much research:

LCD HD TV's in place of Monitors (which are on sale):
- Sharp Aquos 40" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV (LC40E77U) 1099$
- Samsung 40" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV (LN40B610) 1099$
- Or any 32 - 37" 1080p 120hz display around 600-800$

Please advise or give me your suggestions on what kind of setup would be ideal for me. In terms of a budget, I guess the max I'd like to spend on my display is 1200$ if it can be used for Gaming, movie watching etc. And 450-500$ if it will be PC only usage.

Thanks in advance,
Dimo

I would like myself to know the answer to this question.
Right now I have a 24 inch View Sonic which is perfect for 3d graphics and compositing. It has a resolution of 1920x1200 a little more than HD.

While it is nice for watching movies from a close distance it is quite small for watching movies from my sofa. So I am thinking of replacing it with a big HDTV but the question is will the HDTV be as good as a computer monitor for work?

If anyone has any experience using a large LCD HDTV as a PC monitor for work you are welcome to share it.

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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand

Interesting, your question is hard to answer, especially when you want something that will fit everything you need. It is not that simple to invest into something that you will regret in the future. I myself would like to know the answer for me to have a reference in the future.
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My Animation Services

Actually, if you want a nice cheap alternative to those prices, I'd suggest a Westinghouse 32" LCD HDTV. Yeah, not a name brand and that means they're cheaper. I use mine primarily as a monitor and for Xbox360 gaming. It's perfectly fine for that and you save a few hundred bucks.

For TV, it's pretty good for HD cable, put the SD picture on it isn't so hot. In fact it's pretty poor. If figured out a workaround with the Comcast Digital Cable Box, mainly by accessing the menu on the box and turning off the 4:3 override for widescreen televisions (this is from the cable box, not from the TV).

But if you want to use it for BluRay, nope. Not a good idea. The black/white contrast ratio isn't good.