What's better for HDTV and computing: TV connected to a PC, or monitor and TV tuner card?

Ty Pendlebury Editor

Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.

Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials

Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.

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Ty Pendlebury

April 19, 2009 9:59 p.m. PT

For the sake of convenience we'd suggest getting a good monitor and adding a tuner card to your PC.

This will also add the ability to record TV straight on your PC, which is very handy. Buying a TV limits you to the tuner onboard, which may mean analog instead of superior digital.

Make sure to get a monitor that will accept computer inputs (VGA and DVI/HDMI) as well as analog ones like AV and S-Video, which will allow you to connect DVD players and the like if you wish. Check out our monitor reviews here.

Of course, buying a TV with an onboard tuner and adding a media centre will allow you to have the best of both worlds. If you go this route, try to get one with an HDMI/DVI input.

Be aware that many TVs with onboard digital tuners won't have a digital output, though.

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