[HN Gopher] Dual 75" 4K TV Floor Computing
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       Dual 75" 4K TV Floor Computing
        
       Author : walterbell
       Score  : 297 points
       Date   : 2022-03-27 13:28 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
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 (TXT) w3m dump (old.reddit.com)
        
       | mnkmnk wrote:
       | I am tempted to do this, at least as a FU to the monitor
       | industry. There is so little innovation in monitor tech! Why are
       | monitors so expensive and old tech compared to TVs? I just want
       | an affordable large monitor with 120Hz refresh rate and USB-C for
       | coding, but options are quite limited. All monitor innovation is
       | into HDR and super high refresh rate which I don't care about.
       | And prices seem artificially high.
        
         | thrwawy283 wrote:
         | The thing that really bothers me are all these "AI"
         | technologies in my new LG oled tv that don't actually get used.
         | All of them to reduce "crushed" images, correct color, improve
         | blurriness in motion scenes, etc are only used when not using
         | HDMI/PC hookup. My feeling is they're used when viewing things
         | streamed on Netflix/Hulu/HBOMax/etc. But I spend most of my
         | time using the TV as a computer monitor. I'm in a niche group,
         | but this was my only option for large-format oled.
         | 
         | I wish they did more with HDMI, even though HDMI is being
         | phased out. I want to hook up my computer and have the computer
         | gain an ethernet link from the TV, even though the TV is
         | wirelessly connected to my router. The TV should be a "dock"
         | that includes a 2nd monitor. I have a wireless controller
         | reciever plugged into the USB port on the TV. I want that to
         | give input to my computer from it. I also want my computer to
         | charge while being hooked up to my TV. I think the only answer
         | is this TV should have type-c and do all those things as a
         | dock, but it's frustrating that we're 1 step behind.
         | 
         | I wish I could watch a program, while showing my computer hdmi
         | input picture-in-picture. Hell this thing has 4 HDMI inputs on
         | the back, let me do each input to a quarter of the screen.
         | Another niche use..
         | 
         | Don't even get me started on the ads. Doesn't make sense to
         | keep the TV on when my computer is locked for long periods of
         | time, so I generally come back, turn on the TV, and unlock the
         | computer. First thing I see is fucking ads. Takes 2 clicks on
         | the remote to dismiss but it colors my experience that they're
         | always pushing another $30 or $40/month service when I first
         | see things onscreen. They know you can't get this quality
         | elsewhere so they're happy to push you ads. And the telemetry,
         | my god. It's my $3k TV!
         | 
         | Most TVs are still waiting to support the next hdmi standard so
         | you can do 120fps & hdr simultaneously.
         | 
         | The 2 things that did impress me were this LG tv supporting
         | both Miracast and Airplay with /no/ hoops to jump through. It
         | just worked. I do wish I could "cast" things to the TV, and
         | that's like pushing a link to it where the TV navigates to that
         | stream and plays. No other device has to stream or push the
         | video to the TV, it does it itself in the Chomecast paradigm.
         | That would be nice.
         | 
         | </rambling>
        
           | zamadatix wrote:
           | There is never going to be a single product that has a great
           | display, a great casting solution, a great app solution, a
           | great privacy solution, a great input solution, a great
           | docking solution, a great selection of leading edge
           | technology, a great content mixing solution, and whatever
           | else you could want at a great price. Apart from such a thing
           | inherently needing to cost an arm and a leg it needs to outdo
           | every best of breed, it's just not possible.
           | 
           | On the other hand what is possible is buying a great display
           | (link a 120 Hz HDR OLED), buying a great dock (thunderbolt 4
           | doing power, ethernet, and more), buying a great app/casting
           | solution (like a Shield TV providing Android apps and
           | Chromecast casting), buying a great multiview HDMI matrix,
           | and so on and connecting them to the TV with the advent of
           | HDMI CRC making it so you never have to manually adjust
           | sources (excluding the multiview case where you want to see
           | PiP versions of multiple sources at once in which case there
           | is no adjusting outside adjusting what is PiP'd). This all
           | comes with the upside when you want a better display or a new
           | technology comes along you don't have to replace all $$$$ of
           | it at once.
        
         | linsomniac wrote:
         | One thing I noticed about my 46" LG 4K monitor, which was
         | "cheap" at $600-ish (edit: looked it up: $720) 3-4 years ago,
         | is that it really isn't designed for viewing at desk distances.
         | On my desk, as far back as it'll go, the viewing angle puts the
         | backlight not exactly behind the pixels, so the left/right have
         | 4-6 pixels and the bottom has ~10-15 pixels that are unlit.
         | 
         | I use it for a bunch of terminals, so part of the left column
         | of text and the entire bottom line, or my status bar, were
         | unreadable. Thankfully my window manager had an unsupported
         | feature that let me "pretend" that those areas didn't exist.
         | 
         | So what I learned is that TV-oriented panels aren't just
         | directly usable on the desktop.
         | 
         | However, I was more recently able to pick up a couple 32" Dell
         | 4K displays for $300-ish each, and they are glorious! That was
         | on a big year-end sale.
        
           | jyxent wrote:
           | I think that is mainly due to being direct-lit backlight. I'm
           | currently using a 43" Sony X800H, which is edge-lit, and the
           | pixels are fully lit at my 2 1/2 - 3 foot viewing distance.
        
           | usefulcat wrote:
           | I also use a 40-something inch desktop monitor and I see
           | slight viewing angle problems on the sides. For my use it
           | would actually be better if it were slightly curved.
        
           | copperx wrote:
           | For 32", wouldn't you need an 6-8k display to get Retina-
           | quality text? I believe that's why 32" 4k displays aren't
           | usable for coding, unless you're ok with low resolution text.
        
             | samatman wrote:
             | Some of us get a larger monitor to see more text, others
             | get a larger monitor to put further away and look at the
             | same amount of text.
             | 
             | Once your eyes turn forty, see which group you're in!
        
               | copperx wrote:
               | I still have a month to go before 40; I'll see which
               | group I belong to then.
               | 
               | However, right now, I can't tolerate screens with lower
               | PPI than Retina.
        
               | bartvk wrote:
               | So what monitor do you use then?
        
               | copperx wrote:
               | A 24" 4k Dell monitor. Not perfect, because it has a
               | moire pattern on white backgrounds because of the anti
               | reflection coating.
        
             | FpUser wrote:
             | >"32" 4k displays aren't usable for coding"
             | 
             | I use my 32" 4K for just that at 100% scaling and totally
             | happy. Fonts looks fine to me. Do not feel low res at all.
        
               | jamesliudotcc wrote:
               | I have Dell displays with those specs and at that price
               | point. Probably the same display. They are fine for
               | coding if you are not acclimated to "retina" smoothness
               | for fonts. Since they are so cheap, I bought a second one
               | so my wife. A giant screen is just as useful for legal
               | work as for coding, it turns out.
               | 
               | There are downsides. The colors aren't great. The blacks
               | are just dreadfully light. Sometimes there are artifacts
               | when I use the screen after it has been idle for a time,
               | but the artifacts disappear quickly.
        
               | linsomniac wrote:
               | The model on mine is S3221QS, I had looked earlier but
               | couldn't find the order, but I remembered I have them
               | plugged into the Dell support site. Looks like I paid
               | $360 landed each for them.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | >"if you are not acclimated to "retina" smoothness for
               | fonts"
               | 
               | I am not using magnifying glass so for my eyes smoothness
               | is just fine without "retina" prefix.
               | 
               | >"The colors aren't great. The blacks are just dreadfully
               | light"
               | 
               | If you care so much about colors get real pro display.
               | Just be prepared to second mortgage your house for that.
               | 
               | For mere mortals (I mostly use 32" BenQ monitors) colors
               | on are reasonably fine and so are blacks. No artifacts. I
               | do not see Apple as superior in this department.
               | 
               | Once again, if for some reason you need perfect colors /
               | blacks / uniformity / whatnot Apple with its "retina" is
               | not the one to go with. Try Eizo for example
        
             | bdcravens wrote:
             | I recently bought 4 32" monitors (2 for work, 2 for home),
             | and I wasn't remotely interested in 4k. QHD is perfect, and
             | if you get monitors where that's the max, pretty cheap.
             | (Every 4k monitor I've had I always downscaled it)
        
             | rootusrootus wrote:
             | 32 inch 4K is perfectly fine. I recently switched to a
             | Samsung CRG9 (I can only have one external display on this
             | computer) and the resolution is pretty crappy compared to
             | the 32 inch. But either one of them is perfectly fine for
             | coding.
        
               | copperx wrote:
               | I don't trust people who say "it's fine" anymore. After a
               | lot of tests with people I know, many young(!)
               | acquaintances are not able to distinguish between 2k and
               | 4k. People of my age can't sometimes distinguish the
               | difference between HD and 4k on a monitor. And that's for
               | static images. No one I know is able to notice the
               | difference between motion interpolation on/off on a TV.
               | 
               | This is going to sound dismissive and entitled, but I've
               | learned that people's eyesight and visual processing is
               | extremely bad in general.
        
