To begin, I got my Sceptre 32" 1080p ($600 at Costco) set hooked up today to my computer using a dvi-hdmi cable. Overall for the price, I'd say it is a pretty decent TV. Text is quite sharp (with no Cleartype, that seems to distort the letter 'b' here on these forums), black levels are better than I expected, motion is average. There's just one nagging problem: when playing games (WoW and Oblivion), the brightness level on lighter colors decrease when moving. What happens then is that when I stop and go, the light colors on the screen all flicker. If I can't resolve this problem, back to Costco it goes.

With that said, I'll still be looking primarily for a computer display that can also handle DVD watching and just a little bit of console gaming. Budget will be around $900, preferably less. As the display will also serve as a TV to watch movies from, I've ruled out TN panels. I'm not opposed to them entirely if there is a set that can handle slight off-angle viewing. (Nothing extremely off-axis)

I've had my eye on the DS 265W that has yet to be released. However, I figured that for the 700-800 range, I could just jump for a higher quality 32" set like the Panasonic LZ series or Samsung A550. For my purposes, would you buy a smaller, presumably higher quality display or jump for the larger television? Are monitors in fact better quality than their television counterparts? Are there any other monitors in the 26-28" range I should be aware of?
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How far away will you sit from your screen?
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As a monitor, I'd be sitting about 3 feet away. For movies, I'd be at about 7 to 8 feet. Right now I feel the 32" is just fine for my distance, although I'll be getting a slightly larger desk so I can move back a bit. I also don't mind moving to something smaller. I just want whatever is quality.

Now that I think about it, I might be better off with something a bit smaller than 32". The TV sits too high on my desk unless I get a wall mount and lower it a bit.
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Flicker -- bad connection, dynamic contrast/color or some such thing enabled, could be several things...

Monitors better than TV? Often can be the opposite, you have to compare specific models...

The 28 inch monitors I've heard of, use large TN based panels if I recall and are of lesser quality than many TVs...
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my friend has a 37" westy that he sits 2 feet away from... hahaha... i think you're ok.
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my friend has a 37" westy that he sits 2 feet away from... hahaha... i think you're ok.

That's pretty terrible. At least your neck gets a nice workout.
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Two feet away from 37''? That'll burn his eyes out! I tried out a 32'' Bravia and sat roughly 3 feet away and my eyes were poopy and horribly irritated; so I returned it to get a monitor instead. My room just isn't big enough. The picture quality was superb on the Bravia XBR6, Blacks were blacks, and minimal lag. Nice looking bezel to boot. All in all its what best suits your needs. If you're going to sit real close than a monitor, otherwise go for an LCD. The Panasonic 32 LZ800 is definitely one of the better 1080p 32'' out there. Would've gone with the Panny but it wasn't in stores where I live (though I probably would've returned it sat too close lol).
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I've already disabled any options I could have. The Sceptre doesn't have much in the way of options in the menu, so it might have undefeatable processors that I can't find.

Enough of my vagueness, how would an IPS panel (DS-263N / DS-265W or maybe even the Dell 3007) compare to a good quality 32" TV? (Samsung A550, Panasonic LZ800) Are the 30" monitors better than 32" TVs?

I've yet to see any other suitable options in the 26" range. Any help?
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The real difference i can see would be resolution. 2560x1600 vs 1360x768 (assuming that the tv is 720p)
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In the very first post, the OP already said his TV is a 1080p. 26-28" are all 19x12 monitors. He's gaining only 120 vertical pixels (or losing) - so resolution is not the argument here. Dot pitch, maybe. But the main issue is quality.

The thing with the 26" line is that it is still in its baby stages. Other than the 26" DS and Planar, there really aren't any other competitors. 32" for HDTVs, at 1080p, is also a fairly small field. It's basically IPS vs. VA. VA is Sammy, Sharp, and Sony. IPS is Panny. The one issue with Panny is text bluriness, which I'm waiting to hear back on AVS Forum. Otherwise, the only other HDTV I'd consider is the Sharp, b/c input lag on the Sammy and Sony are pretty bad.
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I would buy a 32 in HDTV{Sony, Pana, Samsung} over any 24-28in TN panel any day, however, a good 24-27in 8 bit panel will work beautifully for games, DVD, HDTV and PC use....naturally a 32in HDTV will be better for DVD/HDTV, but it could be a challenge for text/pics.

One thing to remember about the HDTV vs PC monitor is that the black levels on the latest HDTV's are very impressive{for their size}, so not only is the 32 bigger, but miles ahead with blacks.

IMO, given enough room and viewing distance, the best PC monitor will be either a 27in 1920x1200 or a 30in 1600p....I have a 26 at 1920x1200 and it's awesome, so a 27 should be fine as far as dotpitch is concerned......I've never seen a 30, so I can't comment about text size and how the res handles games/DVD/HDTV, but on the proviso the res is a positive rather than a negative, then the 30 would be the "shit".

Personally, I think a combo of 24-30in PC monitor+ a 37in{or bigger HDTV} mated to your PC is the way to go on your PC desk/room.
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Dogma, which 26" monitor did you end up getting? Sounds like you prefer an actual monitor to a HDTV used as a monitor. Any particular reason why? I'm still waiting for the DS 265 to become available, although it seems the monitor won't be having the AT-W polarizer.
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Skitlets.

I bought the Acer AL2616W 25.5in.
The beauty of a 26-30in is that you can use it from close range because of the dotpitch, the downside is that both DVD's and especially HDTV work better on larger HDTV's, but what's gonna happen to my pics and low res video files on a 32in?

I'm thinking that the 27 would probably be better than a 25.5 simply because it's bigger but not so big as to ruin the dotpitch.

I hold the view in the age of HD, it's not that unreasonable to have 2 LCD's, a small one to protect low res stuff, and a larger HDTV to playback HDTV files etc......but most people think that's over the top.
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