4 replies to this topic

[cduvarney]

I am ready to purchase a 43" TV or Computer Monitor for my Williams Widebody Cabinet Build.  After hours of research I have narrowed my choices down to the following:

 

3 computer monitors

LG 43UD79-B

Dell P4317Q

Phillips BDM4350UC

 

2 TVs

Sony KD43X720E

Acer ET430K

 

Which should I purchase, or is there another model that I have missed that I should purchase?  My concerns are motion blur, input lag, viewing angle, etc.  Also, I am not planning to run the playfields in 4K, as the graphics card I will need to do so is quite expensive this will also eliminate my ability (I think) to run VP9 tables. 

 

I am a newbee, and thank you in advance for your help with this purchase!

[darrinbrewer]

i built about 10 cabinets in 2015, all std cab size, used INSIGNIA from best buy (they have toshiba led panels in them)

 

they will auto power on, so a single power will turn on the pc, monitors and all.

 

i had to decase them to remove the speakers across the bottom, worked out great, fit my cabinets within 1/4"

 

bestbuy people looked at me wierd when i was unplugging tv's in the store,and plugging them back up to see if they auto powered on.

[mjr]

It sounds like you've done a lot of research already, so you're probably ahead of most of us in terms of specific model choices.  The product lifecycle is so short that it's unlikely that anyone who's completed a build is using one of the monitors you're looking at.   People will probably tell you things like "I use a different Toshiba and it's great so you should choose the Toshiba", but be cautious about that, because I've read many sources warn that there's not a lot of consistency across product lines.

 

You might have better luck asking the same question in, say, an Xbox gamer forum, just because the user base will probably be larger than here, and any video gamer (pinball or otherwise) will have similar technical needs for a TV/monitor.

 

General advice: computer monitors are likely to have lower input lag than TVs, because they won't have as much image processing designed for video (like "motion smoothing").  I don't think the same generality applies to other properties (motion blur, viewing angle) - it's just model-by-model for everything else. 

 

I'd be a little wary of your plan to buy a 4K monitor and run in HD mode.  I mean, it seems like good future-proofing to go with a 4K monitor and plan to upgrade the graphics card in the future, so it's a good plan as far as that goes.  My reservation is that running a native 4K panel at HD resolution is going to require up-conversion in the monitor's electronics, which could add visible artifacts and input lag.  If you have a chance to showroom any of the monitors in person, I'd make a point of trying it with an HD game input to make sure it looks and acts okay.

Edited by mjr, 30 September 2017 - 08:57 PM.

[Bluerider221]

Of all the 60Hz TV's I tested, the cheap Insignia brand seemed to look best in terms of the motion of the ball.

I went with a true 120hz TV (hard to find, most TV's are fake 120hz and have massive lag) since I'm very sensitive to motion blur. 

[Slydog43]

the Dell P4317Q has a large Input lag according to an article I found online.  I think input lag is the most important thing in a cab playfield monitor.