               | 411111111111111 wrote:
               | If someone can't distinguish 4k and 2k on a 32" display
               | then the image they're looking at has horrible quality.
               | 
               | Its instantly visible as soon as you see any sharp edges
               | / letters.
               | 
               | 2k 32" is 80 dpi, that puts it at the same pixel density
               | as fullhd on 24". That's perfectly usable but not
               | particularly sharp at normal viewing distances
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | jerlam wrote:
             | Outside of laptop monitors, there are only a handful of
             | monitors that are "Retina-quality" (>220 ppi). It is very
             | doubtful that programming is difficult or impossible on all
             | other monitors. Most computers cannot also drive a 32" 220
             | ppi monitor.
        
               | copperx wrote:
               | That's true. It was really hard to find a 24" 4k monitor
               | for my desktop. It's insane that people can tolerate
               | lower PPIs after seeing a Retina-like screen. You can't
               | go back.
        
             | linsomniac wrote:
             | I dunno about Retina Quality text, that moniker isn't
             | important to me. What is important to me is that I get the
             | amount of text on the screen without it being all blocky.
             | My previous Dell U3011 32" 2500x1600 display was a bit
             | blocky. The 4K 32" is quite nice for my use.
             | 
             | I will say that the difficulties I had getting dual 4K
             | working in my setup make me glad I didn't try for something
             | like 8K. In my case, I have a recent Dell XPS 15, but not
             | quite recent enough. My docking station can't do 4K output.
             | The next newer XPS 15 can. In the end I found that using
             | two USB-C to HDMI cables, directly connected to the laptop,
             | will do it, so that's good enough for me. Went from the
             | 1-cable docking to 3, but I'm ok with that. I don't tend to
             | move my laptop much these days.
        
               | copperx wrote:
               | The Retina moniker isn't important. Text becomes non-
               | blocky at about 200 PPI. A 32" 4k monitor has 138 PPI,
               | which is extremely blocky unless you're using 400% zoom.
        
         | grishka wrote:
         | Ever since I got the new MacBook Pro, I've wanted a monitor
         | that would be its screen but 27" of it, in 5K resolution. But
         | apparently I'm asking for something impossible. Or maybe Apple
         | announces a "Studio Display XDR" next year? Who knows.
        
           | mh- wrote:
           | I've had an UltraFine 5K for around 4 years now. Is that not
           | what you're asking for?
           | 
           | edit: if you meant aesthetically, yeah, no, it's ugly
           | plastic.
        
             | grishka wrote:
             | I'd like a higher refresh rate (120 hz scrolling feels so
             | much better) and, if at all possible, same HDR
             | capabilities, or at least truer blacks. And preferably also
             | glossy finish.
        
               | throwaway684936 wrote:
               | Unfortunately, Apple uses Thunderbolt, and they're the
               | only ones who do 5k/6k. We absolutely have the bandwidth
               | for 5k120 over DisplayPort, but Apple insists on sticking
               | to Thunderbolt.
        
             | throwaway684936 wrote:
             | The new Studio Display is the same panel as the UltraFine
             | but ever-so-slightly brighter, and with a better shell.
        
         | Arubis wrote:
         | > Why are monitors so expensive and old tech compared to TVs?
         | 
         | ("Smart") TVs are subsidized by the push advertising and
         | analytics crammed into their firmware.
        
           | Sujan wrote:
           | (Reputable) source?
        
             | blamazon wrote:
             | How about Vizio's Q4 earnings report? You can see that
             | "Platform+" accounts for nearly twice as much profit as
             | hardware in 2021.
             | 
             | https://investors.vizio.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
        
               | davidgay wrote:
               | Because money is "funny" inside companies, and because
               | there's no platform sales without hardware sales, I would
               | think that the relevant metric from an external
               | perspective is total revenue (The change in fraction of
               | revenue over the years is probably interesting too).
        
             | threeseed wrote:
             | I use a LG CX 48 as a monitor.
             | 
             | Every time I switch it on I get an ad for Apple Music that
             | I can't disable.
        
             | MrVitaliy wrote:
             | https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/
             | 
             | https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-spent-3000-on-a-samsung-
             | smar...
        
             | joezydeco wrote:
             | Bill Baxter (CTO, Vizio)
             | 
             | Smart TVs continue to make money for the manufacture after
             | the sale by providing data to viewer measurement and
             | consumer research companies and through all of those apps
             | they integrate in the TV's smart functions and subsequent
             | app usage.
             | 
             | "This is a cutthroat industry," Baxter went on to say.
             | "It's pretty ruthless. The greater strategy is I really
             | don't need to make money off the TV. I need to cover my
             | costs."
             | 
             | http://cjni.com/smart-tvs-too-smart/
        
         | kurthr wrote:
         | I assume you're looking for an LCD monitor... not OLED or
         | something novel. I'm not sure why you would want 120Hz, that
         | seems like the only challenge to a competative price. Most LCD
         | materials have long response times (>5ms) so they tend to blur
         | at high refresh rates. High refresh rates at high resolution
         | are also a challenge and thus higher cost. If you're looking
         | for 4k, it's also worth noting that most non-premium TVs will
         | use 2subpixel (RGBG rather than RGBRGB) rendering for higher
         | brightness ans lower cost whereas most monitors will use 3.
         | There are also economies of scale to much larger glass >40"
         | which aren't usually seen in monitors. I am surprised how
         | relatively poor the color matching on many monitors is,
         | however.
        
         | 0xcde4c3db wrote:
         | I'm far from an industry insider, but I think it could be LCD
         | panel factories needing to be set up for specific sizes in
         | conjunction with mainstream TV sizes going up rapidly over the
         | past ~15 years. That is, the most-updated factories are the
         | ones chasing the TV size trend, and monitors tend to get stuck
         | with the output from the stragglers.
        
         | pronlover723 wrote:
         | I'm am curious about USB-C vs others. My MBP takes 10-20
         | seconds to wake up on an external USB-C monitor. Is that a
         | MacOS issue or a USB-C issue?
        
           | infinityio wrote:
           | I haven't had this issue on Windows, the time to wake seems
           | to be identical for usb c vs other connection methods?
        
           | culopatin wrote:
           | Your monitor.
        
           | novok wrote:
           | The m1 macs are pretty much instant, might be an intel issue
        
             | somehnguy wrote:
             | Both my Intel & M1 macs wake up instantly with external
             | usb-c monitor, might be a monitor issue.
        
         | Stevvo wrote:
         | I think things are changing; at CES this year QD-OLED launched
         | on both TVs and monitors simultaneously with the AW3423DW, and
         | there are some 42 inch OLED monitors derived from TV panels.
        
           | Nursie wrote:
           | LG also seem to be launching a 32" 4K OLED monitor this year,
           | but it's really expensive.
        
         | ptero wrote:
         | My main monitor is Dell u3014, 60Hz. I had a Dell 3008 at work
         | and replaced it with 3017 when it died, so I had this tech for
         | over 10 years both at home and at work.
         | 
         | What am I missing with 60Hz compared to 120Hz? Honest question.
         | When I look at friends' office setups with latest curved 4k (or
         | now 8k) monitors I do not see anything that I like more than my
         | current monitor, so while we are generally not limited in
         | workstation or monitor options at work I see no reason to
         | upgrade.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | > _And prices seem artificially high_
         | 
         | I switched companies last year and was gonna return the screen
         | they gave me to use for home office, and buy my own. I looked
         | it up, and the screen had cost like 700 USD back in 2016. So I
         | thought I for the same price, 5 years later, I would get a
         | sweet upgrade.
         | 
         | But no, basically same specs. Same panels, perhaps upgraded a
         | bit, but not much had happened. Prices were the same, perhaps
         | because of the pandemic. Luckily my previous company ended up
         | gifting me the screen.
         | 
         | My new company ended up giving me the "newer" version of the
         | monitor at the office. Only difference I can see is that it now
         | charges my laptop via usb-c. Neat, but not much innovation in
         | those 5 years.
        
         | Nbox9 wrote:
         | I really enjoy the 49" ultrawide 1000R format Samsung has been
         | pioneering. It's the size/resolution of two 27" 1440p monitors
         | next to each other, has a buttery smooth refresh rate, and a
         | curve that makes viewing more comfortable and natural.
         | 
         | The new quantum dot displays are also very innovative.
        
           | metadat wrote:
           | What do you like about the qDots vs "regular" pixels?
        
             | thfuran wrote:
             | Samsung's newest qd displays are qdoled so you get
             | extremely fast response time and very high contrast ratio
             | and the dots give high color saturation so the color volume
             | is very large. Brightness is also high (for an oled).
        
