How functional/practical is it to use an hdtv as a computer monitor?

"As long as you use an LCD with a square pixel aspect, sure - no problem at all. If the PC is already an HTPC why not have it connected directly to such a device?

It might lack some features or sharpness (or do way too much post-processing) for it to be comfortable for professional use but for playing games, watching videos and some surfing - definitely usable. Try to get one with a standard native HD resolution so you can easily set the PC at the native resolution as well - to avoid scaling artefacts.

Obviously, playing pc games on it could be quite a ride if trying to sit as close to it as before (keyboard+mouse games) - that's about the only problem I can think of."

The biggest problem I see, is that typical TV has almost no vertical tilt, so you cannot just put it on the table an use it as a really big monitor.
The biggest problem I see, is that typical TV has almost no vertical tilt, so you cannot just put it on the table an use it as a really big monitor.

"I have a 50"" DLP HDTV. While it is great for movies and gaming, it's pretty terrible for reading text smaller than the standard fonts in Windows Media Center's interface (games with text that I actually need to read aren't pleasant either, like Civ4).

I've seen 27-32"" HDTV LCD's that were passable for reading text on, especially when switching to 120 DPI in the display settings."

"I would not pick a TV for computer use. The reasons:

TV's are super bright. Mostly too
much for watching from close. Check
if you can turn it down to say
100-150cd/m2, otherwise skip it.
TV's have a big input lag. Because of
all the image processing, a TV can
take 3-4 frames before it actually
shows the image coming in. That's
frustrating hard core gaming
TV's use more energy. You have to put
them further back for good viewing,
but a smaller screen, at a closer
distance with the same resolution
would give the same usability for
computer use.

If you still consider a TV, check this:

input lag
panel type: lot of small TV's (<32
inch) have cheap TN panels
resolution: 1366x768 is still a very common resolution on a 32 inch or smaller TV. That won't work for computer use."