TV or monitor strictly for flight sim?

[mauriceb 0]

I know there are countless articles and opinions about that, but ALL I want to know is if you can read the text in small instrument gauges just as well or better on a 4K large TV (43”) vs a 4K 32” monitor. I just bought a 32” 4K monitor and I’m thinking I should have bought a 43” 4K TV instead and considering returning the monitor. 

Please respond only if you have personal experience with a large 4K TV and flight sim.

Thank you

[Bob Scott 7,721]

The text on a 43" 4K TV will be 33% larger than on the 32" 4K display.

I use a 55" 4K TV at a ~39" viewing distance.  No problems with readability, but it's 28% larger still than it would be on the 43" TV.  55" was as big as I could get before the pixellation became clearly visible at my short viewing distance.

 

[philmurfin 73]

I can only speak as a 43" 4k Toshiba tv user, I have no problems with it at all, and it was cheap!

 

Best....  Phil

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

@mauriceb, I have no experience with a 43” TV as a display but I can offer some guidance. For any given resolution a smaller display will always appear sharper than a larger one. It’s down to PPI or pixels per inch.

A 32” UHD display has 137.68 PPI. A 43” display has 102.46. The larger display will give you greater immersion but at the expense of less clarity.

https://pixelsperinchcalc.com

When considering using a TV as a monitor it should be able to support chroma 4:4:4. That makes text as sharp as possible. If it can’t support it then text will not be as sharp.

I’ve made that as objective as possible.

[mauriceb 0]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@mauriceb, 

When considering using a TV as a monitor it should be able to support chroma 4:4:4. That makes text as sharp as possible. If it can’t support it then text will not be as sharp.

I’ve made that as objective as possible.

Sounds like keeping my monitor is the best option since I have no idea if chroma 4:4:4 is ever mentioned in the TV specs. None of those I see in Amazon mention that particular value as far as I could see.

Thank you for the feedback.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

7 hours ago, mauriceb said:

Sounds like keeping my monitor is the best option since I have no idea if chroma 4:4:4 is ever mentioned in the TV specs. None of those I see in Amazon mention that particular value as far as I could see.

Thank you for the feedback.

Chroma 4:4:4 tends to be supported in TVs that can show HDR. They'll be 4K too. The better makes such as Samsung, Panasonic, Sony will have it but you have to look in the detailed manual. Avoid cheap as chips TVs. Chroma 4:4:4 is not a factor for monitors, only TVs.

What make of 32" monitor do you have?

[mauriceb 0]

7 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Chroma 4:4:4 tends to be supported in TVs that can show HDR. They'll be 4K too. The better makes such as Samsung, Panasonic, Sony will have it but you have to look in the detailed manual. Avoid cheap as chips TVs. Chroma 4:4:4 is not a factor for monitors, only TVs.

What make of 32" monitor do you have?

I have a Samsung. It is quite good, but I was just wondering whether it was worth replacing it with a bigger TV. In hindsight though, it may be stupid to do that since I will shortly (I hope) receive the Pimax virtual headset I ordered last November 🙄, at which point the monitor will likely only be used while settings things up. Still nice to have a bigger screen, but not really necessary.

Anyway, thank you for your feedback.

Maurice

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

@mauriceb, just be aware VR appears to require much higher frame rates to produce a satisfactory result. Whilst 30 may be okay for a monitor up to 60 could be needed for VR.

[scott967 62]

Not sure "chroma 4:4:4" is relevant.  For gaming I would think all processing would be in RGB, probably full, and it would probably be best to send RGB to the TV or monitor.  I don't see why it would help to convert RGB to YCbCr.   I think more to the point is 8 bit, 10 bit or 12 bit.

 

For YCbCr source data that typically is 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 it can be argued if the source should upscale the chroma.

 

scott s.

.

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,960]

6 hours ago, scott967 said:

Not sure "chroma 4:4:4" is relevant.  For gaming I would think all processing would be in RGB, probably full, and it would probably be best to send RGB to the TV or monitor.  I don't see why it would help to convert RGB to YCbCr.   I think more to the point is 8 bit, 10 bit or 12 bit.

For YCbCr source data that typically is 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 it can be argued if the source should upscale the chroma.

scott s.

It's important for clear reproduction of text in Windows. You use a PC for far more than flying or other gaming. Windows Explorer text won't be as clear without chroma 4:4:4.