         | lordnacho wrote:
         | I've seen trading firms do this. Why have 8 monitors when you
         | can just have one giant screen? All you do with it is show some
         | app, doesn't need to be special.
        
         | NikolaNovak wrote:
         | Interesting. I find innovation in TV's to be opposite of my
         | desired direction. Smarts that make them slower, wifi, ads,
         | slowness,forced firmware updates, slowness, unfathomable
         | picture controls and auto magic colour correction that's Gawd
         | awful, unresponsiveness and slowness. So I'm more likely to use
         | my monitor as a TV then to want to use tv as monitor. I'm also
         | clinging to my 2008 46" lcd tv that just works, and am stunned
         | by how often my father in law has to call for my help with his
         | shiny 76" tv which is showing blue screen of death or mandatory
         | update or things have moved or icons have changed or their
         | version of Netflix / Disney / whatever app is borked or needs
         | maintenance or no longer supported or just looks different...
         | And slower. Always ever slower.... the slowness of response is
         | astonishing. Reminds me of new cars where if last driver had
         | volume set up max, you can't kill the radio or volume until car
         | is done telling you about its disclaimers and boot up sequence
         | and pretty animation.
         | 
         | If you can't move in menus or mute instantly, than no thank you
         | to innovation.
        
           | FpUser wrote:
           | >"Interesting. I find innovation in TV's to be opposite of my
           | desired direction. Smarts that make them slower, wifi, ads,
           | slowness,forced firmware updates, slowness, unfathomable
           | picture controls and auto magic colour correction that's Gawd
           | awful, unresponsiveness and slowness."
           | 
           | Maybe just do not connect it to a network ever. At least I
           | don't. I've used TV as a monitor for a while but after some
           | time strain in the neck showed up I downsized to 32" 4K
           | monitor
        
             | anonymousab wrote:
             | > Maybe just do not connect it to a network ever.
             | 
             | This is slowly but surely not becoming an option. Beyond
             | automatically connecting to any open networks, some models
             | already will stop working until you give them a network
             | connection to perform a 'necessary' periodic update.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | Hopefully not all the models will stop working. But we
               | will see. I am an old fart and hate all this sneaking in
               | my backyard. I am fiercely independent and trying to stay
               | this way as much as reasonably possible. Alexa has no
               | place in my life. It can go fuck somebody else.
        
               | Wowfunhappy wrote:
               | Wait, what TV's are doing this?
               | 
               | Automatically connecting to open networks sounds like a
               | potential legal quagmire, since aiui I'm not legally
               | allowed to just use my neighbor's wifi without
               | permission.
        
             | alias_neo wrote:
             | In one sense, yes, but if you live somewhere where energy
             | is expensive why have not only my TV (~30W) on but also the
             | PS5 (~100W+ + ~30W) or gaming PC (~200W+ + ~30W) just so I
             | can watch Netflix?
             | 
             | I'll choose to use the TV's app every time.
             | 
             | I have a higher-end LG 4K OLED with WebOS which is
             | extremely responsive compared to others I've had, also it's
             | rooted to block any ad-crap, but also you can do most of
             | that at the DNS/Network/Router level if you have an issue.
             | 
             | Then there's the fact that the non-tech family members
             | don't want to use more than one remote or fiddle with
             | channels etc, my wife can press the Netflix button in the
             | remote from TV off and have instant Netflix and tue
             | surround sound on too.
             | 
             | Younger me would have agreed with you, but as a parent and
             | husband, in my mid 30s, I just want an easy life.
        
               | Larrikin wrote:
               | Just use a Roku, why use a video game console? The energy
               | is negligible and you only ever use one remote. The Roku
               | works with most TV remotes, although since I rarely watch
               | broadcast TV I use the much better Roku remote typically.
               | My Switch automatically changes inputs when I turn it on,
               | so don't even need to switch inputs usually.
        
               | swaranga wrote:
               | For me, the Roku's killer features is its app that lets
               | me instantly stream the audio to my phone/airpods so i do
               | not disturb anyone else while still watching tv. All
               | others require me to pair my headphones with the tv or
               | some other painful process.
        
           | stepanhruda wrote:
           | Maybe he got a large but shitty quality TV? I got an OLED 2
           | years ago and none of this rings a bell.
        
           | Kiro wrote:
           | I can't relate to any of this at all. My Smart TV (LG) is not
           | slow or unresponsive. It doesn't show any ads and the picture
           | control is easy to understand.
        
             | lelandfe wrote:
             | Well done picking a good TV. Unfortunately even other LG
             | TVs are doing this:
             | https://twitter.com/chriswelch/status/1369733357756686349
             | 
             | Many, many smart TVs send analytic data to marketing
             | companies. Some even send full snapshots of the screen.
             | https://archive.ph/DWTGC
             | 
             | > When tracking is active, some TVs record and send out
             | everything that crosses the pixels on your screen. It
             | doesn't matter whether the source is cable, an app, your
             | DVD player or streaming box.
             | 
             | > Many of the TV companies say they aren't violating our
             | privacy, because ACR data technically isn't "personally
             | identifiable information." TVs, they say, are shared by an
             | entire household.
        
             | Retric wrote:
             | Don't connect it to WiFi and update. 2020 LG CX OLED TV
             | randomly started to play ads after update:
             | 
             | https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2021/3/10/22323790/lg-oled-
             | tv-...
        
           | metadat wrote:
           | Never attach a "Smart TV" to WiFi. As a rule of thumb,
           | they'll only get worse.
           | 
           | Once the manufacturer sells the TV, they don't give a fuck
           | about you anymore, they're already paid! Though they would
           | like to push updates to send you more ads and track you.
           | 
           | I've never attached my 2020 LG 4k 65" to any network and it
           | works great. I did pay $50 to add a GoggleTV CrapCast thing,
           | it works fine for watching movies.
        
             | rychco wrote:
             | Does anybody know if there are any resources for tampering
             | with the hardware itself to remove networking capabilities
             | from a smart TV? I'd like to just use it as a big monitor,
             | but if there's still a possibility of automatic network
             | activity without my consent then I'd rather just rip out
             | that functionality entirely
        
               | lstamour wrote:
               | Well, you could always investigate how to detach the wifi
               | antennas, though it's possible your Bluetooth will also
               | stop working, and most TV remotes are Bluetooth these
               | days.
        
               | lelandfe wrote:
               | Maybe broadcast a WiFi SSID that blackholes everything?
        
             | unicornporn wrote:
             | > I've never attached my 2020 LG 4k 65" to any network and
             | it works great.
             | 
             | I guess that would work as long as you move to a place far
             | away from humanity. It definitely won't work if a neighbour
             | runs a WiFi hotspot without password protection.
        
               | hawk_ wrote:
               | I have not come across a working password free
               | residential wifi hotspot in almost a decade - because
               | routers have had passwords by default.
        
               | mcculley wrote:
               | I live in an apartment building downtown adjacent to
               | other buildings. They are all around me.
        
               | metadat wrote:
               | My observation is the open wifi's are much more prevalent
               | in dense living situations like apartments, condos,
               | townhomes, and shared work spaces.
        
               | Art9681 wrote:
               | What would happen if you configured manual network and
               | gave it a fake DNS or sent it over to PiHole for example?
               | Wouldnt there be plenty of ways to capture the traffic
               | and stop it from going where it wants to go? I would
               | think the tech savvy folks on this site would be able to
               | figure something out if it is a big enough concern of
               | theirs.
        
             | daredoes wrote:
             | I was doing something similar, except I went for an LG tv
             | for Web OS in the hopes something good would come out of it
             | being open source.
             | 
             | As luck would have it, https://rootmy.tv came out for Web
             | OS. It's still in a very basic stage, but it's better than
             | nothing!
             | 
             | I'm a HomeAssistant user, so I do want my TV connected to
             | my network.
        
               | pbronez wrote:
               | Awesome! I had no idea this existed. Look forward to
               | giving it a try.
        
             | eckmLJE wrote:
             | Aren't the newer smart TVs equipped with a cell modem so
             | they can phone home without wifi, or they stop working
             | after not being updated for x days?
        
               | Larrikin wrote:
               | I don't think there are any? This is always a wild
               | speculation about the hellscape to come in the future in
               | these threads, but as far as I know nothing like this
               | actually exist. My TV I bought last year has never been
               | connected to WiFi and never will be.
        
               | LeoPanthera wrote:
               | Neither of these things are true.
        
               | crooked-v wrote:
               | No, but there are definitely ones that will try to
               | randomly connect to any open wifi networks if left
               | unattended.
        
               | stragies wrote:
               | Can you name some models? Between that, and user-space
               | wireguard, I think, there might be a bleak future ahead
               | for ad-blocking.
        
               | saiya-jin wrote:
               | At least in Europe having a cell modem would ruin the
               | company, who would pay phone bills? Sure as hell not me.
        
