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Ask HN: ANyone use their living room TV as a computer display?

1 points by swiftcoder ↗ HN
I've had a 40" 4k display as my main monitor in my home office for a few years now, but it's starting to show signs of age. It occurs to me that if I sat a foot or so further away a 60" 4k TV would work just as well, and there's already one of those in the living room, so why invest in a second one?

I see plenty of articles extolling the benefits of PC gaming on the living room TV, but none about using it as a workstation display. Anyone out there with tips about setup and/or furniture? How do you setup an ergonomic desk arrangement, that can be cleared away to allow watching TV when friends come by? How do you handle cables, peripherals, noise levels, etc?

4 comments

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aurizon
I have dual 27 inch 4K. I sit at my desk, and it is quite OK for general work and movies etc. If I increased this to 40 inches I might find too much head travel for my liking. Dual 27" is about my max. I might add a 40" 4K for movies and position it as the left hand display and move it back 6 inches or so. I first went to dual trinitron displays in 1985-6. These were huge, depth-wise and I upgraded to 24" in the late 80's and then went to flatscreen of the same size and to 27 " 1200 x 1024 (I think). I deal in maps and geological work, so I always pushed the envelope. I do not think I will go over 4K for a while. These 8K units that are looming - I do not think I can actually make effective use of them.
swiftcoder
The trick I’ve found for using the 40” as a monitor is just to sit further back from it - I have a very deep desk, such that the monitor fills approximately the same field of view as a 32” monitor would at normal distance.
aurizon
I wonder, mimic a window by putting a 4K inserted into the wall cavity so it is flush, add curtains, and then use a 4K can to shoot the live view you would see through that space, show a visitor, then switch the feed - looks like magic...
gboone
I actually don't watch TV,and haven't for over 20 years. But I do use a 4k 50 inch TV for a monitor. You are correct about distance away. I measured and it's 89cm my case.

The back lights on ones (~$250) that are lower priced can crap out after a few years. They are strips of LEDs chained together. The entire top half of bottom half will go dim. I have disassembled and fixed but it's not worth it.

I also use a laptop on a stand and stand at my desk. Both are easy to move as the desk is a square, drafting style setup with the top laid flat. The TV hangs from the ceiling, and can swivel left right.

Maybe you could set your desk in the other direction.