Watching TV on a LCD monitor without a PC

[blueice]

I would like to buy a Computer WideScreen LCD monitor as they are so cheap now.. And watch TV on it without hooking it up to a PC.

I have seen a few products like

TV Station 100

http://www.adstech.com/products/PTV-360/in...asp?pid=PTV-360

But Im looking for something for a widescreen LCD Monitor.

Any Ideas Please... And it has to be cheap otherwise I may as well spend double to triple the money and get a real LCD TV.

Thanks heaps

PS. I dont mind having to plug in a set top box or a dvd player, just the converting aspect I am looking for.

[Sparda]

You could always buy a normal TV Source that has a HDMI or DVI port and use a HDMI to DVI cable.

[blueice]

You could always buy a normal TV Source that has a HDMI or DVI port and use a HDMI to DVI cable.

Would that work, I was worried that it would not know how to display the signal... how would the set top box know how many pixles this LCD monitor was?

Slightly confused how the technology works this out sorry.

This page has a cable but it says that it needs to be "between compatible source"

http://www.accesscomms.com.au/Products/w4118.htm

[Sparda]

If it's a LCD monitor, it should beable to display any thing (not compleatly ertian). You will also need seperate sound play back devics, not all monitors have built in speaker.

[blueice]

If it's a LCD monitor, it should beable to display any thing (not compleatly ertian). You will also need seperate sound play back devics, not all monitors have built in speaker.

From my reading as HDMI carries the sound component of the video as well I would need to split it off into the speaker input of the LCD/Speakers or hopefully the set top box/dvd player will output the audio through the RCA at the same time while HDMI is pluged in.

[metatron]

I just watched a review of Silicon Optix Whitehorse on DLTV which is the same video processor that I use and it’s not as expensive as they made out.

http://www.siliconoptix.com/chipProducts/whitehorse.cfm

I use it in my home theatre but it will do the job you need it for.

(I will be taking it with me.)

[Sparda]

If the device has a HDMI or DVI output, it should also have seperate audio outputs, most likly as composite connectors, but do check that it has the nessasery out puts befor buying.

[stingwray]

Computer monitors don't make long term good tv screens.

You'll need something like what metatron at least to make the image look good if you don't have a PC.

[blueice]

Computer monitors don't make long term good tv screens.

You'll need something like what metatron at least to make the image look good if you don't have a PC.

Why do you say monitors don't make long term good tv screens?

I was also wondering how much the whitehorse costs?

Thanks for ya input ppls, I will hopefully go down to a superstore and see if they will try a few things out 4 me:)

[metatron]

Computer monitors don't make long term good tv screens.

You'll need something like what metatron at least to make the image look good if you don't have a PC.

Why do you say monitors don't make long term good tv screens?

I was also wondering how much the whitehorse costs?

Thanks for ya input ppls, I will hopefully go down to a superstore and see if they will try a few things out 4 me:)

If you want a Whitehorse, you have to call up the company and tell them you are interested in incorporating their image processing technology into your companies future products, but you need to order a Whitehorse to convince the head of your department that it’s the right direction, then they will sell you one, as they don’t sell to the general public.

You should be able to pick one up for $1900 but if your bullshit is strong and they think they are going to shift a large quantity of chips, you can get it for a lot less. I needed to order a load of chips from them, so I got them to throw one in at discount.

[stingwray]

Why do you say monitors don't make long term good tv screens?

Because computer monitors don't have video processors in them, this makes them very poor at sorting out the picture and making it look good.

If you watch video on a computer (using a computer monitor) it doesn't look bad because the computer is sorting out the picture and then sending it to the monitor. But you are talking about feeding it with external source which is also very unlikely to have a video processor as they expect the monitor to do it.

You can get some computer monitors that have TV tuners in them, so if you are desperate for that idea then I would go with that, they often have a lot more inputs so you can plug in a cable/digital tuner.

Also if the TV has component in then it might have a video processor so wouldn't be so bad.

[lightman]

I had exactly the same idea, and get a 17" inch samsung lcd monitor and a used instanTV scan converter, (a small, modem like sized, tuner & S-Video to VGA converter) The quality isn't very good when it comes to DVD source, but it's quite Ok with normal TV viewing.

Actually it looks very good on CRT monitors but not that good on LCD ones.

It seems that the processing required to make it look good is not included in this old box.

there are a lot HDTV -> XGA scanconverters out there in the 300 - 500 range, but I never tested them.

I still think that is the best way to go, because for example here, a 20" LCD Sharp Aquos TV costs 1000 bucks and a 19" LCD monitor + small HDTV scann converter costs less than 600, that's a huge difference!!. not talking if you get a used scan converter or a used LCD monitor.