               | kube-system wrote:
               | > who would pay phone bills
               | 
               | Advertisers or data brokers? They're already subsidizing
               | the purchase price of TVs.
        
               | Art9681 wrote:
               | There is no evidence of this and we would know. Its not
               | easy to hide wireless signals.
        
           | Art9681 wrote:
           | Disconnect the TV from wifi and enable GameMode to bypass
           | most of the post processing. Disable HDR on the OS. On some
           | TV models, there is an additional trick to rename the input
           | port to "PC" and it reduces input lag even more. Use a good
           | web app that guides you to some basic calibration, especially
           | brightness/contrast/gamma. Those 3 things can be changed in
           | your display driver's control panel and TV. So fiddling with
           | both to get a "perfect" image goes a long way. Once you have
           | the configs you like, take some pics or save them in a note
           | somewhere in case you need to restore.
           | 
           | I play Steam Games on a 77" OLED like this and the only
           | reason I dont use it for normal day to day development is I
           | dont have a suitable recliner keyboard/mouse setup. Got the
           | TV for $2,000 from Woot a year ago and it is the VRR model.
           | 
           | Why are monitors with similar capabilities at a third of the
           | size so expensive?
        
             | zamadatix wrote:
             | Disabling HDR is akin to buying a sports car and throwing
             | your hands in the air when you can't figure out how to
             | start it outside of eco mode. The same for any tweaking on
             | the driver's control panel instead of on the display.
             | Ultimately though the truth is when you go through all of
             | that hassle (special input ports, special input names,
             | advanced/hidden input settings, image adjustments) it still
             | somehow comes out worse than it should be in terms of input
             | latency and image accuracy.
             | 
             | I always have 2 wishes:
             | 
             | - For TVs to have a mode that just displays the signal
             | according the reference mode of that signal (particularly
             | for HDR) and not fuck with it to make it "better".
             | 
             | - For a decent selection of monitors that come with larger
             | panels.
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | wowokay wrote:
           | I think better examples would be the lack of motion control,
           | unlike computers the bulk of content experienced on TVs
           | expects to run at specific refresh rates. Innovations like
           | OLED which offer instantaneous response rates cause issue for
           | that media when expected pixel dimming latency is expected.
           | Causing motion like pan shots to appear jittery. TVS need
           | innovation that focuses on feathering motion, since it's
           | clear the TV and Movie industry have no plans to bump frame
           | rate.
        
             | mattgreenrocks wrote:
             | This is why I passed on an OLED when upgrading my TV. OLED
             | is definitely the future, I just have little desire to beta
             | test it with jittery panning. I'm sure they'll sort it out.
        
             | majormajor wrote:
             | OLED doesn't have any new issues here compared to LCD. Both
             | sorts of TVs will often have "black frame" insertion
             | options, but I've never found the flicker worthwhile.
             | 
             | Smooth panning would be fixed by content being shot at
             | something higher than 24fps, like you say; but I've seen
             | that same jitter in theater screens for decades, it wasn't
             | something that was designed to depend on CRT tech or such
             | (like videogame lightguns).
             | 
             | TVs _have_ been doing tons of  "smart" picture processing
             | to try to smooth out motion since so much content is so low
             | frame rate. It just often looks fake!
        
           | gutitout wrote:
           | Software is too much. But OP is talking a lot hardware.
        
             | mnkmnk wrote:
             | Yes, where are the quantum dots, the local dimming, the
             | mini leds that TVs have?
        
           | Aeolun wrote:
           | I think it would be shocking to todays people to see a TV
           | from 20 years ago, before all that digital funkiness. Instant
           | switching between channels.
        
             | loonster wrote:
             | Imagine if they were exposed to a laser disk fast forward /
             | skip. Gasp
        
               | rootusrootus wrote:
               | Or an old copper phone line before cellular ruined call
               | quality.
        
         | bsder wrote:
         | The problem is that the monitors are only about gaming. In
         | particular, I find the "1440" Y dimension resolution
         | particularly infuriating.
         | 
         | Yeah, I know the reason is that modern games make all the
         | graphic cards left over that aren't being used for crypto die
         | in horrible flaming balls of heat when you actually ask them to
         | ... you know ... actually _use_ the pixels on your monitor.
         | GASP! The Horror!
         | 
         | So, how can we fix this? I know! Let's make sure the monitors
         | don't have enough pixels to cause the graphics cards grief.
         | Brilliant!
        
         | thangalin wrote:
         | > affordable large monitor with 120Hz refresh rate
         | 
         | This year, I went through four different monitors to find one
         | that works. Stay away from IPS panels, they all suffer from
         | "IPS glow", which is visible when using high contrast colours
         | (i.e., a bright window on a dark desktop background will blast
         | a translucent white "overlay" above and below the window).
         | "Smart" 4K TVs are untrustworthy, IMO (e.g., Samsung is known
         | for spying/spyware and inopportune ads, making them a hard
         | pass).
         | 
         | The ROG STRIX XG43UQ was the only display I could find that
         | runs at 120 Hz, works with a KVM switch (IOGEAR 2-Port 4K DP),
         | has a 16:9 aspect ratio, offers 4K resolution, uses a VESA 100
         | adapter, and is suitable for programming. The OS must be
         | instructed to render using BGR instead of RGB, which Linux
         | supports. The panel has some subtle horizontal glow in rare
         | high-contrast situations, but it's nowhere as noticeable as IPS
         | panels.
         | 
         | Depending on your definition of affordable, it runs for about
         | $1,300.
         | 
         | https://rog.asus.com/ca-en/monitors/above-34-inches/rog-stri...
        
           | mnkmnk wrote:
           | I can get a 2021 65 inch Samsung qled tv for $1k and it has
           | 100% dci-p3 coverage compared to 90% of the monitor, has HDR
           | and 120Hz refresh rate, has usable speakers, has a good
           | remote to control it and is larger and cheaper. I don't know
           | the numbers, but I bet the contrast would also be better on
           | the TV.
        
             | threeseed wrote:
             | On any Mac you won't be able to get 4K 120Hz if that TV
             | just has HDMI.
             | 
             | It only works on monitors/TVs that support DisplayPort.
        
             | opencl wrote:
             | Does the 4K 120Hz actually work properly? There are a _lot_
             | of TVs that claim to support 4K 120Hz but actually display
             | the signal at half vertical resolution as 3840x1080.
        
         | bhauer wrote:
         | This reminds me of my rant about televisions versus monitors on
         | my 2014 blog entry "4K is for Programmers."
         | 
         | https://tiamat.tsotech.com/4k-is-for-programmers
        
         | kayoone wrote:
         | hm I think the industry was stale for quite some time but
         | lately it has picked up a lot. What exactly are you looking
         | for? Today you have high refresh rates,4k or 5k screens,
         | (curved) Ultrawide, Variable Refresh rates, low latencies.
         | Comparing them with TVs is not entirely fair, as those usually
         | are not great for displaying text unless you get a specific
         | panel with good chroma subsampling and in terms of latency TVs
         | are usually also pretty far behind Monitors. The really good
         | TVs are equally as expensive.
        
       | razvvan wrote:
       | I guess it depends on what you do with it but the cognitive load
       | of the potential situation that would need all that realestate...
       | unsettles me.
        
       | rolobio wrote:
       | I've found that a 32" QHD monitor is the highest PPI my eyes can
       | comfortably read. I tried to use a 4K TV as my monitor, but I
       | needed something like 55" up close to read it comfortably. It was
       | simply too large and I had to move my neck too much. Also, that
       | was the day I learned some pixels are chevrons!
        
         | Jaruzel wrote:
         | My screen on my main PC is a 32" BenQ QHD display. I run it at
         | 100% scaling. I don't like the idea of 4K displays at >100%
         | scaling, as I'm just wasting money on pixels I don't actually
         | use directly.
         | 
         | To be honest, the DPI on this monitor is a little too low... I
         | have a QHD 27" on another machine, and that seems 'just right'
         | (for my eyes).
         | 
         | If 4K monitors were the same price as QHD ones for the same
         | screen size, then maybe I'd re-consider, but whilst they are
         | sold at a premium, I'm not interested.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Nursie wrote:
         | So use scaling?
         | 
         | I find this a strange complaint, (not saying you're wrong!) as
         | to me more pixels should mean better rendering of elements, not
         | dictate their size.
        
           | bdcravens wrote:
           | When I replaced all my monitors, I just went with QHD
           | displays instead of 4K, even though I've always scaled in the
           | past. So much cheaper.
        
         | saiya-jin wrote:
         | I have the same, from cca 2 feet I really don't need more for
         | anything, including occasional gaming (where performance
         | difference vs 4k is huge, visible benefit for me is 0). If I am
         | running out of space that just means I am messy and doing too
         | much in parallel which is never a good idea. Something similar
         | to coding principle of having method/function no longer than 1
         | screen.
        
