PC gurus: Monitor to TV

[Darkman]

I am looking to buy a new LCD monitor for my PC. What I am aiming to do, is use it as a monitor mainly for stuff like Paintshop, CAD etcetera, but also use it to flick over to TV(SKY) if something interesting is on. I am not sure how to do this. Could anyone please help me on what video card I need and what ports I need looking for when buying the monitor. Does it have to be a monitor or could it be any modern type LCD TV....

[Matt Bleck]

I know you can get tv tuner PCI cards from Dick Smith

[Cajun]

why not just get an lcd tv, that you can plug you computer in to?

Other wise you need to look at a tv tuner card for your pc.

For the LCD TV, just look for something that has a vga input,

[Hoon]

LCD TVs are still far more expensive than LCD monitors. A good foolproof hassle-free solution though.

On the cheap you could just get a PCI TV Tuner card or video card with s-video input. Then run a SCART->s-video cable from your sky decoder.

More of a geek solution and would require some technical knowledge to set it all up properly (especially if you wanted the PC to change TV channels on the decoder) but you'll have the bonus of picture-in-picture and being able to record TV programs to your PC.

[WRT]

There's a few external solutions like this one as well, that work as a passthru for your video signal from PC to LCD, plus allow you to use the screen as a TV (even with the PC off) or switch to another input (such as DVD/Sky) from a remote.

[Zed]

I am looking to buy a new LCD monitor for my PC. What I am aiming to do, is use it as a monitor mainly for stuff like Paintshop, CAD etcetera, but also use it to flick over to TV(SKY) if something interesting is on. I am not sure how to do this. Could anyone please help me on what video card I need and what ports I need looking for when buying the monitor. Does it have to be a monitor or could it be any modern type LCD TV....

Hey Darkman, I use my 32" LCD TV as my PC monitor. It was easy to connect up, just had to buy an RGB PC cable from the local cable shop (DSE sells them too) and plugged it straight from the back of the TV into my 32mb video card on my pc and I was away - see attached scan from instruction booklet.

Tis a pleasant experience using the large screen for the computer, also to watch dvd's through the pc, and from time to time (rarely actually) I remotely switch it over to the television to watch the news or sports or one of the other 5% of programmes worth watching on the idiot box.

[bungbung]

I have a 20" philips monitor that also has a s-video input, so you could plug in a sky box directly.

Model is 200P

[Fub@r]

If you use a LCD TV make sure its a decent one with decent refresh rates etc.

I sometimes run my PC through my TV to watch movies, movies are clear as a bell but trying to operate windows on it is ugly as the TV cant cope with the resolutions and text is very pixelated

[BigTex]

I recommend the LCD TV as any other tv I've used my comp on... it absolutely blows. I'd rather look at a 8 inch lcd then a 30 inch shitty tv.

[bungbung]

Darkman wants a monitor first and a tv second.
Most of those LCD tvs have lower resolution than a monitor.

Darkman, go for a monitor that has a composite or s-video input and then plug your sky box in. You'll need to push a button on the front of the monitor to switch between pc and tv. The philips will do picture in picture so your tv will appear in a small window over your PC display