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The optimization of my PC workstation is a regular topic for me. When I was thinking about my monitors, I had the idea that a third and much bigger screen would be ideal to take a break with Netflix or video games after work. So I asked myself the obvious question, whether you can also use a Smart TV as a computer or laptop monitor? The short answer is yes!
Most modern Smart TV’s have an HDMI input. As long as you have an HDMI port on your graphics card, you can use your Smart TV as a computer monitor.
When transmitting via HDMI, the audio signal is also transmitted in addition to the video signal. This usually fits quite well, as the home cinema setup often has better sound than the laptop or PC.
Here are the 3 good Smart TV’s that can be used as monitors:
- Small: TCL 32S327*
- Medium: Toshiba 43LF621U19*
- Large: Samsung Q60 QLED Smart 4K UHD TV*
Table of Contents
How to Connect a Smart TV as a Monitor?
Modern HD televisions all have an HDMI input. Especially Smart TV’s have an HDMI input standard. So all you need to do is to connect your laptop or PC to your TV with the HDMI output on your graphics card and a suitable HDMI cable (like this one*).
But even if you have an older TV or laptop or computer with a VGA or DVI output, you can still get an adapter*.
Sometimes PCs also have a “DisplayPort”. But there are also corresponding DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapters* for this.
The biggest sticking point when using a Smart TV as a monitor is the resolution. The larger the screen, the higher the resolution has to be for the image to be displayed in HD. But you can check all this before you buy it.
First, you check what your graphics card offers as maximum resolution. You can then compare this maximum resolution with the manufacturer’s specifications for the Smart TV. Depending on the application you are looking for, you may need to upgrade your PC or laptop.
In most cases, you don’t need to upgrade anything. But if you like to play video games and your PC or laptop is already reaching its limits on the normal monitor, you’ll either need to see what resolution you can reasonably play on the Smart TV, or you may need to upgrade your graphics card*.
Image Quality and Resolution with Smart TV’s as Monitor
As just mentioned, the ability of your laptop or PC to spit out the appropriate resolution is crucial to whether or not the picture looks good on your Smart TV.
In most cases, this won’t be a problem as normal HDTV’s have an HD resolution of 1080p or 1920 x 1080 resolution. But what you have to keep in mind with a television is that you usually sit further away from it. What looks extremely sharp on a small laptop screen can look absolutely pixelated on a large TV in the same resolution. The important keyword here is pixel density. A normal HD television has a pixel density of about 60 to 70 ppi. A laptop has about twice that.
It depends on what distance you are going to sit at from the Smart TV and what you want to do with it. If you mainly want to play videos (Youtube, Netflix, etc.) or play video games, you will get by with a normal pixel density. In the case of moving images, this is not quite as important, since our brain helps with the composition of the images.
For non-moving images and especially for text, it is important that the Smart TV has a high pixel density so that the text is not pixelated but sharp. As a guideline, you can take about 80 ppi. This corresponds to a 27-inch television with a resolution of 1080p. If you want an even larger diagonal, the pixel density has to be higher as well.
How do you Wirelessly Connect a PC or Laptop to a Smart TV?
Samsung Smart TV’s allow you to play movies, series, YouTube, music and live TV on your Smart TV from your PC or laptop.
Sometimes it is easier to find the right movies or series with a laptop or PC than with the TV App menu. You can search much faster with a keyboard and also have access to other video platforms. In addition to direct connection via HDMI cable, you can also connect your laptop or PC wirelessly to your Smart TV via Samsung Smart View.
Samsung Smart View is the official Samsung app that lets you control your Smart TV. The app even replaces the remote control. Here are the steps to wirelessly connect your PC or laptop to a Samsung Smart TV:
- The Samsung Smart View App is available for Windows PCs and mobile devices. Download this app first.
- Connect the Smart TV to the same wireless network as the device with the app.
- Open the Control Panel on your Windows PC and go to the “Bluetooth and other devices” tab.
- Press the big plus icon to add a Bluetooth or other device.
- Then select “Wireless Display or Docking Station”.
- There you select your Samsung Smart TV.
- Then go again to the system control and open the tab “System”.
- In the “Display” tab, all you have to do now is select your Smart TV.
Now your Smart TV should be another display of your PC or laptop.
Smart TV as Monitor – The Disadvantages
Monitors are designed for interactivity and televisions for playback of previously recorded videos. On a monitor, you’re constantly interacting with the image. For example, you move the mouse, type on the keyboard or operate a character in a video game. Since every piece of technology is always optimized for its use, unused properties are reduced. Monitors are therefore designed to convert your interaction into image data as quickly as possible. Televisions are designed to provide good picture quality for videos such as movies and series.
Fortunately, this trend is slowing down with the advent of Smart TVs, as Smart TV’s also focus on interaction. There are even Smart TVs that have their own gaming mode* which makes them in no way inferior to monitors in regards to input lag and processing time.
To understand all this better we have to make a little excursion into technology. Each device with a display sends video data from internal electronics to the display several times per second. Depending on how long the electronics in the display takes to process the image, the image appears on the display after a certain time. This is the Input Lag.
The response time of the display is the time the display then needs to completely replace the displayed image with the next one with little overlap.
The input lag is not very important for normal televisions. If its only task is to play previously recorded videos, it doesn’t need good input time. The only input you give on normal TV is to change the volume or the program. And it is not important for you whether the reaction comes immediately or after half a second.
But if you want to display a video game with a high frame rate beyond 50 frames per second on a TV with a poor response time, you’ll see artifacts. These artifacts are mostly blurred movements and shadows dragging behind a movement. If the TV also has a large input lag, you can actually feel it under certain circumstances. You will notice this when you press your mouse button and the reaction on the screen takes place noticeably later. For most video games, these two factors are very important for the gaming experience or even for your performance.
It is therefore very important to pay attention to a Smart TV with a low input lag and a fast response rate if you want to use it as a monitor.
You might think now that these are all quite big arguments against a Smart TV as a monitor, but the TV’s are getting better and better and there are a lot of HDTVs with good quality and are suitable as a monitor. Likewise, there are also bad PC monitors that exhibit exactly such a bad behavior and can disappoint you in their performance.
Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
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