PC monitor as a TV

[Jarlaxle]

My mother wants to do this. IIRC (I'll check this weekend), the TV has the usual PC connections and an HDMI hookup. The current box has a coax...may have something else, no idea. If workable, she will get an HD box (which has an HDMI hookup).

What else will be needed?

 

[AandPDan]

An HD box should have HDMI out. She should't need anything.

What about sound though? Does the monitor have speakers?

 

[dparm]

Monitor speakers (if it even has any) will be incredibly weak and won't work well even if you're sitting a foot or two away.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Will use PC speakers. IIRC, the HD box has audio outputs.

 

[eljefino]

Cable companies are good at leaving obsolete equipment around but upgrading for free if you ask, like to a modern thing with HDMI.

My inlaws' HD PVR only has analog HD Y/Pb/Pr RCA outs because, presumably, they didn't want to pay expensive HDMI licensing or hookup cables or ???

Luckily noone else uses that so it's a free input on the TV.

 

[sxg6]

I did this for my father recently so that his desktop pc monitor could double as a tv. We got a HD DTA box from comcast, which I hooked up to the wall via coax. Next I had to get a hdmi switch since his monitor only has one hdmi input. One hdmi cable to his pc, the other to the HD DTA box. His pc monitor has speakers, but they were not good enough for the job. So I had an extra mini plug audio switch lying around that I hooked up as well, so that he could have the the tv audio going through his nice pc speakers. The monitor has a mini plug audio out port, so I ran an audio cable from the monitor to the audio switch. Overall it wasn't bad. I'm kinda bummed out that he has to manually switch the hdmi sources, even though it's an automatic hdmi switch. I believe the problem is the small HD DTA boxes from comcast never turn off, so the hdmi switch is always sensing a signal from the box.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Will use PC speakers. IIRC, the HD box has audio outputs.

Some PC monitors also have a headphone minijack output that you can use to connect PC speakers to, but it's probably better if you grab the sound from HD box directly.