         | legalcorrection wrote:
         | Windows supports fractional display scaling with perfect crisp
         | text and graphics. MacOS doesn't, but it can do integer scaling
         | at least. (Edit: I've been corrected. Apparently macOS does do
         | fractional scaling, but in a way that causes blur). Text size
         | and resolution don't need to be bound.
        
           | tossoutijsbshsu wrote:
           | i use linux on a retina macbook @ 2880x1800 and fractional
           | scaling works well in swaywm. they warn against it in the
           | docs, but no problems so far (though it's only been a week)
        
           | wlesieutre wrote:
           | macOS has scales between 1x and 2x. It doesn't tell you what
           | the scale factor actually is as a number, just a couple of
           | options between "More space" and "Larger text".
           | 
           | IIRC the way it's implemented is by rendering 2x and
           | downscaling, so sometime's it's not as pixel perfect as
           | Windows. But the simpler implementation for software
           | developers meant they had like a 10 year head start compared
           | to Windows where software takes a long time to support up new
           | OS features.
        
             | dustingetz wrote:
             | macos fractional scaling causes massive system slowdowns,
             | completely unusable for coding. integer multiples are fast
        
               | argsnd wrote:
               | I don't think this has any effect on speed even in
               | post-2015 Intel Macs
        
             | telesilla wrote:
             | There are also 3rd party apps for finer control of
             | resolutions and displays on macOS, such as SwitchResX
        
             | ojbyrne wrote:
             | On my monitors and most recent OS versions it shows the
             | resolution when you hover over the preview.
        
             | eyesee wrote:
             | APIs existed for fractional scale and assets in early Mac
             | OS X versions (10.4 I think). I remember building out 1.25,
             | 1.5 and 2x assets for an application at the time. These
             | were never to be shipped to consumers for a few reasons.
             | 
             | There were intractable issues with window spanning across
             | displays with different scale factors. Ultimately this was
             | resolved by not allowing window spanning on the platform
             | anymore.
        
               | wlesieutre wrote:
               | Wasn't there an early exploration of using vector UI
               | elements some time around then? I have a vague
               | recollection of it being found as a partly implemented
               | feature.
        
               | sgjohnson wrote:
               | > Ultimately this was resolved by not allowing window
               | spanning on the platform anymore.
               | 
               | You can still window span on macOS. You just have to
               | disable the feature that gives every display its own
               | workspaces.
               | 
               | Not that you'd ever want to do that. At least I can't
               | think of a single good reason why anyone would want this.
        
               | legalcorrection wrote:
               | This display spanning issue exists in Windows but I think
               | Microsoft made the right trade off by just allowing that
               | one thing to behave strangely. The other issue is pixel-
               | based UIs that don't fractional scale without blur, but
               | at this point that doesn't affect any software I use
               | except little utility programs that I'm not staring at
               | for very long anyway.
        
         | tossoutijsbshsu wrote:
         | right around QHD is the sweet spot imo. I use 3 30" Apple
         | Cinema HD Displays @ 2560x1600 (my school was throwing them
         | out), and theyre perfect for everything. games, code, movies,
         | whatever. Needs dual link dvi though, so old gpus only.
        
       | CoastalCoder wrote:
       | How is this different from having smaller monitors, closer to the
       | user?
       | 
       | Does it come down to the distances at which the user can
       | comfortably focus their eyes?
        
         | corysama wrote:
         | Pretty much. That and how much your view changes when you move
         | your head.
         | 
         | I've played with virtual monitors in VR. Everyone loves the
         | idea of having 80 foot virtual monitors. But, all that really
         | does is make it so you can't move your head in close to examine
         | the low-rez text like you can with smaller virtual monitors up
         | close.
        
         | woleium wrote:
         | for many people (esp as you get older) the longer focal
         | distance will be easier on the eyes.
        
         | mgerdts wrote:
         | I have a 4k 28" monitor which I can't use at its highest
         | resolution with 100% scaling and a 4k 40" TV that is a few
         | inches further away which I can comfortably use at its highest
         | resolution with 100% scaling. I'm a big fan of the setup I have
         | and suspect I would be equally happy with a slightly larger
         | display (maybe up to 55") a bit further away. Maybe the 28"
         | screen would be more usable with computer glasses. With the 40"
         | screen, I can see fine with my regular glasses.
         | 
         | 75" seems a bit extreme, as it would require a few more feet of
         | distance between me and the screen to make the screen fit into
         | my field of view. I could see it as beneficial and quite usable
         | in a situation where you need high resolution with many people
         | viewing it.
        
       | karmakaze wrote:
       | This reminds me of a vivid dream I had in university, where the
       | room I programmed in had source code displayed on the floor and I
       | could scroll or walk around and browse it. The listing on the
       | floor had that wide green-and-white band printer 'paper' look.
       | Don't remember if it went all skeuomorphic with rendered
       | perforated edges and holes. It also had other printer type things
       | that were just sitting there not printing at the time. And for a
       | reason I never understood there was a large pixelated volumetric
       | figure of my housemate Bill also in the room like a 3/4 life-size
       | Lego figure. As I interpreted it at the time, I didn't think the
       | figure was generated in real-time as to be able to instantly into
       | something else. It didn't feel virtual, and augmented reality
       | wasn't a concept at the time. I suppose in theory it could be
       | fully rendered in roomscale VR if my hands and arms looked and
       | moved accurately enough.
        
       | mhh__ wrote:
       | I think recently I've been fiddling around with my monitor when
       | my real issue is the angle of my arms and posture due to my
       | chair, even if it manifests as being tense and unable to focus on
       | the monitor.
        
       | drewolbrich wrote:
       | At this scale, I'm concerned about latency due to the speed of
       | light travel time.
        
         | QuikAccount wrote:
         | If you aren't gaming then latency concerns are really
         | overblown.
        
           | throwaway684936 wrote:
           | They were obviously joking talking about light speed, but I
           | strongly disagree. Even ignoring how it improves the feel of
           | typing, I'm a mouse-using heretic and it makes a _huge_
           | difference with mice.
        
           | cma wrote:
           | It's just a joke, light only takes 3 nanoseconds to go a
           | meter.
        
             | uo21tp5hoyg wrote:
             | could be 2 nanoseconds if you built it in Rust.
        
               | fb03 wrote:
               | I propose a new movement: RRIR instead of RIIR
               | 
               | Rewrite Reality In Rust!
        
       | cloudking wrote:
       | Having tried multiple sizes and resolutions, personally I've
       | found 27" 2560x1440 (2K) to be the sweet spot for desktop
       | computing and gaming.
       | 
       | Very happy with https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08LCNWQWL
        
       | bombcar wrote:
       | I have four monitors connected to my Mac. The two centrals are
       | ultrawides (34UB88-P) on top of each other - the lower one is the
       | main window where the action happens - the one above is the
       | secondary where terminals and other monitoring processes happen).
       | The main is large enough for work and references to be next to
       | each other.
       | 
       | The 4K on the right (run at hi-dpi) is for various non-work chat
       | programs, reference images, etc. the 4K on the left is for work
       | chat and Finder windows, and the laptop display itself holds
       | email.
       | 
       | It works well. The main advantage is being able to glance at
       | chats without switching windows.
        
         | Synaesthesia wrote:
         | How big is your desk?
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | It's a normal size desk. The key is lots of vesa mount arms.
        
         | tailspin2019 wrote:
         | As a fellow multi-monitor geek, I'd love to see a photo of this
         | setup!
        
       | temp8964 wrote:
       | The reason this can be superior to desk computing is that it
       | gives you more vertical space. Desk computing removes the lower
       | half of your vertical space because of the desk.
       | 
       | Imagine in the future, the desk surface is also a screen, we can
       | put some supporting apps like calendar, notebook, todo list, etc.
       | on the desk. That will be really nice. In his setup, he can
       | literally add another screen by laying another TV on the floor.
        
         | fleaaa wrote:
         | Try using a tablet or any display laid on desktop, it's
         | terrible posture and very painful after a while.
        
           | temp8964 wrote:
           | You are probably right. But a small angle to tilt the screen
           | may help if the screen is not a main screen.
        
       | DesiLurker wrote:
       | This abomination is what happens when you let peasants WFH for
       | way too long.
       | 
       | seriously though I have thought about doing a projector to
       | ceiling so I could code lying down on bed with zero stress on
       | back.
        
       | jiveturkey wrote:
       | That's a really tiny chair and keyboard.
        
       | didip wrote:
       | If I have the budget and the space and wife's approval, I think
       | the scorpion desk is better and a lot more ergonomics.
       | 
       | https://www.amazon.com/Imperator-Scorpion-Gaming-Computer-Of...
        
       | passivate wrote:
       | Hah, just looking at this gives me a headache. When I last tried
       | such experiments (5+ yrs), I found that none of the display
       | panels I had access to played nice with sub-pixel font rendering.
       | Also now that I'm used to smaller 120hz panels, I can never go
       | back to 60/75hz.
        
