TV for computer monitor?

[Rick Potter]

I have an old PC with windows XP. It is a top of the line Dell from about 15 years ago, and the monitor quit working. I have replaced it with a new computer, but wonder if it would be good in the shop to play my WW back issue DVD's , and woodworking DVD videos.

I also have a 32" flat screen TV that I would like to replace.

Can I use the TV as the monitor for my old PC?

[Rich Riddle]

I have an old PC with windows XP. It is a top of the line Dell from about 15 years ago, and the monitor quit working. I have replaced it with a new computer, but wonder if it would be good in the shop to play my WW back issue DVD's , and woodworking DVD videos.

I also have a 32" flat screen TV that I would like to replace.

Can I use the TV as the monitor for my old PC?

Rick,

I now people who have done just that but it depends upon the "plug holes" on the backside of the television. What do you have there? Take a picture for us.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have a 42 inch one that I use for my CNC

[Pat Barry]

Rick, I now people who have done just that but it depends upon the "plug holes" on the backside of the television.

Thanks Rich, I too am getting tired of all the technical jargon - USB, HDMI, RCA, RG58, blah, blah, blah.

[Rich Riddle]

Thanks Rich, I too am getting tired of all the technical jargon - USB, HDMI, RCA, RG58, blah, blah, blah.

Pat,

"Plug holes" is about as technical as my little pea brain can comprehend....

[Malcolm McLeod]

Pat,

"Plug holes" is about as technical as my little pea brain can comprehend....

Unfortunately, I suspect a google-ing of "plug holes" will give you a lot of hits that will NOT be for cables between the monitor and PC or tuner. (I'd probably just learn a few of the key acronyms.)

[Jerome Stanek]

for a computer that age I would say a VGA plug

[Myk Rian]

for a computer that age I would say a VGA plug

Not on TVs.
If the video card has composite or HDMI output, it's easy.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Not on TVs.
If the video card has composite or HDMI output, it's easy.

...Some TVs do have VGA & DVI inputs (traditional PC graphic connections).

[Stephen Tashiro]

There's also the question of how to get sound to work.

[Alan Caro]

Rick Potter,

I've not had TV cable for more than 10 years as part of my general advertising avoidance plan and instead use a 2007 Dell Dimension E520 (new XP, now Windows 7) and a 32" flat screen- the third TV set I've owned.

If the computer has a graphics card, it will probably have a VGA and/or DVI connector. Look around on the TV. A 32" flat screen is likely to have VGA and may even have a "PC" connection labeled. But, HDMI is a higher resolution, so the thing to do is to identify the computer end plug and buy an adapter cable that will convert it from DVI to HDMI.

The HDMI plugs into one of probably two or three HDMI inputs on the TV. Make a note of the HDMI number used so you can select it on the remote.

You run the DVD's or CD's in the computer DVD player.

The computer will have a built-in sound system. There will a little pale green plug on the rear panel which is the connection to speakers. It's called a "3.5mm stereo minijack" and it sends both left and right channels. You need to look again at the TV and see what the audio inputs are like. It may have a pair of RCA jacks, which are the bigger red and white ones. So at Best Buy or Radio Shack-where-ever you buy the Video adapter cable, you 'll need a Stereo minijack to dual (L & R) male RCA, making a kind of Y-shaped cable, single tiny minijack to the two larger red and white RCA. This is all very common and they'll know - or should.

When you plug in for the sound, the volume will be controlled on the TV remote. The stop and go of the DVD/s will use the computer mouse and I suspect will controlling Windows Media Player that comes with XP.

If your home has WiFi and the computer has a WiFI adapter, you might be able to connect to the Internet and stream YouTube.

It reads as fussier than it is. The key is really only having the two correct cables.

Alan Caro

[Jerome Stanek]

Not on TVs.
If the video card has composite or HDMI output, it's easy.

Mine has them I have 3 flat screens and they all have VGA. I do a lot of trade shows and we use tvs for monitors all the time hooked up to laptops
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[Curt Harms]

It seems like the key would be what kind of outputs the PC has. Quite a few flat panel TVs have a 15 pin VGA port and a 15 yr. old PC would likely have one of those. I'm not sure about DVI and I'd be a little surprised if it has HDMI unless it has an aftermarket video card. If the cables connect, I wonder if the video system would be capable of the resolution to fill and look decent on a 32" TV. 1024X768 ain't likely to cut it. You might be able to retrofit a more capable video card - I did that with a 1999ish HP. Bought an old Nvidia card off Ebay for around $5 but is it worth the fooling around?

[Jim Becker]

You can do that, although TVs that are not designed to be used as computer monitors will have limited screen resolution. (pixels) Things will be easiest if both the computer and the TV support HDMI input, although you can also use various other methods of connections to the "plug holes".

[Matt Meiser]

I think all of our TVs have VGA ports. Even if it doesn't, you can buy inexpensive this-to-that converters for just about any combination.

My mom has a TV as her monitor. There are two drawbacks--the TV will shut itself off after a period of no source signal when the computer shuts off the display and this is not configurable. She has to turn it on when she wakes the computer. The other is that the remote from the TV in the same room and the remote for the TV-turned-computer monitor are compatible and its really easy to inadvertently control both even though they are 90 degrees and probably 20' from each other.