Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Need help - LCD Monitor - TV

Apr 27, 2006 1:24PM PDT

I'm getting totally confused by all the different interfaces to monitors and TVs. Composite, component, DVI, HDMI, S video, and so on.

I have a Dell 1705FP which I would like to use for watching cable TV. The only connectors other than the power cable are the standard analog monitor (VGA?), a DVI connector, as well as USB connectors (it can be used as a hub).

The only video outputs on my present cable TV box is a single RCA (composite?) and an RS-232 (comm or serial port) type. All other connectors (except audio) are std cable screw connectors.

Can this monitor be used with some mashup of cables and/or adapters to feed the monitor? If so, how?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
TV Tuner Card.
Apr 27, 2006 2:06PM PDT

The fastest easiest option would be to get a TV tuner card for your pc. There are probably converters available, but picking up a TV Tuner card would be the quickest and easiest way to add TV.

- Collapse -
Agreed
Apr 27, 2006 8:30PM PDT

My brother set up his house using a 4-way splitter and buying some coaxial cable, ran his cable from the lead cable in his living room to the computers in his house, using TV tuner cards, and everyone can watch what they want on their own computer (dont know how he did it or what hardware/software he used, but he can browse what channels he wants, depending on what his cable provider offers him). It's really cool, but I don't know if it is legal to split it like that and without buying seperate cable boxes, but hey, pirated cable aint much worse than Bearshare lol

- Collapse -
TV tuner card for PC
Apr 28, 2006 5:20AM PDT

The goal is to use the monitor without PC for video, and small PC speakers for sound. I wasn't looking for that when I bought it. Since I am using a cable box, I really don't need a tuner. I haven't reached the point of wanting TV on the PC, but that may change.

The spare PC I have is noisy (fans, hard drives) and not suited for a bedroom TV. Replacing it would be silly as a PC is overkill for only watching TV.

Paul

- Collapse -
Connect Cable Box to Monitor
May 4, 2006 6:50AM PDT

I have a 21" widescreen monitor for my PC that is also "HD Ready". I got a High Def. cable box and connected it to the monitor using a DVI cable (cable box and monitor have DVI connectors). I connected the audio from the cable box to my home theater system receiver using an optical SPDIF connector for 5.1 audio. I now watch high def. on my PC monitor without using the PC. I connected the PC to the monitor using the VGA connector. DVI and HDMI are High Def. connectors. HDMI is newer. DVI only feeds video whereas HDMI feeds both audio and video. It is the newer format.

If you don't have high def capability, you can probably connect your cable box to your monitor using standard S-video, composite video, or component video connectors along with standard audio connectors (whichever connectors are available on your cable box and/or monitor/receiver).

If you are interested, I have an "HP f2105" monitor that was bundled with my PC. The video quality is nothing short of fantastic. The only complaint I have is that there are no S-video nor component video connectors for connecting other devices such as a DVD Player/recorder.

I hope this helps. Have a good day.

- Collapse -
DVI
May 5, 2006 9:01AM PDT

Thanks for the info.

No, I don't have HD capability, and the cable box has only RF and a single RCA video connector (composite?). There is also an RS-232 connector.

I will see if they offer a cable box with a DVI connector. I doubt that the composite is useable with no scan included. I have a computer monitor, not TV monitor.

Paul