       | throw0101a wrote:
       | The Dashews, a couple who design offshore boats (sail and power),
       | after a few years of experimentation, ended up coming to a
       | similar design for their navigation station their FPB line of
       | powerboats:
       | 
       | * https://setsail.com/rethinking_modern_nav-2-2/
       | 
       | May not be able to do this on the deck of a traditional sailboat
       | where things are exposed to the elements, but in an enclosed
       | wheelhouse it adds a lot of flexibility, especially with modern
       | the NMEA 2000 data bus and various vendor 'black boxes' (or
       | leverage a Raspberry Pi), e.g.:
       | 
       | * https://mvdirona.com/2016/09/maretron-n2kview-on-dirona/
       | 
       | Aside: the owner of the above linked _Dirona_ is James Hamilton,
       | VP  & Distinguished Engineer at Amazon.
        
         | blamazon wrote:
         | Wow. I am blown away by the photos in that FPB link. I'm not a
         | boat person but it's unlike any boat pilot house I have seen
         | before. A great room indeed.
        
           | throw0101a wrote:
           | The Dashews seems to regularly think 'out of the box'. They
           | took their decades of experience in sailboat design,
           | especially to hull shapes, and applied them to a power boat
           | (so they could continue to travel in old/er age):
           | 
           | * https://setsail.com/the-concept-explained/
           | 
           | * https://setsail.com/intro-to-fpb-program/
           | 
           | * https://setsail.com/category/fpb-78/
           | 
           | YT channel:
           | 
           | * https://www.youtube.com/user/DashewOffshore
           | 
           | A tour of one of their earlier sailboat designs that is/was
           | for sale recently:
           | 
           | * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrDxYkSI710
        
         | rasz wrote:
         | Looks great until the first big wave weather where you lose
         | ground and lean on/kick the big shiny TV losing all the
         | telemetry.
        
         | walrus01 wrote:
         | I'm skeptical how well that display on the left side of the
         | nav-2-2 URL holds up for visibility under direct powerful
         | sunlight. Even if it's a very expensive model.
        
         | throwra620 wrote:
        
       | dylan604 wrote:
       | This is a godsend for all of the people that love to read what's
       | on their co-workers' screens.
        
       | computator wrote:
       | Do you think such a setup would be helpful for an elderly
       | relative whose eyesight is getting worse? Even with glasses, the
       | relative has trouble with a 27-inch desktop monitor with 2560 x
       | 1440 pixels. Specifically, I was thinking of using an Ultra High
       | Definition TV (49-inch with 3840 x 2160 pixels) but setting the
       | resolution at 2560 x 1440. So it would be the same resolution but
       | everything would be bigger. Would it help?
        
         | Jaruzel wrote:
         | Why not just set the desktop resolution to 1280x720?, as it's
         | exactly 1/2 that of QHD, so everything will be twice as large,
         | at perfect 2x pixel scaling.
         | 
         | For the 4K screen, 1920x1080 is 1/2 4K so same point applies.
        
           | dagmx wrote:
           | Why change the resolution and not the OS scaling?
        
             | Jaruzel wrote:
             | Depends on the OS.... not everything scales properly,
             | especially older applications.
        
         | haunter wrote:
         | It can help for sure. The longer focal length itself is a huge
         | difference but I'd test it out somehow (renting, borrowing
         | etc.) before investing into something like this
         | 
         | >I was thinking of using an Ultra High Definition TV (49-inch
         | with 3840 x 2160 pixels) but setting the resolution at 2560 x
         | 1440. So it would be the same resolution but everything would
         | be bigger.
         | 
         | I'd rather use OS level UI scaling you will have sharper and
         | better picture
        
           | ______-_-______ wrote:
           | Couldn't you get an equivalent focal length by wearing
           | reading glasses?
        
           | computator wrote:
           | > _I 'd rather use OS level UI scaling you will have sharper
           | and better picture_
           | 
           | I tried various OS scaling methods. The problem with "magnify
           | or zoom in on the whole screen" is that it's very cumbersome
           | for an elderly person, easily getting lost on where you are
           | on the screen. The problem with an OS configuration to make
           | all text and icons bigger is that it doesn't do it for
           | everything -- many text labels, buttons, menus, etc., remain
           | at a small font.
           | 
           | That's why I'm hoping a hardware-level solution (a much
           | bigger display) is the answer.
        
         | chiph wrote:
         | I used to work with a guy that was very visually impaired and
         | he used a 40" monitor set to VGA resolution. He would still
         | have to crane his head to the left & right sometimes to follow
         | the mouse on screen.
         | 
         | Going to something like a 49 or 55" television could work but
         | you need to check the field of view at the distance they'll
         | have it set up. Get a piece of cardboard at your largest
         | anticipated screen dimensions, prop it up at their normal
         | viewing distance, then put some high contrast marks on the
         | edges & in the corners and see if they can make them out
         | without too much head rotation. If they can't then cut the
         | cardboard down to the next smaller TV size and try again.
         | 
         | Once you have bought the right sized TV, then adjust the
         | resolution so they can make out screen elements (the window
         | close button is a good one to test against). Then adjust the
         | mouse size, browser zoom, etc.
        
         | yummypaint wrote:
         | No. If their eyes are unable to resolve the smaller pixels it
         | will offer no benefit. Would be better to get a large standard
         | resolution screen. However, i would avoid smart TVs as they are
         | extremely consumer hostile and may blare ads over your
         | relative's attempts to use the computer. A 27"+ monitor made
         | ~10 years ago would be ideal.
        
           | computator wrote:
           | > _If their eyes are unable to resolve the smaller pixels it
           | will offer no benefit._
           | 
           | Sorry, I don't understand. The pixels would be bigger in the
           | idea I'm proposing.
           | 
           | > _A 27 "+ monitor made ~10 years ago would be ideal._
           | 
           | That's exactly what they have now. I'm suggesting replacing
           | it with a 49-inch monitor (a Ultra HD TV) set to the same
           | resolution. The pixels would therefore be bigger.
        
         | tossoutijsbshsu wrote:
         | My grandmother used to have difficulty reading her email, even
         | with double font size, low res, etc. Over the summer, I
         | replaced her monitor with a 32-inch 1080p TV that I had lying
         | around, and it makes a big difference.
         | 
         | I think your idea would definitely help.
        
         | goosedragons wrote:
         | How big is the monitor? A 27" 1440p monitor is about 130ppi, a
         | 32" is about 90.
        
       | AtlasBarfed wrote:
       | And 8k is coming....
       | 
       | I'll probably get a big 50-55" 8k for the main and try to put my
       | 1-2 40" 4ks on the flanks.
       | 
       | If you're not twitch gaming, TVs are such a better bang for the
       | buck.
        
       | FlyingAvatar wrote:
       | I use 3x 27" 4K monitors in portrait mode side by side with my
       | Macbook Pro screen at the end. This gives me about 10 normal
       | screen sized areas.
       | 
       | I usually have the following things open in specific spots:
       | - General Browser (mostly for email and weather)       - Calendar
       | - Terminal       - Text Editor       - Desktop Mode Browser for
       | App in Development       - Detached Debug Console for the above
       | - Mobile View Browser for App in Development with attached Debug
       | Console       - Browser for documentation / reference       - To
       | Do List       - Slack
        
         | mendelmaleh wrote:
         | Nice! what scaling do you run them at? I like avoiding
         | fractional scaling, I have two 24" and run them at 2x.
         | 
         | The next step would be 27" 5K for a similar DPI, someday : )
        
         | jwr wrote:
         | I'll present a different data point. I also used to like
         | multiple monitor setups, using up to three monitors. And then I
         | realized that I'd much rather have a single good quality
         | screen, because there is less fussing around with things. A 27"
         | iMac 5k screen got me enough screen real estate to be happy.
         | 
         | These days I am looking for single-monitor solutions, at 27" --
         | anything larger and you need to turn your head.
         | 
         | (incidentally, 5K vs 4K makes a huge practical difference for
         | me: in my full-screen Emacs I can comfortably fit three columns
         | of code on a 5K screen, but on 4K this is problematic)
        
           | caffeine wrote:
           | Have you tried 2x 27" screens _vertically_ , ideally models
           | with minimal bezel?
           | 
           | I've found that it doesn't increase head turning because it's
           | not much wider than a single screen, but I can fit twice as
           | much stuff.
           | 
           | Also I can read a much longer file of code at once, which is
           | more useful than you'd expect..
        
