Has anyone ever used a plasma tv as their monitor for trading? 42" Gateway is available now at around $2,400. I was thinking of getting 3 19" flat screens, but the cost of those with the video card works out to be about the same if not more ($700+ a pop). And the plasma gives you a lot more screen space (and looks cooler). If anybody has any thoughts, I would love to hear them.
Will burn in images relatively fast. For a few hundred more, You can get an LCD that does not burn and is HDTV ready (Gateways are not HDTV ready). http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=15842WE610
If you think to use a Plasma TV as a computer screen, this is a very bad idea for many reason: 1) even a small computer screen (can easily have 1280x1024, and even you can obtain up 2500 pixel on some model) will have a higher resolution than the maximum allowed by any Plasma HDTV (usually 1024 line max. sometime up 1900 line in the top level PRO model). 2) computer card will not delivery HDTV std in the moment, ATI plan to release it the next spring following an announced product from this automn. This mean that you will be limited by the standard NTSC at 525 line for your plasma even if it support HDTV. 3) Plasma don't fit well with computer, because Plasma are very sensitive to burn when the image is too static, and this is the case with computer we have many static image!
I use 21" Sony trinitron crt monitors (multiscan e540) and a Matrox video card. I get better resolution than any other setup I've seen.
Not is only the Gateway plasma a poor choice for computer and charting purposes, it is a poor choice for a home theater monitor. The contrast ratio is only 500:1, the gradition steps about 35, too few inputs for home theater use, no 3/3 pulldown, etc. Compare this with a quality unit like the Pioneer Elite Pro-1110HD http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4125_17574605,00.html that has something like a 3000:1 contrast ratio, gradition of 1024 and 1.07 billion colors, tons of inputs, 3/3 pulldown, built in HD tuner, etc. You can see the difference immediately, DVD's look much more film like, HD has that sparkle, can plug all your gear into it, etc. The crude Gateway is for wanna bees.
Yeah, I noticed those 21" deals coming down in price too....I am considering these big ones instead of LCD. Michael B.
No TV solution will match the real estate you'd get from 3 high-res screens (TFT or CRT). Yes the 42" screen is much bigger physically, it is not "a lot more screen space" - the computer display resolution will probably be about (or less) than just one of the 19" displays and you won't have as crisp an image (especially on Gateway's cheesy unit).
i always wonder, what do you people trade and how much money you people make to create such setups with 3-5-10 21"LCD's or even better 42" plasmas...personally i come up with about 50% up for year, trade swing 1-3 days with old P3 and two monitors..probably can do same thing with one.))) peace
why would you get a 21" CRT which is huge and heavy and about 20" in actual viewing size when you could get a light slender 19" LCD for about same price?? [and almost same viewing area]