Use my tv as computer monitor?

Former 520 got me thinking, could I use my tv (27 inch normal tv, not flat screen or LCD or anything) as a monitor for my computer, so I can watch movies and such?

Joey

That is exactly what I have been using. A 27" Sony pre energy efficient even. Worked great, watched many a top gear and F1 on it. I had an old mini box with a basic video card. Hooked S cable from TV to computer and audio went to a receiver.

if your tv, or vcr/dvd player, etc. has rgb inputs (three rcas for video) you can get a monitor cable that plugs into the regular video card from your computer, and splits the signal to the three rca input type. otherwise, youll need a pc video card that has what ever inputs you have on your tv or vcr/dvd player...(ie: svid, hdmi, etc...) OR you can buy an adaptor box to make it work, there are a bunch of different types..

i had a video card about 10 years ago that allowed me to use a tv as a monitor- it looked like crap. the proportions were all wrong and everything was fuzzy unless i dropped my resolution down to 640X680 with 8 bit color.. but i'm sure they have gotten better since then..

ATI TV tuner card should have what you are looking for. If not you can buy a power adaptor to get you the final out put you are looking for. Whole rig will cost you about $50

Yeah, I was using a 32" JVC for years. Couldn't read web pages but watched movies just fine.

The only issue with this for not-so-techy people is the audio aspect. Hooking into video is fairly easy, particularly if it's HDMI, but while HDMI also passes audio, most TVs won't receive it, so you would need a separate set of wires to hook the audio into your tv. But again, some TVs won't be able to pair a separate HDMI in and Audio in to display the video and audio simultaneously. It'll just depend on what you've got. In that event, then you could either settle for the audio coming from your computer, have external speakers out of your computer, or have a more complex AV system altogether.

However, if you have a Mac, then you can get your hands on an Apple TV, and you'll be able to stream the video and audio with no wires at all from your laptop to your TV.

i don't think too many old school crt tv's have an HDMI hookup, so it will all be done with rca cables or maybe S video if the tv is less than 10 years old...

For the CRT tv to look okay, change the resolution to fit the native resolution of the tv. 640x480 (I'm guessing thats what NovaDerrik meant.) For the text being fuzzy, try making it bigger.

Not too sure how it's done, but one of the local library's has a 32" TV as a monitor in the children's section. I tried reading my email on it once. It was like watching a tennis game. It's an older CRT unit, but, it works, and the library also has a webcam hooked up to it to talk to other kids in other countries. The munchkins love it.

In reply to FlightService:

Power adaptor? What's that do? Does the ati card have RCA connector on it? My tv has RCA in connections, but no s video. And also, audio isn't a big deal, my computer is near the tv and has good enough for my purposes speakers.

Joey

Yeah, I'd love to be able to do this. I recently signed up for iRacing and would love to be able to hook it up to a big screen for better effect....

Its relatively simple for older TVs. Just use the appropriate adapter to adapt the video signal from the computer to the video input for the TV.

For reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_connectors

On older TVs, like the OP mentioned, you'll be limited to 720x480 display resolution and using S-video, or Composite (RCA), F connector for inputs on the TV.

I did the above for years and it worked great for watching videos, but as has been mentioned, it sucks for text.

In order to be able to read the display or use the TV as a regular computer display, you'd need a TV with better resolution capabilities.

If it were me, I'd use a video card with the capability for dual video cards and use a normal computer display for reading web pages and then output video or games to the TV (setup as a second display)

I know the ATI 2600HD video card I have in my HTPC in the living room does this just fine as will any ATI video card with an S-Video port on it. Just install the Catalyst Control Center, turn off the computer and connect all of the displays (make sure they are turned on) and, start the computer and then go through the Catalyst Control Center wizard to setup up the display.

Here's the HTPC solution I built for about $5-600:

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s10/fiat22turbo/HTPC/

Most of it scavenged. The TV was $100 from a friend with another $100 in parts to repair it. The PC was an old ATX desktop case that I painted black and put an older P4 board with an ATI HD video card I bought on a Black Friday deal. The Phillips Surround Sound system came from Woot, etc.