             | boulos wrote:
             | That's been my setup for the last decade (currently a pair
             | of U2720Q monitors). macOS unfortunately does a worse job
             | with "font smoothing" when using the monitors vertically,
             | but it's fine.
             | 
             | The main downside is that since most people (obviously) use
             | their displays in landscape mode, lots of websites and
             | applications are pretty antagonistic to a tall and thin
             | display. (Spreadsheets are often quite bad, but there are
             | lots of places where people eat up horizontal space for
             | padding or side bars that are suddenly super annoying).
             | 
             | There's a bit of a push to larger, ultrawide 5k2k monitors
             | (e.g., Dell's U4021Q or the delayed-by-a-year-not-actually-
             | available LG 40WP95C) but a pair of high resolution 27s is
             | still a lot more pixel density. These bigger ones also tend
             | to have lower brightness, presumably do to power and
             | thermal targets per display.
        
             | sneak wrote:
             | I use 3x 27" 5K displays (an iMac Pro and two LG ultrafine
             | 5Ks with the same panel) in an H: iMac in normal landscape,
             | with the two side displays in portrait. It's perfect.
             | 
             | They are all on arms that somewhat encircle my position so
             | it is no issue to code for extended periods on either of
             | the "side" displays.
        
       | frankwiles wrote:
       | Half crazy, half awesome. 100% tempted!
        
       | Trasmatta wrote:
       | Speaking of monitors, I got one of those absurd 49" ultra
       | widescreen displays a few months ago. The resolution is
       | 5120x1440, so it's functionally equivalent to two 27" 1440p
       | monitors placed side by side.
       | 
       | The text is naturally not as crisp as a 4K monitor, but the
       | amount of screen real estate is great for development. Paired
       | with a tiling window manager it gives so many options. I did the
       | dual 27" 1440p thing for years, and I find this setup superior.
       | With the dual monitor strategy you have to either deal with a
       | huge bezel right in the center of your vision, or push the
       | secondary monitor off to the side, requiring more neck movement
       | to see what's on it. With this monitor, everything remains much
       | more clearly in my field of view.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | Biggest gripe for me with the curved displays is that 1440px in
         | height is not really that much. Kinda blurry when one's used to
         | a 4k display with 2160px over the same vertical distance.
        
           | Trasmatta wrote:
           | Yeah, if you're used to 4K, the resolution will definitely
           | feel like a step down. For my personal usage, I've found the
           | horizontal space to be really beneficial for development.
           | YMMV.
        
         | unethical_ban wrote:
         | I would be less scared of one of those monitors, if I could use
         | them as two virtual monitors - that is, the OS would split it
         | down the middle and treat them with separate wallpapers (if
         | desired), along with the keypresses and mouse shortcuts
         | associated with tiling/managing dual monitors.
        
           | tuvan wrote:
           | I believe all of them have a "picture by picture" mode where
           | left half shows one input and right half shows another input.
           | You could achieve what you want with 2 cables. But I haven't
           | felt the need for such use. I use Microsoft Powertoys to tile
           | a 16:9 area in the center and two half width areas on the
           | sides and I am very happy with that setup. I am sure linux
           | window tilers have even better capability.
        
       | prosaic-hacker wrote:
       | This is a scaled up version of my setup for my adult son, who is
       | legally blind. We setup 2 of these as our "zoom" stations at the
       | beginning of the pandemic. A good chair/sofa up close the TV, 55"
       | UHD TV connected to a Lenovo laptop with a wireless keyboard and
       | trackpad combo. My son's TV is also connected to the cable box,
       | WII, DVD players (Reg & BR)
       | 
       | These are not some sort of high performance workstation just a
       | cheap and dirty solution. Everything was in the house , Laptops
       | from 2016, TVs and keyboards from the last couple of years of
       | Black Friday sales and a few HDMI Cables.
       | 
       | I saw someone else's setup with a dual recliner that had
       | integrated Fold away TV tables that the keyboard and mouse sat
       | on. It was a gaming setup.
        
       | legalcorrection wrote:
       | The guy claims he uses the keyboard by hunching over the side
       | table[1]. That is so comically anti-ergonomic (most people would
       | get back pain within an hour or two, and be bedridden within a
       | couple of days) that I think this is fake and posted on Reddit
       | for karma/trolling purposes.
       | 
       | Consider also that to focus on another window requires the user
       | to substantially turn his head. This would very quickly cause
       | neck strain.
       | 
       | Our inclination is to believe things are real, but people do just
       | go on the internet and lie. A lot.
       | 
       | [1]
       | https://old.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/toecyt/dual...
        
         | seattle_spring wrote:
         | My thoughts as well. This looks like an ergonomic nightmare.
        
         | fleaaa wrote:
         | Attaching split keyboard on the armrest with a trackball or
         | trackpoint would be a sweet spot.
        
         | globular-toast wrote:
         | There's no way anyone is doing any serious typing with such
         | setup. I can imagine it if keyboard use is minimal. Not sure
         | what job that would be but I'm sure there are some.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | peterhajas wrote:
       | I've used 4K 39"/40" televisions (originally 3, now 1) for the
       | past 8 years. I find that the panels look great, and they give me
       | a huge working area. They're also really reasonable - $250 - $350
       | for a good TV. They last a while.
       | 
       | Smaller 4K/5K panels (with more pixels per inch) are nice, but I
       | never understood the push for density. I'd rather have more
       | workspace with lower density.
        
       | jaqalopes wrote:
       | I guess the idea behind this share is to get people's thoughts.
       | To that end, I'm totally in favor of this honestly. Only reason I
       | won't do something like this is that it's very space intensive
       | and won't fit in my apartment. But if I could I would. Why not?
       | My eyes aren't getting any better with age, and even my costly
       | "good" office chair gets uncomfortable after a couple hours.
        
       | russellbeattie wrote:
       | I recently turned 50 and though I've had to wear glasses for long
       | distance vision my entire life, my arm-length distance has only
       | just succumbed to age. I just got a new prescription, but for the
       | past year I've been bobbing my head back and forth to my screens
       | like a chicken.
       | 
       | The solution is now bifocals, or multi-vision contacts which
       | leave everything - both close and distant - slightly blurry. I
       | can't say I'm in love with either solution, but that's life.
       | 
       | But hey! I like this idea! I could dial in my contacts
       | prescription for 20/20 distance vision and just sit back in my
       | La-Z-Boy. It might be a bit awkward going back to the office...
        
       | etchalon wrote:
       | No.
       | 
       | Just.
       | 
       | No.
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | Guy should have better spent some money on nice furniture, imho.
        
       | rwc wrote:
       | Love it in theory, but the strain of moving your head to see the
       | full dimensions of the screens would get old. Eyes are good at
       | darting around a smaller screen up close, don't know that the
       | entire head and neck would appreciate that day in and day out.
        
         | georgewsinger wrote:
         | This is only an issue if the pixel density of the screens is
         | small (forcing you to blow windows up larger, which forces you
         | to crank your neck around more to see an entire screen).
         | 
         | If the pixel density is high enough, you can compress tons of
         | genuine screens together within your eye-gazing FOV, and even
         | sit close to the screens.
        
           | squeaky-clean wrote:
           | Sure but then there's tons of screen area you're not using.
           | If you're only going to look at a 32" FOV on a 75" screen,
           | why not just get a 32" screen?
        
       | georgewsinger wrote:
       | From the comments:
       | 
       | > I'm curious as to how this affected your productivity
       | 
       | Answer:
       | 
       | > Productivity is through the roof. Even when noodling about on
       | small side projects I find you so quickly end up with so much
       | things open that you're constantly flipping between, so to have
       | multiple terminals, text editors, reference documentation,
       | version control, etc, immediately accessible is, honestly, life
       | changing.
        
         | happimess wrote:
         | Alternate take: I achieve constant-time access (mod key +
         | digit) to all those things with 10 workspaces in i3.
         | 
         | I can't imagine having to see them all at once. Realistically,
         | I'm only actually thinking about 1 or 2 of them at a time. If I
         | need to check documentation, I'm no longer thinking about my
         | build output. Slack, email, and calendar are disconnected from
         | development tools. And if I need to do a quick context shift, I
         | can switch over instantly.
        
           | xhrpost wrote:
           | I've never used i3 but have been intrigued for ages. I'm
           | finding myself more and more "faking" a tiling window system
           | on my work Mac. I generally open a separate zsh/tmux session
           | in a vscode pane for each workspace, which works great. I'm
           | now also adding a split window to the left for note taking,
           | initially Gdocs but more recently just another vscode window
           | for markdown files. I merge all my other coding workspaces
           | into one window on the right, so I can have the same notes on
           | the left but switch projects on the right with ease.
           | 
           | Curious if something like yabai would be even better but just
           | haven't made the time to try it.
        
           | spiffytech wrote:
           | I find I'm a lot more productive if I can see everything I'm
           | keeping in my head all at once. Virtual desktops are good for
           | organization, but for me, don't substitute for a large
           | display.
        
           | DyslexicAtheist wrote:
           | that's also my philosophy (in sway). in my first workspace I
           | keep all my terminals that belong to a specific task ws 2 for
           | another task ws 3 for web browsing, ws 3 for irc|mail|signal
           | etc ... and most of the time I am in fullscreen so I won't
           | get distracted (by things like polybar/waybar etc) ... really
           | did wonders for my attention and productivity.
        
