TV as Monitor: Small Conference Room Edition
June 13, 2017 12:14 PM Subscribe
I’ve been researching monitor options for a small work collaboration area, and was wondering if cutting costs by using a TV as a monitor was a good idea.
There’s a lot online that seems to caution against it, but a lot of it seems to be gaming related, while this is likely to be showing spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations, where lag time matters a lot less. The larger of the spaces are a 2-3 person conference room, so it’s a relatively tight viewing area from five feet away, no two people being more than five feet apart. There’s a huge difference in cost, so it’s really tempting, but I also want it to be usable. Our computers already have an HDMI input. My boss already nixed my idea of a two monitor extended screen setup.
There’s a lot online that seems to caution against it, but a lot of it seems to be gaming related, while this is likely to be showing spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations, where lag time matters a lot less. The larger of the spaces are a 2-3 person conference room, so it’s a relatively tight viewing area from five feet away, no two people being more than five feet apart. There’s a huge difference in cost, so it’s really tempting, but I also want it to be usable. Our computers already have an HDMI input. My boss already nixed my idea of a two monitor extended screen setup.
Yes, for viewing basic computer stuff, a TV is fine. Mount the TV on the wall, mount the PC in a bracket behind the TV, get a wireless keyboard and mouse. Frees up space, looks nice.
posted by cosmicbandito at 12:30 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by cosmicbandito at 12:30 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
We do this in our conference room for spreadsheets and it's fine.
posted by needlegrrl at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by needlegrrl at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
We also have this in some of our conference rooms, totally fine for basic presentation/spreadsheet/document-type things. The only thing I would caution about is trying to stick multiple TVs together to make a big display -- we have one room with this, and it is SO DISTRACTING having the black lines between each TV, vs. a more typical projector-type set-up. But it doesn't sound like you're trying to to do that.
posted by rainbowbrite at 12:36 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by rainbowbrite at 12:36 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
We do this for conference rooms all the time where I work, even for some of the slightly larger rooms (think ~7-10 person conference rooms). It works fine.
posted by Aleyn at 12:52 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Aleyn at 12:52 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
All of our conference room "monitors" are TVs. No issues known yet.
There are Madden tournaments sometimes.
posted by RhysPenbras at 3:11 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
There are Madden tournaments sometimes.
posted by RhysPenbras at 3:11 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Okay, I'll go ahead and save some money then! Thanks!
posted by dinty_moore at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2017
posted by dinty_moore at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by advicepig at 12:15 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]