Viewsonic Vt2430

I chose this TV because I live in a studio and don't have enough room for both a TV screen and a computer screen. I was already using my computer to watch movies and living without a TV, but only so much is available online (particularly live events). It was very hard to find a screen with high enough resolution to work as a computer monitor, but this TV was a perfect match!

First, on TV attributes, the picture quality is great and many non-HD channels give me an option to "zoom" and fill the screen if needed. I also have a 20-yr old Nintendo and a 25 year old Atari, another reason for getting the TV, which work terrific and automatically stretch to fill the entire widescreen without too much distortion. My only gripes are channel management is a bit clunky and the blue power button right on the front is a bit of a distraction. Sound is also mediocre but obviously you're not going to find $500 speakers on a $300 TV. I output the TV through my receiver stereo speakers and the sound is much much better.

As a computer monitor this TV really excels. Resolution is consistent with what you'd find on a standard widescreen monitor, so there's no blurriness common with outputting a signal through a standard CRT. Also after several LCDs over the years this is my first with no dead pixels. Great job to ViewSonic on quality control. I haven't tried gaming yet, I probably wouldn't push it anyways, but DVD movies output just as if I had a DVD player hooked up to the TV directly. Just perfect all around as a monitor, though if you use Windows I suggest switching the theme to one that allows extra large fonts if you find yourself squinting.

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