Ultimately TVs come with tuners which remains very relevant for 90+% of the population and they go bigger - which is appropriate for viewing at a distance.
Colour spaces etc can usually be tweaked on both TVs and monitors.
If you want a big, dumb, panel they certainly exist - to build video walls. But they are expensive and the individual panels are usually low resolution because the intent is to scale the pixel count by adding more panels and the intended viewing distances are larger than for a TV so the pixel pitch can be larger.
You need deep pockets though - a typical 55" 1080x1920 panel is in the region of £1500 and, depending on setup, you will need at least two other wise you might as well buy a TV and just use the HDMI ports
True O Wizard of the West - but not always easily, or accurately without a colorimeter, and cheaper monitors often don’t have much in the way of physical controls (e.g. for RGB levels) so can only be profiled via a computer.
ETA: another thought for those that want a big picture without necessarily spending a fortune - look at getting a projector.
They do work best in darkened rooms, and for TV use you need one that’s engineered for that purpose not for PowerPoint, but they are a good “bang for buck” for some.
I did this, spending around €200 as a trial with the idea that I’d get a better one if I liked how it worked out.
Turns out that I used it daily and have found no need to get a better one. I’m sure the videophiles would snort at it but, to my old eyes, it looks great.
Glad that worked for you! The cheaper ones sold on Amazon can be a lottery as they tend to have limitations in terms of brightness and resolution (many are not even true HD) - but that’s OK if they suit your needs.
Read the actual specs - “supports 4K” does not mean it has a 4K chip (or even an HD chip) and also look for an “ANSI lumens” brightness rating, not the manufacturer’s made-up lumens rating (which often changes from one point to another in the online listing!)
Thanks, I’ll try that. I’d be quite content if it just acted as a dumb screen. The picture quality is good. It’s all this waving a wand (remote control) around to select inputs that’s OTT and then it “selects appropriate settings” for the input device. I want it to select nothing. it’s like the so called AI in IOS and MacOS. It went mad a few months ago and stated putting appointments into my calendar based on my emails. I took a while to figure out how to kibosh that rubbish. All theses so called enhancements should be shipped with “off” as the default status.
Another example is the ludicrous “liquid screen” on MacOS (and IOS). Some of the Mac fora have had a good go at that rubbish Such a waste of developers time when core applications like Mail are out of date and shit but don’t get fixed Jobs would have kicked arse, his mantra was simplicity, certainly not the complexity for complexity’s sake of the current management.
If your LG is anything like mine, if the annoying floaty cursor appears you can get rid of it by pressing any of the direction arrows on the remote control.
Avoid waving the remote around and you should rarely see it.
I agree it should be switchable in the menus though.
Another option is to buy a third party LG compatible remote that does not have the floaty pointer technology from Amazon:
£5.99
After buying this I went back to the original LG remote as I found it more comfortable in the hand, but it is a viable and inexpensive solution.
Yes, mine says that but it just means that it can accept a 4K signal but it displays in 1920x1080.
I do secretly hope that it breaks so that I can justify going to a proper 4k one but, right now, this is good enough that I struggle to convince myself never mind the financial committee.
My Samsung can do all that but I’ve switched it all off. The only enduring irritant is that it insists that I should set up the smart remote to work with my “audio amplifier” but I have it attached to a Bluesound Node so that isn’t going to work. Nonetheless, every so often I get an onscreen message to set it up and I can find no way to stop it,
Yes in many cases 1080p does look fine to most people. It depends on how big a picture you need, and how good your source is.
I used a Mitsubishi 1080p home theatre projector as my main TV when I lived in Turks & Caicos - I brought it back and it still works, and used it occasionally for business presentations (for which it was a bit too dim really). Last year (2024) I upgraded to a Hisense 4K projector which is clearly better, but not by a huge margin, and most noticeably with a good source such as a 4K BluRay disk.
TBH it was more of an “I’d like that” purchase than a necessity. But one day when I have space for a home theatre it will come into its own.
I have a firestick, manhattan box, TNT box, Blu Ray, and soundbar all connected to a smart TV. They are controlled using the one controller that came with the TV.. Is this possible with a monitor set up?
I got an oled LG in 2018 for the world cup. I am very pleased with the picture but it’s really clunky to adjust settings and does not have all the settings I’d like to see. It doesn’t have bluetooth, only the bespoke LG version. I refuse to be forced into their proprietary system. I have tried and failed to get a plug in BT transmitter that works..
I won’t buy another Lucky Goldstar tele. Even if it has BT.
I suppose Sony would be best. Anyone know differently?
ETA The floaty pointer. Bah. Just don’t like it and the cat attacks the tv whenever it appears.
Short answer no. To be able to control various devices with one remote they all have to comply with the CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) standard, which a computer monitor is unlikely to do, even if it has a remote control which they generally don’t since they are normally placed on a desk within arm’s reach of the user.
My LG is not “top of the range” and it does comply with CEC. Normally when you plug in a CEC-compatible device the TV will ask you if you want to be able to control that device via the TV remote.
I can (if I want) control my Sonos soundbar’s volume and the play/pause and some other functions of a Panasonic 4K BluRay player with the LG remote.
I suspect in your zeal to eliminate all “smart” features you may have turned that functionality off.
A Sony will not be any different in that respect. Nor will its picture necessarily be better than an LG OLED, which are very well respected TVs.
My monitors do have remote controls (and built in speakers) but sound is via Apple TVs and Homepods (excellent quality). So after turning the monitor on everything is via the Apple remote.
But which devices are compatible? Not the Apple TV I’s guess. How about the Firestick? The soundbar is controlled by the TV and driven with a fibre optic cable but that gets its knickers in a twist with some devices. It’s a mishmash.
I chose the LG because of reports on its picture quality, but I didn’t realaise WebOS was such a dog. At least I was familiar with Sony
While still in the UK and prepping for the France move I used a VPN and google pay to get a US based F1TV subscription. You can choose between their own commetary team or Sky’s anyway. Zero issues with VPN over the last couple of years although I might have to change fake country as Apple have the rights in the US now.
Just a possible option for a Murdoch rejected who still wants to watch the sport…
I bought a set of BT headphones, not realising that my LG tv doesn’t have BT.
I had thought BT was ubiquitous, considering the aim was to unite components.
They were to allow me to hear the sound as my wife likes the volume too low.
I believe new LG sets have BT . Sales must have been suffering.
Such a waste of developers time when core applications like Mail are out of date and shit but don’t get fixed 
Jobs would have kicked arse, his mantra was simplicity, certainly not the complexity for complexity’s sake of the current management.
But one day when I have space for a home theatre it will come into its own.