           | pronlover723 wrote:
           | workspaces don't work for me. I constantly need to see 2-3
           | windows from different apps together and which 2-3 change
           | constantly meaning to see them together I'd have to move the
           | windows across workspaces every 10-20 minutes.
           | 
           | Documentation + editor
           | 
           | Editor + Terminal
           | 
           | Editor + Issue Tracker
           | 
           | Terminal + Issue Tracker
           | 
           | Issue Tracker + Testing Result
           | 
           | etc. etc.
           | 
           | I don't "context switch". My context is "getting shit done"
           | and for me it requires access to many many windows at the
           | same time.
        
             | hexomancer wrote:
             | Check out dwm. It has a different concept from workspaces
             | called 'tags' which is close to what you are describing.
        
           | fleaaa wrote:
           | I do the same and have triple displays that is placed with
           | ergonomics in mind, so workspace is like 3*n mostly.
           | 
           | There's no drawback for me except probably terrible carbon
           | foot print..
        
             | apetresc wrote:
             | Sorry, what impact does i3 have on your carbon footprint?
        
               | NateEag wrote:
               | Not i3 - the energy consumption of running three large
               | monitors.
        
         | bullfightonmars wrote:
         | I am not sure if I understand this claim. It looks like this
         | setup has the same density of information as a typical 27in 4k
         | monitor.
        
         | tga wrote:
         | I definitely agree with that take when talking about running
         | two 4k monitors at full resolution, but it doesn't address the
         | size at all. The more reasonable approach would be to use two
         | ~38-42" monitors.
        
           | that_guy_iain wrote:
           | One 32 inch 4k monitor massively improves my ability to get
           | stuff done. I'm tempted to get another one to see how it
           | goes.
        
             | bdcravens wrote:
             | I used to love "smaller" fonts and whatnot. Unfortunately
             | my 45 year old eyes can't do it anymore. These days I stick
             | with 2 32" at QHD. I've always used my laptop open for
             | things like the terminal etc, but I find that's a bit too
             | small unless I'm sitting directly in front of it (coffee
             | shop etc)
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | Don't see how it increases productivity compared to normally
         | sized 4k screens? Can fit just as much into them?
         | 
         | Edit: Or might be able to not scale text as much. But that is
         | the screen being too close I feel.
        
         | sometimeshuman wrote:
         | Slight skepticism should be applied to any productivity claim.
         | There was research to determine if changing _X_ in the office
         | boosted productivity. But in the end it was found that _X_ didn
         | 't matter, within reason. Changing any _X_ boosted productivity
         | and the benefits often diminished with time. I thought this was
         | called the Hawthorne Effect but I am no longer sure.
        
           | jpking wrote:
           | Hawthorn Effect is right although it is disputed [1].
           | Interestingly, the interpretation that I remember is that
           | productivity increased because the subjects were part of an
           | experiment and being observed.
           | 
           | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
        
         | paulcole wrote:
         | Kind of funny that the idea of constantly flipping between a
         | bunch of things increases productivity. I'd imagine if this
         | person had instead limited themselves to a single 15" laptop
         | screen their productivity would've increased over their
         | baseline because they'd be focused on one thing at a time.
        
           | moonchrome wrote:
           | Honestly doubt it - I watch files/diffs side-by-side
           | constantly - at 120 line length with a 15 inch MBP there's
           | just no way even if I kill the explorer panel - I can just
           | barely fit it when i zoom out one level from my comfortable
           | font size and have the panel closed - but that's not a great
           | experience for me.
        
             | paulcole wrote:
             | My point was that committing to a change that you think
             | will make you more productive is likely to make you feel
             | more productive.
             | 
             | People don't like to admit they're wrong and really like to
             | convince themselves they were right.
        
       | whartung wrote:
       | So, I look at this and it reminds me of a trivial experiment I
       | did in a hotel room, which is sort of the opposite of what these
       | people are doing.
       | 
       | Simply, I took my phone and held it up in front of me, a
       | comfortable distance from my face, and covered the hotel TV with
       | it.
       | 
       | At that point, it's easy to realize that the phone screen isn't
       | necessarily too small, at least for "TV" watching, because, net,
       | the screens are the "same size" in terms of consumed field of
       | view.
       | 
       | In the end it was the same if you could watch it comfortably
       | (which is a different problem).
        
         | cma wrote:
         | Aside from the eye issues, with a phone size screen mounted
         | externally, moving your head 2 in would be like moving your
         | head 2ft, so you couldn't have any variation in your posture
         | without the screen being uncomfortably off-centered. Think of a
         | movie theater where you can move several seats or even rows
         | from the center sweetspot seat and still have roughly the same
         | view.
        
         | wasmitnetzen wrote:
         | It does make a difference on eye strain, since they need to
         | focus to a point much closer.
        
           | cma wrote:
           | You can also shift to more postures the farther back the
           | display is and it will still take up roughly the same field
           | of view no matter how you move, whereas with small monitors
           | you can't both sit up straight and lean back without
           | drastically changing pixels per degree of vision.
        
           | sometimeshuman wrote:
           | A constant focal point is not good for eye health either. I
           | had considered converting my two monitor setup to one
           | traditional monitor and one project that is > 10ft away. But
           | projectors have too many disadvantages atm (e.g., high power
           | consumption, brightness, etc.).
        
             | noja wrote:
             | Perhaps an alternative would be to suspend a screen from a
             | drone that is constantly moving around the room. It would
             | combine eye muscle exercise with neck exercise. For extra
             | points, the screen could be configured for me to chase
             | after it, providing ever more opportunities for exercise.
        
       | Fauntleroy wrote:
       | I use a single 65" 8k monitor about 4ft away (behind my actual
       | desk). While this affords quite a bit of space, text rendering at
       | small sizes (even with the ridiculous resolution), is simply not
       | ideal. If I were only getting a screen for productivity / dev
       | purposes, I would definitely seek a large monitor instead of a
       | giant TV.
        
         | hirundo wrote:
         | I use a 65" monitor at about 12 feet away for comms, and a 27"
         | monitor close up for code. I'm looking forward to football
         | stadium sized monitors in VR.
        
       | emacs28 wrote:
       | I find curved displays much nicer to look at on the edges. I hope
       | spherically curved monitors come out some day too.
       | 
       | I use a 32" 2160p 4K curved display (1500R). It's harder to find
       | than the 1440p curved displays but they're out there.
       | 
       | Also, I find I prefer looking straight in front of me best and
       | don't really use anything more than a single 4k display. I try to
       | improve my app switching skills & tools before using more
       | monitors.
        
       | Kiro wrote:
       | Readable link on mobile:
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/toecyt/dual...
        
       | twoodfin wrote:
       | The biggest challenge with a setup like this would seem to be
       | mapping the user's focus to the UI focus. Traditional pointing
       | devices and window selection highlighting would be suboptimal.
       | 
       | But I expect these problems will be solved via gesture or eye
       | tracking + new modes of interaction for AR/VR. In particular,
       | curious what Apple's going to end up doing for their headset.
        
         | soared wrote:
         | I don't know if we're talking about the same problem, but I
         | previously solved something similar by binding a key that
         | modified mouse speed. So if I need to go large distances with
         | the mouse I hit the modifier and it zipped over super fast, let
         | go of the key, and was back to normal speed.
         | 
         | I replaced my desktop/keyboard/mouse with an Xbox
         | controller/rpi for a while in college just for kicks. Worked
         | great.
        
       | zrail wrote:
       | I use a 43" 4K LG monitor (not TV) as my every day work screen,
       | positioned about five feet from my face. I have macOS set to
       | scale it up about 25". I can't really say I'm more productive on
       | it than just using my laptop, but I definitely notice less eye
       | strain when I'm using the big monitor.
        
       | prettyStandard wrote:
       | I use a 4k 49" tv on my desk as a monitor. Let's me snap 4
       | screens to the corners. The neck strain isn't great, though
       | sometimes I will underscan the screen and that fixes the neck
       | strain.
        
         | tga wrote:
         | I use a 40" screen about 80 cm away, and it's almost the
         | perfect size. I think it would be even better with a curve,
         | because text right on a corner (like a terminal prompt) is a
         | bit of a stretch.
        
           | smartbit wrote:
           | regretfully curved UHD 40" aren't sold anymore. The MMD
           | Philips BDM4037UW was available from dec '16 till summer '19.
        
             | tga wrote:
             | Too bad, that hits really close -- my monitor is a Philips
             | BDM4065UC.
        
               | smartbit wrote:
               | The Philips BDM4065UC has a better speaker. Conners are
               | difficult to see, in my experience.
               | 
               | That's why I prefer the BDM4037UW and add an external
               | speaker.
        
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