It was like 4 years ago... We're getting close to moving to 4k.

Wow, so many professional engineers and technicians around here.

I've been playing PS1/PS2 games mostly as of late. My 24" 1080p TV does a great job displaying those older games and dvds at 480i/p, and playing Xenogears at 720p on the PSTV doesn't look bad at all.

Really, I can only tell the difference between 720p/1080p if very close to the TV, or on the 42" and 55" TVs I have access to.... And sitting less than 3 feet away from a TV isn't very healthy.

Get a 32 1080p screen as you originally intended, they're affordable and get the job done. Although I bet 1080p looks great on a 44" or bigger if seating more than 3 feet away.

Why isn't it healthy? Maybe there was some truth to that with early CRT tvs, yet I don't see any widespread epidemic from people using PC monitors all over the world since the eighties.

It's a myth. http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/vision-facts-myths.html Sit where ever you like.

Hm... Okay! Thanks for the advice!

back in February I bought a 50" Vizio E-Series Smart TV for $450 and i think its a really good TV.

Ooooo sounds perfect for me! I'll look into that!

Here is the tv that I ended up getting as an alternative to a smaller pc monitor. Obviously I'm using it as a monitor and to that end have been utilizing it primarily to run pc games at 2160p. Despite being a tv, after some tweaking of the tv settings, the picture looks way better than the older but far more expensive 1080p tv that we have. The only issue that I have come across, again playing on the pc, is having to adjust game resolutions in a windowed mode at times to get it to display properly. I'm assuming it has something to do with this being a tv and not a dedicated pc monitor but some older games will boot straight to a black screen if I try to load them in fullscreen mode. It's a minor inconvenience for me personally though it may be a bigger issue for other people. I've also found that I like playing my games in at the 4k resolution more than 1080p even if that means adjusting the other graphics settings lower to get the right framerate. I've played with both resolutions and going between high and ultra settings but the higher resolution to me makes the most difference; most bang for any lost framerates. So I can definitely tell a difference myself.

Granted, this is more of a budget 4k tv so there will certainly be more expensive uhd models that look better now. Like I said, it still made a very noticeable difference to me over a fairly pricey 1080p model. My wife even commented on how much better the inexpensive tv looked compared to the other one. Besides, if you decide to upgrade again in a few years to a higher end uhd tv, then you won't be out as much :) Something to look at least look at if it falls within your budget range.

http://www.vizio.com/m43c1.html

I picked it up from bestbuy for just under $500 USD.

If you can I would seriously consider getting a 4K TV and a larger TV.

At 32 is when you just barely start to see a differeance with 1080P.  It is there, but  a 52" is so much better.  And a 4K 52" looks better than a 52" 1080p, eventhough it has to be upscaled by the TV.  All 4K TV's can do that.